A/N: Surprises of the month: 1) Ant-man was literally amazeballs? 2) I finally got my butt in gear on this chapter. Read & review! I love hearing your feedback, especially if it's just a feels-induced keyboard mash. Don't hate me too much for this. (I love you all)
"Three things can not be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth."
~Buddha
The three heroes faltered, glued to the floor at the gruesome sight in front of them.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Iron bars served as tourniquets, restraining his chest, his biceps, his forearms, his torso, his thighs, his ankles- it would take nothing less to keep him down. His jacket and shirt had been torn crudely from him. A steel crown forced his head to arch backwards, exposing his neck to the two epidural-sized needles lodged directly in his jugular. Four thick tubes had been inserted cleanly into his chest cavity. A myriad of smaller wires hooked him up by electrodes to the sinister machines circling the platform, two nodes on his temples, three over his heart. His mouth was slack on his rubber bite guard, his face battered and swollen.
The halves of an electrical dome floated threateningly above his head, aged with use.
Steve was the first to snap out of it. He dropped his shield and sprinted forward.
Avery struggled to swallow the bile rising in her throat. She was thankful for the numbness that descended quickly upon her- thankful, until the black spots began dancing around the edges of her vision, and she realized that she was calm because she was about to black out.
It was everything she'd imagined. Worse.
Pepper turned away. "Don't watch anymore, Avery," she entreated.
Mute, she held onto the older woman for dear life.
Tony and Sam jogged after the Captain. Even from the distance of Tony's camera, Avery saw that all the blood had drained from Steve's face.
"My God," he hissed, surveying his friend. All at once, his hands were flying over the wires and cords and nodes. He deftly disconnected them, kicking the machines angrily out of the way. Sam joined him, his mouth set in a grim line, and went to work extracting the bigger tubes from his chest.
Tony had stopped halfway to the table, his view shifting to the enormous screen hanging on the wall. A gold and maroon hand reached out and tapped the keyboard. The screen flicked to life.
Utterly silent, Tony looked down and produced a USB key from a compartment in the wrist of the suit. Plugging it in, he started typing commands, and the screen switched to stretches of blue code.
"I can't see him anymore," Avery protested weakly. She didn't recognize her own voice, it was so hoarse.
Pepper heard her and snapped back to attention. "What is he-"
Though their vision was limited by Tony's camera, the audio was still active.
"Tony," Sam said sharply.
"It's HYDRA'S mainframe," he jumped in. "It's the motherload. This is every piece of information we've been missing- the key to finding every last one of these assclowns and stopping them for good. I have to download this. Get Barnes out of here."
No one got a chance to respond. Out of nowhere, as if to remind them of the situation they were in, the room plunged into darkness. Emergency lights bathed the room in a blood-saturated glow. A bomb siren started to wail.
A warning shot up on the screen, followed by a female voice advising, "System compromised. Localized destruction imminent. All personnel evacuate immediately."
Sam swore over the comms network. Tony briefly looked back at them- Steve had the Soldier slung firefighter-style over his back.
"WE'RE OUT OF TIME!" Tony yelled over the siren, "GO! I'LL CATCH UP!"
He interrupted his typing to fire a repulser blast at the back door, blowing it off its hinges. Sam snatched up Steve's shield and ran out first to give some cover.
"WE'LL MEET YOU IN THE AIR! YA GOT THIRTY SECONDS!" Steve bellowed before charging after him, the Soldier's head lolling back and forth with the bumps in Steve's stride.
Tony's camera looked back at the screen, his metal-clad fingers feeding it commands furiously. Avery now focused on the comms network, praying that they all made it back to the quinjet in time.
The further the group got from the compound, the more the wailing siren faded. There were a few more smatterings of gunfire, then another roar- this time, much closer.
"Time to split, Hulk," Steve shouted. He was acknowledged by a snarl.
Another twenty seconds or so ticked by, the padding of boots across the soft ground keeping time with the quickened pulses of the listeners in Avengers Tower. Finally, Avery heard the telltale mechanical groan of the quinjet door, indicating the bulk of the team had made it back. The canopy door closed with a final shuck, and the engines kicked in with a low scream.
"They made it," Avery exhaled.
She momentarily panicked when she heard grunting and a few garbled sounds of pain- but she pinpointed the voice as Bruce's, and realized he was coming off his transformation.
"Put him down here for now," Sam said, apparently helping Steve with the Soldier.
Avery looked again. Tony's camera was still fixed on the computer screen.
"Tony, you out yet?" Steve's voice floated into her ear.
