As far as he knew, Barnes had been given the serum and experimented on, but then shipped to another facility. The Winter Soldier had to have time to adapt, though Zola still seemed skeptical that Barnes was a worthwhile investment at this point. He had a feeling the guy's time with the doctor was not going to be pleasant, but he had his own mission to complete at this point.

Why the Skull deemed him worthy of his own experimentation he had no idea. It was apparently part of a larger plan. He took the place of Barnes in isolation, strapped down and half the time mentally cursing the Skull and half the time marveling at the brilliance of colour behind his eyelids. Those colours hadn't been there before, had they?

Would history be fine? Would Steve know to continue looking or was this all just drunken waiting game that he wasn't going to win? Well, if the facility exploded and he was strapped here, he at least wouldn't have to give a shit anymore.