#bexwrites

She couldn’t lie. Apprehension hung heavy on her mind about entering the defunct facility. Not even the knowledge of what they were going up against could prepare her for the reality of facing five enemy supersoldiers. This wasn’t going to be pretty, but she was the only one with the codes that could get them inside, if their opponent had locked and armed the entrypoint.

But it appeared that he had other plans.

The thick metal door was left ajar, snow drifting into the inky darkness beyond. A pit of unease stirred in her stomach, even as her fingers curled around the handgun she snatched from the quinjet.

The path was laid out for them. A trap.

They descended the dim, rusted hallways of the bunker towards the birthplace of the Winter Soldier Project. Down and down and down, until a clatter behind them raised their hackles. The hair at the nape of Agent Nest’s neck stood up straight, sandwiched between Bucky and Steve on a short staircase. Captain America crouched in front of her with his shield up, while Bucky stood behind up on the high ground, all sights trained on the elevator door they'd just come from.

"You ready?" Steve asked quietly.

"Yeah." Bucky's confirmation came easily, but Nest couldn't draw words from her lips. She simply lined the handgun with the doors.

This was it.

From within, the doors wrenched open with a screech. Red, armor-clad hands prying the metal were overshadowed by the glowing blue eyes of Iron Man's helmet. He did not raise his pulsars. He did not charge full speed at them. Just stepped casually forward into the hallway and retracted his helmet— brow set in a hard line. 

"We've got to stop meeting like this. Truly ."

"Always jokes." Steve did not waver, taking a few more steps forward. "What do you want?"

"Agent Nest—"

Now this was a surprise, but it made Adeline's jaw set a little harder as he spoke. Especially when he insinuated that he was here for her, as if she needed saving.

Bucky's gritted his own teeth, too, grip tightening on the rifle. Stark's head aligned right down the barrel— but he couldn't be too quick to pull the trigger. 

"I owe her an apology. Turns out your story isn't so crazy after all." Then, shifting his gaze from the Captain to Bucky as his wrist lit up with the data file covering the psychiatrist's death. "Down, boy. We're in a truce."

"Mr. Stark, I'm not the one that needs apologizing to.” His statement made her hands drop, her gun pointing down to the stairs below her while Steve crept forward. “Apologize to the man you allowed to be framed and tortured," she said simply, staring Tony down harshly.

Steve glanced over his shoulder at her, eyes wide. She must not have been aware of how this works. It was a nice gesture, though.

"Yeah, well, he also rampaged on a handful of guards and severely injured a dozen others— the optics aren't great. But this?" His fingers dragged across the blue augmented screen, pulling up the video of Bucky's confinement, sans audio— this 'Zemo' guy reading from the notebook. "This is his ticket out— the airtight proof of brainwashing— after we stop the supersoldiers. Capiche?"

Adeline worried her lower lip as he talked, her mind wandering to those dark angry marks under her collar.

"Yeah. Capiche," she agreed, stalking forward with Steve. "That notebook. It's like the Winter Soldier Controls?" Her eyes were trained on the holo screen as she holstered the gun on her thigh.

"So we destroy it." Steve said.

Adeline's brows furrowed. She glanced back at Bucky.

"Or we use it."

"Are you serious?” Betrayal twinged across Bucky's face through his worried brow and clenched jaw. The gun felt so much heavier in his hands now— his boots carried him up the stairs and away from the group. What did I expect? Stark shows up and she's back to working for him immediately. Winter Soldiers in Stark tech— exactly what the world needs.

Adeline's head whipped around fully, and she caught a glimpse of his expression, so hardened and taut.

"N-no, Bucky, wait. Wait! ” She called after him, turning on her heels and following him up the stairs. His strides were longer and heavier, so it took her a bit more effort just to keep up.

Steve wore a small cringe on his lips. That could have been worded better…

"How long has that been going on?" Tony asked, pausing beside him.

"What?" Steve turned to look at him with a heavy brow. Tony just scoffed, dropping it immediately.

"Buck, please," Adeline said again, jogging after him to catch up. 

" Don’t call me that. You— You don't get to call me that." His words were biting, bitter, meant to cut her down where she stood.

