Bucky does something he never thought he'd do. He calls the Avengers.
"Uh, hello?"
"Tony? It's me, Bucky."
There's a pause. A disbelieving pause and he gets it, he really does, Bucky's never really interacted with Tony outside of missions. They don't really… get along.
"Barnes? What's up?"
"I need the group to meet. All of us."
"Thor's off-world."
"Okay," Bucky growls, "then whoever's on-world."
"Banner's off grid."
"STARK. WHOEVER THE HELL IS AVAILABLE. BRING THEM."
He knows he's losing it. But after the drug induced healing daze had faded, he's been absolutely on edge knowing Steve was out there somewhere.
"Yikes, what's going on."
"Just bring Barton, Romanoff is here."
"Wait, bring them? You're not coming to New York?"
"No, I need you guys in D.C."
"What? Why."
"Just get down here." Bucky snaps.
"No." Tony snaps back, "not till you tell me why."
"You saw the Insight Carriers on the news?"
"Yeah, heard you had it handled." Bucky grits his teeth, holding the phone away from his face so Tony can't sense the vehemence radiating off him.
"Yeah, Romanoff and I handled it. But I need your and Barton's eyes and expertise."
Another shocked silence.
"You're asking for my help?"
"Yes."
"Whatever the hell for?"
It's an honest question. It's a fair question. But he does need help. He still feels like a toddler in this new century and he needs people with modern skills to track Steve down.
"Tony. I'll explain everything when you get here." He swallows his pride. For Steve. "Please."
"Damn." Tony huffs, "must be something big. We'll be there in 6 hours."
The line clicks off and Bukcy looks at Natasha who's sitting by his side.
"You okay?"
Bucky stares at the footage he's still sifting through. "No."
She just nods. Understanding.
—
Tony and Clint step off the Quinjet 5 hours and 56 minutes later.
"What's up, buttercups?" Stark teases, "this little romance still going strong?"
Natasha rolls her eyes and gestures for them to come inside the base.
—-
Bucky sits them down around the monitor.
"There's literally hundreds of hours of footage. Terabytes of footage," Natasha explains, "but we're just going to show you the…" She looks at Bucky who is staring at the ground, "whatever the opposite of highlights is."
Clint looks at her, eyebrows furrowed, "what exactly are we watching?"
Bucky takes the mouse and clicks start. "You'll see."
—
He starts with the bad.
Whatever security footage there is of Steve killing a person is shown. And when there's no records, it's just audio reports submitted by different handlers.
He starts with the ones where Steve's face is covered, working backwards.
And then it's Howard's turn.
Tony stands up, "what is this?"
Bucky glares at him, "just watch.
Clint chokes, "Is that?" His head whips to Natasha, "is this who we've been watching this whole time?"
Tony's eyes are glued to the screen as he watches Steve hold his father by his neck. But then he lets go and leaves and Tony looks at Bucky in confusion.
Suddenly someone else comes and they watch as Howard and Maria are killed and hauled into a van.
Tony grips the arms of his chair, pale as a sheet and shaking.
The videos continue. Less and less videos and more written or audio reports flash past.
Then 1979 hits. And the reports stop.
Both Clint and Tony are staring at them, waiting for an explanation.
"Now we start from the beginning." Bucky snaps, not answering their confused expressions.
It's mostly pictures at first. Steve in the back of a truck, back curved at an odd angle.
"Right after his fall from the train." Bucky explains in a rasp.
Then Steve, naked, restrained on an operating table.
Rather fuzzy security footage of Steve ripping through his restraints and running down hallways. Beating the crap out of soldiers and getting shot in the process. The footage is at an awkward angle but they watch as Steve climbs to an impossible height and somehow manages to push open a door the weight of a tank after having his back broken and being shot.
He escapes. The footage ends and Bucky switches to pictures.
Pictures of the frostbite on Steve's nose, fingers, toes, elbows. Pictures of his ankles where the skin is ripped off in chunks.
But the worst are the pictures of Steve's back. Ripped to shreds, most of the skin missing. Muscle and even ribs peaking through. All the pictures have little notations as if they were measuring the wounds. Which they were.
Steve's face is next. Bones shattered and beaten to a pulp. Unrecognizable.
Clint holds his hand over his mouth.
The picture of the back of Steve's head, where skull fragments are showing is the end of that file.
