The blaring silence is echoing in Bucky's head. It's not— It's not possible. This can't be happening. No. No. NO.

Ross grins, a sly and thin lipped, pleased as punch with himself grin that has Natasha growling. She steps forward and Ross just laughs. A bone chillingly satisfied laugh that halts her in her place.

"I'm going to do the spiel." Ross states, starting to circle around Steve like a hawk, "any of you mind? Since none of you are going to make it out of here alive, I figure it's okay to let you in on my—" he glances at Steve, "very large secret."

They don't respond. Eyes trained onto Steve's blank face. Even Zemo looks dumbstruck, the screen still displaying a video of Steve on the table. A video on a loop, it turns out.

"When I freed you two imbeciles from here we struck a deal. You both would get 'new faces' and in exchange we would help each other achieve our goals." He glares at Zemo. "Then you went rouge and lied to me, telling me that you can't wipe memories, and I was foolish enough to believe you. But instead of helping, you take my…" he pauses, looking at Steve, "work in progress, and you sink him to the bottom of the ocean? That was not very appreciated."

"I should have just cut his head off when I had the chance." Zemo spits out, eyes flashing.

"Soldier, mission 36, now."

Quick as a flash Steve jolts forward, yanking Zemo's collar, rearing back, slamming his fist against his jaw and dropping him like a sack of potatoes. Zemo crumples, a heap on the floor and they blink, Steve back in his place as if he hadn't even moved.

Ross laughs. Laughs and grins and it peters out to a chuckle and he taps the side of his nose. "You shouldn't have lied, my Sokovian friend, and you shouldn't have threatened me."

Zemo's grumbling, words slurred and eyes blurry.

"What's that? You want another wallop from my little soldier here?"

Zemo falls silent.

"That's what I thought." Ross straightens up and looks back at the four of them, still frozen in place, still in disbelief. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I am constantly looking for new ways to protect my country," he pauses and inclines his head as if being diplomatic, "and myself, and having two super soldiers as my own guardians would have worked wonders. Now, I'll have to deal with one, but I'm sure I can manage. And once I find a predecessor, I will pass this treat on. Rogers can live for multiple lifetimes, fulfilling his destiny of protecting America and her assets."

"He'd never." Bucky rasps out, "we'd save him."

Ross scoffs in laughter, "watch." He stands in front of Steve, draws back his hand and brings it down, slapping Steve so hard that the sound echoes off the walls and reverberates through the large space. Then he back hands him, hitting the other cheek.

Steve's head moves with the motion and then returns to center stare, unphased.

Bucky's about to leap forward when Ross barks out, "Soldier, mission 99, wait for command." Steve slips a knife out of his pocket, and holds it against his throat, ready to slice. "Hey," Ross says jovially, "I know it wouldn't kill him, but it'd be a hell of a sight. And if provoked he's ordered to keep sawing. What was it Zemo implied, that being beheaded might be his only option?"

Bucky's rage and desperation roil in his gut. He's so caught off-guard and frantic at the turn of events. "How—" he shouts, "how is this possible!"

Tony finds his tongue, "yeah! Fucking how!? You want your spiel? Then let's hear it!"

"Sit." Ross commands. They stare at him. "Soldier?"

Steve's face turns slightly towards him, waiting for the command, knife still at his throat. They sit.

"After I discovered Zemo's treachery, and Beck's dead body, I wasn't exactly sure how to continue. Then I learn from staff and others who encountered him how different Roger's was. A whole new person. Singing Karaoke in a dive bar for hell's sake." He groans, rolling his eyes. "You might as well have had a flashing sign."

He pats Steve's shoulders. "So I did some digging. Had my techs run through the machine in Montana and I discovered how much Beck had managed to store up. But I was particularly interested in his ability to adjust memories and implant them back into the brain."

Bucky's eyes don't leave the knife that is at Steve's neck.

"Without Beck or Zemo it set me back a long time. I'm sure you wondered why I accepted all your little white lies and your roundabout excuses and your stupid attempts to cover your tracks when I was already 6 steps ahead of you. But hey, gotta walk before you can run, am I right?" He circles Steve again, slapping him on the back and coming back to glare at them. "You thought you were so clever. That I was just as ignorant as pie. And you took so damn long to get him back to workable conditions before I could try to clear him for a mission. Drag your feet, why don't you? But hey, thanks for giving him a clear head for my therapist to clear him, good work avoiding the hard stuff and making it easier for me."

