Chapter six
Tracey rolled her eyes as she shook her head. At the kitchen counter glaring and pouting were Barry and Tony. Their eyes were trained on the dark haired man sitting in the living room. Tony glared as he took a sip of his scotch, mumbling something incoherent. Barry sat at the counter arms across his chest. Clearly neither one was happy with the guest.
"Can you two behave?" Tracey hissed before walking over to the man. "Dave?" she said, standing next to him.
"Huh?" he grunted, taking a swig of the beer in his hand. He was watching a football game and his eyes were glued to it.
"Can we start packing? I need help moving my things out. That's why I called you," she said, trying desperately to get him up.
"Half time, I promise," he said, waving a hand, still not taking his eyes off the TV.
"See?" Tony said to Barry. "This is one of the reasons I don't like him. Whenever he visits Tracey here he will sit his ass down on the couch, watch TV, and eat my food."
"Yeah," Barry grumbled. "But I think you're just annoyed he's drinking the beer."
"No, if he was drinking anything else, I'd be annoyed," Tony corrected, lifting his glass up for emphasis.
Tracey rolled her eyes again, throwing her hands in the air, groaning as she made her way back to the kitchen area. Sitting at the table to the right of the counter, just so she wouldn't have to look at Tony and Barry glaring, she pulled her laptop in front of her. She shook her head again before placing it against her palm.
She liked Dave, he was her boyfriend after all. But it was moments like these where she questioned why she dated him. She glanced over at him again as he yelled at the screen about some bad call. She turned back to her computer, staring at it unsure what to do while she waited for her boyfriend. She settled on looking up recipes via Pinterest.
Just as she began writing one down in her notebook the elevator doors opened revealing Sam.
"Hey, girl," Sam greeted Tracey. He peered over her shoulder and grinned. "If you're finding recipes I expect a home cooked meal from you," he teased.
Tracey giggled. "Maybe another day. I'm waiting for Dave to finish his game so we can pack," she said, gesturing to said boyfriend.
"Oh so that's Dave," Sam said. He walked over to the couch, a smile on his face. "Hey, I'm Sam," he said, extending his hand. "Tracey mentioned you a few days ago. It's nice to meet you."
Dave looked at Sam's hand before looking up at him. There was nearly a glare on his face. He stood up abruptly and practically stormed over to Tracey. "Come on."
She blinked up at him. "Excuse me?"
"Do you want to pack or not?" he growled.
"I thought you were watching your game?"
"I said come on," he said, grabbing her arm.
She yanked her arm out of his grasp as they headed to the elevator. They passed Steve and Bucky as the two friends got off the elevator.
"Hey, Steve. Hey, Bucky," she greeted with a smile only to be nudged along by Dave.
"You living with all these guys, I don't like it," Dave said, glaring at Steve and Bucky. Steve frowned, putting the hand that he began to wave with down. Bucky narrowed his eyes, not trusting this new person. "This new apartment of yours will be better than this. It's like a frat house!" he hissed as the doors closed.
Steve raised an eyebrow, shaking his head as he and Bucky walked over to Tony and Barry. "Its great to see Dave again," he said with an eye roll.
"Yeah…great," Barry grumbled as he placed his cheek against his hand. "I just wish they'd break up. He's not that nice to her."
"He's not nice to anyone," Tony added.
"So he's always like this," Sam said, more of a restatement than a question.
"Pretty much," Barry said, standing up and taking the seat Dave had just previously occupied. "And now that he is gone, I'm taking control of the TV." He grinned and waved a video game in the air. "Who wants to challenge me?"
"Oh no way," Sam said with a grin, taking the box in his hands. "I remember playing Super Smash as a kid! Best game ever!"
"I'm taking you both down," Tony said, taking the seat between them.
Steve rolled his eyes with an amused smile as he set about the kitchen fixing himself a cup of coffee. "Want some, Bucky?"
"Sure," Bucky replied, pulling up a stool at the counter.
He turned around and watched the three men curiously as they yelled at each other. On the screen were a bunch of strange looking creatures and people fighting each other on some floating platform. He raised an eyebrow only to furrow it in confusion. The twenty first century was a weird place.
"Yeah, I don't get the whole video games thing either," Steve said, placing a mug in front of Bucky as he took the seat next to him. "But you have to admit, it's pretty amazing how far technology has come."
