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A Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Fic - The Constant	By : TheConstant1944 Category: Marvel Verse Comics > Captain America Views: 2391 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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Chapter List
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Chapter Forty-Three
The Constant & The Winter Soldier - Loyalty

You don’t realise at first; you just slowly become aware of it.
The Winter Soldier is sitting there humming.
You try not to let your shock show. You have never heard him doing this before.
Glancing at him, you realise that he is not even aware of the fact he is doing it.
He is checking one of his guns, making sure it will do its job with no hitches. The tune is one you heard on the guard's radio and you do not know whether to be pleased or frightened. Perhaps a bit of both. The Winter Soldier has been in cryo-freeze, and all that has been taught to him since coming out this time is his assignment and anything he needs to know about this changing world that could affect it.
That tune is one that they have not played since the last time he was out of cryo. Which means he has brought it with him, it was not removed in the last mind wipe.
He becomes aware of you looking at him and returns your gaze.
“Is something wrong?”
He has stopped humming. Was he even aware that he was doing it?
You shake your head and return to what you are doing; he goes back to checking his weapon, silent now. Your mind is spinning.
He does know he is humming. He wants to see what effect it has on her. Will she tell them?
He wants to test a theory that has been coming together in his mind. She makes no move to leave, or to even make an excuse to leave. He raises his eyes looks at her without her knowledge, and he is sure he can see a smile around her lips.
Leaving for his mission has been delayed for five hours and you are sat in the room you share with the Winter Soldier trying to work, whilst at the same table he is double-checking and cleaning his weapons. You would like to be annoyed, but secretly you are pleased at the extra time you get to spend with him. He has gone quiet. It is just nice to sit and know he is so close.
Until he speaks.
“You don’t believe in Hydra, do you?” he asks, although it is not really a question but an observation.
Your blood runs cold.
When he came out of programming he just about remembered who you were, but he has been quiet since and you are aware that you have been catching him looking at you when he doesn’t think you will notice.
It has been hard to work him out this time.
You have just watched him clean and reload his gun. He is not looking at you when he asks the question.
Is this a test? Along with his humming the tune?
He finishes up and, still holding the gun, looks at you. The barrel is resting at the level of the table, not actually aimed at you...but close. You can't read what he is thinking, his eyes are blank.
You don’t know what to say. You always promised you would not lie to him; he may or may not remember that but you do. So you choose not to say anything and look back at what you are doing.
“I didn't think so,” he says and gets up, slots the gun into the back of his trousers. He sits back down again and starts on the next one.
You try to continue with what you are doing and not think about why he asked.
She passed the test, he thinks. I'm right, she is loyal to me...not them. He had thought so but why? They told him she was tarnished but he doesn't believe them. He saw the look in her eyes when he came back to their shared quarters.
Not all of the programming has taken this time. Not enough to matter, not enough to endanger the mission but just enough for him to believe he means something to her. And that she means something to him.
*
After he has left, you try to settle and concentrate on what you are doing. Why is it that no matter who the director is you always end up doing the paperwork? You're a nurse, not a secretary. For a moment you stop and look around; you miss him already and you wonder where they are taking him and how safe he will be.
How many missions have they sent him on now? 15, 20? You lost count after Krupin took over. The time in cryo freeze makes it impossible to know when in the world you are, and you gave up trying to keep track of the years...well, literally years ago.
A commotion in the corridor attracts your attention but before you can get up to see what is happening your door flies open. You jump up but you don’t recognise the man and the two soldiers following him. They have on uniforms that you have never seen before. One of the Hydra complex guards follows behind; he has tried to prevent the men from entering.
The older man is smiling at you but it is a cold smile. He shows you an open wallet he has in his hand.
“Vojenské zpravodajství, ” he says and you blink. You haven't a clue what he has just said and he realises.
“Military Intelligence,” he says closing his wallet.
You stand up to move but then his two soldiers come around and get both sides of you and start to walk you to the door.
“I don’t understand,” you stutter and at first you don’t but then a sick feeling comes into your stomach.
Has he told them? Was the question the Winter Soldier asked you a test for Hydra, not himself?
You know Hydra has infiltrated the KGB. You do not know where this base is situated, what country. It does not take much of a leap to guess that they will have corrupted more intelligence services around the world. You are not sure exactly which one this is but all the personnel seem to be the same the world over. Cold and frightening.
You feel a frisson of fear. Would he really do that to you?
The Hydra guard paled when he saw the badge and heard what the man said. He stands to one side and you look at him for help. He looks away.
