Thorax was lucky that he didn’t survive off love anymore. If he did, HYDRA would’ve starved him after a week. Now, thanks to Morgan, he’d survived four months without a single drop of love. Thanks, maybe, but not love.
Life at HYDRA wasn’t too different, then, from his childhood home.
Thorax grew up in a hive. A big, dark hive full of holes and glowing green chitin on the walls. Patrols happened there too. Thorax and a group of his fellow changelings flew around the Hive, and the terrain outside to search for any possible foes or food. Those found were brought back to the Hive for harvesting.
The screams weren’t so different. Queen Chrysalis liked to hear them fight back- to hear the weakness of their prey, even as they were drained of every ounce of love and life. Over and over again.
His mother was queen of the hive, of the changelings. She gave birth to all of them. Chrysalis told her children that the only place they would ever get love was from their prey. Mother of the year material, really.
She wanted ruthless killers.
Thorax wanted his wife back.
He thought he got out of that life. Days with Morgan, with their family, it made thinking about his childhood suck less.
Now, Thorax is stuck in that same cycle. Wake up, go on patrol, hurt fellow creatures, mealtime, and lights out. That same cycle, over and over. His entire childhood in a nutshell. Hurting people. Hearing screams, because they enjoyed hearing their victims scream. No break in routine. No change allowed or welcome.
But Morgan inspired Thorax to change once.
He wasn’t ever going back.
==TCD==
Thorax went through his days in a routine.
Wake up to the alarms.
March in line behind other HYDRA soldiers.
Go on patrol.
Watch the prisoners.
See which ones are weakest, which ones need to leave sooner rather than walk into death.
Go on another patrol.
Meal time.
Another patrol.
Lights out.
This routine was broken very rarely. Usually, for understandable circumstances. If a prisoner needed to leave that very day, Thorax worked his hardest to get them out. He, and only he, managed it.
The other prisoners were nervous to trust him. Thorax couldn’t blame them. One look at the six armed monster on his coat reminded him why everyone should keep a wide berth.
But one prisoner agreed. One asked to escape. So, Thorax worked to get him free.
He unlocked him from his cell. A guard asked where he was going, and Thorax answered that Doctor Zola needed another patient. The guard let him go without another word.
Thorax snuck him out. Under the cover of darkness of night, and using his own magic sparingly to better get them free. Thorax managed to get them out from the perimeter of the factory, giving them directions to the closest village. He couldn’t sneak away supplies for them, or anything that could be properly counted. The higher ups cared more for how much things they used over time, instead of the count for the dead.
Four months of this routine. 29 men saved by Thorax. It wasn’t much, but Thorax reminded himself that he was short of options.
He hadn’t heard of any prisoners being found. Alive or dead. That’s the only assurance Thorax had for this working. If they found a dead prisoner, surely Thorax would’ve heard them bragging about it.
And they liked to brag about it. All the time. It made it hard to sleep, or eat, when everyone around you was only talking about how especially disgusting the prisoners were today.
Thorax walked his usual hallway on his patrol. As he marched, Thorax heard the sounds of a truck coming in. The HYDRA base usually got daily deliveries of supplies and more HYDRA soldiers, or more materials for Zola in his lab.
He’d been getting more and more of them, lately. Thorax heard whispers of why. Soldiers talked about another super soldier- the American flag wearing mascot that mostly the other soldiers just laughed at. Thorax laughed too, desperate not to get outed and put those prisoners at more risk.
It gave him hope, though. Captain America. Steve Rogers. Him being a super soldier meant the movie was happening. It meant that events were progressing.Thorax was- in theory- getting closer to Morgan. Thorax hadn’t heard of any fighting, though, so the movie progressed slowly.
Zola took more and more materials in the past month. Thorax noticed the number of prisoners being brought to Zola were on the rise.
Thorax glanced out the window. He hoped Morgan was hiding in the back. Hoped, dreaded, it really depended on the day. He never wanted Morgan to see this place. He also wanted her to save him.
