Chapter fifteen
Steve chuckled as Bucky glared at him from the couch. Leaning back in his arm chair he grinned.
"Who would have thought I'd be the one giving you dating advice."
"Yeah don't get used to it, punk," Bucky said with a roll of his eyes.
"Jerk," Steve chuckled. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He stared at Bucky as his friend stared out the living room window. "Well?"
Bucky groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "You're really milking this for all its worth, aren't you?"
"You know it," the blond soldier replied with a shit eating grin.
Bucky grabbed a pillow from the couch and chucked it at his friend. "You're a pain in the ass, you know that?"
"I figured," Steve smirked. "But in all seriousness, what do you need help with?"
Bucky ran a hand through his hair again. He exhaled slowly, turning his head to stare out the window before looking at Steve again. "I'm not sure how or when to ask Tracey out," he said at last. "And I know it's worth a shot asking her out to see what she says, but I don't know if now is the best time. I don't know if she's ready to start dating again."
Steve pursed his lips. "All I can say is just go for it." He held up a hand to stop Bucky from protesting. "I know she just broke up with Dave, but asking her now would let her know how you feel even if she says no. She'll know and hopefully when she's ready she'll agree."
Bucky scratched the back of his neck. He sighed. "Damn, I hate it when you're right."
Steve grinned. "Always am."
"Shut up, pun-"
"Hey, guys," Barry said, walking off the elevator. "Have either of you seen Tracey? I haven't seen her since yesterday after Thor showed up."
"She went to her apartment to pick some things up," Bucky answered. "She hasn't come back?" he asked, leaning forward.
"I don't know. I was on the phone with her when she got there. I haven't heard from her since."
"Don't worry, she's probably fine. Most likely she didn't feel like driving back here and spent the night at her place," Steve said. He gave Barry a reassuring smile.
"Maybe," Barry trailed off. "But she would have let me know. Tracey usually lets someone know what she's doing. Pepper was looking for her asking for the thumb drive with the helicarrier blue prints on it."
Steve stood up. "How about we head to her place? I bet you anything she's still there." He gestured to Bucky to stand up "Come on, you can even ask Barry for some advice."
Bucky punched Steve's arm as they got on the elevator. "Shut up, punk."
"Advice on what?" Barry grinned.
"He's been asking me how to ask Tracey out," Steve answered, swerving his shoulder away from another punch.
"Dude, that's awesome," Barry said to Bucky. "If you want my personal opinion just ask her. After everything with Dave, I think she'd like a fun night out."
"Hey, Nat actually pointed out a swing club a couple blocks from here. She thought it'd be a great place for you and me," Steve added.
"Tracey would love that!" Barry chimed in.
Bucky paused, staring down at his feet contemplating. He thought back to the day he and Tracey danced. He remembered how she felt leaning against him as they swayed to the music. Her head fit perfectly under his chin. He smiled lightly.
"Sounds great," he said,smiling at them.
ooOOoo
"She's room 317," Barry said as they exited the apartment elevator.
Walking down the third floor hallway they could hear faint barking. Going further down it got louder. As they neared Tracey's room they saw an elderly woman standing in front of a door. The barking was coming from that room.
"Are you here to see Tracey?" she asked, smiling up at the three men.
"Yeah, I'm her brother, Barry," Barry introduced himself.
The woman beamed. "Oh you're Barry? Tracey's mentioned you before. She's such a sweet girl. I'm her landlord, Mrs. Simpson."
"Nice to meet you ma'am," Steve said. "I'm Steve Rogers."
"Oh I know who you are," she laughed. "I was a little girl when I first heard of you and Mr. Barnes." Bucky blinked in surprise making the old woman laugh. "I may be old, but I'm not blind or dumb. I recognize you from all the old photos." The barking continued. Mrs. Simpson shook her head. "I don't know why she hasn't quieted Dexter yet. I've been getting complaints all day. It's not like Tracey."
"Wait, this is Tracey's room?" Bucky asked, pointing to the door. Sure enough it had 317 on a plaque right next to the door.
"Yes, dearie," Mrs. Simpsons smiled. "She usually keeps Dexter so well behaved."
"Yeah…" Barry said, eyeing the door. "Uh Mrs. Simpson, do you mind if I go in first?"
"Not at all," she said, stepping out of the way. She held out the key in her hand but he declined it.
