Author's Note

Alright, another update day. Sorry this is later in the day than I've posted previously. It's actually June 9th for some of you, but it's still the 8th where I am. I'm East Coast USA so it's only about 6pm here. I post of Fridays because it's my day off work but I went on an impromptu trip to Universal Studios. I just got back a little bit ago. But I got straight to posting as soon as I could.

So, go onward and enjoy!

Prisoner of War

Ari groans as she comes back to consciousness. That was the worst experience with the AllSpark she's had since gaining marks. But gaining marks was a quick, sharp pain that came on as her body changed, over as quickly as it began.

This is a lingering ache, like she overstretched a muscle.

Suddenly, Sideswipe is there, soothing the ache in her mind using the bond until it recedes from a pounding drum to a slight tapping on her brain. She sighs in relief, burying her face in the shoulder of his holoform.

That's when she notices the yelling.

"What the frag was that?" Tony asks, growling with a hint of hysteria. "Why did she say that?"

"I don't know, Stark," Will sighs, sounding like not for the first time.

"That's what they said. That's what Hydra used to say. It was like-like they're battle cry or calling card or something. Why would she say it?"

"What's going on?" Ari asks Sideswipe along the bond, not feeling strong enough just yet to use her actual voice.

"I think Tony might think you're Hydra," Sideswipe grumbles, offended on her behalf. His arms tighten around her where she sits on his lap, cradled against his chest. "Which is ridiculous. Like you would really be Hydra, even if they were still around. Seriously, though, why did you say that?"

She winces inwardly."Yeah, maybe not my best idea, but I had to warn you guys somehow."

"Warn us about what?"

"We're in a lot more trouble than we thought, Sides."

Natasha cuts Tony off from whatever he was saying, dissolving into a litany of Russian that's…not nice at all.

"Wow. She only insults in Russian when she's really ticked. Just how long was I out?"

"Only about ten minutes." He buries his face in her neck, taking in a shuddered breath. "You were screaming. You were screaming so much and I felt your pain, but I couldn't find a cause. Ratchet either."

She smiles softly, sending him reassurance and love over the bond as she lifts a hand to card her fingers through his hair. Hopefully, no one has noticed she's awake yet. Or at the very least, they'll give her a few minutes. "I'm fine, Sideswipe. Yeah, it hurt and I wasn't expecting it, but I needed to see that stuff."

"But why were you in pain? Looking at the knowledge never caused you pain before."

"I think the AllSpark just...showed me too much, all at once. It may have changed my body to accommodate it but this is still a human body. I can only take so much. This was just my limit, I guess."

He pulls back, cupping her cheek with his thumb slowly stroking her skin. "Are you sure?"

She opens her eyes to look up at him, seeing a seriousness on his face that he rarely wears. "Ratchet scanned me already?"

He nods.

"And he didn't find anything wrong?"

He shakes his head, more nervously this time.

"Then I'm fine." She takes his hand, kissing each finger. "I swear to you, Sideswipe. I am fine."

He shutters at the promise, the bond making it that much more powerful since it's impossible to lie to each other with it connecting them. He knows her promise to be true. She is okay, and if she wasn't, she would tell him so.

"I don't like all of this, Ari," he mutters, drawing her even closer in his arms. "Why does this feel like it's going to be one of the worst things we've ever faced?"

"Because it is." She gives him a lingering kiss—both to give and receive comfort. "There's a lot I have to tell you guys, none of it good news."

"Seriously?" Tony gripes. "This isn't exactly the time to be making out here."

Ari snorts, giving Tony a playful glare. "That's rich, coming from you."

"I'm not the one spouting off Hydra greeting cards."

"Tony, chill," Will snaps from his seat right beside her, hands clenching convulsively on the table like he's restraining himself from pulling her out of Sideswipe's arms. "You okay, kiddo?"

Ari smiles, nudging at Sideswipe over the bond to let her go. He sighs dramatically but complies, unwrapping his arms from around her to allow her to stand. Will wastes no time, standing as well and pulling her in for a hug.

"You scared the crap out of me, you know that?" he says, breath ghosting along the top of her head.