Clint's body is visibly shaking in anger, but his eyes are deadly still on Ross.

"You know I brought him here on that first mission? Made him jump in the ocean and infiltrate this prison to complete some completely fabricated mission I'd made up? Guy's more gullible than the lot of you. One super strong tranquilizer later and he was in the machine, and we were doing a test run, wiping memories and seeing if we could replace them with something else." Natasha closes her eyes, rage and guilt and every emotion tumbling in her mind, vying for control as she feels more helpless than she can remember feeling in a long time. "After that it was easy. Give him a mission, let him do it, knock him out, machine, rinse and repeat."

"Why the machine? You changed his memories to have been captured by Hydra?"

The vicious smile is back, making Ross' eyes into narrow snake-like slits. "You wanna know what's my favorite part about this? Is that there was no protocol in place for Steve to not tell you about his 'new past'. We would strap him in the chair and use your memories" he points at Bucky, "to make him believe he's been through Hydra's training, torture, and programming, hell, we even left you in those memories Barnes! What a fun time you two had under Zola's thumb. And he didn't say a thing."

"Is that why he was getting headaches? Or so tired?"

"Ah.. yes…" Ross says with a scientific nod, "the headaches. An unfortunate side effect of limited time. Instead of erasing the 70 years on the ice, we actually just stuffed Barnes' modified memories on top of Steve's. Took significantly less time each session, and we had a very limited window during each mission. But as it turns out, there's not much space in little Stevie's brain for an extra almost 70 years of memories."

"I didn't have 70 years of memories!" Bucky snaps. "Like you said I only had 15 out of cryo!"

Ross gives him a pitying look. "Aww, baby Barnes doesn't get it yet. I took your 15 years and I figured out how to implant it 4 times over, one after the other. That's why he's a much better behaved dog than you ever were."

The implications have Bucky clutching at his head.

"The fighting ring." Tony snaps, "why the fighting ring?"

Ross grins again, "that was fun to watch wasn't it? Your outfits had me in stitches, I almost wanted to 'run into' you guys there so I could make fun of you. But, I'm a patient person and I knew it wasn't the right time." He smiles at them and when they don't smile back, he rolls his eyes. "The fights were a test. Hell, you could barely even tell that he was in good ol' 'Winter Soldier mode' when he was there. The blindfold helped." He taps against the skin right under Steve's eyes and sighs as if annoyed. "Sadly, Captain America is rather recognizable. But if you change his hair, and cover those baby blues, then you're just staring at another gym rat as the kids call them."

"So what now?" Tony barks, "you just kill us and think no one will ever figure this out?"

Ross considers this, "who would figure it out?"

"Bruce." Natasha snarls. "He was already suspicious, he'll never rest—"

"That is a problem…" Ross cuts her off, seeming decidedly unworried, "but I'm sure Steve can fix that problem. Soldier?" Steve blinks. "Roger's mode, emphasis on concern and earnestness."

Steve relaxes, his shoulders dropping and his eyes blinking a few times, he stares at them and Bucky hears Natasha gasp because it looks almost like Steve. There's still a dash of blankness in his eyes, but he looks calm, natural.

"Steve?" Ross asks.

"Yes, General Ross?" Steve responds fluidly.

"What happened to your fellow Avengers?"

Steve's face breaks down, grief and sadness overtaking it, "mission gone wrong, sir. I couldn't save them, it was my fault!"

"What happened?"

"We ran into Zemo, he knew we were coming, he tricked us."

"That's too bad. What are you going to do about it?"

"I will find Zemo and bring him to justice." The captain's face is there, visible through the grief and the conviction in Steve's eyes makes Clint choke in anger.

"Soldier, return to Sentry mode." Steve stiffens, his eyes going blank and shoulders squaring. "Pretty good, right? Not perfect, a little stiff and the eyes, man that's my biggest concern right there, but we'll work out the kinks. Once you are all dead, I'll have loads of time." Ross says cheerily, "but see what can be done with 4 times the amount of training, torture, and programming stuffed into his brain?" He smiles, "and thanks for letting him go onto so many solo missions. I thought you guys would fight harder against that, but I guess you just didn't care."

