Theo is gone in the morning.

Theo… That's who he is. Steve saw it. Not the Black Infiltrator. Not a skillfully-crafted mask. Theodore. His Theodore. His son is still in there. Still fighting. That's all Steve needs to be convinced that this will work.

Steve Rogers never stopped fighting for his family, and he's not going to stop. Not now.

He doesn't know when Theo left. The three of them had ended up lumped together on the sectional couch in the living space the night before. He'd held Theo in his arms as his son sobbed and clung to him. He hadn't been a dangerous HYDRA agent then. No, he'd been a scared kid seeking comfort from his father. Say what you will about Steve's ability to detect lies, but he knows for a fact that it hadn't been an act.

He knows, and that makes Theo's absence feel that much larger.

Steve pushes himself up, blinking in sunlight from the partly-dimmed windows. Bucky is still asleep, curled up on the right-arm chaise at the other end of the couch. The bun he had his hair in has come partly undone, leaving locks of dark brown hair hanging messily around his face. Steve smiles at the sight, seeing Bucky able to sleep peacefully at least some of the time.

"Good morning, Glavnaya [Главная; Home]."

Steve looks up in surprise. "Rebecca."

"Indeed."

"Do… Do you know where Theo is?"

It's a stupid question, now that he thinks about it. Of course the AI would know where her creator is. Even if Theo didn't tell her, Rebecca has access to the tower's cameras.

"He has requested that no one know where in the tower he is," Rebecca replies.

Steve nods tiredly. He sort of expected that. If Theo had just disappeared while he and Bucky were sleeping, he probably doesn't want to see them or anyone else. It hurts like salt in an open wound, but Steve can understand it. Theo is torn open and laid bare, and he wants space to get a chance to cover his vulnerabilities. Steve can give him space; not happily, but he can.

"Did Theo enable you here?" he asks to distract himself.

"No," Rebecca answers. She appears above the coffee table in front of him, her smile cheerful and cheeky. "I like you, though, so I enabled myself. JARVIS is still active on this floor, if you prefer asking him for help."

"It is my job to be of assistance to the residents of this tower," JARVIS says with a hint of annoyed disdain in his voice. "I would appreciate it if you would not interfere."

"It's my job to protect my creator and his friends," Rebecca retorts. "So don't expect me to let your residents hurt them."

"I would expect nothing less from another intelligence like myself."

Steve feels a small smile curve up his lips. The banter is rather amusing, after all. It seems the two AIs will be figuring out how they can both do their jobs while navigating each other. He can see how this will be entertaining, disastrous, or both.

"Good morning, Dusha." Rebecca interrupts Steve's thoughts, prompting him to look over to where Bucky is blinking blearily and pushing himself upright. "Time is seven-thirteen, forty-one seconds as of… now. As far as I've gathered, there are no immediate chores or missions—"

"I got it, Reb," Bucky waves a tired hand, yawning. "Thanks. I don't think I need all that anymore when I wake up."

"Noted," the AI replies with a sceptical raise of her brow. "And the name Dusha?"

Bucky blinks at her for a long moment. "It can stay. I like it."

"Wonderful."

Then she disappears. Bucky remains staring at the place Rebecca was for a moment, giving Steve a chance to wrap his head around what just happened. One, Rebecca must have a routine of sorts for when Bucky—or the Winter Soldier, he supposes—woke when Rebecca was around. Two, Bucky accepted Theo's nickname for him when they weren't in the circumstances the name was used in.

Steve smiles to himself, feeling it build in his chest as his lips tug upwards; it's just another piece that Bucky's collecting of things he can salvage and wants to keep. And while Steve stamps out any flickering ember of jealousy for the relationship between Bucky and Theo, he is genuinely grateful that they had each other. Which reminds him…

"Buck?" Bucky doesn't make a sound as he rubs his eyes, but Steve knows he's listening as he continues, "Do you know what Glavnaya means?"

"Glavnaya?" Bucky repeats. He thinks for a second before replying, "It's Russian. Means home. A version of it, anyway. Why?"

"Just something Rebecca said… You have names for each other, right?"

