Chapter 2: Countdown

Neither Bucky nor Steve was walking normally the next morning as they boarded the quinjet, a fact that most of the team noticed but very few pointed out besides a few suggestive eyebrow waggles and teasing winks (almost the entirety of both these gestures came from Tony and Clint, repeatedly). Everyone was suited up in their various uniforms, armed to the teeth, and surprisingly lighthearted for a group of people about to fight a bunch of Nazi-wannabe's with a device that could suck them into an unknown abyss indefinitely. They all sat down and strapped in for take-off, Steve on Bucky's right and Clint, rather unfortunately it turned out, on Bucky's left.

"Nice hickey," Clint chuckled, leaning over in a gesture that suggested he only meant Bucky to hear, though the actual volume of his stage-whisper suggested otherwise.

Bucky blushed as he glanced around to see who else had heard, accidentally catching Wanda's eye as she raised an eyebrow, laughing softly.

"Barton, I will shove every single one of the arrows in your quiver directly up your ass," Bucky threatened.

"Careful, some of those are explosive. My ass is much too pretty to be blown up."

"Barton, I swear to God..."

But Bucky couldn't help laughing (partially because it was kinda true).

The flight to Poland was uneventful, and eventually they had landed in the forest about a half mile from the Hydra base. Bruce was to stay in the jet at his own request, functioning as the getaway driver and, if necessary, emergency backup. All the rest prepped their comms and stepped outside into the trees. A light drizzle was pattering on the leaves above, sending the occasional cold drip down onto their heads. As the base came into view, they fanned out as planned, splitting into pairs. Bucky was with Steve of course, and they silently crept to the back cellar door. There was a single man standing guard, and Bucky slipped up behind him, knife in hand. He could tell Steve was watching behind him in exasperation; this wasn't part of the plan. Bucky was just supposed to knock the man out, but last time that had been the plan, the guy had woken up too soon and alerted his colleagues of intruders and nearly gotten half the team killed. Bucky wasn't about to take that chance again, so he clapped one hand over the guard's mouth and drew the knife across his throat with the other. There was a spurt of sickeningly red blood, and Bucky quietly lowered the man to the floor.

"What the hell?" Steve mouthed as he rejoined Bucky next to the quickly-expanding pool of blood.

Bucky just shrugged and turned to the door. It was miraculously unlocked, which struck him as suspicious and he indicated this worry with a frown at Steve. They slipped inside and closed the door behind them. The room beyond was surprisingly well-lit, another suspicious thing, and seemed to be some sort of lab. It was also deserted.

"We're in," Steve hissed into the comm.

"Whatever happened to filling your cellar with jam jars and cardboard boxes?" Bucky commented.

They began searching the room. The images from Tony and Rhodey's scan had indicated that the Vortex device would be in here, but it was highly possible that they had moved it. Sitting on a table at one end of the room was a very secure-looking box. This seemed promising. Bucky inspected the box and to his surprise, found it unlocked. The number of suspicious things about this room was quickly increasing. Bucky opened the box. Inside was a relatively small, round device with a serial number printed across the top.

"Ha! Found it!" he said.

"Good work, Barnes, now grab it and go and for God's sake, be careful," Rhodey's voice replied over the comm.

His metal left hand still holding the bloody knife, he reached into the box with his right to pick up the device. Almost the moment his flesh touched the smooth metal, the lights in the lab switched to red and a steady beeping began to cry out from the device. Bucky looked down at it and saw that numbers were now projected on its surface. Counting down. Fifteen seconds. Fourteen. Thirteen.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Steve, we've gotta get outta here, we gotta get out right now!"

Bucky dropped the device and it rolled, beeping fatefully as it went. He ran for the door, grabbing Steve's arm, but the minute he slammed himself into it he knew something was wrong. The door was locked. The beeping was getting louder. If the counting in Bucky's head was right, there had to be about eight seconds left. Still dragging Steve, he dashed to the other door that led into the rest of the base but this one was locked too. The whole room was on lockdown. They were trapped.

"Guys, the device is going off and we're stuck, we'll try to hold ourselves down but if we can't..." Bucky spewed into the comm.

But before he could finish, an explosion shook the room and a swirling vortex opened above where the device had landed. Dropping his knife, Bucky snatched the railing from the stairs behind him with his metal hand and grabbed both of Steve's hands in the other, just in time. He dug his heels into the ground, hoping this would be enough to keep the both of them from flying into oblivion. Everything in the room was swirling chaotically through the air, being sucked into the vortex, and Steve was just barely able to keep his footing.

