Chapter 15 – The Winter Soldier

DISCLAIMER: We do not own Marvel... unfortunately... xD

Author's Note: In which Steve finds out about the Winter Soldier. :')

~ Amina Gila

Steve jerks in surprise, head snapping up from the tablet he's using to skim through files when Loki curses. The Asgardian has pushed back his chair, and his face seems a little pale. "Loki, what did you find?" he asks immediately, straightening and exchanging a look with Natasha.

Loki exhales harshly and looks up, expression pinched. "HYDRA created their own version of the super soldier serum," he explains slowly, and Steve gets the feeling that he's carefully picking his words. "They used it on an individual who, after careful mind washing, has been programmed like a machine to be a killer. They call him the Winter Soldier or the Asset."

Steve notices how Natasha face flickers with surprise. "You know of him," he states. It's not a question.

She nods. "Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, and the ones that do call him the Winter Soldier," she tells them. "He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years."

"So, he's a ghost story," Steve murmurs, "Except he is real."

"Yes," confirms Loki, "He is very real." Something shifts in the man's green eyes, but he doesn't say anything else.

Natasha hums quietly. "Three years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, when somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff; I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me." She pauses, an unnamable emotion passing across her face. "Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried."

Loki's lips quirk into a small, mirthless smile. "You were lucky," he says simply, turning to look at the tablet again, "But now, we have everything we need to know."

Steve studies the Asgardian for a moment, noticing how his seemingly casual posture is far too tense. He's hiding something, or more accurately, debating how much to tell them and when. "What else do you know?" he questions. "We need to know everything we can about the Winter Soldier."

"Everything," Loki echoes, something strangely bitter in the word. He shakes his head slowly, before he seems to make a resolution. "Very well. There are two important things you need to know. First, the Winter Soldier is responsible for the assassination of Stark's parents, a mission for which he was punished since he didn't do it well enough."

Steve winces. He might not be close friends with Tony, but he knows that the other man's reaction isn't going to be good. This is something they need to tell him in person.

"Secondly…" Loki visibly steels himself, and Steve wonders just what could be so horrible. "His name is James Buchanan Barnes."

The blood drains from Steve's face as a denial instantly swells up. That's – that's – He saw Bucky die! Bucky fell thousands of feet so how –? The serum. Steve knew that Zola had been experimenting on his best friend, but Bucky had never said much of what happened to him. If he had the serum – he must have – he could have survived the fall. That means –

"It's my fault," Steve blurts out, pain washing through him. "I should have gone after him when he fell from the train."

"Captain, there was nothing you could have done," Loki assures him quietly. "I do not know exactly what happened other than what these files say, but had you gone after your friend, you would have failed the mission you were on."

That knowledge doesn't really help. Bucky has been Steve's best friend, brother in all but blood, ever since they were young children. He grieved more than he can ever say when he thought Bucky died, but finding out that he's alive, albeit in the hands of HYDRA, he – he doesn't know how he feels about that. What has his friend suffered? He probably should look at the files, so he has some sort of idea… and they have to plan his rescue. Bucky deserves better.

"Where is he now?" queries Natasha as if she read his mind.

"Same place where we got these files," replies Loki. His eyes flick from her to Steve and back again. "It would be easy for me to go in alone and retrieve him."

Steve wants to say yes so, so badly. He wants to have Bucky safely away from those monsters, but at the same time, he needs to know more about the situation. Mind washing, Loki called it. Bucky probably doesn't remember anything, and that knowledge hurts almost as much as knowing that his best friend has suffered untold torment in HYDRA's hands, and that it's all his fault. Why didn't he insist that they at least retrieve the body? Why didn't he insist on going to do it? If he'd gone, he would have known if Bucky wasn't really dead. If – he needs to stop thinking this way right now. It won't help anyone.

Loki is looking at him, asking silent permission to leave. He, of course, has another motive for his desire. It's not exactly a secret that the presence of the scepter unsettles him, and Steve has noticed that the more time passes, the more restless the god is getting. It might be good for him to leave for a bit, especially if he's going to retrieve Bucky.

