They stand there for a minute with no one speaking. Bucky can hear the erratic heartbeats of the group around him and it matches his own. They were so close, so close and yet here they were, failing Steve again.
"Guys?" Natasha says cautiously, pointing to something in Beck's hand. She walks over, and gently pulls the small device out from the clutch of his stiffening fingers.
She hands it to Tony who examines it. He sighs in recognition and connects it to his suit. He pulls up his chest plate and projects the video onto the wall.
The video is of the two technicians working on the chair as Steve sits there blankly staring.
"I still say someone messed with it, it just seems unlikely for it to give out now."
Beck comes bursting into the room, "you idiots! Are you trying to give away our position?!"
"But he told us too—" The second technician cuts off and throws a wary glance at his partner. Beck freezes,
"Who told you to do what?"
"Uh…" Beck's eyes widen and he fumes,
"Fix this damn chair, now! I'll need it for the next one."
Beck stomps out of the room and the technicians look at each other. "Wow, just like he said Beck would react." One says with an eye roll.
The scene cuts to Zemo strolling into the room.
"Hello, Captain Rogers." He says briefly before turning to face the camera directly. He doesn't smile or look pleased with himself, he just stands there, thinking for a moment before he nods at someone off camera.
The same two technicians enter, and start opening the restraints on Steve.
"My dear Avengers," Zemo speaks calmly, his accent crisp and precise. "I hope you can understand the position that I find myself in. When I realized that I would not be able to change Quentin's mind, I decided to go along with his plan, for as long as necessary. However, I do not want Steve Rogers as the next Winter Soldier. In fact, I do not want any overpowered or self inflated hero at all. After witnessing the unsuccessful attempts on the Captain's life, I realized that killing Captain Rogers permanently would be no easy feat. So instead, I allowed Beck to break him down mentally, emotionally, and physically into a state where he is weakened and more malleable." At that moment Steve cries out as the technicians register a shock through the chair. Steve groans and doubles over, his arms now free.
"Get him onto the dolly." Zemo orders. The technicians haul Steve up, and lay him on the enlarged dolly they had rolled into the room. They lock new restraints around his chest, neck, wrists and ankles, securing him in place. Steve looks dazed and confused and he doesn't fight.
Bucky recognizes the dolly. He'd been held on it many times for transport from cryo to the chair.
"My men played their part beautifully, letting slip where this location is. I assume you will find this facility in under 5 hours, so I must move quickly, but I am glad for this part to be over with. Beck was a disagreeable business partner and he will not be missed. Dr. Raymond is in a room on the second floor if you haven't run across her yet. What a sad tragic tale that is, however I don't quite have the time."
He shifts the camera and they watch as Steve is wheeled out of the room and Beck's limp body is brought in and set into the chair.
"That is the problem with people who think they are smarter than everyone else, it always comes back to haunt them, no?" He looks at Beck with contempt and turns back towards the camera. "Captain Rogers will be placed somewhere that he cannot escape, and while he may not physically die, I think you all know better than most that isolation can be its own form of death, especially that now he believes you all to either be dead by his own hands, captured, or against him. I do not envy the Captain, but I do what I must to rid the world of this plague of super soldiers. Sergeant Barnes? I assume you are there listening to this. Know that I will do my best to eliminate you as well. You are next on my list. However, until Captain Rogers is taken care of, you will have to be patient. Good day to you."
Stark raises his gauntlet towards the chair, fury rising, and his repulsors fire up, whining from the energy. He's about to blast the chair when Bucky snaps out of it and shoves his arm up, sending the blast towards the ceiling and raining concrete pieces and dust around them.
"What the hell, Barnes!" Tony snaps.
"Don't—" Bucky rasps. His breathing is tight and he looks like he's seen a ghost but he stands in front of the chair, "Don't destroy it."
"Why the hell not!" Clint shouts.
"Because…" His face turns translucent and he looks like he's going to be sick at his own words, "We might…" he grimaces, "We might need it."
Choruses of disbelief and outrage have Bucky snarling at them.
"Don't you get it!? What does it matter if we get Steve back if he's a broken shell of himself? We're nothing but a collection of memories! Everything we do is based on the memories we have—"
"Barnes!" Natasha hisses, "Now is not the time for a pity party about how you feel about yourself! Steve would never have given up on you, whether you regained your memories or stayed the Winter Soldier forever!"
