A massive crash jerked Bucky awake. He sat up, blinking in alarm as adrenaline quickly chased sleep away.
Toni came running up from the basement stairs a few moments later, wide-eyed, a welding torch gripped in one hand.
"Is that-"
Another crash tore through the air, and in its wake, Bucky could hear what he'd missed before: the clanking of armor, the low roar of voices, the creak of wood as a siege engine moved.
"Battering ram," Bucky confirmed with a growl. He'd heard that sound enough in his time.
The Avengers had all returned south just a couple days ago, so it was just Bucky and Toni left to answer the challenge. Not that he expected too much trouble, even with the numbers the sounds indicated. It was annoying, but the drawbridge was reinforced steel now and the walls were high.
"Knock, knock!" a mocking voice shouted, magnified somehow over another crash.
In the midst of rising to his feet, sudden fear made Bucky freeze as still as any ice he could breathe.
That voice - but it was impossible!
"Come on out, Winter Bitch!"
No. No, no, no! He was dead. Bucky saw the ship Triskelion go down himself! Hell, he'd helped sink it!
"Bucky?" Toni's voice barely registered.
"You know what's gonna happen if you make me come in there after you!" That voice was memories of pain, cruelty, and humiliation, and somehow Bucky forced himself all the way to his feet, had to see it for himself.
The sight from one of the high arrowslits made him whine like a newborn hatchling. The castle sat at the base of a mountain, back protected by sheer granite, but soldiers ringed around the castle wherever the walls alone stood. Their ranks reached back into the forest, black armor moving like the chitin of insects. Above them swayed the black banner with the red tentacled signal he thought he'd escaped, and at the head of the force, standing on the siege engine swinging the battering ram, stood the man who'd held his chains, commanded him until Bucky had broken free and claimed vengeance.
"Rumlow," he said, hearing the fear in his voice, unable to stop it.
"Bucky? Darling? Sweetheart? Hey!"
He looked down, realizing that Toni had been speaking for a while, but he hadn't heard her.
"It's HYDRA" he said, and he could feel himself tremble. "They found me. Rumlow found me! He's gonna put me in chains again, drag me back, and I'll never get free."
Because while the drawbridge was strong, the walls were only stone and they'd crumble under the stress of siege engines. He could run, try to fly away, but they probably had something to shoot him down with. They did before, and Rumlow would no doubt have come well prepared.
They'd been watching for some time, he realized, had to have been. Planning this, waiting until he was mostly on his own. All his new friends, Steve, gone. There was no way out.
"Okay, just…just no. This is not happening on my watch," Toni said, voice hard with determination.
She ran back down to what had once been a dungeon but was now her workshop. A couple minutes later, a low, nearly subsonic hum started up. There was the heavy clanking of metal accompanying it, growing loud enough to overcome the noise of the battering ram as Toni came striding back out, wearing her red and gold suit of armor, the faceplate of the helmet up. All the wires were hidden now, it was nothing but sleek metal and a soft, blue glow in the middle of the chest piece.
"Need you to stay right here, Bucky-bear," she ordered, the look she turned up at him deadly serious. "Mama's got some business to take care of."
She slammed the faceplate down and the palms of her gloves began to shine so bright, blue turned to white, and it became impossible to see.
The devastation was…incredible. No, that wasn't even doing it justice. The soldiers were, all to a one, cooked inside their suits of armor; the siege machines had been torn to their component parts; all the HYDRA standards were piled together, burning, and on top of the bonfire, Brock Rumlow's headless corpse smoldered.
An increasing hum and the clank of metal announced Toni landing beside him (his princess could fly!).
"That looks better," she pronounced, voice grimly satisfied.
Runlow's missing head now decorated the top of the castle wall above the drawbridge.
Bucky stared at it a moment, then back down at the slaughter, then at his princess. He felt overwhelmed with too many emotions to pin any one down. Awe, the aftermath of terror, a deep sense of protectiveness and caring, dizzying relief, gratefullness, and other things he couldn't name.
"You saved me." The irony wasn't lost on him. Not on her, either, judging from the grin on her face when she raised her faceplate.
"Course I did, Buck-a-boo." Her grin softened. "That's what we do for each other."
Holding his breath so as not to freeze her, he lowered his head and very carefully rubbed the side of his muzzle against her armor. It still sent her staggering to the side.
"Sorry," he said, disappointed.
"No, I'm fine," Toni reassured with a shake of her head. "What were you trying to-"
"I wish I could hug you," he said what he'd often thought lately. "Right now, just put my arms around you. If I had arms."
She stared up at him for a moment before speaking. "I always wanted to build my own armor, but I made it fly so I could go flying with you."
Bucky mulled that over.
"Oh," he finally said.
She reached up and placed both hands on his muzzle. "Yeah. Oh."