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Prologue

Ice blanketed the world. Outside, a howling wind made the window panes rattle and snow reduced visibility to practically nothing. Over the course of the afternoon it was enough to make her slide closer and closer to the old radiator in the public library.

She should have gone home, but she convinced herself to wait. Maybe in an hour the wind or snow would die down.

Maybe in another hour.

Another.

Maybe-

But night fell, the winds kept howling, and finally she was forced out into the cold as the library closed.

On the front steps she pulled her arms into her thin sweater and shivered as her hair was whipped in every direction. It was impossible to see further than just across the street, but that didn’t matter. She knew the way home well enough.

A low growl was swallowed by the wind as she darted down the steps. She circled the library, heading for an alley on the southeast side. At the growl she hesitated, nervous, but a moment later an old car drove by on the road with its engine grumbling and rattling. She breathed a sigh of relief and continued on her way. 

For several blocks she ran down the narrow road- cutting across deserted streets and dodging piles of trash as the neighborhoods grew rougher and darker. The wind froze her and sapped her strength. It was dangerous to be out so late- even the street gangs wouldn’t dare prowl in the growing blizzard. Alone, with no jacket- it was suicide.

She went to the library because there was no heat at home, but this time she'd stayed too long. The air was sub-zero, and too soon the exposed skin of her neck and face was numb. Her nose and lungs froze with every breath, the thin arms wrapped around her torso held in no heat, and her teeth chattered violently. Still, home wasn't too much further. 

Yes, she had to go into an even worse part of town, and no, the condemned apartment building they squatted in didn’t have heat, but at least it was out of the wind.

As mucha s she believed that the gangs wouldn’t be out that night, she couldn't ignore the tingle on the back of her neck or the shiver that had nothing to do with her freezing skin. Her shoes crunched on the thin layer of snow and ice covering everything, but every so often she'd hear a crack, two steps in the snow slightly out of sync with her own. 

She glanced behind her- nothing, and no footprints besides her own extended back from where she'd come.

She began walking again but this time changed her pace at random- faster, slower, faster, normal, faster- there! A step completely out of sync with hers. Again she turned, her fight-or-flight instincts kicking in. 

Again, there was nothing.

It wasn't that she couldn't hold her own in a fight- she was a poor kid from the slums, of course she knew some moves. She was just too cold. She couldn't focus, couldn't keep her thoughts from jumping all over the damn place, and certainly couldn't throw a decent punch when her shoulders were numb. 

A fight in this condition would end with her bloody in the gutter- or worse.

"I know you're there!" she shouted to the night, "Back off or I'll-" she thought she heard a soft click and a wave of pressure slammed into her. Her muscles locked, then spasmed violently. She managed a strangled scream as she collapsed in the snow. After that, she was lucky to even manage small gasps of breath let alone make any sound. 

Her eyes were locked open through it all and while her body burned with pain, a small part of her mind tried to save her, to find some way out of this. Was it a tazer? She felt something itching, crawling at her ear. It dripped into the snow as she shook and convulsed- blood. 

Tazers didn't make you bleed out of your ears, right?

A man came towards her with slow, measured steps and a syringe in-hand. No more hiding. 

She wanted to curse him, strike out, hurt him- something. For all her brave intentions she could still hardly breathe, let alone move. She couldn't even look up to see his face or feel the bite of the needle as it pierced her skin. 

The world fell out of focus, but not before she noticed something strange. Irrationally, her mind focused on that over the pain or whatever the man might be drugging her for.

His left hand- was it made of metal?

Chapter 1: Seven Years Later

Gastineau Channel, Juneau, Alaska

It was a clear night- very rare for the normally rain-drenched Alaskan rainforest. 

The stars above twinkled in between ribbons of red auroras that snaked from horizon to horizon and cast an eerie glow over the world. To the left the small city of Juneau lay nestled between the ocean and mountains. On the right was Douglas Island, a space almost as large as Juneau and covered in enough trees to hide most signs of life.

Standing on the bridge, looking out over the sleepy bay with the Northern Lights bright above them, Steve Rogers and his friend Sam Wilson took in the sight without anything resembling an appreciative eye. 

The channel’s beauty was making their job infinitely harder.

"We can't go in by air, not with these lights. I'll be spotted before you're in range,” Sam said. His wings weren’t designed for swimming- not that he wanted to take on those frigid Alaska waters or the currents that raged beneath the surface. “We should wait and intercept the barge at another stop. Wait the solar activity will die down or the weather to turn and we'll have better cover. We don't have to rush it and do the job tonight." Thanks to the mountains rain was more common than clear skies.

"We've been through this already," Steve snapped. He immediately held up a hand and rubbed his eyes, "I'm sorry." They'd been running on minimum sleep and hard travels for months; fights were becoming all too common. He took a deep breath and tried again, "Just fly low and dump me near the ship, the lower you fly the more the ocean will camouflage you. I'll subdue the base and you come back when the screaming stops.”

They needed the new moon in six days for their next stop, and Steve wasn’t willing to wait another month if they missed it. He and Sam had to travel under the radar, meaning it would take every minute of those six days to get to San Francisco and the old Hydra base beneath Alcatraz.

In the channel, ready and waiting for them, was an old barge that ran wares to the coastal cities. According to the KGB file Natasha gave them on the Winter Soldier, ten of the containers on the barge formed a top-secret emergency medical facility that boasted a skeleton crew of three- four maximum. 

The facility was small, little more than a waystation, but Steve thought the chances were good they’d have a more up-to-date file than Natasha’s (which only covered Bucky’s movements up through the 1990s). Most of the locations in the KGB file were shut down when the USSR collapsed.

If they still had Bucky’s file, it could very well help end the eight-month search.

Sam sighed and double-checked the straps on his wing unit, "You really think he went back to Hydra?"

Steve wasn't sure 'thought' was the driving force. More like 'hope'.

Eight months they’d been chasing that ghost story. They followed every lead to every base, safe house, and bank vault Bucky was in between 1964 and 1990, but it was only half the story. The KGB handled the science side of things while Hydra controlled the missions, so without a Hydra file there was no way to know where Bucky spent spent those months between checkups.

With the Avengers help- even just a Quin-jet- they could have covered twice as much land in half the time. But the Avengers might be as big of a threat to Bucky as Hydra.

Steve was hoping once he found a lead, scrap of paper, whisper, anything- it would be possible to convince the rest of the Avengers to help in his search. Bucky killed Howard and Maria Stark- before he risked calling the Avengers for help, he needed to know how Hydra kept him in line. How they controlled his mind and erased the man Steve had known.

Until then, Tony had to be kept at arm’s length. Steve didn’t think he knew about Howard and Maria, but if he found out things would get ugly fast. All it would take was a letter- perhaps one dropped off by a Hydra agent trying to sow chaos among the Avengers themselves- and Tony would be on the warpath.

"He had kill orders on me, I was dead to rights. He saved my life in the Potomac, I think he was starting to break whatever hold they had. Maybe he doesn't remember who he was, maybe he does. Either way he'll go back to places that are familiar. Even the bad ones." Steve had said as much to Sam dozens of times- but really he was the one who needed to hear it.

"‘Reprogramming Facility Alpha’ doesn't sound like a place anyone would want to remember."

"Yeah, well, that's why we didn't come here sooner." 

Steve rubbed a spot on his jaw just beneath his ear. It was three months since Tony embedded the new comm unit there, but he swore he still felt it itching. The other Avengers couldn’t be trusted in this mission, but he had faith in JARVIS at least.

Steve tapped at the comms impatiently, "It's gotta be time to go, is this thing even working?"

A soft click sounded in his ear, "Tech Support. What the fuck can I help you with at SIX THIRTY IN THE FUCKING MORNING?!" Tony shouted through the comms.

"I was just trying to see if the alarm was working. Sorry."

"Rogers, I've told you a hundred times, IT WORKS! Now STOP FUCKING WITH IT!" There was another click indicating the line was closed.

Tony's new comms were supposed to be an improvement on the old earpiece unit. Tap one of a dozen sequences over the injection scar for the device and be instantly connected with one of the Avengers or JARVIS. Steve was the only one who’d discovered the Tap-Spastically-For-Tony option.

"Wake Stark up again?" Sam refrained from using more than JARVIS' code and just let him operate the comm.

"Yeah, and I'm not even sorry. Six thirty his time, that means two thirty for us."

Sam sat down on the sidewalk of the bridge and leaned against the guard rail. He tapped his own comm just once, "JARVIS, wake me in 25, please."

Three AM. The intel they'd been able to gather over the last two weeks suggested a shift change took place then, if Hydra followed the same schedule noted in the KGB’s file. 

At three in the morning the new shift would start and the barge would break port for the next city in the chain. Anyone hiding in the containers wouldn’t be able to hear Sam and Steve walking around- not over the din of the engines. It would be easy to subdue the doctors in the shipping containers without alerting whoever operated the vessel- Hydra goons more likely than not.

A soft chime came through the comms precisely at 2:55. Sam groaned and got up off the hard ground. Steve was still watching the ship, studying every last shadow.

"Figure out where our target is yet?" Sam said.

"Not yet." 

They knew the base was on the ship, just not where.

"Anything new?"

Steve shrugged, "Not really. Someone went into the bridge, but no one’s come out yet. We're good to get going, once the engines kick on."

Both men were ready to launch their attack- even though their intel was incomplete. The Hydra pit-stop was kept mobile, even on the barge itself. Containers were shuffled every other time it docked, so even if he managed to catch sight of it at one port it was somewhere else entirely at the next. His entire plan hinged on the crates of the base either having visible ventilation or an open door.

"It's been five minutes… right?" Sam tapped on the small scar by his ear that marked the comm, "JARVIS, what time you got?" He waited for an answer and frowned, "Three o'four.”

"Maybe the guy from before is distraction the captain, we'll wait 10 more-" a scream, faint and distant, shattered the calm of the evening. Two quick pops followed it- gunfire. 

"GO!" Steve jumped over the guardrail into a freefall. Sam launched into the air and spiraled down after the Captain. He caught him just above the chilly ocean water and angled towards the barge. As discussed, the dark waters would be their camouflage.

The barge was roughly 100 yards off when Steve let go of Sam's arm and dropped into the water. He breathed deeply before hitting and once he was submerged it was willpower that forced his muscles to move against the sudden chill of the ocean. Momentum carried him under the barge and placed him next to the rear anchor when he surfaced. 

He listened carefully before climbing up to the ship- the barge was unnaturally silent.

Once Steve was on deck he began to run through the maze of corridors, looking for any clues as to the source of the scream and weapons fire. Did someone beat them here? The man on the bridge? Natasha found evidence Hydra partnered with powerful crime lords, would one dare an attack?

Far to his right there was another horrific scream. Steve slowed and crept towards the source as quietly as his boots would allow. He jumped as something crashed into the container on his right from the inside. 

He found the base, but he wasn’t the first one there. 

Steve ran around the crate as quickly as possible. He saw the long side of two containers pressed together, then a thin alley at the far end- he’d come around the back of the base. He gave up any pretense of quiet as he hurried to the next corner and rounded on the entrance.

A streak of motion to the right caused him to switch focus before he could make out more than the open hatch and a soft glow. 

There was a man running towards the edge of the barge. 

"Freeze!" Steve knew the shout wouldn't stop him, but he was hoping at least for a glance back. He pulled his shield off and threw it, aiming the impact for the middle of the man’s back.

The intruder half-turned and knocked the shield aside in a spray of sparks- a move he’d only seen once before.

"BUCKY!"

Bucky dove from the edge of the ship into the icy waters and vanished. Steve didn’t break stride. Abandoning his shield, he dove right into the water after him.

Sam swooped low to the surface and activated the life signs detector on his goggles. It was useless on a boat of large metal boxes, but at least here he could get readings.

Steve surfaced and began to swim as hard as he could in the direction he'd last seen Bucky going, "Sam, do a scan!"

"I'm trying," out on the ocean he could certainly see more, but there was a massive amount of information to sift through.

Steve was still swimming towards the shore he thought Bucky was aiming for, "Any day now!"

"You've got whales, seals, and a zillion fish around you, it takes a bit to find a single human signal in all that noise."

"FIND A WAY!"

"I'm trying but it's like dumping a mountain of nickles in front of me and giving me three seconds to find the damn dime!” Sam snarled. Each time he thought he saw the outline of a human beneath the water it shifted and merged with other shapes only to break up again. If one of those spots of light was Bucky, he was familiar with dodging life-signs readers.

"Run a metal scan! Fish aren't metal!" Steve was panting as he tried both to keep up his speed in the icy water and argue with Sam.

"Do I seriously have to remind you that Vibranium doesn't show up on a basic metal scan?!" Sam said. "I'll do passes up and down the shore on both sides-"

"It’ll take ten minutes to complete a pass that way! He could get out and take a shower and you wouldn't catch him!"

"What do you want me to do then?!" Steve was nearing the shore and Sam was at the limits of his patience. He scanned the area around them- nothing he could confidently identify as human in any direction.

"Just go back and search the fucking base," Steve snapped, "I'll head him off at the ferry."

Sam didn't confirm the order. He didn’t even want to see Steve for at least an hour, let alone speak to him.

Eight months. 

With the exception of two quick forays into Avengers Tower- once to repair his wings and again for the new comm unit- this was what their lives had been like. Tense incursions, failure, bad tempers, and then off to the next place on the list. Sam couldn’t help but think this time things would be worse- since Steve caught sight of his quarry. 

Maybe we’ll get lucky, Sam thought. There were only two ways out of Juneau- by ferry or plane, and Bucky wasn’t stupid enough to fly.

Sam landed first at the bridge of the ship, where Steve saw his mystery man wandering around- most likely Bucky. The door was still open and so he entered with his weapon drawn. 

At the banks of computers and controls were three men- all dead. One had a broken neck and the other two had been stabbed in the side of the head.Knowing the Winter Soldier's style they were probably all dead before anyone knew what was going on.

Sam lowered his guard as he left the bridge for the Hydra base below. By the time Steve was on board everything was quieting down- Sam doubted Bucky left anyone alive. Still, his first step was to retrieve Steve's shield.

Just in case.

Before they set out on their quest, Fury had given Steve and Sam a bag of transmitters to call on what was left of SHIELD. Up to now they’d activated one only as they left a facility so that Fury’s people could clean out whatever was left behind. Even an unused base or safehouse tended to hold a few filing cabinets. 

Steve wanted nothing to do with this new SHIELD, or whoever they called Director now that Fury appeared to be retired. All they would bring the Avengers was more secrets and more lies. 

Steve and Sam always left long before the jet arrived.

Out of spite, Sam pulled a beacon from the pocket of his tactical vest and activated it. Steve would insist on a full search, so the meeting between him and the new SHIELD was now inevitable. 

Serves him right for being a dick.

Passive-aggressive as his decision was, the second Sam was in sight of the Hydra containers he was glad for the beacon. 

A guard hung half out of the open container door missing most of the front of his skull. Sam worked special ops, he'd seen a few gruesome sights, but the guard turned even his stomach. Judging by the wad of flesh and bone next to the person's face, Bucky had grabbed the front of the guard's head and squeezed until he'd torn away the forehead, eyes, nose, and upper cheeks of his victim. 

Sam shuddered as he passed the body. The second guard was just inside the door with a knife sticking out of his throat. Much easier to stomach.

The Hydra base was made to be shuffled around so that no one would be too familiar with the ten crates that never left the ship (if anyone cared enough to look). Each container had a purpose, and that purpose was instantly clear to Sam as he stared across the narrow rooms. 

The separate pods were automatically sealed off and separated during the shuffle, but when they were connected- as they were now- the metal walls along the sides retracted, exposing the entire lower level. Only crates marked "Operating Room" and "Mechanics" were closed off from the spread of examination tables, computers, and an entire wall of neatly labeled drawers of supplies ranging from “Antiseptic Wipes” to “Zip-ties”.

Sam found one of the doctors in an equipment storage area with a broken neck. The man's tears were still visible on his cheeks, like he’d sobbed as death came for him. 

He almost felt bad for the guy, until he reminded himself the man was Hydra. What evils had this doctor facilitated? How many Hydra operatives did he patch up so they could go on killing innocents? 

Every computer screen Sam could see was shattered, even the spare ones in storage. Bucky unleashed hell on this place, and it almost made Sam hope that Steve didn't catch him. There was a lot of rage in the destruction of the base and its inhabitants, maybe more than Cap could handle on his own.

An electric hum was coming from the closed off container marked "Mechanics" as Sam slowly advanced into the base. He could smell the rancid stench of human flesh burning- a cross between burned pork and chicken that made his stomach twist. He covered his mouth and nose as he approached the cracked door. The hatch was open slightly, and Sam pulled the container open. 

In the corner of the small room was a chair.

At first glance it wasn’t much different than what you’d find in a dentist’s office- it reclined slightly, had foot, arm, and head rests- but no dentist he’d been to used metal restraints to subdue their patients.

A woman's body was strewn across the chair, as if she'd been fighting when the restraints closed. One hand was locked in normally, but the metal cuff went through the palm of the other hand in an explosion of bone and tissue. Her left leg was broken- it had been forced into the ankle cuff on the right side of the chair. Behind her left shoulder was a metal plate, and judging by the pen clinging to it the panel was magnetic. A good way to trap a man with a metal arm. 

Two black panels covered the doctor's face with a one-inch seam between them. An electric hum and thin wisps of smoke curled from within.

Sam looked for a power source to the chair and, once he identified it, severed the cable with the edge of Cap's shield. The pen fell and the panels quieted, but Sam suppressed the urge to pull them  back. He only glanced at the charred, black face visible through the seam and shivered- translucent goo was dripping down towards the victim’s neck. Sam had only seen it on late-night crime dramas- her eyes had burst under the assault of electricity.

There was a tag on the side of the machine. Sam skimmed it, but he’d figured out already why Bucky killed the doctor with such savagery, "PROJECT: WINTER SOLDIER". 

Steve’s riddle was solved. He’d been wondering what kept Bucky loyal to Hydra- apparently the answer to that question was electroshock.

 Painful, brutal, and effective.

"Cap?" Sam activated his comms, "You there?" all animosity was gone from his voice.

"Yeah, what's wrong? I'm trying to hot-wire a car, I need to concentrate."

"I know how they reprogrammed him. There's an electroshock machine here, a big one. They've been zapping him god knows how long. That kind of damage is significant, and permanent."

"He recognized me on the carrier-"

"He probably didn't. He might have just known something wasn't right. There's got to be a dozen points of failure when you try to make a guy into a weapon, but memory isn't something he'd be able to recover after they used this thing. If you get in his way again just knock him out and we'll figure out what to do from there."

"Fine. Thanks." Steve snapped. He'd been banking (more than he realized) on a the hope that, given time, they could heal Bucky’s mind and bring back the man Steve knew.

Sam waited for more of a reply, but he didn't push it. There was no computer, no dial to set the power on the machine- suggesting face-frying was standard. At that voltage there was no question- Bucky Barnes was long dead. All that could be left now was a cold, empty shell filled with Hydra’s poison and hatred. 

So that machine was what created the Winter Soldier. No wonder he's ripping faces off. 

But as it turned out, Bucky didn't just come back to the base for revenge. 

When Sam finally left the container he caught sight of a ladder in the far corner- every rung on the left hand side was crushed. Nothing in their intel suggested a staff of more than four people, so what drew him upstairs?

Sam hurried up the ladder, wary of the damage Bucky had done to it. The second floor held three shipping containers marked “Living Quarters”. The two crates directly over the "Mechanics" and "Operating Room" facilities had plaques declaring them "Labs” and "Water Treatment". 

What drew him from the ladder- what brought Bucky to Alaska in the first place- was a section densely filled with filing cabinets. Sam walked along the borders of the shipping container, stopping only at a drawer with a knife sticking out of the lock and a bloody, crushed handle. 

That seems like a good place to start.

Every file hung neatly in its own little folder, no matter how thin. Sam combed through them all. If Bucky took something then it was thin- there was hardly enough space to open the folders. He flicked through them impatiently and stopped only when he found an empty one near the back.

"PROJECT ECHO 2008-2010".

Sam pulled out the empty folder and set it aside, then continued through the cabinet- there was nothing else missing that he could see. He frowned and picked up the hanging folder again. 

Bucky attacked a Hydra base- and killed seven people- for a 5 year old Hydra project folder? Sam thought of the scene downstairs- every computer screen smashed. He thought it was rage, but Bucky had made a point of going after every screen, not just the ones in his path. 

Was he trying to make sure no one could access the digital records?

I must have missed something, Sam looked through every file carefully this time and found just as much nothing. It didn't add up- why that folder? What was so special about it? 

More importantly- the folder left behind was labeled ‘Echo’ with no sign of ‘Alpha’, ‘Beta’, ‘Charlie’, or ‘Delta’? Was Echo part of Bucky's programming process? Was that why he went after the file?

Sam clicked on his comms, "Steve, do you need any help casing the ferry?"

"No, I've got it covered. This area's too heavily wooded. Your wings are useless."

"Good," Sam only called to make sure that was the case, "Bucky came here for a reason. He took an old project file. I'm going to try and figure out why."

"You should signal the SHIELD teams," Steve heaved a sigh of defeat, "as soon as someone notices that barge isn't moving they'll send someone out to check on the crew. SHIELD should be here to secure the scene."

"Way ahead of you. We're going to miss our window in San Francisco, aren't we?"

"Probably… But that might not be such a bad thing. If you can figure out what file he took then maybe we'll know where to look next."

"Sounds like a plan," Sam eyeballed the cabinets all around him- there were probably thousands of files to search. "This is going to take a while…"

Chapter 2: SHIELD

"Agent Wilson, I presume?" Sam jumped at the voice and fell onto his side. He’d been crouched in front of the filing cabinet, sifting through endless papers, completely oblivious to what was going on around him.

The speaker was an Asian woman of indeterminate age with a serious scowl and the straight spine of a fighter. Everything about her reminded Sam of Natasha- the straight spine, hands in easy range of her weapons, feet planted, shoulders squared. 

His assessing eyes snagged on a patch sewn to her blue tactical vest- a frayed SHIELD logo.

"I'm not an agent." Sam crossed his legs and went back to sorting through files. There was no telling how much time he had to find a lead.

"The Avengers are still a SHIELD unit. If you're one of them, you're one of us."

He raised an eyebrow to the woman, "Captain Rogers would disagree with you on that."

"Captain Rogers can take it up with the Director. Why are you still here?" 

Sam shook his head and decided to play coy, "Isn't this a free country?"

"Not this close to a slaughter. Who killed all the personnel? You and Rogers aren't usually this bloody."

"That's classified."

The woman glowered with that special blend of annoyance and patience that told him she likely trained new agents, "I'm not here to fight with you, I'm here to clean out this facility. I don't especially care if you're here on a mission or a sight-seeing trip. My team can't go home until we've collected every last slip of paper," she stared pointedly at a tiny stack of papers next to Sam, "so your cooperation is advised."

Sam reached up and activated his comms. Instead of dialing JARVIS as usual, he tried to call Steve directly, "Cap, you read?"

"Wrong number," Natasha said. Great, now Sam was going to look like a complete jackass. "Let me guess, you're worrying about looking like a jackass?"

"Correct," he said. She was always so damn perceptive.

"Local PD? FBI? CIA? Hydra? SHIELD?" Natasha paused after each guess.

"Bingo."

"SHIELD?" she was intrigued, "Which agent?"

Sam looked over at the scary woman, "Agent-?"

"May," her voice was hard.

"Agent May," he was eternally grateful to Natasha for her careful questions. Nothing on his end was giving away the fact that he'd accidentally typed in her code instead of Steve's. Serves you right for trying to show off. Natasha understood his position, and she was a good, loyal friend. She knew how to help Sam save face.

May's pocket began to chime and she whipped out a cell phone. She glanced at the encrypted number before answering, "Agent May."

"Hey Melinda!" Sam flinched as Natasha came through his comms loud and clear, "How's it going?"

"Fine," May half-grinned. "We’re just cleaning up after Agent Wilson. This place is a wreck but he's refusing to answer any of my questions."

"He's on a a Level 10 mission tracking a Hydra asset tied to the fall of the Triskelion."

"Why didn't he just say so?" May immediately relaxed her stance.

"Sam? I'm going to chat with Melinda a bit. Why don't you try dialing Steve again? Maybe get JARVIS to help so you don’t fuck up again?" Natasha had saved him mere minutes ago, now she was throwing him under the bus wholeheartedly. She closed her line to Sam before he could reply.

"TRAITOR!" he directed his shout to May's phone, "Tell her any warm and fuzzy feelings I had for her are gone!"

May smiled and listened to Natasha's reply, "She says they just finished installing a surround sound system in your apartment at the Tower."