The truck opened. HYDRA soldiers kicked out prisoners.
Thorax sighed. Great. Humanity sucked.
==TCD==
Down below, Thorax held up his gun. He pointed it at the new prisoners. He prayed that there wouldn’t be an order to shoot. The prisoners were organized into groups. They kept a specific system, and number. This gave him the perfect spot to overhear a certain Colonel.
“Do you know why the Reich is destined to win this war, Corporal?” Colonel Lohmer called out.
“Surely the advanced arsenal developed here by HYDRA will turn the tide in our favor, Colonel Lohmer?” The Corporal replied.
“Oh that helps- make no doubt, that helps. But that merely speeds the inevitable.” Colonel Lohmer said. “The Reich shall win because we are unified. In blood as in purpose. While our enemies are the polyglot peasants of Europe and the mongrel masses of North America. You see, then, the genius of splitting up the prisoners by nationality when they arrive. They cannot turn against us while they are at each other’s throats. And hatred does so focus them at their work.”
The Corporal barked out orders. Thorax raised his gun, aiming them at the group. He guided them deep inside the HYDRA base.
==TCD==
In the cells, prisoners were put into their cells.
“In your kennel, dogs!” A HYDRA soldier ordered.
Thorax watched them march. Once it was full, Thorax locked it shut. The prisoners looked around at each other. Thorax made to leave, only to be stopped.
The soldier at the door nodded. “Keep watch of them.”
Thorax blanched. “But my prisoners route is tonight-”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m saying you are here now.” The soldier ordered. “We’ve never had this many dogs in here. We need all the help we can get. You’re not the only one we’re bringing in.”
“I’m not?” That worried Thorax. His escape routes usually worked because so few HYDRA soldiers patrolled here at night. If more were assigned to watch, it threw a wrench in his plans. “How many others? Who’s being moved here for watch duty?”
The soldier eyed Thorax. His face turned into a stern frown. “What’s with all the questions, Price?”
Thorax gulped. “Just- just-” His face heated up. He’d always been a shit liar. Fearing for his life and the lives of others made it worse. “I’m just- making sure it’s all good. Cause I don’t want- uh- don’t want-”
“To do more work?” The soldier snapped.
“No! No sir! I want to work!”
“You want to work?”
“Yes sir.”
“Then work, Price, unless you wanna end up in there with them!” The soldier ordered.
Thorax nodded. He fell in line, taking a stand at his newly enforced post. His chest pounded fiercely. Blood rushed through his ears. It felt like Thorax could burst into flames, so angry was he.
He wanted to punch that soldier so bad. To punch every member of HYDRA in this fucking place. Thorax wanted to turn into a dragon, and burn everything down. Or maybe a bear and tear them apart with his claws.
But he couldn’t. Not without risking the prisoners behind him. Other humans, ones that HYDRA wanted to conquer. If killing these people meant killing the prisoners too, then Thorax kept himself in check.
“Dugan. Me and Jimmy, here, ‘re with the Fighting Irish of the 69th.” One man said, in a thick American accent. “New York freakin’ city. Hope you don’t got a problem with that.”
“Jones.” Said another man. “Macon, Georgia. 92nd Infantry. All black. All proud.”
“Falsworth.” A British man introduced himself. “Of the Birmingham Falsworths. That’s in England.”
“Yeah, thanks. Your nose scrapin’ the ceiling kinda gave it away.” Dugan snarked.
“I am...what is left of His Majesty’s 3rd Independent Parachute Brigade.” Falsworth explained.
“Dernier.” Said a Frenchman. “My people were resisting the Nazi occuipiers in marseilles.”
Thorax listened in, made himself do it. If he were to properly guard, he would need to know who these people were. They were going to be put to work by morning. That’s what happened to most prisoners. Even if they didn’t last long, Thorax would watch them. Guard them. Then, when it was quieter, Thorax would give the same offer he gave all the rest.
They would still reject him. They always did. But Thorax hoped it would go better this time.