Bucky continued to stare at the screen, nodding his head after a moment. "It's…strange…"
"Yeah…," Steve said, taking a sip of his coffee. "You get used to it though, trust me." He patted his friend's shoulder, giving him a reassuring smile.
"Are they playing video games again?" Pepper asked as she got off the elevator with Bruce. She was carrying a bit of a handful of papers and folders as she walked over to the counter. She shook her head, staring at her boyfriend and the other two men with him as she set the papers down. "Three grown men playing games meant for children."
"It is a bit childish," Bruce said with a humorous smile, "but it's a pretty good way to relieve some stress and have a somewhat normal life away from all the Avengers' duties."
"Bruce has a pretty good point," Steve said with a laugh. "Having to protect everyone almost on a daily basis, it's nice to have a time to relax and have fun."
Pepper sighed, but smiled. "I know, but it's mostly the fact that I need Tony to look over some documents and to get ready for a meeting in a few hours."
"Pepper, it's Tony," Steve said. "He always procrastinates and somehow is miraculously ready at the very last second. Why don't you take a break?"
"I would, but I need to get some files organized and put into the Stark Industries database. I also need to give Tracey the flash drive for the SHIELD files," she said, holding up a small black thumb drive. "Have you seen her? I thought she was up here last I checked."
"You just missed her," Barry spoke up in a disgruntled tone. "She and Dave just went to her floor to get her things packed."
"No worries," Tony said. "JARVIS!"
"Yes, sir," came the accented voice of the AI.
"Can you get Tracey to come up here? Let her know Pepper is looking for her."
"Right away, sir."
Pepper rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Tony, but you could have let her pack."
"And let her be harassed by that boyfriend of hers? I think I did the smart thing of freeing her," he said, giving her a quick grin before turning back to the game and yelling at Sam as his character flew off the screen.
Pepper shook her head, leaning against the counter. "So how have you two been?" she asked Steve and Bucky.
"Good. Bucky has been getting a good bit or memories back," he said. Bucky gave a faint smile in reply. "We actually went to our old neighborhood the other day," Steve continued.
Pepper smiled brightly. "That's great to hear," she said just as Tracey came walking off the elevator with a box in her hands.
"Sorry, Pepper," she said, setting the box next to her laptop. She pulled out the chair, taking a seat next to the red head.
"It's not a problem. I actually forgot you were moving out today," she said, waving her hand with a small laugh, "and Tony went ahead and called you up here before I could stop him." She sighed as she heard the three men yelling as they continued to play their game. "It's going to be a lot harder keeping these boys in line with you gone."
Tracey laughed. "Hey, you still have Steve and Bruce. Sam's not bad and I'll still be here during the day."
"I know," Pepper smiled. "But it's nice having another woman living here twenty four seven."
"There's always Natasha, wherever she is," Tracey added. She slid her computer in front of her. "Right, so, JARVIS said you needed me?"
"Yes, I have the thumb drive for the SHIELD files," she said, extracting the device from among the folders and papers she had been going through. "If you can just put them all on here when you're done that'd be great help for Tony. Keep them in one place instead of on every computer of his, you know?"
"Of course," Tracey laughed, taking the drive. "Thanks for the flash drive. Also if you need any help with files or anything when I'm done just let me know," she said with a smile.
Pepper sighed with a smile. "Thanks, I might take you up on that offer." She gathered up the papers and folders, stacking them into a neat pile. "Well, I have to get going. Sorry, I can't stay and talk more, which I'd honestly love to do and have a break, but I have a meeting in about an hour that I need to get ready for."
"No, problem. How about we get lunch tomorrow?" she offered.
"Sounds great!"
"Awesome! Oh and sorry for Dave. I heard you bumped into him when he came into the lobby. I'm really sorry if he snapped at you," Tracey said, her eyes filled with apology.
Pepper waved her hand, dismissing the younger woman. "Not a problem, Tracey. I've been in a rush today so I bumped into him on accident."
"That punk yelled at you?" Tony said, standing up from the couch and approaching the two women. His face was furrowed in distaste. "He needs to learn to treat people with respect."
Tracey's face scrunched up apologetically as she lowered her head closer to her shoulders, shrinking away from the two. "I'm sorry about him…"
Pepper glared at Tony before turning back to Tracey. "Sweetie, it's okay. Don't worry about it. Anyways, like I said I have a meeting to get to so I will see you later." She turned and gave Tony a quick kiss before departing to the elevator.