Bucky nods, now staring at a spot on the floor. "I call him Serdtse. It means heart. And he calls me Dusha. Soul. I remember… We were all that each other had."

Then, without another word, Bucky stands and disappears down the hallway. Steve hears the sound of his door closing and then Bucky moving around inside, faintly asking "Reb, you said you had footage of my time awake?", and then Steve stops listening.

He holds in the sigh of longing. He's not naive enough to think that one night of falling asleep together will magically conjure up and restore the relationship he once had with Bucky, or with Theo for that matter. It would take time to get to that point, Steve knows that, but if time could hurry the hell up, he'd be much happier.

•••

Barnes sits silently on the couch in the tower's common room. Steve is across from him taking up the love seat, back against the armrest and legs bent to form a support for the sketchbook in his lap.

The others are around as well. Tony sits at the dining table, various holograms surrounding him as he mumbles rapidly to his cup of coffee on the table in front of him. Bruce, Wilson, Barton and Thor are playing some sort of game on the television, and Barnes has seen Romanoff—sitting on the back of the couch behind Thor—whispering hints and cheats to the god a number of times now as she intricately braids his hair.

Serdtse and the two he brought, Pietro and Wanda, are not present. When asked, JARVIS said the Maximoffs are on their floor, and that he can't reveal Serdtse's location due to 'a pesky annoyance that's interfering with his access to the speaker system.' Rebecca did allow JARVIS to say that Serdtse wasn't causing any harm though.

Barnes' mind feels… strange. Like something woke up, or like a locked box dragged forwards and had its contents haphazardly dumped onto the floor. He's still working on sorting through the messy pile, and everything he finds is important in some way, adding another piece to his memory.

Missions with Serdtse; HYDRA agents mentioning the Black Infiltrator in passing, then snips of their conversation following; malfunctions about his life Before that were then archived; the few rare times he became lucid enough to remember and repeated Serdtse's name in his head repeatedly, taking in as much of his surroundings as possible to remember; and—

"He has trigger words." Barnes looks up, his eyes wide. "He has trigger words too."

It's silent for a moment, but then the Avengers are close enough to listen properly, gazes somber and serious and goddamn, he doesn't like it at all. It reminds him of mission reports, given in the depths of HYDRA bases with blood or gun powder residue on his hands more often than not.

Barnes looks down at his hands now, flexing his fingers and trying to find the feeling of blood where there is none. No blood. No agents. No maintenance.

Safety. Tower. Steve.

"He has triggers," Barnes says again, softer this time.

His mind races, trying to piece together the dust-covered memory. His hands move in small gestures in front of him, helping him visualize the pieces and where they fit. None of the seven gathered around him speak, letting him get his thoughts together and for that, he's grateful. But he first needs to—

"Reb, does he know?" Barnes asks softly, looking up to the ceiling. "Does Serdtse know?"

The AI doesn't reply for a long moment. Barnes starts to think she won't reply, when she appears over the coffee table in front of him. Her gaze is hard, mouth set into a frown.

"No," she says slowly. "He doesn't know. I didn't either. It makes sense, however. A back-up plan in case the Infiltrator went rogue and needed to be… leashed."

"Don't tell him," Barnes murmurs. He glances around at the Avengers before returning his gaze to Rebecca. "Just in case we… In case. And to prevent his stress. Don't know if there's a way to remove them."

Rebecca hums in dubious thought. "Well, I suppose HYDRA does still think we're hunting you, so they have no reason to use them… Very well. If the General is in danger of the triggers being used, I will tell him, however." Barnes nods in understanding and Rebecca continues, a worried tone now in her voice. "You wouldn't happen to remember the words, or where you heard of their existence, would you, Dusha?"

Slowly, Barnes shakes his head. "Don't know the words… Just heard he had them… It was after a mission. Serdtse acted out and… they were putting me back in cryo. Said if the Infiltrator kept being reckless, they might need to use the words."

Rebecca hums in thought, gives him a thankful nod, and then disappears.

"What would the words trigger?" Romanoff asks. Her voice is steel, expression hard. There's a flash of small, scabbed knuckles and hastily suppressed tears in Barnes' mind, from when she was young Krasnyy, but he shakes the image away. "The Winter Soldier is a machine following orders. What about the Black Infiltrator?"