You know Caldwell isn't on the base. “Please get Marinov!” you say to him but he doesn't look up.
“Where are you taking me? What have I done?” you ask the men but no-one says a word.
You try to get free but their grips are like iron and they march you out to a waiting car. You see very few people on the way, and those you do see stand out of the way - watching. They do not know what is happening but they know who you are. They also seem to recognise the insignia of the men who are with you. They have seen the insignia flag on the bonnet and on the badges on the uniforms of the two soldiers.
You are shoved into the back of the car, and the man gets inside next to you. A soldier climbs in the other side and the remaining one gets in the front and drives you away. When you are out of the gate the soldier next to you turns and grasps your arms. The man slips a blind over your eyes and tells you not to move.
You are a nurse, not a soldier, you do not fight. Growing up in Russia you were taught to do everything you are told...especially if it is by the KGB. It is ingrained. This may not be the KGB, but they act just like it.
You seem to drive for a long time until finally the car stops. There is a conversation with someone and then the car starts again.
By now you are feeling sick and cold. The car stops again and they haul you out and, without removing the blindfold, walk you over what feels like concrete ground but leaves crunch under foot, then up a short flight of steps and you hear a door open.
You are in a building, your footsteps echo. There is a murmur of voices and then it feels like you are on a carpeted floor. A door opens and you are pushed inside.
Finally you are sat down on a hard chair and the blind is removed.
You are in an office. They have sat you one side of a desk. On the desk is paper work; ordinary things; a jug and two glasses.
In the corner on the right is a flag stand and the flag isn't one you recognise. It has a blue triangle then red and white horizontal bands top and bottom.
On the left is a banner. It bears the same insignia as the soldier's uniforms.
A man sits opposite you. He gives you a moment to look around and then stands up, coming to your side. He pours you a glass of water. Your hand is unsteady when you take it, but you are so thirsty. You drink from it.
You put the cup down and hold your hands in your lap.
“Why am I here?” you ask. Your voice is trembling. It is no use pretending you're not frightened - he can see it in your eyes, in the way your hand shakes; he can smell it on you.
He looks at you and then smiles again. It's as if you are two old friends catching up.
“Why do you think you are here?” he asks, speaking in Russian.
“I don’t know,” you say, but can't hold his eyes and you look down.
He is quiet. You hate silences.
Then he gets up and walks behind you. You want to turn but you can't and you feel him stop behind you.
“Freya...may I call you Freya?” he asks.
You don’t reply.
“They call you the Constant do they not? The Winter Soldier speaks highly of you, but...” he leaves the sentence open and you now turn and look at him, your eyes are wide.
So. They have been talking to him.
He smiles down at you. “...But loyalty to Hydra is something that is valued by us. And so, when someone appears less than enthusiastic about us...we tend to get a little concerned.”
The Winter Soldier has sold you out.
Deep down you know it is in his programming, but the revelation still hits you hard.
You watch as he walks back to his side of the table and sits down. You are both quiet and you clench your hands in your lap. What will happen now?
“So now, Freya, we just need to find out from you who you are really working for and we can then go on as if nothing has happened.”
“Who I'm wor-? I work for Director Caldwell. I don't understand. I don't even know where I am.”
“How remiss of me my dear, my apologies. My name is Jonas Reznicek and I work in military intelligence, the Vojenské zpravodajství.”
“Does Director Caldwell know I am here?” you ask.
The smile disappears.
“Oh dear. It's going to be a long night,” he says, as though you have just disappointed him.
He gets up and opens the door, you hear him talk to the guard and your heart starts to race.
“Ring my wife and tell her I won't be home tonight. Then get Room Three ready.” Then, still speaking to the guard, he turns around and looks at you. “I think Freya is going to be with us for a while...tell them to have some dinner ready for me around eleven, please.”
He closes the door and then sits down again. You don’t take your eyes off him. Your heart is racing. You feel sick. He puts his hands on the table and smiles.
“Now Freya, lets start again shall we?”
*
The Winter Soldier arrives back at camp forty-eight hours later, mission completed. He needs to be debriefed, then they will allow him a further day then he and Freya will be put back into cryo freeze.
He knows there is something wrong when he comes out of the debriefing and sees Stefan is standing waiting for him. He is pale. The Winter Soldier has just been on a mission where he has taken lives and accepted it; it is his programming but when he sees Stefan his stomach drops and fear grabs hold of him. The people with him cannot see this, but it is there.
“They took her,” Stefan says and without thinking grabs his arm. One of the team steps forward but the Winter Soldier shakes his head.