"Without any complications?" Natasha clarifies.

Loki nods. "You have my word. I will return here with Barnes as soon as I get him. We can analyze his state of mind once he's here."

Steve exchanges a look with Natasha. "You can go," he agrees, "And I'll go down to get an update from Tony and Bruce, while telling them about the situation."

Loki says nothing, snapping his fingers and disappearing a blur of green-gold light, tinted with a hint of blue. Steve blinks at the spot where he was for a moment, doubts and guilt threatening to creep in and overwhelm him. He pushes them away for later and rises, Natasha's voice stopping him in his tracks.

"Steve, you shouldn't blame yourself for something that isn't in your control." Her voice is quiet though firm. "You weren't the one who willingly tortured Barnes. HYDRA was, and we're going to make them pay for it."

The sharp, calculating look in her green eyes, reminds him of Loki for a moment. "You're right," he admits at last, "We will." As he enters the elevator, he finds himself thinking about how much easier his life would be if he could teleport like Loki. He could have saved Bucky from this… Sighing, he shakes his head to push the thought aside, willing himself to ignore the ache deep inside of him. The coming conversation will be extremely painful, probably for both him and Tony, and he'll have to be ready to handle it.

Neither Tony nor Bruce looks up immediately when he enters the lab where they are, and he has time to study the complicated equipment they're fiddling with before Tony turns towards him. "What's up, Cap? Did you find something? You coulda just had JARVIS tell us."

He presses his lips together, trying to decide the best way to broach the subject, but first – "How much longer do you think it will take you to finish?" That's not at all why he's here, and though it's obvious, it's also a good way to start the conversation.

"An hour or two, give or take," answers Bruce. "We've figured out how to mute the energy, so we need to make the adjustments so that locating the scepter will be extremely hard for any devices on the planet."

Steve dips his head in acknowledgement, and before he can say anything, Tony raises an eyebrow. "I know that's not why you're here," he states bluntly.

Telling Tony the truth is so much harder than it sounds, but he has to do it. How can he tell him that his best friend killed his parents? "Bucky's alive," Steve blurts out, clenching his fists and forcing himself to continue speaking. "He – he was captured by HYDRA, and Loki says that he's been mind washed." The end of the sentence comes out more as a question than anything else. He sucks in a breath. "He's been forced to do whatever they want…" He looks away, unable to finish.

"That's horrible," Tony comments sympathetically. "Do you know where he is now?"

Steve nods jerkily. "Loki went to get him, but – but…"

"What is it? I ain't gonna bite," Tony says pointedly.

"He killed your parents," he blurts out in a rush, "And I can understand if you won't want him to stay at the Tower because of that." He's said it, and he waits with bated breath, heart pounding, for Tony's reply.

The billionaire doesn't say anything at first, dark brown eyes flickering away, a myriad of emotions racing through them. Bruce is silent as well, a hint of sorrow on his face, as his gaze alternates between them. "Tony…" It comes out like a plea, and Steve doesn't know what it is that he's trying to ask. Don't make me choose between you. You need to understand. I don't want everything to be torn apart over this. It wasn't Buck's fault!

"Don't," Tony bites out, holding up a hand and exhaling harshly. "I just – I need a moment here."

Steve meets Bruce's eyes, and he knows that it would be better if he's not here. "I'll go back," he murmurs, stepping away slowly and reentering the elevator. He doesn't know if this is the right decision, and he hardly knows Tony well enough to try and comfort him for the knowledge; they've only been together for two months, and Loki has spent more time with Tony than he has. He thinks he'll try speaking to him again after the news has fully sunk in, but he doesn't know what to say.

Natasha looks up when he slumps back into his chair, but she doesn't talk, for which Steve is grateful. He doesn't know what he could have said to her anyways. This isn't going to be alright, at least not immediately. Sighing, he flips through the files, opening the ones which discuss the Winter Soldier. He has to know what his best friend has been through if he intends to help him recover from it.