"Sorry," she mutters against his chest, wishing she could stay in the safety of her dad's arms, but there is no safety. Not for any of them. "But I'm going to have to scare you a bit more."

He pulls back, brow creased with worry. "What do you mean?"

"What did the AllSpark show you?" Optimus asks, guessing what she's getting at right away.

She sighs heavily, feeling every ounce of the weight of this knowledge. She sits back down on Sideswipe's lap, urging Will to retake his seat as well.

"Well, that doesn't sound good," John chuckles lightly, his laugh dying off when he doesn't see her smile at his attempt at humor. "Wait, just how bad is this?"

"On a scale of one to ten, about a million."

"So what's going on, kid?" Tony asks flippantly, only the flinty steel in his eyes giving away how tense he is as he leans back in his chair. "Why did you freak out, say 'Hail Hydra', and then pass out on us? Because, I gotta tell you, that was unnerving as frag."

Sideswipe tightens his arms around her waist and she swallows thickly, knowing this is going to be painful to so many of them. "Hydra is still alive."

A beat of silence.

And then several protests ring out, Steve's the loudest of all, "You can't be serious! We defeated Hydra. Me, the Hollowing Commandoes. We put an end to it."

"I know, I know," she says, everyone quieting down around her. "I know what you were led to believe, but it didn't die off in World War II like everyone thought. They went into hiding. S.H.I.E.L.D. was just getting started at the time. Really, defeating Hydra was their first major mission, but you guys didn't actually win. Not even close."

Natasha's eyes narrow. "Explain."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. was just starting out, right? They were growing their numbers, taking anyone they thought would be useful. So members of Hydra infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ranks, slipping right in with the other new recruits."

"How could they not have known?" Thor asks, outrage barely constrained in the rolling timbre of his voice. Him and Loki may not be native to Earth but they've gotten the basic history lesson, not to mention the stories from Steve. They understand the gravity of the situation.

"This was decades ago," Ari shrugs helplessly. "Humans didn't exactly have the resources to do a thorough background check. Really, I'm sure it wasn't too hard at all."

"What about now?" Jane asks in disbelief. "How can no one know now?"

"Because now it's too late," Ari says softly. "Hydra played the long game, slithering their way slowly through the organization until they were able to infiltrate even the highest ranks. I'm not sure about the World Security Council themselves, but Galloway is Hydra. Of that, I am certain. With Hydra members that far up the ranks, they'd be able to slip in anyone else they please."

"And what does that mean for us?" Natasha asks, sounding more lost than Ari's ever heard her before. Sure, Natasha has her mask fully raised, but Ari knows her. She recognizes the slight waver barely breaking through. "How many missions were compromised because of them? How many missions did we only go on because Hydra wanted us to?"

Natasha tried so hard to wipe the red from her ledger. Sure, not all of S.H.I.E.L.D. is bad, and most of the missions she went on probably were for the greater good. But how much red did Hydra add to her ledger because of their deception?

"I don't know," Ari answers honestly. "But this ends. Now. I don't know what made Fury suspicious in the first place, but he's given us an opportunity to stop this before whatever long game Hydra is playing reaches its end."

"Do you think whatever's on the flash drive will help?" Lina asks, fiddling with the drive in her hands.

"It might. Or it'll just tell us what we already know now. But it can't hurt to take a look if we can just access it."

Jazz takes it from Lina, slipping it in his pocket. "I'll start running this tonight. Should have it cracked in no time. No way whatever A.I.'s protecting the thing is better than an Autobot processor."

"But what about Bucky?" Steve asks, voice short with impatience. It is what led Ari to these discoveries in the first place, but she's been skirting around it.

She takes a deep breath, like it will somehow help, but none of the other deep breaths she's taken tonight have made her feel any less ready for any of this. "Bucky fell from the mountain and survived. Hydra found him and then..." She shudders at the memories the AllSpark has left her with, images and the ghosts of feelings of what Bucky was forced to endure. "The bottom line? He was brainwashed. He's not really himself right now."

Tony snorts derisively. "Brainwashed? Really? You sure that's not just wishful thinking and he's completely turned to the Dark Side?"