“They've taken her...just after you left...I didn't see them but it was some type of intelligence agency, no one seems to know which one....they just drove away with her.”
“Freya?” He frowns. That can't be right. Why would they take her? He is having trouble thinking straight, his head is aching from the debrief. His memories of the last forty-eight hours are now fading.
“Yes, but no one knows why. I can't get hold of Caldwell and I don't know who to contact. His secretary tried phoning headquarters but no one seems to know what is going on.”
Now the Winter Soldier's heart is racing and the anger inside him is growing. Why would someone take her? It's obvious they waited until he left, otherwise he would never have allowed them to even touch her.
They see Doctor Jakobs running up to talk to them. He is unable to speak for a few seconds - age is catching up with him.
“She..she got hold of Caldwell. He doesn’t know anything about it but...he's seeing if he can find out anything and return as soon as he can.”
*
You don’t know how long you have been here. It feels like forever. You think it is probably days. You are in Room Three. They have left you for a moment and you do not move; you are not allowed to move, you mustn't.
He made sure you knew the rules before he started.
Looming over you on the wall in front is a Hydra sign in blood red. You are knelt on the floor in just your underwear. You have not moved from the spot. Your nose has bled and blood has trickled down from your mouth where you were slapped. Bruising covers some parts of your body where you have been punched but it is the fear that is eating you up, the utter desolation of being alone. Your arms are tied behind you with wire which is biting into you cutting of your circulation.
You hear Reznicek returning and start to tremble - and not just because you are cold.
The interrogation has been non-stop. When he has a break another man takes his place, all the time wanting to know who you are working for. What organisation? What country? Are you a sleeper? I don't even now what a sleeper is you cried.
That is something they have not let you do. Sleep. You haven't eaten, you have not left this room since they brought you to it.
“Ah there you are,” he says jovially as if you are there by choice, as if you still friends. “Now, lets see. Good girl, you haven’t moved.” If you had it would have meant another broken finger.
They drew a circle in chalk on the floor and that is where you are to kneel. The first time you moved out of it they broke your little finger. The second time, you were tired, you had not even realised you had moved. They broke your next finger. Since then they have broken one more. You hand pulses with pain. Your back is aching and you cannot feel your legs, but you haven't moved. Not one inch.
“Hmm but...” he runs his hand along your shoulders feeling you tremble. You don’t look at him. That is another rule. You can only look up when they say you can. You concentrate on the floor, on nothing else. He strokes your hair and you shudder at his touch. He wants to be able to slap your face again, a slap so hard it feels like your head rings after and your nose bleeds.
“Good girl. You learn so fast! I'm impressed,” he says coming around in front of you and reaching for the chair. He pulls it up in front of you.
“Now, look at me,” he says quietly and you do.
He leans forward and sweeps your fringe away. He loves to see the look of absolute fear in your eyes.
“My guards have taken quite a liking to you,” he says, and smiles. His fingers run over the smooth skin of your cheek, the bruising making the touch hurt more than it should. “If the Winter Soldier has no further use for you and as you won't tell us who you are working for, then I'm afraid I've had to promise them they can have you once I've finished with you.”
He smiles. “Of course you are not quite, well...to be honest, not a good catch but well they are not fussy.” He sits back as if surprised. “My dear don’t look at me like that! I like to be honest with my business partners. Ah...are you worried? When I say I've finished with you I don't mean sexually. You are a bit too...old for my liking.” Then he leans close and smiles coyly. “Don't tell my wife I said that, will you?”
Your whole body feels dirty, as if insects have crawled over it.
He gets up and puts the chair back against the wall. You pray he is going to let you sit on it but he doesn’t.
“Now, back to the guards. I've told them if you haven't told me by tonight then I can't leave it any longer. They can decide between them who goes first,” he comes close, very close and bends forwards and takes hold of your hair and pulls - hard.
You nearly fall over.
“Believe me when I say you would rather have a bullet in your head than go with them. They will tear you apart...like wolves with a rabbit...hmm? Tell me what I want to know and it will be a quick painless death, I promise.” He releases your hair and that smile appears again. “No? Very determined aren't you my dear?”
You close your eyes and hear him leave.
Don't move. You must not move.
You are trying so hard not to think of the Winter Soldier, of James. The man has told you how the Winter Soldier reported you for your disloyalty and how he believes you are working for another organisation. Is it some other government? Who is it?
You cannot lie. You have never been able to.
You think of James and what he has been through. You have heard reports of how they found him in the interrogation camp and his injuries had been so much worse than yours. You believed at the time you had understood what he had gone through but no one tells you of the loneliness and utter isolation you feel. It is even worse when you have been betrayed by the person you love. You do not cry. There are no tears left, just fear and pain.