**w**

Loki moves like a specter through the facility, knowing from the heightened tensions almost palpable in the air that the scepter's disappearance has been discovered. Maybe he should secure some wards of his own to help shield it from detection, even though that would put him – his seidr anyways – in closer proximity to the Mind Stone. He isn't fond of the idea, but it's certainly better than being raided by HYDRA.

Guards are milling around in the basement when Loki breezes in, unseen. It's in a different section of the building than where the scepter was located, and there's a sense of something imminent as he passes through a door, following a pair of guards and an older man who appears to be important. He takes note of him, deciding to show the Avengers a simulacrum of him later.

"Sir, the Asset is on standby," reports a man with dark hair. "We're awaiting further orders and a report from the scanners. So far, we haven't found anything."

"Keep looking," instructs the elder. "We can't let Fury know, but I haven't heard anything from him. Presumably, he's involved in it. He might have sent in the Avengers. I suspect Loki could have bypassed our security." The others nod and move across the room, discussing strategies and plans.

Loki narrows his eyes. Time is running out, and he needs to hurry. Stepping swiftly through the partially ajar door to the next room, he stills upon seeing the equipment stationed in the center. This must be what HYDRA uses to wipe Barnes' memories and keep him conditioned. Loki approaches it, green tendrils of seidr dancing between his fingers as he overloads the system, shorting everything out. Yes, it's a risk, but he's revolted by torture devices. No more innocents will be harmed here, not if he can help it.

Thankfully, the room is empty, and Loki doesn't sense anyone in this area which makes his job that much easier. He hastily passes through the doorway in the back of the room, ignoring the cryofreeze chamber at the end of the passageway, and approaching the holding cell. Barnes is standing stiffly at attention inside, eyes staring blankly ahead of him, and the oddness of it sends a wave of some foreign emotion through Loki. What does it take, he wonders, to turn a mortal into this puppet-like state? He knows, of course, what Barnes has been through, at least to the extent that HYDRA saw fit to discuss in the files.

It's simple enough for him to teleport himself through the bars and into the cell, casting an illusion to fool not only passing guards, but also, any security devices which might be present. Only then does Loki drop the invisibility, holding up a hand to hopefully keep Barnes calm. He jerks, head whipping towards Loki, eyes widening in surprise and alarm.

"I'm not here to hurt you," Loki calms the man, knowing that it won't do much good. He'll have to heal his mind, or at least try to, so he doesn't panic. Barnes' mouth opens and then closes again, but he doesn't speak, eyes flitting around in ever growing fear. "Sleep," orders Loki, lacing his words with seidr to force a response. Barnes struggles against the command, but he's unable to resist for long. Loki catches him as he slumps, lowering him gently to the floor.

Pressing his fingers to Barnes' forehead, Loki lets his seidr run through the man's body, searching for injuries and damage, focusing on his mind. It's tangled and chaotic, the thought patterns erratic and abnormal due to the years of torture and conditioning. Repairing the damage won't be easy, but he can fix some of it, at least enough to hopefully allow him to begin functioning as a normal human would.

Slowly and delicately, Loki begins to undo the worst of the damage inflicted on Barnes' mind, realizing even as he does, that there's a chance it will never fully heal. Many minutes later, when he's satisfied with the results, he pulls his hand back, flexing his fingers. He can do more healing once they're safely away from the holding cell. Calling on his seidr, Loki lifts the unconscious man and teleports them both to the common room in the Tower, dropping his illusion in the holding cell at the same time.

HYDRA will never figure out what happened to their "Asset," at least not for a while, and Loki is more than happy to leave it that way. Hopefully, Barnes has been healed enough that he is able to recognize Rogers, because Loki has little desire to try to keep a trained, panicked assassin calm. He shakes the thought aside, carefully laying the man on one of the couches. He should awaken any minute now.

Stepping back, he glances up at the ceiling. "JARVIS, tell Rogers to come here. I have his friend."