He reached for the doorknob and turned it. To everyone's surprise it was unlocked. Opening the door Barry froze. Inside was a mess. Chairs and tables were over turned. Books and papers were strewn across the floor. Cabinets were left open. In the middle of it all was little Dexter who ran up to his master's brother. Except he wasn't barking his usual happy bark and his tail wasn't wagging. He whimpered as he stared up at Barry.
"Oh my…" Mrs. Simpson gasped.
Bucky stared around the room amazed. What the hell happened? Tracey tended to be messy at times from what he had seen of her around the tower, but never this messy. This couldn't have been her. Where was she anyways? He looked down at Dexter, who was barking still. Bucky knelt down and scratched the whimpering dog's head.
"Was she robbed? Oh I hope she's alright," Mrs. Simpson said, staring around the room with a hand over her mouth.
Steve shook his head. "I don't think she was robbed…" he trailed off as he roamed the room. He looked in the cabinets and closets that were wide open. Everything was there, but pushed and thrown about. "Someone was looking for something…"
"You don't think whoever did this…took her, do you?" Barry asked, walking into the open bedroom. The room was in the same sad state as the main area.
"I think that's the case," Steve said solemnly. "I think I know who did it to. Who else would break into Tracey's apartment? They didn't steal anything and clearly they were looking for something. The only thing valuable that she could have had was some money and anything the person could sell and make a profit off of. That leaves one thing that they could have been looking for. The thumb drive with the blue prints."
Barry's eyes widened, hands balled into fists. "You mean HYDRA did this?" He cursed under his breath, glaring at the mess around him.
Bucky's heart fell. Tracey was missing and the culprit was the group that had turned him into a monster and used him for their own personal gain. He remembered what HYDRA did to him whenever he messed up or didn't cooperate, he didn't want to imagine what they would do to Tracey. His fist collided with the wall putting a hole in it and causing Mrs. Simpson jump.
"Bucky," Steve said, resting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Calm down."
"How can I be calm, Steve?" he roared. "They have her! HYDRA has her and we don't even know where she is!"
"Yes we do," Barry said. The two super soldiers looked at him. "Tracey's computer. She was working on gathering up HYDRA's files. Last I checked it was still at the tower and he had retrieved a few. If we look through the ones she has we might be able to find some information on where they might have a base nearby."
"Barry's right," Steve said. "Right now all we can do is look through the files and come up with a plan on rescuing her. That's all we can do."
Bucky was shaking, glaring at Steve. "And what if something happens to Tracey before we find her? What then?"
"Hey! She's my twin sister," Barry yelled. "You're not the only one who's worried about her!"
"Both of you calm down!" Steve ordered. "If we don't keep our heads straight we won't get anything done and Tracey will be in further danger the longer she's with them." He turned to Mrs. Simpson who still had a somewhat scared expression. "I'm sorry for this," he said. He looked at the hole Bucky made in the wall. "Uh…we'll pay for the damages. We're really sorry."
Mrs. Simpson nodded her head, patting a hand over her heart. "It's alright. Ju-just be safe and find Tracey."
"Thank you. Come on guys."
ooOOoo
Tracey coughed as water was poured over her face. Some was getting in her mouth and nose. She could barely breathe. More and more was poured. All she could see was black.
"Enough!" came a harsh voice.
Tracey blinked as the bag over her face was yanked off her head, the light blinding her. She was in a dimly lit room with concrete walls. There were no windows, only a single door across the room. She herself was tied down to a chair. Next to her was a larger one with weird contraptions above it. She looked up at the three men in front of her.
"Are you going to talk now?" the one in the center of the room asked.
She glared up at him, shaking her head to get her damp hair out of her face. "No."
He sighed. He walked up to her, arms crossed over his chest. "Are you going to talk? If not then we'll just continue our little water session," he said, nodding to the man on his right. He was holding the black bag in one hand; a bucket of water was at his feet.
Tracey just glared up at him.
"Again," he said.
The bag was over her head again. Water surrounded her. Yet again she struggled to breathe. It went on for another minute before the bag was once again yanked from her head. The man in front of her grabbed her face, forcing her to look at him.
"I suggest you tell us where the file is or we'll be sure to make this conversation a lot more painful than it has been."
She glared at him. She wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of her giving away the information they wanted on the blue prints. The man glared right back at her. Next thing Tracey knew her face was burning and her head was snapped to the right. She winced as she turned it back to face him. He punched her once more.