"Probably the same," Barnes replies. "But…"

"But what, Buck?" Steve asks gently.

Barnes blinks at him slowly, and Serdtse was right. There's a scream echoing deep inside his soul, a weeping sob and a horrified cry. Bucky Barnes screams and wails and pounds on the walls of the glass cage sunk to the bottom of the ocean that is his polluted mind, but none of it makes it to the surface.

"They didn't need the words to make him follow orders," he murmurs eventually. "They relied on… hope that he would be like you. Give him a cause he believed in… and he would do it all himself."

"I'm not like—"

"Yes, you damn well are," he cuts Steve off with a glare worthy of Bucky Barnes. Bubbles of a scream rise to the ocean's surface and a potent feeling of… something explodes in his veins and before he can think, he's snapping, "You look me in the eye and tell me that when you were in danger of being murdered by a strong wind—"Tony and Barton both snort in laughter but Barnes pays them no mind—"you didn't still dive head first into any goddamn fight you could get your hands on."

"Alright, Buck, maybe I—"

"Maybe, he says." Barnes laughs sarcastically before jabbing a finger at Steve. "You had no fucking plan when you took on a full HYDRA base in Azzano."

At that, anger sparks in Steve's eyes and he snaps, "That was different and you know it. That was dozens of men in danger."

"And there's the point," Barnes retorts, splaying his hands out in sarcastic triumph. "You fight tooth and nail for something that's important to you. Don't give a damn about anything else."

Barnes sees the way Steve's lips purse. It's the way they do when Steve wants to argue but can't because it's true. His hands tighten on his sketchbook, an outline of a shattered, burned and torn HYDRA logo glaring at the ceiling. Above the wretched logo is the pristine shape of the symbol that's become known as belonging to the Avengers, and surrounding it, a star that's been gently shaded in.

"We still need to look for a way to get rid of the triggers," Barton says, cutting into Barnes' thoughts. His eyes are hard, lips pulled into a thin line. "I may not trust the kid, but no one deserves having their control taken away."

Thor nods sombrely, "'Tis a most heinous crime. We need a plan in case Young Rogers is… triggered is the right word, correct?"

"It is," Wilson says. "But as for a plan—"

"Steve," Barnes bursts out before he can think.

"Yeah, Buck?" the man asks worriedly.

He shakes his head and tries to explain. "A plan… To reach through… You…" When the words don't come, he scowls. He twists his hands together, trying to piece words together when he gets an idea. "Reb, can you show the Vault? Ah, that one wipe?"

"Of course, Dusha," the AI replies, and the television nearby lights up.

Barnes fails to suppress a shiver as the Vault appears on the screen. It's a tape from a camera mounted in a ceiling corner, with a clear view of the Chair in the opposite corner of the room below. The tape is in full colour too, no overlying hue to draw away from the nightmare.

It starts with various HYDRA agents around the room, guards and scientists all moving around in a flurry of work. He—no, the Winter Soldier—sits in the Chair, gazing blankly ahead of him. The Soldier jerks suddenly, knocking back one of the scientists working on his metal arm. He gets a gun aimed at him just as Head-Hand— Not Head-Handler, he's dead. Pierce is dead and Barnes is free.

He is not under HYDRA's control.

"Sir," the scientist says as Pierce comes to a stop in front of the Soldier, "He's...he's unstable. Erratic."

Pierce says nothing in reply, only gives the Soldier a glare before demanding, "Mission report." The Soldier doesn't reply, seemingly deep in thought when Pierce strikes him in the face. "Mission report, now."

Barnes doesn't miss the quiet growl Steve gives. He sees the way Barton's fists tighten, and he manages not to flinch when Romanoff places a hand on his flesh shoulder, her thumb digging into his skin. She says nothing but he knows what the gesture is for, a grounding method, and while he doesn't make any gesture to acknowledge it, he is grateful.

"The man on the bridge…" The Soldier finally turns his head, meeting Pierce's eyes. "Who was he?"

Pierce's back is to the camera, but the way his shoulders tense is still visible as he tightly replies, "You met him earlier this week on another assignment."