Dugan snorted. “Hey Jones.”
“What’s that, Dugan?”
“You know how many Frenchmen it takes to defend Paris?”
“How many, Dugan?”
“I dunno. They never tried.” Dugan joked.
Thorax winced. He couldn’t see who threw the first punch, but he could guess. The group behind him started throwing punches all around. As they started fighting, other prisoners fought in their cells. Thorax glanced over his shoulder to his fellow soldier. The man was grinning, snickering to himself. Like these people fighting each other brought him such joy, that he couldn’t contain it inside himself.
Humanity sucked.
==TCD==
The phone beeped.
“The number you are trying to reach-”
Thorax ended the call. He held the phone right, squeezing it in his hand. “Hey, Morgan, it’s me. Again. Leaving a message seemed useless, cause all I would get is the disconnect line again.”
No sound from the phone.
Thorax checked around the space. No soldiers. The sleeping quarters were as quiet as they could be at this time.
He’d barely managed to sneak away for this. Thorax couldn’t be more relieved, this tiny sliver of time to call her. Only for the phone not to connect. He’d been robbed of her voice. Thorax tried for weeks- months? How was he supposed to tell?
He still tried. Every day. One of these times, it would work. It had to work.
“I don’t even know what I’m doing.” Thorax slumped on his bed, staring up at the bunk above him. “This place is- it’s hell. People are being hurt and I can’t do anything to stop it. I’m trying to help, I swear I am but- but nobody trusts me when I look like fucking HYDRA.”
No reply. No reassurance. No stories about their life together, in all the ways that Thorax grew since he left the Hive. He needed to hear these things. To have someone else say they were wrong, that Thorax wasn’t a terrible person for what he was doing. He didn’t even want to be doing it.
Thorax sniffled. He reached up, wiping his cheeks and nose on his sleeve. “You would convince them. You’d have them eating out of your hand. You’ve always been good at that.”
Morgan would walk up to the prisoners. She’d say only a few words, just the barest bit of kindness, and they would throw themselves at her feet. Not only that, Morgan would’ve made a foolproof escape plan. Not even Thorax could ruin it. He’d bumble it somehow, he was sure.
“It’s my favorite thing about you.” Thorax sucked in a pained breath, clenching his teeth. “I miss it. Actually I- I miss you.”
He heard a noise. Thorax startled. He turned off the bed, shifting with a green flash into a fly. He buzzed out.
==TCD==
His whole routine changed, with the command to watch the prisoners. He’d been basically following them around to and from their cell. He thought he recognized one of them. Thorax just couldn’t remember how he knew him.
Morgan made notes about him, Thorax told himself. That was a sure fact. One of the important ones- she’d met the face before, but not this guy personally. It was a big deal. She made a big deal out of it.Thorax should remember him. Humans just looked so alike! Could he be blamed? On his planet, creatures were different sizes and colors. Humans were either light skinned or dark skinned.
Thorax hated his reasoning here. He really, really hated it. The only way he could tell these humans apart were by their accents. Dugan, Jimmy, and Jones and their accents came with different kinds of thickness. Dugan’s was a drawl. Jones reminded him of Morgan, actually. Jimmy never talked without coughing or shivering.
Maybe it was a good thing that Morgan wasn’t here. Thorax the shapeshifter couldn’t spot the differences in people. She would make jokes about Thorax forgetting this human. Or she would feel bad, like she hadn’t done enough for Thorax. Fuck, the idea that Thorax could have upset her devestated him.
He turned a blind eye to it. He let himself be distant, allowing his body to go on a sort of autopilot.
“American, look out!” Colonel Lohman shouted.
Thorax snapped around.
He watched a prisoner bump his cart of large shell casings into another prisoner. It sent the casings tumbling to the floor in mighty clunks and bangs.
Thorax swore under his breath.
“DUMMKOPF!” Colonel Lohman shouted.