"Where's the file?" he demanded.
No response. Another punch.
It was like this for another few minutes. Tracey could feel her lip was split open. She could taste blood. Her eye was sore and it was already starting to swell. The whole right side of her face was in pain.
"Where is the file, Miss Madison?" the man sneered. When he got no response from her, only a glare, he nodded to the man on his left. Hugo.
Hugo nodded and approached Tracey. She struggled in her seat, yanking against her restraints as he stood behind her. The next second Tracey felt a searing pain and was screaming. Her voice echoed off the bare walls. Somehow the man known as Hugo had broken her arm.
"I warned you," the main man said. "I think we'll let you sit on that injury of yours and see what you have to say in a bit."
The door slammed shut leaving Tracey sitting in the room by herself. She breathed heavily as a tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. She was terrified, but she couldn't let the men know. She knew that the team would find her. When that was, she didn't know…
ooOOoo
"Tracey's missing?" Tony yelled.
Steve nodded his head. "Her whole apartment was trashed. Nothing was stolen leaving the only explanation to be that HYDRA broke in hoping to find the file with the blue prints. They must have waited for Tracey to show up…"
"Do you have any idea where they might have taken her?" Pepper asked, fear filling her eyes.
"We don't know, but we're hoping that whatever files she got from the internet might have information on bases they might be hiding in," Bucky said. He was doing his best to stay calm, but at the moment all he wanted to do was find the bastards who took her and rip their heads off.
"Lucky enough I know how to get onto her laptop," Barry said from his spot at the kitchen counter. "It's the matter of searching through each and every file that she's found of theirs that will be the problem. God knows how many she's found by now."
"We'll just have to take sections if it's too much," Sharon said, leaning against the counter next to the light brown haired man. She peered over his shoulder. "Right there," she said, pointing to a single file.
"Thank God," Barry breathed. "She's messy when it comes to her work space, but at least she keeps things organized on her computer." He clicked on the file marked HYDRA. At least twenty files were under the main one. "There's a good bit, but not too many."
"Just look for one that says anything that could be related to locations and such," Bruce suggested.
"When we find the base, who's going to get Tracey?" Clint asked, leaning against a wall.
"I'm going," Barry said. "She's my sister and there's no way in hell I'm going to stay behind while someone else rescues her."
"That's understandable," Steve said. "I'll go with you."
"I'm going too," Bucky spoke up.
Steve looked at him. "Are you sure you're ready to go out on a mission?"
Bucky nodded his head, his face void of any hesitation. "I'm ready and I don't care if you don't think so. If I'm going to be a part of this team I need to be able to help out."
Steve nodded. "Alright."
Natasha smirked and nudged Clint's side. "I think I know the main reason as to why he wants to go."
Clint chuckled lightly. "Yeah, but I'm pretty sure if he didn't go you'd be the other person to go help find her."
"I think any of us would," Nat stated.
"Is there any information on Lady Tracey's whereabouts?" Thor asked. He drummed his hand on the kitchen counter. Like everyone else, he was worried about the young woman.
"Knowing HYDRA, there's got to be a good number of hide outs for them," Sam said. "But there's bound to be one close by."
"There is," Sharon announced.
"It's some place off coast," Barry said. "It's in some area near the docks here in New York."
"Wow, real original," Natasha scoffed with an eye roll.
"What are we waiting for?" Bucky said, looking at the file on the computer over Barry's shoulder. "Let's go."
"Alright, Barry, Bucky, suit up," Steve said.
ooOOoo
"Are you ready to talk now, Miss Madison? Or would you rather have another drink?" the man asked as he and the other two filed into the room.
He smirked when he saw the swollen eye on the blonde woman's face. She looked miserable. He knew she had to crack eventually. He approached her and stood in front of her, staring down at the woman expectantly.
Tracey blinked, glaring through her good eye at the man in front of her. She wasn't going to talk. Never.
The man sighed. "If that's how you're going to be. Mason."
Mason shoved the bag over Tracey's head again. Once more the gallon of water was poured over Tracey's bagged face. The only sound from the room was the sound of the water splashing against the concrete floor and Tracey coughing.
"Are you going to talk any time soon?" the man asked, raising his voice over her coughing.
The bag was wrenched from her head. Tracey could feel the man pull some of her hair along with it. She hissed in pain.
