Standing at her window, Evelyn peered down onto the street as Bucky left her alone. Pressing her forehead to the glass, she held onto the sill and watched him disappear from sight. Shaking her head, she tried to pull herself together. She knew that he would be fine. He was a super soldier. He was stronger than anyone else, except for maybe Thor but she doubted he was the enemy.

Closing her curtains, Evelyn moved into her bedroom and changed from her jeans and t-shirt. She pulled on some loose grey sweatpants and a baggy jumper. Pulling her hair into a ponytail, she grabbed her laptop from where it sat on top of her drawers and wandered back into the kitchen. She opened the lid to it and waited for her friends to join the call. Moving around the space, she realised that she had to do something to keep her mind busy. She opened her cookbook to the pudding section and looked for a recipe. She had the ingredients for a basic cake. She set about grabbing the flour, eggs, butter and milk. She found chocolate in her cupboards and realised she had everything to make some butter icing too.

As she began pouring things out, Lisa joined the call and she looked to her.

"Hey!" Evelyn called out, cracking some eggs.

"Hey," Lisa said. "How are things going? What's it like in D.C.?" she asked and Evelyn saw that she was still wearing a white shirt and blazer. She looked poised and was sat at her desk, a large glass of white wine next to her and her hair pushed back from her face with a clip.

"Things are fine," Evelyn said to her. "D.C. is good. It is pretty cold though. I'm looking forward to spring finally getting here."

"You and me both," Lisa said. "I thought that London was cold, but honestly it is mild compared to the winters that we have. My secondment ends out here in May so I should be flying back home."

"Should be?" Evelyn asked her, beating the eggs in her bowl.

"Well, I've been thinking," Lisa admitted. "I kind of like working out here and I don't know whether or not I should ask to extend my contract."

"Why not?" Evelyn asked from her. "If you enjoy it then you should stay. You have to do whatever you want to do. I mean, we will miss you, of course. We miss you so much already."

Lisa sipped on her wine. "I miss you too," she said to her in a soft tone. "It was only us for those five years and we went through a lot. You were the only one who got me through that blip. You and copious amounts of wine."

Evelyn's lips arched and she placed the eggs down and leant against the worktop, looking at the screen. "I know," she said to her. "But you need to be happy, Lisa."

"I have some time to decide," she replied with a shrug, trying not to look too torn up over her decision. "Anyway, where is Maria?"

"I don't know," Evelyn responded, reaching for the glass of water she had poured herself. She sipped on it slowly and folded her arms while leaning against the worktop. "She has probably been held up at work."

"Probably," Lisa said. "So how is work anyway? You still at the Air and Space Museum?"

"Work is good," Evelyn said to her with a nod. She didn't want to tell her what was going on, not yet and not like this. This was supposed to be a happy chat. Besides, Evelyn didn't know what was going to happen or what Bucky was going to find out. "We have a new exhibit launching in a few weeks."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" a new voice entered the chat and Evelyn smiled.

"Maria, you need to turn the webcam on."

"Just a minute," Maria said before her face appeared and she leant back against the headboard of her bed. She held her iPad in her hands and was sighing lowly, her cheeks red and her hair slightly mussed up. "Hey!" she beamed at them then. "Did I miss anything? Sorry I was late. This baby is playing with my bladder, I swear."

Evelyn smiled at that and Lisa's own lips arched as she drank more of her wine.

"Nothing much," Evelyn said and began to make the cake batter again, pouring in the eggs to the mixing bowl and beating them with the flour. "How is the pregnancy going anyway? It can't be long now before the little one's expected."

"It's not," Maria confirmed, "but Daniel is fretting all of the time. He has the quickest route to the hospital planned out and has already installed safety gates everywhere in the house. I swear that he is more nervous than me."

"Have you started your maternity leave yet?" Lisa wondered.

"Next week," Maria said. "I wanted to start as late as possible. Things have been busy in the firm. We have new clients and there were some campaigns I was working on that I wanted to finish before I left."

"I saw that ad of yours in a bus stop on the way to work," Evelyn commented. "The one for the new perfume."