As he shouted, the rest of the floor went silent. Though the prisoners had only been here for two days, they all learned very fast to not anger the Colonel. Most of the prisoners that made Lohman angry ended up limping the rest of their short stay. Many others prisoners were beaten to the point of death.
Thorax watched it.
There were many days he swallowed down bile.
“Sorry about that, Fritzie-” Jimmy coughed from the floor. His American accent was still thick. Not as thick as Dugan’s, but thick. Familiar, too. It’d been months since Thorax saw the movie that he only half paid attention to in the first place. “-can’t quite shake this damn- cough- think I caught pneumonia on the battlefield.”
Colonel Lohman lifted up one of the fallen shell casings.
Thorax was already wincing.
“You wouldn’t happen to have a -cough- doctor in this dump-”
“We do.” Lohman brought the casing down. It hit Jimmy on the back, sending him down to the ground. The casing rattled with the movement. “I am him.”
“JIMMY!” Dugan lashed out. Thorax moved fast, holding the man back. The prisoner kicked at Thorax. Thorax braced himself. “You dirty-”
“Don’t.” Thorax whispered.
Another heavy rattling sound. The prisoner groaned in pain with each hit. The groaning always started a new coughing fit.
Dugan shoved at him again. Thorax pushed him.
“And this is the cure for what ails you!” Lohman shouted. He raised the casing again. And again. And again.
Thorax held tight to Dugan. He swore he’d regret this forever, as soon as he remembered Jimmy.
==TCD==
Thorax slammed the cell closed. He took his normal post. He kept a close watch of Jimmy and Dugan. Jimmy, for his worsened injury, and Dugan, worried that the buffer man would start another fight out of worry for his friend.
Jones was looking Jimmy over. The cells were small and cramped. The only thing to sit on was a long bench. It gave the prisoners more to fight over. Less reason to work together this way, after all. Fighting over the one ‘not ground’ place kept humans bickering for ages. The prisoners locked up with Jimmy gave it to the ailing man.
“Well. I’d say it was walking pneumonia, except the contusions and broken ribs have taken care of the ‘walking’ part.” Jones told the other men. “If Fritzie makes him work tomorrow, I guarantee he won’t last his shift.”
“That bastard Lohman won’t think twice about it! He gives slave drivers a bad name!” Dugan snapped. He punched the bars of their cell. The metal clanged.
The same kind of clang from earlier. The multiple beatings Jimmy took from Colonel Lohman. A shiver crawled up Thorax’s spine.
“Kleiber has morning shifts- and he at least is partly human.” Dernier said.
“But then Lohman comes on the floor at noon! He’ll drag Jimmy outta here, and then he’s kaput!” Dugan ranted.
Thorax turned to the group. He punched the bars. It clanged. The prisoners jumped back, creating a barricade around Jimmy. “Hey! Watch it. You guys are luckier than you know!”
Dugan lashed out at them. Jones grabbed him, holding him back.
Thorax shook his head. He’d been watching these men for only a few days. How did he already get this attached? Thorax paid attention to them. He learned things about them. “Do you know how many demolition experts we let work so close to shell casings and gunpowder? Not many. Just you.”
The prisoners eyed him, confused.
“And you, Falsworth, do you know that equipment you work on? It’s our best. It’s been with this factory for years- decades even. No matter the wear or tear, it keeps on going.”
The British man perked up. A familiar look in his eye, the man stroking his chin as he watched Thorax talk.
“Not to mention that none of you stand a chance against Colonel Lohman alone.” Thorax added. “Not unless you put your all into it.”
“Who are you, again?” Jones asked.
“The only soldier here in charge of keeping you alive.” Thorax made a point to glance at another soldier, some ways away from them all. That soldier was enjoying a game of keep away with some meals, and seasoning them with the dirt under his boot. “All of you.”
“And what, we’re just supposed to believe he ain’t gonna rat us out?” Dugan scoffed. “He’s a good for nothing Fritz.”
