Rattled Bones

Bucky’s chest heaved when he saw her, his entire body filled with the weight of lead. Her last words to him rang in his head, “You’re going to miss me so bad, Barnes,”. Rose wasn’t like the other girls he had spent much of his time with back in his day. She challenged him, seeing past his sappy pick-up lines and charm. The two of them had formed a friendship after he had relentlessly tried to get her to dance the night after his last boxing match. She bruised his ego but somehow it didn’t stop him from trying. He could banter with her all day if it meant that he didn’t have to go home. He enjoyed her company and eventually she became his weakness.

Every now and again, he would try to woo her and convince her to let him take her on a date and every time, she would decline but offer they go as friends. He’d take it if it meant that he’d be able to spend time with just her. The feeling of caring for a woman was new to him and as much as he still enjoyed the variety of different girls chasing after him, he would gladly give it up if he needed to.

Bucky had endured all sorts of physical and mental pain from being with HYDRA, but seeing her bound by her wrists and her knees planted on the ground had just about broke him. All he could think about was how much pain she had endured. Steve had given him the files and the disc to look over and she was just like him; brainwashed at HYDRA’s disposal.

His body shook with slight fear as he reached for the handle that would allow him inside the glass chamber she was kept in. He wanted to cradle her, tell her that she was going to be okay, that he would be there for her every step of the way. But, he wasn’t sure if the girl that was in that cell was the same girl he had promised to come back to.

Steve inhaled sharply, placing his hand on his arm, “Wait a minute, Buck.”

Bucky gave a hardened look towards his friend, “Come on! Look at her.” He pointed towards her, her head bowed down and her dark locks covering the face he so desperately wanted to see.

Steve placed his hand in the air, to calm him down. “I see her, Buck. I’m all for breaking in there. But, we have to tread light.” The two of them had successfully gotten inside the underwater maximum security prison without being detected and even though someone wanted Steve to find Rose’s files, he wasn’t sure if they wanted him to get this far. They had to be careful and cover their footprints. He wanted to enlist in the others but this was a fight that he didn’t want them to be a part of. Steve and Bucky were going to take full responsibilities if they got caught and tried for trespassing behind classified projects.

Steve took some time to scope out the area, shocked to find that there were no visible cameras in sight. Although The Raft did have a special cloaking agent that kept certain powers at bay. However, her immense strength and speed were still untouched. Her chambers kept her stable, her wrists held tight by verbranium chains. It seemed like that was the only thing that kept her locked in her cube, that and the cold temperature. Looking over at Bucky who was ready to jump behind the glass door, Steve nodded his head.

It took but two seconds for Bucky to be kneeling right in front of her. He didn’t want to touch her, afraid that she was too fragile. After all this time of him having his metal arm, he somehow forgot how to use it. He panicked, he felt like if he were to reach for her with his left arm, he would snap her bones in half. Like all his sensitivity was lost. Slowly, he evened out his breathing. “Rose,” he whimpered. Her head snapped up, Bucky waved his hand in front of her face, “Rosie?” He said firmer, finally getting a hold of himself.

Her body started to tremble, her hands opening and closing as if the blood needed to circulate. She tugged at the chains that bound her wrists above her head. Fear started to gloss over her eyes as she produced a thousand yard stare. A kind of stare that only a traumatized soldier would carry among their face. Dark circles took its place around her dark green eyes and her cheeks hollow. A very different face was housed in his memories but underneath her crazed look, she was still Rosie.
“Rosie, it’s me.” The mixture of his hot breath and the cold created clouds from his lips.

He reached out for her but she jerked from him. Her skin burning with the place his fingers had touched. Her brain creating an impulsive response to the sound of his voice and touch. “My name is Rose Margaret Everett born on February 14th 1919 in Brooklyn, New York to Florence and Theodore Everett.” Bucky straightened up, his expression turning from confusion to concerned as she repeated herself. “My name is Rose Margaret Everett born on February 14th 1919 in Brooklyn, New York to Florence and Theodore Everett. My name is Rose Margaret Everett born on February 14th 1919-“

Bucky’s heart sank in his chest as he listened to her words. His blood started to boil, this was not taking the right steps in curing someone’s brain from mind control. He knew because he had just spent the last six months clearing his own. Something wasn’t right and he was going to figure it out. He shot up from his knees and bolted out of the glass chamber. He marched himself right in front of Steve who had been standing off to the side to let Bucky do his thing. “They’re not helping her get better.”