"That one took ages," Maria complained, balancing her iPad on her stomach and reaching for her mug of tea. "So anyway, what's new? I swear that we haven't caught up in ages. I'm in desperate need of something exciting to have happened. Being pregnant has completely ruined my socialising and any excitement I used to have."

"I can imagine," Lisa said as Evelyn added some more flour to the mixture, seeing that it was too runny. "But I have nothing exciting to share. I go to work and I'm lucky if I'm out the office by nine. It's quite boring."

"You need to finish earlier," Maria responded. "Both of you do. Please tell me you aren't working all hours at the museum, Evie?"

Evelyn bit down on her tongue and shook her head. She could tell them about Bucky. Surely he wouldn't mind? Besides, she could always swear them to secrecy. Looking down the camera for a minute, she placed the mixing bowl down as Lisa leant forwards.

"That look tells me that something has happened," she said. "Spill, Evie."

"I met someone," Evelyn said and both of them shrieked. She only hoped they would still be as happy for her when she told them who it was.

"Who is he?" Lisa asked her.

"Do you have a photo?"

"It's early and we haven't even been on a proper date," Evelyn said to them. "We've been out together and hung out…I mean, we've spent the past week together and I know that is too soon to know how I feel, but when I'm with him everything feels right. I can talk to him and be around him without feeling uncomfortable, but he still…he makes my stomach flip when he's close. I feel like a stupid teenager."

"No, no, that's sweet," Maria said to her. "You know when I met Daniel we practically moved in together two weeks after our first date. I was always at his place."

"Because he couldn't shake her," Lisa joked.

"Ha, ha," Maria said dryly, wrinkling her nose. "So how did you meet him? Because we tried to get you internet dating and you hated it."

"I met him at the museum," Evelyn said. "He was visiting the exhibit…he came every day for a few weeks and eventually we started talking. We went out and things have gone from there. I thought that we only were going to be friends, but we kind of admitted that that might be difficult."

"Because you want to jump his bones?" Lisa asked crassly.

Evelyn frowned. Lisa laughed.

"You're such a prude," she commented.

"I think it's sweet," Maria said. "He came there every day just to see you and talk to you eventually?"

"Not quite," Evelyn admitted.

"Then why was he there?"

"I…I am about to tell you something and I need you to promise that you won't tell anyone else," she warned them. "And I need you to promise not to freak out on me because it is weird and I know that you're going to worry."

"Now you're scaring us." Lisa warned her, putting her wine down.

"He's called James…James Buchanan Barnes."

It took them a few seconds to piece things together. Maria was the first one to talk, her voice high pitched and full of angst as she spoke, putting her mug down and grabbing the iPad, bringing it closer to her face.

"The Winter Soldier?" she demanded from her. "Evelyn, are you kidding me?"

"No," Evelyn responded, "but he isn't that man, okay? He's not the Winter Soldier. Bucky is a good man. He is kind and sweet."

"He was a hitman!" Lisa exclaimed.

"He'd had his memory wiped," Evelyn defended him. "You know that he was used by HYDRA. That wasn't Bucky. The man I know is Bucky and he would do nothing to hurt anyone. He's changed. I mean, he was pardoned by the President for goodness sake!"

"How can you be sure?" Maria fretted. "How can you be sure that he has changed? That he won't snap and do something to hurt you?"

"Because he wouldn't," Evelyn said, feeling herself getting het up with the entire situation. "I don't want to argue, but Bucky isn't that man. Just trust me."

"You can see why we'd be hesitant, Evie," Lisa warned her.

"I get that, but I need you to trust me that Bucky is a good man and I like him," Evelyn said. "He's been there for me over the past week…because things haven't been great…things have been shit," Evelyn admitted and felt herself grow emotional as she looked at the clock on her laptop. It had gone eight. Bucky would be there by now.

"Evie," Maria said, her concern showing in her voice. "What is it? What's happened?"

"It's been work," Evelyn said, preparing to tell them everything despite her earlier reluctance.

But before she could say anymore she heard a knock on the door. It couldn't be him already, could it?

