This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.
Author's Note: This is taking place a few months after Age of Ultron and thus from that point on is AU. Also, I refuse to accept Pietro's death so it didn't happen in this world.
Chapter 1: The Return
Steve juggled the groceries in one hand as he slotted his key into the lock with the other. After he opened the door he entered and shut it just as swiftly. The groceries were put on the counter of his Brooklyn condo. As Steve turned to the door to lock it he found it now open, just an inch but that was enough set his guard on high alert. He quickly shut and locked the door before kneeling to pull a .22 from the sheath around his ankle. Natasha had given it to him for his birthday last year and he had taken to wearing it when he felt like he was being followed.
Steve quickly scanned the kitchen before moving towards the small living room area around the corner. Before he could look around the corner, a metal arm reached out and swiftly yanked him forward. The light from the kitchen was the only light provided in the apartment, meaning that his attacker was just a shadow. Steve had resisted on instinct but his attacker had moved too swiftly and had the gun out of his hand and his arm behind his back secured with the metal hand. His attacker moved in closer and whispered, "It's ok, Steve. I remember."
Bucky than pulled away, releasing Steve in the process. The clip in Steve's .22 was ejected and Bucky ejected the round in the barrel before catching the unfired bullet and slipping it back into the clip and setting the disarmed weapon on the nearby coffee table. Steve turned to flip on the light in the room showing that the face that matched the voice. Bucky's hair was still long but it was cleaner and his clothing was civilian rather than the tactical gear he had last seen him in. Steve also noted that there was a backpack on the floor next to the couch.
"How much do you remember?" Steve asked cautiously. He took a step forward, and Bucky used it to his advantage.
Steve felt himself being seized once more and thrown onto the couch. There wasn't enough force behind the act to hurt him but enough for Bucky to maintain the upper hand. In less than a second, Steve's hands were securely pinned by Bucky's metal one and Bucky straddled his waist. Bucky then press close and kissed Steve, at first tentatively and then with more force when Steve responded willingly.
"More than enough to know what we were and to want that back," Bucky whispered as he finally pulled away. "Enough to know that I can trust you. I need your help."
Bucky released Steve's hands which was a mistake because Steve took immediate control of the situation. Just as quickly as Bucky had had Steve pinned, now their positions were reversed. Steve was less willing to end the kiss so quickly and his was filled with the taint of desperation. Sam and Steve had been looking for Bucky for almost two years after he fell off the face of the earth when SHIELD collapsed. His greatest hope had been that the man he loved would remember and embrace those memories. When he finally pulled away, Bucky's eyes were slightly glazed and his lips were red from the kissing. Both men worked to regain their breath before Steve eased back and released Bucky's hands. Bucky sat up but when Steve moved to get out of his lap he stopped him with a metal arm wrapped firmly around his waist.
"As I was saying before. I need your help," Bucky said as he regained some semblance of thought and reached out to the bag on the floor. He unzipped it with his free hand and pulled out a file before handing it to Steve.
Steve took it and shifted his position on Bucky's lap to have more space for reading. As soon as he opened the file he froze at the picture on the front and looked back at Bucky. His expression spoke volumes but Bucky's only response was to shake his head and nod at the file as if to say 'read it'. So, Steve did as he was directed. A half hour later, Steve laid the file on the coffee table next to the unloaded gun. His expression was thoughtful before he finally spoke, "How much of this did you know before finding that file?" He asked softly.
"About three years ago they introduced me to her and had me start training her. She was five at the time. They didn't realize that prolonged periods without wipes or cryo meant that I would start regaining memories even if I wasn't out of the facility. Six months after they started to have me train her, I tried to break us both out. I failed. They wiped my memory and that was the last of the contact I had with her. Steve, I can't leave her in Hydra's hands," Bucky's expression was tortured at best as he pulled Steve closer to hold tightly.
"I'm not going to hold it against you for wanting to save your own kid. Even if you didn't ask for her, she's still yours. Of course, I'll help. Do you think they will expect you to come for her?" Steve asked as he curled into the chest of the smaller man.
"They know I will remember her and come looking. I guarantee it… Steve… I don't know how to ask this but they will be expecting us. That means they will be armed to the teeth and I don't think they will want to give up on recapturing me without a nasty fight," Bucky looked in Steve's eyes, willing him to understand.
