"I have no idea."
"I really... I don't know!"
Bucky, the Winter Soldier, was curled up tightly on the multi-purpose hospital bed, his hands clutching his head as if to prevent the raw, chaotic thoughts from escaping. His wide-open eyes were frantic, filled with a raw, agonizing confusion and fear.
A few meters away, Nolan sat calmly in a metal chair. His recently cut gray hair framed a face devoid of emotion. He held a cup of Tanna Tea, occasionally taking a slow, steady sip. At two meters tall, his strong, massive body cast a huge, unsettling shadow across the room under the bright clinical light.
A subtle hum from an anti-gravity engine filled the air. The servo-skull, Reditus, hovered dutifully behind Nolan. Red light flashed rapidly in its optical sockets, and its mechanical clamps twitched, expanding and contracting as if it were bursting with countless things to say. But it didn't dare interrupt its master's inquiry.
"Your full name is James Buchanan Barnes... your common name is Bucky Barnes. You were a veteran during World War II who resisted the Nazis... You were captured by the evil organization Hydra, and underwent human body modification and mental brainwashing..." The expressionless Nolan blinked his cyan wolf eyes, reciting the facts. He told the Winter Soldier his past experiences in a simple, clear, almost clinical way, listing the facts like a report.
"In the past few decades, you have been called the 'Winter Soldier' by them, and you have completely become a killer for Hydra, disrupting the world order... You have killed many innocent people in the past: old people, children, men, and women..."
Bucky, who was curled up on the hospital bed, suddenly snapped his head up. He opened his blood-red, tormented eyes and let out a raw, animalistic roar of pain and denial, gripping his scalp tightly.
The expressionless Nolan, however, showed no signs of alarm. He just picked up the cup of Tanna Tea in his palm and took a slow, unhurried sip. He didn't seem to care about the outburst at all.
"How dare you disrespect the Primarch! Damn heretic!"
The servo-skull Reditus drifted forward at once, its gravitic impeller whirring sharply. The small manipulator-tools along its underside folded away as a compact weapon port clicked open. A miniaturized laspistol assembly rotated into firing position, its targeting rune fixing precisely on Bucky's head.
"Lord Primarch, stop talking nonsense to him! Leave him to me! Let me kill him with one shot! If you want him alive, within three days, I promise to give you an obedient and powerful Combat Servitor!" Reditus's angry, mechanical voice echoed in Nolan's ears, sharp and accusatory.
Nolan narrowed his cyan wolf eyes, but his tone remained steady. He said slowly to the servo-skull, "If I just needed thugs, I would have asked you to transform some damn human criminals into Combat Servitors. Get out of here, Reditus. For the sake of your loyalty, we'll forget about you stealing Jessica weapon without permission. And remember to give David the blueprint."
"Uh... I understand, noble Primarch."
The servo-skull Reditus slowly floated aside, its momentum lost. It carefully retracted the miniaturized laspistol, which had clearly been creatively modified from several scavenged laspistols.
"Bucky. You owe a life to the innocent victims, and you owe countless blood debts to mankind as a whole. The reason I left you alive is, firstly, to understand the overall structure of the Hydra organization. Secondly, I think you still have the right to be saved. At least, you have the right to die heroically." Nolan drank the rest of the Tanna Tea in one gulp. He lowered his thick arms and set the empty glass down on the side table with a faint clink.
"My memory... my memory is too confusing. I remember all the murder. I... I actually remember them all..." Bucky, who had fallen silent, suddenly raised his chin. He stared at Nolan with his blood-red eyes and said, his voice raw, almost in a broken whisper, "I need a lot of time to sort out my memories and get rid of the mental control. If... if I lose control, I hope you can kill me! I don't want to become an puppet who only knows killing again!"
"I can promise you this. Those Hydras can't escape the confines of Earth, but don't let me wait too long." Nolan stood up slowly, his towering height dominating the room, his face still expressionless. He walked towards the outside of the medical room and said without looking back, "Welcome back to the real world, Bucky Barnes."
The servo-skull Reditus, floating aside, quickly engaged its anti-gravity engine and followed Nolan, buzzing impatiently. But before completely leaving, it stretched out a mechanical pincer and made a quick, threatening gesture towards Bucky, who was trapped in his painful memories.
"Old boy, pray you don't fall into my hands... Keh Keh Keh..."
"Ah! Sorry! Lord Primarch! I was wrong!" Reditus quickly corrected itself, realizing its master was still within earshot.
Outside the medical room door, Nolan, who subconsciously licked his fangs, folded his arms across his chest. He waited for the servo-skull Reditus to fly out of the metal gate. Then, he glanced at the thing floating up and down and asked indifferently, "Where's the blueprint for the copycat Terminator? What was originally a one-day mission was delayed by you for three days. It just so happens that I recently obtained a Necron C'tan Phase Sword, which is very useful for chopping metal..."
"Lord Primarch... do you want to hear the truth or a lie?" However, Servo-Skull Reditus seemed to immediately enter the calm, rational state of a Tech-Priest. It didn't care about Nolan's threats and teasing. Even its mechanical voice seemed to have lost any emotional fluctuation, turning flat and factual.
"Of course, the truth." Nolan slowly put away his teasing mentality. He narrowed his cyan wolf eyes. His expression became more serious, recognizing the shift in Reditus's tone.
"My Lord Primarch, your base can be described as having nothing. There is no forging furnace, no grinding production line, and no material inventory. Let alone adamantium, even the most basic ceramite and plasteel cannot be mass-produced."
"I, Reditus, am not one of those conservative factions that knows nothing without the guidance of prayer scriptures, but the conditions here are too harsh, are they not?"
"If I had everything, would I still need the help of a tech-priest like you?" Nolan couldn't help but frown. He stared at Reditus, whose red lights were flashing rapidly in its sockets.
Servo-skull Reditus shook its mechanical clamps back and forth, emphasizing its point. It drove its anti-gravity engine, slowly approached Nolan, and deliberately lowered its voice, saying, "My Lord Primarch, I am not complaining to you... but explaining a basic truth. All our major plans require the support of countless foundries and basic materials."
"In fact, if you just want to copy a Terminator power armor, you can barely complete it with your existing materials. You only need a large, ultra-high temperature forge and a little help from the heretic 'David'."
"Adamantium? No need. After smelting the remains of the metal alien , it can be used as the internal skeleton of the Terminator. The heavy metal shell can also be made of the local gold-titanium alloy. It is light and easier to replace..."
"But, my Lord Primarch... are you satisfied with this?"
After listening to Reditus's words, Nolan's eyes widened slightly in realization. He asked softly, "So... Reditus, what do you want to tell me?"
"Expansion! Lord Primarch! We need to expand quickly!" Reditus's mechanical voice suddenly regained its excitement, the pitch rising slightly. "As long as you give me a little permission, a powerful intelligence control army will appear in this world! It will be easy to conquer a complete planet for you!"
"The moon and other planets... will all be forge worlds in your palm!"
At that moment, Nolan's hand moved with lightning speed. He pulled out a plasma pistol and quickly pressed its still-hot muzzle against the white, bone forehead of the servo-skull.
"I find that you have been too active recently. Do you need to use plasma to wash your brain and calm down?"
"Lord Primarch... Lord, I... can't I fantasize occasionally?"