"Just give me a minute," Evelyn said and she moved forwards to the door.

She hoped that it was Bucky. She looked through the peephole and instantly froze. There was a man stood there wearing a balaclava, looking straight at her through the peephole. Evelyn placed a hand over her mouth, fearing the worst as she heard her friends ask her if she was alright. She looked around her apartment for anything that she could use as a weapon.

She moved to the camera and dropped down instantly, looking at the laptop. "Call the police," she demanded from her friends.

"Evelyn? What the hell?"

"Evie!"

Evelyn grabbed a knife from her drawer and dashed into her bathroom. She switched the light to the bedroom on first before closing the door to her bathroom, hoping to distract him. She stood behind the door, her arm raised and the knife shaking in her hands. She tried not to shriek in fear, placing a hand over her mouth to stop her from making noise. She could still hear Maria and Lisa outside. It was then when she heard footsteps in the apartment. She waited patiently, seeing the light from under the door suddenly disappear. He was outside, ignoring her bedroom. Slowly, he pushed the door open and Evelyn made her move.

Jumping from behind the door, she moved the knife through the air, letting it make contact with his shoulder. He screamed in pain as she pulled it out and stabbed him again.

"Bitch!" he yelled loudly.

She watched him move a hand to his shoulder as blood trickled down his shirt and she took that moment to push him out of the way and she dashed for the door. She kept the knife in her hand as she ran for the front door, knowing she had to get out. But he was quick.

"Not so fast," he hissed.

He reached out and grabbed her by the arm, hauling her back to him as she kicked and screamed. She clawed at him as he tried to subdue her, knocking over everything in her kitchen and breaking her bowl, flour going everywhere and pushing a barstool over. He continued grabbing at her, wrestling her back to the living room and pinning her down onto her sofa. She continued pushing at him, seeing a black bag on the floor next to him.

"Evelyn!" her friends yelled.

But Evelyn knew that she had to do something useful. She continued yelling, knowing that Bucky would come and find her. She had to give him something because there was no chance she was overpowering him. He reached out to grab something from his bag and Evelyn took her chance to pull the balaclava from his head.

"Blond cropped hair…green eyes…" Evelyn shouted out. "A beard…"

"What the hell are you doing?" the man demanded from her, looking her straight in the eye.

She continued pushing at him, pulling down the zipper to his jacket. "Mardox Science Division," she yelled out. "English…I think…"

"You clever little bitch," he said, finally catching on and placing a hand over her mouth to stop her from shouting. He grabbed the cloth from his bag, pressing it to her face as she continued fighting against him. She tried not to inhale, but it was impossible when it was right up against her nose. She felt herself grow woozy, her eyes closing as he grabbed her wrists and something tied them together. He waited until she was completely out of it before standing up. He tossed her over his shoulder and picked up his bag. Carrying her to the door, he kept his back to her friends as they yelled threats at him and he fled into the darkness, knowing that his boss wouldn't be too happy that she had identified his place of work.

….

Sam hadn't expected to hear from Bucky. He had called him a number of times, but he hadn't picked up. He remembered what Steve had asked from him. He had asked him to check in on Bucky, but he could only do that if Bucky actually answered his calls. Sam had been busy on missions, helping out where and when he could. It kept him busy and he couldn't think of going back to a normal life. He had Steve's shield in his wardrobe, unsure of what he should do with it yet. No one knew he had it except for Bucky and he was keeping it that way as he let his thoughts gather.

But then, when he had been visiting New York, he finally got a call from Bucky. But instead of berating him for constantly hounding him, he had been fretting. He had been scared and Sam didn't know scared Bucky. Bucky was always so self-assured. He was broody and could be argumentative but he was never scared.

He had told Sam to come to D.C. as soon as possible. Sam had agreed, getting a flight out of New York and landing in D.C. just a few hours later. Bucky had given him the address to an apartment. He had buzzed up and Bucky had let him in, not bothering to speak over the intercom. Sam came to the apartment and saw that the door was ajar. He instantly feared the worst, holding his big tightly in his grip and reaching for his gun. He stepped forward and pushed the door open slowly, but as he opened it he saw Bucky sat on the floor in the middle of his living room, surrounded by papers and a laptop.