Natasha's biting the insides of her cheeks so hard she can taste blood, Tony's face is slack and pale. Bucky can't even see through the blur of despair in his mind, but Clint seems sharper than ever.

"How are you going to have Steve kill us, huh?" His voice is sharp as a blade, "how?"

"Rogers is pretty strong, Barton, or haven't you heard?"

"Okay." Clint says. "Then let's get to it. No more yapping."

Ross looks at him, an impressed eyebrow raising. Bucky notices something. A movement from Zemo who's still in a graceless heap. He glances back and catches Natasha's hand retracting from him, fingers clenched. He looks at her and she glares back, eyes flashing, the message clear, stay quiet.

"You aren't enjoying our little tet-e-tet?" Ross deadpans, "such a rush to die, oh, to be young again." He reaches into a concealed side holster and pulls out a gun, staring at each one of them. "Alright, your wish is my soldier's command. Who would like to die first?"

Clint stands slowly, getting in a defensive crouch, "me first." He says with a glare, "I've always wanted him to fight me all out, I'm not going to miss this chance." The irony of his statement settles on their shoulders. But Ross just shrugs.

"Soldier?" Steve blinks, "Mission 1. No survivors." Steve blinks again and is instantly a deadly weapon. He crouches and springs, hauling towards Clint in the blink of an eye. Luckily the archer retains some sense as he dodges and rolls, and avoids Steve's grasp. He's not faster than Steve, or stronger, but he's a wildcard. Ducking and rolling in random directions, changing angles and speed, sliding under metal desks and throwing anything moveable into Steve's face. The super soldier is deadly calm the whole time, only his breathing audible. Ross is holding a gun, pointing it at Tony with a calm face. "Who wants to go next?" He says it so casually as if Clint wasn't being chased by a mindless death machine.

"Me." Bucky growls. "I'm next." He doesn't know what Natasha's plan is, but he wants to give her a chance, and he knows he's their best bet for stopping Steve.

"Just like old times in D.C." Ross chuckles, "can't wait for the rematch."

Bucky's head whips to the side as the sound of metal being unsheathed snakes its way across the room. The knife Steve had been holding against his own neck, is now back in his hands, slashing at Clint. The archer dodges the first couple swipes before throwing a glance at Natasha who seems to nod. Ross sees the ex's change and shouts a warning to Steve but it's too late. Steve brings his arm down in a sideways arc, aiming for Clint's heart, but instead of leaping away, the archer crouches and angles forward. The knife enters with a sluicing noise, right below his collarbone. Bucky watches in horror that turns into confusion as Clint huffs, a chuckle escaping his lips.

"Thanks, pal." He says breathily, yanking the knife free from his shoulder and leaping back, disappearing into the darker areas of the room. Ross gapes at Steve, who is just standing there, hands bloody and something unreadable written across his face.

Ross' demeanor shifts, from calm and collected to annoyed. "Soldier! Mission 1, NO SURVIVORS. Get your ass in gear, get that knife back and kill that little—" A whistling sound flies through the air, and Ross' words get cut off as a 'thunk' is heard. The blade protrudes from his spine, it's not a long enough blade to kill him, but the location causes him to instantly go pale, falling to his knees.

Natasha's on her feet, leaping onto Ross' shoulders and jamming something down onto his shoulders. Ross' lets out a startled yelp, his body spasming under the—-

Bucky's eyes widen. Her widow bite earrings. The ones they confiscated. He glances at Zemo who's watching the exchange with glee. Bucky knows that he won't get another chance. If Zemo gets away then they'll never find him. He reaches over, yanking the man up by his collar and raises his fist. He knows the exact force needed to break the occipital bone to crush into Zemo's brain. It would be so easy—

He hesitates, Steve's words echoing in his ears. He growls and knees Zemo in the gut, doubling him over. Then he drops and yanks Zemo's legs out from under him. Zemo slams to the ground and Bucky doesn't hesitate this time, he springs up and slams his heel down onto Zemo's right femur. A satisfying crack echoes through the room and Zemo screams. It's a pleasant sound in Bucky's ears.