"No!" Bucky clutches at his head, "that's not what I mean! I'm just— I'm no one, but Steve—" he grasps the chair, "he can't be Steve Rogers if he doesn't have his memories!"
"You're not no one." Bruce says sharply. "You should have seen Steve after he found out you were alive. He would have moved heaven and earth to find you, Winter Soldier or not."
Somehow this makes Bucky look more anguished. "And I'm going to do whatever it takes to get Steve back." He says sharply. "Which may mean…" he eyes the chair. "Starting over."
"Barnes," Natasha queries, "what are you talking about?"
"Steve has had his memories changed, which means unlike me, there's not empty spaces for his brain to fill in with the correct memories." He closes his eyes and screws his palms against his sockets, "If we wipe those memories, they may come back the right way. And—" He looks at each of them, reluctance but also something terrifying in his eyes. "When we get Steve back, we have the memory room in the compound. I will sit there as long as it takes to remind him of every memory, every moment that I have that he needs to remember. And you all have memories of Steve, we can help fill in the blanks, and maybe… in time, he'll have them all…"
"You want to…" Clint stares at him in disbelief, "wipe his memory?"
"No!" Bucky shouts, throwing a hand out in exasperation, "But I also don't want my friend living with the incorrect belief that he killed me, or you," he stabs a finger at Natasha, "Or any of the lies Beck has just twisted into his mind. You saw Steve, he couldn't even remember the truth about his own ma." He kicks at a piece of concrete in front of his foot and it goes flying, embedding itself into the wall. "This isn't about the strength of his serum, or Steve's character, he's been manipulated and his brain is being changed, it's not his fault!" He stares at them, threatening them to deny what he's saying but Natasha's eyes just soften.
Bruce steps forward and rests a hand on Bucky's shoulder, "You should take some of your own advice." Bucky's eyes fall closed and emotion constricts his throat. "And I think… We will let Steve choose. When we get him back."
"FRIDAY?" Tony speaks suddenly,
"Yes, boss?"
"I want any and all surveillance in the area streamlined to the Quinjet. I want to know where this maniac went. I want to know where he took Steve."
"Right away, boss."
—
At first they follow the wrong transport truck, and when they ambush it, only to find frozen foods in the back, Tony stands there, apologizing to the nice old man and handing him a check for his trouble.
They'd had to double back through the footage, and analyze it screen by screen. They split into two teams, stopping by the compound to grab a second Quinjet to follow the two possible vehicles that could have carted Steve away while still strapped to the dolly.
Bucky, Clint, and Natasha headed towards Alaska, while Bruce and Tony went towards the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Bruce and Tony catch up with their truck first.
—-
"It was a dummy truck this time." Tony snaps into the comms. "I've had it with these freaks and their mind games!"
"That means hopefully we're on the right path." Natasha says calmly, trying to keep her adrenaline from spiking, "Meet us as soon as you can."
Tony nods, snapping his helmet shut.
—-
They lose it's trail when Natasha is scanning through grainy footage near Juneau.
"This is backwater country." She gripes at the barely legible footage. "There are barely even traffic cameras here, and they don't cover anything but the cities!
"Alaska is huge." Clint mutters, "If we lose him now, we'll be picking fights with moose in a week. FRIDAY, you got anything?"
"The number one mode of transportation around the coast of Alaska is boats. Would you like me to check records on boat rentals?"
They all freeze, Natasha grits her teeth because of course Zemo would trade vehicles and she feels like an idiot for not thinking that in the first place.
"Right you are, FRIDAY." Clint huffs, "Can you pull up any surveillance along the coast as well?"
"Yes, sir."
—-
"He obviously isn't using his name." Bucky groans, "How do we know if he rented a boat? Maybe he stole one, or hell, maybe he has his own. And if he does, where is he going with it?"
"What if he takes him to Russia?" Natasha says suddenly, "It's so close and we'd have a hell of a time getting any surveillance or eyes on him there. There's way too many legal ports of entry he could use, and almost double the amount of illegal points of entry."
Bucky's eyes close and he scrubs his fingers across his temples. "We have to find him, now."
"Guys?" Clint says, breaking them out of their dismay, "A boat was just reported missing from Nome, Alaska."
