The duo had immediately returned to Madripoor with Bucky in tow. Soon enough, they had arrived in Maxim's personal laboratory.
The lab was cloaked in dim, flickering lights that casted shadows all across it. Advanced medical equipment was softly humming as it monitored the unconscious man strapped to the steel table in the center of the room.
Bucky Barnes lay still, his breathing even but shallow. Thick supernatural restraints bound his wrists and ankles, reinforced enough to hold a God, let alone a Super-Soldier.
Steve looked from the transparent glass right outside the room, a vast array of emotions present on his face. His fists were clenched as his mind raced, thinking about all the possible reasons this could've happened.
Maxim stood against the far wall, arms crossed as he observed the restrained man with quiet scrutiny before Wanda entered the room.
"Can you do it?" Steve immediately said nervously, looking towards Wanda.
"Don't worry, I'll check his memories and free him of any brainwashing, leave it to me." Wanda said confidently, a crimson aura emitting from her body. She hadn't been training for nothing, over the months, her power level and skill had vastly improved.
Wanda immediately stepped into the room and moved towards Bucky, taking a deep breath and extending her fingers towards his temples, crimson tendrils of energy seeping into his skin and slipping into the depths of his consciousness.
The first thing she felt was darkness. Cold, endless, suffocating darkness.
Wanda landed in the middle of a vast, empty void. The air was thick with an oppressive silence, heavy like a graveyard filled with lost souls.
Then, suddenly,
~A FLASH!~
A dim, flickering light illuminated the scene before her. She stood in a small, dimly lit interrogation room. The walls were metal, slick with condensation. In front of her, strapped to a chair, was Bucky Barnes.
His face was bloodied, his eyes unfocused, his breathing ragged as he clearly wasn't fully aware of his surroundings. Soon enough, an emotionless, cruel voice spoke in Russian.
"Soldat, ready for activation."
The shadows around Wanda twisted, forming the ghostly outlines of Hydra scientists, their faces obscured but their presence suffocating. One of them stepped forward, holding a thick, leather-bound book.
The scientist opened it, voice monotone as he began reading from a list of words. ( In Russian! )
"Longing."
Bucky twitched. His breath hitched, his fingers tightening into fists as he listened to the words spoken.
"Rusted."
He shuddered violently, his body convulsing against the restraints.
"Furnace."
A strangled gasp left his lips. His eyes glazed over, his resistance crumbling.
"Daybreak."
"Seventeen."
"Benign."
"Nine."
"Homecoming."
"One."
"Freight Car."
A metallic click echoed through the room.
Bucky's expression went completely blank. His breathing slowed. He was gone.
Wanda felt bile rise in her throat as she watched the scene unfold, the sheer brutality of it shaking her to the core. The shadows whispered around her, replaying countless missions, countless assassinations, each one burned into Bucky's mind like a scar that would never fade.
She gritted her teeth, her crimson energy flaring as she focused.
"No more," she whispered, the world around her shattering like glass.
~GASP~
Bucky gasp, his hurried looks scanning around hurriedly. He recognized the environment immediately, he was back in the interrogation room, but this time, something was different.
The shadows around him recoiled, as if sensing an intruder. Wanda stepped forward, her energy pulsating through the void. He blinked, confusion flickering across his face. "Who…?"
"You're Bucky Barnes," Wanda said firmly, "Not the Winter Soldier. Bucky."
He flinched at the name, as though it was foreign to him. His metal hand clenched into a fist as he tried to understand what was going on, if anything was even real, a feeling of weightlessness taking over his mind.
Wanda reached out, crimson tendrils weaving through the chains that bound him. She focused, pulling, unraveling the dark influence Hydra had embedded deep within his soul.
The shadows screamed in protest.
Hydra's conditioning fought back, images flashing before her eyes, orders, kill commands, the pain of defying them. But Wanda pushed forward, her will unwavering.
"You are not their puppet," she said, her voice layered with undeniable power. "You are James Buchanan Barnes. A soldier. A friend. Not a weapon."
Bucky gritted his teeth, his body shaking violently. The chains around his wrists trembled, then snapped, a ragged gasp escaped him as his eyes widened, clarity returning to them for the first time in decades.
Wanda staggered back as the void collapsed, the darkness fading, replaced by a blinding white light,
And then.
Reality
***
Meanwhile, outside the lab, Maxim leaned against the wall as he watched Wanda work, noticing Steve standing rigidly as he saw what was happening, internally praying everything worked out well.
Time seemed to pass by agonizingly slow, and soon, Steve grew nervous, "How long is this going to take?"
Maxim didn't look away from the scene inside, "As long as it needs to."
Steve shot him a sharp glare, "That's not an answer."
Maxim finally turned his head slightly, studying the Captain with an expression of quiet scrutiny, "No, it's a fact. Wanda is unraveling decades of conditioning, trauma, and manipulation. If she moves too fast, she risks losing him entirely. If she moves too slow, Hydra's influence might fight back and reinforce itself. It's a delicate balance."
Steve's jaw tightened, his blue eyes flickering between Maxim and Bucky. "I just... I can't believe it. He cut himself off, swallowing down the lump in his throat, "Damn it."
The door to the lab hissed open, and Natasha stepped inside, her sharp eyes flicking between the two of them before settling on Bucky's restrained form. She let out a slow breath. "Damn," she muttered. "So it's true."
Steve turned to her, surprised,"You knew about this?"
Natasha folded her arms, "Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exist, the ones that do called him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two ( 2 ) dozen assassinations over the last...50 years. Five years ago I ran into him."
She said, raising up her top to reveal a scar near her waist, "She shot the guy I was protecting, straight through me.....Bye Bye Bikinis!"
Steve took a short moment to comprehend what was said before finally asking, "You knew about this, didn't you?" He said as he looked towards Maxim.
Maxim exhaled, nodding. "I did," he admitted,"I just didn't know when we'd run into him… or how bad it would be."
"How long have you known?" Steve asked.
Maxim met his gaze evenly, "Since before I met either of you. Hydra's influence went alot deeper than either of you think you'know."
Steve just sighed, turning his gaze back to Wanda, "I just can't believe he's been alive all this time and I never knew anything. Feels so strange, I thought basically everyone I knew was dead, and I didn't expect to meet someone from back then like this."
Maxim and Natasha just remained silent, allowing him to reminisce on his past before suddenly...
Bucky's body tensed violently—
Then relaxed.
His breathing evened out. His expression softened.Then, his eyes fluttered open.
Steve took a step forward, his heart hammering.
"Bucky?"