"You have to believe me, I don't want to put you through that again. I meant if there's directions for Winter Soldiers in that book, maybe there's codes to deprogram you. Or something we can reverse engineer to get it out of your head," she said, voice seeping with desperation and a twinge of sadness. "I don't want you to have to go through this shit again... I want to help free you from it. So you don't have to worry about being made to do things you don't want to do or can't stop ever again." She stopped walking, fists clenched. "That's my mission."

At her admission, something stirred in his chest and held hands with the feeling of betrayal, beneath the kevlar, beneath the wiring that snaked into his flesh, some emotion that he couldn't recall the name for. His feet slowed to a stop. He didn't dare look at her.

"We don't have time for this." His voice was pure ice, however, compartmentalizing— sealing off the chip in his composure that her words had created. Maybe he'd thaw it out later if they made it out alive. But for now...

It didn't take long for the four of them to stalk into the grand chamber of the facility. Iron Man on point, flanked by Bucky and Cap, with Agent Nest following at the rear— tech at the ready on her belt, pistol drawn.

"I've got heat signatures. No . Just... One."

Shaped like a silo, the layers of pipework and walkways stretched far above them. The ground floor, however, was a horror show. Large glass tanks lined the floor in a semicircle, steam rolled across the floor, coalescing at the center— a contraption of metal plating, wires, tubes and sharp electric nodes— Gun level with his eye, Bucky barely spared it a glance as he swept the room. He'd seen it too many times behind his eyelids to have any effect now— but as the lights flickered within the tanks and the machinery whirred to life— a voice crackled from some unseen speaker.

"If it's any consolation..." The faces of the super soldiers illuminated, slack with sleep and punctuated with a bullet between each of their eyes. "They were dispatched humanely. Most are not so lucky."

"The Hell?" Bucky's curse spoken aloud, steeped in thinly veiled confusion— it was infectious. The rest of their group danced around the room with their eyes, trying to figure out what detail they had missed about this plan.

"Did you really think I wanted more of these things running rampant?" Zemo questioned, a sickly yellow light clicking on to reveal a series of observation windows at the far side of the chamber. His visage hovered in one of them. "They served their purpose, bringing you here— nothing more."

Steve threw his shield, the vibranium disk hitting the surface and immediately bouncing back to him.

"Please, Captain. The Soviets built this place to withstand the launch of U-100 rockets. You cannot reach me," Zemo's voice lilted over the speaker.

"I can beat that." Tony said confidently.

"I'm sure you could, Mr. Stark. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came all this way." All four of them tensed at that taunt. Agent Nest stood beside Steve, eyes looking around for the main control panel, or a series of switches, something to hack into that control room.

"You killed innocent people in Vienna, and for what? To have an audience?" Steve walked towards the window of Zemo's safe room, staring in.

"I thought about nothing but you for over a year. Studied you. Followed you . But now... I can see from here, just a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. It's nice to see you, too, have flaws."

"You're Sokovian. Is that what this is about?"

"Oh, please. Sokovia was a failed state long before the Avengers blew it to hell. No, I'm here because I made a promise."

"You lost someone?" Tony asked flatly.

"No.” Zemo's eyes flickered up towards the iron-clad billionaire now. “I lost everyone . And so will you. An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one that crumples from within... Is dead forever. "

Adeline had crept up on a monitor just as it flickered to life. Tony came up behind her, and they both stared down at the screen. It was surveillance footage, dated December 16th, 1991. Tony's face faltered, and Agent Nest squinted, voice soft.

"What is this..?"

From his vantage point at the doorway, T'Challa remained distanced with his keen eyes trained on the scene unfolding. He felt like a fool with every new admission from this “Zemo” character, his own emotions and grief turned him against those who would be his allies.

The vehicle disabling rounds, the screech of tires, the resounding CRASH as the car crumpled against the treeline— Bucky remembered it all too well. The footage was grainy, but the pleading screams of the two Starks blared through the tinny speaker— just as they had in his nightmares. He watched in real time as the blood drained from the Agent's cheeks, her hands hovering over the system's controls, stopped in their tracks as she stood side by side with Tony.

"Sergeant Barnes?" Howard Stark's last words.

Face reddened, Tony whipped his watery glare to Bucky, then closed his eyes in anguish as his mother's voice was snuffed out from the footage.