Ari bristles, but Steve looks ready to pummel Tony. She intervenes before he can, "Yes, I'm sure. That's what I saw. He was brainwashed. His actions aren't his own and if he was in his right mind right now, he wouldn't be doing any of this. None of this, none of the things he's done, it's not his fault. It's Hydra's."

"And you're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I'd show you if it'd help, but I honestly wouldn't wish those images on anyone. Just take my word for it, Tony," she pleads. "Bucky did not join Hydra willingly."

Tony crosses his arms in front of his chest, jaw set in a stubborn line. "But he tried to kill you."

"Clint tried to kill you when he was brainwashed with the Mind Stone," Ari reminds him gently. "As did Loki. And you've forgiven both of them. They're your friends."

"Oh, and while we're at it, what about our resident S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, huh? Clint, Natasha, Phil—how do we know none of them are Hydra?" He gets up from his chair abruptly, racking his hands through his hair until it sticks every which way. "Frag, how do I know no one in this room is Hydra?"

Natasha spits something else in Russian and Ari quickly stands, rounding the table to stand in front of Tony. She steps close to the metal suitcase at his feet, just in case he plans something stupid with the Iron Man suit. "Tony, you can't go thinking like that. We need to trust each other if we're going to make it through this."

"We thought we could trust S.H.I.E.L.D. and that turns out to be false," Ironhide points out bitterly. "How do we know who to trust?"

"Because I just got a mental download of Hydra's history for the past seven decades," Ari soothes, tilting her head until she catches Tony's eyes. "If someone in this room was Hydra, the AllSpark would have shown me. We're all good here, including Clint and Phil."

"What about everyone else?" Ratchet asks, brow furrowed in concern. "Everyone else at S.H.I.E.L.D., even our own N.E.S.T. soldiers. How do we know who to trust among them?"

"Until this is done, we trust no one outside this room," Ari says firmly. "We have to assume everyone's the enemy, and Galloway is going to have all of S.H.I.E.L.D. convinced we're fugitives regardless."

Jane taps her pen anxiously against her notebook. "What about the ones just following orders?"

Tony sinks back into his chair with a thump. "Don't kill anyone unless they try to kill us. Except for Barnes, I guess." His face twists into an ugly look—helplessness and exhaustion not sitting right on him. "Though what are we going to do with him, huh? Mind Stone? Hit them really hard and it snaps them right out of it. We don't even know everything that was done to Bucky. How are we supposed to fix this?"

"I might be able to help," Loki says tentatively, staring at the table hard in thought before raising his eyes to Steve. "These humans, they would have used technology and chemicals to sway your friend's will so easily, affecting his brain chemistry, the way his mind makes connections, and especially his memories. It's not so different to how the Mind Stone works. If I use my magic to connect my mind to his, I might be able to unravel the damage Hydra has wrought."

Steve's brow furrows. "What, you mean like telepathy or something?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes, along with some healing magic to return his brain to the state it should be. That will probably be the longer process."

"It won't hurt him, will it?" Darcy asks, worrying her lip between her teeth. "I don't know what happened to him, but I get the feeling he's been in enough pain already."

"It might," Loki nods solemnly. "But if Bucky is the kind of man Steve has led us all to believe, he would be willing to go through a bit more pain to regain himself."

"It is up to you, Steve," Ratchet declares. "You are the closest thing Bucky has to family now. You're the only one here who can give consent on his behalf, but we only act with your approval."

All eyes turn to him as they wait for Steve to reply, a frown of indecision marring his face. Bucky is like a brother to Steve, the only family he has now, too. How is he supposed to just sign him up for more pain after everything he's been through?

Then again, if Steve says no, he may not ever truly get his friend back. Maybe—maybe—Bucky will be able to recover on his own now that he's away from Hydra and no longer enduring their torture.

But that won't exactly be a painless process, either.

Steve nods stiffly. "Do it."


Loki climbs into the back of Ratchet's alt mode, sitting down on the bench seat next to the gurney Bucky's laid out on. Ratchet climbs in after him on the other side of the bed, ready to help in whatever way might be needed.

Ratchet must have stripped Bucky of the upper half of his leather uniform earlier, leaving him in a black tank top so that an IV can feed into his right arm. Loki removes it carefully now, pushing up the long sleeves of his own shirt.