Tony clapped his hands together as he made his way to the bar, pouring himself a drink. He peered over at Tracey as she set to work on her laptop. "How's it coming along?"
"I just finished," she said. "I was able to get the last of them while I was waiting for Dave to come over. I just have to put them on the flash drive and everything is set."
Tony grinned. "I knew I could count on you, Picassa."
"Great job, Tracey," Bruce said with a smile as Tracey rolled her eyes at the other nickname out of many she was given.
Tracey smiled at the men before turning back to her computer. She blinked. She thought she saw something change on the screen. Her brow furrowed as she scanned the files listed. She kept it up for a couple of minutes before her eyes widened a bit. "Uh guys," she called out. "There's a problem."
"What kind of a problem?" Sam asked, him and Barry looking over the back of the couch. Dexter let out a small yip, trying to bring the attention back to him.
"Like 'There's a file missing and I don't know where it went' problem," she said, carrying her laptop over to the counter.
This caught everyone's attention. Tony took her laptop as Steve and Bruce stood behind him. Sam and Barry followed, Dexter – of course – right behind trying to get the men to pay him attention.
"Which one?" Steve asked, his brow furrowed slightly as he searched the screen like everyone else.
Tracey hesitated, arching her brows in worry as she looked from Steve to Tony and everyone else. She even caught a glimpse of Bucky looking at her, waiting to hear the answer, from her peripheral. She chewed her bottom lip before speaking. "It's the file on the helicarrier blueprints."
The reactions varied between all the men, but worry and anger were shared among them. Tony's brow furrowed as he looked from file to file. Steve was now standing next to Tony to get a better look at the screen. Sam, Bruce, and Barry stood to the side with arms crossed and on hips as they waited to hear from Tony or Steve if it was in fact true. Bucky tensed and eyed the computer warily, flashes of the DCX incident crossed his mind.
"Are you positive it's not there?" Tony asked, still scanning the file names.
Tracey nodded her head. "I've looked over each file at least three times. It just disappeared."
"This isn't good," Steve muttered. "After everything that happened in DC, that's the one file that should be kept safe from others to see."
"I can trace the data stream," Tracey said, sliding her computer in front of her, "and see what happened to it. Give me a few."
"How can a file just disappear?" Barry said, turning to Steve and Tony.
Steve furrowed his brow as he thought for a moment. "Do you think someone hacked into her computer?"
"If Tracey can do it, there's bound to be someone equally skilled as her out there," Bruce said, crossing his arms. "It's possible."
"It is," Tracey said, her voice in shocked horror. She stared at the glowing screen wide eyed. "Someone did hack into my computer…and you're not going to like who it is."
"It can't be AIM, can it?" Tony said, glaring as he moved to stand next to her again.
Tracey shook her head. "…It's HYDRA."
"What?" Barry exclaimed.
"They're still around?" Sam said, moving closer to get a look at the computer.
Steve glared at the screen, the symbol representing the organization clear as day on it. "We didn't exactly take them all out," he said. "But after everything that happened, I didn't think they'd still be around, let alone try anything like this." He caught a glimpse of Bucky in the chair next to him. He was rigid in his seat, eyes wide as he stared at the symbol. He knew his friend could only be witnessing everything that had happened to him while with them in his head. He squeezed Bucky's shoulder, a solemn look on his face as his friend quickly looked up at him. There was fear in his eyes. He squeezed Bucky's shoulder again before he turned back to the group. "Obviously they are trying to recreate the helicarriers and carry out the same plan they had in mind back in DC. Right now all we can do is get that file back from them before they can do anything." He looked to Tracey. "How fast can you get the file back?"
Tracey chewed her cheek as she thought. "It could take a couple of days, maybe a week. It all depends on how secure their mainframe is and knowing that it's HYDRA, it's most likely going to be tightly secured."
"But you're able to do it?"
"Of course, but like I said, who knows how long it will take."
"That's fine. As long as we get the file before they can do any serious damage will work," Steve said. He was in his captain mode as Tony liked to call it. When something as serious as this was happening he'd be in action, coming up with the plans to get everything done. He was praying that Tracey would be able to get the file before they started constructing the helicarriers.