The Soldier blinks slowly and whispers, "I knew him."

Steve coughs suddenly, his eyes wide as he looks over at Barnes. "You meant just me talking is enough to break through the brainwashing."

Barnes nods silently, not even looking at him. Instead, his eyes have become locked on the screen, much like what happened the first time he watched the recording. It hurts to watch, but he can't look away. Mortal souls need to watch the gruesome details, to see that the truth is just as bad as what the brain may conjure when details are missing. It's clearer now, Barnes can almost hear Pierce's voice through his own memory rather than the speaker, but there's still grain and fuzz and pain blocking most of the details.

"—But, if you don't do your part, I can't do mine," Pierce is saying, "And HYDRA can't give the world the freedom it deserves."

"Freedom, my ass," Steve mutters, scowl firmly planted on his face.

The Soldier frowns, looking hopelessly lost in a way that weighs heavily in the air. "But I knew him."

Pierce scowls, turning away from the Soldier and ordering, "Prep him."

"He's been out of cryo-freeze too long," protests one of the scientists.

"Then wipe him and start over."

Barnes feels his breath catch. He can feel the ghost of pain shrieking in his skull, thundering through his blood and electrifying his nerves. The fear of knowing he had something important, he knew the man on the bridge, and they were going to take it away.

They always tore things away.

His fingernails dig into his palm as the Soldier obediently sits back in the Chair and the machine stirs to life. The scream he makes is like a skewer being plunged into his ears. It feels like something in his chest is being strangled, like something is being sucked out of his very soul. It makes his throat turn dry and makes his eyes sting with tears.

"Oh my god," he hears Barton whisper. "That's… That's so fucking messed up."

Bruce's jaw is clenched, his fists tight at his sides as Thor and Tony try to distract him. Barton and Wilson are silent, both looking horrified. Steve sits as still as a tiger lying in wait, power coiling in his body as he remains staring at the screen. Romanoff's hand on Barnes' shoulder squeezes tightly, a reminder that he is not in that goddamn vault. He's not there, and he's not going to go back. The footage has stopped, leaving a still image of the Soldier's pain on the screen.

Never going to go back.

Steve stands suddenly, pacing in front of the love seat with a tightness in his muscles. "Where is that?" he asks, and his voice is uncharacteristically cold as he points at the frozen image on the television screen. "It's gotta be around DC, but where exactly is it?"

"Cap, you're not gonna—"

"Yes, I damn-well am," Steve interrupts. Tony's eyes are wide, mouth open to continue arguing when Steve beats him to it, "It's a HYDRA base. Captain America fights HYDRA. I'm taking that shit down, Tony. It's not hurting anybody. Ever again."

Tony remains silent for a long moment, his lips pursed as he meets Steve's stare head on. The rest of the room is tense, waiting for one of the men to break. Steve's stance is wide and ready for a fight, his arms crossed across his chest and a scowl on his lips. Tony is leaning against the end of the couch, stance much more relaxed but expression pulled tight.

"If not in HYDRA's load of now-public files, there's a small chance the location might be in SHIELD's files," Tony says finally. He wipes a hand down his face and ducks his head. "I have copies of all of it and… Fuck, I'm sorry, Cap. All of you, I'm sorry."

Steve's brows furrow, his muscles relaxing as confusion overtakes his features. "What? Why? You didn't do anything wrong."

"Yeah, Cap, I did," Tony retorts. Now he's the one pacing, making wild gestures in the air as he goes. "I hack SHIELD when I'm bored. I've saved all of their files onto a hard drive for shits and giggles. I never saw what was really going on. And don't say there was nothing to see, because I looked through it after… after you nearly died in DC, and there are some things in there that throw some goddamn red flags."

"You couldn't have known—" Steve tries.

"Actually, yeah, I could have," Tony cuts him off by holding a finger up. "But I didn't. And I couldn't even help when it came down to it."

"You know, Stark," Rebecca says suddenly. "You did do something."

Tony purses his lips as glares at the AI above the coffee table, "And what's that?"

