Red emergency lights flash a steady rhythm in the dark as the agents outside the meeting room scramble to fix the problem. Steve eyes dart around, and he watches Ross pull a walky-talky to his mouth, the man's face a scowl of frustration.
"Great, come on guys, get me eyes on Barnes," he hears him say, his voice muffled slightly by the walls of the meeting room. There is a note of stress in his voice, and Steve's chest tightens at the sound, his worry over Bucky probably entirely different from Ross'.
Beside him, Tony is pulling out his JARVIS-glasses, tapping them as he puts them on, the lenses lighting up in front of his eyes. "JARVIS, get me the source of that outage," he orders, and Steve finds himself standing, his eyes darting over the frantic agents, their movements shadowed and amplified by the flashing lights.
In slow motion, his gaze sweeps up to Sharon from across the room, her eyes meeting his evenly as he breathes in and sets his jaw. Something is happening. The power outage can't be a coincidence, not after everything else, and his heart pounds in his chest as he stares at her, internally trying not to imagine the very real possibility of the danger that Bucky is in right now.
Sharon must be on the same wavelength as him, because her voice doesn't waver as she answers his unspoken question. "Sub-level 5, east wing."
He barely has time to nod gratefully at her before he is bolting towards the door, intent on making it to Bucky as fast as possible. His heart pounds in his throat as he wrenches the door open, and panic tugs at the edges of his mind, but he can feel himself focusing down on the mission in front of him, the simple objective drowning out the flashing lights and the controlled chaos around him.
Find Bucky.
Tony gets up to follow him, and he is vaguely aware of T'Challa doing the same, but he doesn't pay them much mind, his breath coming out in even bursts as he turns and slips past the CIA agents, his eyes darting around as he ducks out of the meeting room and begins to pound his way down the hall.
He wishes he had been given a map of this place, or at least had arrived in the daytime, so he could figure out where he needs to go. Thankfully though, he has an additional advantage on his side. "Tony!" he calls, throwing a brief glance back as he runs. "Do you have a map of this place?"
Tony is a few paces behind him, and he has to consciously keep from outrunning the man. No matter how much he wants to get to Bucky as fast as possible, it would be foolish to run in without backup, especially since he doesn't know exactly where he is going.
JARVIS seems to be talking to Tony through the glasses though, and the man glances up, his gaze intense. "There's stairs at the end of the hall!"
Steve nods and sets his sights on the door ahead of them, the red emergency lights reflecting off the walls around them and casting eerie shadows along the floor as he runs. He makes it to the door, and shoves it open with a resounding clang, his breath tight in his lungs as he begins sprinting downwards, conscientiously resisting the urge to jump over the railing as Tony and T'Challa follow him down, their steps echoing in an almost deafening rhythm down the stairwell.
He grits his teeth and bares with it, his mind primarily focused on getting to his destination. His dress shoes squeak as he wrenches himself around another set of steps and he tries to guess what could be happening, and why. It is likely that the power has been cut because of Bucky somehow. Everything about the bombing and his arrest had been sketchy to begin with, and it had ended up with Bucky restrained and alone— and now no longer monitored.
And the psychologist. He had set him on edge. He still doesn't know why, but the man has to play a part in this. Theoretically, right now he is the only one with Bucky, and Steve has no way of knowing what is happening between them, and he can't help the flare of alarm that rises in his chest at the thought.
If Bucky is being framed, then whoever is doing it had to know he was alive to begin with, had to know where he would be taken and… and then what? Is Bucky just a good scapegoat to cover for killing the king of Wakanda, or is there something more?
The power outage certainly seems to imply that there is more, and his lips pull into a grim line as he finally bursts out onto the floor where Bucky is being kept. Tony and T'Challa are still several paces behind him, but he doesn't wait as he marches down towards the bunker door, glaring down at the guards standing tensely outside.
"What are you doing?" he demands, his voice harsher than usual, his worry making it difficult to remain civil. Shouldn't the guards be in the cell with Bucky now? Or at least check on him somehow? With the power down they are the only ones who could know what is happening inside, and they hadn't done anything.
"Why are you still outside?" he barks, coming to stand in front of them, practically vibrating with his pent-up worry, anger, and fear over the situation. "You're supposed to be keeping an eye on him. What are you doing?"