"Warm and fuzzy back, WARM AND FUZZY BACK!" 

Tension broken, Sam tapped out Steve's code while May wandered over to one of the shipping containers marked “Lab”, chatting with Natasha the whole way.

"What do you want?" Steve didn't sound happy.

"SHIELD's here. Friends of Natasha's. I've got a couple leads, but I've barely made a dent in the paperwork. These leads won't get us anywhere near Bucky. I was thinking- what if we go with SHIELD back to their HQ? We could go through the intel from other facilities we've cleaned out. Who knows, maybe there's another copy of our 'Project Echo' file our missing person took."

Steve sounded pissed, "I told you I didn't want SHIELD getting involved!"

"Easy, easy. Just a second," Sam disconnected the line and stood. He walked over to Agent May and waited patiently for her to finish whatever she and Natasha were discussing. As soon as May saw him waiting, she ended the call.

"What do you need?" Her tone was much friendlier.

Sam sighed and tried to strip his temper and frustration from his words, "Captain Rogers doesn't want any SHIELD involvement in this matter. However, I believe we need your intel to get anywhere. What happened at the Triskelion broke his faith in your organization."

"You want the name of SHIELD's new Director." Evidently Agent May was as perceptive as Natasha, "That might not be possible."

"If it's someone he knows it could make all the difference."

"How serious is this?"

"I haven't slept in my own bed in 8 months. I'm going to kill Captain America in his sleep soon, if he doesn't kill me first. It’s serious.”

"I can't make any promises," she warned, "We've got a Quin-jet outside and a mobile base half an hour out in the ice fields with a direct uplink to the servers at headquarters. While I call the Director and explain the situation, you can have access to my computer expert and the SHIELD database. If the Director agrees to reveal their identity, then we'll take you to our headquarters. That's the best I can offer."

It was fair enough, but- "Captain Rogers isn't going to agree to walk into a mobile SHIELD base and go for a pow-wow with someone he doesn't even want to meet. I need some way to assure him your Director is trustworthy- even just a name."

"That isn't happening without a face-to-face."

"Fine," Sam walked over to his little stack of papers and slipped them into his vest, "I'm keeping these. I'll try to figure something out before you guys leave."

"That's fine by me. I'll call the Director, see if there is any way we can expedite all of this and get a name to Captain Rogers."

"What are the odds he knows them?"

May almost smiled, "Higher than you'd think." She nodded to the ladder, "go find Agent Skye, she's our computer expert. Have her set you up with her laptop and access to our file database. She's the one without the accent."

Sam didn't want to leave the file room, but he couldn't look for intel with Agent May watching, not without alerting her to what they were looking for. On a computer at least he could skim file names to see if they had any intel worth teaming up for. 

He fought at the Triskelion, he understood Steve's reluctance to deal with SHIELD, but they needed their resources. Still, was it worth risking an ambush? For all they knew this "SHIELD" team was Hydra. 

Now that's a terrifying thought.

It came down to Natasha, ironically. Master of deception, the best spy in the world, reformed super villain- and she was exactly who Sam trusted to tell them who to trust. She was friends with May. 

Sam wandered to the ladder and tapped his comms to link to JARVIS, "Natasha, please."

With a click she came back on, "You should listen to Melinda," she said immediately, "she's a good Agent. I don't know who the new Director is, but they've left us to our own work for eight months. I don't think they'll try to start meddling now."

"That's exactly what I needed to hear," Sam felt the tension creeping from his shoulders, "thanks."

"One more thing- how are you and Steve doing?"

"Exhausted," he answered honestly, "frustrated, and angry."

"Are you arguing much?"

"Most days it feels like that’s all we do. It's not easy to get around Hydra’s radar."

Natasha understood how he felt, "This is only going to galvanize him- having a lead."

"I don't regret taking this mission," he wanted to make that clear, "I just don't know that this is even a real lead. He’s going after files for a project that was shut down five years ago."

"I'll keep working my contacts," she promised, "see what they can find. Did you figure out yet how they kept him under control?"

"I think so. Just a sec," Sam headed down the ladder and immediately put his hand over his comm- a seemingly universal sign for "I'm busy". He didn't even look at the agents in the base, he simply pulled out his phone and went straight to the electric chair. 

A young woman was working on getting the Doctor's body free- her blackened face was exposed with both eyes burst, "Excuse me," the agent stepped back while Sam snapped several pictures, "I'm sending them to the Tower server," he told Natasha, "It's not pretty, the doctor got to try it out for herself."

"I'll start working on Stark," she promised, "I'll show him- oh wow- something tells me once he sees these it won’t be hard to convince him to help."

"Even considering what our guy did to Howard and Maria Stark?"

She hesitated, "I'll have Pepper change the codes on the armory first."

"Thanks, Natasha."

"Stay sane," she clicked off her comm.

Sam took his hand off his own comm and smiled apologetically at the agent, "Sorry about the interruption."

"Oh, it's fine! We can't move this until everything else is gone," she quickly explained. Sam had found a British one.

A curly-haired young man came up behind him and began examining the wing unit, "S-stark's technology is always…"

"Light-years?" the woman offered and leaned over to see her partner more clearly.

"Light-years- ahead of us," he said through a thick Scottish accent.

Sam glanced back at him. He knew that look from his work at the VA- hunched shoulders, jittery hands, trouble remembering words- this guy had suffered some kind of brain trauma, and from the pained look on the woman's face it was probably recent.

"I'm Agent Simmons," the girl offered a hand, which Sam accepted, "and that's Agent Fitz."

"It's nice to meet both of you," he held out a hand to Fitz but the man didn't even glance at it.

"Will Captain Rogers be joining us soon?" Simmons chirped, "I wrote one of my doctoral theses on Erskine's serum. Do you think he would give me a DNA sample?"

"Oh, I forgot!" Sam quickly dialed Steve's comm, "That took a lot longer than I expected, sorry."

Steve, on the other side of Juneau, was watching the last ferry of the day sail out of port. Every last person on that boat was legit. He'd had JARVIS combing security feeds for Bucky's face while he watched from the tree cover- the closest he could get while in his Avengers uniform without drawing attention. "It's a bust," he grumbled, "Bucky's probably halfway around the world by now."

"Even better reason to at least try and work with SHIELD."

"You know that's not gonna happen, Sam."

"They said you'd know the new Director. That you worked with them before."

"Fascinating. It’s still a ‘no’. Meet me back at the hotel, we've got to go over the plans for San Francisco," Steve’s voice was hard. Discussion over.

Sam smiled to Agents Fitz and Simmons, "Oh no!" he yelped with just enough exaggerated fear to make it obvious he was screwing around, "No! Don't taze the wings! You'll short them- ah!" the scream of 'pain' was high-pitched and drawn out, "Oh no, Steve! I can't get away! SHIELD is kidnapping me! I'm a dead man! Tell my goldfish I love her and my momma goodbye for me!"

"You don't have a goldfish, jackass."

"Then get one and tell Susan I love her."

"Sam," Steve was shouting into the comms now, "stop screwing around!"

"Oh no, I'm a prisoner now! The horror, the HORROR!" he turned off his comm and called JARVIS, "Please reject all calls from Steve." Proud, he winked to the SHIELD agents, "There. To answer your question, Steve will be on his way momentarily. As soon as he's done with his temper tantrum, you can ask for a DNA sample."

Simmons and Fitz seemed mildly taken aback.

"Hey, we're on the clock you two!" a tall black man came over with a young half-Asian woman at his side. Sam was willing to bet he’d found Skye.

"We're going, we're going," Simmons threw a playful glare at the agent and waved to Sam before returning to her work.

"The computer files are… are… um- corrupted. Yes, that's- they've been corrupted."

"How so? I can take a look," Skye offered.

Fitz shook his head, "It's all gone. I think the screens were destroyed so no one would notice the virus until it was too late."

"Smart cookie," Skye glanced at a readout on Fitz's tablet, "May says there are paper files, so we at least have that."

"Speaking of paper files," Sam interjected, "one was taken by our subject, I was wondering if I could see your database and look for any references?"

"Sure, who are you?"

"Oh, uh, Sam Wilson, sorry."

"Well Sam Wilson, it's nice to meet you. I'm Agent Trip Jones." The man shook his hand while Skye gaped.

"Sam Wilson as in the Falcon?" Skye practically bounced in place, "Sam Wilson as in Captain America's best friend? The guy who helped take out Hydra in the Triskellion? The new Avenger?!"

"Easy," Tripp laughed, "Skye, don't scare him off."

"How did you know they made me an Avenger?"

Skye smiled mischievously, "Why do I get the feeling you don't know about the toys?"

"Toys?"

"Oh my god!" Skye grabbed Tripp’s shoulder to hold herself up as she laughed.

"Fill me in on what's so funny?"

"Like a month ago Falcon toys started hitting the shelves- it was all anyone anywhere on the planet was talking about! 'Avengers Recruit SHIELD Whistleblower'- no one told you?!"

"Stark," he growled, "the whole world knows I'm the Falcon?"

Tripp fielded his question, "Nah man, you're good. SHIELD knows the Falcon is Sam Wilson. The general public only knows the Falcon was the dude with Cap taking out SHIELD and that he's an Avenger now. Your identity is safe."

He heaved a sigh of relief. He wasn't ready to become a public figure just yet. Falcon- sure. Sam Wilson- no.

"Hey, I've got to help Fitzsimmons box everything up- they get distracted easily," Tripp wanted to talk more, but they were too busy, "I'll leave you with Skye."

She was still beaming like a fangirl, "So what are you still doing here? You two usually fly the coop long before we show up!"

"I'm looking for a file, actually. The person who wiped this place out took what I'm assuming is some kind of reference sheet. We need to know everything we can about the file he grabbed."

"That's going to be difficult," Skye pulled off her bag and removed a tablet. She passed it to Sam, "This is everything we've got, but unfortunately we just haven’t had time to digitize most of the Hydra files. If whatever you need was on SHIELD servers you're fine, but otherwise…"

"So we're probably going to need to go back to headquarters to get answers?"

Skye nodded, "Most likely."

Sam's grin was wicked, "Steve's going to kill me."

Chapter 3: Intel

"Oh yeah, I can tell you're really suffering."

Sam turned away from Skye's tablet just in time to take a duffle bag full in the face. He fell off the stool he was perched on and landed painfully on the floor of the shipping crate. He jumped to his feet, ready for a fight, but held back once he identified his "attacker". 

Steve had showered and changed into civvies (more to cover up the stench from spending hours in a soggy uniform) and carried with him his own duffle bag. He had no less than eight pizzas and four plastic bags of soda, plates, and popcorn in the other arm. 

While his friend's smile was polite as he approached, Sam got the impression he was a dead man walking.

"Doing alright?" Steve was tense in what to him was a den of enemies. His eyes searched for any sign of a trap and his body was tensed for a fight.

"No," Sam replied honestly- the SHIELD agents were securing the last of the files upstairs and were, for the moment, out of sight. The electroshock chair was already gone, thankfully, "I can't find anything on our lead. I really do think we should consider going with them. I got a call from Nat earlier, she's vouching for their lead agent. I seriously doubt it's a trap."

"I don't care. We're not risking it. We can't trust these people," Steve said.

"Captain Rogers!" Tripp came down the ladder, guiding some sort of vertical lift that was supporting an entire file cabinet down. He quickly came to the corner where Sam and Steve were and offered a hand, "I'm Agent Tripplet Jones. You knew my grandfather, back in the day."

Steve set his duffle down and obligingly returned the handshake, then froze at Tripp's name. His face broke into a massive grin the likes of which Sam hadn't seen in months, "Gabe Jones? You're Gabe Jones' grandson? You two could be twins! Sam, his grandfather was a Howling Commando!" 

It was night a day- the Steve who entered the shipping crate and the one meeting the grandson of a long-dead friend. Yes, Hydra had poisoned SHIELD, but a Howling Commando’s loyalties could never be questioned.

Sam tried to hide his triumphant smile, "I guess this SHIELD might not be Hydra in disguise after all."

Steve ignored Sam and beamed at Gabe, "Your grandfather saved my butt more times than I could ever count! Is Bea your grandmother? What was his name… Donnie! Was Donnie your father, or did they have more kids?"

As Steve and Tripp swapped Stories of Gabe and his wife, Sam wandered over behind Steve. He flashed Tripp two thumbs up. There was no doubt now that Steve would at least give SHIELD a chance.

"We're almost done loading up, are you two joining us or not?" Agent May interrupted. Behind her, Skye was doing her best to look like a serious agent and not an Avengers fangirl.

Steve hesitated, glancing between Tripp, Sam, and Agent May, “Nat vouched for her?” Sam nodded and he sighed, "We need intel... I don’t suppose we have any other choice." 

"Then get in the jet and we'll head back to our Bus. I've arranged for you- and only you- to meet with our Director as soon as we arrive," Agent May said.

"Do you allow food on the bus? I brought pizza for everyone," he offered, lifting his other arm (as if they couldn't see 8 pizza boxes). "They’re ransom for Sam."

"That's all I'm worth to you? Eight pizzas?" Sam snapped with mock outrage.

"I got a Hawaiian one. Plus the pizzeria gave us popcorn too."

"In that case, god bless."

---

---

Steve spent the quick hop to the "Bus" (which turned out to be a SHIELD cargo plane) chatting with Skye and Tripp while Sam got to know Simmons and Fitz. The team was everything the Avengers were not- unity being the most obvious feature. Even the strict Agent May seemed more of a mothering figure once you got to know her a bit. 

They all joked as the jet flew deep into the ice fields and once it docked with its mother ship they moved down into the living quarters and began on the pizza, sodas, and popcorn. It made for a fun and almost family-like atmosphere. 

Simmons helped Fitz cut his pizza, Tripp unceremoniously tore the crusts off his pieces to hand to Skye, who deposited half of her green peppers on his plate in payment, all without breaking their conversations with the two Avengers or one another. Their closeness wasn’t feigned, but instinct. They were a family.

Once their lunch was finished May directed Steve and Sam to remain in the living quarters while the rest of the crew emptied out the contents of the Quin-Jet and completed final checks on the anchors holding it to the hull before takeoff.

"I'm sorry for snapping so much," Steve rubbed his eyes as exhaustion caught up with him, "you're a good friend. You've already gone above and beyond, helping me look for him. I shouldn't be such a dictator."

"I would have left off the 'tator' bit." Sam chuckled, "Nah, man, I get it. If it was Riley I'd be chasing him down just as hard. Judging by that chair I saw you-know-who has to be the longest serving POW in history. The way I look at it it's my duty as a soldier to bring him back."

Steve sighed, "This isn't the first time we've had this conversation."

"Well, maybe now that we’re giving SHIELD a chance, it can be the last."

Steve moved over to sit on a low couch. The two Avengers waited in comfortable silence for Agent May to ready the bus for flight.

Nearly 24 hours after they'd gone out to the bridge to finalize plans for the barge raid, the strain finally caught up with Steve and Sam. By the time Agent May made it to the bridge they were both asleep in their chairs. They remained that way- Steve with his head on the table and Sam stretched out across the seats- until the plane landed at home base.

May woke the duo several hours later, “Agent Wilson, Captain Rogers- we’ve arrived.” 

Sam groaned on the couch and tried to stretch. His arm and leg were asleep in his suit- unlike Steve he never got the chance to change. He propped himself up with one eye half-open, his body tingling painfully, and with angry red lines crossing his neck where the suit had dug in.

Steve, capable of sleeping just about anywhere, was more graceful in the wake-up than his companion. He sat up and brushed his sandy blond hair aside, model-perfect. 

"Agent Wilson-"

"Not an agent," Sam mumbled as he tried to remember where he was.

"Mr. Wilson- Agent Jones will escort you to our locker room. You can shower and change there, then he'll take you to the archive. Captain Rogers, you'll meet with our Director and brief them completely on your mission. If the Director agrees then you will be given a team of Agents to help go through our files. If not, you and Mr. Wilson will be given 24 hours to find what you can and then you will be escorted to a neutral location of your choice."

"You had me at 'shower'," Sam shook out the tingling in his leg and stood.

Steve took a deep breath, gathered his bag, and followed May out of the plane. 

He was resigned to meeting the Director. He didn't have to be enthusiastic about it. He tried to think back over the SHIELD agents he'd had contact with, but most were now confirmed Hydra. Alexander Pierce had made him into as much of a asset as Bucky. 

The thought made his blood boil. Any semblance of peace he’d found on that jet evaporated.

SHIELD's base turned out to be fairly small compared to the others Steve and Sam had raided. Of course, now that they were a so-called terrorist organization it wasn't like they'd be moving into another massive Triskellion-esque facility anytime soon.

The hanger was equipped to handle two planes the size of Agent May's "Bus". There were a few Quin-Jets sitting around, but for the most part the other half of the hanger doubled as a gym. A dozen agents trained in hand-to-hand and boxing, just like Steve had once upon a time.

Heading through the base Steve was struck by how familiar it all looked. Labs, meeting rooms, storage, and living quarters were all crammed together and vied for limited space- the closeness was only magnified by the sheer number of Agents trying to navigate their work spaces. It wasn't claustrophobic though. Rather... nostalgic.

"This facility belonged to the Strategic Scientific Reserve, once upon a time," May noticed the pained look in Steve's eyes, "they used to build everything from the same blueprints. The idea being-"

"-if you've been to one base you can find your way around all of them." It looked so much like the place he, Bucky, Peggy, and Howard had been stationed at during the war. If he didn't know any better he'd have thought it was the same base. But that place, if it still existed, was lost somewhere in the French Alps. He'd tried tracking it down when they first went after Bucky, but the entrance was gone.

But if this was a different facility, what gave it the right to show him so many painful memories? What gave the ghosts the right to come out?

Peggy wasn't standing there in the meeting room consoling him after Bucky’s death, she was in a nursing home in D.C. lost somewhere in the past. Howard wasn't in the lab cooking up some new weapon- but his son probably was. The Howling Commandos were all in their graves, not the equipment room gearing up. And Bucky- his best friend was out there somewhere, lost and angry, not by Steve’s side where he belonged. 

Red Skull took most of his life. Zola the rest.

"I'm not meeting your Director," Steve stopped abruptly. He wasn't going to let history repeat itself. It wasn't worth it to trust SHIELD and risk them turning on him once they realized there was a second super-soldier on the board, "The Avengers will handle this." 

Steve turned around and came face-to-face with one last ghost- the SHIELD agent he let down before the Battle of New York.

"I know," Coulson smiled, "I look good for a dead guy."

Steve could only stare, "You're alive?" He shook his head and growled, "Fury." Steve turned and slammed his fist into the wall- a bit less satisfying than the target he wanted, but he wouldn't be the one to put Coulson back in his grave.

"I'll have that dent framed," Coulson smiled, "the agents will get a kick out of it. Avenger damage adds a touch of class to the joint."

"Did Loki ever even know you existed, or was all that a ploy to get us to work together?" Manipulated at every turn. By SHIELD, by Hydra-

"I was dead," Coulson was calm in the face of Cap’s rage, "For about two days, actually. We developed a project, T.A.H.I.T.I., after you were thawed. Pseudo-science capable of bringing back the dead- only to be used in the event of an Avenger fell. I shut the project down. Fury brought it back, then he brought me back."

"Is it-"

"-it's no longer in play. It was destroyed. Utterly. No chance of replication."

"It had better be gone," Steve growled. The last thing SHIELD or Hydra needed was the ability to raise the dead.

Coulson nodded, "Don't tell the other Avengers, by the way. Agent Hill says you're still not the most cohesive unit. It’s better to be a dead mascot than alive and Avenger-less."

"Of course Maria Hill is still SHIELD," he snapped. She was Tony's employee, technically, but in truth worked with all Avengers either helping plan missions, gather intel, or seeking out persons and items of interest. 

Right now she was supposed to be scanning Hydra intel to get a lead on Loki's missing staff. Steve made a mental note to yank her off that project as soon as possible, in case she just handed it back to SHIELD.

"We aren't going to interfere with the Avengers in any way," Coulson offered. "I promise you that. My call to Maria came after Agent May said she was bringing you and Mr. Wilson in. It was idle friendly gossip, nothing more.”

The fall of SHIELD alone hadn't been enough, but it isn't really just one straw that breaks the camel's back. It's a million working together. 

Coulson could see it in Steve clearly, the darkness of someone who'd been through too much. People tended to forget the Avengers were human too. Steve had no grasp anymore of why he was fighting, he just knew that he was. A shadow like that could very easily devour a man. 

"Doesn't matter whose side Hill is on. I'm done with secrets, and I'm done with SHIELD. We'll find the intel some other way." Steve turned around to find his way back to the Bus. He was grabbing Sam and-

"Do you think you can get the intel before Hydra finds Bucky?" Steve froze, "We've got people inside Hydra. We already know what they did to James Barnes. Hydra's been on high alert since the Triskellion. We might know more than you at this point. Did you know he wiped out facilities in Russia, Sweden, South Africa, and the Rocky Mountains?"

Steve turned to face Coulson, "Do you know where he is?" his voice was ice.

"No, but if you trust us we might be able to help you figure out where he is heading. He's running from Hydra, SHIELD, and the Avengers. He may be unstable and you can sure as hell bet that he's lethal.”

“You just want to use him-”

“We want him off the streets before anyone gets hurt. That’s it. You can have him. Bucky Barnes is an American hero, no matter what they turned him into. We’re just trying to bring him home.”

Technically Coulson had never lied to them, but Steve still didn’t know if he could trust him. He barely knew the guy for three days before he "died", but the others loved him- even Tony. 

Clint roomed with him at SHIELD Academy, Natasha considered him a friend, and even Thor respected him… 

Steve hung his head. He had to roll the dice.

"Project Echo," he said at last, "Bucky took that file from the barge and nothing else that we know of. From what we know it's been off the books for 5 years, but it was important to him for some reason. He killed everyone on that ship, wiped the computers, but Sam thinks it was as much about that file as it was revenge."

Coulson nodded, "Alright, we'll help you figure out what he's doing. I'll send half a dozen agents to the records room to help you with your search and another six to digitize them and run keyword searches," he held out a hand and, after consideration, Steve shook it. "Peggy Carter made James Barnes a SHIELD agent posthumously so that he would be included in our Wall of Valor. We protect our own, Steve."

"He isn't going to SHIELD."

"The Avengers are technically a SHIELD team. If he's with you he is in SHIELD custody." This whole thing was an apology, and so Coulson was willing to bend the rules for the Avengers. 

Coulson was looking ahead- SHIELD hadn't exactly welcomed Skye openly once the other faction learned about her abilities. The Avengers would be the safest place for her should the issue ever arise again. He needed an IOU from Captain America to shield his friend.

Still weary of a double-cross, Steve watched Coulson carefully. 

At this point he'd run out of patience, but he owed it to Sam to finish this once and for all. They bickered constantly, but he still knew who his friends were. Steve just wished he could be sure Coulson counted among those ranks. 

Just because he was a fan didn't mean he wouldn't stab Steve in the back if it looked like it would benefit him. 

I don't even remember when I became the pessimist, he thought sadly as he reached out and shook Coulson’s hand.

---

---

"I've got something," Sam frowned as he flipped through a binder of Hydra memos from one of the bases Bucky wiped out. The binder was massive, and he was going through it page by page, but they were being thorough. 

Sam had placed sticky-notes inside to act as markers and he flipped through them, "Five memos just say 'Project: Echo failed, advise,' and I have four, 'Failure unacceptable, proceed as planned'. The last reply though is, 'Director Pierce to oversee termination, stand by’. It’s not much, but-"

"-it's more than any of us have found. Put it on the board," Steve nodded to a large cork board with the few pieces of evidence they had (most taken from the barge in Alaska by Sam): The empty hanging folder, a one-page medical brief on the Winter Soldier, and a directory of Hydra Asset ID numbers with Bucky's highlighted.

"I've got something too," Tripp had the binder with messages from the base in Gallivare, Sweden. He glanced up at Bucky's Hydra ID to verify, "'Project: Echo termination complete' sent from his ID."

"If the Winter Soldier completed a termination order it means we're probably talking about a human project." Steve sighed, "Whoever they were, they're long dead."

"He has the file, just by looking at it he'd know he's got a cold case on his hands. Still, he took it. Maybe he's not looking for the subject, maybe it's something else."

Skye was in the lab with Fitz, Simmons, and three other agents scanning boxes of files as the team in the records room progressed. She stuck her head in the door and knocked softly, "Captain Rogers? Can I borrow you for, like, five minutes?"

"Don't let him come back without fresh coffee," Sam waved his empty mug at Steve.

"Sure, what do you need?" Steve collected the empty carafe and followed Skye out into the hall.