"Barnes—"
"WE AREN'T FINISHED." He snaps, brittle and strung too tightly. "We're going to watch everything. And I mean everything, just so everything is crystal clear." He glares at Tony, waiting for him to argue. He doesn't.
Good.
All the torture is documented. Photos of burns, shocks, broken bones and fingers.
Pictures of Steve's emancipated body. Arms that are thinner than seems humanly possible. Ribs. Sharp knees, elbows, collarbones. Skin pulled too tight. Hair in patches. Spinal column like mountain ridges, the break in it still visible, healed incorrectly.
Videos of Steve being shoved in and out of cryo.
Videos of the cell Steve is kept in. Tony realizes with a start that it's a freezer.
Pictures of Steve's body looking like a skeleton as it lays on a grate.
Then there's a video. A video that's shaky and bumpy and in black and white.
But it's clearly them catching up to Steve in some wilderness. They watch in horror as Steve is shot in the back, falling to the ground, chains are locked around his bony ankles, and then the camera stays on Steve the best it can as he's dragged on the dirt road back to the base.
Tony gags as Steve's body hits a rock in the road and a trail of blood follows the truck the whole way home.
They watch as Steve loses consciousness a few minutes into the journey.
Clint actually vomits when the truck pulls into the base and they flip Steve's body over, dirt and rocks and twigs and all manner of things stuck in the blood and muscle and shredded tissue hanging off his back.
"Stop." Clint asks. "We get it."
"No." Bucky snaps. "You don't."
He clicks to the next.
Escape after escape. Drag after drag.
Then the last escape attempt. Where he's shot multiple times and the boot that dislocates Steve's jaw is in full view of the security camera.
Videos of Steve shivering in his cell.
Videos of Steve vomiting up bile and not being able to move away from it. Too weak to do anything.
Pictures of Steve in cryo.
Reports on the amount of calories he's given a day. Basically none.
Medical reports. Technological reports. Device schematics. Bucky watches as Tony's eyes go wide and he knows he understands.
Photos of Steve on the operating table.
A video of them documenting the implantation of the device. The bone saw whirring as it cuts through Steve's skull.
The delicate nature of the procedure as they latch it to Steve's brain and spinal cord.
Videos of them asking Steve to do stuff. Steve doesn't.
More surgery videos.
Steve looking blankly at the scientists.
They hear words.
"Asset. Eat." They watch as Steve eats.
Videos of missions. Some where they can see Steve trying to fight through the control and getting punished for it. Some where he obeys his orders.
Surgery again.
Then he always obeys.
They watch as they start feeding him again.
Photos and reports documenting his return to peak physical physique. Photos documenting the disappearance of the horrible scars on his back. His hair returning, his teeth healing.
There's no explanation but there's a video of Steve standing outside in underwear, seen from far away and behind a glass window. It's a blizzard outside, so it's hard to make him out, but they watch as Steve stands perfectly still. Not moving an inch.
Pictures and videos of blackened skin that they test to see how fast he heals in cryo now that his body is healing again.
The blank look on Steve's face is constant.
—
Videos of them piercing his eyes.
Security footage of Steve crying bloody tears. Over and over and over again.
Technical schematics of his earpieces.
Updates to his brain implant.
Surgery videos.
Videos of them punishing him when missions fail.
Then the last report comes through and Bucky watches as Tony's eyes widen.
"They sent him to fight you—" Tony chokes out.
Bucky nods. Clicking on the traffic cam footage of them fighting on the causeway.
"He's alive." Clint murmurs, "I can't believe he survived that fall. I can't believe he survived everything—" he cuts off and his face twists. "Where is he now?"
"That's why I called you." Bucky states, "I need your help. He recognized me. Even after everything. He knew my scent. He said so to Natasha. He's still in there."
Clint and Tony look at him in shock. "Barnes—"
"Don't you DARE, 'Barnes' me! You watched what I watched. You saw what he went through. Even after thirty years they couldn't break him. That device was the only thing keeping him inline and the insight carrier smashed it—" he breathes deep, "or part of it, I don't know. But he saved me, dragged me from the river, he came into my hospital room when I was drugged up. He took his shield. I need to find him. I have to."
They just stare at the looping footage of Bucky yanking the blindfold off of Steve's face. Blank eyes staring at him.
"He could be anywhere." Tony says softly.
"I think he's still here in D.C. I think he was stationed here. From the Hydra files Tasha dumped onto the internet. He was kept here for the last almost decade. He's either in their custody again, or roaming. I need to find him. He needs help."
