[Marvel] [Steve X Bucky] Life Is a Game

The Winter Soldier couldn't quite make sense of what was happening. He still remembered being in a Hydra building, undergoing the agonizing brainwashing procedure. The pain jolted his nerves and affected his retinas, blurring everything before his eyes. His consciousness and memories faded with the current, and only the pain etched into his bones told him what was happening. That was how he remembered being brainwashed, and the freezing that was supposed to come next. But there was no bone-chilling air or ice from his memories, nor any cramped iron chamber. Instead, warm sunlight fell on a lawn freshly watered by an automatic sprinkler system, and he smelled the refreshing scent of earth mingled with grass. What on earth had happened? A child came running over, tugging at Iron Man's helmet, or rather, a balloon shaped like Iron Man's helmet, and bumped into the Winter Soldier's thigh. The child let go, and the red-and-yellow balloon filled with hydrogen drifted slowly into the sky. Rubbing his head, the child looked up. Before he could say a word, the Winter Soldier's ice-cold stare left him frozen in place. Five seconds later, he burst into tears and ran off.