She was nervous- everyone was around Steve, "I was screwing around- only because the scanner was busy- and I found something you might be interested in. It didn't slow us down, I promise, but-"

"I've been too intense, I know. It's fine. We've been at this for ten hours, everyone needs a rest. Don't worry, please." He'd gotten over a good chunk of his temper- enough to feel guilty towards everyone he'd been snapping at. Especially Sam. 

He always felt guilty for snapping at Sam lately.

Skye held out her tablet and pressed play, "Just on a hunch I ran facial recognition with that picture of Bucky you provided, focusing on the Smithsonian exhibit and Avengers Tower after the emergence of Hydra, just in case maybe he went looking for you," she tapped one of about twenty small black-and-white images and it filled the screen. 

It was the James Barnes memorial wall in his exhibit. A man stood in front of it- a man who was unmistakably Bucky Barnes. It was like a massive weight being lifted from Steve’s shoulders.

 "I can't say if he remembers or not, but he stared at that wall for a good half hour, then spent another four in the exhibit until a security guard sent him out for the night. The only other things he really focused on were the pictures of you before Project Rebirth and the interviews with Agent Carter and the Howling Commandos."

Steve was more hopeful than certain it was Bucky who pulled him out of the Potomac, or that the hesitation before the killing blow on the helicarrier was recognition. Bucky at the Smithsonian seeing who he was and who their friends were- "Thank you, Skye," he grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug. "Thank you so much."

She was grinning as he released her, "Yeah, well, it was nothing."

"Peace of mind isn't ‘nothing’, it's everything." 

For the first time in months, Steve felt like he could breathe again. 

---

---

The next day they hit pay dirt.

"I'VE GOT IT!" Agent May's excited outburst startled even the SHIELD agents in the room. She slapped down an order form in the middle of the table, "A requisition form for twenty bags of O- blood earmarked for Project: Echo at Hydra facility Astana in Kazakhstan. The order is set for automatic refill on a bi-monthly basis."

They knew Project: Echo involved a human subject or subjects, but what could they possibly need that much blood for? 

"Alright, new angle," Coulson broke the silence, "find anything you can on Hydra Facility Astana. Agent May, contact Agent Ivaneau." He looked to Steve, “Hydra put spies in SHIELD, so we put one in Hydra. She might be able to get us a floorplan of the base.”

"I'll update Natasha, see if she can find anything," Sam patted Steve's shoulder as he stood.

"Come with me, I'll show you where your comms will work," May exited with him.

Coulson eyed Steve, "Bucky has been ripping apart Hydra bases. There's a chance Astana is already gone, we just haven't found out about it yet. I hate to be the naysayer, but what's your plan if it's another dead end?"

Steve's heart was still pounding with excitement over the lead, Coulson's worries didn't even phase him, "Natasha is working on Stark. If we can get him on board then I'll be able to go after him with the full might of the Avengers, finally. We'll get Bucky, one way or the other."

"And if he can’t be the Bucky you remember anymore?"

"Then at least he’ll be home."

Chapter 4: Astana

Getting the blueprints for a Hydra facility turned out to be a hell of a lot easier than finding the slip of information that had led them there. 

Agent Ivanou came through within hours and an encrypted data-burst included not only base schematics, but also a personnel list and guard rotation schedule- confirmation it was still very much active. At least as of that morning.

Within five hours Steve was back on the Bus with Sam, Agent May's team, and about a dozen support agents. While Steve and Sam made for the records room the others would take control of the facility and wipe out Hydra with extreme prejudice.

Hydra Facility Astana turned out to be a top-level research arm. Mechanical, scientific, chemical- if it could be experimented with or on it passed through Astana at some point. 

The best and brightest of Hydra all conveniently gathered for destruction.

Natasha's assessment of Tony wasn't promising, and frankly Steve fought alone for so long it didn't seem appropriate to bring them into this fight now. He and Sam were going to Astana with only the two of them- and neither were bullet proof like Thor or apparently immortal like the Hulk. An Iron Man suit would have provided some added level of comfort, but Steve wasn't about to trust Stark to help them on anything- not just after he found out the guy they were hunting killed his parents.

Sam spent the flight socializing while Steve and Tripp swapped more stories of Gabe Jones while Sam wandered, happy to have a variety of people to chat with for once.

Simmons and Skye were keeping busy in the corner discussing someone named "Ward" in hushed tones. Sam ambled over to the girls and joined in their conversation, "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear, you're looking for someone too? We might be able to help, we do kind of owe you."

Skye was always open to any and all help on the Ward front, "A member of our team. He turned out to be a Hydra agent- you know what that's like."

"Actually I'm not SHIELD- not really." 

Both women were surprised at that, "Weren't you one of Captain Rogers' support crew members?" Simmons asked.

He shook his head, "I met him jogging. We ran the same route. Well, I run, he sort of flies past me… Fury made me an Agent at some point after I became an Avenger, but I'm really not sure what that means."

"So then, how did you go from jogging buddies to partners stopping Hydra's big Doomsday plan?" Simmons was incredulous.

Sam shrugged, "He turned up on my back porch with Natasha- Agent Romanov- looking for a place to lay low. Fury was dead, SHIELD agents were trying to kill them, and I offered them a place to regroup."

Skye waited for more, the story couldn't be finished just like that, "And-?"

"And I showed Steve and Romanov what I worked on back when I was a soldier. Project Falcon. We took it from there and two days later the Triskellion raid happened."

"Wait," Simmons said, "he finds out SHIELD is infested by Hydra and Captain America, Leader of the Avengers, doesn't go to his team for help, but a man he met jogging?!"

"And if you think that's scary he only learned my name like a day before."

"Now that's trust," Skye laughed, "and you've been running ever since?"

"Pretty much, yeah. We've done a couple of stints in Avengers Tower for repairs to my wings, but otherwise we've been hunting. We can't get help from the Avengers just yet- it's kind of a tricky situation."

Simmons understood immediately, "You needed pictures of the chair to prove Barnes isn’t a threat... do you think it was enough?”

Sam's mood took an abruptly somber shift, "Honestly? No idea. I barely know the others… Bucky’s admission into Avengers Tower isn't even the biggest question on our list- it's if Steve and I will have to go underground entirely…"

This was the first time Sam voiced his fears aloud- that finding Bucky was only part of the battle. Steve acted like it was an endgame, the grand finale. Of course they'd all skip off into the goddamn sunset and even Stark would welcome Bucky in without any worries. 'Project: Echo' would be forgotten and Steve's world would be a bit less lonely with his old friend and brother in it.

He told Simmons and Skye nothing about Bucky being the one to kill Howard and Maria Stark. Even if the Winter Soldier had nothing to do with their deaths, it was still too much to expect the Avengers to swallow.

I wish I had Steve’s faith that this would all work out, Sam looked down at his hands. 

He teased Steve about his eternal pessimism, but what Cap saw as a finale to a horror story he saw only as the beginning to something else. Tony was a good guy, but stubborn. He wasn't the forgive-and-forget type, and how many more families had Bucky torn apart for Hydra? How many people were out for his blood? What about Bucky himself? 

The psychological fallout was terrifying on its own. What if they never caught up with him though? Sure, he stole a file, but it might have been insignificant in whatever his grand scheme was- collect reports on all his missions to try and jog his broken mind. 

It didn't mean he was hunting for 'Project: Echo' specifically. It might be nothing to him at all.

Steve was a pessimist with an optimistic outlook, Sam was the optimist with the pessimistic outlook. When the hell had that happened? Somewhere in the 8 months of frenzied searches and half-planned raids they'd switched places.

"What's up, Mopey?" 

The pitch and volume of Sam's scream would have been funnier to Skye if she hadn't done basically the same thing when Natasha Romanov, Black Widow of the Avengers, suddenly plopped down on the couch next to Sam. 

Steve laughed so hard at the commotion he fell out of his own chair as several SHIELD agents hastily drew, then just as quickly holstered, their weapons.

"Where the hell did you come from?!" Sam sounded angrier than he intended. He was red-faced and embarrased as hell.

"I'm bored, you need backup, ipso-facto I'm here."

"When did you get here?!" Sam was positive he would have noticed Natasha and her bright red hair getting on the plane with the SHIELD agents- especially since it seemed to have doubled in length since he last saw her. Her tactical suit was unique to say the least- between the two he was either blind or she'd mastered invisibility.

Steve wandered over as his giggles subsided and shook Natasha's hand. He'd seen as much as Sam- nothing out of place one second and the next Natasha was just there. 

"How's it going Steve?"

"That depends. How's Stark taking the news?"

Natasha winked at Sam, "He's upset, and we had to override JARVIS' systems a couple of times, but once he took a good, long look at that picture of the Chair from Alaska he changed his tune. You know Stark- he could probably build one of his own by now, and he sure as hell knows what it was used for. Still, keep his exposure to Bucky on a strictly supervised basis for the first few weeks. He won't try anything, but you don't want to push Tony's buttons."

"Natasha, I think you miss-understood what I said over comms. We've got a lead on some old case file, we still don't know where the hell Bucky is."

A trickster's glint lit her eyes, "I put a few of my contacts in Kazakhstan on high alert for anything unusual- no specifics, naturally. An hour ago one of my favorite little Baursaki street vendors called to report a man wandering through Astana towards the hills. Not unusual on its own, but apparently this particular man was covered in dried blood and his left arm was throwing sparks. I left as soon they hung up."

"Bucky's actually in Kazakhstan?” Steve's excitement couldn't be masked.

"We've been in the air for six hours,” Sam muttered to himself.

Natasha was smiling herself as she nodded. Steve’s honest, open joy was contagious. 

Eight hard months of searching were taking one hell of a toll- on both Avengers- but Steve in particular showed it. Now they finally had more than hope, they had proof. She was glad she'd delivered the message in person rather than over comms, if only to see Steve’s reaction- and the overwhelming confusion coming from Sam.

"We can bring him in and end this. Today."

Hope after so long without any overwhelmed Steve, "I can't even- it's hard to imagine this ending." He hugged Natasha, his face plastered with a dopey grin. 

"Six hours…"

"Well, do you think he'll be, like, waiting?" Skye was excited, "Maybe he brought everyone here intentionally. Take out some top-level Hydra scumbag and break the bastards once and for all, then he goes home with the Avengers!"

Simmons was more apprehensive, "He's experienced major traumas for an extended period of time,. If he's learning who he was he may be unstable. Throwing him in the Bus' holding cells won't help, and we're not equipped to contain someone with his abilities back at the base. I mean, Fitz would probably love to get a look at that arm, but-"

"We won't be coming back in the jet," Natasha said, "and I'm willing to bet Tony will be curious enough that he calls dibs on the arm. We'll figure it out at the party."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Steve's concern was immediate, "party? Nat, we don't know what condition he's going to be in or how responsive. A party is absolutely out of the question-"

"Dinner party, a small one," she promised, "Avengers and Bucky only. No one's even bringing a date- not even Pepper is coming. It's a welcoming reception for Thor, actually…"

"Thor's back?"

"Steve- six hours."

Natasha continued to ignore the dazed and confused Sam, "Odin appointed him the official Ambassador to Midgard. He's almost done unpacking- he sent for something to help with Bucky."

"OK, even so, we may have to keep Bucky locked up, Nat. A party isn't-"

"Nope, no arguing," Natasha held up a hand. "Everyone wants to help- and they will have to in different ways. Clint and I are well-versed in deprogramming, you and Thor can grab him if he starts a rampage, Sam has experience with PTSD, Tony gets the arm, and Banner wants to run tests to see what exactly Hydra has been doing to him. Barnes needs to meet everyone and the sooner the better."

"He can meet everyone without a party," Steve protested, "You know how crazy the others get Natasha. Tony will try to drink Thor under the table, Banner will probably be the one mixing drinks, and Clint will be forcing everyone to sing karaoke. It's a horrible environment for someone who's been tortured, traumatized, and spent eight months on the run. It will overwhelm him. Trust me- I was there the first time I got him back from Zola- he didn’t want anything to do with anyone."

"I bet you another $100 you're worrying over nothing. Tony and Thor swore to save the competition for another night and I had JARVIS disable the karaoke system. It'll be dinner and dessert, that's all. No games, no roughhousing. I made them swear on their pinkies."

"You mean pinky-swear?"

"No, if they fall out of line I’m breaking their pinkies.”

Sam was finally fed up with the entire conversation (not to mention being ignored), "Am I the only one who heard her say she decided to come an hour ago?!"

Steve was confused by his abrupt outburst, "Sam, we know, we're here too."

"What's wrong with that?" Skye wasn't following either.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that we've been in the air for six hours? How did you get here?"

Steve turned back to stare at Natasha along with the equally amazed Skye and Simmons, "Wait- he's right! How are you here?!"

"Irrelevant-"Natasha waved him off. "Now, where's Agent May hiding? We've got some catching up to do…"

They’d find out eventually, and frankly she liked scaring the boys, it kept them in their place.

---

---

Nestled in the rolling hills outside of the Kazakh capital of Astana was a simple storm drain- nothing much to look at on a normal day. 

Except today there were people running for their lives from it. 

Guards lined the drain with their rifles pointed inwards, covering fleeing scientists. They barely even turned when the cloaked jet's turbines were within hearing range. Whatever Bucky was doing here, he'd already made his presence felt.

With the exception of Agent May,  SHIELD's best and most lethal were gathered in the cargo hold readying for a fight. 

Steve, Sam, Natasha, Tripp, and Skye were separated from the others. Unlike the main force they were now the hunting party. Any plans to clear the base were gone the moment Natasha received confirmation of Bucky's presence in Kazakhstan. Now the parameters were different: Strike team goes in, the rest hold until the first level is cleared, and then they stick to their floor while the others aim lower in the building until they find Bucky. 

Once he and the Avengers were out of the way the rest would be free to take the base. Bucky might not be able to differentiate SHIELD from Hydra, so the new game plan was their best bet to protect their SHIELD allies.

"This is a Hydra containment and experimentation facility," Steve had to shout as the landing gear lowered and they began a slow descent to the ground, "if you take prisoners, make sure they are secure! We’ve got blueprints of the facility, but we still don't know where the Winter Soldier may be. Keep your guard up until we confirm contact!"

"We'll be making the initial entry into the facility," Sam was all business now, "We aim to soften this place up as much as possible for you, but our priority is recovery of the Winter Soldier. As soon as we have him, we’re out. Apologies in advance if that means we leave mid-sweep."

"Agents Brett and Wong will guard Simmons should we need medical assistance," Steve pointed out two agents he'd met in-flight. "No one waste her time by getting shot or stabbed- our goal is minimal casualties!"

"The Winter Soldier is not to be approached by anyone except for Captain Rogers or myself," Natasha announced. "If he comes at you drop all weapons and get out of his way- fast. It doesn't matter if he's in a cell with his back to you and you have a hand on the door controls- DO. NOT. ENGAGE."

"You'll know him by his left arm- made entirely of metal and probably damaged. If you see him contact us via radio beginning with 'Steve Rogers' or 'Captain Rogers'. DO NOT just say 'I found him'. If he even thinks you're Hydra he will shoot to kill,” Steve said.

Natasha wrapped up the briefing as the jet landed and May activated the defense systems, "We will be taking the Winter Soldier into custody by alternative means, so this is goodbye from us. We will check in later to make sure everyone makes it out."

The infiltration team stepped forward. A barrage of gunfire from the turrets eliminated the horde of scientists and security personnel running towards the distant jet in their haste to escape the base. Few Hydra facilities were as large or as active as Astana’s. All the technology Hydra had at their command and Bucky had them literally running for the hills.

"Skye, Trip, and Sam- use the stunners only as a last resort," Steve reminded them for the hundredth time. “They haven’t been tested on a super-soldier before. You might just piss him off."

"Get ready," Natasha called out. The ramp was moving, "Time to go to work kids."

The hills outside of Astana were all dead grass and soft inclines- great if you're worried about your enemies trying to sneak up on you, shit if you're the enemy. The team was totally exposed as they sprinted the half mile back towards the storm drain. 

Bodies littered the field but more Hydra agents poured from within. Any who knelt in surrender would be taken into custody- but the Bus only had so much room. Whatever had the scientists spooked was sending them running without thought or reason- so the jet's defense systems eliminated them. 

Agent Ivanou had sent word with the blueprints to remain on high alert- these people did things that would make Mengele shudder. It made Steve less than sympathetic to their plight.

Scientists, maintenance, doctors, cooks, launderers, service personnel- Steve was fine with leaving those to Agent May and SHIELD. The feisty-looking ones Natasha hamstringed before the Bus' bullets reached them- they at least deserved questioning before they died. Natasha kept her blades coated in a slow-acting neurotoxin. SHIELD would get 48 hours to get their intel before the prisoners died.

No one would ever accuse her of having a flashy hero name- she was the Black Widow.

The first wave of guards fell under the SHIELD suppression fire, but as Steve, Sam, Natasha, Skye, and Tripp closed the gap more guards appeared to hold the door. Natasha opened fire on a line of them to the left as Steve threw his shield to the right.

Natasha ran ahead as Steve caught his shield and opened fire on the ceiling. It had the desired effect- the crowd hesitated long enough for the troop to get in through the narrow door without being trampled.

Inside the Hydra facility it was chaos. Half the scientists were running for the doors, half for security checkpoints, and the guards were divided between covering people as they fled and stopping them from leaving. 

The Winter Soldier was a force of nature- but to inspire this much chaos? These people looked like they were afraid of something more than one man.

"Stay alert, Bucky might not be the only thing in here," at least in the crush of bodies the guards didn't care that a few Avengers had wandered in- at least not until the group began to open fire on them. Steve targeted anyone in his path- scientists and guard alike. He tried to keep fatalities high and casualties low, but as far as he was concerned Hydra were no than the Nazis they’d served. 

 For 70 years they thrived while he slept, now he was making his presence known. They should have killed him before the ice finished melting.

"Keep up the pace," Natasha was the only one who didn't break stride as they began to fight. 

She made herself the lead in their group and crippled anyone within reach. There were times when showing mercy to your enemies was the right path. This wasn't one of those. SHIELD didn't have the resources it would need to hold them and it wasn't worth risking leaving some Zola-wannabe on the loose.

At the first fork, some hundred yards into the base, Steve pinned a guard against the wall and dealt a fatal blow to the man's neck with his shield. Natasha spared a glance at Sam. He understood her question and nodded. 

Sam couldn't figure out how she got on the damned jet, but he knew why she came- to see if Steve was as uncharacteristically brutal as reported. If something didn’t change there would be bigger problems down the road. Steve was running himself beyond even his endurance and it showed in the violence with which he executed his enemies.

"Sam, go left with Skye and Tripp, we'll head this way. If you find the security room great, but don’t spend too long looking."

"The security room is our best chance," Natasha objected.

"Do you don't see what's going on here?!" Steve snapped, "We're not the only ones attacking! Finding the security room may be a waste of time and we don't-"

"I get it," Sam cut Steve off and peeled away. He knew enough about strategy and timing to make his own calls, and Steve was a big enough boy to get over it when his plans were scrapped. "See you on the other side! Don't die!"

---

---

An hour and a half later Steve was alone somewhere in the second level living quarters. 

Natasha had long since split off and no one was on comms. Their infiltration became a mindless cycle of opening doors, clearing the rooms (if the inhabitants tried to fight), locking the rooms from the outside, and moving on. 

SHIELD controlled the first level, and resistance was lighter by the second as the infiltration team progressed.

The last report Steve received was from Sam when he finally reached a security room.  Bucky had already gone through and smashed the monitors, then disemboweled a security guard. At least, Steve hoped it was Bucky. The man wasn't able to say- half his tongue had been pulled out. 

He had no chance of being saved, so Sam pulled out his gun and gave the man a quick death. He'd been silent ever since.

Something was definitely in the base besides the infiltrators and their quarry. Steve had a feeling something was creeping behind him, just out of sight. He was constantly on-edge, and the deep gashes in the walls weren't helping. 

The first time Steve noticed the creature was in a bedroom full of scientists who'd surrendered flat-out: four long scratches that began on the ceiling and continued down through the wall. When he demanded answers from a cowering lab tech the man swore they’d been there for years.

More and more Steve was finding signs of a creature moving through the halls. Those first marks were old but he had a feeling some of them were new. Fresh chips of stone on the floors was merely the first clue- dripping silver goo was the other. That was why Steve had SHIELD move in early. 

Simmons was busy collecting as many samples as possible.

Steve braced himself and opened the last door in the hallway. Any worries about a mysterious beast were cast aside at the first sign of what was on the other side. A half-dozen armed guards arrayed around the door in a half-circle. Steve found weapon storage.

Immediately he folded himself behind the shield and waited until the deafening pings of bullets stopped. The ricochet took out two (judging by the screams) and the moment the men stopped firing he was up and diving into the group. 

Two had indeed been injured, but they still threw blades to give their buddies time to reload. As Steve ducked a throwing knife he brought up his shield to break the elbow of an armed soldier. The problem with his abilities and fighting while tired was that he tended to misjudge his super-strength. Between spinning away to dodge the knife and his sharp uppercut with the shield he ended up severing the limb entirely.

‘Oh well, he was Hydra after all.’ Steve grabbed the screaming man's head and snapped his neck.

The fighting was cathartic and helped Cap release his frustration. He threw the shield at two men directly across from him in the cramped room. They couldn't move out of the way quickly enough and in such close quarters the shield was lethal. It took off one man's head and severed the throat of the other. 

Steve didn't waste time watching them die. He grabbed the last standing man and used him as a shield to absorb three blades from one of the injured guards.

"S-steve Rogers? Captain Rogers? D-do you r-read?"

"Give me a second!" Steve ignored Tripp and fired on the soldier, then snapped the final guard's neck.

"A-alright. You're busy. I’ll w-wait."

Tripp's voice was thin and reedy, he was hurt. He was also following Natasha’s protocol on how to speak around Bucky.

Steve's stomach dropped while his heart swelled. Good news and bad. The grandson of one of his closest friends in his old life was injured, but by the sounds of it he'd found another long lost ally. He yanked his shield out of the crates it was embedded in and began to run back through the halls to the first junction the team split up, "Tripp, give me directions to your location!"

His sigh of relief was cut off abruptly by a wheeze and a hiss of pain, "S-Steve, my location is as f-follows: right, right, l-left, right left, left, d-down three levels, left, right, then the third right. F-follow the b-blood from there for a right a-and two lefts."

"Is he with you?" Natasha rocketed out of the hallway ahead of Steve. She was nowhere near as bloody as he was, but he had no doubt she took out more agents.

"Y-yes," Tripp was having trouble breathing. 

Steve kicked up his speed as much as he could. He wasn't worried about whatever creature prowled the base (though he saw scientists in a side hallway freshly mauled), he was worried about Bucky hurting Tripp- a Howling Commando legacy- before he could talk him down.

"Almost there!" Natasha was keeping ahead of Steve but when Sam and Skye appeared from opposite halls near the stairs she fell back to run with them. Down on Level 4 the halls were longer and more grid-like. Steve led them through the first left, then skid to a stop.

The hallway was all but destroyed. 

Silver liquid oozed from the ceiling and floors where the concrete was ground to uneven rubble. Pieces of bodies were strewn everywhere. The largest solid piece Steve could see was the size of a fist, and intestine hung from ripped-out lights. 

Even Natasha was stunned.

"Holy shit," Sam wasn't sure what else to say. There were no shoeprints in the silver bog- this all happened after Tripp and Bucky came through.

"Stay here and cover our escape route," Steve tried to make his voice more confident than he felt. He was eyeing the ajar door on the right side of the hall, "Tell SHIELD we’ll be needing Simmons- Skye, you're in charge of escorting her down. Also- I know we didn't bring any heavy ammunition but Skye, if you know a way to bury this place I suggest you get ready. The safest option may be to blow this place to hell. Sam- if Tripp can't walk out of there on his own I'll send for you. Natasha- does our way out have anything to do with JARVIS?"

"Yes."

"Good. Tell him to get our ride ready and if you see or hear anything unusual call me immediately, alright?"

"Got it, go."

He was apprehensive about letting his boots touch the slime, but there was no clear path to the door. Steve stepped on it gingerly. It was slippery, but he didn't see smoke or smell burning rubber. As quickly as he was able to he made it to the door and edged through.

Most lights were out in the next hallway, and it wasn't comforting to find out the silver veins glowed the in dark. Hair rose on the back of his neck but Steve didn't turn to check the shadows, it would only make him more anxious. He continued forward- even though he could feel breath on the back of his neck (or at least imagined he could).

Just through the third door on the right Steve saw a splash of blood on the wall and the body of a guard. The guard's neck was broken but his gun hadn't been kicked out of his hand. A puddle of blood indicated someone- probably Tripp- had been shot before falling to the ground. 