"Buck," Sam said, putting his gun away. "What the hell is going?"

"Close the door," Bucky demanded.

Sam did as requested, shutting the door and dropping his bag onto the floor. "Door shut," Sam confirmed, "now what the hell is going on? And why is this place empty?"

"I don't have time to explain everything, but I need your help. Do you still work missions or not?"

"You would know that if you answered my calls-"

"-Just answer the question," Bucky snapped, interrupting him. "I don't have time for this. She's been gone for eight hours and I need your access clearance to find out where she could be."

"Who?" Sam asked from him.

"Evelyn," Bucky said her name, looking at the video one more time of the back of the man carrying Evelyn from her apartment. He had written down notes on what her friends had told him. He had that pad of paper next door to him.

"Who is Evelyn? Stop talking in code and tell me why the hell you're sat here in the dark surrounded by these papers," Sam demanded.

Bucky sighed, knowing that it would make sense for him to give Sam the full details. But he didn't want to waste time. He wanted to get this done as soon as he possibly could so that he could bring Evelyn home. "She's a woman I met," Bucky said. "She works at the museum and I let myself get close to her…she's…someone has taken her to get to me. Someone wants to recreate the super solder serum and they need my blood. They took her and they intend to use her as bait."

"Right," Sam said, sitting on the sofa behind Bucky and looking at the papers. "And have they made contact yet?"

"Not yet," Bucky admitted. "But I went to her apartment and she had been taken. She had been talking to her friends and they heard what happened. She yelled out the description of the man and so far it hasn't been useful. The only useful thing I have is that the man who took her was wearing a Mardox Science Division shirt."

"And you've been looking into them."

"Doing what I can," Bucky said. "So far all I can find out is that they're a relatively small player in the pharmaceutical industry, but nothing else. I need you to find out if they have any other business…any reason why they would want to recreate the super soldier serum. Their boss is this man," Bucky said and pointed to the photo of a young looking businessman wearing a smart blue suit. "But I can't find any dirt on him."

"Let me borrow the laptop and I'll see what I can find out," Sam said to him.

Bucky handed him his laptop as he kept on looking at Evelyn's laptop, trying to see if he could find anything that might be useful.

"He's not on any watch list," Sam said to Bucky. "And he seems pretty clean. There's nothing on our data base about him and his company. Are you sure that it is him or his company?"

"Who else could it?" Bucky asked. "Why would someone be wearing a shirt with his company name on it?"

"The same way everyone walks round wearing branded logos," Sam responded.

"That wouldn't make sense. If someone wants my blood then it would make sense for it to be a science division. Either way, this is all that I have to go on and Evelyn needs my help…she needs my help and I promised that I would keep her safe…I swore that I would keep her safe and I failed her."

"Hey," Sam said, not entirely certain what Bucky was feeling, but he knew he was distressed. Clearly this Evelyn meant a lot to him. "We'll get her back."

Bucky was about to say something, but his phone suddenly began to ring. Picking it up, he flipped the lid open and saw that it was an unknown number. He answered the phone and placed it to his ear. He waited for a moment, letting the person on the other end of the line speak first.

"Bucky?"

It was her voice.

"Evelyn," he spoke. "Where are you? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," she said to him, her voice almost stoic. "He wants me to cry…he wants me to beg you to come and find me…to give yourself up for me…and he hasn't told me his name. He's clever. He's kept his name under wraps."

"Is he there with you?"

"Yeah."

"Is he listening in?"

"Not sure," Evelyn said.

"Evelyn, listen carefully. Is there anything distinct about the place where you're being held? Anything that you can tell me without arousing suspicion."

"Not really," she said. "But I know what they want. They want your blood."

"I know."

"And I'm not going to do what he wants. I'm not going to cry and beg for you to come here and save me because I don't want you to, Bucky. I don't want you to give into them or do as they ask. Do you understand me? He's going to kill me anyway," she said and Bucky heard a muffle on the other end of the phone as Evelyn spoke, her voice more rushed as she yelled loudly. "Don't give them what they want! Bucky! Don't do it!"

