Thank you so much to everyone who is reading. And thank you for those who have taken the time to review. I have appreciated all your kind words and it motivates me forward to write!

The Asset was covered his sweat and trembling in the restraints that held him fast to the table. His chest heaved as whatever he'd been injected with forced his body to come down from the brief adrenaline high of waking up in an unfamiliar place.

He was back with HYDRA.

It was the only explanation his jumbled mind could come up with. Waking up among white coats speaking about him, but not to him always meant HYDRA. He'd attempted to fight but leather straps holding him down and his own injuries betrayed him and the needle in his arm made the world spin and go fuzzy. Cold dread filled him.

He screwed his eyes shut, not willing to face what would happen next. It was amazing how much worse the routines HYDRA put him through seemed after the months he'd been free of them. He used to accept his fate with little resistance, there was never any point, but now after his brief taste of freedom he very nearly couldn't stand the thought of more retraining, wipes, cyro freeze, drugs and punishment. It would be worse for resisting, for all he'd done to HYDRA. Maybe this time they would just kill him. Decide that the resources wasted on him were sunk cost and they would be best served just to get rid of him.

While his eyes were shut activity buzzed around him and he found images floating through his mind. A blond man…Captain America…Steve crouched down in front of him with a look of concern, talking to him softly about…S.H.I.E.L.D.?. A helicopter ride and the world beginning to grey around the edges before finally going dark. Brow furrowed, S.H.I.E.L.D., not HYDRA? That was marginally better but not much. At least S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't make him kill for them. They would interrogate him, which probably meant torture. He steeled himself. He could handle torture. He had no qualms about telling them about HYDRA anyway so it didn't really matter. He had nothing to hide anymore.

The noises around him peaked into commotion and he opened his eyes to see what was happening. A man in a white coat to his right dropped to the ground like a sack of flour. He looked to the left in time to see another person collapse across his stomach knocking the wind out of him. She laid there until a hand grasped her shoulder and lowered her to the floor.

The Soldier found himself looking into the cold face of middle aged brunette. She lifted her hand and the sharp blade of a small knife brushed almost imperceptibly across his neck.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for this." Her voice was soft and low, but sounded almost happy. He didn't answer, just met her gaze unwaveringly. "I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. to hunt down monsters like you." She continued. "I never dreamed I'd get the chance to be face to face with the man who killed my brother."

He attempted to struggle but knew it was useless when the restraints didn't give at all and the sedative was still flowing through his blood. He wasn't even sure why he was fighting. Wasn't this what he wanted, to be done, finished. He'd thought about killing himself; why not let someone else finish the job?

A thumb dug into his shoulder injury and he moaned before he could stop himself.

"When we started looking for you, I threw all my efforts into it and I've been rewarded quicker than I would have thought."

His shoulder throbbed where her thumb was still pressing.

"My only fear was that we wouldn't be able to take you alive and I'd never get to tell you what you did to my family. How you hurt us. I wouldn't get to make you suffer like you did us. Brian Greyson, you remember him? You cut his throat and left him to die. That's what I'm going to do to you." The knife which she had been running back and forth across the ridge of his throat, ceased its movement and settled against his windpipe, digging in slightly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The agent's head whipped toward the door and shrunk back slightly at the sight of Steve filling the doorway. She fidgeted nervously glancing between Bucky and Steve.

"How can you defend him?!" She finally spat, her voice trembling slightly. "You know what he's done. This can't go on."

"It's over Agent Greyson." Agent Hill stepped beside Steve. "He's in custody. He won't hurt anyone else, but you need to put the knife down."

"We know he's going to be given lenience because he's Captain America's friend. It's not fair and I'm not the only one who thinks so." She said defiantly. "I'm not the only one who wanted to do this."

"And yet you had to incapacitate two of your teammate here and one outside to do what you claim all of you wanted." Maria countered.

"They're not dead." Greyson said defensively. "I only knocked them out."

"We'll deal with that separately. Right not you haven't done anything terrible. Put the knife down before you do." Maria coaxed.

"HYDRA gutted us." Greyson's voice trembled. "They are the greatest evil we've ever fought and he's their weapon."

"He's a person." Steve snapped taking a step forward.

She flinched back and dug the knife deeper. Bucky's eye twitched and his lips tighten in a thin line. Steve froze.

"He killed my brother." She said quietly. "He ruined people's lives, I have to do this."

Steve's eyes were on Bucky. He didn't want him to get hurt further but he almost willed him to move. He needed just a small distraction. The distance was short, he was sure he could close it if he could only get her attention off him for a moment. Almost as if Bucky had read his mind, or maybe was just not ready to give up yet, his metal arm moved against the restraints. The woman's eyes jumped over to him. Steve took his opportunity and began to move. She shrieked as he hit her, taking her to the ground.

Maria and Sam moved in to help and it was only seconds before she was no longer a threat.

"Get some other medical personnel in here." Maria ordered to some agents over her shoulder. "And take her to a holding cell."

As soon as he was sure she couldn't do further damage, Steve had moved quickly to Bucky's side. The knife had slice deeper into his neck as he's pulled the woman away and was now bleeding freely. He snatched some gauze from the side table and pressed it to Bucky's neck.

"You with me, Buck?" Steve asked worriedly leaning over into his line of sight.

Bucky's eyes slowly slide over to his, but he didn't answer.

"It's ok now, she's gone." Steve comforted gently. Not that Bucky seemed to need gentleness or comforting. His eyes had stayed disturbingly blank during the whole ordeal. After briefly holding Steve's gaze they slid back away.

"You should have let her kill me." The quietly spoken words shocked Steve.

"What? Why?"

"She was right. S.H.I.E.L.D. is at war with HYDRA." He said flatly. "In war you kill your enemy."

Steve felt his nostrils flare in the now familiar protectiveness he experienced when he had to defend Bucky to someone. Apparently even Bucky himself.

"You're not HYDRA, Bucky, and you're not the enemy." Steve said tightly.

His old friend snorted.

"You didn't kill me when you had the chance." Steve argued. "You could have and you didn't." He almost smiled as he remembered how Bucky used to talk about how stubborn he was and too stupid to walk away from a fight.

Bucky's eyes flickered for a moment but stayed staring up and nowhere else.

"You're not the enemy either." He said so softly Steve almost didn't hear. Steve's chest constricted. He pressed the gauze more tightly and squeezed Bucky's arm. As Steve studied him he noted how he trembled slightly. He didn't know if it was from fear or cold. His skin was clammy and the dark circles under his eyes were starting to look like bruises. Steve didn't want to think about how difficult the last few months…or the many years before that had been on Bucky.

He tried to think of something else to say to comfort his friend, but honestly Bucky seemed to be taking everything better than Steve himself and without any reaction it was difficult to know what his friend needed.

Someone moved at his side and he tensed.

"Can I have that, Captain Rogers?" A young nurse smiled and gently took the gauze from his hand. He reluctantly released it but didn't step back until more medical personnel came in and he needed to give up his space so they could work. He moved to a corner and was humbled when Bucky's eyes sought him out as if to check where he was before they returned to his familiar spot on the ceiling.

I have to say Bucky's voice is really hard for me to get down. I hope it is acceptable. I doubt it will be next chapter but hopefully the next one after that will have lots of Bucky and Steve. Thanks again for reading.