No silver liquid oozed from these walls, and the sensation of being followed was gone.

Steve focused on what was in front of him and the problems Bucky might pose to Tripp's rescue rather than a possible Hydra animal loose in the halls. Judging by the long streaks of blood, Bucky had dragged his friend down the hallway. According to the metal plaque outside the door they were in "Research Lab 6". 

There was a meeting room to one side and several filing cabinets- but it looked like nothing had been used in a long time. Dust covered everything and the guard who shot Tripp wasn't significantly armed. Steve was willing to bet he was a simple security officer to babysit the hallways. The air was close in the lab, stale. 

In an active Hydra facility why would there be an abandoned room?

He followed the blood down a side hall on the right and saw a dim light ahead. A headache was just blooming behind Steve’s eyes, and he had a feeling the further he went the worse it would get. There was a scratch of an old speaker in the distance and a distortion to the normal ambient noise- like a television left on without any picture on the screen.

Steve used a clean knife to peek around the corner. When he detected no movement he inched into the first room. A row of computer monitors on his right were inactive, but labels above them read 'Heartrate', 'Blood Pressure', 'Blood Oxygen', 'Brainwaves', and 'Alerts'. Medical monitoring? 

On the left was a shorter row of monitors, a few panels of switches, and a very large one-way mirror.

The cell Steve looked in on painted a very clear picture of what happened inside so many years ago. 

Chains hung from the ceiling in the back right corner and were fitted with rusty metal cuffs. Were set all around the room with four under a large, clear table- which Bucky had pinned Tripp against. The walls and ceiling were fitted with lights, but a row of them seemed to have been torn out at the very back and through them Steve could just barely see a large, dark room.

Bucky watched the door with a level of fanatic determination that made Steve hesitate. He was bloody, disheveled, and barely able to stand on his own two feet. His hair- matted with grease and blood- hung lank over his eyes.

He looked more like a rabid animal than the calm, cool assassin Steve faced 8 months ago.

The metal arm had burned off the left sleeve of his thin coat and occasional sparks still shot from it. The whole unit had bits of wires poking through the metal plates. 

Steve secured his shield on his back before entering the cell. Bucky jumped and Tripp groaned- the metal hand was closed around his throat, locking him in place. The man was gray-skinned and pale.

"Bucky, please, let him go. He needs a doctor." Steve slowly removed his shield and set it by the door, then inched to the far corner. He kept his hands out to the side, "I swear I won't leave. That's Tripp Jones- Gabe's grandson. Do you remember Gabe?"

Bucky didn't even look like he could understand what Steve was saying. The stench of dried gore and sweat was overpowering. A spray of sparks near his neck made Tripp cry out and seemed to jar Bucky to life.

"He goes. You stay." His rough mumble was barely intelligible. How long had it been since he'd spoken?

"Can I have someone come get him?"

Again, it took Bucky a long time to respond. When he did it was by drawing an old hunting knife. Steve held his breath as he slid the blade between Tripp's neck and his metal hand, then pried his fingers loose. 

As soon as he re-sheathed the blade and pulled the wrecked arm away Tripp began to gasp and cough. There were cuts from the blade on his throat, but nothing too severe.

"Call your person, then come here." He backed into the corner opposite the chains and pulled the blade back out. Bucky set it in his metal hand and used his human one to close the fist and secure the knife. He looked up at Steve expectantly.

"Sam, come get Tripp," Steve walked towards Bucky slowly. As he closed in his old friend grew more agitated.  His headache was reaching epic heights- how long had Bucky been exposed to whatever was affecting him?

When Sam ran into the room Bucky lunged at Steve, spun him around, and held the blade to his throat. He kept him firmly locked in place as a human shield as Sam scooped Tripp up off the table and glanced back.

"I'm alright, go." Steve said. Sam nodded and hurried back out. "Thank you Bucky," he let out the breath he'd been holding.

Bucky spun him around so that they were facing one another, but kept the blade to his throat, "You help people?"

He hesitated, “I try my best."

Bucky looked confused, lost, and sad. He walked away from Steve to the far side of the table and stared at the blood left behind. When he looked up his eyes were over-bright, "Then help me find her." 

"Find who?"

"Echo," Bucky pulled a folder from the back of his jeans and set it on a dry part of the table. He opened it to reveal a few hundred pages layered in dirt or torn and wrinkled. The fruits of his hunt- and if the top sheet was any indication, everything was redacted to hell. 

"Sure, Buck. We’ll figure this out."

"Yeah, ‘we’. And if you think for a second you can put me back in that chair-" he took a step around the table.

"I would never do that. I'm not Hydra, I'm your friend. You and me, until the end of the line- do you remember that?"

This time Bucky took a long, hard look around the room, as if waiting for some kind of trap- or perhaps seeing phantoms of whatever past he had in this place. He looked down and pried back his metal fingers until the knife fell, "I don't." 

Bucky took a step back, allowing Steve to retrieve the papers, "We'll find Echo, I promise," he tucked the pages into his suit. Bucky was somehow more agitated when they were out of sight, "Before we find her we need to go somewhere safe, ok? I'll still help you find Echo, but from a secure base. Somewhere Hydra can't go. Deal?" Again, he wasn't even sure his words were getting through.

"Where?"

Steve considered his phrasing, "Do you remember my friends from the Triskellion?"

Bucky stepped back, then rubbed his head as if it could help him remember, "The man who was here. The assassin-woman?"

"Yes! Very good,” he felt a sliver of hope bloom in his chest, “those are just two of them. I have more friends, an entire team. You'll be safe with them, they're good people. We fight against Hydra."

"People like me?"

"People like Pierce. Every member of my team is more than capable of finding Echo. I swear Bucky, we will find her and you will be part of that."

"If I go with you then you have ten days to find her. If you don't, I leave on my own."

It was a risky deal to make, considering Steve already knew she was dead, but ten days was enough time to lock Bucky down and start trying to heal him. Once he remembered she was gone they could figure out how to drive out the Winter Soldier and bring Bucky back, "Deal. I'll take you to my friends. They'll come with us to our base. We can start looking tonight, okay?"

Bucky looked around the room one last time. He waited for Steve to retrieve his shield, then followed him reluctantly to the door. Just before they stepped out of the control room Steve could have sworn he saw movement through the split in the wall. 

Something silver shining in the black.

A shiver went up his spine.

SHIELD knew they were leaving with Bucky. Steve just hoped they could bury whatever was loose in the bowels of Hydra Facility Astana.

Chapter 5: Safe

‘This is going to end badly’, Steve groaned as Sam's question was finally answered- Natasha's mysterious way onto the SHIELD plane mid-air was via one of Tony’s suits. 

He wasn’t have been happy about his parent's killer coming to the Tower, but he'd given Natasha a way to bring him in faster than any jet… Or he knew a jet would have been easier to get Bucky inside than forcing him into one of the claustrophobic, form-fitting metal contraptions.

Three white suits and one red were open at the back, awaiting passengers. Steve could guess what Bucky was thinking as he edged back towards the door to the facility: the suit helmet closing around his face would be too similar to being in the reprogramming chair. 

‘Stark's a monster.’

Natasha walked around Bucky and stepped straight into the red suit. It folded around her and, once the suit backing was secure, she turned, "It's this or ride with SHIELD."

At that Bucky froze. To him SHIELD and Hydra were synonymous.

 "I swear you'll be alright," Steve said.

After a moment, Bucky stepped forward into one of the white suits. It wasn't as smooth as Natasha's entrance- he was shaking, nervous, and he had to fight with his metal arm to get it inside. The moment the suit closed behind him Steve and Sam removed their extra gear and set them inside a large case off to the side of the suits. SHIELD would be sending their duffel bags to Avengers Tower directly.

Steve stepped into the white suit and shivered as it folded around him. He had to focus on keeping his face neutral- Stark had cameras inside every suit and a "Blackmail" folder filled with pictures of the Avengers. He wasn't giving the man any more ammunition. 

Foam cushions lining the inside of the suit expanded to match Steve's body shape and secure him. The screens in his helmet activated to show a digital map of Kazakhstan and an outline of their flight path.

JARVIS’ voice filled his ears, "Welcome Mister Rogers to Remote Suit 17. Please relax your muscles fully while the suits take you on an automated path to Avengers Tower. Flight time is one hour, seventeen minutes arriving at 6:54 in the afternoon New York time. May I interest you in an in-flight beverage?" 

A straw popped up under his chin.

"No, thanks," the straw vanished and the suit slowly moved Steve's arms into position for takeoff.

"It may interest you to know that you are in Master Stark's new line of medical assistance suits," Steve half-listened to JARVIS as he felt the shudder of takeoff. On the monitor the suits began to move faster than he’d thought possible, "He sent these suits for you so that I may run medical and mechanical diagnostics in-flight. I am equipped to run basic blood tests, monitor vital signs, brain waves, complete full-body x-rays, as well as stitch basic wounds. I am also equipped with a small selection of medication."

Steve's interest was piqued, maybe Tony wasn't such a dick after all, "How's Bucky doing then? What kind of shape is he in?"

"Mister Barnes has an elevated heartrate and is currently displaying physiological signs indicating mild hallucinations. Preliminary results from my blood analysis indicated dehydration and chronic malnutrition. I am administering fluids to begin correcting this issue as well as a low dose of sedatives to put him at ease."

"He's not going to be alright with you giving him shots," Steve warned, "he'll try to break out of the suit." He was willing to bet a fall would kill Bucky.

"There are currently twelve needles in you taking medical readings and administering medication," JARVIS sounded smug.

Steve was amazed. He hated to admit it, but Stark was a genius, "I think I get now why Tony didn't send a jet…"

"What, you thought I sent the suits to be a dick?" A channel opened and Tony came through the helmet speakers. "Maybe you thought I'd be tempted to crash Barnes' suit into a mountain? OD him on the drugs? Turn off the air filters and suffocate him?" He chuckled, "Rogers, your heartrate just shot through the roof. Relax, will you?"

"Stark- if you don't want us back at the Tower I'll understand," Steve was nervous, "We can go somewhere else-"

"You hate me that much? I'm touched."

"Natasha told you what he did… I'm just saying-"

"-we have dinner plans, you're all included in that," Tony cut him off. "I don't know how I feel about all of this, but I won't make a move against Barnes while he's in your custody. If that changes I'll give you a 10 minute head start."

"That's-"oddly mature, "really nice of you."

"Don't get all sappy on me Captain Tight-pants. I'm not heartless, I saw the chair. Besides, if I don't make peace with you then Natasha said she'd find someone else to play with Barnes' arm during the operations."

"What?" JARVIS' hadn’t mentioned anything about surgery.

"Uh, duh? That arm's wrecked, in case you didn't notice. JARVIS is giving me a scan of it right now and the entire thing needs to be removed. Your boy toy wasn't built for that. I mean, I hate to say it but the craftsmanship is impressive- it's a vibranium alloy exoskeleton with Adamantium inner lining- I didn't know there were enough of either of those to make a toothpick, let alone an arm. They have it patched into his nervous system too- seriously hardcore science- but the inner mechanics need to be totally gutted. It's too old and too damaged. Those sparks? That’s the neural interface shorting out... Damn, that’s gotta hurt like a bitch..."

Steve shook his head, "So just take off the arm- isn't there a release switch somewhere?" granted, he was a bit behind the times when it came to technology but he was fairly certain it was still more common for prosthesis to be removable.

"It's a single unit," Tony countered, "grafted to his skin directly." There was a ping as a new scan popped up, "Jesus Christ…"

"What?"

Tony was silent long enough that JARVIS chose to answer, "Evidence in the scar tissue around the shoulder plate as well as x-ray data indicates there was a struggle during the installation of the mechanical arm."

"He was awake, Rogers, when they grafted that thing onto him," Tony looked away from the scans as he got an earful of incredibly colorful 1940s swear words.

When Steve was finished he was an entirely new kind of angry, "Did JARVIS tell Bucky about the operation yet?"

"Operations, three or four. No- he didn't tell him."

"Good, can you open a channel to his suit and keep quiet?"

Stark forced a laugh, "One of those will happen, the other is a fool's hope."

"Whatever."

JARVIS chimed in, "Mister Rogers, I have opened a communication line."

"Bucky? Can we discuss something before we get to the Tower?"

"What?" Bucky was emotionless. JARVIS had said he was having hallucinations, but nothing betrayed that.

"Your arm, it's pretty badly damaged…"

Steve couldn't think of what to say. Bucky thought he was finished so he replied, "I'm aware."

"We have someone who can fix it, but to do that the entire thing will need to be removed, then replaced." 

There was a soft, sharp gasp as Bucky realized what that would mean. He remembered how they'd installed it in the first place, it was something he could never forget, no matter how often they'd wiped his mind.

"Hi, mechanic here," Stark’s attempt at silence didn’t even last five minutes, "he forgot to mention the part where we sedate you throughout the entire process and I install it so you have extremely limited discomfort that should go away. It hurts when you move, right? That's because they put it on half-assed. When I'm done it'll feel just like your other arm."

"I have to find her," Bucky insisted, "I can still fight. I'll follow orders, I won't make another mistake. Don't make me go back to the chair." He sounded so frightened that even Tony felt sorry for him. "I'm sorry I went with them, I'm sorry I failed your test. Please, Director Pierce, I won't disobey again-"

"Bucky- we aren't Hydra. Pierce is dead, you escaped and you're free."

Tony watched his monitors as Steve talked Bucky down. His heartrate eventually slowed to a more normal pace and his tired, fractured mind moved on, "Kid, this girl, it'll be a week of intel gathering, right?"

"Probably," Steve answered instead, to give Bucky time to cool down, "he gave us ten days Tony, that's the agreement we came to."

"Ten days… Well, even if we found this 'her' in the next five minutes we'd still need a plan of attack to get to her and find out if she's guarded or whatever. It'll be a bitch, but based on Steve’s healing abilities I’d say it's do-able within four days. The arm itself will take longer, but I think within a week I can have you outfitted with a new shoulder plate and a basic fight-ready arm, deal? A week to get you into fighting shape, then we'll get her. The entire time the rest of the team will still be on the case."

After a moment, Bucky sighed, "Do I have your word?"

"Kill me if I'm lying, Champ,” Stark evidently didn’t understand Bucky would take that as an invitation

"Understood."

"OK, he's scary," Tony closed Bucky's channel.

"He has a right to be, you know."

"Well, I'm still glad Pepper's not going to be here while he's coming in. Did Romanov fill you in on the dinner plans?"

"Yeah, and I'm going to owe her a lot of money. It's probably safer to keep him occupied right now before he decides we're Hydra again. These episodes… I don't know how we'll keep him in the building through the night."

"His head is scrambled, it'll take some time. Hydra controlled him for so long he doesn't know how to steer his own ship. He'll be all over the place… By the way, who's this 'her' I just promised to find?"

"I can handle it-"

"So can we. Spill."

Steve appreciated his insistence. He was physically and mentally exhausted by the hunt for Bucky and fresh help was a massive relief, "Let's do all that after dinner. I still don't totally follow and he won't tell me much until he sees he can trust me."

This was the longest they'd ever had a civil conversation. It felt strange, "How much do you think he remembers? JARVIS just got me his brain scan- the scarring up there is no joke. He's been shocked way too often… Frankly it's amazing he's not an even bigger wreck. Or a vegetable."

"It's hard to say. He couldn't remember what happened to the girl, but he knew which bases to get the files from. We've got paperwork suggesting he killed her five years ago- and we know he's been in the chair at least a few times since then. Obviously something's bleeding through but not everything."

"Wait- his 'her' is dead? Great, he's going to kill me."

"He remembers me, but I don't know to what extent. He was at the Smithsonian exhibit a few months ago. Both long and short-term memory are on the fritz, but he's so obsessed with this case it's hard to get a solid read."

"I'll pass the issue on to Thor," Tony offered, "see if his highness can shake up some Asgardian voodoo to help clear out the cobwebs."

"Alright Stark," Steve sighed, "you're being pleasant and helpful."

"So?"

"What do you want?"

Tony laughed, "This isn't me begging, it's gratitude. You're bringing me a new toy to play with. When I'm done his new arm is going to be so fucking-"

"-just fix it. No new gadgets. Functional is all we want. When Bucky's better you can ask him about upgrades, but that's it. He barely agreed to come in as it is- don't overwhelm him."

"Fine, Captain Ass-hat."

"That's better."

---

---

The flight to Avengers Tower passed without further incident. They landed precisely at 6:54, as promised. Steve felt better than he had in a long time as the suits released their passengers- until he saw Bucky and was reminded this was no time to let his guard down. 

He had work to do. 

Another mission.

Bucky kept to the side as the Avengers retrieved their gear from the trunks. He scanned the massive stone balcony and eyeballed the outdoor kitchen as if the grill was hiding an enemy. The sunset was reflected in the eight story tall glass wall before him and Steve suppressed a shudder- the light playing across his friend's face made it look as if the fires of Hell were illuminating him. 

To Bucky's fried mind that could very well be the case.

He looked a little better thanks to JARVIS- there was some color in his face and the tremor in his hand was barely noticeable, but he was weary and unsure. The Winter Soldier was stone cold and lethal, the Bucky whom Steve had known was sassy and kind- but this man? 

This man was lost somewhere in limbo between the two. He was hoping for an attack because then at least the world would make sense for a moment.

"The top floor is Natasha and her- and Clint Barton," Steve knew they were a couple, but somehow referring to them as boyfriend and girlfriend seemed weird, "next floor down is Tony, then Bruce Banner, Prince Thor, my place, and Sam is third from the bottom, on the guest floor. If you stay, then one day you could be there too."

"I want to find Echo," he said automatically.

"We will," Sam had no idea what Echo was, he was only playing along because Steve looked exhausted, "I promise. But after we find Echo you and... it-?” he looked to Steve

“Her.”

"-her, the two of you can stay here. Or not- if she's got somewhere else to go-?" Sam turned to Steve once more, but he just shrugged.

"For now you'll stay on my floor Buck," Steve said, "I've got a guest room, it's nice. Safe."

Bucky didn't reply, he just started walking towards the wall of curved glass. 

Sam patted Steve's shoulder and retrieved his wing unit and duffle from the trunk, "He'll come around, just give him some time to figure out he's not in danger anymore. I'll work with him while he's here. Cases like his- well there are no cases like his- but I've still helped a few POWs in my time."

"Thanks Sam, I really do appreciate everything you've been doing. It's way more than I should have asked of you, and I'm sorry for being such an ass."

"If we walked into that Tower right now and found out that Riley was alive and on the run, you'd find a way to help Bucky and me at the same time. It's what friends do, man," he clapped Steve on the back.

Natasha caught up with Bucky and opened the balcony door, "This is a good place.”

"I tried to kill you."

"Yes, you did," she said, "and I tried to kill you right back. How many people do you think Hydra made you kill?"

Bucky's face was a mask, but his eyes were sad, "I don't know."

"I killed forty-three for the KGB. Most I don't even remember the names of and that's just the designated targets. Not security guards, assistants, drivers, or civilians who just got in my way. The only difference between you and me is that I was aware of what I was doing. I got to swap my black hat for a white one. If I can turn into one of the good guys with the bloodbath in my wake, so can you."

"How?"

"Accept that nothing you ever do will make up for what you've already done. Then ignore that and try anyways,” she winked and headed into the Tower.

Steve caught the door just before it closed, "You alright Bucky?"  He didn't reply, but he walked inside and waited for Steve to lead him on. 

The lobby of Avengers Tower was huge. The wall of windows ran the entire length of the building and provided a bright, welcome entrance complete with couches, a recessed bar, and a handful of televisions. Doors off the back wall had silver plaques noting 'Labs', 'Medical', 'Gear', 'Training', and 'Meeting Hall'. 

What Bucky's mind registered was very different from what Steve and Sam saw.

Windows: Quadruple-paned, 80mm high velocity round minimum. Clear shot from south end staircase to northern entrance. Floors: Steel, 2cm padding, 1 cm carpeting. Walls: Likely steel reinforced. Hairline seams indicate recessed security features. No visible cameras, most likely tied to lighting. Facility is too protected for direct assault. 

Recommendation: Lure outdoors and terminate with extreme prejudice.

He shut the line of thought down as soon as he realized what he was doing. He didn't need a plan of attack, he needed to know escape routes if they turned on him. Every level above was sealed off, but the balcony jutted out from the rest of the building at least twenty feet. From the helicopter pad where they'd landed he could probably hook his human arm, swing, and throw himself at an angle that would allow him to grab on to the building below as he fell. 

The probability he would die with his metal arm fully operational was 78%, without use of it the escape route was suicide. Odds of fighting his way through to the main tower and getting out via the front door had a 12% probability of succeeding. 

He'd seen in worse odds. Or, at least, he thought he had…

Going with his instincts gave Bucky odd flashes of something akin to memory. If he tried to grasp at it he knew he'd forget it and be lost again. He was living on the waking edge of a nightmare. It felt like being chronically motion sick. The Hydra memories- even his simple assessment of the Tower, made him nauseous.

"I'm on the fourth floor," Steve prompted. He pointed to the stairs on the far end of the living room as Natasha and Sam headed up, "Just keep going up until-"

"I'm not turning my back on you," Bucky growled. The man had been pushed back once again and the Winter Soldier was holding the controls.

Steve hesitated at the hard look in his eye. He felt a phantom twinge from the scar in his lower back (not ass as Sam insisted) where Bucky shot him eight months prior, "Alright, that's fine. Come with me," he led Bucky over to the step up into the short hallway that hid the wide spiral staircase. 

He was slow in his movements as he climbed. Steve winced at the soft hiss of JARVIS spraying air freshener in their wake.

"Natasha-"he opened a line on comms after passing an air vent that blew Bucky's stench his way.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour and a half. Tony sent Dum-E up to help Bucky clean out the arm and shower. Pepper had an intern run out and grab some new clothes for him. He's got a few changes to pick from for now, he'll get more tomorrow. Tell him to put everything he's wearing in the bag marked 'incinerate'. Everything. Shoes too."

"Thank you," Steve wondered, as always, if Natasha was a mind reader.

"I'm not a mind reader, you're just predictable."

"I'm predictable?"

"Extremely," Bucky snapped back to attention and thought the question had been for him.

"In a good way," Natasha clicked off the comms and Steve stopped on a large landing. He directed Bucky to a simple white door with a miniature of his shield in the center.

"All of our doors are marked with our symbols, so if you ever forget which floor is mine, just look for my shield, alright?"

Bucky nodded and Steve opened the door for him. When Stark Tower was partially destroyed by Loki, Tony re-built it as Avengers Tower with the team in mind. Steve was impressed by his generosity, but even greater was his appreciation when Stark designed their floors with each Avenger's personality in mind.

Steve's apartment was by and large open with his kitchen, dining room, and living room exposed to the front door. Along the back wall were his bedroom, guest room, study, and a glass-walled gym. As far as wallpaper, furniture, and carpeting were concerned Tony had the crews bring in what he referred to as Nursing Home Chic- to Steve it was the perfect reminder of his own time- simple, not too flashy, and homey. 

What Bucky saw was that from any point in the room you had a clear eye line to every door. It wasn't safe, it wasn't secure, and if the gym was any indication then the outer "walls" were nearly as window-heavy as the balcony side of the building (mercifully there were some actual walls there).

He tried not to look at the handful of pictures on the walls as he made his assessment. They made his vision flicker and his stomach roil even more. He couldn't remember who that group of soldiers was, it wasn't allowed. It would only hurt more…

"My room is there," Steve pointed to a far door, "You are in the guest room," he pointed to another further down, "there is a bathroom in there, and clean clothes. A robot is inside to help clean up your arm. At eight-thirty," he indicated a clock on the wall, "we'll go upstairs for dinner and discuss finding Echo, alright?" Bucky only nodded, "Get cleaned up and just put what you have on right now in the red 'incinerate' bag. Anything you don't want to keep, that is."

"Understood," automatically Bucky went into the dining area and retrieved a chair. He carried it to the guest room and closed the door firmly. Steve heard the lock and bolt, then a soft thud as Bucky braced the door with the chair. 

He sighed and went to his own room to get a shower before dinner. Bucky was all over the place. Steve expected something more like when he'd found him in Red Skull's base the first time- instant recognition and relief. He still had to convince his own best friend he wasn't there to torture and control him.

"Rome wasn't built in a day," Natasha came through comms softly.

"Psychic."

"Worry-wart."

---

---

A robot with the name "DUM-E" inscribed on it was waiting in the bathroom with a wire brush and full array of cleaning solutions. 

It moved quickly once Bucky sat on a short wooden stool and removed his layers of jackets and shirts. Dutifully he put everything into the red bag. He had nothing he was worried about keeping- no sentimental tokens were allowed to a piece of Hydra weaponry.