"Not done," he responded.
"You better be. The place is gonna blow in about eight seconds," Sam said, deadly serious.
"Oh, God. Oh my God," Pepper whispered.
"Pfft," Tony said, still typing. "I was hacking into the Pentagon before your mom met your dad, sonny jim. I think I can-"
The camera cut off. The radio was silent.
"Tony?!" Sam balked.
A two second delay.
Over the comms network, a low rumble was followed by an earth-shattering BAROOM.
A wave of metallic plinks sounded as debris hit the body of the quinjet.
"Tony. Can you hear us? Tony, come in," said Steve.
Nothing.
Avery jerked to look at Pepper in horror. She was sheet-white, and her eyes were unfocused.
"I am going to kill him," she assured herself. "When he gets home, I am going to kill him."
"Turn it around," Steve commanded.
Bruce's scratchy voice joined in. Evidently, he was back in control. "What happened?"
"Tony tried to stay behind and copy the data from their computer," Sam answered.
"Aw, geeze."
Steve was still trying to get a response. "Tony. Tony."
Silence.
Then, static.
"-fine...going...bomb-"
Pepper sagged against Avery, who grabbed onto her and laughed in relief, a few tardy tears leaking out.
The three Avengers aboard the quinjet made audible relieved noises, too. Someone blew a raspberry and chuckled.
"Say that again, Tony, we didn't quite catch it," Steve said. Avery heard the grin in his voice.
"I said...fine...suit's damaged...acting temperamental," Tony's voice came in snatches. "Not...risk a quinjet landi- I'll meet...back at...Tower...Good chan- listen...all this HYDRA info."
"Alright, we copy," the Captain replied. "We'll see you back at the Tower."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The dawn came in a fury of reds and purples. Clouds created a solid cream canopy on which the sun's refractions painted streaks of vibrant hue.
The women waited.
The moment the quinjet was even a speck in the brightening city vista, they materialized together on the landing pad, the currents of the wind whipping their hair and clothes like they were standing on a ship in a storm. Long before, Pepper had yanked her phone out and called Tony's private EMT squadron to be there and waiting when the craft landed.
Avery felt such an intense mix of residual horror, anticipation, and joy that fainting was still a very real possibility.
The quinjet neared Avengers Tower, listing a little in the wind as it zeroed in on the landing pad. Contrary to what Avery expected, Tony was not tailing the craft- in fact, he was nowhere in sight.
She didn't have long to dwell on it. The aircraft touched down, wheel gears absorbing the impact. A blue boot kicked the door open before the engine even cut off.
Avery sprinted forward, stopped.
And then, he was there. Flesh and blood, alive- though barely- and right before her.
Steve had him slung over one shoulder again. The Soldier's hair obscured his face, and the toes of his black boots dragged on the asphalt. He was completely limp.
Steve didn't even stop. He charged straight toward the entrance. "We need several doctors, and we need them yesterday," were the first words out of his mouth.
Avery was shell-shocked, thoughts too jumbled to form a coherent sentence. She ran to keep up with Steve as he walked briskly toward the medical wing.
"The EMTs haven't gotten here yet," Pepper said, stepping after them smartly. Her blue eyes scanned the skies; finding no gleaming speck of maroon on the horizon, they focused on the situation at hand.
Sam emerged from the canopy as well, assisting a thoroughly weakened Bruce. The latter could barely stand, but both followed as everyone went inside.
Pepper punched a series of numbers into the elevator, and the group plunged down, doors eventually opening to reveal a floor where the walls were positively lined with medical equipment- monitors, IVs, emergency showers, sterilized surgical tools, defibrillators. Some sort of enlarged CT scanner hummed from the back of the room. Several twin-sized beds were spaced evenly along both walls, waiting for whatever Avenger had thrown himself into a crime fight a tad too hard.
Steve deposited the Soldier on the nearest bed with great care. Pepper was already on her phone again, using the commanding tone of Virginia Potts, CEO of Stark Industries.
Avery neared the bed, desperately hoping the damage wasn't as horrible as it had looked on film. When she realized it was, in fact, that bad, she had to give herself a mental smack to hold it together.
Where the thick, corded tubes had been inserted into his chest, the holes had already healed-courtesy of his accelerated biology, no doubt- but the bruises had not. Plum-sized, rust-colored contusions dotted his torso, adding to the previous discoloration from the break in his rib cage. He was visibly emaciated. Angry burn scars reddened the area around his hairline. If this wasn't enough, he bore two black eyes, a split lip, and skinned knuckles on his good hand, not to mention the entire links of armor missing from his left arm.