Sure, they might be supposed to guard Bucky, but shouldn't they also guard him from stuff as well?
The guards quiver slightly under his hard gaze, and they dart their eyes uncertainly over Tony and T'Challa as the two men come up behind him, but they stand their ground, their hands resting tensely on the guns at their hips as they stare back at him.
"That's the Winter Soldier in there," one of them says, flinching slightly as he draws Steve's gaze. "Without the power— he could, he could maybe get out. Sir." He swallows, shifting uncomfortably. "I heard he goes wild sometimes, and with that arm of his— if we open the door, then he could get out, sir—"
The guard seems to be actively trying to dig himself deeper with every word, and he seems to be aware of it, his voice growing more uncertain and his spine straightening like a nervous recruit as Steve's gaze grows sharper and darker at his speech.
The man swallows and pulls back slightly, darting his gaze to his partner, who seems to be doing her best to stand perfectly still, her gaze on some point on the wall behind Steve. "It's too dangerous to go inside," she says, before darting her tongue out to anxiously lick at her lips. "Sir."
On any other day, Steve might feel something at the fact that he is able to pull rank with these guards with just a look, but right now he just feels angry.
"Bucky Barnes is not dangerous," he grits out tightly, internally fuming at the way they seem to be referring to Bucky as some kind of caged animal. "He is in danger though," he continues, just as sharply. "And Ross wants eyes on him. So move."
The first guard shifts and swallows uneasily, his eyes darting between Steve and his partner. "I'm not sure it's protocol—" he starts, and Steve loses his patience. He doesn't have time to deal with these guards while who knows what is happening to Bucky inside.
So he stops trying to argue.
Instead he simply darts forward. The guards flinch, and react as though they expect him to attack them — but they don't quite manage to draw their guns, and Steve is certain that a small quiet part of their brains are currently rebelling at the idea of drawing a gun on Captain America. The second of hesitation is all he needs though as he snatches the door key off of one of their belts and shoves past them, ignoring their shouts as he swipes the card in the card reader and reaches for the bunker door.
The card reader works thankfully, probably running on emergency power, and the door opens soundlessly, revealing the dark grey walls of Bucky's cell, the metal still reflecting the flashing red emergency lights. Steve doesn't pay them much mind as he bursts inside, T'Challa and Tony a step behind him as they push past the guards and make it inside.
He doesn't know what he had been expecting, he hadn't wanted to think about what could be happening to Bucky before this, so he doesn't know what he had been expecting — but he isn't prepared for what he sees.
Steve's eyes are drawn to Bucky as he bursts in, and the man has torn himself away from the restraints on his chair, the room is filling with a deafening crash as his friend manages to use his metal arm to break down the safety door of his cell, his hair swinging wildly and his expression desperate as he tumbles out and lands heavily on his hands and knees.
But that isn't the worst part. The worst part is the man that stands a few feet back from Bucky's cell, a gun held almost casually in his hand.
"Грузовой вагон," he says, and the world seems to freeze.
Steve knows that word. He knows that word because he hates the sound of it — and he knows that it is the last word in Bucky's triggering sequence. The one that Hydra had implanted in him to turn him into the Winter Soldier, and the man— the psychologist, whoever he is — must have been triggering Bucky and—
And he has a gun on Bucky. That is what really stops him in his tracks, his mind spinning as he, Tony and T'Challa stumble to a halt inside the doorway, their eyes darting over the scene. The man– the psychologist– flicks his eyes to them for a moment, but he keeps his gun trained on Bucky, and Steve stares at it. Surely… he shouldn't have even been able to get a gun in here at all— how could he have snuck it through security? And the fact that it is on Bucky… that is more of a problem than if he had been pointing it at him.
He can risk a gunshot wound if he needs to, in order to protect Bucky, but even he is not fast enough to keep Bucky from getting hurt if the man decides to shoot. So he is forced to freeze and stare, his teeth grinding in frustration as he curses that fact that neither he nor Tony had brought any of their equipment to Europe. They had been going to a funeral, and now he is standing in a bunker in Germany, with someone who knows Bucky's trigger words, and has a gun on him.
