Chapter 8

A/N - I messed with the timeline of events in this chapter to fit better.

The lights suddenly went out.

"What's going on?" Madison asked.

"I don't know," Natasha told her.

Madison joined Steve and Sam, lighting up one of her hands.

Sharon looked at Steve. "Sub-level five, East Wing."

Sam, Steve, and Madison took off for the basement.

When they made it there, the guards had already been knocked out.

"Help me. Help," someone groaned. A man was lying in front of Bucky's cell.

Steve walked over to him. "Get up." Steve hauled him to his feet.

"Steve!" Madison said, but Sam held her back.

Steve slammed him into a wall. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"To see an empire fall," the man said.

Bucky came out of nowhere and started throwing Sam around.

"Bucky stop!" Madison yelled. Maybe if she got her hands on him, she could pull his mind out of this like she had in DC. Before she could, Bucky went after Steve. "Steve!"

"Go!"

"I'm not leaving you!"

"Get out of here!"

Madison made it up to the lobby and found Natasha, Sharon, and Tony fighting Bucky. She took this as her chance. "Natasha! Boost me!"

Natasha knelt down and Madison vaulted off her onto to Bucky's shoulders. Her hands came down on his temples. She could sense he was in there, but he was resisting.

He slammed her into the wall and grabbed her ankle, throwing her down on a table. His metal hand wrapped around her throat.

Her hands wrapped around his wrist and her eyes flashed green, but she was too weak to do anything.

T'Challa distracted him and got Bucky to let her go.

Madison rolled over on her side, coughing. She could hear Natasha saying her name.

"C'mon. You gotta get up."

Bucky ran up the stairs, T'Challa following.

Madison pulled away from Natasha.

"Don't even think about it, Madison," Tony said.

"I'm sorry," she said, took off outside.

"How do we know he's not gonna wake up and murder us?" Sam asked.

Steve had pulled Bucky from the river and brought him to a warehouse, where Steve had pinned his metal arm with some heavy machinery. "Because Madison's gonna do her thing," Steve said.

Madison stepped up to him and placed her hands on his temples. Madison's eyes closed and she was transported into Bucky's mind. She stood in a room that looked like an army base. "Bucky?" she called.

Bucky rushed towards her and Madison blocked the attack. His metal hand went for her throat, but this time she was prepared.

She created a shield around herself as her hands connected with his temples, blasting him with her powers.

Bucky's eyes snapped open.

Madison pulled away from him, panting.

"Madison?" he asked.

"Welcome back."

"How did you do that?"

Her eyes glowed green and green magic wound itself around her fingers. "Magic." Madison stepped out of the way.

"Steve?" Bucky asked.

"Which Bucky am I talking to?"

"Your mom's name was Sarah. You used to wear newspapers in your shoes." He laughed to himself.

"Can't read that in a museum."

"Just like that, we're supposed to be cool?" Sam asked.

"What did I do?" Bucky asked.

Madison bit her lip. "Do you really want the answer to that?"

"Enough," Steve told him.

"Oh, god. I knew this would happen. Everything HYDRA put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the goddamn words," Bucky sighed.

Madison knelt down and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault, Bucky. You were brainwashed. You weren't in control."

"Who was he?" Steve asked.

"I don't know," Bucky told him.

"People are dead. The bombing, the setup, the doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you. I need you to do better than I don't know."

"He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where."

"Why would he need to know that?"

"Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier."

"Like Black Widows," Madison said, "The Russians clearly have a pattern."

"Who were they?" Steve asked.

"Their most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in HYDRA history," Bucky explained, "And that was before the serum."

"They all turn out like you?" Sam asked.

"Worse."

"The doctor, could he control them?" Steve asked.

"Enough."

"Said he wanted to see an empire fall."

"With these guys, he could do it. They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take a whole country down in one night, would never see them coming."

Sam walked over to Steve and they spoke quietly amongst themselves, while Madison sat with Bucky.

"Why are you so kind to me?" Bucky asked her, "I tried to kill you. Multiple times."

"Like I said, you were brainwashed. You weren't in control of your actions. If you had been, you would've never hurt those people."

"How do you know about the Black Widows?"

"My mother was a Widow when she was younger. My father helped her defect to SHIELD."

Steve and Sam finished speaking and turned to the two.

"We've got a plan. Madison, can you get in contact with your father?" Steve asked.