What can the guards do to you that is worse than what the Winter Soldier has already done?
*
It is late at night when two guards come into Room Three. One of them has a hood in his hand and although you are not supposed to move the fear in you makes you disobey and you try to escape them. You are no match for them even if you had the use of your legs. They are strong, and experts in what they do.
The hood covers your head, you can see nothing. Your legs are numb from where you have been kneeling, your lower back feels as though it is broken. You are pulled out of the room and along a corridor; they are carrying you between them more than you walking.
There are no sounds and you hear a door being thrown open and then you are pulled out into the night air, the coldness hitting you so you tremble violently. You hear a car engine running and then you are unceremoniously picked up and dumped in the boot whilst the lid is slammed shut.
The car moves. You are thrown about in the boot. Your hands are still tied behind your back and as time goes on you try and move the hood away but it is on too firmly. In the end you lie still. What is the use?
The rocking of the car has almost sent you to sleep when it stops and you hear someone get out. Your heart begins to hammer as they come around to the boot and open it. You can't see anything. Hands reach down and pull you out.
“Follow the track,” a voice says to you, and the hood is removed. You blink. Your eyes are cloudy and you cannot understand what is happening. You are on a mud road; you look behind you as the car starts up again and drives away.
You are alone.
You sink to your knees and you sob.
It is nearly dawn. There are trees surrounding the track and you can hear birds singing, which makes you choke. You struggle to stand up, the cold biting into you – you are still just in your underwear. You start to stumble forward, the ruts in the road making you fall to your knees, but you always get up again and carry on.
You don't know how long it is before you can hear noise. Engines running, people shouting and as you come around the bend in the road you cannot believe what you see. It is the camp. You are coming up on the back entrance and as you stumble forward a guard walks out of the guard house to pee and he sees you.
At first he can't work out what he is looking at, but then he recognises you and he shouts to the other guard.
He runs forward and catches you as you fall.
*
He says her name and walks forward but she doesn’t respond. He can see her trembling increase but she doesn’t move. Inside he wants to scream. He clenches his fists and his jaw and sinks down to his knees in front of her. She ducks her head even more making the hair hide her face.
“Freya,” the Winter Soldier says quietly.
She tries to shuffle backwards away from him.
Stefan moves behind her. He cannot see any life threatening injuries but it is more than obvious she has been hurt both mentally and physically.
They told them that her hands were bound behind her; it took them a while to snip the wire to loosen them. There are cuts running down her body, and bruises, it looks like several of her fingers are broken on each hand. Stefan kneels down next to the Winter Soldier. They have found an old coat and wrapped it around her. She cannot stop trembling but she will not look at anyone.
The Winter Soldier has moved her hair over her shoulders so he can see her face. It is bruised and there are black shadows under her eyes. She won't look at him. She won't say anything. She won't move towards him.
He doesn’t know what to do.
He wants to hold her, touch her, kiss her, and tell her everything is all right.
“Freya, who did this to you?” he whispers and tries to hold her but she pulls away from him. He tries to take her chin to tilt her head to make her look at him.
You try to scuttle back, anywhere, away from him. He puts his hand out again and you lash out at him. You don’t want him touching you, you don’t want him anywhere near you; the hysteria that has been living under your skin for the last two days threatens to overwhelm you.
“No! No, don’t touch me! Leave me alone!” But then you catch sight of Stefan and he sees the sudden hope in your eyes. “Stefan help me...don't let him touch me, please don't let him near me!” You lean towards him and without thinking he takes you in his arms whilst the Winter Soldier looks on in shock.
“He did this! He gave me to them. He gave me to them,” you sob and they hear the utter despair in your voice.
Stefan looks at him and the Winter Soldiers eyes are dark holes, his jaw is clenched.
“It's all right, Freya. Let's get you back to your room. Doctor Jakobs is waiting for us. Can you walk now?” You try to nod.
The Winter Soldier's thoughts are all over the place. Why won't she go near him? Why was she so frightened of him? Why did she say he gave her to them? To whom?
Caldwell is due back soon and someone is going to pay. He hears her ask Stefan again not to let him near her. He watches as they lead her away.
*
Later he returns to their rooms and she is there with Stefan. She is clean, dressed, and they have tended to her wounds.
She has told Stefan she was taken by military intelligence, but she doesn't know whose. She was handed over to them by the Winter Soldier for her disloyalty to Hydra.