"Tony, Tony—" But it was too late, the iron-clad man lunged for Bucky as Steve threw himself between them. "This is—"

"Did you know?" Tony's voice was a dagger aimed at the Captain's heart. No more jokes. No more theatrics. He pressed forward, the soldiers stepped back. Bucky could only raise his rifle halfway— Agent Nest was still in the line of fire behind Stark. Her engineering fingers were frantically working on the console now, gun holstered. "Don't bullshit me , Rogers."

"I didn't know it was him—"

"Liar!" Tony engaged his helmet, locking into that intimidating, robotic facade. His voice boomed, "Did. You. Know?"

A beat passed, Steve's expression falling as he raised up his shield. 

"Yes." 

All Hell broke loose.

Laughter filled the room from the speakers as Tony and Bucky began exchanging blows with Steve, trying his hardest to get between them. Adeline crouched over the controls, face twisted in anguish and worry as she patched her hacks into the antiquated system. Something she had up her sleeve had to work to flush that psycho out.

"Ashes, ashes, they all fall down~" Zemo's words flowed like a soft song now, and then, as if it couldn't get worse. "Желание... Ржавый…"

Bucky's eyes grew wide, tears welling along his dark lashes as he backpedaled from another swing of Tony’s metal fist. Nest felt her insides turn over. She had to work faster. Goddamit. She wasn’t going to let him get away with turning Bucky into a weapon again.

"Семнадцать. Рассвет. Печь."

Bucky had already lost his rifle and begun scaling the silo towards the opening hatch. Stark wasn't far behind, even with his malfunctioning booster rockets— exchanging blows with makeshift weapons and throwing punches— NO— NO— his eyes going wide as the mental waves lapped at his ankles— his knees— and threatened to drag James Buchanan Barnes to drown while the Winter Soldier took hold.

"Bucky, GO! RUN!" Steve's words boomed through the air.

"Девять. Добросердечный. Возвращение на Ро—!" Zemo was cut off by the sound of the control room blast doors grinding open. Agent Nest darted away from the panel and tore past the cryo-tanks into the room, her gun drawn.

"Get back here, you parasite !" She spat as she gave chase, pulse pounding in her ears. That slimy bastard was throwing shelves and boxes down behind him in the tight space, his laughter still bouncing off the walls of the bunker.

In a moment of intrigue, the Black Panther appeared at her side.

"Go, Agent. I will take care of the terrorist."

"The Prince of Wakanda is going after the Sokovian,” she barked into her earpiece as she turned around to jump back into the fray. But something dangerous caught her eye... The red notebook with the star on it. “I'm going back to the jet, and I'll leave the ramp down for you. Hopefully we can outrun whatever Stark came in."

Nest and Steve were shouting— they sounded a million miles away— Bucky pushed Stark away as Steve hauled the flying hero back down to the main level. Even as the trigger phrases were cut short, his heart was jackhammering its way out of his chest— but the distraction of simultaneously fighting the conditioning and the enraged Avenger was too great. His reaction time lapsed long enough to earn him a pulsar blast through a rusted railing, metal arm embedding in the Soviet tech that lined the walls. His hair fell into his face, chest shuddering as the Kevlar armor sizzled— A second explosion above sealed the silo hatch permanently. No escape.

Then her voice was there again, barking orders into his head— Get out of there! C'mon, Bucky! Just as the waves began to recede, and he pushed away from the wall, Tony's arm locked around his throat from behind. The Avenger growled in his ear, as Bucky's hands scrambled for purchase on the slick, metal armor.

"Do you even remember them?"

"I— I remember all of them." Backed into a corner, teeth ground in determination, Bucky staggered both of them to the edge of the platform. "They are my sin to carry."

Gravity did the rest.

-

In the cockpit of the quinjet, Adeline released a drone to track the conflict. With her screen propped up on the dashboard, her hands quickly worked through the pre-flight check.

Steve and Bucky fought against Iron Man as if rehearsed, bouncing the vibranium shield back and forth off of Tony’s armor. Duck, kick, punch, every move watched from the corner of her eye as the engines roared to life. Tony was brought down to his knees, a particularly hard blow glancing off of his faceplate. Maybe they really did stand a chance after all.

"Tony, this isn't going to fix anything!" Steve pleaded. "It's not gonna change the past."

"I don't care. He killed my mom," Tony's voice was dripping in genuine anguish, something Agent Nest hadn't heard from him before, or even believed he was capable of. And before she knew it, Tony was on top of Steve, raining punches, until Bucky bodied him with a devastating hit the Captain's discarded Shield.