It was silent, except for Tracey's rapid typing as she had set to work already. The situation was laying heavy in the air and any fun, happy mood minutes ago was long gone.
Barry was the first to speak, clearing his throat. "Well I'm not sure what more we can do at the moment, but I'm going to head to the gym downstairs and get a work out in." He turned to Sam. "Care to join?"
"Sounds like a plan," he replied. "I saw a bit of it when I was walking around the other day. There's a boxing ring and I want to see if I can whoop your ass in a round," he grinned as the two headed towards the elevator.
A few minutes later Bruce spoke up next. "Tony," he said, turning to the darker haired man. "I actually came up here to ask you for some help with something down in the lab. With what just happened I kinda forgot."
Tony smiled. "Alright, Science Bros back in action!" He slung an arm around the other scientist's shoulder as he and Bruce walked to the elevator. "Let's go, Brucie."
The once crowded floor was silent again now that the four men had left. Now there was only Steve, Bucky, and Tracey (and Dexter, who was curled up on the floor next to her feet) at the kitchen counter. Like before the only sound was Tracey on her computer as she began her work on retrieving the helicarrier blueprints. Next to her was Steve and Bucky. Steve sat with his hands folded in front of his face as he stared ahead, thinking. Bucky on the other hand was still silent and rigid in his seat.
The silence was broken yet again with someone clearing their throat. Both Tracey and Bucky looked up at Steve as he stood from his seat.
"I guess all we can do now is wait." He pursed his lips and looked at Tracey. "I'm sorry I'm putting this much stress on you. I hate getting you involved in this."
Tracey shook her head, eyes closed as she had a small smirk on her face. She held up her hand to stop him from saying anything else. "Steve, if I didn't want to be involved I would have refused the minute you suggested it to me. Heck, I would have refused Tony's job of getting the SHIELD files back. I know I'm not super powered or trained to fight like you guys, but I'd like to help contribute to the team in some way. If hacking and getting files is how I can help then so be it."
Steve smiled warmly at her. "Thanks, Tracey. And you're more help to the team than you realize. But again, I am sorry for putting this much stress on you."
"It's not a big deal," she said, waving her hand at him. "It's going to be my fault when I refuse to sleep even when breaks are offered." She laughed making Steve chuckling with her.
His stomach growled making both of them laugh. "Well I'm going to make some lunch. Do you want anything?"
"Mmm…" she hummed in thought. "Just a sandwich, if its alright with you."
"Not a problem," he smiled.
He set about the kitchen letting Tracey get back to her work and Bucky still sitting silently in his chair. He glanced over at her computer again, fear filled eyes soon being replaced with anger. His face turned to a glare as he continued to stare at the symbol. The symbol for the one group that made him a monster. They made him into a killer, wiped his mind of his entire life. His friends, his family. The moments of him and Steve growing up together. All gone, but slowly coming back. He glanced at his left arm. The arm that they cut off and replaced with the metal arm that he had now. He hated it. This arm had been used to kill innocent lives. Lives that he took. He glared at the red star that was adorned at the top of his upper arm.
Looking up he watched as Steve prepared the sandwiches. He watched as his friend placed a knife next to a bottle of mustard as he turned back to rummage through the fridge. Bucky glanced from the knife to the star. His eyes narrowed before he grabbed the knife.
He hated this arm. If he was stuck with it he at least was going to get rid of one of the things that made him the Winter Soldier.
He scraped at the star, trying to get the paint off with the knife. He was successful at getting a bit of paint off with just a few scrapes and scratches, but while he did the metal knife against the metal arm made a blaring screech.
Tracey looked up from her work and turned to the man next to her. She watched as he used the knife to get the star on his arm off. She pursed her lips knowing the exact reasoning behind his actions. She understood, but that screeching had to stop. She got up and went to the box at the kitchen table and rummaged through it. She smiled and exclaimed "Aha!" as she pulled out a plastic bottle with a purple liquid in it and a bag of cotton balls.
She walked back over to Bucky and took the knife out of his hand. She smiled reassuringly at him when he whipped his head up to look at her.
She gave the knife back to Steve, who had a confused look on his face. He had heard the scraping and didn't want to say anything to Bucky, knowing that his friend wanted to get rid of the star. Now he stared at Tracey with a raised eyebrow.