Bucky seems to freeze at the end of the sequence too, and Steve's heart skips a beat as he looks over at him, his friend still hunched over amid the glass of his cell, his hair shielding his face from view. The trigger words shouldn't work on him. They had erased them. It had taken months but they had gotten rid of them, and tested them and—
In front of him, the man – Broussard smiles, glancing proudly around the captivated room, before his eyes narrow and zero in again on Bucky — the man still sitting frozen in front of his cell, his quiet pants filling the room.
"Soldat," Broussard snaps, his voice grating roughly over the word and once again tugging at something in Steve's memory.
He is too preoccupied by Bucky though, to think much of it. He knows the trigger words shouldn't work— but Bucky isn't fighting anymore, and it is obvious that he had been fighting, he had beaten down the door to his cell, but now he isn't even looking at him and—
Bucky raises his head, his hair swinging as he rises, standing up smoothly before pulling back and shifting into a calm, neutral stance, his hands lifting up to clasp together behind his back. "Я готов отвечать," he says, and Steve's whole body runs cold.
Ready to comply.
No, he thinks numbly, his eyes pinned on Bucky, searching for any signs of life in his eyes. No, no, that isn't possible, they had tested the trigger words, they had—
But, a traitorous corner of his brain pipes up. You haven't tested them in a while. What if his resistance weakens over time? What if it has been too long since he has last tried to fight the sequence—
His train of thought gets cut off as the man in front of Bucky begins to laugh, the sound short and choppy in his throat as he turns to Steve. "How 'bout that," he says, his eyes glinting, his gun still pointed at Bucky. "The Asset's come home again."
Steve's brow furls at his words and he stares at the man. Something about him— something about his voice keeps trying to tug at his memory, and the fact that he had known the trigger words… His fists clench and his mouth pulls into a thin line, his brows drawing down into a scowl. "Who are you?" he demands, his voice dropping into a growl.
The man's mouth twists into a cruel smile and he tilts his head. "Can'tcha recognise me, Cap?" he taunts, his lips curling up in a sneer. "No? Maybe this will bring back a few memories." At his words, the man brings up his free hand to pull off his glasses and toss them to the side, raising his chin as he brushes his fingers along the line of his jaw.
Steve watches dumbstruck as he pulls at his face, tugging away a wispy, transparent face mask.
SHIELD tech, he thinks numbly, recognising the photostatic veil from his work with the organisation years before. The nano-mask allows the wearer to imitate the appearance and voice of another person, and he watches as 'Broussard' peels it away, the individual panels flickering and shifting to reveal the burned, twisted remains of an all too familiar face.
His stomach drops in realisation, and he stares wide-eyed as Rumlow grins nastily at him, discarding the last of the shimmering mask off to the side with a careless flick of his wrist.
"Surprised?" he smirks, and Steve now knows why his voice had been familiar. It is rough and damaged, thanks to his injuries from the fall of Hydra, and while the nano-mask had hidden most of it, he had heard the original only weeks ago, when Rumlow had blown the building in Nigeria.
He can't help the curse that slips out of his mouth as all the puzzle pieces finally click together. "You're the one that blew the UN," he accuses, his fists clenching. "I should have known— it was the same bomb as in Nigeria, wasn't it?"
The skin on Rumlow's face pulls as he smiles. "Had to test it out somewhere," he says easily. "And it certainly set a few things in motion, didn't it?" His eyes dart to Bucky and it is only the gun in his hand that keeps Steve from taking a step forward in anger.
Even so, he can feel Tony shuffle behind him, probably ready to try to grab onto his sleeve again if he needs to. But, he is not so angry that he is out of control. Not right now. Not with these risks. His anger builds in his chest, and he keeps it there, ready for when he can use it.
For now, his eyes burn as he stares down Rumlow. "That was your plan?" he snaps. "You wanted the Winter Soldier back? You killed all those people, just to get to him?"
Behind him, he can feel T'Challa shift, and he privately hopes that the man isn't willing to risk Bucky's life just to go after Rumlow right now. He imagines that this whole conversation and its set of revelations is difficult for him, but if he tries anything, he is certain that Rumlow will shoot Bucky. Or order him to fight them all.
He doesn't want to fight Bucky. He does not.
"Just to get to him, restrained," Rumlow clarifies, shifting a little closer to where Bucky is still standing, his friend's gaze continually blank and horribly empty. "We could have tried to go after him before but…" Rumlow shrugs and kicks some of the glass on the ground. "As you can see, Cap, he's picked up a few bad habits in his time away."