"Evelyn! Evelyn!" Bucky snapped down the phone, but she didn't respond.

"She's brave," a new voice joined the call and Sam leaned in closer so that he could hear better. "But she's not fine. I wanted to play nicely with her. I asked her just to talk on the phone, you know, cry a little and beg you to come and find her. But she refused. She wouldn't play game and so I had to rough her up a little bit."

Bucky's grip on the phone increased and he swore he was close to breaking it. "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing she won't survive," he replied. "But she's stubborn. I will give her that. You could have picked a less stubborn girl to want to be with."

"Don't touch her again," Bucky demanded from them. "You can have me. But she goes. Do we have a deal?"

"Perhaps," he replied, "but it depends on how the bitch behaves as well. Sit tight. You'll be receiving a parcel with my next instructions to your apartment."

"I swear to God that you better not touch her," Bucky growled lowly.

"You're in no place to make commands, soldat," he warned him and Bucky winced at the old name HYDRA used to call him. "Wait for my next instruction."

He hung up and Bucky dropped the phone to the floor. He shook his head and closed his eyes, doing his best to gather himself as he placed his hands onto his cheeks and contemplated what he was going to do.

"You can't give them what they want," Sam said in a soft voice.

"I know," Bucky admitted. He remembered the Winter Soldier program. They couldn't have anything like that again. It wouldn't be right. "But I need to find Evelyn."

….

The cell that they were keeping Evelyn in was nothing special. She had walked around the edge of it at the start, pressing on the concrete wall almost as if she expected to find a hidden escape. There was nothing in the room. Three walls were concrete and one was glass. There was a small standing area on the other side of the glass and a large metal door leading outside to a corridor and her chance of freedom. There was nothing in the cell with her, not even a mattress or a seat.

They had asked Evelyn nicely to begin with if she would talk to Bucky. A man had come in, different to the one who had taken her, and had asked her to talk to Bucky. He had told her that she would go free. It wasn't her they wanted. It was Bucky. But Evelyn had stood there, arms folded over her chest and had refused. He had sent someone else in to try and get her to talk. Evelyn had tried to fight him, but he was taller than her. The worst part was the ringleader had stood back and filmed it all.

She had tried to be brave on the phone to Bucky, but they had beat her pretty well. She had a cut and swollen lip. Her eyes ached and she struggled to keep one of them open. Her ribs were also aching and it hurt every time she inhaled and exhaled. She had collapsed on the floor, unable to find a comfortable way to sit when they had dragged her back there after telling her to call Bucky.

"What do you think you will get out of this, Evelyn?"

He was back. Evelyn didn't know how long she had been on the cold floor, trying to ignore the pain in her body. She didn't even sit up as he advanced towards her and she saw his boots just outside of her cell. She remained silent, one arm curled up next to her head and another down her side.

"We've been observing Bucky for weeks," the man said. "Ever since we were able to find him after he had been pardoned. He came to that museum every day. We've had someone tailing him, you know. We're shocked he didn't actually pick up on it…I mean, he did eventually. But he thought that someone was watching you. Did you know that he spent some nights camped out on the building opposite yours and watching it because he clearly knew someone was following you…but it wasn't you they were following. It was him. Still, it was sweet of him to do that."

Evelyn tried to compute what she had just heard. Bucky had watched her apartment. He hadn't told her about any of that.

"And every day he went to that museum. The guy watching him thought it was weird, especially when he always left the museum on time and Bucky would follow some time after," he continued pushing her, almost as though he was taunting her. But she wouldn't respond. She wouldn't give him anything.

"And then we found out that you stayed late to wait for him to finish whatever he did…relive the past…try to remember the good man he was before he became a hitman and let HYDRA take over his brain," he said. "And you know what we noticed? Whenever he left that museum he only had eyes for you. He would watch you when he walked on by."

He waited, wondering if he would get anything out of her, but she was silent and stoic. She was as good at this keeping quiet thing as Bucky was when he needed to be.