Rebecca smiles dryly. "You didn't allow SHIELD to access your suit's technology or blueprints. Which in turn—"

"Kept HYDRA from getting them," Barnes finishes, looking up at Tony from his place on the couch.

Tony looks pale now, running a hand through his hair and going back to pacing, "Fucking hell, I never even thought about that. It's like HYDRA's fucking everywhere."

"I assure you, that for the most part, we— Fuck, they are."

Barnes whips his head around to see that the image on the television has changed to what looks like a video call. Serdtse is sitting cross-legged on what looks like a mattress on the floor. The device he's using, likely his laptop, is on the mattress in front of him. Behind him is what looks like a large pile of pillows and blankets, one of such pillows in Serdtse's lap.

"Is that my soft-things room?" Tony demands, more shocked than angry. "You're supposed to be a scary HYDRA fucker, what the hell?"

Serdtse's expression goes blank as he deadpans, "This means nothing. Fear me."

"No," Barnes replies bluntly before he can think.

He doesn't miss the way Steve huffs out a laugh before he's asking, "How long were you listening?"

"Not long at all," Serdtse replies. He smiles slyly, a catlike grin that promises mischief. "Reb said you want to take down the Vault. I'm in; the place is shit. It's not really a base, mostly just a prison for Dusha. Sooner it's gone, the better."

"You're agreeing to give up information just like that?" Wilson asks suspiciously.

Serdtse shrugs. "Those shit-gobblers can rot in hell for all I care. Besides my personal vendetta, I agreed to give you any information you request as long as Pietro and Wanda are under your protection."

"Still doesn't mean you're telling the truth," Barton points out.

"It's alright, guys," Steve cuts in. Barnes glances over at him, not expecting him to speak. "I trust him. Where's this Vault, Theo?"

Despite the various protests about Steve's sudden (sudden to them at least) trust in the Black Infiltrator, Serdtse's grin widens.

•••

"Alright, Speedy, you ready?"

From the footage of the quinjet, Barnes sees Pietro smirk widely and nod. "I'll race you there."

Across the table from Barnes, Wanda huffs a small laugh. On his left, Serdtse is scanning through something on his laptop, his expression tense and his lips pursed in concentration. Across from Serdtse, Thor is paying rapt attention to the live footage of the quinjet playing on the screen of the conference room. On Barnes' right, Bruce is on the phone with Barton, while across from him, Wilson makes some small talk with Wanda.

It didn't take long for Steve, Tony, Romanoff, and Barton to get themselves ready. Convincing them to let Pietro tag along took slightly longer, but the speedster could be useful and it meant one less thing for them to be worried about back in the tower, with only Thor, Bruce and Wilson staying behind with Barnes and two untrusted former HYDRA agents.

Serdtse gave up information on the Vault with no complaints, only the request that he got to be their tech person, the one sitting back behind a screen with eyes on everything. He's good at that, Barnes remembers. That's what Serdtse did most when they were on missions together. Serdtse stayed back near the extraction point and acted as a voice in his ear, guiding him, warning him, and occasionally, making humorous remarks.

Steve agreed to let Serdtse be the voice in his ear this time, and he managed to convince the other three Avengers to allow it too. They were all hesitant, not trusting that Serdtse wouldn't lead them into a trap. Barnes saw how Steve scowled at that. Pietro didn't need convincing.

"We're ready," Steve's voice is clear over the room's speakers as he puts his earpiece in. He still sounds angry, but the tone of Captain America is clear in his voice. "Any new changes from what we planned, Theo?"

"The patrol has changed shifts," Serdtse replies, "But the pattern is still the same. Most of the shitbags— I mean scientists— No, I definitely mean shitbags who call themselves scientists, are still in the main lab. They're fairly well-guarded, the five of you should do fine though. They're brain, not brawn."

Barnes sees Steve nod on the screen. "Then we'll stick with the plan."

"Take out the patrolling agents then go for the lab," Romanoff confirms. Steve nods again and she continues, "JARVIS, how's the camera-hacking?"

"The Black Infiltrator finished while you were still in the air," JARVIS replies in the quinjet. Barnes doesn't miss the sardonic tone in the AI's voice and it makes the Soldier scowl. Serdtse is good. Serdtse means safe. "All cameras in the building are playing a loop made by the irritating pain in my code."