The guest room was nice- really nice. Nicer than even the ones in the expensive hotels where he'd executed foreign diplomats. The bed alone was at least four times the size of the bedroll Hydra gave him and there were thick blankets on it. A large television took up a chunk of the wall by the door, there was a reading chair and desk along another wall.

Try as he might, Bucky couldn’t remember the last time he’d read a book.

Between the dresser and closet he had enough clothes to last him four months on the road (meaning two sets of clothes). They'd even given him pajamas for the first time in his life. 

He didn't remember the last time he was permitted new clothes and the street clothes he'd been trading homeless people for were the first things he had ever worn that weren't black leather and Kevlar-plated. These were new, clean, well-made, and durable. The blankets on the bed were a rare commodity for him to come by- he was definitely grabbing one of those when he made his escape.

Bucky was grateful for the robot's assistance as it cleaned his arm. The failing condition was largely due to the fact that he was never allowed to clean it himself and had no idea how. The most he’d done since fleeing Hydra was run a bit of water over it.

He gawked at the bathroom as DUM-E worked quickly and efficiently, moving his metal arm as little as possible. The sink, mirror, and toilet were nothing new- though the fact that the toilet wasn't made out of metal was reassuring. 

Once, at Hydra Facility Moscow in the dead of winter, the base heating units had blown. Deep in the underbelly it got cold enough that he could see his breath and a few of the soldiers guarding him lost pieces to frostbite. He showered normally, but then made the mistake of sitting down on the toilet and ended up literally freezing his ass to it. The guard who found him sitting there, trying to pry his skin away from the metal, pointed and laughed- until Bucky lunged at him and broke his neck. Explaining away the chunks of skin on the toilet seat was almost as painful as the wound itself.

After half an hour Dum-E chirped and dropped the brush into a bucket of rust-red water. It wheeled itself out of his way. 

Bucky stripped his lower half and wasted no time climbing into the shower- something he’d found himself anticipating as the robot cleaned. The first splash of hot water was nothing short of euphoric. 

After a life based around cold, hard brutality he couldn't remember the last time he'd been allowed a hot shower. Most of the time Hydra sent him to the prisoner cells where he stood with them against the wall, naked, and a cold hose was turned on. It stung and bit at his flesh, but if he made any motion or sound he'd be punished.

This couldn't be more different. 

It was as hot as he could want, the water falling on him felt soft somehow. Finally scrubbing the grime and sweat from his skin made him feel like a different creature entirely- maybe even human. 

Bucky washed everywhere he could reach with a hard scrubbing brush and then, just because he could, he went over the same areas again with a soft washcloth. Dum-E reactivated when he was ready for it to scrub his human arm and back for him. After that Bucky washed his hair three times for the hell of it, relishing in the tingling sensation as grease, gore, blood, and dirt left his matted scalp.

The bottles in the shower were all neatly labeled, but that didn't mean Bucky knew what they were for. The last time he'd been given more than one kind of soap to wash his body and hair was probably before even his time as a soldier outlined on the walls of the Smithsonian- and he had a sneaking suspicion (Steve could confirm) that even before everything Hydra did to him he wouldn't have known what the fuck 'Conditioner' was for. 'Shampoo', 'Body Wash', and 'Face Wash' were easy. 

He held the bottle up to Dum-E and stared the robot down, willing it to answer him. JARVIS answered via the shower speakers instead, "That is to be used on pre-washed hair and rinsed out completely. Might I suggest, given your current state, that you use the entire bottle?"

Bucky decided that he liked conditioner. It made his hair slippery and worked out the tangles enough that he could push it back from his face without getting his hand caught. It also took forever to rinse out, so he got to enjoy the hot water a while longer. There wasn't much time left on the bathroom clock before eight-thirty, but he wanted to stand under the water for a few more minutes at least.

With a happy sigh, he closed his eyes.

---

She was strapped to the table with a large tube taped over her mouth. Her arms were bound above her head. She was completely and wholly unable to defend herself. 

Tears streamed down her cheeks and cut paths through the dried blood. She was shaking, sobbing, and even screaming as he lifted the pitcher of near-boiling water to the funnel at the opening of the tube. 

He hesitated at the sight of the steam swirling in the air. His heart ached for what he was about to do to her. If only she'd just done what he’d asked… His handler grew impatient and grabbed Bucky's elbow, jerking it up so that the liquid sloshed into the funnel. Her screams turned to horrific gargles and her body thrashed so violently the cuffs sliced into her wrists and ankles. 

He heard a pop as she dislocated her own arm. His handler only chuckled.

---

Bucky jumped out of the shower and crashed into Dum-E, sending him flying across the bathroom floor and into the guest room. 

He had to find her, had to save her! 

Bucky yanked the jacket, jeans, and shirts out of the closet and threw them on the bed before he remembered his promise. 

These people were the only chance he had at finding her. He'd been trying for eight months, he let them catch him in Astana just for this purpose. 

He had to keep the deal. He did more by staying than by running.

Hesitantly, he turned back towards the frantic robot trying to follow him with a towel. With it secure around his waist, Bucky retrieved from the heap on the bed a t-shirt, jeans, and underclothes. 

As he picked them up the memory faded away and he was left confused- what chased him from his warm shower? Why was his heart racing so fast? He went back into the bathroom alone and closed the door to preserve some of the warmth and humidity, completely oblivious to the cause of his shaking hand.

---

---

"Stark, would you grow up? He's already on edge, you're going to set him off!" Natasha was only one of many criticizing Tony's decision to arrive for dinner in full Iron Man armor.

"Not to fear, Tony Stark! I shall protect you should the need arise," Thor teased.

"You let him bring the hammer along," Tony pointed at Mjolnir sitting on a coat hanger. "What's the big deal? You didn't see his scans practically flashing 'CRAZY'! I don't plan on being slaughtered when that sets him off!" he pointed to a small wooden box sitting atop the hammer.

"Nonsense! As I have said, it-"

"Can we stop arguing?" Banner already had a headache and if the other two kept it up, a migraine was inevitable.

"As you wish, Doctor Banner," Thor backed down immediately. He'd actually been raised with manners (admittedly it was only in the last few years he was using that training).

"Look, I'll sit across from James, that way if he does freak out at least he can't kill me," Banner offered.

"And I shall sit upon his left! That is where the mechanical arm is situated, is it not?"

"Correct," Natasha filled them all in on what she knew about Bucky's capture, torture, and manipulation by Hydra. Thor was the most sympathetic- Jotuns had done very similar things to captured Asgardians during their previous wars. He'd hoped once that Loki had been a victim of similar manipulations. Unfortunately, as Tony put it, his brother was 'Just a gigantic male reproductive appendage' (at least, that was the gist of it).

Clint was carrying the first hot plates of food to the table when Steve knocked on the door, "Someone get that!" 

Banner and Natasha went to help him as Thor answered the summons. He clapped Steve and Sam on the shoulder as they entered, but merely stood aside for Bucky. The man was glaring as if he were a breath away from slaughtering them all.

"Stark, take it off or I'll break your arm," Natasha called pleasantly as she laid two bowls filled with garlic bread on opposite ends of the table.

"Fine, evil wench," Tony mumbled as he stepped out of the suit. A grape came out of nowhere and smacked him in the back of the head, "OW, CLINT!" the man had fucking bat ears.

"Don't be such a baby," Hawkeye popped a second grape into his mouth.

Banner set a massive bowl of mashed potatoes down and came over to the group to help break the tension (since he was physically the least imposing), "It's good to see you again Steve, Sam," he shook their hands and held his out to Bucky, "You must be James Barnes. I've heard a lot about you."

"You're lying," Bucky said. 

Sensing trouble, Banner stepped back.

"I am Prince Thor of Asgard and I know next to nothing about you!" Thor violated every rule of how to approach a mentally unstable super-soldier (according to Tony there was just one rule: Don't) and quickly lifted him into a traditional Asgardian warrior's greeting. 

Or, as they said on Midgard, he scooped him up and gave him a bear-hug.

Bucky's disgruntled fury when Thor released him was almost comical, in a run-for-your-life kind of way. Steve saw wrath burning in his eyes and held up a hand to keep Clint and Tony from approaching. The corner of Bucky's nose twitched into a snarl, then slowly eased.

"I'm Clint Barton," Clint decided it was safer to wave, then went back to bringing out food with Natasha.

Tony stayed by the wall. 

It was easy to tell himself he was alright with all of this once he understood what Hydra put Bucky through, but to have his parents' murderer in front of him was proving to be another beast entirely. Something about seeing his face- the malice written all over it- he could only manage a nod when Bucky looked over. 

Tony felt guilty for not using the suit to turn the Winter Soldier into a real ghost...  and he felt bad for considering it.

"That's Tony Stark," Steve filled Bucky in, "he built this place. He's the one you talked to in the suit."

Something clicked in Bucky's frayed memory, "Stark… Howard Stark?"

"My father," Tony found his voice.

"I killed Howard… He- he was my friend… I killed my friend…" there was an incredible amount of pain in Bucky's voice. 

The James Barnes Hydra killed had always looked up to Howard- admired his engineering before going to the military and after he decided to become the Howling Commando’s tech guru.

"Natasha said the Winter Soldier killed my family," Tony cleared his throat and looked away, "that's not you, right?"

"I hope not," Bucky's voice was barely audible.

"Yeah, me too."

"Boys? Dinner's ready," Natasha came over to Bucky, "You're at the south end of the table." She patted Tony's arm as she passed him, "You're at the north."

"Thanks," Tony took a seat as far from Bucky as he could.

Clint liked to cook, it gave him an outlet for his stress. Fortunately for the Avengers he'd been very stressed while Natasha was out hunting a psychotic assassin who'd already shot her twice. The dinner he prepared had everything: mashed potatoes, broccoli, garlic bread, coleslaw, baked beans, fruit salad, actual salad, and at least two pigs worth of baby back ribs smothered in barbecue sauce.

After months of fast food and pizza it was the most beautiful thing Sam and Steve could imagine. Thor, who'd never actually seen or smelled the dishes before was calculating his plan of attack and praying for even a fraction of Volstagg's enormous appetite.

"Well? Eat up!" Clint said.

The Avengers all began to fill their plates, but one by one they noticed that Bucky wasn’t moving. He sat between Steve and Thor with his hands in his lap, looking dead ahead and trying to only take slow, shallow breaths to avoid so much as smelling the feast before them. 

His stomach rumbled and he shifted uncomfortably, but made no move to take any food.

"Bucky? What's wrong?" Steve didn't understand why he was so frozen. Was it another episode? His scans showed he was starving, he looked like he was starving.

"You were not permitted to dine in this manner?" Thor’s question was mostly rhetorical.

"I am only allowed what is brought to me in my holding area," Bucky repeated automatically as if speaking to one of his handlers. "Accepting food or drink in any other setting will be punished with two weeks of zero-rations. I am content with what I am given. I-" he seemed to come back to himself and sunk a little lower in his chair.

"You were starved if someone gave you food?"

Bucky's nod was almost imperceptible, "Even milk… Director Pierce liked to test me by offering me milk."

"What did you do on missions? The past eight months?" Sam jumped at the chance to get answers from him.

"No food on missions, only water. Since Hydra… I hunted or stole, only what I absolutely needed. Nothing more, I swear," he took a few hard breaths and his stomach groaned again.

"It's alright," Thor stopped him, "we are your allies James Barnes. Your foes spent much effort and time turning you in to something you are not. We are your friends. Eat as much of as many foods as you desire. Prove to yourself that you are no longer among enemies." He dropped a large scoop of mashed potatoes onto Bucky’s plate.

"If it helps," Steve added a slab of ribs, "that's an order."

Bucky was starving, despite his misgivings. 

Months on the run, fighting, the mental strain of handing himself over to these people- it all took its toll. After the first small bite of hot food he couldn't stop himself- he ate as quickly and as freely as possible. Hydra fed him mostly protein to retain his muscle mass, but otherwise they kept him lean, hungry, and ready to strike. 

Now he had the freedom to eat his fill without punishment (unless they were lying and he'd be locked in a cell with no food again). The thought made him hesitate mid-bite. He stared at his fork in horror.

"No trials," Thor nudged him, "you have the word of the Crown Prince of Asgard."

When Bucky tried the baked beans he had a brief, fleeting memory of something before Hydra. 

He remembered cold nights in the mountains of Europe huddling around a fire and eating beans out of a tin cup, laughing and smiling with Steve, Peggy Carter, and his Howling Commandos. She and Steve would slip away to chat sometimes and he'd do his best to keep the men from sneaking along to spy or tease. 

Here, in this strange place, he had a brief glimpse of that again- family and friends. They weren't the Avengers- they were the Howling Commandos, just in a new time. Did Steve even realize what he'd built? Did he look at Thor and see Dum-Dum Duggan? Did Banner remind him of Montgomery Falsworth? Was Clint Pinky Pinkerton in a new body? He'd even found a Stark for his new family.

Banner coughed softly and grabbed his water for a sip. 

When Steve glanced at him he tilted the glass ever so slightly in Bucky's direction. Steve looked over in time to see Bucky's small smile as he cast an eye down the table. 

His grin, then Bucky's, was obvious to everyone.

---

---

It was over dessert (rhubarb, apple, and chocolate pies) that Bucky's arm finally shorted out for good. 

Throughout dinner, whenever he forgot to hold it still, the others could hear a grinding noise. Over the course of the meal it seemed to grow louder, and Bucky had trouble hiding his pain. As he moved to put his napkin on the table, there was a sudden chugging sound, he doubled over in pain, and an explosion of sparks set Thor’s shirt on fire.

Without even making a conscious decision to move, Tony was up and whistling for the suit to come over. Thor jumped back and moved his chair out of the way so that Stark could carefully extend the now-limp arm away from Bucky's body.

"JARVIS, give me a framework, highlight everything damaged as well as the power supply."

Bucky looked away as more sparks shot from the metal. He ground his teeth together against the sharp twinge in his shoulder socket and the pins-and-needles feeling from the arm itself. 

The framework that appeared over the arm showed nothing but damage. It was more extensive than Tony thought- and he'd already decided the arm was trash, "Hey champ?" he waved and Bucky looked back over, wincing as the shoulder moved, "I can't fix this tonight and you promised we could do what we needed to repair the arm, do you remember that?" 

It was only a few hours ago but in his condition…

"I-"Bucky frowned, then nodded, "I think so," he rubbed his head, "it's getting quieter in here…" 

Tony glanced to Thor.

"Alright, well, I'll call the doctor and get him in here first thing tomorrow, but for now are you alright with me draining the power source in the interest of fire prevention?"

They lost Bucky again for a moment, but at least it was brief. His eyes twitched, his breathing became more rapid, then just as quickly it faded, "I have to find her."

"See all this red?" he indicated the scan, "you just lost the ability to move this arm at all. We've got time to fix it before we find the girl."

"You're no good to her if you're trying to learn to fight with just the one working arm," Clint said. "Let's get you taken care of now so you can get to her later."

Again, Bucky hesitated.

"Tony, go ahead," Natasha stood and came over to their end of the table, "while he's working, why don't you tell us about Echo? We'll all help find her."

Tony snapped his fingers and jumper cables came out of the suit. He began bending and twisting Bucky's arm to find seams in the plating for the wires to fit through. Between the vibranium outer skeleton and Adamantium interior it was no easy task. 

Bucky watched him for a while, weary of another shower of sparks and spasm of pain, "I never knew her name, or where we captured her… They reprogrammed me so often I-I just don't remember…"

"What do you know?" Clint prompted.

Bucky's eyes were unfocused and far away, "Hydra keeps you hungry, thin. They don't waste food on prisoners… Even so, she actually gained some weight in the torture cells."

"She was malnourished?" Tony asked the question to distract Bucky as the jumper cables found their in and began to move on their own to attach to the power supply.

"When he ordered her starved she responded slowly- she was used to being hungry. She was skin and bones when we found her."

"From a third world country- that kind of skin and bones?" Natasha asked.

"Homeless," Bucky countered. "I took her from a city." A cold buzz ran up his metal arm. The remote suit pointed a hand away from the table and activated thrust to burn the battery’s energy, "When I took her it was winter. It was so, so cold, but even I was more protected than she was. There was so much snow it was hard to see her..."

"Most likely the far north. Add in the snow, maybe near a large body of water?" Clint looked to Natasha, "A country would help, but it's a start."

"Race?" Steve asked. It might get them a little closer.

“White.”

Banner leaned across the table, “Why did Hydra want her?”

"I was supposed to make her an asset- something about her was special. There was some ability they wanted, but their normal recruitment techniques… The chair might have had a negative effect. We were expressly forbidden from using electricity when we broke her…"

"We know they had a stockpile set aside for blood transfusions." Sam looked down, "Hydra kept you as an assassin, so what exactly was your role in 'Project Echo'?"

"Torturer," Bucky shivered, not only because of the power draining from his arm, "Beatings, starvation, drowning, freezing, burning, skinning, chemicals- it worked, eventually… But we broke her too much to be of any use."

"Who's 'we'?" Steve said.

Bucky frowned, tried to force the memories to sharpen, but he couldn't quite grasp it, "I don't remember. He was... worse than Pierce.”

“What did you mean when you said you broke her too much?” Banner asked.

“It came out of nowhere. Something happened, she- something about her body. A sickness?" With a soft clink, the cables fell out of his arm. It was finally dead. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he slumped back into his chair.

"James, can I ask you one more question about this girl?" Clint said, "How old?" 

Bucky looked down and murmured something.

"We can't find her if we don't know what age we're looking for. How old? My age?"

"Younger."

"Twenty?"

"…Younger."

"Eighteen," Clint was very protective of kids. He'd even clashed with Fury over SHIELD Academy recruiting 16 year old scientists.

"Younger," Bucky couldn't meet his eyes. A single tear slid down his cheek, "It’s hard to say because of how malnourished she was. Either way... a child."

Clint swore loudly and Bucky flinched. Steve hurried to diffuse the situation, "We'll find her," he promised both men, "quickly. I promise."

Except Steve knew she was already dead.

"I did- I did terrible things. You have to find her. I have to make at least one thing right."

"We'll do what we can, but-"

"NO!" Bucky was working himself up again, "No! You don't understand! I stopped him from killing her, I stopped fighting their programming, all to protect her. The things they did to make me forget- to punish my failure… They hid her away, but kept her alive. I have to get her out!"

Sam and Steve were the most surprised of the group. They’d always assumed she was dead.

"We'll find her," Clint's voice was hard. A child had no place in Hydra, no matter how old she may be or what she might have done since Bucky last saw her. 

"Without a means of identification I cannot seek aid from Heimdall, but if you do recall her name I will ask my friend for his guidance. There are none in the Realms who escape his gaze."

Sam's mouth fell open, "Are you telling me we've been looking for Bucky for eight months and-"

Thor nodded, "If you had but asked I would have been pleased to pass your query on. It would have taken seconds."

"I blame you," he pointed at Steve.

Bucky ignored them, "I've tried so hard for so long to remember who she was. The chair took everything away."

Thor clapped Bucky on the back, "I have something which may help with that," he raised two fingers and Mjolnir lifted slowly. It came to him as if cautious of the small box resting upon it. 

The Avengers waited patiently- only Steve and Sam didn't know what was in the wooden box. Tony inched away and JARVIS kept the suit close to its master. When Mjolnir arrived he set it gently beside his chair and handed the box to Bucky, "Ever since you stepped foot within this room you have improved," he looked to Steve for verification, "your visions are shorter and your mind is clearing, is it not?"

Bucky nodded, "I'm here longer…"

"Yes," Steve translated, "he isn't having as many episodes as he was earlier. He's-"

"-more focused," Sam offered. He was still in rough shape, but there was a slight improvement.

Thor nodded to Bucky who opened the box. Inside as some sort of pendant on a golden chain. It was an intricate symbol- one he'd never seen before. Three triangles knotted together, overlapping and intertwined. In the center of the pendant sat a large white stone.

"Your condition is unique among Midgardians, yet my people are familiar with the concept. Your enemy call themselves Hydra. Ours are called Jotuns. The last we warred they were not unused to capturing our own people and twisting their minds. The Healers of Asgard used these to help bring them back. It may take weeks- perhaps even months- but for good or ill you will remember all you are."

"A villain."

"-and a hero." Thor pointed to the stone, "this will make you remember, if that is what you wish. You may recall worse incidents than that of your Lady Echo-"

"Good," Bucky lifted the medallion from the box, "I’ll make sure Hydra remembers too."

---

---

"Hey Steve, can I talk to you for a sec?" Tony caught him on the landing of his floor. Bucky was following him, wholly engrossed in studying the amulet.

"Sure, Bucky- you good?" he pushed the door open and stepped aside.

"I'm fine."

"No eating after midnight!" Tony called after the man as he made a beeline for his guest room and began securing the bolts (and chair), "Not that any of us will be hungry for a month."

"I'm still worried Thor will burst," it was easy to joke with Tony now that Steve was full, sleepy, and had something vaguely resembling hope for Bucky's recovery. He closed the apartment door and looked out the window spanning the length of the landing. He really had missed New York's skyline, "What's up?"

Tony held out his tablet with some readings, "The power source in Bucky's arm should have been fried the second JARVIS started the burners, so when it didn't he took extra scans. It's not really an issue, I just thought you'd like to know."

Steve looked at the readings, "Tesseract technology."

"Yep. No worries though, it's depleted now and I'll build the new unit with a mini arc reactor fueling it. The thing will outlive Thor."

"Some friends with SHIELD are helping on the 'Echo' files, make sure they don’t get wind of this. Hill is probably feeding them intel."

"I already updated JARVIS, he'll keep it out of her reach. She's good, but I don't know how far we can trust Coulson's new team." Steve whipped around and Tony’s eyes widened, "Wait- that was RIGHT?!"

"You knew?!"

"I was taking a shot in the dark! My next guess was the neighbor-nurse Agent Natasha mentioned! Seriously, Coulson?!"

"Don't tell the others," Steve had to insist on that, "not a word!"

Tony nodded, "Yeah, fine, sure. But Coulson?!"

"He says he did actually die in the Battle of New York. Fury's got some way to bring people back- or did."

"Fury, now that's someone I don't think anyone believes is really dead."

Steve raised an eyebrow, "You know he isn't dead. Natasha told you he helped take down Alexander Pierce."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot."

"You forgot he's alive?" Sometimes (okay, most of the time) Tony baffled him.

"Moving on," Tony swapped the topic out for one that didn't make him look like an idiot. "I have one more thing to talk to you about, and then you can go to bed. Would it be alright if-"

"No."

"-I put a GPS tracker-"

"No."

"-in Bucky's arm-"

"No."

"-and give him-"

"No."

"- a comm unit?"

"N- Actually, yes to the comm unit. No to anything but being able to move his arm."

"In that case, can I-"

"No."

"-put a rocket in-"

"NO!"

"-his arm so it can-"

"NO."

"-fight by itself?"

"TONY, NO!"

"Think about it!" Tony complained, "He's fighting an enemy, needs help, no one's there, so BOOM! His robo-arm pops off, zooms behind the goon, and now the poor bastard has to fight a two front battle."

"Goodnight, Tony," Steve rolled his eyes and went into his apartment.

"OK, I'll just make a prototype so you can get an idea what I'm thinking of!"

"JARVIS, Avengers alpha override on all rockets please."

"Yes, sir. Master Stark, any projects including the use of rockets-"

"Yeah, yeah. I heard him." Before the door closed he called out, "Hey spoil-sport! Check your bank account! You're welcome!" 

He'd buy Steve's loyalty yet. Or, rather, the public would for Tony via the new Avengers merchandise lines. Every Avenger got a cut of the sales and the Captain America dolls were selling faster than any others (for now, but Tony wasn't admitting defeat yet). 

While Rogers was chasing Bucky he'd amassed a cute little fortune to the tune of a few million dollars.

"The nouveau riche are so uncultured," Tony sighed dramatically when Steve waved and closed the door on him, "He can't even appreciate a nice rocket."

---

---

He was proud of himself for managing to get away from dinner with it in his pocket. 

When he returned to his room Bucky pulled out the butter knife and set it on the closet floor. He locked the door and bolted it, wedged the kitchen chair under it, and covered the gap in the bottom with towels. 

Ten minutes was all the time it took to secure the room. It wouldn't stop someone from getting in, but the amount of noise they'd have to make to do it would wake up anyone- and the Winter Soldier was a light sleeper.

The bed was luxuriously huge, but also the first place anyone would aim. Also, thanks to good, old fashioned evolution, most people slept with their feet pointed towards the door so that they could see if someone came in. 

For that reason he grabbed a pillow off the bed and tossed it on the floor of the closet at the end closer to the foot of the bed. If anyone opened fire, he could survive having his feet shot off. His head was a bit more important.