He repeats the action with Zemo's left leg and watches as the gurgled scream fades to unconsciousness. The pain knocking him out. "Stark!' The man is standing, his head swiveling between Natasha and Ross and the looming figure of Steve chasing a shadow. "Watch Zemo! If he wakes, you tell me immediately!" The man nods, seeming more at ease to have a job and Bucky runs to Natasha. Blood from Ross' back is pooling and the man lies unconscious. Natasha yanks his arms behind him roughly, finding an old cord and hog tying him.

"We should kill him." Natasha spits. "He deserves to die."

Bucky's voice is flat. "No arguments here." A yelp from Clint pulls him back to his senses, "Widow bites."

He holds out his hand and Natasha looks at him with disbelief, "you'd shock him?"

"I'll do whatever it takes to incapacitate him to put him back in this chair and get rid of that damn programming!" He snaps. A muffled grunt from Clint has him growling, "NATASHA, do you want Clint to die? You want that blood on your hands? On Steve's?" She's shoving them into his hands and he takes off.

—-

Clint's limping and has a massive bruise blooming across his jaw. Bucky doesn't pause, leaping off a desk and landing on Steve's shoulders like he's watched Natasha do a million times. He brings the widow bites down onto Steve's neck and feels the electricity discharge. Steve howls, a brittle and vicious sound that tears at Bucky's heart but he doesn't stop. Suddenly he's weightless, being tossed from Steve's shoulders and slamming into something hard. A huff of air escapes his lips and he rolls forward. Barton is off in the shadows again. "Barton!" Bucky calls, "slow your breathing down! He'll track you by the sound if he can't see you!"

There's no response but he knows Barton has heard. He takes a deep breath and leaps back up, running through equipment and slamming into Steve as the man searches for Clint. They go tumbling, sprawling, legs over arms and crashing to the floor. Bucky kicks out, aiming for his collarbone to disengage Steve's arm, but Steve catches his ankle, yanking it forward. Bucky lets out an involuntary yelp as Steve's grip crushes his ankle, but he doesn't stop. When he's within reach, he rolls over, getting to his knees and stabbing the widow bites into the sensitive area beneath Steve's arm. A growl and the palm of a fist collides with his sternum and he's sliding backwards, slamming into a desk, his ears ringing.

Barton leaps out of the shadows, lands a kick to Steve's shoulders before dodging a swipe and disappearing back into the shadows. Steve jumps up, barreling through what looks like an outdated fax machine and startling Clint from his hiding spot. Steve has Clint by the hair, sheer panic written across the archers face as Steve yanks, tossing him against the edge of another desk. A large tuft of hair is in Steve's grasp and he drops it. Bucky watches as the blonde wisps fall to the ground. He scrambles, gaining speed and shouting to get Steve's attention away from Clint. Right as he's about to tackle Steve, the man whips ducking and grabbing at his waist, using Bucky's momentum to throw him up into the air. But Bucky knows this move. Instead of trying to right himself, which most people try, he waits as gravity does the work for him, then he pulls his limbs in, speeding his descent, and at the last minute, kicks out his foot, surprising Steve and clipping him on the side of his head.

Steve sways to the left, leaning against something metal to stabilize himself. Bucky knows it's now or never. He hits the ground, and rolls, kicking his feet out and knocking an already unsteady Steve off his feet. Bucky watches as Steve's head slams against a metal desk with a crunch and crumbles to the ground. He expects that blow to knock Steve out cold, but the man's eyes whip towards him, murderous and glazed, there's a moment where time slows down and Bucky watches a drop of blood drip down from Steve's head to his nose and then onto the ground before he feels himself being dragged. Steve's on his feet, hauling him up. Angry hands grab at his metal arm and yank. Explosive pain rips through him as his arm rips partially off it's socket. His gurgled cry is cut in half as Steve's finger's dig deeply into the metal grooves and tear, separating the plates and tearing everything off from the bicep down. Jagged metal sparks and hisses. Steve tosses the half he's holding into the shadows and raises his foot, slamming it against Bucky's chest in his signature move. There's nothing Bucky can do except sail through the air, wind whistling as he rushes against the wall and the world goes fuzzy.