Steve's nails dig into his palms and he has to breathe in rather sharply to keep from launching himself at Rumlow and therefore endangering Bucky. The way Hydra talks about Bucky… the way they treat him like some kind of trained animal… it makes his blood boil, and he is never going to allow that kind of thing to happen to Bucky again.
"You should have thought through your plan a little bit more," he spits out, glaring, despite Rumlow's smile. He doesn't know how much work the man had put into this scheme— and he suspects that it had been a major operation— but it is immediately obvious to him that the man hadn't considered one very important element to it.
It actually amazes him how few people seem to think through this part of triggering Bucky. Rumlow isn't the first person to have tried it. Years ago, a Stark Industries employee had also tried — and Bucky had been able to resist back then — but neither Beck nor Rumlow seem to have thought over the fact that he also knows the trigger words.
It is all well and good to trigger the Winter Soldier, but the only way to actually have that plan succeed would be to immediately flee. The only way to keep Bucky, would be to make sure that he could not reach him, ever. They would have to be on the run forever, because he would find them, and if the triggering sequence works, then the other trigger words work too, including the shutdown protocol.
He hates the word, because of what it represents, and how it treats Bucky like some kind of misbehaving computer program, but his friend had already given him permission to use it in an emergency, and while he may never want to use the thing again, he is not about to let Rumlow walk out of here with Bucky.
Never. Ever.
"What?" Rumlow taunts, stepping closer to Bucky, unaware of his growing fury and determination. "You really think you can stop me? You think you can convince me that you'll fight the Asset?" His grin widens. "All I have to do is threaten to set him on your friends there, and he'll do it. I said the trigger words, so I am his handler. He won't listen to you."
We'll see about that, Steve thinks grimly, his mouth pressing into a thin line. He doubts the Sputnik trigger word is handler specific, and his eyes glint as he raises his chin, his mouth opening as he gets ready to say the word.
"Sp—" he starts— and then Bucky moves.
He almost misses it, with how fast it is, but one second his friend is standing placidly next to Rumlow, his face set in a familiar expression of glazed compliance, and the next he is twisting around, his hands moving in a blur as he knocks Rumlow's gun to the side and comes up with his right arm to punch him square in the jaw.
The shutdown protocol dies on Steve's lips as he watches Bucky move with a deadly grace, his jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed as he glares at his former handler, the sound of his fist as it hits Rumlow's chin echoing through the room.
Rumlow grunts in surprise and pain as he reels back, his stance destabilising as Bucky twists his hand around his wrist and expertly pulls the gun out of his grip, bringing his leg up to sweep the man's feet out from under him in one fell swoop.
Rumlow goes down like a sack of bricks, and in the span of two seconds he is on the ground, the situation completely flipped as Bucky stands over him, the gun clutched menacingly in his metal hand, the sounds of his steady breaths filling the stunned silence of the room.
Rumlow gapes at him, his hand coming up to touch at his bloody lip in shock, before his face twists into a scowl of anger. "Asset!" he snaps, fury burning in his eyes as he stares up at Bucky. "Cease and—"
"Shut up," Bucky growls, his hand never wavering on the gun as he glares down at Rumlow. "Shut up," he says again, his voice hard with buried anger. His chin raises, and his eyes glint in the red lights. "I am not the Asset," he bites out, sucking a breath as his free hand clenches into a fist by his side. "The sequence didn't work, Rumlow."
Steve's breath catches and he has to bite his tongue to keep down a hysterical laugh of relief as Bucky's words wash over him. His hands shake slightly at the shock and he has to blink away a flash of tears as he realises that his fears had been unfounded. Bucky… hadn't been triggered at all. He hadn't. He must have been pretending, biding his time until the right moment where he could take Rumlow down.
Rumlow doesn't seem quite as willing to accept the new reality of his situation, his eyes flicking frantically over Bucky in disbelief. "I said the words," he sputters, his fingers whitening as his hands press furiously against the floor. "You said the words back—"
Bucky scoffs and takes a slight step back, his gun still trained on Rumlow, glass crunching under his feet as he straightens his stance. "Did you really think that it would work after three years?" he spits, his eyes dark as he glares, anger growing in his voice. "Did you really think that you could just waltz in here and make me your attack dog again?"