Bucky knew the Avengers wouldn't hurt him, but the Winter Soldier was taking up space in his mind too. Still, the compromise of the conflicting identities was one that allowed Bucky to at least don pajamas and drag the blankets off the bed to make a warm nest on the closet floor.

He curled up in the soft, scented sheets and slid the closet door closed so that only a crack was left for him to keep watch. He clutched the butter knife as exhaustion began to overtake him. Since his last, fitful night of sleep he'd walked thirty miles across Astana and it's countryside, fought through an endless sea of Hydra guards to finally reach ground zero of his nightmares, and handed himself over to the enemy. 

Though, this enemy was made up of friends who cleaned, fed, clothed, and healed him.

Alright fine. Maybe they aren't enemies. 

Bucky settled in for the night and clutched the prince's amulet tightly, willing it to help him remember what happened after 'Project: Echo' was terminated.

He didn’t see the darkness at his back shift as something peeled away from his form.

The only thing left behind to mark its passing was a drop of glowing silver between the plates of his metal arm.

Chapter 6: Nightmares

Location: KGB-Hydra Cooperative Research Facility

Bucky struggled against the men who dragged him through the halls. Moisture dripped down the concrete walls, filling the air with a thick stench of mold. He tried to shake them off, tried to run- but their grip was too tight and he was too weak. His feet slid on the slime-covered floor. 

He was freezing, terrified. Where was he? Why did his arm- oh god, his arm.

He remembered how it felt when the pulse slammed into the shield. He wasn't braced for it- his arm wrenched around, flinging the shield away as he felt a strange, sick pop. 

Steve tried to save him, but he fell. 

He watched the train speed away as he shot down. That was supposed to be the end. Not that Bucky had thought on falling to his death often, but he expected it to simply end- then he'd be wherever people were sent. He didn't expect the wrenching, jagged pain when his left arm hit a ledge and ripped away. He didn't expect the mindless agony of survival.

His skin was too pale- his left arm was just gone- so what gave it the right to hurt like that? He could hear himself screaming, he knew part of him felt the pain, but it was like everything that was James Barnes was trapped behind glass. He was disconnected, a mere observer as this poor creature was pulled to his doom.

Four men dragged him down the hall towards a rusty door. Not again. He wouldn't be Hydra's toy again- something for them to beat, skin, inject with god knows what. Steve would never let him forget that he had to be saved twice.

There was a metal table through the doors- fitted with chains and straps. Not. Fucking. Again. He threw one of the men off his right arm and into the wall. He knocked over a table of metal instruments, and another one covered with a cloth. A large metal arm rolled across the floor, fitted with mean looking spikes and long screws.

He screamed then, tried to get away, but he was just too weak. He couldn't break free as more guards came to lift him onto the table.

No- he wasn't on a table, he was strapped into a chair with his metal arm magnetized to its back. They were putting a plastic bite guard into his mouth and a mask was lowering- arcing electricity fizzed and cracked and cooked his flesh where it hit- more pain than any human should be made to feel-

No. He was in a dark cell, cold, he hadn't had anything to eat or drink for what felt like forever. He was crazed, half-mad.

No- the chair- 

The table- 

The cell-

Scenes kept racing past faster than he could process. Bucky prayed then for insanity- anything but this. Someone was shouting at him through the fog- he was drowning in darkness, tangled, lost. His metal arm held him down, and he clawed and ripped at it. 

He was prepared to lose the rest of the limb if need be.

"JAMES BARNES, YOU MUST WAKE!"

Chapter 7: What Friends Are For

"BUCKY, WAKE UP!" Steve roared. 

Bucky's eyes snapped open, but they couldn’t see the room around him. He was trapped in whatever hell his dreams had created. The metal arm was dead, but he threw Steve across the room with his human one just as easily.

He continued to roar and stroke back against unseen foes- demolishing the closet doors- and breaking two fingers- in the process. Bucky’s face was nearly purple, his screams took on an edge of desperation as he struggled. 

His broken fingers were bleeding as he tried to rip away his metal arm. Steve untangled himself from the remains of the dresser and ran back at him, "BUCKY!" 

Thank god he hadn't grabbed the knife sitting by his head.

Thor nearly ripped the front door off its hinges as he ran into the apartment. He dashed around Steve over the ruins of the closet doors and grabbed Bucky's head. Thor lifted the eyelids with his thumbs- only the whites of Bucky's eyes were visible. He cursed and pulled Bucky’s pajamas from around his neck. 

Thor grabbed the healing stone, broke the chain, and threw it out of the room, "JAMES BARNES, YOU MUST WAKE!"

Bucky's screams turned to ragged gasps, and after a moment those faded to whimpers. His eyes opened slowly to see Steve and Thor above him. They moved back and he sat up. He was drenched in icy sweat, cold and shaking. His eyes were bloodshot, his head and throat ached, his arm and hand burned. 

He looked so... scared.

"W-w-what happened?"

"You had a nightmare," Steve was trying to mask his own fear, but failing.

Thor patted Steve on the back and retrieved the butter knife, "I heard the commotion and came to help."

Steve could hear Banner running through the living room, ready to join in the fight if need be. 

How many floors had woken up?

"What did you dream of?" Thor said.

Bucky swallowed hard and pointed to his arm. Banner took one look at the strips of torn, bloody flesh, "I'll get the first aid kit," he vanished.

Thor nodded to Bucky, "The stone helps you remember, but there is no way to control what it will uncover."

Bucky merely hung his head, ashamed. Banner returned with a towel to mop up the blood and a box of medical supplies. Bucky didn't speak, but he scooted out into the room and helped clean and bandage the wounds as best he could. 

When they were done he looked up to Banner and Thor, "I'm sorry," he almost whispered.

"We all have our demons," Banner volunteered, "you've got no reason to apologize."

Bucky looked around the room at the pulverized dresser- the door held up only by one hinge- and the ruins of a splintered chair- Steve had smashed his way in when the screaming began. 

A clock on the wall read 2am. His body was wrecked, weary down to the bone, but he knew he wouldn't sleep again. He was too scared of the dream...

"Would you like to talk about it?" Thor offered.

"No- no. Please, go back to sleep. I'm sorry. Please," he didn't want to be around anyone, he couldn't look weak, they were only helping because they were scared of him.

Steve nodded, taking his hint, "Hey Bucky, two floors down is a library, lots of books on mechanics and bikes and the like, if you want. You were a mechanic once, do you remember that?" 

Bucky nodded, but didn't speak again. Thor pulled Steve towards the door and Banner followed.

"Thank you," he shook hands with both of them as they left the flat. "I'll see if he'd be willing to take something to help him sleep, maybe the doc can give him something in the morning."

"It's no trouble, really," Banner shook his head, "I can't even imagine what he's been through. I'm just glad he's here and not out there somewhere."

Thor put a hand on Steve's shoulder, "May we speak for a moment?"

"Sure," Steve said. He bid goodnight to Banner before following Thor up to his apartment. 

It was very Asgardian- marble floors and lots of large metal furniture draped in unknown furs. Intricate frescoes told tales of ancient battles and fierce hunts. Most of it had been brought from Asgard on Thor's rare visits. He was ready to make Midgard his home. Thor offered Steve a pop tart and they sat in the dining room.

"I know very little about James Barnes," he admitted. "He was a childhood friend of yours, was he not?"

Steve nodded, "Did anyone ever tell you who I was before I became Captain America?"

Thor shook his head, "I have heard Tony make mention of a potion, and I know you are not of this time, but that is all."

"I was this wimpy kid. Small. Always sick, always slow. Even walking up stairs was too hard sometimes. I wanted to be a hero like my father. I wanted friends and adventures, but no one on our street was allowed to play with a sick little kid who couldn't even breathe properly..." 

He lost himself in the memories as Thor struggled to reconcile the person sitting before him with the description Steve gave. 

"I could watch the others have fun, that was it. Bucky was totally opposite- always picking fights, playing pranks, leading the kids in their games. He kind of took me under his wing all of the sudden, I don't know why. I think his mom told him to. When we picked teams he'd make sure I was either on his or leading the other one so we could cheat, and the other kids had to at least make room for me."

"We grew up as close as brothers. My dad died, then my mom, and I was alone. He and his family took me in, gave me somewhere to stay that wasn't full of ghosts."

Steve's smile faded, "When the war rolled around, everyone went to fight. Half the countries were trying to stop this one ruler who was slaughtering innocent people by the millions. My enemy, Red Skull, made new weapons of torture and murder for him," he wasn't sure how much history Thor knew, so he just did his best to explain quickly.

"Bucky was drafted- ordered by our government to fight or go to prison. He told me he'd enlisted, he knew how much I wanted to go, to do my part. No one would give me the chance, so he pretended he was going willingly."

Thor nodded, "It fares better on family and friends if a warrior is at the least believed to have fought of their own volition, especially if they do not survive the battle." Steve nodded, "Was that when you were given the potion?"

"The serum," Steve corrected, Thor tended to make things sound like some sort of fairy tale. "Bucky had just told me he was leaving in the morning. I was angry, I tried lying to the inspectors so they'd take me too. That's when Erskin found me. He was a scientist who fled the war, but he couldn't put his research aside. He wanted to make a super soldier- one man worth ten. His serum created the Red Skull, he thought I'd be more worthy, for some reason."

"Did you fight in great battles?"

"No," Steve laughed, "I was propaganda. They ordered me to make these films where I pretended to kill our enemies. I went city to city getting people to give their money to the government to fund the war. I was made to be a weapon, but they just kept showing me off. If I, with all my abilities, was kept back from the front to entertain them, then maybe the war wasn't as bad as everyone thought."

"My tour took me to the battle lines after a while. I was supposed to give the men hope- rally them, but they hated me. I was a guy who pretended to fight, they were men who'd seen their friends killed doing the real fighting. I found out the men had just lost more than a hundred to the enemy, Bucky was among them."

Thor was concerned, "Is that how he was captured by Hydra?"

Steve kind of half shook his head, "The first time, yeah. Tony's father, Howard, flew me behind enemy lines one night. I broke into the Hydra base where the men were kept. I freed them and told them to blow the place to Hell, they told me Bucky had been taken away with others- and none of them had returned. I only ever found him. He'd been tortured and- though I didn't know it until recently, he'd been given the serum, just like me. His version was rough, unfinished. He was the only one who had survived it."

"After we got back to the camp, I was given my pick of the soldiers I'd saved to form my own team, the Howling Commandos, and lead the war against Hydra. Me, Bucky, and five others. Our leaders were Howard Stark and Peggy Carter, part of the team who made me."

Thor could tell from his expression exactly what Peggy Carter meant to him.

"We lost Bucky near the end of the war, taking Hydra's lead scientist captive. He was thrown out of a train and off a cliff, I couldn't save him. It was so far- I thought he was dead. The most they ever found was his arm. Smashed and ripped apart."

"I went after Hydra, ran us into their nest headfirst and didn't even care what happened, I just wanted revenge. I followed Red Skull into a plane and killed him with the cube- the tesseract. I couldn't stop his bombs from going off, and I wouldn't let him kill anyone else. So I crashed the plane into a dead, barren stretch of ice. That's where they found me, still in the plane, 70 years later."

"I knew you were from another time, but I did not think from so long ago. I am sorry. What happened to James during that time?"

"As far as we know, Hydra captured him, tortured him, and made him the Winter Soldier- an assassin. No one believed he really existed, no one knew he was Bucky. He even shot Natasha once, and walked away," Thor whistled at that, he could not imagine an entire squadron of Asgardians getting the best of Natasha for a second, let alone one human. She was like the Lady Sif- a peerless warrior, "Hydra thought after so long they could send him to kill me, but I think I jogged his memory. He almost killed me, but ended up saving me instead. Hydra lost the Triskellion, he saved my life and fled, and up until a couple days ago I couldn't even find him."

They were silent for a moment, "What was he like when you saved him the first time?"

"He wouldn't look anyone in the eye. He had bad nightmares, most of the men I freed did, and he was darker-angrier. He spent a lot of time alone in the bar near base. But- come to think of it I'd see him with three empty drinks, working on the fourth, and he'd still be sober. That should have been obvious, but I didn't even think Hydra had their own serum. When the Howling Commandos formed, he got better. He was still the guy you'd send in to slit the guard's throats and open the gate, he was good at it, but he laughed and joked around again."

Thor nodded, "I've seen warriors who suffered similarly, as I said. It was a common practice of the Jotun, the frost giants as you call them. They would torture their prisoners and make them fight against their own friends, it was a psychological war, we were able to recapture few. There is always a lingering darkness- they hate what they were made to become, and they let the change fuel them to hunt those they believe created them to enact the very same pain they were forced to feel. It is a dangerous road to head down, that line between friend and foe begins to fade... James Barnes will need you to help him remember who he was, not what he was made to be. He has been hiding from what he's done, punishing himself with this quest. He thinks this girl is the only chance he has for even a small piece of redemption, but if he finds her broken or made into a killer, it will only feed that self-loathing."

"You think we shouldn't help him find her?"

Thor shook his head, "Find her, but be prepared for the consequences when you do, no matter the condition she is in. He cannot rely on her alone for salvation. Like when you liberated him many years ago, you must give him a worthy cause to rally his spirit. Keep reminding him who he was, show him he can find peace once again, and let us help."

Thor counseled Steve as best he could. His mother had been leader once of the Valkyrie battle-maidens, and in their healing halls they kept the soldiers changed by the Jotun. She'd taught him much of the consequences of war, he had just been too stupid to take her words to heart until very recently. He remembered one of the most important parts suddenly.

"Steve Rogers, you look as if you fair little better than your friend. You must also keep in mind you are just as supported in this endeavor as he. We may not all get along, but we are not enemies to one another. We fight for the same cause. You need help in your venture, and be certain even Tony Stark will answer your call should you chose to make it. Not only those taken by the Jotun suffered, their friends and family suffer just as keenly."

"Thanks, Thor, that means a lot," Steve hadn't considered it before, but he hunted Bucky with a vigor paralleled only by that final hunt for Hydra in the 1940s, with such reckless abandon it frightened him looking back. He could have gotten Sam killed a dozen times at least, pure luck kept his team alive in Astana- and for all he knew they hadn't made it out alive. The Howling Commandos were his best friends, Peggy his best girl, and he'd been so consumed in his own quest for revenge, he'd lost them all in what still felt like the span of a single day.

He couldn't change any of that, but he could still help his best friend find his way out of the shadows, this time without throwing everyone else into a bloody war headfirst.

Thor had counseled many generals with similar stories over his centuries, more so in the battles to repair the damage he'd wrought by destroying the Bifrost. Odin's sudden willingness to send him away to Midgard had puzzled him, but now he saw it for the blessing it was. He could help here, make the group stronger. He understood now who Steve was, what war he was fighting, and judged him a worthy man.

When Steve got up to leave he tripped over Mjolnir, sitting slightly in his path. Thor watched, curious. Steve grabbed the handle to steady himself in his fall, and the hammer twitched. 

Worthy indeed, or at least on his way to being so.

Chapter 8: The Library

Bucky spent the rest of the night alone in the library. At first he just wanted to be somewhere no one else was so he could try to get control of himself. The stone in that amulet hadn't just made him dream, it made him remember in bloody, vivid detail. The procedure to screw on his arm, that first mental wipe, being locked away for weeks- cold, hungry, all because he'd accepted a hot cup of soup on a freezing winter's day while working for Pierce.

Those memories kept swirling louder and faster in his mind until he couldn't take it anymore, and so he'd grabbed a book to distract himself with. It was simple- a textbook on car engines. It looked like a textbook from some school, but the contents were familiar and comforting. As he read he could almost remember afternoons spent in a garage working on cars he knew he'd probably never be able to afford but simply loved being around. The mechanics of how they worked came to him as easily as Sunday school lessons had.

The garage would be long gone, the streets paved over, the tenant buildings torn down to make way for apartments, but mechanics never changed much. He had never considered what he might do if he was freed from Hydra. Now, emboldened, he dared to dream of working again in a garage, surrounded by old cars and covered in the familiar scent of engine grease instead of the iron rot of blood. It would be small- he wouldn't draw any attention, and if Hydra came knocking he'd cut through them and continue with his day. Maybe he'd even find a family, eventually. Live the life he'd dreamed of as a kid.

The red tide of mangled, bloody corpses would be behind him, and he'd be free to just live.

But not until he found Echo and repaid Hydra for everything they had done to him, and made him do to others.

When Tony came looking for him in the morning he found Bucky asleep at a table, his hand resting on an open book. He could have sworn he saw a thin smile on the Winter Soldier's face.

Chapter 9: Repairing the Damage

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Tony asked anxiously, "You're not going to kick my ass the second I start strapping you down? We're going to have to pin your arms and legs for this."

Bucky was in the operating room standing next to the procedure table. His hand was shaking and he was trying hard not to hyperventilate. It was clean, yes, but still looked a hell of a lot like his nightmare. He kept telling himself it was going to be different, they were helping. He wouldn't be awake, he wouldn't hear the bone saws or feel the screws taking hold. He wouldn't smell his flesh cooking...

Even as he tried to get control, he was psyching himself out. It was becoming more difficult to distinguish this operating room from Hydra's.

Tony saw his eye twitch and, with a subtle signal to Thor he moved to the far side of the table to stand by his remote suits. Thor had come in with Bucky to help in case he triggered- exactly like he was doing now.

"James, this is to help you, not harm you," he stepped up behind him. Bucky tensed, became hyper-aware. They'd lured him here and he was stupid enough to follow. They were going to make him the Winter Soldier again- he had to get out!

Bucky swung at Thor suddenly, but the Asgardian moved to his left and before Bucky could pivot he felt an arm around his shoulders, pinning his one good arm down. At the same time something stung his neck and-

"Told you so!" Tony called out to Steve in the observation room. Thor caught Bucky as he sagged and pulled the needle from his neck. Steve was too hopeful- Bucky wouldn't have made it. He would have gone berserk at best as he was being strapped down. Thor and three of Tony's remote suits were armed with powerful tranquilizers, ready to step in.

Once Bucky was secured to the table and his metal arm was extended fully away from his body, Stark knocked on the main door to the O.R. and the surgeon entered. Thor nodded to the nervous man and left to watch with Steve.

"Ready Doctor Johansson?" this was the same surgeon who led the team in removing the shrapnel from Tony's heart, he was more than competent and worked wonders, even with such unusual procedures as this.

The doctor nodded and began hooking wires to Bucky to monitor various things- heart rate, blood oxygen level, blood pressure, brain activity and more. He had been promised assistants, but the Suits were hardly what he had in mind, even though Tony had modified them for medical work. Still, one stood between the doc and the trays of surgical equipment while another began hooking IVs into Bucky's human arm with all the delicacy of a nurse.

Tony came forward with the third suit, his assistant, "JARVIS, project an x-ray of the arm, highlighting human tissue in yellow and mechanics in blue. Nix the plating, unless it hooks into him directly." A framework appeared over the arm and Doctor Johansson whistled.

"How much for one of these for the hospital?" he examined the projection closely, "the bone was cleaned up, at least. I was worried it would have been a hack job. It's not pretty, but it's a lot better than I was expecting." he turned his attention to the shoulder joint, "We will need to remove these screws in the upper joint as quickly as possible."

Tony looked at it from a technical standpoint, "To get at them you'll need the base plate off. It hooks into the upper metal plates here," he pointed something out, "so I can't get to those while that's still on."

"We'll have to remove most of the flesh on the arm," the doctor nodded and pointed at the base plate. It flashed and the framework became more detailed and slightly enlarged over the area, "His skin has fused to the metal, you sure he can handle the schedule you've set?"

"I told you," Tony sighed, they'd been having this conversation all morning, "he's got the same mojo Captain America has, it will take more than these surgeries to do any permanent damage. Plus, it was all put on while he was conscious, and there wasn't even topical anesthesia. If he survived that, he can handle the removal. Besides," he added, "I'm paying you extra to not worry."

"I always worry about my patients," Doctor Johansson looked at the monitors, "I'll be keeping an eye on those, if it looks like it's putting too much strain on his system, I'll stop immediately."

"Deal," Tony went back to examining the mechanics and highlighted a rather terrifying array of wires that snaked out of the stump to wind into the metal arm. This was why he had to be in the room during the procedure- the mechanics were too complex for a surgeon to figure out alone, "These are the neural interfaces. From the scan I ran on him yesterday, I'm confident they will release from the outer arm fairly easily. If I have time, I'll make a replacement, but for now we just leave them be, got it?" the doctor nodded.

"Anything mechanical I will defer to you before touching. Now, first things first, we need to clean the area before we begin to remove the plate. It looks like we will have to make a cut here-" he marked a spot near Bucky's shoulder, "and disconnect the skin from the muscle directly. Can this table lift?"

Tony hit a button on the side and the straps tightened. Slowly, the table tipped vertical and turned. A section of the table folded in, fully exposing the back of Bucky's metal shoulder. "This will give us 360 degree access, no worries there."

"Okay, I want one of these for the hospital too."

"The suits aren't available, but I'll have JARVIS fabricate a half-dozen of these as your tip."

Steve's cell phone rang and he left the observation room to answer it. The number came up as blocked. Half the people he knew were SHIELD agents, spies, or simply non-existent as far as the government was concerned, unknown numbers were more common than calls from people on his contacts list. "Hello?"

"Hey, Cap."

Steve breathed a sigh of relief, "Coulson, I'm glad you called. Have your Agents made it back yet? How is Tripp? Did you lose anyone?"

"Everyone's alright," Coulson sounded cheerful, "a few took shots, like Tripp, but Agent Simmons got everyone patched up beautifully. Agent Tripp is still in recovery, but he'll be just fine. I've got a beta team on-site cleaning out Astana, then we'll take care of wiping it off the map."

"That's great, I was really worried. Tell them all I owe them, big. Anything you guys need."

"I appreciate that. Did you get him, or does the hunt continue?"

Steve smiled, "We got him. His only condition was that we keep working this 'Project: Echo' angle- he says the girl is alive, but he can't remember which base he sent her to. He'll be out of commission for a while, but we'll get to the bottom of this."

"I'll put a few agents to work scanning all the files to one of Maria Hill's satellite servers. She can grant JARVIS access to run keyword searches. If we find anything, I'll call again."

"Alright, thank you- for the team and for all the help."

"So long as it ends in tears for Hydra, I'm happy to help out. I've got to get going, we've had something come up in the Caribbean that requires my attention."

"You guys good?"

"Yeah, don't worry. Unless the world ends. If that looks like it'll happen, I'll give you a shout."

"OK," Steve laughed, "talk to you later."

"With me." Natasha intercepted him as soon as he got the phone into his pocket and turned back to the operating room. She looped an arm through his and dragged him backwards towards the elevator.

"What the hell, Nat?"

"You need to get out of here while they do their thing, or you'll drive yourself nuts. They'll call with updates, we're going to run errands."

"Natasha, no," he tried to pull out of her iron grip with no luck. Steve was suddenly very unsure- he and Bucky were the only super-soldiers, right? "I've got to get started on Project Echo."

"Oh yeah," she rolled her eyes and hit the elevator call button, "Hydra top secret project, your ability to finally use google will really help JARVIS out. Now stop wining, you're not getting out of this one."

Natasha kept him out all day. When they returned Steve was weighed down with bags upon bags of new clothes to fill Bucky and Sam's closets, as well as take-out they'd brought back for everyone. Steve had pretty much just been her pack mule all day.

He set the bags and food down in the lounge area and ducked into the observation room while she went upstairs to find Clint, Thor and Sam.

"I wouldn't-" Banner tried to warn him, but he wasn't quick enough.

Steve's stomach twisted and he came very close to throwing up. Bucky's shoulder was exposed- in every way. The metal plate was gone and the area was covered in a thick, clear ointment, but he could see very clearly they'd taken all the skin off. Muscle was exposed and drying blood dripped down his side. His back was to Steve at the moment and the table was vertical, but that was somehow worse.

Tony was under Bucky's metal arm, making a face and using a power drill to remove a bloody screw from his armpit as long as Steve's smallest finger, and nearly as thick. Two others sat in a small glass dish. A fluid-stained towel covered the metal plate sitting on a tray near the window. A corner of it poked out and Steve could see the fused, warped flesh.

"That's the last screw," Banner explained, "then they will get to removing the rest of the arm. It'll probably take a few more hours, then they're basically doing a shoulder replacement surgery and calling it a night. Of course, by then it'll be more like tomorrow morning..." Tony got the rest of the screw out, shivered, then looked up and waved at Banner to say something. Banner leaned forward and turned the intercom back on, "I couldn't stand the sound," he explained.

