After a while, once he'd toyed with Bucky enough, Kurogai slowly opened the golden portal, allowing Bucky to fall back to the ground.
As expected, the moment Bucky landed, he immediately keeled over and vomited violently. This was far more intense than any roller coaster. The relentless falling had shaken even the Winter Soldier, leaving him completely drained.
It took a long time before Bucky finally recovered, staggering to his feet, a flicker of fear in his eyes. This time, though, he didn't attack as soon as he regained his balance. Instead, he took a wary step back.
The Winter Soldier was genuinely terrified of Kurogai's methods.
"What… what did you do to me?" Bucky demanded, his voice thick with dread. That endless freefall had left a scar on his psyche, one he never wanted to revisit.
"Want to go again, Winter Soldier?" Kurogai asked, taking a step forward, a teasing grin on his face.
Bucky's expression changed. He instinctively took a step back.
"No. I refuse," he gritted out, the memory still fresh, a sense of helplessness lingering.
For the first time since HYDRA had brainwashed him, Bucky felt something foreign: fear. Even more startling, the thought of abandoning a mission crossed his mind. This was unheard of. Ever since his transformation into the Winter Soldier, the only thing Bucky knew was how to follow orders. The word "retreat" had never existed in his mind. Yet now, standing in front of Kurogai, it did.
This would become one of the few exceptions in his life. The only other person who could have driven him to defy HYDRA was his lifelong friend, Steve Rogers. But that would be in the future. Right now, this man standing before him had left a mark deep enough to shake the Winter Soldier's resolve.
Even a self-proclaimed god of mischief like Loki had hated the sensation of infinite falling. For Bucky, it was worse — especially since Kurogai had taken it a step further.
"Alright, Bucky, you're coming with me," Kurogai said coldly. "We're going to tear HYDRA apart. From this moment on, you'll follow my orders until every last one of them is dead."
His gaze sharpened, and in an instant, the symbol of the Geass appeared in Kurogai's eye.
He'd vented enough for now and left Bucky with a memory he'd never forget. There was no need for further games. It was time to deal with HYDRA.
Since they had the audacity to send Bucky after him, they would pay for it.
They thought the Winter Soldier was their ace in the hole, that this mission was foolproof. Fine. Kurogai would flip the script. He would use their so-called trump card to hunt them down. He would show HYDRA the meaning of despair.
They dared strike at him the moment he returned to New York, and their first move was targeting those close to him. If not for the protective magic Kurogai had left on Skye, she might already be dead. That had completely ignited his fury.
He swore he would make HYDRA pay in the most brutal way possible.
And on that, his resolve had never wavered.
To be honest, Kurogai had never felt this much killing intent toward a person or organization. Not even when Whitehall provoked him had he been this enraged.
"I understand," Bucky said tonelessly. "The only mission now is to destroy HYDRA."
Once the Geass took hold, Bucky no longer had a choice.
What followed was simple. Though Bucky typically followed orders without thought, he knew where HYDRA's bases were. Under his guidance, Kurogai took him to a remote mountainous area. Beneath its seemingly desolate surface lay a hidden HYDRA base.
"Winter Soldier, start the mission," Kurogai ordered with a grim smile, eyes filled with killing intent.
He hadn't seen a scene like this in years. The last time was when he had crushed Whitehall. It seemed HYDRA was addicted to courting death.
(I intentionally left it as 'Courting death', hehe)
But after tonight, they wouldn't get another chance.
"Yes, annihilate HYDRA," Bucky said sharply. He gripped his weapon tightly and made his way toward the base.
At the gate, surveillance systems registered Bucky's return and opened the doors without hesitation. This was standard procedure — the Winter Soldier would complete a mission, then return to be frozen until needed again.
But this time was different.
A HYDRA captain approached him. "Soldier, return to your position," the man ordered.
Normally, Bucky would have complied, entering cryogenic sleep to await his next assignment. Unfortunately for them, this time the Winter Soldier raised his sniper rifle and, without a second of hesitation, pulled the trigger.
Bang!
A single shot. A drop of blood. The captain dropped, a neat hole in his forehead, never understanding why the Winter Soldier, their perfect assassin, would suddenly turn on them.
"Alert! The Winter Soldier has gone rogue! Take him down!" someone shouted through the intercom.
HYDRA soldiers rushed in from every direction, weapons raised. But what they didn't know was that the Winter Soldier, freed of his leash, was a reaper in human form.
This time, Bucky unleashed his full power. He tore through the HYDRA troops like a whirlwind of death, a bloodbath in motion.
If Bucky hadn't shown his full capabilities when fighting Kurogai, now he did — brutal, relentless, unstoppable.
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I went to check if we hit 100 Powerstones (so I could drop some bonus chapters)… and got hit with a shock instead,
So yeah… no bonus chapter for now (-_-;)