Steve hadn't needed to give them hell, after all. It looked like Bucky already had.
The ugly part of her hoped he'd cracked some skulls before they put him under, but thinking of the repercussions of his disobedience, her previous fears came rushing back. She remembered why time had been of the essence.
The Avengers may have saved his body, but it would mean very little if his mind was gone long before they got there.
His eyelids twitched a little bit. His bare chest hardly moved as he breathed.
She wanted to touch him, to comfort herself with some tangible evidence that he was safe- but seized up at the last minute, afraid. She hung back and stood next to Steve instead, whose great shadow provided something of a comfort.
"Miss Potts?" JARVIS's voice interrupted suddenly.
Pepper ceased speaking into her phone and covered the receiver. "What is it, JARVIS?"
When Avery turned, she saw that Bruce had wilted into a wheelchair, rubbing away a headache. Sam was easing his pack off his shoulders, looking a little warily at the unconscious soldier.
"S-s-something seems t-to be interfering-ring with m-m-my data c-core," JARVIS stammered. "I believe I m-may have a v-v-virus."
Pepper huffed, exasperated. "Well, I'm sorry, JARVIS, but I think we'll have to worry about that lat-"
Everything happened at once. Without warning, someone side-tackled Avery, shoving her away from the bed. There was shouting, a yelp, and the loud crash as a tray of medical supplies was knocked to the floor.
She spun around, startled, her hand around someone's wrist- Sam had her behind him, a good six feet from where they'd been, one protective arm extended out to the side as a barrier. Pepper was clutching her phone to her chest with wide eyes. Bruce gripped both arms of the wheelchair, sitting, but coiled to strike. Every pair of eyes was fixed in the same direction.
Tension roiling off the pair in powerful waves, the Soldier and Steve stood mirroring each other, not three feet apart, locked in a lethal glare.
Her heart gave one painful thud.
He looked like a cornered animal. With curled lips and flared nostrils, his eyes darted to each person in the room, unfocused, feverish, without recognition, an apprehensive assessment for weakness and the quickest escape route. His right fist grasped a scalpel, one he had snatched up from a nearby tray.
Avery tightened her grip on Sam's wrist.
The Soldier blinked rapidly to clear his vision, swaying almost imperceptibly.
"Gde ya? Kto ty? Gde chlen soveta?" he barked.
A beat.
"Pepper," Steve murmured, instantly eliciting the Soldier's sharp attention. "Take Avery and both of you get out of here."
Pepper hesitated before taking one slow, careful step to the side.
The Soldier's eyes snapped to Pepper. Fell on Avery.
They narrowed.
And didn't move.
He straightened slowly. Lowered the scalpel. Went stock-still.
Everyone followed the direction of his gaze, and a dawning realization seemed to come over all of them.
It was so silent, the ticking of the clock on the wall sounded like gunfire.
The room was frozen.
His eyes were unreadable.
Avery's feet moved.
Sam grabbed her elbow, stopping her short.
Pepper whispered, "Avery, what are you doing?! Don't-"
Simultaneously, Bruce began, "I really don't think you should-"
"Let go, Sam."
She said it firmly, without breaking eye contact with the Soldier.
Sam started, "Look-"
She turned. "Sam," she said.
They had a wordless standoff. He frowned deeply at her, eyes full of warning.
The expression on her face must have spoken volumes. After two or three seconds, he shook his head, huffed, and let go. Steve was curiously quiet. He watched the situation unfold, looking at Avery like he had realized something monumental.
Noiselessly, she crossed the room.
When she finally passed Steve, he surprised her, cautioning softly, "Be careful."
She nodded without looking at him. He stayed where he was, ready to jump in and intervene if necessary.
Throughout the whole exchange, the Soldier's icy eyes remained trained on her, guarded, confused. They still had a distrustful edge, but the aggression had left them.
She was taken aback for a moment. His inscrutable expression was identical to the way he'd looked at her the first time they'd spoken. But, this time, something about her was familiar to him- that much was apparent.
She came to stand before him, inches away. He let her. The thoughts of everyone in the room were deafening.
A breath.
Silence.
In her memory, a breeze grazed her face. Heavy clouds rolled by overhead. The sounds of a city in the evening floated up to her.
They were two strangers on a roof again. She broke eye contact with him for the first time, eyes shifting to the hand hanging at his side. Ignoring how her hands shook and her lungs screamed at her to breathe, she reached slowly for his bionic wrist.
