This is seriously amazing. The way you're building the tension here just kills me. Sam's voice is so grounded in good sense and dry humor—the pancake ration, the torture principles, the Darwin Award—even as the horror of the situation dawns on him. Sam watching Bucky's reunion with his torturers—like cracks all the way down to the bottom—is agonizing. And BUCKY, talking back, trying out something brand new, and being reduced so brutally to despair and docility—I CANNOT HANDLE IT. I am in love with your writing and my heart is in my throat for the next part of this.