Thorax nodded. “He’s right. Too many men died under my watch. That’s on me. I’m not gonna lose another one. Okay? So whatever you gotta do to keep Jimmy alive, do it.”
He walked away from their cells. Despite his new routine, he did still have a patrol route to finish. And let the men think about what Thorax has said, let it stew in their heads.
With Dugan’s stubborn streak, Jimmy might have a chance.
==TCD==
The next day brought them all back to the factory. Thorax purposefully left Jimmy behind for rest. He’d made a show of calling out for him, telling Lieutenant Kleiber that the prisoner was unable to stand up for his shift. Kleiber understood, letting Thorax and Jimmy off for now.
Thorax watched the prisoners walk. Nothing odd about their steps, all of them falling into routines as if naturally. Thorax watched Falsworth get a piece of paper from Dugan, along with Falsworth collecting a powercell from Jones.
The two items were casually passed along to Dernier.
Dernier nodded at Falsworth.
Thorax hid a grin.
These humans were insane
Just like Thorax liked them.
A loud shout boomed across the factory. Over the sounds of metal grinding and wheels turning, Colonel Lohman’s command came clear as crystal. This man- if he could even be called that- wasn’t the sort of insane Thorax liked.
“Kleiber! I don’t see that clumsy oaf- #56898!” Lohmer scolded.
“He is very sick, Herr Lohmer.” Kleiber reported obediently. “Incapable of work-”
“I’ll be the judge of that, Lieutenant!” Lohmer snapped.
Thorax reminded himself to stay contained. If he broke now, everything they were working so hard on would collapse.
“That lazy good-for-nothing will die at his post if he has to!” Lohman ranted. He started walking towards the dungeons. “I’ll drag him out of his cell myself-”
“Let’s go, Britisher!” Kleiber ordered. Falsworth gave a polite salute. “We need that scrap across the floor now! Schnell!”
“Right-o, Lt Kleiber, sir!” Falsworth worked a large crane. A crane with a very old chain, that might’ve been exposed to heat via a certain Frenchman.
Falsworth used the crane. It lifted up a large pile of metal, of sharp scrap burnt and twisted into ugly points, of burnt ends that would cause pain should they ever break skin, of large metal components that could crush any bone if thrown hard enough.
The chain snapped.
Pity, it seems, that Lohmer happened to be passing below it. Without so much as a scream. That is to say, if there was a scream, nobody could hear it over the loud metal clunking on the ground.
The workers cheered.
Thorax showed off his smile.
==TCD==
“Hey, hey Jimmy, that creep Lohmer ain’t gonna bother you or anyone else no more.” Dugan cheered, as Thorax locked the five men back in their shared cell. “They can’t tell it wasn’t anything other than old equipment, so we just gotta go without rations for a week. It was worth it just to hear that bastard howl, Jimmy-boy.”
Jimmy groaned. He sat up on the bench, glaring at Dugan. “Blast it, Dugan, you dum-dum! How many times I gotta tell you? No one- and I mean no one- calls me ‘Jimmy’.”
“Your mama named you James, didn’t she?”
“James Buchanan Barnes. That’s why they call me Bucky.” He explained, exhausted and tired like he’d done it a hundred times.
Thorax stared at the man. Realization physically lit up his eyes. The change literally gave them a glow. Thorax coughed, shaking his head to dim the obvious shine.
By the Queen...holy fucking shit...Morgan is not gonna believe this shit
==TCD==
They tried to help. By all that was holy, they tried to help. Bucky was already in a bad way. The week without rations didn’t help him at all. He couldn’t do his work. Anyone that couldn’t do the work ended up with Zola.
Thorax knew this one. He knew him, of him. The Winter Soldier. Captain America’s best friend. Bucky Barnes. In the full and unbroken flesh.
Morgan brought Thorax to see the movie on a date. She’d already watched it, of course, with the kids and some of her friends. The second time was purely for enjoyment. Perfect for a date. Thorax definitely enjoyed it.
Holy shit how did he forget what Bucky Barnes’ face.