Just as he had on the roof, he stepped back. Just as she had on the roof, she kept her eyes down.
She caught him, the cool metal of his fist sliding naturally into her hands.
Her thumb gently uncurled his fingers, brushing over the palm that had strangled, shot, stabbed, and broken countless victims- the hand that could end her with the ease of swatting a fly.
She felt weak in the knees, but there was too much at stake for her to run away now.
"Can you feel that?" she whispered, the vivid memory of the last time she'd asked that question replaying before her eyes.
The scalpel fell from his other hand and clattered to the floor.
She looked quickly back to his face.
He'd stopped breathing. His wide eyes were deep beneath his impossibly twisted brow, his mouth tense and lips parted.
She'd struck something. The walls were down.
A brilliant flash.
His clear eyes blazed, their heat searing her from head to toe. His hand shivered in hers.
He knew her.
"...Avery?" he asked timidly, his eyebrows knit.
Her vision clouded, blurring the sight of his face. She beamed up at him through an onslaught of warm tears. With a laugh, she threw her arms around his neck.
He faltered, surprised, but recovered quickly. She felt one cool hand, one warm, placed hesitantly on her back, cradling her like she was made of glass. All at once, he had her crushed close to his broad chest in the tightest embrace of her life.
Her whole body shook as she buried her face in his neck, caught somewhere between sobbing and laughing. His soft brown hair tickled her nose- he was shaking, too. He smelled like iron and electricity, and his skin was just as cool as his hand had been when she'd brushed it in her room. She was pressed so close to him, her feet were lifting off the ground; her toes barely brushed the floor as the raw power of his embrace lifted her up. The feel of the chilled metal against her back gave her goosebumps.
Before anyone had a chance to speak or react, something came over him.
She felt his muscles tense around her, his entire countenance going cold, his breaths getting audibly shallow and fast.
"Bucky?!" Avery exclaimed, startled, gripping his arm as he pulled back, swooning. His attention snapped back to her face, but he wasn't seeing her anymore. His features contorted in a look of irrational and all-encompassing horror.
She'd seen that face on him before.
"No, no, no, no, no," she pleaded.
His whole body twitched, and he yanked away from her. One foot stepped back. The other followed. Then he was stumbling backward, falling over himself to get away from her, from anyone. She took a step toward him. The back of his legs hit the bed frame and he crumpled on the ground, clutching his head.
Avery fell to her knees next to him. "Please, no, God-"
All around her, she heard movement, but she could only look on in terror as the Soldier seized and cried out on the floor.
"What's wrong with him?!" someone said. Steve. It was Steve.
She opened her mouth to answer him when an unearthly metallic screech came from the elevator. Everyone's heads jerked toward the source of the sound, those nearest to the elevator jumping back.
Two maroon hands struck through the crack between the doors, forcing them open with brutal force. They screamed in protest, crunching as they slammed into the wall on either side. From within, fully suited but for his missing face plate, emerged Tony.
Everyone stood down, Pepper breathing a sigh of relief as she went toward him.
"Tony, I-"
He brushed right past her, face contorted, stalking quickly and single-mindedly toward the spot where Avery held the Soldier on the floor.
In a split second, he raised his arm, leveled his repulser, and fired.
"Shit!" Sam yelled, throwing up an arm to cover his eyes, Bruce leaping forward to pull Pepper away from the danger zone. Avery screamed, falling to shield the unaware Soldier; Steve moved on reflex, snatching up a tray in a silver blur, stepping between them and deflecting the blast with the speed of a python striking prey.
The blue ball of energy hit the wall, leaving a black scorch mark.
Tony twitched, his line of sight broken, noticing for the first time the others in the room. His eyes focused on Steve, who was looking at him in a mixture of apprehension and anger.
"What the hell was that?!" he demanded.
Pepper clung to Bruce, waiting for him to answer with bated breath. By his expression, Bruce demanded an answer, too. Sam's tense frame indicated he was ready to jump in at any moment if a real fight started.
The Soldier continued to spasm violently beneath Avery's helpless hands. In the brief silence, she got a better look at Tony- he was pale, and there were dark shadows under his reddened eyes.
Voice wavering, pointing a finger at her and the Soldier, he said, "Get him out of my house right now."
Pepper took a step forward. "Tony, what are you talking about? What's wrong?"
Tony's stare remained transfixed unflinchingly on the Soldier's shaking form as answered.
"That son of a bitch killed my parents."
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
[Perhaps a more appropriate quote for this chapter would have been "GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY, IT'S ALL GONE TO SHIT"]