—-

He blinks back into consciousness, eyes dry and mouth metallic. He blinks again and again and only feels his adrenaline pump when a sound that is very clearly Natasha in distress has him tumbling forward. Dizzily, he gets to his feet and uses his sense of hearing, which is mercifully intact, to find them.

A wave of red crashes into him, limbs slamming into his face and chest. He topples backwards and Natasha lands on him heavily. She's up, hauling him by his flesh arm and dragging him to the dark recesses of the room. He doesn't have enough brain power to ask why.

Bucky hears the whistle of the knife again and a roar as it lands its mark. "Clint?" He says, his mouth like sandpaper.

"Yep." Natasha huffs, "we've resorted to playing cat and mouse. He does seem to be getting tired though. I think—" She cuts off as she yanks him down, a computer goes sailing right where their heads were a minute ago, and shatters against the floor. "Hold on." She rips a keyboard from somewhere, jumps up and leaps across the desk surface. He hears the sound of a fight until the shattering of a keyboard against a skull makes Steve snarl. The sound of computer keys scattering across the floor makes Bucky look down as a key slides under the desk and lands against his pinky. He looks down at the 'caps lock' key and he chokes out a chuckle. His brain tries to inform him that it is not funny. But he can't help it. Radiating pain from his arm, and the impact with the wall have him loopy. He laughs out loud and hears the room go silent.

Caps lock.

His brain flashes back to DC. Adrenaline at the idea clears his brain and he leaps to his feet, bounding towards Steve, "Natasha! I'm going to need your help! Clint you too!"

He hears them scuttling as Steve turns to face him, a grim expression on his face. "Hey, Stevie." Bucky says, his voice a bit wobbly, "'member me?"

"Yes."

The answer surprises Bucky. He halts, even as Steve still stalks closer to him. Bucky notices the slices and stabs from Clint's stealthy knife work. He can even see the impressions of the keyboard keys on Steve's right cheek, the 'K' clearly visible.

"You know we're best pals then, right?"

"Yes."

"Then why are you going to hurt me?"

Blank eyes flick at him. "Mission directive." That's all he gets as Steve launches at him.

—-

He thanks his lucky stars that Clint and Natasha are holding it together because he probably would have been dead a few times over without them. Without his arm, it's mostly dodging and kicking that he can manage. Every time Steve gets close to causing fatal damage, one of the two assassins flitting around the room appears out of nowhere, yelling and slicing and shocking Steve until Bucky can get away, and then they would disappear into the shadows again. "Stark!" Bucky shouts, "I need a thick cord!" He hears a noise of assent and Bucky works his back towards Tony, inching closer towards his direction. "You got one?"

"Yeah," Tony shouts, as Bucky dodges a punch from Steve and rolls away, further than he usually does. He leaps over to Tony, yanks the cord from his hands and runs back towards Steve. "Clint! Natasha! NOW!" He sprints in Steve's direction and the man reaches out to catch him mid run, but Bucky drops, sliding baseball style into Steve's legs and feeling Steve's body pitch forward from the force. Steve uses his hands to catch himself, but Bucky feels more than sees Clint appear mid air, landing with a crunch on Steve's back and slamming his face to the ground with a sickening crunch. Steve growls and his head whips up, blood covering his face from the way his nose smashed against the hard floor. Bucky is moving, wrapping the cord twice around Steve's neck and holding the two ends tightly with his flesh arm, willing all the super soldier strength he has to keep a tight grip.

Steve stiffens, his body going into panic mode at the loss of oxygen. He grips the cord with his finger's and starts to yank, pulling Bucky's grasp. "Flip him!" He shouts. Clint shoves his arms around Steve's chest and rips, yanking his body sideways and shoving him onto his back. Bucky doesn't let go of the cord but uses it to pull himself closer and yank Steve's back onto his chest. He copies what Steve did to him on the Insight carrier, wrapping his legs around Steve's arms and trying to lock him in. It succeeds in getting his fingers away from the cord, but Steve's strength is fighting back. "Help!" He gasps out as he fights with every fiber to keep Steve's hands from getting ahold of him.