Thorax watched the prisoners most of his day. He’d been assigned one patrol outside of that, before lights out. The route went by Doctor Zola. Thorax stood guard outside the door. Most of the time, nobody came by or noticed him. Just him, only the screams to keep him company.
Today was one such day. Every shout and yell made his stomach roll. Each yell from Bucky reminded Thorax of the torture to come. Bucky’s screams in the chair as his mind got wiped, reset back to the Winter Soldier.
A phone rang.
Zola answered it. “Yes?”
Thorax strained his ears. All he could hear through the walls was a dulled murmuring.
“Oh yes, yes, I am working on a new- what?” Zola paused. “You stupid- how could you bungle this?! Touch nothing!”
Thorax straightened up at his post. Zola stormed out of his lab. He pointed a warning finger at Thorax.
“Keep watch on it!” Zola ordered.
Thorax nodded. Quickly, he corrected into the ‘hail HYDRA’ pose.
Zola rushed off down the hall. He muttered about foolish, idiotic soldiers.
Thorax hesitated. He waited until being absolutely sure that Zola was gone. The coast clear, Thorax snuck into the lab.
Bucky was laid out on the metal table. His limbs held down by leather straps, digging in the exposed skin. Two thick straps held down his chest and waist. Bright lights were fixed overhead, shining down on his face.
“Oh! Oh. It’s- oh.” Thorax gulped. He looked around the lab. Shelves and shelves of equipment, of organic and inorganic material. “Bucky? Bucky, are you there?”
Bucky blinked. “Barnes, James Buchanan. Sergeant. 32557038.”
Thorax winced. “Bucky, come on. It’s Thor-” He bit his tongue. “Theo Price. Remember?”
“Barnes, James Buchanan. Sergeant-”
“You’re just gonna repeat that, aren’t you?” Thorax nodded.
“-32557038.”
“Yep. Repeat.” Thorax let out a long breath. He stepped away, reaching up to his head. He scratched his head.
He wanted to scream. Yell. All of it. He screwed this up. Thorax should have kept Bucky safe. Now, Bucky was literally being tortured by HYDRA. This can’t have been what was supposed to happen. Thorax gave them the idea to rebel against Lohmer, and it led Bucky into this place.
It’s all his fault.
He’d ruined the movie. Morgan was never gonna-
A very specific pocket in his pants buzzed.
Thorax jumped back. He stared at his leg, shocked.
It buzzed again.
“Shit!” Thorax reached for his phone. It kept buzzing. “Umm. I gotta take this?”
Bucky stared, confused but still angry.
“Cool. You wait there.” Thorax pulled out the phone. Her name showed up on the screen.
He stepped to the side in the room, into a darker corner. It gave him a decent view of a window.
She was calling. She was calling. She was calling.
Thorax answered.
“Morgan?”
“THORAX!” Thorax winced, flinching from the phone. Yep, that was her. Her worried, panicked, excited voice like she was already going a hundred miles a minute. “I AM SO FUCKING SORRY! I MISSED YOUR CALLS! I MISSED ALL OF THEM! OH THAT’S TOTALLY ME- TAKE ONE LITTLE NAP AND EVERYTHING GOES TO SHIT!”
“A nap? You took a nap?” Thorax asked, relaxing against the wall. Even her most panicked voice was calming him down. “For this long?”
“Drugs might have been used.”
“You were DRUGGED?!”
“Pepper got worried when I stop sleeping after 45 hours! Which is stupid, because I can go 72 without sleep before I hallucinate-”
“And so they made you sleep for months?” Thorax gawked. She’d never been that sleep deprived in their lifetimes. Did something bad happen? Like, really bad?
“I was very busy- wait MONTHS?!”
“Yes? I’ve been calling you for months now.” Thorax explained. “Months of you missing the calls. And you were in a coma? Are you okay? Was something wrong, really wrong? Are you okay? You need to tell me if you’re okay. Is Lilac okay?!”
“MONTHS?”