"I'll call the others. They will be willing to help. I doubt there is a single Avenger who would willingly leave a child in the hands of Hydra," Steve reassured Bucky before continuing. "With luck, we will be able to leave first thing in the morning."
Bucky nodded and loosened his grip on Steve, letting the blonde slip out of his hold. He then watched as Steve went over to the counter where his cell phone lay and pick it up. Steve tapped at it for a few seconds before holding it to his ear with his shoulder and started to put away to groceries that were still on the counter.
Bucky listened to Steve's half of the conversation as the taller man put away the food and talked on the phone. After a few minutes, Steve hung up and smiled at Bucky, "Alright, everyone will be at the Tower in an hour. We can go into detail there."
Bucky nodded and picked up his bag, shouldering it, "Let's go then."
Steve sighed but gave a small smile and grabbed his shield from the corner in the living room and two helmets from off a shelf. Bucky followed closely to Steve as the left the apartment. He led him down to the below building garage and to a motorcycle waiting there. Steve then handed Bucky one of the helmets and the shield, "I'll need you to hold this while I drive." Steve said slipping his own helmet onto his head and clipping it in place.
Bucky glared at the helmet for a moment before copying Steve and donning the protective gear. He then hooked the shield onto his back and looked at Steve expectantly. Bucky's bag was underneath the shield and a bit uncomfortable but he bore with it. Steve revved the engine of the motorcycle before taking off out of the underground parking lot beneath Steve's apartment building. Fortunately for them, at 10 pm, the traffic was lighter than the daytime and Steve was able to easily weave in and out through the cars still on the roads.
Within 15 minutes, they arrived at Stark Tower. Steve guided his bike around to the rear of the building and pressed a button on the panel on the front of his bike that caused a ramp in the small parking lot lower into the ground. He steered down the ramp and pulled in next to a line of vintage and modern motorcycles that had all been modified in some way by Tony. Bucky slid off the bike before Steve did so and eyed the others in the line.
"Think I can get one of those?" He asked as Steve settled the helmets on the bike and directed Bucky towards an elevator.
Steve chuckled as he hooked the key for the bike on a board with a bunch of different model numbers above each hook, "The vehicles in this garage are communal among the Avengers. Tony says it's simpler that way. Not sure how but I doubt he or the others will mind you sharing too."
"That sounds like it is way more complicated than your friend is implying," Bucky remarked as Steve put his hand on the scanner next to the elevator door and his hand was scanned.
"Not really. Only Nat and I really like using the bikes and we each have our preferences. I like the older models and she likes the more streamline ones," Steve shrugged as the door opened and he walked in with Bucky behind him.
"Good Evening, Captain Rogers. Mr. Stark informed me that you would be bringing a guest. Will he please place his hand on the scanner and state his name so that I can have his voice on record," The disembodied female voice made Bucky jump and look around, confused.
"That's just FRIDAY, she's Tony's AI… butler thing. Just do as she asks. It will be make life easier, I promise," Steve smiled and pointed to the scanner inside the elevator.
Bucky eyed it the scanner suspiciously but decided that if he was going to trust Steve then he was going to have to trust Steve's friends too. He slid his human hand on the scanner before uncertainly speaking, "My name is James Buchannan Barnes. Bucky for short."
"Thank you and welcome Sargent Barnes. Mr. Stark and Thor are currently the only others in residence at the moment. He told me to inform you that the others will be here within the half hour," FRIDAY made Bucky uncomfortable but the elevator started to go up and the numbers on the counter above the door steadily increased.
Finally, after they hit the 70s the elevator stopped and the door opened. Steve got off, Bucky following directly behind and the door shut. They had entered into what was clearly a living space, a huge TV hanging on the wall and several comfortable looking couches forming a wide U shape. Two men sat at a table in another area with what looked like the inside of a bar.
"Ah, Capsicle. And Capsicle's BFF. You're an interesting fellow Sargent Barnes, you know that?" Tony stated, smirking as he focused at the StarkPad in his hand. "There were even theories about the two of you. This is all very exciting."
"Tony…" Steve sighed as if there was no avoiding this behavior.