His jaw clenches and he takes in a tight breath, his glare never leaving Rumlow's face. "The trigger words don't work," he growls at him. "And you killed a dozen people just to try." His hand tightens marginally on his gun. "And you failed."
Rumlow's eyes jump from Bucky's face, down to his gun, and Steve is certain that without his burns, the man's face would be as pale as a sheet. His breath catches, and something desperate seems to enter his eyes. "Sputnik!" he bursts out, a frantic edge to his voice. "Sputnik! Sputnik!"
In front of him, Bucky grits his teeth and widens his stance slightly, the only outward indications of his efforts to resist the trigger word. "That one doesn't work either," he snaps, keeping his gun on Rumlow, never wavering in his aim.
Steve can't help the swell of pride he feels at watching Bucky resist the word. That one had been harder than the others. That one had taken a lot of time and effort and frustration, but after three years, Bucky is now completely free from his trigger words, and Rumlow is finding that out the hard way.
The man stares at Bucky, open-mouthed, and Steve can't help feeling a sharp sense of vindication as he watches all of Rumlow's plans fall apart around him. The man had really thought that he could swoop back in and take control of Bucky again, like Bucky isn't really a person at all, and hadn't been developing and living his own life for the past three years.
That isn't exactly good news for Rumlow though, because it means that he had planned and risked everything for nothing, and Steve watches the anger build up in his eyes again, furious that Bucky had developed a sense of self and had removed himself from Hydra's control.
Rumlow snarls something that he doesn't quite catch, the man's anger peaking as he jerks forward, ready to launch himself at Bucky. Steve isn't exactly sure what the man's plan is, but he doesn't even have time to try to step forward and intervene before Bucky's hand is moving, a gunshot ringing sharp and sudden throughout the room.
The shot echoes off the metal walls and Rumlow collapses back down with a ragged scream, his breath bursting out in choppy pants as he curls up.
Steve stands frozen as his eyes dart over the scene, his heart pounding as he tries to determine where he had been shot, and what had just happened. Down on the floor, he watches as Rumlow reaches down instinctively to clutch at his ankle, the man shuddering as blood begins to seep out from around his shoe.
He pants harshly in pain and snaps his head up to glare at Bucky, baring his teeth at him, and looking half-feral in the dim light. "You missed," he taunts, spitting blood as the words hiss out of his mouth. "This is not even lethal, have you really gotten so soft—"
"I didn't miss," Bucky replies, a picture of calm as he keeps his gun trained on Rumlow. "You just don't get it yet." His eyes flash and his voice hardens slightly. "I'm not the Asset anymore, Rumlow," he bites out, raising his chin as he looks down on him. "I don't kill people anymore. It's my choice."
Rumlow's eyes widen, before his face darkens into a scowl, his gaze burning as he opens his mouth. Bucky twitches his gun at him, the red light reflecting off his metal hand. "I'll shoot your other foot though if you don't shut up," he deadpans.
Rumlow pulls back and wisely closes his mouth, and Steve decides that it is time to try to de-escalate the situation a little.
"Alright," he says, taking a step forward, flicking his eyes once to Bucky before glancing back towards Tony. "Go see if the guards can be useful enough to have cuffs," he tells him.
Tony nods determinedly and turns around to head back towards the door. For his part, Steve squares his shoulders and marches over to Rumlow, privately thinking Thoughts about the guards who have yet to make an appearance, despite all the chaos, and the literal gunshot that had just happened.
Not that they would have been super helpful, but still.
Even without backup, he is more than a match for Rumlow – with or without him being shot – and the man seems to know it, because he doesn't resist much as he walks over and reaches for him, forcing him to roll over and lay on his stomach.
Rumlow hisses slightly as the move jars his foot and Steve finds that he doesn't care very much as he pulls his arms up behind his back and holds them there. Once he has Rumlow subdued, Bucky relaxes a fraction and he can see his friend suck in a breath, his eyes closing for a second in exhaustion, before he opens them again and sweeps the room in a perimeter check, his feet crunching slightly on the glass scattered across the floor.
Steve's lips press into a thin line and he grits his teeth. He cannot imagine how difficult these last 24-hours have been for Bucky, but he can't risk leaving Rumlow to go comfort him right now. Instead he flicks his eyes up to Bucky and holds his gaze, trying to put all his emotions behind one look.
"Are you alright?" he asks, the words a placeholder for a much longer conversation.