Stefan relays the information to the Winter Soldier. He is stunned. He did no such thing.
“How can you say that? How can you believe I would do that to you?” he shouts at her. He doesn’t think, he is so angry; the tiredness is catching up with him. He wants to hit something. He can't cope with the feelings inside him.
You cry, you can't help it, it is all you seem to be able to do since they brought you back. You don’t feel safe. This was your home and they still took you and hurt you.
And nobody stopped them.
“He told me! He told me you did!” you spit at him. How can he pretend he doesn't know? “He told me exactly what it was you asked me and that when I didn't reply you knew you needed to hand me in! He knew, he knew!”
Only the two of you had been there for that conversation.
“They were going to kill me after...he'd let his guards...use me but instead they just...let me go...” you hate the sound of how weak your voice sounds; how self-pitying. But you can't help it.
He turns around and hits the wall, hard, his metal hand going right through it. Then there is a quietness that is just broken by his harsh breathing. He hits it again but there is less force this time.
Then he turns to look at you.
“I didn't tell anyone...I wouldn't tell anyone!”
You can see the truth and pain in his eyes and that makes you cry even more. He comes over and Stefan moves to let him nearer to you. He sits down on the edge of the bed. He takes your hand.
“Please believe me. I wouldn't do this to you.”
And you know now he is telling the truth.
“Then how did they know?” you ask “How?”
“I don't know!” His teeth are clenched, and you can see the anger just below the surface. Then you see light dawn in his eyes and he lets go of your hand and stands up. He looks around the room, then starts to prowl, looking at the ceiling and the walls. He picks up things, studies them, throws them back down, feels along the skirting boards, peers into the lamps, switches them on and off. He takes one apart.
You and Stefan watch him. He is like a dog with a scent. He looks around once more. Stefan goes to say something but the Winter Soldier shakes his head, no. Then, dragging a chair over to one of the walls he gets up on it and, using his knife, starts to unscrew one of the air vents. It comes away easily and he drops it to the floor and reaches in.
You hear him say something under his breath as he pulls out a small metal box with two thick wires attached to it. The box will only come out so far so he leaves it dangling on its wires against the wall. He takes out his gun, puts the muzzle next to the tubing on the end of the wire and fires. The noise in close quarters is so loud your ears hurt but it doesn’t seem to faze him at all.
“A listening device,” he mutters, knowing that he has just blown the ear drums of whoever was at the other end of it.
He pulls hard on the box until it comes loose and takes it over to the table and throws it on there. All this time someone has been listening to everything that has been said and done in this room.
Everything.
*
“So you are sure there is nothing to worry about?” the man in the car asks looking at his companion.
Reznicek leans forward. “Believe me, you have no worries. She is naive soul, and cannot lie to even save her own life. She is not loyal to Hydra and never will be, but she is not working for anyone else either. The Winter Soldier is her life and it is him she is loyal to. That may or may not cause you problems in the future but for now...” he shrugs his shoulders.
The man looks at him and then puts his hand out to shake. “Thank you my friend,” he says, and Reznicek nods and gets out of the car.
Caldwell leans forward. “Back to the camp please,” he says to his driver.
They had to check, they had to see their investment is safe. It is something he hated to do, but this is war and sometimes in war the innocent must suffer.
Now he needs to go back and calm the storm. Of course they will never find out it was Caldwell who ordered the check, and he is sure he can make it up to her in some way.
They have blown the cover of the recording operators – as well as the ears drums of two of them - and will need to set something else up in its place but that is part of why he is here. He needs to know what is going on, he needs to set parameters.
He will blame the monitoring equipment on the Czech Intelligence Agency. “We didn't know. It appears they have listening devices all over the camp. Thank God you found it!” He will rehearse his lines well, the shock of what they tell him when he gets back will be evident on his face. He will appear indignant, angry that one of his people have had to go through what she went through. “I will never let it happen again, Freya, this is your home. I will have new checks put in at the gates. No-one will get through no matter what agency they say they work for!”
But the important thing is they still trust him.
And after the wipe the Winter Soldier he will not even remember...but she will. He believes she remembers everything.
A new monitoring system will be put in after they have gone back into cryo and without any of the others seeing it happen. Again, he decides against cameras. What happens sometimes in those rooms is personal, he has heard the tapes. No, he decides, audio will be enough. He will even give her a unit she can use to sweep the rooms each time she returns to them after cryo, or whenever she wants to. It won't be on the same frequency but it may give her some peace of mind. What is it his father always used to say?
A happy worker is a productive worker.
He will keep her happy.
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A Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Fic - The Constant