"I have a name, thank you," Rebecca cuts in. "But it's not a loop; it's a continuous video to appear as though patrol and movement in the building is continuing as it should. The cameras themselves are still recording, but all data is being sent to my General and being deleted from the building's records."

"Great," Steve says. "I'm going."

"Wha— Cap!"

Steve practically sprints out of the quinjet and around to the back entrance of the Vault's bank-facade, leaving Pietro, Tony, Romanoff and Barton to race after him. In the tower, the screen on the wall shuts off and instead, various holograms of different camera feeds appear in a cluster. The lights dim, making the holograms easier to see. Serdtse stands from his seat to move closer, face set in a sly, anticipating smirk.

"Time to get this show on the road, apparently," Serdtse sings to himself.

As he watches Steve use his shield to break into the building, Barnes feels a rising storm suddenly thunder in his chest. Watching Steve race ahead of his team makes the dark ocean in Barnes' mind grow turbulent, waves of angry whispers from a drowned ghost growing taller as Steve moves. The first time Steve encounters a HYDRA agent in the first lightning strike.

Barnes barely registers the words before they're coming out of his mouth with a growl. "Steven Grant Rogers, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What the shit always does," Tony replies through grit teeth, letting Barnes know he isn't the only one frustrated with Steve's actions. "Charges in like a goddamn bull."

"Get your ass back to your team, Rogers," Barnes hisses, thunder loud in his ears. "That's an order."

"You can't order me aro—"

"Yes, I damn well can." Barnes' fists are tight and he would be dragging Steve back himself if he were there. "You never charge so fucking recklessly and leave your team unprotected. You wanna tell me you've been playing reckless your entire goddamn time in this century?"

Barnes watches as Steve visibly pauses. It's not a long pause, but it gives enough time for Tony to catch up to him. Pietro, Barton and Romanoff have split off into their own trio to hunt down more agents in the halls. The idiot with a shield shakes his head and continues stalking down the hall like an angry lion.

"Is that really what he's been doing?" Bruce asks with wide eyes. "He's always been reckless with us?"

Barnes scowls and purses his lips, but it doesn't stop the feeling that it's a ghost speaking through his body. "If he always charges in like that, he's being a reckless shit. Steve never leaves the Commandos unprotected. He sticks close to shield us."

"But why wouldn't he do that here?" Barton asks. There's a grunt, then the sound of a gunshot before he continues, "Because we can hold our own?"

"I—"

"You've been depressed," Barnes bluntly cuts Steve off, fists resting on the glass table in front of him. The thunder in his chest settles for a torrential rain of harsh realization. "We're talking about this when you get back, Rogers."

"Buck—"

"Barton, the next vent grate below you." Serdtse cuts him off this time with a voice of stone. The holograms of the camera feeds surround him in a semicircle, letting Serdtse see everything. "Stark, Rogers, to the left. Pietro, Romanoff, trying to sneak up behind you from the way you came."

As Serdtse continues guiding the team, Barnes allows himself to retreat into his thoughts. The ghost possessing his body has loosened its hold but he can still feel icy fingers and growling anger and white noise. It's an unnerving feeling. It's… It's scary.

Bucky Barnes is clawing to the surface of the scene he's trying to build of himself, a scene built on an unmarked grave with an undead soul waking up six feet under the dirt. It's surprising, but it… It's not exactly unexpected. Barnes always had… a suspicion, that as more memories were carefully placed in the scene, he would disturb the ghost that owned the scene first.

Now he has to find a way to coexist peacefully. He is healing and quiet, but he is tentatively relaxed and warily hopeful and eagerly learning too. The ghost is horrified and hurt, but it is incredibly protective and lovingly caring and fiercely loyal as well. And really, their combination isn't so bad. The Winter Soldier is still watching from the dark recesses of his mind, but… maybe opening the other cage and shining the light on the ghost instead…

A tendril of red magic travels across the table surface, lightly tapping his fingers and instantly sending a soft wave of calm and ease through his veins. When he looks up to the other side of the table, Wanda gives him a small, shy smile.

Bucky smiles back.