"I'll help." Clint says, eyes on the screen showing a picture of Steve's emaciated face, dated 1968.
Tony only blinks before looking at Bucky. "You must hate me."
Bucky's eyes land on him, "why do you say that?"
"I told you how much I hated Rogers growing up. I had no idea—"
"Then help me." Bucky says firmly, "you help me find him and we'll call it even."
Tony nods.
—
They start tracing through hospital footage that Tony hacks into and is almost surprised to find that Bucky was right. Steve climbs in through the window of Bucky's hospital room and carefully examines his face before starting to sketch it.
It's the first time Bucky sees Steve sketching, albeit blindly, but he clutches at his chest, feeling it tighten. Breathing becomes hard, but he closes his eyes and takes deep breaths as Tony fast forwards.
They watch as Steve hesitates the second time, running a finger along the rim of the shield. Then he grabs it and is gone.
"Okay." Tony admits, "you're probably right. He probably didn't go far. His vision is so-so at this point so he's probably not going to try to leave just yet. But this was almost 4 days ago, so…" he huffs clicking through security footage. "I'll probably need to do facial mapping. I'll have to use a picture from the history books to try to catch him using facial recognition software."
"Whatever you can do, thank you." Tony looks surprised but just sets to work.
—
It's Natasha who has a lead first.
She walks in her phone facing them, a video playing of a news reporter in downton DC.
"Did Halloween come early? With all the madness that happened with Shield, Sergeant Barnes, and the dumping of valuable government information on the internet, some young prankster has joined the fray, bearing a striking resemblance to Sergeant Barnes' old wartime teammate, Captain America, even carrying a replica of his famous shield.
No one quite knows why he's out and about. He's been mostly elusive so far. If you spot him, call this hotline at—-"
Natasha clicks off the video.
"I found the security footage. There's a few interactions but the first is him, looking beat and bedraggled and being stopped by an old man in a wheelchair." Natasha stares at them, when they stare back, confused about what she's trying to tell them, she sighs. "An old man with a WW2 veterans cap on."
Bucky chokes, "you're saying someone recognized him, someone who served with us?"
"I don't know. Maybe he was just a soldier. I mean Captain America was big back then right? Everyone knew his name and face. The traffic cam footage shows him clearly in distress, and the man starts waving wildly to his, I assume, granddaughter, who approaches Rogers, asking if he's okay. Rogers just stands there, bleeding when the man rolls up—"
"Can we see the footage?" Tony asks.
"Yeah, here."
She pulls it up and displays it on the main monitor.
Steve is sitting in an alley, his clothes ripped and tattered. Hair falling in his face and bruises and scrapes everywhere from his fight with Bucky and crash into the Potomac.
He's mostly blocked from view and his eyes are blank.
A girl walks past with a man in a wheelchair. The man looks at him, and then does a double take. He speaks to the girl, pointing at Steve. The girl looks startled and shakes her head. They can't hear what is exchanged but eventually the girl gives in and stands a few feet away from Steve, before saying something.
His blank eyes look up at her, and they can see his eyes are almost healed.
She says something and he shrinks down. She glares at the man in the wheelchair, throwing her hands up in a "what do I do now" gesture.
He motions for her to wheel him over and she maneuvers him closer to Steve.
Something he says has Steve standing up, arms at his sides and eyes blinking, life in them. Then he clutches at his head and sits heavily back down.
The man touches Steve's shoulder and he flinches back. They can't really see his face, but somehow the man's body language just portrays sorrow.
Bucky watches as the man makes the 'stay here' motion and disappears, but Steve jolts off the ground and disappears. Shortly after the two return with a police officer only to find Steve gone. The man looks miserable.
"That's the first report. Another group of posted about him."
She taps something, and a video pops up, a cell phone video, and it's facing kids faces they don't recognize.
"So, we were just trying to watch the wreckage get hauled out of the Potomac—" One of the kids says, her voice breathy and excited, "and Andy here-" the video flashes to another excited face before switching back to the first girl, "—was like 'Guys, look over there, doesn't that look like that guy Sergeant Barnes fought with?' And of course, I'm not the history nerd, Andy is, but I agreed that it did. So Andy—" she starts laughing and the guys laughing with her, "Andy straight up yells "hey! Captain America!" And this guy fucking TURNS AROUND!" I swear we screamed so loud! His eyes were terrifying! Guy looks like he murdered someone! We blasted out of there—"
Natasha stops the video. "That's all on him that they mention."