"Would Zemo really be that sloppy?"
They pause, after all the mind games and the fact that Beck and Zemo have stayed 10 steps ahead this whole time, it does seem unlikely.
"We need to hit the ground." Natasha orders. "We need to work our way up the coast, ask anyone who rents or sells or buys boats if they've seen Zemo or those techs or anyone we have a video of. Zemo said he wasn't going to kill Steve—" she clenches her jaw, "just leave him somewhere, so…" she looks at Bucky, "We do it the old fashioned way. Okay?"
He thinks about this, staring out of the pilot's window, looking at the snowy mountains to their right and the dark blue waters to their left. He sighs and looks at both of them, circles under his eyes and determination across his face, he nods.
—-
It takes them three days, but they finally get a hit when they ask about Zemo and someone recognizes one of the technicians.
"Yeah, I think it was him. He didn't have a beard though." The teenage boy says, looking at his dad for confirmation, "Honestly the only reason I recognize him is because of the little symbol on his hat, we thought it was for Thor, but turns out it's just a football team in Minnesota."
Natasha wants to shout for joy but she just nods thoughtfully. "They have some valuable cargo that they shouldn't." She flashes her a forged FBI badge and gives the dad a knowing smile. "You have any idea what type of boat they rented and where they're headed?"
The dad looks a little stunned at the sight of them, and when his eyes land on Bucky he nods. "Yes, yes, we can help, we don't want any trouble." His Russian accent is clear and Clint has to keep from chuckling.
The father tells them that the technician chartered a long range vessel, capable of 'open waters', and that they requested a second anchor. Bucky goes rigid at those words and the dad flinches in anticipation of something. But Bucky takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, asking if they have a second vessel for charter. The father looks surprised but nods and informs them that it needs to be refueled but can be ready within the hour.
"Do you know about what direction they were heading?"
"I think they were headed past Kodiak Island, but I do not know for sure. I am very sorry."
"That's okay." Bucky says calmly, "thanks for your help." He takes the offered map and follows the kid down to the docks, leaving Natasha and Clint with the father.
"You are not FBI." He says once Bucky is far enough away.
"What gave us away." Natasha says with a grin, already knowing where this was going.
"The FBI would not work with the Winter Soldier." He says gravely.
"Ah, so you know him."
"Everyone in Russia knows him."
"Everyone?"
"When you assassinate government officials, people tend to remember you."
"He doesn't do that anymore." Natasha snaps, glaring at the man, "And he didn't do it by choice."
Clint chuckles and they thank him and walk away before he can think to respond.
"Someone's a little testy."
"Shut it." She says, rolling her eyes. "I know what it's like to not have a choice."
"I know." Clint responds, keeping his eyes forward.
—-
They're waiting on the dock when Tony and Bruce finally arrive.
"That rat bastard will be the death of me." Tony snarls. Throwing his bag onto the deck. "Or I'll be the death of him. It's still up in the air."
"It was brutal, we had to sit there and lie about basically everything we've been doing while still hitting on enough truths so he didn't get suspicious." Bruce groans, scrubbing a hand down his face.
"It was like Ross knew we were lying to him, but he never actually called us out on it."
"Where did you tell him we were?"
Tony and Bruce give each other the side eye.
"Don't—"
"We have to."
"Bruce I swear—"
"Tony you made a deal—"
"Yeah but I didn't intend to keep—"
"And when he shows—"
"FRIDAY knows to not—"
"Tony, what the hell is going on." Natasha snaps, waving a hand to hush their argument.
"Weeelllll," Tony sighs, clearly wishing he could avoid this conversation. "I had to tell Ross that we were on Zemo's trail."
"Okay…" Clint says, clearly still confused.
"And he made me promise to have all of us in the next meeting, including Steve." He winces, at their gaped faces, "I didn't have a choice! It's not like I could say, 'hey guess what, Captain America got kidnapped over two weeks ago and we've been watching him be mentally and physically tortured via a damn tablet!"
"You could have made up any excuse for him not to be there!" Natasha shouts, "ANY."
"To be fair, Natasha." Bruce interjects. "Ross was not letting up, it's like he could tell we were keeping something about Steve a secret. You have to admit, Steve being so absent is suspicious and we had to give him something to get him off our backs."