"Rogers, you OK if we just keep him under until the new base is installed? It might be safer for us and more comfortable for him."

Steve nodded and gave him a thumbs-up, "Good call. Should I get the healing stone from the apartment? It could help."

Doctor Johansson looked confused, but Tony shook his head, "Not yet, wait until we're done for the night. I don't want to risk it waking him up while we're still working. One good wrench in this state and he might lose the shoulder entirely."

Steve ran a hand through his hair, then turned to Banner, "Food is in the lounge, if you have an appetite. Let me drop some stuff of upstairs and I'll take a shift. Thanks for keeping an eye out."

"It's not my field, but I still think it's pretty cool." Banner was amicable, "Take your time, I'll be sticking around until the metal comes off. I might go grab a plate though," he sniffed, "Chinese? Excellent."

Steve walked out to the lounge with him and took Sam and Bucky's clothing upstairs. Sam looked like he'd won the lottery when he saw everything Natasha had picked out. He'd spent way too long living on jeans and old t-shirts as they hunted down Bucky. Now he had a real wardrobe fit for someone living in the most exclusive apartments in New York City.

Steve tossed the rest of the bags in his laundry room and showered, then headed back down to take up his watch for the rest of the night. Banner ate as he studied Tony and Doctor Johansson's handling of Bucky's surgery. Steve couldn't even begin to fathom how Banner could still have an appetite, he anticipated the picture of Tony pulling a screw out of Bucky's armpit being etched into his brain for the rest of his life...

Chapter 10: What the Shadows Hide

Clint watched over the gathering from the rafters, detached. He was frustrated, and for no good reason. Something was wrong... Something big. his gut gnawed and twisted. He peered into every corner of the room, yet he still couldn't find it. The shadows made his skin itch, but he could see into them well enough- there was nothing.

"You feel it too?" Natasha swung up to his perch, "It's not following Rogers or me, it stayed here when we left."

"When did you start noticing it?"

Natasha shrugged, "I'm not sure exactly. Something's been bugging me for a couple of days, but it's gotten... stronger or bolder- I feel like if I just moved fast enough I'd see it."

"And I'm not sure if we'd want to." Hawkeye. A cool enough code-name for an agent. Hell, it made a pretty awesome superhero name, but he couldn't rely on sight with this thing. His eyes were practically useless to him right now. What he heard, smelled, felt- those senses were telling him there was an intruder.

"It never ends, does it? There's always one more bad guy."

"Since when do you mind?" he laughed.

Nat smiled, "Who said I minded? Come on, food's getting cold," she dropped lightly. Clint watched the room a bit longer, then followed.

He felt it move past him then, stronger than ever. As he fell he looked upward. He landed awkwardly, tipped into Thor and nearly brought both of them to the floor, but he finally locked in a fourth sense- he saw it. Only for a second, only long enough to make his heart race and his knees go weak. A face. A deformed, monstrous, grinning, inhuman, blood-freezing face. He didn't even blink, and it was gone. At least, from sight. He could still feel it up there, watching him.

"Clint? Are you alright?" Thor was shaking his shoulder. He looked for whatever Clint was staring at but saw nothing.

"Hey-" Natasha touched his arm, concerned.

It was like a spell breaking. Clint snapped into action and ran down the hall to the observation room. It was dark- too dark. Steve and Banner turned as he thundered in, "GET TO THE LOBBY, NOW!"

"What's going on?" Tony came to the window while Doctor Johansson continued to cut Bucky from the arm, "Are we under attack? Is it Hydra?"

"Finish working on him," Clint gave the operating room a quick one-over, lots of light, "You're fine here."

"HEY," Tony shouted as Clint shoved Steve and Banner out of the room, "Tell me what the fuck is going on!" he growled as Clint vanished around the corner, "JARVIS, life-signs scan, NOW!"

"No unregistered life-signs detected," JARVIS broadcast his response throughout the Avengers rooms of the Tower.

"Can someone tell me what's going on?" Banner needed advanced warning if Hulk was supposed to come out. Springing it on him gave the controls over to the Hulk which was never a fun party trick.

"Clint, what did you see?" Natasha had her gun out, but it was useless without something to shoot. Thor held out his hand and a second later Mjolnir flew down through the stairwell.

"JARVIS, turn on all the lights to max!" The lights faded up brighter and brighter until a few of the Avengers had to close their eyes. The whole room was flooded.

"THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" Tony came over the intercom, pissed.

"Something's in the shadows, it's watching us."

"What kind of something?" Steve didn't like the sound of this.

Thor turned to Clint, "What did you see?"

"A face," he looked around as best he could in the light. The thing was gone. He couldn't even feel it, "a fucking monster face. It wasn't even there for a whole second, I don't think it meant for me to see it."

"Let's move to an interior room- there's a big dark window behind us and if something's watching..." Banner shivered.

In the end they settled in the recovery room. It only had a few cots, but this way they had a single door separating them from the operating room. When Tony and Doctor Johansson rolled Bucky out for the night covered in thick bandages, they each fell to a cot and were out in seconds- despite the unknown threat.

"I'll be right back," Steve was watching blood seep through the wrappings on Bucky's stump.

"It's not a good idea to go alone," Natasha stood to come with him, but he waved her down.

"I'm getting the stone. I'll be fine. JARVIS, light up the Tower for me?"

"Certainly, Master Rogers."

He left the others and headed up into the building, careful not to look out any of the windows. Ever since he was a kid, Steve had a fear of looking out of a window at night. When he was 4 he'd opened the front door and a black dog had pounced on him out of nowhere. It was friendly, but he was scared of dogs for years after that. Some creature in the shadows frightening enough to make Clint Barton go that white? He didn't want to even catch a glimpse.

"JARVIS, lights?" The stairwell was getting dim the higher he climbed. His hair stood on end, it felt like something was only a couple of steps higher, just around the curve in the staircase.

"Apologies, Master Rogers, but I do not appear to have control over those lights. I believe my systems have been damaged. I highly recommend returning to the others."

Perfect, "OK, I'll just be quick."

He took slow, deep breaths to calm his pounding heart, then pushed on up the stairs. He thought he heard something ahead of him and froze- but there was nothing there. Steve closed his eyes and listened as best he could. He'd done this storming bases with the Howling Commandos- let his other senses tell him where the enemies were. They were never wrong, and they told him he was only a few steps away from it- whatever it was.

Steve was even slower going up the last flight of stairs. He kept his eyes closed until he got to his door, it was more reliable. The thing was just ahead of him, watching. He stopped on the landing and opened his eyes. The door was buckled, warped in its frame like something had smashed into it from the inside until the hinges broke and the door sagged. Steve readied himself for a fight, pushed it open and-

Thor went looking for Steve after 10 minutes. Natasha, Clint, and Banner stayed behind to hold control of the recovery room, should the need arise. Four rows of remote Suits guarded them from the outside.

Mjolnir sparked and crackled, ready to destroy any would-be assassin. He made it up the stairs without incident. It seemed as if nothing was wrong- until he got to Steve's apartment. There was no door, and the inside was absolutely wrecked, it looked as if a great battle had taken place here. Thor cautiously entered, looking for his friend. Several man-sized holes in the wall suggested a battle with something. On the living room wall was a large spray of blood. Thor wound Mjolnir up as he followed the trail. It stirred a breeze he could easily whip up into a hurricane, if need be.

He found Steve on top of a smashed door near the back of the apartment, but it was likely too late. The shadows around him were dense and they formed a shape- like some kind of beast, though a severely deformed one. It loomed over him and began to pour into his eyes and mouth.

The darkness around him smelled metallic- it wasn't shadow anymore, it was something worse, something unnatural. Steve's eyes opened and the darkness burned from within. Tendrils of shadow snaked from his mouth. It took but a second for Steve to be taken. Thor hadn't even had time to process what he was seeing, "JARVIS, ILLUMINATE THIS ROOM!" there was no response, so Thor took matters into his own hands.

He aimed Mjolnir at the ceiling and released as little of its power as he could. The raw electricity made the lights flash incredibly bright. Steve seized up, there was a wild, animalistic roaring, then the black fire was blasted from him. He went limp, the lights exploded, and Thor wasted no time in grabbing him and racing back down the stairs.

Natasha cursed when Thor came running in with an unconscious Steve. Blood covered most of Cap's face and neck, not to mention his clothes. She hit Doctor Johansson to wake him and ran over to help Steve onto a free cot.

When they cut off his shirt they found claw marks trailing from his right shoulder across his torso and down to his left hip. The flesh around the wound was gray, dead- but every so often there was color, and the wound looked to be hours old, not minutes, "Thank the Gods," Thor mumbled to himself and quickly grabbed at Steve's hands. Clenched in his left fist they found the healing stone.

Chapter 11: Six Days Later

Whatever the creature that attacked Steve was, it infected his body with a toxin no one could trace- not even Thor. His wounds had been tinged with gray when he was brought back, but even under the power of the healing stone the only improvement was to the cuts themselves, which left thin silver scars winding across his torso. The gray flesh had spread outward from the wound within hours, and within a day or two it was up around his throat. There was- one particularly bad night when Steve was suffering from violent seizures- talk of bringing in someone to perform last rights.

They kept a spare exam light over him at all times, just in case the creature had possessed him somehow. During the day someone would sit with him and Bucky while the others helped repair severed wiring throughout the Tower and installed new, reinforced lights. As they repaired the Tower they spread out from the recovery room, but never far, just in case Steve didn't make it. Tensions couldn't have been higher, even Tony stopped joking around. He threw himself into his work and managed not only to complete a temporary arm for Bucky, but he also had JARVIS fabricating the final metal unit and reverse-engineered neural interfaces for the new base-plate.

There was no way to stop the creature- save blasting it with light, as Natasha was forced to do one evening. Tony managed to calibrate JARVIS to use his scanners to track a very faint anomaly in photon emissions and ultra violet light throughout the rooms. It was unique- a shift in the fabric of the shadows themselves, and it helped ease some of the strain. After the attack on Steve the beast had not been able to manifest with any real strength- even when it began to coalesce in front of Natasha she managed to fend it off with a basic flashlight.

It was only then, at the end of the one week limit Bucky had placed on Tony, that Steve woke.

Banner was napping with his feet on the end of Steve's bed when the Captain groaned and started to move. He jerked awake and slid closer to the bedside, "Woah, slowly now, easy," he hit a button and the back of the bed rose to prop Steve into a reclining position. Steve tried to open his eyes, cursed, and clapped his hands over them. "Too bright?" Steve nodded, "Good. You can see."

"What happened?" he croaked. Banner passed him a cup of water- most of which he choked on.

"What do you remember?"

"About what?" his brain felt like it had been pulled out, scrambled, and poured back in. He couldn't focus on anything for long. Banner hesitated, he wanted to know what Steve remembered, but suggesting anything (like even just asking if the shadow-creature got him) might taint any details he did know. "Give me a lifeline, I'm lost here," Steve pleaded.

Banner sighed, "You had cuts from your neck to your hip, deep ones. Thor found you lying on top of a closet door. Do you remember what happened?"

"No, I- I mean not really, it's kind of..." he trailed off, confused.

"It's OK, just tell me what you can."

Steve continued to rub at his eyes and tried to focus, "It was watching me... I came upstairs and it- it was in front of me, like it was leading me. Like it was luring me in."

"You saw it?" Clint hadn't been able to give a very good description, maybe Steve-

"No," damn, "I don't remember walking upstairs. I remember watching me walk. It led me into the apartment. I picked up the stone- next thing I know I'm being thrown all over the room and there isn't even anything I can see to fight," his heart-rate was rising.

"Hey, it's OK," Banner said quickly, "you're safe, you're nowhere near that thing, you're alright," he slowed a bit as he spoke and watched Steve's heart-rate plateau, then begin to settle. "Anything else?"

Steve shook his head, "Glimpses, flashes that make no sense to me," he groaned and held a second hand over his face, "What the hell happened to my eyes?"

Banner chewed his lip, "JARVIS, is this room secure?"

"Yes, sir. No anomalies detected within operational scanner range."

"Dim the lights to, I don't know, 10% please." The room was plunged into quasi-darkness. Banner clicked off the exam light and grabbed a small mirror from the side table, "Open your eyes," Steve did as he was told, wincing. Banner handed him the mirror.

"What the-" Steve studied his reflection for a long time, mouth agape.

"We tried to test your pupil reflexes after Thor brought you down and found this instead," Steve's eyes were silvery gray- not the iris or the pupil, the entire damn eyeball was one color.

"I can still see," he was so confused.

"That's what I was betting on," Banner said gently, "it's getting better, for what it's worth. They were totally black the first couple days. Give it a bit longer, maybe you'll be back to normal by the end of the week."

"I feel like something chewed me up and spat me back out."

Banner shrugged, "You kind of were." he tapped his earpiece twice to open a channel wide to everyone, "Cap's awake."

"Finally," Stark had been working on the perfect reply all week, "you know, no amount of beauty sleep will fix your mug. 70 years didn't make a difference." Nailed it.

"Ha ha Stark, you're still not funny," Steve grumbled. He heard a surgical drill again and it sent shivers up his spine- they were working on Bucky.

"Did you guys talk about-" Natasha trailed off, worried.

"Yeah, he saw the eyes."

"Oh! Saw?! That's good!"

Steve tried to keep his eyes open, but he couldn't take even that much light, "They're really sensitive, this place is killing me."

"And we've only got the lights at 10%," Banner added.

"A lot of things in regards to you are overly sensitive," Tony couldn't resist an easy target.

"It's really tough to keep anything straight-"

"Oh good, you're admitting it-"

"I swear to God Tony, one more joke and I will come after you." Steve was in no mood.

Tony pouted, "Someone's grumpy."

"There was something I needed to do," Steve ignored him, "something important."

Sam knew what he was aiming for, "While they've been working on this, I've been looking into 'Project: Echo', don't worry. We've got nothing on where our she might be, but there are some other avenues we're looking down. Might get lucky."

Echo. That was it. He pictured something suddenly- a black room only he could see in. There was a body on a table- a kid. She was pale, shaking. He'd seen that look before, this kid had been tortured within an inch of her sanity. Bucky looked a lot like that when he found him on that first Hydra base. Scars covered every visible inch of flesh. Something large and shapeless stood over her in the dark, and Steve knew this wouldn't end well.

The creature was angry. It raged against the child- tried to rip and tear at her flesh, but it wasn't strong enough yet, and it knew it. It wanted to kill her, kill everyone it could get a hold off. Steve pictured a bloody, mangled pile of Hydra bodies stretching back over years. The kid could see the beast- or probably just sense it. She screamed and cried and struggled like an animal in a trap, but nothing happened. The creature kept roaring and she kept screaming- then the lights came on and it was blasted back, but not before it saw someone standing in the doorway- someone who's darkness rivaled its own. Bucky.

"Hey! Steve!" Banner was shaking him, shouting. Steve blinked hard and tried to clear his head of the vision.

"It was there," he whispered, "in Astana. It saw her. It saw Bucky. It was there..."

Sam swore, "JARVIS, scan all incident reports from the Hydra files, keyword anything about shadows or black eyes or even damn animal attacks!"

"Fourty-seven reports found," JARVIS chimed in, "First report filed in 2006, noting similar incidents have been unofficially reported up to four years prior. Reports increase in frequency at a steady rate. Seven include partial sightings of an unknown creature. All cases were closed within a few days of the Hydra Agent's death from an unknown toxin. Reports were all attributed to one 'Project: Helius'."

"The hell is it with Hydra and their code names? Do you think they have someone who just sits there all day thinking them up?" Tony mused.

"Do you have a file on 'Project: Helius'?" Steve ignored him.

"Yes, Master Rogers. 'Project: Helius' was an experiment attempting to create alternative forms of stealth technology by bending photons around an object, essentially rendering it invisible, not merely camouflaged. It is worth noting that scientists recently have had success with the very same concept on a smaller scale."

"Clint and Cap's monster gives off an abnormal photon signature. Great. Any link between 'Helius' and 'Echo'? What happened with the Project?" Tony grunted as he shoved the metal base in place on Bucky's newly repaired shoulder.

"It was decommissioned in 1994 after an overload in the power supply caused a catastrophic delta radiation leak. Twelve of thirteen scientists were subsequently killed."

Banner was confident, "Let me guess, the last scientist either mysteriously survived or was never found."

"No, sir," JARVIS shot him down, "the thirteenth scientist, Doctor Anton Ryker, committed suicide two days after the accident. While he was not on site at the time of the incident and therefore not subjected to the fatal radiation, his wife, lead researcher Emilie Ryker, was. She died from radiation poisoning an hour before he shot himself. The only connection I can find between Projects 'Helius' and 'Echo' is the western wing of Hydra Facility Astana."

"Those scientists brought something through," Natasha had heard this story before, "They didn't just happen to have an illuminated experimentation room for 'Echo'. I'd bet everything they kept that thing in there to study after the scientists died."

"There was a repair order issued for the room in 1995. Three guards were killed in an unknown incident and the doors were severely damaged by what is described as a clawed creature."

Clint agreed with Natasha, "It escaped, no way in hell they could find something hiding in a shadow, so they re-purposed the room."

"A few deaths a year? A group like Hydra would have chalked that up to an acceptable loss if they thought they might be able to get hold of it somehow."

"And it came back with us," Steve finished. "The screaming Bucky heard- he was right. It wasn't just the kid in that room. That thing wanted nothing but blood."

"One normal year," Tony grumbled as he worked on positioning the new bone anchors, "just one. All I wanted. It was on my Christmas list and everything. So, just curious, this 'Project: Helius' link, do you think that's enough to let me out of all this alive or-?"

"Well," Natasha responded darkly, "you had Thor knock Bucky out and kept him drugged up for a week without his permission, you didn't find where the girl was, and we really only discovered a new problem fairly unrelated to the original."

"In other words, you're dead," Clint sounded too happy...

"Ah, fuck."

Chapter 12: Time To Wake Up

By the time Bucky woke up Steve could stand the lights at 15%. Natasha and Clint were finishing lighting upgrades up on the top floor, and Sam was on his way back from Maria Hill's old field office on the far side of the city. He didn't wake gradually as Steve had, he pretty much just snapped awake, tipped over the side of the bed, and started throwing up.

Thor ran over with a metal bowl (too late) as Bucky groaned and rocked his head in his hands. His mind was swimming. Memories crashed down on him without order or mercy- missions, assassinations, running through the dirty Brooklyn streets as a child, Hydra's mental cleansing- while his body repaired the stone kept up its work on his damaged brain.

It took a long time to get a lid on it all. The group waited patiently, gave him his space to process everything. When the door shut behind Sam on his way into the room, Bucky looked up, "Hey, he's back too! Neither of you look to be in fighting shape, but it's a start."

"What?" Bucky looked around and finally noticed Steve looking like complete hell and hooked into a bank of monitors to his left. In turning though he caught sight of his arm, and his mind didn't even register that something was very wrong with Steve's eyes. His arm was black, synthetic. The temporary unit Stark promised. He followed the plastic with his right hand until he reached the metal. This plate wasn't rimmed in rough, ropey scars. The newly grown flesh was rippled, thin, and pale.

"Um, yeah, about that-" Tony didn't get a chance to finish.

Bucky lunged at him suddenly, lifted him by the throat with his false hand, and slammed him into the wall. The sudden motion made his new arm scream in pain, but he let that fuel his rage. "HOW LONG WAS I UNCONSCIOUS?" he shouted. Thor stepped up to pull him away and Bucky half turned to him, "Stay back or I swear to God I will crush his skull."

"You- you have to und-" Tony struggled to speak, Bucky pulled him from the wall and slammed him into it again. His eyes rolled up into his head for a few seconds.

"HOW. LONG?!"

"A week," he wheezed.

Bucky leaned in close and spoke much quieter, "And did you find her?"

"N-no," Natasha and Clint were flanking the crazed assassin slowly. Steve quietly began removing wires so he could fight if need be. He might get one or two punches in before the poison still in his veins took him down, but it could be enough to save Tony's life. Banner's eyes were green- the Hulk was dangerously close to coming out. Doctor Johansson, meanwhile, was hiding.

Bucky drew his human arm back for a punch. In this state, Tony probably wouldn't make it if that hit connected, "He meant yes." Sam's voice made Bucky freeze immediately.

"Tell me." He kept his eyes locked on Stark.

"What we could make out from the file you gave us said the supervisory agent was Thomas Dennisson, can you remember if that was right or not?"

Bucky could remember his face. Hard, smug- a Pierce wanna-be, "Yes."

Sam pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, unfolded it, and held it up for him to see, "A transfer order. November 2010, Thomas Dennisson was transferred to Hydra Facility Wonju to oversee the installation of a failed project."

Bucky dropped Tony and turned to Sam. He snatched the paper from his hand and read it over and over again. Natasha and Clint helped Tony up. He was coughing, panting, and his eyes were still rolling up uncontrollably, "Doc, he needs a CAT scan!" Doctor Johansson stood up from behind a cot and ran over to help lead Tony into the operating room.

Thor put a hand on Bucky's shoulder, "We have our destination, James Barnes. We may begin making preparations to find this girl."

Bucky was shaking horribly, "Wonju... Hydra deep freeze... Where they lock away experiments gone wrong... Hydra's asylum." he was staring at the order now, not even blinking. "Remembering wouldn't have helped," he was talking to himself, "I just convinced them to move her. I didn't know where. I wouldn't have... I wouldn't have-"

"Do not fear," Thor counseled, "once we are again at strength we shall take the base, liberate the child, and all shall be well."

Bucky shook his head, "I didn't know... I wouldn't have..."

"Wouldn't have what, Bucky?" Sam had a feeling this wasn't going to end so well.

"Wouldn't have blown it to hell on my way to Gastineau."

Chapter 13: Three Days Later

Seoul, South Korea

"This is a complete waste of time," Tony threw his suitcase on a bed and started unpacking lighting panels. The room was too dark and they didn't know if the creature was still following them, "and for the record, it would have been nicer to stay on the damn jet than here."

"It pales in comparison to the chambers of Asgard, true, yet I see nothing wrong. Besides, Hydra agents likely swarm the area. You yourself advised keeping our presence quiet. We could hardly stay somewhere obvious." Thor reminded him.

The hotel wasn't bad, at least not compared with where Natasha had wanted to base the group. It was just south of the Han river in one of Seoul's nicest districts, the rooms had two large beds, a table, an entertainment center, and a large bathroom. Natasha's idea was a $10 per night student hostel with one bathroom they'd all have to share. This was at least the kind of place where the staff held the door for you and called you "Mister" or "Miss", but Tony was more used to glamor, extravagance- displays of excess. Tonight he'd be stuck in a room with Thor, God of Thunder(ous Snoring). Was pulling straws even a legitimate way to decide anything? Never-mind that it was my stupid idea in the first place.

Banner ended up rooming with Steve while Sam stayed with Bucky. It had been a tricky decision- Sam was oh so breakable should Bucky have one of what was becoming his trademark nightmares (and Sam was experienced with PTSD patients), but in the same scenario with a different roommate, the hotel was just as easily broken if Bucky lashed out at Banner at one in the morning and caused a Hulk-out. And even though he claimed he was just fine, Steve still needed medical supervision and couldn't get around on his own with all the extra lights they were setting up in each room, so he was out as Bucky's roommate. As for Natasha and Clint- well, they always sort of did their own thing (Plus when Tony asked Clint to swap with him or Thor, Hawkeye had just laughed and walked away).

Tony grabbed a light stand to steady himself a moment. He shook his head and the dizzy spell passed, "Are you alright?" Thor waved at the bed, "rest if you are unwell. I believe I can finish this task."

"I'm fine," but he wasn't. Bucky had done a real number on his head, it was going to take time to heal. His skull throbbed constantly, but hell if he'd admit it or ask Thor for some more of that Asgardian mojo. Thor was the one who drugged Bucky, Tony had done all the mechanics on that damn arm- solo! Why was he the only one smashed into a wall?

Thor dropped the issue and turned instead to the diagrams of the base. If it was still standing even in part he would be the one to find a way into the lowest levels. If there was any chance the girl yet lived, they had to hope she was stored there. Bucky was confident the very lowest storage rooms would have gone untouched.

Bucky, Thor, and Banner made up the ground team- tasked with finding their way to any vaults left. Sam had quickly trained Clint in the operation of the spare wing units so the two of them could be the eyes in the sky. Hydra was probably in the area, still cleaning the base out, so they were in charge of securing a visual and alerting Steve and Natasha to any departing trucks. They would follow them back to wherever Hydra was collecting the cryo tubes and search for her there. Between Bucky and Steve, each team had someone who could identify the girl (provided she hadn't changed too much in five years). Tony was on standby- whoever found her would signal him to come in and oversee her extraction from the pod (if she was even alive) and get her loaded into a remote medical suit. It was going to be a very long day, especially with everyone operating jet lagged. Tony pointing out every 10 minutes some new flaw in the plan didn't help.