Bucky twitches his lips at him and sucks in another breath, his gun hand lowering slightly. "Yeah," he says roughly, before clearing his throat and blinking rapidly. "I'll be alright."
Steve swallows and shifts his grip on Rumlow, the man grunting slightly in irritation at him. All at once, he feels very tired, and he fights the urge to close his eyes, all too conscious of T'Challa's gaze on him, the man having stayed silent for most of the altercation.
Steve flicks his eyes up to him, and like Bucky, he imagines the man will have a lot to work through after all of this. He supposes that it had been good for him to be here to see Rumlow and learn the true culprit for the bombing… but he can't imagine what it is like to learn that his father had been murdered in a calculated attempt to trap and frame someone else.
T'Challa stays silent as they wait for the guards to come back (and Steve is seriously beginning to wonder about them, shouldn't they have been just outside the door?), and he stands in front of them, staring down at Rumlow, his eyes hard.
Steve breathes in through his nose and wracks his brain for something to say. He isn't really sure what can be said in this situation, but he knows that stewing in silence isn't really a better option—
Rumlow decides to take over for him, the man laughing roughly, his face pressing into the floor. "Do you really think this is over just because you caught me?" he taunts, turning his head so that he can look at him with one eye. His shoulders flex and he laughs again. "I may not have the Winter Soldier, but the world now knows about him."
His mouth twists and he cranes his head to look over at Bucky. "Everyone now knows who you are, and what you did," he spits. "There are other groups that'll want to get their hands on you. They'll come after you, just you wait."
He swallows, and takes in a laboured breath, his eyes still on Bucky. "And the people," he continues, his split lip beginning to bleed again as he laughs. "You think everyone will believe you're innocent just cuz they caught me?" He grins nastily, seeming not to notice his lip. "There will always be people who will believe you just got off because you're Captain America's friend," he says. "The conspiracies about you will erupt–"
Steve's teeth clench and his hands tighten on Rumlow's without meaning to, his face dropping down into a scowl as Rumlow cuts off with a pained grunt. "Shut up, Rumlow," he snaps, anger curling up in his stomach as he darts his eyes up to Bucky, his pulse quickening.
He hates to admit it, but Rumlow isn't exactly wrong. Bucky's face had been plastered all over the news, and, even when it comes out that he is innocent, people will still remember it, and they will remember when they had thought he was guilty. He will always be just a little bit guilty in people's eyes.
He grits his teeth and sucks in a breath, aware of T'Challa's gaze on him again, something thoughtful now shifting around in their depths. He glances up at him for a second before he breathes out, loosening his grip on Rumlow just slightly. (As much as breaking the man's wrists would feel justified, he doesn't want to give Rumlow any grounds to claim mistreatment or something when this all goes to court.)
Right. Yes. He will have to deal with that, and the backlash against Bucky.
But later. He will deal with it later. Right now, all he has to do is keep Rumlow held down and wait for the bloody stupid guards—
"Look, I told you—"
His head darts up at the sound of Tony's voice, the high and strained note of frustration in his words setting him on edge. His breath catches and he tenses as he watches as an entire squad of guards pushes their way into the cell, dressed head to toe in riot gear with their weapons drawn, Tony trailing along behind them with a look of irritation plain on his face.
Normally, Steve would feel relief at the presence of backup, but the look on Tony's face, and the hostile stance of the men sends shivers down his spine, the hairs on his neck standing on end as he darts his eyes over the group.
Tony meets his wide-eyed gaze, a scowl deep on his face. "The guards didn't come in because they were busy getting backup," he spits, before shifting his gaze to the line of armed men. "But I told you, Bucky isn't dangerous. Call Ross first at least, com'on—"
The men don't seem to hear him, their stances tense and edgy as their weapons come up to aim at Bucky, the man standing frozen amid the shattered glass, his hand still on Rumlow's gun.
"Put the gun down," one of them orders, his slow, deliberate tone threatening retaliation otherwise.
Back on the floor, Steve fights the very insistent urge to curse.
AN: So….. I imagine some people are going to start yelling at me now XD
I was super excited to have the big reveal this chapter! And Bucky got to punch Rumlow in the face! (after he faked him out and scared us half to death.)
Now to deal with the aftermath. If only everyone wasn't inherently biased against Bucky…