Hell's Angel [Bucky Barnes]

8 - Improvised Plan of Action

8 – Improvised Plan of Action

Something's wrong. S.H.I.E.L.D. has to be screwing with my head.

I'm seeing things that aren't making any sense to me. They're visions—or maybe they're memories. But all the things I see involve me and Ward and HYDRA. The training I've undergone, killing my past handlers out of rage, fighting HYDRA security because they couldn't contain me properly.

But amidst all of that chaos, there are other things that pop into my head. Unfamiliar faces, sunny skies, blue ocean water, hot sand covering my toes. None of those make any sense to me at all. I don't know where my mind is right now, and it's scary.

They must have Maximoff doing something to my head. That has to be it. Or they put something in my food and drink to make these things happen.

I've been in this cell for at least a month now.

Though I'm for the most part fed and able to bathe, I don't feel as stable as I look. I only get visitors once a week, not counting the person who gives me food daily. Some pass by just to observe me. All they see is me being lost in my own thought and banging around the cell, screaming until my voice is hoarse to be let out so I can really stretch my legs.

Where am I really? I have to wonder as I stare at the same boring walls I've been staring at for a month. I think about the mission, what I still have to do. But I've had major setbacks put into it. For instance, I'm in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. There are more bodies to get through just to get to my mission. I've got to step up my game. If I can somehow make it look as though I trust them and remember things, maybe they'll let me out. I earn their trust, earn Winter's trust. When the time is right, I go in for the kill. If I don't return, I know I'll die knowing that I wiped out the Winter Soldier.

I smirk, liking the plan more and more. That's manageable. I just got to get the right person to let me out so the real work can begin. I can't do anything in here. I look at the tray of empty food. I should be getting more anytime now.

Speak of the devil, and it appears. Winter is the one to deliver my food today, a nice change from the random agent who's scared for their life that they practically drop my food and run the second they step into my cell. I pretend to be bored and not notice him, twisting a blonde lock around my finger.

"Don't look so happy," Winter sasses me.

I snort. "Any luck into finding out who I am?" I haven't heard any news since day one.

"It's still a search." He drops the food off on a table in the cell. "Kinda surprised you care about that."

"I really don't, I'm just rubbing in the fact that you haven't found an identity to me yet." I pause. "Are you guys secretly poisoning me?"

"What?"

"My head, it's been...pretty messed up lately. I keep seeing things—visions, memories. T-they're not making any sense to me." I look at him. "I know I'm a prisoner, but come on."

"That's not us. That's you."

I lick my lips. "Me?"

"Well, the you that's not this." He gestures to my current state. "Your real identity, it's peeking through. Things are coming back to you, bits and pieces."

I nod slowly. "So that's what that is."

"The longer you're away from HYDRA, the more their control over you slips. You begin to fight it more."

"Is that what happened to you?" I get off the cot. "You stayed away once things came back to you?" That explains how he's changed into this. Back into Bucky Barnes, or some version of him anyway.

"Yeah." I've made him uncomfortable, his stature tells me that much. "But the things you've done as their Asset, they don't go away. What you've done, it stays with you." He clears his throat. "Are you remembering anything crucial?"

"Not really. Faces that I don't recognize right now." I shrug. "The normal outdoor things you see: blue skies, ocean water, sand."

"Sand and ocean water aren't exactly 'normal' outdoor things. It's probably a place you've been to, or where you lived at some point in time. But nothing else? No names or anything?"

I shake my head. "None."

"Time will help you." He looks at me in thought.

"What?"

"What do you know about HYDRA?"

I groan. "All I was ever told is what my missions were. I'm not exactly high rank to know top secret plans or anything. If you want those, try abducting a high-ranking officer."

"Do you remember how you were taken by them?"

"No." And that's true. That's one thing that hasn't come to me yet. "Do you?"

"Yes."

I nod slowly. He's going to be the easiest to fool. He's still hung up on who he is and what he remembers. He's distracted, perfect way in. "Has there been any talk of me being able to run free around here?"

"It's come up, but it's not approved."

"Trust issues, I get it." I shift my weight around. "I wouldn't trust me either."

"You've been pretty compliant since we took you in."

"There's not much to do." I shrug. "Why waste energy on nothing?"

"I can try and put in a word, but it's not my decision."

"Then find Director Coulson and get his approval," I demand lightly. "I'm suffering like a caged animal in here."

"A caged animal who has a functioning bathroom, gets fed, and a change of clothes. Some suffering." He snorts.

I roll my eyes. "Just look into it, will you?" I search his face, trying to see if that alone will bring up a memory for me. The more memories I get, the more credible and realistic my performance will be. The better an actress I will become.

But nothing comes to mind when I see his face. I don't think we've crossed paths, ever, since I've became Hell's Angel. And that's totally possible. I don't remember training with him, ever, and a man with a metal arm is someone you don't easily forget about.

"We've never met," he says softly, "until Wisconsin. I know that look, because I've had that it so often."

I back away from Winter, pacing around in my cell. He doesn't leave, he watches me curiously, like I'm a study subject of his. I rub my fingers against my head, as though the massage will possibly trigger something.

"Don't stress about it," says Winter. I stop my pacing. "Things will come to you. They do when you least expect it. It happens all the time."

I start to follow Winter out of the cell until the door cuts me off. I frown slightly. Damn, I was so close to sneaking out behind him. But I doubt I'd get far. If he's anything like me, he's got a sixth sense and could've easily put me back in here in less than a minute.

I walk to the window and see him slowly walk past the cell. I try to look a little pitiful, less threatening. I need to soften him up. I'm already making progress by claiming to see memories (well, I think it's more fact than a claim). He'll want to help me, because he's gone through the same thing that I have.

That's my way in, through the Winter Soldier. Once the time is right, I kill him.

**Hmm, so, HYDRA's control is starting to wear off.

What do you think about her plan of action? Pretend to be someone she's not and stab our beloved Bucky in the back when the time is right?**