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 slow build 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.

Chapter 24: Ross

Bucky's mind cleared slowly. As the fog lifted, he quickly realized that he didn't like where he was in the slightest. He tried to fight against the metal bonds on his wrists and chest before he even fully cleared his mind. After a few minutes of this, he realized that he was in a chair that was Hydra in design. He also realized that Natasha was in the room with him. She, unlike him, was slumped over and cuffed to a sturdy metal bar.

"Nat. Nat! Wake up!" Bucky had started in English but switched to Russian as he realized that there were cameras in the room and trained on them.

Natasha began to stir when Bucky spoke and he felt a flood of relief at the fact that she was waking. He waited until she seemed to be conscious before speaking again, "Fucking bastards. This is the chair for the mind wipes. I don't know how it will affect my mind." He was pissed and willing to show it.

"Eir said that it wasn't possible for that to work on you anymore. She said the serum makes you adapt to any new threat to your wellbeing right? You have had decades to adapt. Those files Daisy gave us showed that they had to keep updating the damn machines because they lost effectiveness quickly. I doubt Ross knows that," Natasha tried to reassure him while examining the cuffs around her wrists.

She then shifted enough to slip one hand under her shirt. She cursed in several languages as she pulled her hand out and then growled out to Bucky, "Fucking bastards! They stole my lock picks! They also violated my privacy. I will kill them!"

Bucky's face turned abruptly blank at the implied fact that someone had to have reached into his eldest daughter's bra to retrieve the picks and in the process very likely had no respect for her and possibly fondled her chest as well. For the first time since he had fully regained his mind, Bucky Barnes felt a cold rage flood through his system. He was quite fond of his children and had an iron respect for any boundaries a woman set. The idea that someone had violated those boundaries of his own daughter was nothing less than a death sentence if he ever learnt exactly who it was. He was an army sniper before he was a Hydra assassin and he felt no issue with taking a life for the right reasons. Whoever their captors were would rue the day they ever even thought that taking him and his daughter prisoner.

As he was thinking these thoughts a man in a suit entered and only glanced at Natasha before going over, almost gleefully, to Bucky, "Sargent Barnes. Let me just say that it is an absolute pleasure to have you here. I must say, I was a bit of a fan of your work in WWII. Your served our country proudly. I hope that you are willing to do so again."

Bucky glared death at the man and had he been unrestrained, he doubted there was anything that would have kept him from snapping the neck of the man before him with his metal hand. The man noticed the rage and took a few careful steps back, "I see. It is unfortunate that you are unwilling to do this. If you had been than we could have skipped the who need for implementing the work Hydra did on your brain. Just one question before I have the techs start though. You see some of the techs decided to take some samples while you and Ms. Romanoff were unconscious. One of the tests they did was a DNA test, to see if the serum that was used on you altered your fundamental makeup. There were also the long standing rumors that Ms. Romanoff had a variation of the serum as well so they decided to test her too. It is most remarkable what they found. Did you know she was your daughter or are you just as surprised as we were?"

Ross was absolutely gleeful as he looked between the two and saw that they both had made a concentrated effort to conceal all emotions from their face, "You DID, DIDN'T you?! So you can actually pass on the serum from parent to child. This is fantastic. You two have been out of it for a day now so we had plenty of time to run tests and the serums in both of you are an exact match as far as my people can tell." Ross was now beyond excited.

"Tell me, did they have you train her? Was that part of the Red Room? How many others are there? I need to know. If it has worked successfully before than we can start our own breeding program. Sure, it will take 18 years minimum to start reaping the benefits but between you two and Rogers we will have a lot to work with. Begin the wiping process," Ross switched to someone else who had shown up.

Bucky looked over at Natasha and stated heatedly, "Don't watch, dear one. Whatever you do don't watch. I will fight it, I swear!"

Natasha nodded and looked away as one of the techs that had entered forced a mouth guard into his mouth. Bucky felt the rage in himself building just before the machine was activated. The current of electricity running through him slowly built in both intensity and pain. The machine was designed to target and disrupt the memory center of his brain. He knew exactly what to do and focused on all the important things to him. This would make it much harder to eliminate them for some reason, Bucky never understood why, but it was why Hydra never truly won their battle to control him, no matter their efforts. Now, it was almost effortless, even as his body was warped with pain and a scream tore from his throat. He ignored the actions of his body, focusing solely on preserving his mind.

There was no way for him to know exactly how long they had implemented the machine but he felt it the second the machine powered down. He was careful to maintain a blank face even as he regained his breath from screaming so hard. In the end, Natasha had been unable to resist watching her father's torture. His screams had penetrated her in a way that nothing had before and tears were silently streaming down her face. Her horror only got worse when she realized that Ross was holding a blood red book with a black star on it. It was the book the Zemo had that held all the information on how to activate Bucky's brainwashing.

Ross handed the book to one of the techs who read out the Russian words while circling Bucky much as Zemo had. Bucky went rigid and Natasha felt the blood drain from her face as the cold terror that Ross's plan may actually work ran through her. When the tech finished Bucky was absolutely still. His expression blank and his eyes held nothing.

"Papa! Papa! Listen to me! You have to fight it! Fight the programming! Please! Do it for ME!" Natasha suddenly screamed at him in Russian, not caring if they exposed her relationship to Bucky since Ross clearly already knew. The Soldier didn't even flinch at her words and she felt for the first time a reason of why allowing herself was wrong.