"He'd been on some dates. We'd seen that. But he never called them back. He never saw them again, but then you came along. He went out with you and he was the one who made contact that night after you left work," he said. "We found that weird. Bucky never made contact with anyone. He kept himself alone. The fact that he went with you to that pizza place and then…then he walked you home and asked to see you again. We knew we had found it."

He waited for her to speak, asking him that question. And she did, her voice a whisper.

"Found what?"

"The bait we needed," he responded. "The one person he was allowing himself to get close to who we could use against him."

"I've known him a week."

"And in that week he's spent more time with you than anyone since we began watching him," he commented. "We knew that first night when he camped outside your building that you'd be our ticket. We blackmailed your boss into helping us…he put a bug on your phone to let us listen into your conversations. He did want to protect you. He joked about how uptight you had been and how some male attention would have you melting in his arms…how you didn't date…were probably desperate for someone to want you. He said that he could get you round to our way of thinking. But that was naïve, wasn't it? Because you were never going to turn against Bucky, were you? Because you truly do like the freak."

"He won't give you what you want," Evelyn said to him.

"Do you think so?" he continued. "Because I think he will do exactly what we want…for you…"

Evelyn didn't respond. Instead she closed her eyes and longed for him to go away.

"Aren't you even going to ask why I'm doing this?"

"Would it make a difference? You'll still kill me."

Evelyn heard him chuckle and she kept her eyes closed, trying to control her breathing.

"Smart girl," he whispered to her.

His footsteps retreated and Evelyn heard the door open and close. The lights were turned out again and she was left with her own thoughts, her mind thinking of one man and one man only.

….

Bucky had changed into his tactical gear, prepared to take off whenever he had to. Sam had also changed into his suit, preparing to follow Bucky wherever he went. They had sat in silence then, waiting for the parcel to come and Sam had watched Bucky stare. He had gotten used to Bucky's staring, but something about the way he looked at that moment in time unnerved him.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Sam dared to broach the topic.

Bucky's stare went to the man who was sat on the sofa across from him. He shook his head.

"Then who is she?"

"Someone I met."

Sam folded his arms over his chest. "No offence, Buck, but I think she is more than just someone who you met."

"I kept going to the Captain America exhibit at the Air and Space museum," Bucky began, knowing that Sam had a right to know who he was helping Bucky find. "I saw her there for a few weeks…watched her…she was the curator for the exhibit and she had this air around her. She worked hard and she was always smiling when she saw me, even though I just stared at her. I…I saw her walking home one night when I was outside. I'd spoken to her once before, but then I initiated contact. I was the one who called out to her and I wanted to talk to her. I just wanted someone to talk to and she had seemed nice. She had been kind when she first introduced herself."

"I get it, man," Sam said to him. "I've dated before."

"That's the thing," Bucky said, "so have I, but when I first met Evelyn we were just going to be friends. That first night we went for pizza I thought that I could do that, but as we spoke that changed…I…she made me feel comfortable. She made me smile."

"Must be one special girl," Sam said and Bucky nodded his head.

"I've spent nearly every day for the past week with her. That's more time than I have spent with anyone," Bucky said. "And eventually we admitted that we might want something more than friendship. I don't know what…and I don't know if it will last…but I asked to take her out on a date and she agreed. I was supposed to take her tonight…I had it planned. In my mind I had it all planned."

"You still can," he said to her. "We'll get her back, Buck."

"No," Bucky shook his head. "I can't be with her…because I'll never have peace. So long as I am here then there will be people who want my blood. There will be people who want to recreate super soldiers and I can't risk Evelyn again."

"You don't need to make brash decisions," Sam said to him.

"It's not," Bucky responded as he heard a knock on his door. He reached for his gun and stepped forward, looking through the peephole. There was no one there. Pulling the door open, he looked down the corridor but it was empty. On the mat sat a brown envelope. He picked it up and opened it, closing the door behind him. Inside there was a memory stick and nothing else. He pulled the stick out and tossed it to Sam, placing the envelope on his worktop counter.

"Buck…you're going to want to see this."