Natasha appears, jumping onto Steve's chest, knees down, knocking whatever remaining air he had in him out in a huff. Bucky uses the chance to tighten the cord. Clint finds another and is tying his feet. It may not last long but it would give them precious seconds if the plan they're trying doesn't work. Steve's hand manages to grasp Natasha's wrist and he snaps it. She cries out and slams her other elbow against Steve's forehead. His head whips back, skull slamming against Bucky's ribs and sternum. He grimaces at the impact and the splintering of bones he feels. Sharp pains stab at his chest, the awkward position of his holding Steve compressing his chest and causing the broken ribs to splinter further. He hears his own snarling growl of effort, just barely holding it together.

Natasha is crying, holding Steve's nose closed and keeping as tight of a grip over his mouth as possible. Bucky can't help but stare, focusing on her tears as he ignores the fact that his best friend is turning blue beneath his hands. Steve continues to struggle and Natasha does her best to keep her weight on his center of gravity, holding on as he tries to buck her off.

Emotion overtakes him, "PASS OUT YOU LITTLE SHIT!" He shouts, desperation and fury coloring his voice, "FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE LET US HELP YOU!" Steve gags and Bucky pulls harder.

Bucky ignores the moisture now falling from his own eyes as he watches Steve fight for consciousness.

It takes 17 long minutes of Steve clawing against them, gasping for air, and turning a horrible shade of blue before he passes out. Bucky makes sure, listening to Steve's heartbeat, releasing before it causes anything fatal. While Steve may heal and come back from the dead, they want to avoid that happening again at all costs.

He sinks backward, laying against the ground, Steve's weight still on top of him. His arm shakes, trembling from exhaustion and exertion. Clint's there, dragging Steve's body off of him and closer to Tony and the two tied up men, both still unconscious.

They hobble, all of them a beaten, bruised mess. Bucky notices that Natasha is favoring her hip and left leg. They finally make it to the area where Tony waits for them.

"Chair." Bucky commands, his voice dry and cracked. "Turn it on."

"Barnes."

"Turn it on you bastard or so help me I will—"

"Woah, woah woah," Tony responds, holding his hands up in surrender, "You got it."

"You studied the schematics of this chair right?" Bucky asks, "you know how?"

Tony 'uhhmm's and Bucky stops talking. Dragging himself with one arm over to Steve's limp body.

"We have to hurry. He won't stay out long, and we won't last another round."

Tony's fingers are moving quickly. Booting up machines and initiating the system.

Zemo groans and Clint glares at him. When he begins to move, the archer walks over, hauls the man's face off the ground and slams his fist into his nose. Breaking it and rendering him unconscious again.

No one complains.

Ross lies still, pale from blood loss. Tony had stuffed something against the wound to stop the bleeding although at this moment Bucky wishes he hadn't. Let him die.

The system chirps and Tony walks over to Steve, looking down. "Geez, Cap." Bucky glances at his friend. The amount of damage: bloody cuts and the dark lined bruising around his neck from the cord making for a gruesome sight.

"And he still would have killed us." Bucky says hoarsely. "Three to one, he would have won if he wasn't holding back."

Three sets of eyes whip towards him.

"Holding back?" Clint chokes out. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

Bucky can't say for sure. "I just know that wasn't his full force. He was too slow. He let you guys land too many hits. Hell, I've felt his full-force punch and—" he looks down at his friend, "he was fighting it. I think he was fighting it."

Natasha scoffs, nursing a split lip, "can't we just be proud that we took him down? When-" she emphasizes that word, "he's back to normal, I will rub that in his face."

Tony looks at Clint. "What happened to your hair? You look like a troll doll."

Clint scowls, "Cap freaking ripped it off my scalp." He rolls his eyes and huffs, "I hate going to the barber." Tony laughs and Clint just runs a hand through his hair, wincing at the raw skin.

"It's a good look for you, matches your mental state." A paper clip zings off Tony's forehead. He glares at the archer and then rolls his eyes. Going back to the machine.

—-

They haul Steve up into the chair, Bucky awkwardly manages with one arm. They strap him down and Tony starts incessantly clacking on the keyboard. "Okay, this is actually incredibly intuitive—" he clamps his mouth down at the others glare. "Sorry. I know I shouldn't compliment the technology of villains."