Steve gave a heavy sigh, he felt for Bucky. He knew what it felt like to talk to the person you love and have them remember not a single thing involving them. He went through it twice, with Bucky and with Peggy and her Alzheimer’s. “I understand that this is a difficult situation but we can’t stay much longer. We will be compromised any minute now.”

“I’m not leaving her.” He pointed towards her, his eyes hardening, “I can help her.” He started to sift through the filing cabinets that were placed in the room around them. There had to be some kind of information involving the situation dealing with Rose. And he wasn’t going to stop until he found out how he could save her.

“Bucky,” Steve pleaded.

“Don’t ask me to leave her,” Bucky’s shoulders heaved, his eyes softening as he looked at his friend. His voice lowering as he whimpered, “I already did that once.”

Steve placed his hands on his hips as he glanced down at the ground, knowing that he was going to regret his decision. “Damnit.” Looking back up at Bucky, he nodded. “Fine. We’ll stay but the minute it gets too dicey, you and I will leave but mark my words we will come back.” He was all for trying to find a way to revive the old Rose, maybe it would help Bucky readjust to his new reformed life. The two could lean on each other, after all, the two of them were very similar.

Bucky nodded, it sounded fair enough. Although he would give up his life trying to find a way to bring her back to him. He just wasn’t ready to admit that to Steve. He dug through four drawers of files, looking up every so often to see if Steve had found anything interesting. After he reached the sixth drawer, he came across something that looked promising. He just needed more insight on what was going on; if they had intentions of reversing her effects than it should have been done by now. Even back when he was with HYDRA and back to somewhat being himself, he still remembered every kill and every interaction he had with officials that would give him a task. But not once did he ever remember hearing the name Fox being thrown around. Bringing the folder to the small circular desk, he took a seat and started reading. His eyes widened as he kept on reading in disbelief, “Steve,” his jaw tightening, “they aren’t helping her. They’re utilizing her.” Bucky glanced back at Rose, her mouth still moving with her eyes set in a daze.

He grabbed the document,



“She’s in there,” Bucky pointed to the glass walls, “because she’s their back up plan for when they want to terminate us.” He gritted his teeth and slammed his fist into the table, creating a loud smack. He repeated his actions again once the information set in. She was being kept against her will to be a backup plan for when things go south. Bucky stood up, his blood boiling. “She’s not supposed to be alive, she was supposed to get married, have kids, and live her life not-“ Bucky closed his eyes and locked his jaw, “-not be here with us. She’s not supposed to be here,” Bucky lowered his voice, looking at Steve, “Do you know how it feels to have electricity surge through your brain to train you to forget everything you know? And it only hurts worse when you do remember because you’ve gotta repeat the process over and over again.”

Steve stood in silence, he didn’t know what that felt like. He didn’t know how it felt to be an experimental guinea pig. All he knew was the pain he felt during the Super Soldier experiment and that was it. Every other kind of pain that was inflicted was battle wounds and those healed and after a while, he became numb to them. He watched Bucky return to Rose, he watched as he tried to get through to her.

“What is my name?”

It was the first time Rose had snapped out of her dazed look and looked straight into his eyes and for a moment Bucky thought they were making progress until she sounded like she had before. Robotic and scared, “James Buchanan Barnes, born March 10, 1917. Subject one of the Winter Soldier Project. Status; no threat as of now.”

Bucky shook his head, biting his lip, “What is my name?”

“James Buchanan Barnes-“

“-no!” He practically screamed, causing her brows to knit together. “What is my name, Rosie?”

“James Buch-“

“-damnit, Rose!” He moved closer to her confused face, he watched as she scanned over his face over and over again. Watching her as she tried to make sense of why he was telling her that she was wrong. It saddened him to see her so confused, why was this so hard for her? The minute Steve said his name, something inside of him snapped. Making him open his eyes, remembering but unsure of why he remembered Steve in the first place. Why was this not the same? Why couldn’t she remember? “Say my name.”

Rose stuttered, her mouth wanting to move but her brain too afraid to let the words come out of her mouth. She was staring right at James Buchanan Barnes but somehow she was wrong. Why? She had been drilled for almost two years about her possible targets in the future. She clamped her mouth shut, still confused why the man in front of her was telling her that she was wrong.

“Say. MY. Name.”

Steve couldn’t take it, he walked in, his voice low, “Bucky…”

“She needs to remember, I need her to remember.”