"Do they say where they were?" Bucky asks.
"No, but I can probably track the video. If they started recording close to the place they saw him, it could be worth looking at." He nods and she starts working.
—
The little fake gardener's shed is well hidden. It takes them a bit to find it, but when they do, they know they're in the right place.
Bucky gingerly picks up the sketch of his face, it's set against a wall, next to a sketchbook, a pencil, and three protein bars.
"He was here." Bucky states.
"But how long ago." Tony asks in a huff, "Is he coming back?"
"Let's put a motion sensor here. If he trips it, then we know he's still using this space.
Something small catches Clint's eyes. He picks it up and hands it to Tony.
"Uh, Barnes?"
Bucky turns and looks at the device in Tony's head and nods. Tony sighs before clicking play.
Mission Report - Asset failed to accomplish mission. Waiting for extraction and punishment.
There's a break in the audio before Steve speaks again.
Asset Report - Agent Rumlow has not come to collect the Asset. Further instructions required.
There's nothing else on the device and Tony pockets it. "They pulled Rumlow from the wreckage. Want proof he's part of this shit so he can't weasel his way out of it."
Bucky nods and they set the motion sensor camera up.
—
Bucky hears Natasha's phone buzz. She groggily sits up and grabs at it from the nightstand.
Bucky rests his metal arm on her warm back as she answers the call.
"Hello?"
He can clearly hear the voice on the other side.
"Natasha?"
He feels her tense, "Sabrina?"
"Yes. It's me."
"What's going on, why are you calling me? How did you get this number?"
"The man—" Sabrina says on the other end, not answering her questions, "I saw him, the man who raised me, who trained me. I saw him today. I saw the footage in DC. I saw you on the news for the government documents leak. You're there. He's there."
"Sabrina, what are you talking about?"
"I was on a mission, or I would have called sooner."
"Sabrina, what the hell? I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Before you came back from the United States, with Yelena, there was a man. A man who didn't age, who healed too fast, who was incredibly strong. He trained us for several years. He.." her voice is raw, "he took care of us widows when no one else did. Small kindnesses. He was a slave of Hydra's, controlled by them. He was taken one day and never brought back. We were forbidden to speak about him."
Creeping realization starts to trickle down Bucky's back. He sits up, and she flashes him a concerned look as the woman on the phone speaks in a frantic tone.
"When I got older and had to blend in at a public high school in Kansas, I realized who he really was, I never told anyone. Who would believe me anyways? And I wasn't sure… I hadn't seen him in over a decade. But then today, I came out of a mission to see your shit show on TV. I called another widow and she confirmed that she thinks it's him."
"Okay… What do you want me to do?"
"You're the closest widow to his location. You have to find him."
"Why? I didn't train with him." She asks because she knows why they're trying to find him, but why is another widow?
"He's the only reason I made it through training. They would have killed me… they would have killed so many of us without his help. Please. Find him."
"I'll look for him, but—"
"No!" The girl shouts and Bucky watches Natasha wince at the noise, "you have to find him before they do! If she gets her hands on him—" she stops herself, "I started pulling on strings through contacts and found out that there's a task force to bring him in." The woman pauses, "She is looking for him. She wants him back under her control now that Hydra is in shambles." Her voice gets hysterical, an unusual emotion for a widow. "You have to save him! The things they did to him—" she cuts off, then speaks again, "they can't get him back!
Bucky wonders who she is.
"If you find him, whistle this four note tune," she whistles over the phone, "we used that as a signal when he would come help us practice our fighting moves before exam days. He always trusted that sound. He'll trust you."
"That doesn't help me to find him in the first place, Sabrina!"
There's a pause. "He hates the cold. Don't look anywhere cold."
Natasha sighs, "I'll do my best."
"Thank you, thank you." The line clicks dead and Natasha turns towards him.
Bucky wraps his arms around his head and tries to process what they just heard.
"Maybe…" She pauses, "maybe that's why he left me alive."
Bucky looks up, "what do you mean?"
"I always wondered why he didn't kill me. We fought and he had every chance back in Odessa, but he didn't. Maybe… somehow.. he knew I was a widow." Her face sets into a determined gaze, "if he's saved some of my sisters then there's nothing they, or I, won't do to save him. I'll start making calls."
Bucky watches as she slides out of bed, taking her phone with her.
He maps out DC in his head, planning a list of locations to search next, hoping the motion sensor will go off.
—