A/N: This fic contains references to: Lucifer and Hellboy but you don't need to know anything about them to understand the fic. In case it's not obvious, this fic also contains references to Satanism. I am not a Satanist, and I am not trying to convert anyone to Satanism.
This fic is for entertainment purposes only. No blasphemy against any religion, imaginary or more imaginary, is intended.
No goats were harmed in the making of this fic.
"You've got mail," said Tony.
"You don't need to do that every time you text me," said Steve.
He and Bucky were on a vacation from Wakanda. It was more like being on a work trip from Wakanda, where every day was pilaf and purple cabbage wraps, sunsets and waterfalls, training with Okoye, learning from Shuri, playing with the goats and the village children (Bucky called them both his "kids"). The war with Thanos had gone a long way towards mending burned bridges, but Steve was determined not to let them fall again. He was tired of making impossible leaps.
"No, really." Tony held up a package. "You've got mail. Do you want me to open it? I'm going to open it. Hmm, there's no return address. Last time someone sent us a letter with no return address it was Loki."
"Maybe you should wait to…" Steve started before Tony ripped open the package. "...listen to anything I say, even though I'm the captain of this team."
"It's a DVD. I didn't know they still made those." Tony plugged it into the toaster, and the fridge turned into a screen, ostensibly because it was the only large white thing in the vicinity (aside from Steve). Most rich people favored white-on-white interior decor, but Tony's walls inevitably ended up with scorch marks after a few days. It didn't even matter if he was there.
"Well, if it is another evil villain video monologue, it's a short one. About thirty seconds."
Thor scratched his bearded chin with Mjölner. "Probably not Loki, then."
Steve sighed. "Only one way to find out."
Tony nodded, but he didn't do anything. After a few seconds he said, "Oh! Did you want me to play it? Captain? So sorry. I couldn't tell."
Steve flipped him off.
The DVD opened with a video of several Hydra agents standing around a lair that had either been abandoned for years or the subject of an experiment involving radioactive spiders. Peter kept squinting at the screen. Somehow, Steve could tell he was squinting, even under his mask. (Peter wore his mask when he didn't want the Avengers to see his bloodshot eyes from studying all night, which didn't work, because he'd learned that trick from Tony.)
Beside Steve, Bucky inhaled incrementally sharper than usual.
"Buck, you recognize them?"
"I do," said Natasha. "They're in Shield custody. Well, not that one, but the other five."
"Why wasn't I part of that mission?" Steve knew he sounded petulant, but he had called dibs on Nazis, seventy years ago.
Someone else entered the frame. It was Bucky. He was wearing the mask, but not the tactical goggles. He came to stop at parade rest, with his hands behind his back. Steve knew now that most of his handlers had ordered him to stand with his hands behind his back so that he couldn't talk.
He needed his hands to talk, because most of his handlers left the mask on unless they needed access to his mouth. Pierce was different, according to Bucky. According to Bucky, Pierce "liked to pretend."
Which was a little bit ironic considering the way Bucky broke his parade rest the second a Hydra agent got within arm's length. He attacked them ruthlessly, but nonlethally, incapacitating hands and shattering the occasional kneecap. An Achilles tendon went the way of its name.
The only agent who wasn't in Shield custody was bodily hurled moments after opening a small red book with a star on the cover. He was dead before his body hit the wall.
The entire things lasted about ten seconds.
Bucky switched on some computers and typed something faster than Steve would ever be able to. He secured the living Hydra agents with spider web, and Peter squinted harder. Then he left the frame, and the video went to black.
"Huh," said Tony. "How Bucky Barnes Spent his Summer Vacation."
"I'm sorry," said Bucky.
He sounded close to tears, and Steve's heart rate went even faster than abnormal, because, because Bucky hadn't cried after being tortured by Nazis for seventy years, which would be most people's deal breaker.
"Bucky, why?"
"I killed them," he said. "Not just him. There were others."
"About twelve facilities' worth," said Fury. "It was the biggest Hydra raid in the history of Shield, and we barely had to lift a finger. Just respond to the beacons sent out by an UNSUB."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Steve demanded. "I was looking for him."
"We didn't know the identity of the UNSUB," said Fury. "That's what UNSUB means."
"I'm sorry," Bucky said again, and Steve turned back to him even though it meant he had to stop being angry.
"Bucky. Buck. Hey. You have nothing to be sorry for. You did real good, pal."
"I killed them."
"In self-defense."
Bucky gave Steve the closest thing he had to a smile these days. "They were never going to kill me, Steve."
Suddenly Steve remembered Munich, where the Howlies had found wanted posters for Steve, and Dugan couldn't stop living up their team name about how they got his nose just right (they didn't). Then they found a wanted poster for Bucky. He was the only other Howlie who had one, and no one made a joke, not even Dum Dum, because Steve's poster said "Wanted Dead or Alive," and Bucky's just said, "Alive."
That night, Bucky made Steve promise not to let them take him alive again. When Bucky fell, one of the few things that kept Steve sane was knowing he neither had to break, nor keep, that promise.
"No." Steve got to be angry again, but he couldn't take any pleasure in it. "No, they were going to do something worse. You think I don't get that? You think I don't know that every fucking time Hydra's records mention an attempt to "terminate mission" that was barely even a fucking euphemism? Bucky. Buck. I would have killed them all."
There was a brief silence, which usually followed one of Steve's speeches. He could never decide if it was full of awe, or just awkwardness.
Clint broke it.
"Um, I have a question: How did you force choke that one guy?"
Steve wrinkled his nose. "Force… choke?"
"Force lift. Whatever, nerd. He was lifted off his feet, but you didn't lay a hand on him, metal or otherwise."
"Oh," said Bucky. "That's the Devil."
"Come again," said Tony. "Which I have never said under such unpleasant circumstances."
Bucky shrugged. "It started in '44. They were havin' some trouble controlling me, and they thought it might be easier if I was possessed with a demon."
"Wait," said Tony. "Nazis tried to summon a demon?"
"Nah," Bucky waved his metal hand. "Nazis did summon a demon, but he joined the Allies. I'm surprised you guys haven't run into each other. He's a vigilante now, works outta' New Jersey. Guess it feels like home. Anyway, it was all a bit embarrassing for Hydra. They tried real hard to scrub it out of my brainpan, and nobody talks about it at the Hydra Trash Parties."
"Hydra… Trash Parties?" asked Sam.
"Oh, that's what I call them. They just call them parties."
"Do I wanna'-"
"Nope," said Bucky. "So the problem with history is that if you don't remember it-"
"It repeats itself," Steve finished grimly.
"They tried again in 1996. Only this time, they got more than they bargained for. The one with many names."
"Prince?" said Tony.
"The Devil?" Sam looked like he was waiting for Bucky to say, "Nope," again, but Bucky just nodded. "The Nazis thought the Devil would be easier to control than you?"
Bucky shrugged again. "He wasn't so bad. He was about ready for a vacation, so we hung out in LA for a while. It turns out he's really good at figuring out which people deserve punishment. He ended up as an informant for the LAPD. I think being in human form gave him a bit of a conscience. He definitely left some of himself in me."
"Unpleasant circumstances," Tony whispered.
"So you've got some… Devil in you?" asked Steve, and he wasn't waiting for Bucky to say, "Nope," because he accepted everything about Bucky, even the Satanic bits, but it was a lot to take in. Steve was a lapsed Catholic, but it was like any other kind of relapse. Everything blurred together after a while.
"Well, yeah," said Bucky. "Why do you think I raise goats?"