"Can you do it?" Bucky asks, staring over Tony's shoulder at the screen. "Can you figure it out?"

Tony looks at him, a grin splitting his face that Bucky hasn't seen since before they landed on this hell-hole of a prison. "Their advanced system will be their undoing." He points at a brain scan on the screen. "They had to pinpoint where memories were in Steve's head. Don't ask me how, probably testing what areas lit up—" he huffs, "it seems like science fiction even to me, but they were able to place your memories over his time in the ice, not any time else, just then. So they've got that part all highlighted. I can do it. Let me work."

Bucky watches as Tony moves like a tornado, poking and prodding at the machine, typing and clacking and making verbal announcements to no one in particular, mumbling to himself and shifting his facial expression without his own knowledge.

He has a strange deja-vu of Howard acting the same way and it makes him go dizzy. He sits down, his eyes landing on his arm, the ripped apart one. It's painful, mind-bendingly painful, but it's nothing. He knows it's nothing. It can be fixed. It will be fixed. He's fine. He's fine. His ribs ache and every other hit he took as well. But he's alive. Steve's alive. They're all alive. He'll heal.

Bucky watches as Natasha drags a chair up to where Steve is strapped down and grasps the fingers that dangle off the table. Clint hobbles over, sitting at Steve's feet. Bucky copies Natasha, settling his chair on the opposite side and grasping Steve's hand. His eyes flick up to Steve's head. "I hate him having brown hair." He gripes.

Natasha laughs, an aborted snort at first, then a full bellied laugh, clutching at her ribs and guffawing. She's holding a hand against her split lip, obviously in pain from laughing but she can't stop. The tension easing from her body. Clint chuckles too, wincing at his bruised jaw. Bucky closes his eyes. Exhaustion overtaking him.

—

"Barnes."

Someone's calling him.

"Barnes. Hey, BARNES." He jolts up, defensive, his hands in fists.

"Calm down there, terminator, just me."

He blinks and Tony comes into focus. "Tony?"

"Yep." He says, emphasizing the 'p'.

"Everything okay?" He looks around to see Natasha's head against Steve's arm, sleeping. Clint is still sitting, his head tilted back at a painful angle, asleep.

"Yeah, Steve's—" he glances at the soldier, strapped to the table. "He should be clear. I'm pretty sure I did it right." Bucky glares at him, "hey, listen, last time I was sure about my choices we found a device in Steve's neck and I felt like an imbecile. Let me hedge my bets."

"Is he—" Bucky takes Steve in, his lips are no longer blue, the bruises already seem to be fading and the cuts are no longer bleeding.

"Awake?" Tony supplies, "he will be. Thought you'd want to be conscious for it."

"Yeah, thanks."

—-

Tony's right, it only takes a few minutes for Steve to blink himself awake. He's still for a minute before a panicked expression crosses his face and he jolts in the chair, straining against the restraints.

"Steve!" Bucky calls, "Steve, stop!" They'd kept him strapped down, just in case. Natasha and Clint wake up, groggily watching the unfolding situation.

Steve's eyes find his, going still "Bucky?"

The word drains Bucky of all his energy and sinks back onto his chair. "Yeah, Steve. It's me."

Steve swallows thickly. "Oh… Oh yeah, we're on the raft. Okay… good. I— for a moment there— I thought I was— with Beck. I wasn't sure…"

"No, Beck is dead." Bucky says, "we're on the raft, Ross is a lying snake and Zemo's not walking anywhere anytime soon…" he trails off and doesn't have the energy to continue.

"I'm so sorry."

Bucky's brow furrows, "for what?"

"Your arm—" Steve's voice is brittle and he catches him eyeing the stump.

Bucky groans good-naturedly, "you should see the other guy."

Tony steps into view. "Uh, not to ruin the Winter Soldier Reunion Tour, but uh, Cap?"

"Yeah, Tony?"

"You got any memories of being trained by Hydra?"

Steve closes his eyes, falling silent for a few moments. When he opens them, his eyes are clear and calm. "Nope. Nothing."

Both Bucky and Tony sag in relief.

—

Bruce sits absolutely still as they tell him what happened while they were away.