"And when is this meeting supposed to take place?"
"Wednesday morning…"
Clint's eyes widen, "but it's Monday."
"I know." Tony groans. "He wouldn't take any later without good reason, and I had no good reason!"
"You're the king of talk and you couldn't come up with anything!?"
"Well excuse me for being preoccupied knowing Steve's probably out here somewhere being left for dead because of ME!" Tony's mouth jerks shut at the admission and his eyes screw shut.
Bucky looks taken aback and Bruce's eyebrows furrow. "Tony… Why would it be your fault?"
Tony huffs, "Oh, you're going to tell me no one remembers that I was the first person to suggest Dr. Raymond?"
"You were?" Clint asks genuinely. "I don't remember that, but Tony, we all agreed on her."
"It's not your fault, Stark." Bucky says flatly. "This never would have happened if I hadn't left the compound with you guys. I should have known—" he scrunches his nose, and looks down dejectedly, "if I'd just taken one damn second to realize she would never have cleared me so fast for this mission if she didn't want me out of the compound—"
"Stop." Natasha commands, her voice deadly sharp. "We can play the blame game all day, and it's still not going to help us save Steve. You can argue this later. Let's go."
There's a moment of silence before Bruce says quietly, "go where?"
—
They spend the next half a day searching up and down the coast, looking for any sign of Zemo's vessel. They stop to refuel multiple times, always taking the opportunity to ask around the docks to see if they've been spotted.
"He said 'open waters'" Clint muses. "Maybe we need to go further out, maybe Natasha's right, maybe he did head to Russia."
They collectively groan but don't argue. They make one last pit stop, fueling up and even buying extra cans of gas to load on deck.
Bruce begins staring at the maps and charting possible courses.
—-
"Screw this." Tony says after another half day. "I'm getting in my suit, and I'm going to fly over this whole damn area." He doesn't wait, he just steps out of the room and into the suit that was standing in sentry mode right outside the door. He's gone in a second and the rest just stare blankly, rubbing tired eyes over cups of coffee and maps they've looked over a hundred times.
—-
It's Wednesday night when they get a call.
"I bet it's Ross again." Clint says, yawning. They'd been ignoring his calls, and he had been increasing the frequency from one call an hour to 3 calls an hour.
Natasha grimaces, "What can we even say? There's no point in answering."
"Guys?" Bruce says, his voice raising up an octave. "It's an Alaskan number!"
"Answer it!" Natasha demands.
"Yes, hello?" Bruce says in a rush of breath.
"Yes, uh, hello?" A stuttering Russian voice says over the speaker. "This is Sergio, from the boat rental?"
"Yes, Sergio, hello."
"Yeah, uh, hi, I just wanted to call you.. Because that man? The one we discussed? He returned the boat just 20 minutes ago."
Their eyes widen and Natasha is snatching the phone up.
"He did?" Was there anyone else with him?"
"No, not that I saw, but…" he pauses and his son says something in a rushed, anxious voice. "Yes, yes I will tell them." He clears his throat. "My son thought it was strange that they only returned the main anchor. The second anchor they requested was missing and they said they would just pay for it's replacement."
Natasha watches as Bucky's eyes close and his breathing increases.
"Did he happen to say what happened to it?"
"That it fell off the boat and they couldn't retrieve it, it is a heavy anchor, one of our heaviest."
"Does that boat have a tracking system? Could you tell us where it was the last couple days?"
"Uh… I shouldn't—"
"Please." Natasha interjects. "Пожалуйста, прошу тебя." Please, we are begging you. The emotion in her voice must play through the phone because they hear a sigh.
"I will send the coordinates to your computer."
"Thank you." She breathes, "thank you."
—
"Tony!"
His face appears on her phone screen. "Please tell me some good news, Romanoff."
"We have exactly where the boat traveled. I'll send you the coordinates. You start south and we'll start north, and meet in the middle, okay?"
"And what are we looking for exactly?"
"Anything." Bucky says tightly. "Anything."
—-
Tony's radar picks up a blip.
"Could be nothing." He says trying to remain calm. "I'm going in, and going to try out sonar." He pauses, "FRIDAY I put sonar in this suit right?"
"Yes, boss."
"Good. Okay."