The Avengers plus Daisy, May and a large man who went by the name of Mack all flooded out of the QuinJet less than a hundred yards from a facility as soon as it landed. Unsurprisingly, a flood of men in tactical gear came flooding out and started to fire at them. This didn't last long as, as soon as Daisy raised her hand the bullets lost all momentum and fell to the ground. A second shock wave sent the opposing men flying back and crashing into either the surrounding buildings, vehicles, of the ground.

This resulted in incapacitating a large number of the enemy and the group quickly rushed the buildings, each splitting up into smaller groups. Bruce remained on the QuinJet, being kept in reserve. It had taken quite a deal of effort on Coulson and Daisy's part to convince him it would be to everyone's benefit if the big guy wasn't used unless necessary since they really did want to keep Ross and his people alive for questioning.

Ross smirked as the alarms for the building security activated. Natasha felt dread pool in her stomach at the idea of her friends walking to what was clearly a trap. Ross approached the now completely ridged but unresisting Soldier and pressed a button that released the bars shackling him to the chair, "Looks like we finished just in time. Good day, Soldier. Your orders are to capture Captain Rogers alive. It is fine if he is injured but nothing fatal. As for the rest, attempt to capture the twins, all the others are expendable."

The Soldier stood from the chair and nodded as he took the gun he was handed by Ross. In a flash, his posture changed and he fired at all of the techs, mostly just to disable them before tossing the gun to the side and lifting Ross with his metal hand, "Sorry. I don't take orders from anyone these days. Except maybe Captain America and my kids." Bucky was smirking as he slammed Ross into the wall, knocking the man out.

Natasha felt a flood of relief as Bucky went and snapped the chain between the handcuffs, "You really should have more faith in your own reassurances." Bucky gave his daughter a wide grin as she hugged him. That grin faded quickly as a shot sounded and pain pierced through his side.

Bucky put a hand on the point of his pain and pulled it away to reveal it covered in blood. Natasha's horror showed once more as Bucky turned to see the partially upright Ross holding a gun in his hand. In an instant, Natasha was on the man, pinning and disarming him. She pistol whipped the man, ensuring that he was unconscious for good this time before lifting him and setting him in the Chair. Bucky, who was clutching his side and was close to the button Ross hit earlier, hit to button and smiled weakly as he wrist and chest restraints snapped back into place over the man.

"Want to help me here?" Bucky asked as he attempted to yank a lab coat off one of the dead tech to secure his wound.

Natasha quickly did just that before removing another and using it to secure to first coat as padding against the entrance and exit wounds. She was fortunate that the bullet had gone into the wall rather than her when Bucky was shot, "Shit, how are we supposed to get out of here if you're hurt?" Natasha asked more to herself than anything else.

Daisy swore as another barrier dropped. This was the fourth one and it was quickly becoming extremely annoying. May and Mack groaned as well. Daisy held up her hand again and focuses a resonating blast at the barrier, careful to not bring the rest of the walls down around their ears. They knew that the other groups in the other two building were having similar problems. Fortunately, Tony's repulsors and Thor's Hammer were just as effective against the obstructions. Once the barrier was out of the way, they proceeded forward, fighting the enemy men in hand to hand rather than risk Daisy compromising the integrity of the build with her vibrations more than necessary. The close combat made the use of Daisy's powers impractical and potentially dangerous.

They had already cleared most of the rooms in the building on the ground floor. The schematics of the structure had shown that the buildings were connected underground though so that was where they were going next. Tony's team let out another set of curses through the coms over a barrier in their building as well. Steve commented in irritation, "I am starting to think they are trying to piss us off. Ground floor of my building is clear."

"We're clear over here too. We are going down. Stark, how close is your team to clearing this floor?" Daisy responded before questioning the final group.

"Almost there. Only a few guys left," Tony stated as the other two groups headed down the stairs that they had found earlier.

May found a mechanism meant to seal the door once they had passed through and as a result Mack was able to disable it before it could be activated. Steve swore up a storm when the door to their stairwell sealed them in and had Thor destroy the barrier. Tony made a comment about language that brought forth a few chuckles from the older Avengers.

When Stark cleared the ground floor of his building he had Wanda break the device with her magic before leading his group down their stairs as well. The first basement level was much simpler than the first floors, being less maze like. The groups actually met up fairly quickly and cleared the floor with ease. The second Basement level was much less pleasant. Not in the sense of difficulty but rather what was found there. There were a lot of people being held, locked in various cells. Most looked to be terrified. May, Mack and Clint got them cleared out and to a second QuinJet that Coulson had followed them in. There were a few people strapped to tables and a crypt filled with bodies of what looked like failed experiments. It was at this point they all realized that Ross was beyond a little obsessive about recreating the Serum, he was completely deranged.

It was the third basement level that they found Natasha and Bucky on. At this point Bucky was in rough shape, a bullet through his side and just a couple of lab coats to slow the bleeding. Wanda and Pietro looked like they were ready to kill Ross at this point which prompted Daisy and Tony to order them, Natasha and Steve to get Bucky to the surface and to Bruce to see if he could help the seriously injured man. Daisy and Clint secured Ross, none to gently and dragged the now conscious and enraged man up and out of the building. Ross had to be secured in Coulson's QuinJet to keep him separate from the rest of the Avengers.