"So, what's up? You only said that your long-lost bestie was back and had a mission we needed to deal with pronto," Tony set the StarkPad down and poured out a glass of scotch.
"It's better if we wait until the others get here. No point in going over it more than once," Steve commented as he sat in one of the chairs near the table. "Did you order food? I didn't get to eat before Bucky showed up."
"Take-out should be here in 10-15 if they want a good tip," Tony stated. Steve rolled his eyes glancing at Thor and knowing that the amounts he and Thor ate meant that it would be a large quantity of food.
"Mr. Barton and Miss Romanoff have just landed in the QuinJet hanger, Miss Hill has just parked in the private garage, Mr. Maximoff, Miss Maximoff and Vision have reported their ETA at 5 minutes, and Mr. Wilson and Col. Rhodes have their current ETA at 10 minutes," FRIDAY announced before falling silent again.
Thor made small talk until Clint, Natasha and Maria Hill came out of the elevator a few moments later. FRIDAY made announcements again when the rest landed in the QuinJet hanger. When she did so, Bucky tossed the file on the table in the middle. Tony ordered FRIDAY to have the take-out guy paid by the secretary on the ground floor before spreading out the file and having her put the pages on the big screen in order.
Everyone moved over to the TV screen and everyone, the others having just come out of the elevator when the file went up, other than Steve and Bucky, began reading the information. Natasha didn't even get a minute into it before swearing up a storm in Russian. Bucky looked at her appreciatively and Steve realized he had probably learned the language while under Hydra's control. Clint wasn't far behind Nat in the swearing and the others soon followed, though all continued reading to the end.
"I'm not sure if I should begin at the obvious sexual assault on Barnes or the fact that they are essentially trying to turn a little girl into a weapon," Natasha was the first finish reading and walked over to the table now laden with food that had arrived while she was reading.
"How about we start with the fact that Steve's favorite person has a kid," Clint responded as he finished and followed her.
"Ok, I can see why this would be viewed as a potential security risk and need to be dealt with immediately. So long as she is in Hydra hands, she is a tool to use against Barnes, who is inarguably among the best assassins ever. And Barnes is a weapon against Steve," Hill added her two cents as well.
"Do we know where she is? Or at least an idea?" Tony asked as he and the rest also sat at the table and started serving out food amongst themselves.
Bucky nodded his head and grabbed his bag again. He rifled through it for a moment before pulling out another file, "There are several possibilities for locations but this base is the most likely. I've never been in it myself, so I'm not familiar with the lay out but it has all the requirements for security and the facilities to bring me back under their control. On that note, I can't go in with you because they have this series of words, triggers, that they can use to bring me back under their control, at least temporarily. That's why my escape attempt with Rebecca failed."
"Rebecca?" Clint questioned, the name hadn't been in the file, only a test subject number and code name 'Ice Princess'.
"It's the name I gave her. She looks like my younger sister, Rebecca, so I thought it would be fitting," Bucky shrugged and looked away. Steve slipped his hand on top of Bucky's getting more than a few raised eyebrows.
"It's a good name, Buck," Steve said quietly.
"I can fix that. Or at least I think I can. I could probably reach into your mind and remove the programming, but only if you like," Wanda offered. "You and I would likely need a bit of sleep after though, but we should all get rest before going into a Hydra base anyways so it probably wouldn't even cost us a lot of time."
"And how would you do that exactly?" Bucky looked at her with disbelief.
"With this," Wanda stated, making her hand glow red with her power.
"Ah…Um…" Bucky was extremely uncomfortable.
"Are you sure you can do it? Not that I don't trust you, but we don't want to accidently trip the triggers or make them worse," Steve's voice was calm and that helped focus Bucky, much to Natasha and Clint's amusement.
"Pretty sure. I know how Hydra does most of their brain washing so unless they did something completely different with him it should be no problem. Strucker had me do it a few times so that he could get information that wouldn't have been available under the brainwashing," Wanda stated firmly as well.
"Buck, its up to you but if Wanda says she can do it, she probably can," Steve was gentle, not pushing. Bucky looked at Steve with uncertainty and then the file the was on the TV screen with the picture of a little girl with brown wavy hair.
"I'll do it. I don't want to have to worry about this in the future. It is too much of a liability," Bucky nodded hesitantly.