They wait anxiously as they speed towards his coordinates.
"There's something." He says, sounding out of breath. "It's deep. I'm going down again."
"Faster." Bucky says, his eyes on the horizon. Natasha nods, and pushes the throttle forward.
—
They arrive not an hour later to an empty expanse of sea.
"His coordinates are here, so he must be below the surface." Bruce says.
They wait.
—-
Not 5 minutes later, the Iron Man suit comes bursting out of the water and lands on deck. Tony stumbles out, panting and looking queasy.
"I can't—" he sputters. "Too deep" he gags, "too much pressure."
He lays sideways on the deck as Bucky looks grimly over the edge. He steps back, and begins pulling his boots off.
"Barnes!" Clint shouts, "Are you nuts? That water's freezing!"
Bucky looks back at him with a dead stare. "So?"
"Barnes," Tony rasps, "It was pushing in the sides of my armor."
"I have the serum, I'll be fin—"
"No, It's just— you might pass out or drown, And we don't know if it's even him down there, or what state he'll be in—" the words pull a snarl from Bucky's lips but Tony continues, "and Steve would never forgive us if we let you take that risk."
"If he's down there right now—" Bucky starts shouting, "Then I can take whatever I have to to get him out!"
Tony starts to get to his feet. "No, let me go, I can push the armor further—"
"I'll be fine." Bucky snaps, unzipping his combat vest. He's about to jump over when a strong hand grasps his shoulder. He looks back in surprise as Bruce looks at him calmly.
"I got this."
"Bruce—" Natasha warns.
"I think I might be the only one who can get down there with ease and back up."
"But the Hulk might—"
"I won't hurt him." The words are sharp and leave no room for argument.
Bruce takes off his jacket and shoes, rubbing his hands together for warmth before taking a deep breath. "Here goes nothing."
He dives off the edge, disappearing in the dark waters while the others stare after him, watching the bubbles rise.
—-
The next 30 minutes are torturous. They have to constantly remind Bucky to not jump over the edge. And every second that ticks by feels like eternity.
Clint sees it first. He's looking over the edge and he leans forward, trying to get a better look before his eyes widen in shock and he's yelling, "GET BACK!" He lurches away from the edge, grabbing Tony and Bucky's wrists, yanking them backwards and out of the way as a huge anchor comes flying out of the water and soaring over them, soaking them with spray and landing with a bone shattering crunch and sinking into the deck. A roar is heard as they cower on the other side and a huge green hand grips the side of the railing.
The Hulk hauls himself over the deck one handed, growling and spitting water. He's holding something tightly in his left hand against his body, but he's angling it away from them and they can't see what it is. Natasha paces towards him.
"Hey big guy," She says, as calmly as she can manage, "Whatcha got there?" She tries to walk around him but he roars at her, and she takes a step back.
"Is it Steve?" She asks desperately. He shuffles and tightens his muscles around whatever he's carrying. "Is it our Captain?" He growls, "Okay, we know you want to protect him, so do we, okay? We can help him, but we need to know how." When he doesn't move to show them, Natasha lightly places a hand on his arm, her pale skin contrasting wildly with the green. "Please, big guy, is it Steve?"
The Hulk huffs and puffs for a second more before kneeling down, rocking the boat in the process and bringing his cargo out in front of them.
They see bleeding bare feet and ankles first, restrained together and attached to the anchor by a thick metal chain. Legs and a torso come next, wrapped thickly in chains and arms that are covered in cuts that are oozing blood. Wrists that are chained tightly behind the back give way to pale blue tinted skin, and light blonde hair matted against a bruised and beaten face.
Bucky's visceral cry at the sight makes the hairs on the back of Tony's neck stand up.
He rushes forward, ignoring the Hulk's protective growl and kneels down, pulling at the chains and snapping them off as fast as his vibranium arm can manage.
Tony regains his composure a second later and is using his gauntlet to melt off the remaining chains. When the last one clatters to the deck, Bucky hauls the body up and clutches it against him, rocking back and forth and muttering apologies. Natasha is stricken by how familiar the sight feels, remembering the inaccurate memory about Bucky's death on the street in DC. Except now the roles were reversed.
Bucky kneels there, clutching the blue, beaten, bruised, bleeding, and unbreathing body of Steve Rogers.
—