"I am never not going with you guys again." He says, his voice like flint.

"No arguments here." Tony quips.

—

It's a mess. An absolute shit-show for the next two months. They pull every string, use every resource, and pull their collective weight to make sure that both Zemo, Ross, and anyone working under them who knew, are brought to justice.

They focus on nothing else, just healing, eating, sleeping, and fighting politics to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.

The chair is hauled off the Raft, dismantled and burnt on a pyre at the compound. The flaming hunk of it brings Bucky so much joy that he suggests they roast s'mores over it. The rest just laugh.

Tony is able to find and submit to a judge the tapes of what Ross allowed to happen to Steve through Beck, and what he did to Steve himself on the Raft. They're ensured that Ross will never see the light of day again, maybe not even out of his cell.

"I still wish I could gut him like the yellow-bellied fish that he is." Clint grumbles to Bucky one night in the common room. Bucky just nods his head in agreement.

—

Wardenship of the Raft is transferred to a newcomer who Tony vets every way possible before allowing Zemo to be sent there again.

Their cronies end up in local prisons and penitentiaries.

Each one behind bars makes the group sleep just a bit easier at night.

—

"So what about ours?" Tony asks out of the blue, one night, as the group sits haphazardly around the coffee table. They're eating tacos, because it was Steve's night to choose the food.

"Ours what?" Clint asks, his mouth full.

"Our memory chair."

They go still.

Steve sighs, "I think we should keep it for now."

"You do?" Tony askes, shocked.

"Yes." Steve says firmly, "I still don't have all my memories, you guys told me I didn't. And I want them all. So maybe… hold off on the second bonfire okay?"

They nod and the conversation falls back into something inconsequential.

—

"Blackmail." Natasha's voice comes from the cell phone on speaker.

"How so?" Clint asks, Bucky and Steve listening intently.

"She actually was a therapist, but once we agreed to her, Ross found out she had a kid, kidnapped the kid, used him as bait for her to do their bidding. As far as I can tell it happened the day before Steve was taken. She never saw the light of day again. The kid was dropped back off with the dad after her death. Husband was paid to keep quiet on the threat of them coming back for the kid."

It's a grim story. Grimmer still by the vision of Dr. Raynor dead in her cell.

Bucky can tell that Steve takes this hardest of all.

—

Natasha's wrist is fully healed before they decide to fill Steve in on what he's missing.

Beck's thorough capture and manipulation of his memories, Zemo's betrayal, and then there's a gap, none of them there for when Steve was taken and hauled by ship.

Steve watches from Bruce's perspective, through the Hulk's, as he's dragged up from the ocean floor. And they show him their days of anxious waiting for his return, his brain surgery, his escape, and the memory of him believing they didn't wnat him on the team.

Bucky watches the color draining from Steve's face and offers to take a break. But Steve just shakes his head, "no. No more putting it off."

"Then there's really only one more."

The memory of them flying him to Montana and wiping his memory, sits heavily on their shoulders.

The room goes blank and they can't seem to look at him.

They hear him sigh deeply and wince, waiting for his reaction.

"Thank you."

It's not the reaction they're expecting and they stare at him in confusion. "What?" Natasha chokes out.

"Thank you." Steve says again, sincerity written across his face, "that had to be a horrible experience for you guys. I'm appreciative that you were willing, I wouldn't want to live with those horrible manipulated memories. So, thank you."

He doesn't know how to respond, only feels his throat constricting and face heating up as the guilt-ridden weight that had been on his shoulders since his decision to put Steve through that chair slides off his shoulders.

Bucky is up, dragging Steve into a hug. Steve responds, throwing his arms around his friend, and soon, Natasha, Clint, Bruce and Tony are all standing there, gripping each other tightly as if they can't believe it's over, that they made it through. Even if it was just barely.

When they finally part, Clint loops his arm through Steve's and Natasha's and begins dragging them towards the door.

"Time for another round of 'who's going to fall asleep first during the movie, Bruce or Bruce'?"

The group chuckles as they head towards the elevator.

—-

*A/N - Thank you so much for all your support over this whole story! There will be one more chapter, and then we will be done! Thanks for all the lovely/hilarious comments and encouragement!