"Here," she said, unscrewing the bottle's lid and pouring some of the liquid on a cotton ball. She slowly reached for his hand. She pulled back a bit when Bucky flinched away from her. "I won't hurt you. I promise."
She waited for Bucky to relax and smiled when he did. She slowly took his arm and began to rub the cotton ball on the star. Bucky watched intently as she did and his eyes widened when he saw the paint begin to wear off. He raised his eyes to look at Tracey as she worked on his arm. Every time he looked at her he would see flashes of Linda, but he knew that she wasn't the woman from the forties. She was the great niece. He didn't know – or rather remember – much of Linda, but he was determined to learn who she was to him more.
He continued to watch Tracey as she grabbed another cotton ball and pour the substance on it.
"What…what is that?" he asked.
Tracey looked up at him. "Hm? Oh this?" she asked, pointing to the bottle. "It's nail polish remover."
He nodded. He remembered women back in the forties always wearing red nail polish on their fingers all the time.
"It's a good thing I brought up the box with my bathroom things in it, huh?" she grinned.
He smiled a small smile at her before she set to work on his arm again. He watched for another minute before speaking up again. "You didn't have to help…"
"I know," she replied. "But I wanted to." She smiled up at him receiving another small smile in return. She smirked at him. "Besides, that screeching was getting really annoying."
Bucky couldn't help, but let out a small laugh at her comment. Steve and Tracey's faces lit up at the sound. Steve grinned as he watched his friend and Tracey talk. Bucky was slowly becoming more and more like himself. It was slow going and he certainly wasn't his old confident self, but that was to be expected. Neither one of them expected him to get his memories back straight away. He smiled fondly as he turned back to the sandwiches.
It was silent again as Tracey continued to remove the red paint on Bucky's arm. Bucky had grown silent and was still watching her get rid of the star. He glanced up and caught sight of her computer. HYDRA's symbol wasn't on it anymore, but he was still mad. He wanted to stop them. He knew that everyone had faith in Tracey to retrieve the file from them. But how long would it take? He continued to stare at the screen, his mind slowly going blank as he stared off into space.
"I'm almost done," Tracey announced with a satisfied smile. There was just one point of the star left to remove. She looked back up at Bucky after grabbing another cotton ball only to see him staring at her computer. "Bucky?" She looked from him to the computer and back to him again. "Bucky," she called out.
He turned back to her, his eyes vacant. She blinked, taken aback by his stare. There wasn't any light in them, not like how they did for the past few days. No, these eyes were blank and empty just as they had looked the night he showed up at Steve's apartment.
"Bucky?..." she said hesitantly.
"What is needed of me?" he asked in a monotone voice.
She blinked, mouth slightly open. "Excuse me?"
"What's my mission?"
Tracey looked to Steve with a panicked expression. Steve didn't look at her, but stared at his friend with an equally worried and panicked look.
"Bucky," he called out to him.
"What is my mission?" Bucky said again, more demanding this time.
"Steve…" Tracey said, watching as the super soldier approached the brunet.
Bucky had a dark glare on his face as he looked from Tracey to Steve. His eyes narrowed as he watched the blond approach him.
However, before anything happened, the elevator doors opened revealing an irritated Dave. He stomped over to the three, completely oblivious to the situation.
He glared down at Tracey. "What are you doing? You wanted to pack you shit. If you are just going to sit here and goof off on that stupid computer of yours I could have continued watching the game." His glare became more intense when his girlfriend didn't look up at him. He looked to what she was looking at which was Bucky. The super soldier looked up at him with his vacant glare. "What's your deal?" His eyes landed on his metal arm. "What the hell's up with your arm? This place is full of weird ass people," he said, muttering them last part.
Bucky stood up abruptly, standing in front of Dave. The dark curly haired man stood up to Bucky, glaring at him.
"Got a problem, robot?"
Next thing everyone on the floor knew Dave had been thrown against a wall. Tracey was on her feet running to him and Steve had pulled Bucky's arms behind his back. The ex-assassin had a look of anger on his face as he struggled against Steve's hold.
"Bucky, snap out of it!" the super soldier yelled. "You're not at HYDRA! You're with friends!"