"I've gotcha, Stevie, just hold on," Bucky shouted over the roaring wind.

"Bucky, look out!" Steve cried.

Bucky turned just in time to duck as half a cabinet soared over his head. When he looked up, Steve's feet had lifted off the ground. Bucky's heart leapt into his throat and began beating a frantic rhythm against his adam's apple. He felt like his arm might pop from its socket with the strain of holding onto Steve and his hand was beginning to sweat. Steve's hand slipped a fraction of an inch and Bucky let out an involuntary shout.

"Bucky!" Steve said, sounding more terrified than Bucky had ever heard, and that scared him even more.

"I've got you!" cried Bucky desperately.

But he didn't. He knew he didn't. Even as the words left his mouth, he felt Steve slip from his own sweaty palm. It was almost in slow motion – one minute their hands were locked, fingers wrapped around wrists, then their palms touched in a white-knuckled handshake, then their fingertips scrabbled frantically to regain some sort of contact, anything, then just desperate reaching as Steve was yanked into the gravity of the vortex.

"NO!" Bucky screamed, watching Steve disappear among the debris of the room.

Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Anything still left in the air when the device shut down fell with a clang to the ground. Bucky collapsed, still clutching the railing like a lifeline, tears already running down his face as sobs began to wrack his body. The cellar door burst open and Tony, Natasha, and Pietro rushed in. They took in the devastation of the room, then spotted Bucky, more devastated than all the surrounding destruction. Suddenly, Natasha was at his side.

"Bucky. Bucky, look at me. What happened?"

"Steve... I... it... he... he's gone," Bucky managed.

Breathing was proving difficult and he wasn't sure if it was because he was crying or because subconsciously his body knew he didn't want to be breathing if Steve wasn't.

"Why did the Vortex go off?" Natasha questioned.

"I... picked it up..."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Pietro bending down, reaching toward that hellish device.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" he shouted, far too loud, far too desperate.

Pietro froze, his eyes widened in surprise at Bucky's outburst, then slowly straightened back up.

"I'm sorry... I didn't... I... Pietro... so...sorry..." Somehow startling Pietro like that had broken him even more, but he also seemed incapable of forming a coherent sentence unless he was shouting.

"Bucky, what happened?" Natasha said, her tone much more gentle than Bucky was used to.

"Touch... I think... it... activated... when touched..."

"It activates when touched?" Natasha said, clarifying.

Bucky nodded. "Box... there's a box... prob'ly gone now..."

He saw Tony and Pietro scanning the wreckage, then Tony leaned down.

"Got it," he declared. "I bet this thing is built to be immune to the device somehow, or else something this small should've been sucked up immediately."

He picked up the box and went back to where the device was lying, looking so innocent and unassuming among the destruction. Tony scooped it up and shut the box.

"We should leave," Pietro said. "Hydra is sure to know we're here."

"The kid's right, we need to haul ass. We've got what we came for," Tony agreed.

"Come on, Bucky," said Natasha, grabbing his arm and pulling him to his feet with a surprising amount of strength. "Keep it together 'til we're safe on the quinjet."

Bucky didn't think that would be possible and the others' distinct lack of reaction to Steve's fate was infuriating, but he followed the others out. Wanda and Sam were standing guard outside.

"Where's Steve?" Sam asked immediately.

Tony held up the little box in answer. A look of shock flashed across Sam's face but he quickly shoved it down and led the way back to the quinjet. The rest of the team was already aboard by the time they got there.

"Start the jet," Tony said, hitting the button to shut the ramp door.

"Wait, where's Cap?" Bruce asked.

"In the box, just start the damn jet," Tony snapped. He looked immediately guilty. "Sorry..."

"Don't mention it," said Bruce, starting the jet and getting them in the air. He set the course and turned on autopilot. "So what happened?"

Natasha, Tony, and Pietro all glanced at Bucky then at each other before Natasha took up the story.

"Steve and Bucky found the device, but when Bucky went to pick it up it turned on and... it took Steve."

"Fuck..." gasped Clint.

Bucky felt the tears start anew and curled his knees up to his chest, burying his face in his arms. He could hear the others still talking in hushed, horrified voices but wasn't listening to what they were saying. Suddenly he felt a strong but gentle hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Thor sitting on the floor beside him.

"Are you alright?" he asked, somehow managing to still sound regal as hell even as his voice cracked from emotion.

"No," Bucky squeaked, sounding far from regal.

Then suddenly Thor's arm was around his shoulders and Bucky was crying into the chest of the goddamn god of thunder as the quinjet soared silently over the Atlantic.