“Yes! Are you-”
“Oh no. Oh nononono. Months? You said months. How many months?”
“Why do I have to tell you? Can’t you just-”
“Tell me right now how many months you have been in HYDRA! Right now, Mister!”
Thorax huffed. He leaned back, resting his head on the wall. “Four.”
“FOUR MONTHS?! HOLY SHIT! How is that- that’s time compression! Classic! Oh I’ve not worked with THAT before!”
“Morgan-”
“It’s exciting! The ratio might need to be altered a bit, but that’s incredible!”
“Morgan I really-”
“Just think about that! It’s cool. This is cool. I mean, the same thing happens when traveling. My Earth versus whatever Earth I go to. So...maybe not so cool.”
“Yeah, no it’s not. Listen-”
“It’s boring. It’s just more of the same. Drat. Why did I get excited over it?”
“I am in Nazi Germany with HYDRA.” Thorax reminded her, snapping furiously and with four months suppressed frustration bubbling out from his chest.
“...oh yeah. Right. Sorry, Thorax.”
Thorax sighed. He needed to calm down. Being angry at Morgan wouldn’t help. And it would only make Thorax feel guilty when the call ended. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine. You aren’t here.”
“Yeah, yeah I’m not.” Thorax looked out the window. It showed some of the factory below. Another shift of prisoners working on the Valkyrie ship. “I wanna be.”
“You’re not here, and you’ve been alone for months. Literally, four months. And it’s not fair.”
“Yeah, I already said-”
“For me it’s been four days.”
Thorax sat up. He pushed himself off the wall, stepping out from the corner. “Four days.”
“Maybe five. I’m not exactly checking clocks...Nevermind, it’s been exactly four days, 13 hours, and ten minutes. For me, at least. In the present.”
“Four DAYS?!” Thorax yelped.
Bucky groaned in pain.
Thorax gasped. He covered his mouth with his hand, gawking at Bucky.
“Who’s there?!”
“Bucky.” Thorax gulped. “Bucky Barnes.” Silence. “Starry, are you there-”
“You’re in the same room as Bucky Barnes. Alone.” Her voice was off. Not happy, or giddy, hell not even a deadpan. She sounded suspicious. Paranoid. Worried.
Oh, Thorax understood it. Bucky was never alone at HYDRA. Not until the parts where he was tortured. Morgan assumed that after four months away, Thorax fell into habits from the Hive. She really thought he fell so low.
“Yes. Alone. Because- believe it or not- everywhere else is crawling with HYDRA people that would kill me if they knew!” Thorax snapped. “And I have been hiding from them all for four months! Hiding my phone, hiding how I think every single one of them is disgusting and everything about them is wrong! I’ve been hiding all of it- and it sucks! It sucks so fucking much that I can’t hold on forever, and I’m gonna turn into a bear and maul them all to death the next time they kill one of these innocent people! I can’t save them all! I’ve been trying! 29 guys- I got 29 guys out! I did all of that alone because your bullshit powers decided to drop me off here instead of somewhere normal!”
Another groan.
Thorax paled. He looked over at the strapped down soldier. “Uhh.”
“You...” Bucky grunted, straining against the straps to tilt his head. Thorax walked over to his side, looking down at him. Bucky met the stare. “You’re...nicer...than HYDRA.”
Thorax nodded. “Um. Thanks?”
Bucky strained against the straps. “Help-”
They both stopped. They heard footsteps echoing from the hall.
“I promise, I’ll do what I can. I swear.” Thorax told him.
Bucky nodded. “Yeah. Yeah okay.”
Thorax checked his phone again. The call line ended. Had Thorax hung up? Or was that- that time thing that ended it? No time to think. Thorax needed to get back to his post before Zola arrived.
Tonight. Thorax told himself. I’ll break him out tonight. Movie plot be damned. He needs help, and I’m going to actually try this time.
==TCD==
In the sky, far away from the HYDRA factory, a plane of only three passengers were having a wonderful conversation about fondue.