"They probably dragged her out days ago, if not weeks, and have her at some other base already," one of his favorites. Or "she's dead, move on", but he only mumbled that one when he was sure Bucky's embedded comm was turned off. Giving him one of those had really limited what Tony could whine about. Steve loved it.

And now not only was it a hopeless mission, but it was a hopeless mission Tony would get no real sleep on.

In the wee hours of the morning just before dawn, as Tony imagined what the ramifications from Asgard would be if he killed Thor in his sleep (and right when he decided he was okay paying the price) the comm alarm chimed- time to get going.

Tony felt like being mean- exhaustion gave him courage. He cleared his throat, clicked on his ear piece, and whispered softly, "Bucky? Bucky~" then shouted, "GET UP!" Sam could dodge a psychotic assassin, right?

"I'm already awake," the voice was cool, calm. God dammit.

"I however was not," Natasha sounded pissed. Double god dammit then.

"Same here," Steve also sounded peeved. At last, a silver lining.

"Well? What are you all waiting for? Find me someone to save." Maybe he could snag a few hours of sleep in the suit while they hunted...

Chapter 14: The Underground Crew

Thor, Banner, and Bucky: Wonju-Gangwondo, South Korea

There was absolutely no cover between them and the access point. The three huddled in the trees and struggled to even make out the small island a mile away through the morning drizzle. Hydra soldiers were crawling all over the main base entrance, hidden in the forest a few miles back. Their entrance would be through the emergency exit. Bucky had no reason to blow the shaft when he came through, so it was the easiest point of entry. No doubt Hydra would have figured that out too.

Between their current position and the island was a university (evacuated because of a "suspected natural gas leak resulting in an underground explosion"), the rancid, muddy base of a man-made lake, and perhaps three trees before they'd be on top of the shaft. It was barely large enough to count as an island.

"If it dries up like this every year, how have students never stumbled into the base?" Sam was hiding just in the cloud layer, circling.

"They do," Bucky's voice was flat- his mind was on the girl, "the door is hidden, but one slips in every few years and Hydra gets a new plaything."

Sam shivered, "Same with swimmers when the lake's full?"

"The chemical run off from the cryo chambers renders the water toxic. Students who try to swim rarely make it out alive. Most learned to avoid the water entirely."

"Thank god we didn't decide to do this during monsoon season."

"That is why I waited until last month to attack."

"Well, nothing I've got will get you over there unseen, and if Hydra figures out we're here Steve and Nat don't have a snowball's chance. How you going to get over there?"

"You both should land for a moment, Sam Wilson and Clint Barton," Thor began to swing his hammer slowly. The drizzle began to tilt pretty sharply towards a downpour. Now even they could hardly see through the sheets of rain.

Bucky and Thor took point with Banner bringing up the rear, miserable. He couldn't Hulk-out until they got into the tunnel, so he ran barefoot and shirtless, holding up massively over-sized sweatpants. Bucky had his black leather tactical vest and jacket with his brand new metal arm (painted with the Avengers symbol in place of the red star) exposed. Thor was full god mode- cape, armor, plated sleeves, the works. Banner, in comparison, looked like a pitiful hobo-stalker, chasing them across the squelching grass and thick, grasping mud. By the time they reached the island his feet were frozen, scraped, and cut by jagged stones- he struggled to keep the Hulk back.

The island had seventeen Hydra agents guarding it. The sudden downpour had forced them back into the tree line where they remained under the thicker patches of foliage- until the Avengers arrived. Thor only managed to get a couple- Bucky was like a tornado of knives. It seemed like he would barely turn towards a soldier and the man would fall, grasping at the gash in his throat. Thor wasn't sure they even knew they were fighting before they fell.

Banner looked for someone who appeared to have some authority over the group and rooted around their corpse for the earbud transmitter- if they were to get a signal to their men on the inside there had to be an external boost somewhere. When he found it he clipped on Tony's interface- JARVIS would scan all comms on the same frequency and synthesize replies from the voices of soldiers that they picked up. Hopefully Hydra wouldn't catch on until it was too late.

"Steve, Natasha, we've got a truck leaving the facility headed for the southwest road, do you copy?" Clint was "grounded" up a pine tree. He'd decided pretty much as soon as he saw the wings that Stark wasn't going to be getting them back any time soon. He had already confided in Natasha that he intended to be buried in them. He hoped Thor's rain stopped soon- a taste of flying and he was addicted.

"Copy, good luck everyone," Steve ran for Natasha's position.

"See you later, but wish us luck instead. If I end up cold and wet and the girl isn't even here-"

"Hulk smash?" Tony snickered.

Banner nodded to himself, "Hulk smash."

Bucky, meanwhile, was looking closely at a large Buddha statue in the center of the small island. The entrance was hidden under this shrine. He found the faint etching of Hydra's logo and pressed it, then located symbols on the Buddha to act as a sort of password. The cement ring in the center of the clearing lowered, then swung inward to reveal a hatch barely wide enough for Thor to fit through. Banner felt validated- Hulk wouldn't have been able to fit a foot through there. His suffering was not in vain.

The floor of the tunnel was twenty feet down or so- Thor and Bucky jumped. Banner lowered himself far enough to see just how wide the tunnel was going forward. As he judged, a group of Hydra soldiers came around the corner to investigate why the hatch was open. Banner quickened his breathing and before they had time to radio for help he dropped and took on his Hulk form. His mind simplified, his rage increased, and only Banner was able to keep him from roaring. He dove at the soldiers and crushed them against a wall, then turned to look at Thor and Bucky. He growled and jerked his head. Hulk didn't know the fucking way, why weren't they doing their part?! Useless!

In places along the tunnel the walls had been blasted in and debris blocked their way. Hulk swept through these areas, clearing a path for Bucky and Thor. Bucky led where he could, knives at the ready, but they hardly came across any agents. The main focus wasn't some half-destroyed supply tunnel, it was the vaults. The bodies didn't really begin to pile up until they came to the first ruined door.

It was metal, reinforced, yet it hung at an angle and scorch marks radiated out from it. Bucky pried the doors apart only a hair and peeked through. Vault 1. Hydra swarmed the large warehouse-style room, inspecting dozens of large cryo chambers. Bucky had spent 30 years inside one of those, and the design hadn't changed much. There was a small window at roughly eye-level, but the rest of it was devoted to numbers and monitors. Doctors walked down the line, hooking tablets into those chambers that still emanated a glow. Bucky targeted the main power supplies and exits when he struck- anyone trapped inside one of those once the back up batteries died would have died a slow, miserable death from starvation and thirst. Nearly every window was clouded with bloody scratch marks. As the doctors looked in the windows the glass would shake as the trapped man or woman pounded. Their screams echoed dully.

One in every ten or so seemed to be a "chosen one". The doctor would compare the number on their pod with a sheet of paper and, if it checked out, they'd signal a soldier with a cart to attach a fresh battery on the bottom and the cryo unit re-initialized, freezing the poor bastard once again. The doctor closest to them shook his head and hit a red button on the side of the pod. The insides filled with fire and the screaming got louder for a brief moment, then died out entirely. Incineration.

Thor watched intently through the slit in the door, "James," he whispered, "those papers may reveal if the child is indeed here, or if Hydra has kept her alive. We should plan a way to lure one of the physicians to us and-"

A shadow detached from the banks of wires suspended on the ceiling (those not fried and frayed) directly over the scientist. It was smaller than Thor had imagined- perhaps Steve had been wrong in his analysis. It was distinctly humanoid too. Thor's mind raced with the possibilities. Someone from 'Project: Helius' must have been changed in the explosion! One of the scientists? A guard from outside the doors? The shadow was no mere summoned creature, it had purpose, it had form, it had a plan, it had- it had a metal arm. Thor whipped around, Hulk pointed up, and he saw the open ventilation shaft above his head. He looked through the door in time to see Bucky, hanging by his knees, slowly lower himself over the doctor, then grab his head, yank him into the ceiling, and break his neck all in one motion.

A few seconds later he dropped silently from the shaft with the paper in his hand, "Very impressive," Thor clapped him on the back and stood beside him so he could also read the llist. Several Project names were listed next to a "Kill" or "Preserve" order and a cryo tube number. There were also special instructions listed next to many of them- points of delivery, bases to transfer the prisoners to, who should be thawed before transfer, or who should be kept frozen. Bucky traced through it until he found what he was looking for: PROJECT: ECHO - PRESERVE - V174 - DELIVER TO COMMANDER DENNISSON, AUKLAND FACILITY, FOR TERMINATION. So, that scumbag Dennisson had been promoted, and he wanted to kill Echo himself.

Bucky swore and dropped the paper on the ground. He turned back the direction they had come and took off at a dead run- Thor and Hulk on his heels. He needed the elevator shaft. Echo had been transferred on his orders, Dennisson wanted the opportunity to kill the girl himself. He was a sadist, and probably the only supervisory agent in the science division to enjoy a failed experiment, it gave him a new toy, and he had been gunning for Echo even five years ago. The fact that she was a kid didn't bother him- a toy was a toy.

"You know, you don't scare me," Bucky remembered her weak voice as she'd stood over him with Dennisson. She was pale from months in the base, and it hurt his eyes to look at her in the illuminated room. She was bruised, her wrists bled, and even though he couldn't see it, he knew she would be standing on one foot. He'd broken her heel with a pole. Black bags sagged under her eyes. She was staring at a spot on the floor, not making eye contact with anyone. Bucky was muzzled, but he struggled to break free of the restraints that bound him to the chair. Dennisson had a hand on the back of her neck, forcing her to watch.

"I don't want to scare you," his voice made Bucky sick. The girl shivered, "I want to give you the chance to take real control here."

"Just because I'm 14 doesn't mean I'm stupid, I don't have any control," she flinched, a reflex. The Winter Soldier usually beat her for speaking back to him- hence the heel.

Dennisson just moved his hand to her shoulder and handed her a remote, "You have control. You can make him suffer now. That's control."

In the base, Bucky used his momentum to run at a wall, push off, and change direction so he was now headed south towards the service elevator. He heard something, shouting from Thor, but he didn't stop. He tried to push back the memory but it was impossible.

He remembered one of the times he tried to break her out of Astana. She was twitching, shaking, trying desperately not to look around- even that much had taken him a long time to achieve. Particularly because every few weeks he would try to set her free. When they caught Bucky and Echo- and Hydra always did before the two escaped the confines of the base- they would make her watch as they reprogrammed him, just to be sure she knew there was no hope. After a while they made it a scheduled thing, just to preempt anymore attempts at heroics. Dennisson decided it would help her break faster.

He knew how this day ended. She refused to activate the machine, refused to hurt anyone on behalf of Hydra- even her torturer. The shocks would come, one way or another, and he would forget who he was. The first thing Dennisson would order him to do was punish her for her insolence. After this one he had broken three ribs, tied her arms above her head, and left her standing on only the tips of her toes for two days.

Bucky tripped over debris on the ground and went flying forward towards the elevator shaft- which was open but missing the elevator. Hulk caught him in mid-air and held him tight to prevent another pathetic outburst. Stupid puny humans. Bucky's vision was blurred, he couldn't force her face down in his memory, couldn't catch his breath as he remembered how she'd struggled to breathe through the pain.

Thor waved for Hulk to set him down and put his hands firmly on Bucky's shoulders, "James!" he shook him, then struck Bucky across the face. His eyes finally found Thor. Tears dripped down his cheeks. "We will find her. We will make this right."

Bucky nodded and rubbed the sweat and tears from his eyes, embarrassed. He'd totally lost control. He pointed to the shaft, shaking, "H-her pod number started with "V". That- that's level 5. We have to go down to level 5. Row 17, tube 4."

"Alright," Thor helped Bucky to steady himself and inspected the shaft. The walls were perfectly smooth, the only way down would be to grab hold of a chain and lower themselves. Thor reached out to the nearest and pulled. Now, he was no Midgardian, but he had endeavored to learn some of their mechanics over the years. He was fairly certain if these chains attached to their level-climbing devices they should not simply swing loose. Bucky could ID the issue by sight- the elevator had been damaged significantly and was probably in pieces at the bottom of the shaft.

"We can climb down at least."

Thor took his line in a more firm grip, set Mjolnir down on the ledge and stepped out into nothing. He hung from the chain for a few moments before nodding to Bucky. Bucky jumped to the farthest chain, leaving two in the middle for Hulk. The duo went down slowly, carefully. Once there was enough distance, Hulk stepped out. He wasn't meant for delicate climbing. He should have smashed his way down to the floor. Stupid humans. Making Hulk look like a fool. He would kill them later for this.

The addition of Hulk turned out to be a supremely bad idea. The anchor above them that held the chains groaned, dislodged from the anchors, and before any of them could process what was happening they were falling past the fifth floor all the way down to the eighth. Hulk reached out and grabbed Thor and Bucky just in time to flip onto his back and protect them from the brunt of the fall. He'd taken worse, but the little ones were fragile. They had no business being on this mission and getting in his way!

Hulk's impact flattened whatever was left of the elevator and blew the metal doors inward to Level 8. Thor and Bucky untangled from him and entered the space while Hulk righted himself and came in behind them. They were in another cryo room, this one a lot more damaged. Bucky had put a bomb in the elevator, apparently it was down here when it went off.

They walked through the quasi-darkness wearily, ready for trouble. Bucky remembered a stairwell on the far side, they could use that to backtrack. It would be full of Hydra agents, but he was more determined than ever. He could cut through an army.

"James, look," Thor pointed to one of the damaged tubes. It had been knocked from its base and was lying on the floor. The glass was shattered- but he could see pieces of it in the chamber, not outside of it, "Something broke in, not out." Around the jagged edges of the glass there was blood, skin, and chunks of hair.

Bucky's head whipped around and he inspected the other chambers. Some were lit- but most had been smashed open. There was plenty of glass on the floor- not everyone's departure had been involuntary. Bucky closed his eyes and listened as hard as he could. He detected rustles of fabric, the soft padding sound of bare feet on the floor. They weren't alone, not by a long shot. From the shadows and behind tubes Hydra's worst appeared. Their eyes were dull, glassy, and crazed. Some chewed strips of bloody meat and gore- Bucky had no questions about where they'd gotten their food from: the ones who didn't break out.

As they were surrounded, a fractured, indistinguishable voice sounded in Bucky's ear. He couldn't make out what it said. After a moment it seemed to repeat. There was a sound of feedback- a screech, then Steve's voice came through, frustrated, "-can't you just boost the signal without being such an ass? You're working no harder than the rest of us on this, stop acting like a martyr."

"Steve Rogers," Thor spoke softly, slowly, "we can hear you now."

"Bucky," Steve spoke quickly, he was breathless, "can you read me?"

"Yes."

"We found her Bucky. We've got Echo. She's alive."

He let out the breath he was holding and turned his full attention to the people in front of him. Thor summoned Mjolnir and began arcing his lightning through it. Bucky smiled then, bent his knees, and dove straight into the mob.

Chapter 15: The Captain and the Widow

Steve, Natasha, and Tony

"Steve, Natasha, we've got a semi leaving the facility headed for the southwest road, do you copy?"

"Copy, good luck everyone!" Steve ran through the rain and the trees towards Natasha's position. As he ran he whipped out his mag pouch and shook it open. The pouch looked like a body bag (with impressive stealth capabilities), but it was made from a highly magnetic material. Natasha was already zipped into hers in the middle of the road- happily dry.

Steve kicked some mud and washed the splash to see where she was, then spread out his pouch so they would be toe-to-toe. He zipped it far enough that the retro-reflective camouflage engaged, but kept it open a bit so the magnetic component would not engage. Not long after, the semi came around the corner. Steve waited until it went over Natasha's bag, he heard the klunk of the metal grabbing to the underside of the vehicle, then engaged his own so that he snapped up just behind her.

"Let's hope this is a short ride," he mumbled as the rubber clung to his drenched suit. It would be a whole new level of uncomfortable, that was for sure. His goggles- necessary to keep the light at a manageable level- fogged up fairly quickly, not that there was anything interesting to see. No light pierced through the bag, yet the effects of the Shadow's assault remained- he saw no matter how little light there was.

For a while he felt the relentless, stinging pounding of water hitting the bag, driven by the Semi's wheels. Thankfully as they traveled further and further from Thor's storm the water eased and he was finally able to ride in peace.

It took an hour to get to the warehouse. Steve was beyond ready for a fight- anything but having to spend one more minute in his cold, wet prison. He was sure he looked like a gigantic, wrinkly grape by now. "Get ready," Clint had followed the truck from a distance- pushing his trademark enhanced vision to its limits. "You're at a warehouse, the driver is checking into the main gate. You've got a dice roll- Hydra's got a small army outside this place. You can drop before the truck gets to the warehouse and fight your way in as best you can, or wait until it stops to drop off its cargo. You'll have more Agents around to help unload, but Hydra's smart- they might pull the semi into the warehouse while they unload to make sure everything stays top-secret. What do you think, Nat?"

Natasha considered the options, "If they don't pull into the building we're fucked, but if we drop too soon and they go in anyways, we might be just as screwed. Cap?"

"Let's see if they drop us inside. If we can do this quietly it's better for us."

"Sounds good to me."

"Well, we're about to see, the driver's getting back in," Clint remained high and out of sight, he wouldn't be of any assistance to Natasha and Steve on this one, "Stark?" There was no reply. "JARVIS, open Stark's comm, please," Stark teased him for speaking to JARVIS as if it were a real person, but he got the distinct impression the A.I. appreciated his efforts, so he refused to give it up.

Deep, rhythmic breathing filled everyone's ears, "Dammit, STARK, WAKE UP."

There was a gasp, a snort, then Tony's voice came over comms, "What?! What do you want?"

"Can we get two suits on standby for Nat and Cap's extraction? They're gonna draw heavy fire."

"Dispatched. Anything else?" Tony sounded groggy.

"No."

"Goodnight," the comm clicked off again.

Clint watched anxiously as the truck headed towards the loading dock, and breathed a sigh of relief when it turned in through the warehouse doors instead. Perfect, "You're headed in."

Steve prayed Hydra was at least quick about unloading the cargo as he and Natasha deactivated the magnetic fields and waited pinned beneath the vehicle. Steve opened his bag just enough to peer out at the feet around them.

He saw the bases of several column-like chambers around them, but only a few pairs of feet. Natasha was listening with a practiced ear and counted twenty three inside the building. Five were wearing the thick combat boots of soldiers, but whoever else was there- they weren't fighters. Their shoes were soft, running shoes maybe, more comfortable than practical in a battle. Scientists, doctors, maybe technicians. Easy kill, if she and Steve could handle it without anyone shouting or otherwise alerting the outside forces- that would be a force to reckon with.

Unloading the truck only took another fifteen minutes, 4 more chambers were added to the collection in the warehouse. The vehicle rumbled to life and pulled through the warehouse to exit on the far side. Steve and Natasha were left alone with the soldiers and the scientists. "Hold," Natasha barely whispered as she unzipped her bag to the brink of turning off the camouflage. She peeked out and scanned the room. One soldier stood to the left of Steve. The others were headed back towards what looked like a break room. It had a large window overlooking the warehouse floor. Damn.

"One soldier to your left, but the others are in full view of the warehouse. Leave them to me, I think I can get out without this guy seeing me. Wait for my signal."

The agent had his back to Natasha, and so she slowly unzipped the bag, slid out, and re-engaged the camo. She moved as quickly as she could- darting into the shadows behind one of the chambers nearby. There were three rows on this side of the room, each row had roughly twenty pods in it. The other side of the room had four and a half rows. Natasha hoped Steve had a good memory- he would be responsible for finding this kid. Four teams of scientists were crowded around each of the new pods, hooking in much larger power supplies and going over paperwork denoting where the individuals were being transferred. Natasha pulled one of Steve's beacons out of her pocket and activated it. She hid it inside the exposed mechanics of the pod, just behind where the battery hooked in. May's SHIELD team would want to ensure Hydra didn't get these people back, and they had more time to sort friends from foes than she did at the moment.

It was handy that warehouses were built to accommodate assassins, unintentional though it was. The guard's lounge had a nice, comfy air vent that connected it to the main floor, the perfect entrance for Natasha. She watched them from the ceiling and calculated precisely the right moves to eliminate them as efficiently as possible. The tough part would be getting across the warehouse to the scientists once Steve took out the guard in the middle of the floor. "Ready?"

"Ready, on my mark," Natasha pulled up the vent and set it aside in the shaft, "Three," she dropped down onto the table, "Two"- she pulled out her knife and spun, slicing three throats in one motion. Blood sprayed over her. She threw the knife into the head of one more soldier- "One" and kicked the throat of the fifth, smashing his windpipe. She jumped off the table, landed behind him, and snapped his neck, then ran for the door as fast as she could, wiping blood from her eyes as she did, "GO!"

Steve sprang out of the bag as she passed. The guard turned to see who she was, and in that time Steve pulled his legs out from under him and severed his head with a blow from the shield. No prisoners. He threw the shield at a group of the scientists and managed to hit three of them. Natasha pulled an electrified net from her belt, activated it, and launched it at the men and women in front of another pod. Steve caught his shield as it returned and immediately threw it again- wiping out four more.

In all it took around ten seconds to kill twenty-two of the twenty-three inside. Hardly a fair fight. The last person, an overseer, died in his office a few moments later. Steve began running down the rows of pods, peeking into each of them as she handled the man. The frost around the glass made it hard to judge the occupant and he began to lose faith he'd succeed, until he had a sudden flash of inspiration. "Look for one without scratches on the window!" he whispered loudly to Natasha. She took off running down pods on the far side.

Every single chamber showed the struggles of the occupant- bloody scratches on the plastic viewing panel. Not enough to do more than mark the window, but it was enough to signal they were awake and alive. Bucky's description was of a person so defeated they wouldn't even respond to torture- whatever these people struggled against in those chambers, this kid probably wouldn't have even noticed.

"Over here! Row 2!" Natasha whispered, "Whoever is inside, they didn't react to the power cut! Tony, get your ass to this location, fast!"

Steve skid to a stop next to Natasha and peered in as best he could. He could just make the outline of long, dirty brown hair, the off-white ripples of scars over most of a body- even the dark patches of bruises were still there. "JARVIS, open the comms wide."

"Done, sir."

"I have eyes on Echo. Bucky, Thor, do you read?" all he heard from that end of the line was panting, gasping, the thunder of Hulk running.

"JAMES, COME BACK!" Thor was shouting. Whatever they were dealing with, they hadn't heard him. The line crackled as signal was lost. JARVIS closed the channel.

"Try again later," Tony replied, "I'm on my way to you now, ETA 3 minutes. Get ready, I'm bringing Suits for you and Natasha too."

Steve looked around the front of the door for a release. There was a large red button, and he nearly hit it, but Natasha stopped him, "We don't know if that's a release or a kill switch. Here," she ran to the back of the chamber and pulled the battery. It immediately shut down. Steve struck the hinges of the door with his shield and shattered them, then Natasha helped him pry it off and set it aside quietly.

Definitely her. The other chambers were filled with people showing all different emotions- horror, fear, resignation, crazed rage- but this girl's face was utterly blank. Bucky's handiwork, "Let's get her to the middle," Natasha and Steve slowly pulled her away from the wall of the chamber, careful to make sure they didn't accidentally leave her skin frozen to the surface. Stark slammed through the roof followed by three suits. A white one ran at them and grabbed the girl, folding her into the interior and securing her in place. Steve tossed his shield to one and ran inside. He went limp and let his arms bend with it to put the shield on its back, then the four took off- accompanied by shouts and an impressive amount of gunfire.

They angled towards Stark's jet as Steve tried again to raise Bucky and the others. There was still just crackling on the line, "Stark, boost the signal!"

"Say please," Tony was already on it, but he liked to taunt Steve.

"Stark!"

JARVIS cut in on their dialogue, "Medical diagnostics indicate the young lady is indeed alive. The medical unit will begin raising her temperature gradually, further information will be available shortly." the report was mostly ignored by Stark for the moment.

"Well now I won't work for anything less than 'Pretty please with sugar on top'. It was tiring, pulling your asses out of there."

Steve swore, "Dammit, can't you just boost the signal without being such an ass? You're working no harder than the rest of us on this, stop acting like a martyr."

"Steve Rogers," Thor's voice came in fuzzy, but clear enough to be understood. It sounded like he was whispering, "we can hear you now."

Steve's heart was racing, "Bucky, can you read me?"

"Yes."

"We found her Bucky. We've got Echo. She's alive." he smiled to himself, proud. Fighting was hell, but that feeling of accomplishment, that pride? It was what he lived for.