Sam had already opened the file and he saw that it was a video. Bucky sat down next to him and Sam hit play. The room was bare. But Evelyn was in the middle of the room. She was stood up and a man was behind her. Bucky looked her in the eye and could see that she was trying to remain stoic. Her hair hung down her face, almost as though she wanted it to obscure her.

"She's been very brave," a voice spoke and Bucky suspected it was someone behind the camera. "She refuses to call you and beg for you to come and save her. How is it she's only been with you just over a week and already you have such a loyal little pet?"

Bucky's hands balled into fists by his side.

"What is it about her?" the voice continued. "You see, we're betting on her being the thing that brings you to us and gives us what we want. But she's…well…she's quite boring. Word has it that she just loves her work…loves running…apparently she's training for a half marathon to run with her father to raise money for cancer research. Her grandma died of it and so did her uncle. Did you know that or did you not get round to that? She's quite dull, really…and apparently quite frigid."

The man behind her reached out, running a hand down the side of her neck. Bucky's teeth ground together and his jaw tightened as Evelyn reached around and grabbed his wrist, but he was quick too. He used his free hand to grab hold of her by the neck, slamming her against the wall, her head hitting it and she yelled in pain.

"Bastard," Sam mumbled.

"She's been very uncooperative," the man said as the other one kept her against the wall. "So we're hoping that some…well…brute force might bring her around to our way of thinking. If not then surely it will get a reaction from you."

His footsteps left the room and Bucky shook his head. The man holding Evelyn backhanded her across the face, sending her tumbling to the ground. She coughed loudly and grunted in pain. Pushing herself to kneel, she tried to stand up. He grabbed her by the hair on her scalp and hauled her up. She managed to punch him across the face like Bucky had taught her, but he punched her right back. She fell to the ground again and he kicked her in the stomach, causing her to shriek loudly.

"You don't need to see this," Sam said and went to press pause, but Bucky shook his head.

"I do," he responded, unable to tear his gaze away as Evelyn was beaten in front of him. He needed to see just what he had done to her. Because this was all his fault. He was going to blame himself for this.

Sam could hardly watch as the girl shrieked in pain, trying to fight back but being overpowered every step of the way. By the end of the video, she was on the floor, curled up into a ball with her eyes closed. The man left her in the room and turned the camera off. It went black before a message came up in white letters.

"I-395," Sam said, "and they're coordinates." He paused and then typed the coordinates into the map, zooming in. "Well you're right, it's the Mardox's HQ."

"I need to go and find her," Bucky said.

"We need a plan," Sam retorted.

"My plan is simple. I go there and bring her back."

"Whoa, whoa," Sam said, grabbing him by the arm and stopping him from rushing off. "If you go in there angry like this then you'll either kill everyone who comes close to you or you'll get Evelyn killed in the process. And you're supposed to be a normal civilian now. You can't go around killing people. Hell, you should have told someone about this sooner. Have you even notified the police?"

"Would they be able to help?" Bucky snapped back. "We both know that when it comes to people like this then going our own way and doing things off the books is quicker. I wasn't waiting for the police to open an investigation before I found her."

"I see your point," Sam admitted to him. "But the point still stands that we need a plan. I know people through the Air Force. There is a right way of doing this, Bucky, and that involves not killing anyone, bringing your girl home and bringing the people who did that to her," he pointed to the laptop "to justice. Do you understand?"

Bucky ground his teeth together and bit down on his tongue. He knew that it made sense, but all rational thought had left his mind when he saw what they had done to Evelyn.

"Just hang tight for a minute," Sam warned him. "I am going to call someone who might be able to help us."

"If they get a whiff of me going in there with backup then they'll kill her," Bucky warned Sam. He nodded, agreeing with that point.

"That's why they're not going to get a whiff. You called me to help you. Let me do that."

Bucky remained silent and Sam put his phone to his ear after dialling. Looking down at the ground, Bucky dropped his hands to his hips and whispered. "Just hold on, Evelyn. I'm coming."

….

A/N: Do let me know what you think! Thanks for reading and following!