"I suggest you talk. We can break your other arm if you'd like. We can break every bone in your body until you speak. We're in no rush."
Tracey's answer was still resounding silence followed with a glare.
The leader growled and punched her once more. Tracey gasped as she felt her nose break. Blood slipped from her nose and down her face. She spat the blood in her mouth at the man.
"I'm losing my patience, Miss Madison. Either you talk or I will kill you. You're choice. We can get the blue prints back one way or another. I'll give you more time to think it over," he said, patting her swollen cheek.
ooOOoo
"This should be the place," Steve said as he, Barry, and Bucky stood yards away from the building. There was no one around and it was deathly silent. The only sound coming from the seagulls and the waves slapping against the piers.
"It is," Barry said, looking at his phone. "She's in there. We need to think of how to get in."
Bucky glanced around. After the number of bases he's seen while with HYDRA they all seemed to have the same entrances no matter where they were. He spotted a few crates stacked against the wall next to the building.
"There," he pointed. "That should be where an underground passage should be. For some reason every base they have has one."
Barry scoffed. "Well that's smart."
Bucky smirked. "I didn't say they were the brightest organization. They did it because it was an obvious detail that was overlooked all the time."
"Well, we've got you to point out their flaws," Steve said, chuckling. "Do you have any idea where they might be holding her?"
Bucky furrowed his brow. "There's usually multiple rooms for interrogations in each base. She could be in anyone."
"That narrows it down to every room then…" Barry grumbled.
Steve frowned. "Buck, were you ever brought to this specific base?"
"I'm not sure…" he said, brow furrowed once again as he sorted through his memories. "I may have. All the bases I've been to blurred together."
"Can you think harder? If we can't figure out which rooms are what we'll lose time finding Tracey," Steve said. He placed a hand on his friends shoulder. "I know this isn't what you want to remember, but we need those memories."
Bucky stared at the ground in front of feet. His stare turned hard. Steve was right, he didn't want to think back to when he was the Winter Soldier. Those were the memories he wished were erased instead of everything else. His frown deepened. But Tracey was in there with HYDRA. She wasn't built for fighting, she wasn't experienced. God! She was still recovering from him stabbing her. He couldn't imagine what worse pain she was experiencing with them. He didn't want to think about it. He needed to get her out of there. Her smile face flickered across his mind. He sighed heavily. God he didn't want that smile to go away.
He closed his eyes for a moment before looking up at the building. "There should be rooms there and there," he said, pointing to a back corner and front left corner. "One of those two rooms should be where she's being held. If anything most likely the back room. It will give them enough time to escape if they know we're coming."
"How many guys do you think are in there?" Barry asked. "I mean, they took her from her apartment. There couldn't have been that many."
"That could be the case, but we can't be too careless. We have to assume any number of men could be in there," Steve stated. He looked to the two. "Are you ready?"
Barry nodded. "Yeah."
"Ready," Bucky said.
He stared at the building in front of them, glaring daggers at it. There were going to get Tracey back one way or another. He didn't care what it took.
We're coming, Tracey.
So you guys probably hated me for ending the last chapter with a cliff hanger haha. Sorry! But hey who doesn't like good cliff hangers. It's how they reel you in ;)
Anyways hope this chapter was good. I wasn't sure on what kind of torture to use for Tracey (as horrible as that sounds), so I settled on just punching, breaking bones, and water boarding :/ Hope it's enough.
Again, if you'd like to ask Tracey, Barry, and the Avengers any questions, feel free. I have an ask the Avengers/rp blog on tumblr. Look me up under
winter-is-ending
Thank you guys so so so SO much! I kept getting reviews today while walking around campus today and I now have 78 reviews. In no way am I trying to brag. I hate self-promoting myself and prefer to praise others who deserve it. But oh. My. God. I have NEVER gotten more than 30 reviews on a story. Getting emails saying someone favorited, followed, or reviewed makes me smile. Reviews make me smile all day long and I keep looking back at them and grin like no other. They make me so happy seeing what everyone thinks of the story. Honestly when I first started this I was nervous about what you guys would think of Tracey being a hacker. I thought you'd view her as a Mary Sue. But the first couple of reviews I got made me so happy and I couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day. So thank you thank you THANK YOU guys so much for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows. I'm honestly shocked and still amazed at the number. Thank you guys! You are AMAZING!