Tracey looked up at the two as they struggled against each other, scared. She looked to Dave who was holding his head. She was relieved to know that he was conscious. Thank goodness Bucky hadn't used his metal arm on him. She slowly helped Dave up only to be pushed away. She huffed and rolled her eyes.
"Just trying to help," she mumbled.
The couple looked to Steve and Bucky to see the two had finally stopped fighting and Bucky had calmed down. He was staring at Tracey and Dave then at the wall where a small crack had formed where Dave's body made contact. His eyes grew wide with fear and worry. He looked to Steve.
"What did I do?" he softly ask.
"It's fine, Bucky," Steve said, "You're safe. Everyone is fine."
"Like hell I'm fine!" Dave roared. "What the fuck is your problem?"
Tracey quickly stopped him as he started to storm over to Bucky, fist beginning to raise. "Dave, no!" she said, pushing him back. "He didn't mean to."
"What, you're defending him?" he shouted at Tracey.
"He didn't mean to. Dave, just calm down," she said calmly.
He narrowed his eyes as he stared down at her. He winced at the throbbing pain in his head. "Whatever."
"Can we go now? Did you get the last few boxes?"
"Yeah," he said, turning to the elevator. He stopped before he took a step and faced her again. "Are you going to change?" he asked.
Tracey raised an eyebrow as she grabbed the box and her laptop from the table. "What do you mean am I going to change?"
"You're wearing that?" Dave asked, gesturing to her outfit which consisted of yoga pants and a tank top. "You look a mess."
"We're just going to move my things into my apartment," she said with a roll of her eyes. "It's not like you had some dinner date planned or something."
"Fine, whatever," he said. "There's one box left. Get it. I'm in the car." He once again turned to the elevator, but stopped when he saw Dexter at his feet looking up at him with a smile. He scowled down at the puppy. "Stupid dog," he muttered before stalking off.
Tracey sighed, closing her eyes. She turned to Steve and Bucky with an apologetic face. "I'm so sorry about Dave. Bucky," she said, looking at the still worried and fearful man. "Are you okay?"
Bucky lowered his head slightly, peering up at her from the corner of his eyes after a moment. He nodded his slowly. "Yeah…"
"Don't blame yourself. It wasn't your fault," she said with a warm smile. "I'll see you guys tomorrow hopefully."
"See you, Tracey," Steve said with a small nod.
"Bye," she said, waving to the two before taking the elevator down. She called Dexter to follow and smiled one last time at them before the elevators doors closed.
Hey everyone! I hope you liked this chapter. I enjoyed writing this one, although I had a bit of a struggle trying to figure out what to write for it. However thanks to mokonahapuuuuuu and AtLoLevad for letting me bounce ideas off of them. I was able to bring in a bit of plot with the whole HYDRA taking the helicarrier blueprints and then there was Bucky's relapse. I also want to thank GloriousFandoms for asking if Bucky would have a relapse which gave me to idea for this chapter. Like I said I was stuck on this chapter, but once she asked the question this scene popped in my head.
Thank you to all who have reviewed, followed, and favorited! I actually checked the story traffic on this and was speechless at the number of views/readers. It's the most I've ever gotten on a story and I am thankful for all of you guys! You're the best!
Also, like I said in the last two(?) chapters, I created a tumblr account where you can ask the Avengers, Tracey, and Barry any question you have. I have seen a few Ask the Avengers (or other fandoms) questions and thought it was a fun thing to do. Not only that, but it helps you figure out the characters and how to write for them more I think. Anyways, if you have any questions just send them to
winter-is-ending
Hopefully chapter seven will come to me. I am definitely struggling more with ideas for that chapter than this one. I also would like to say sorry for the late update. Work can get really busy or there are days where I have nothing to do and I try to write the chapters on my phone. I will try my best to get chapter seven written fast, but if not I am going to apologize in advance (and in chapter seven) for the late update.
Also, fancasts for Barry, Tracey, and Dave have been finally chosen just to get an idea of what they look like. For Barry it's Chris Lowell, Tracey it's Carrie Underwood, and Dave it's George Blagden.
One final thing, my good friend dontstopbelieving123. She just came up with the cutest ship name for Bucky and Tracey: Trucky! I honestly hadn't thought of a ship name for them, but hers I love! It made me laugh and I think it's cute.
Thank you again! Hope you enjoyed it! And as always, leave a review and let me know what you think and if you have any helpful critiques they are always welcomed!