Adeline's hand covered her mouth as she watched Bucky ram Tony against the wall, his right hand smashing his helmet against the concrete. His titanium fingers clawed at the light powering the Iron Man suit and the man inside. A bright blast flared across her drone camera, and her heart jumped up into her throat, fingers stalling on the switches before her. When the feed sparked back to life, Bucky was stumbling. Stunned, dropping to one knee in an off-balanced struggle with his center of gravity.

His left arm was gone. 

A strangled noise wormed its way from Adeline.

"No... They're not strong enough. Bucky, G-Get out of there," her encouragement was a whisper, for only her own ears. She felt powerless, and yet she couldn't look away.

Defiant as always, Bucky tried to rise from the ground again, only to be blasted onto his back with a point-blank bolt of energy from Tony’s pulsar. 

Bucky fell, still as a stone. Pulsar burns steamed in the frigid air as his vision swam and blood pooled beneath his head.

" Stop! He's my family!" Steve cried out, his voice breaking. "The only I have left—"

" So was I." With a yell, Tony grappled Cap and threw him at the stone pillars with a sickening thud. Turning his back on him to charge up his weapons for one deciding blow at the living weapon that had haunted his family for decades. "Stay down, Rogers— final warning."

Steve pushed off the concrete pillar and lifted his quaking fists in front of his face, spitting a spray of blood to the side. His breath billowed out into the Siberian air—

"I can do this all day."

The conflict reached new levels of brutality as Tony and Steve traded blows— trying to end this once and for all. Tony's metal boot back-stepped just close enough for a feeble grab, and Bucky's bloodied fingers streaked against the metal shin guard. And the swift kick to the head that he earned made his grip go slack once more. 

This drove Steve into one of Captain America's lowest moments.

He roared and tackled Tony to the ground, straddling him and bashing the daylights out of him until his helmet was all but useless. He grabbed the shield from where it had been discarded nearby and positioned it above Tony like a guillotine. But in a moment of hesitation, Steve brought it down on Tony’s chestplate instead. Once, twice, until the blue reactor in his chest cracked and sputtered.

When it was all said and done— his mercy prevailing over his anger and panic— Steve knelt next to Bucky and threw his remaining arm over his shoulders.

"I got you, I got you... Easy..." Bucky's feet were unsteady as he leaned on his oldest friend in the world. Those stormy eyes were unfocused, rolling in their sockets. Blood pooled from his broken nose, his left ear, the gashes on his forehead— it congealed in his hair and plastered to his skull.

“That shield doesn’t belong to you.” Steve glanced back over his shoulder, Tony's pained words still biting. “You don’t deserve it. My father didn’t build that shield for backstabbing traitors!”

Steve side-eyed Tony from where he stood. Lifting his head towards the white sky, his chest heaved with the weight of the symbol he carried. If he had to choose between it and Bucky… If that was what all this conflict and heartache amounted to, then… He barely even registered the ring of the metal as it fell to the concrete floor and echoed around them with finality.

Adeline couldn't pinpoint the emotion she felt as she watched Steve end the fight once and for all. It was a sickening relief. It was over, l but bitterly unresolved. Her drone remained trained on Tony where he sat, focusing on the back of his head from between the pillars. After a minute, when she confirmed that Steve and Bucky were actually on their way up, she recalled the drone, and tearfully finished her pre-flight check. She was somewhere between hyperventilating and sobbing, though trying her hardest to get a grip.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she glimpsed something interesting. Prince T'Challa was dragging Helmut Zemo through the snow and into the back of his own mini-jet on the far side of the plateau. Good. He didn't get away after all.

And only a few moments later, a message pinged on the quinjet monitor. Coordinates. A formal invitation to shelter themselves while Zemo was delivered back to the U.N. to answer for his transgressions. Wakanda was the last place Adeline would have chosen to go, but… With how things just played out, they were fresh out of options.

Bucky didn't even register the cold anymore when the quinjet whipped up the snow and powdered it across the two of them limping up the docking ramp.

In through the nose, hold it... Out through the mouth... Pause.

"I know where we can take him.” Adeline met Steve and Bucky at the Cargo bay, sealing the ramp behind them and offering her support to Bucky’s left side. The man was barely conscious, eyes rolling back, head lolling, blood pouring down his face. “I’ll put the coordinates into the autopilot and help you stabilize him."