"This will not be pleasant," he warns, one last time. "You may not want to watch."

"Just do it," Steve chokes out, standing right at the back of the ambulance. He'd probably be in the back of it if there was room.

No one else goes back downstairs, either, determined to see this through. They just found out Bucky is the longest surviving prisoner of war in history. He deserves at least this respect from them.

"Very well." Loki places his hands on Bucky's face, fingertips resting against his temples. "Brace yourselves."

Nothing happens at first and everyone starts to relax, thinking that this will be painless after all.

Then Bucky screams, like a wounded animal caught in a bear trap, bucking and writhing in an attempt to get away from the source of his pain. But is that Loki, or whatever he's seeing in his own mind?

"Hold him down," Loki orders, closing his eyes in concentration. "If we lose the connection, it may cause even more damage to his brain."

Ratchet climbs on top of Bucky, pressing against his chest and keeping his arms pinned to his sides with his legs. Bucky continues to scream, starting to sound even more panicked.

Ari clenches Sideswipe's hand, wishing to look away but she can't. She may not know Bucky, not yet, but she wants to be there for him any way she can.

After five minutes, everything goes silent. Bucky's screams stop abruptly like a snapped rubber band and he goes slack, completely unmoving. Somehow, that's worse than the screams, because he looks so unmoving that it's like he's not breathing. He looks...dead.

"Bucky?" Steve panics, muscles bunched tight as he forces himself to stay still. "Bucky?"

"It is alright," Loki breaths out, slowly opening his eyes. "His mind was a mess, but I have managed to undo everything Hydra has done. His mind is his own again."

"What was done to him?" Bruce asks. "Were you able to tell? Will there be any lasting effects?"

"Whoever did this was clever," Loki growls, removing his hands from Bucky's face and leaning back against the side of the alt mode. "They used electricity to damage his neural pathways, blocking him off from his own memories. They then used a dangerous combination of chemicals to keep him compliant. Under normal hypnosis, you can be influenced into doing things, but still have some ability to refuse. If you truly do not wish to kill someone, you can't be forced to do it. Your brain would fight it enough to break you out of the hypnosis. Hydra took that ability away from him. He had no choice but to do as he was told. Frankly, I'm surprised he survived this procedure at all."

"It's because he was given a version of the Super Soldier Serum," Ari answers, feeling obliged to fill in the blanks even though she doesn't want to. It would be better for them not to know what happened to Bucky. Then again, their imaginations might be even worse. And Bucky himself is probably going to want answers, answers he can only get from them. "When he was taken by Hydra the first time, they dosed him up with it. That's why he was able to survive the fall, and that's why he could endure what they did to him. But..."

She hesitates, despite knowing she can't really stop after she's started.

"But what?" Steve asks, eyes fearful yet imploring.

"It also allowed him to fight back, to an extent." She takes in a shuddered breath and Sideswipe moves behind her, wrapping his arms around her from behind. Seeking comfort, she leans back against him, gripping his forearms tightly. "His brain kept trying to heal what was done to him, with the help of the serum. He'd start to remember things, little things, and would resist his programming. That's probably why he helped Natasha at Red Room. But when he started to do that, they'd put him back in the chair again."

"The chair?" Natasha asks, cocking her head curiously.

Ari lowers her eyes, seeing that horrible chair in technicolor. "The chair they used to shock his brain. Like an electric chair but...worse."

Tony swears in a couple different languages, pacing away and swiping his hands furiously through his hair until it sticks up every which way even worse than before. Ari can understand the feeling.

How can anyone be okay with doing this to another human being?

"And I thought the Decepticons were bad," Sunstreaker mutters.

"Darkness is something that lives inside of everyone," Optimus says simply. "Either succumbing to it or fighting against it is something we all must choose. Unfortunately, some people choose to succumb. That is just the way life is."

"Well, it sucks," Darcy says just as simply, eyes glassy with anger or sadness or both. "I mean...how do you even bounce back from something like this? Can he?"

"I don't know," Natasha answers softly, understanding more than anyone the amount of hardship a person is able to recover from. "All we can do is try to help any way we can."

"And we will help, Steve," Will says, clasping the captain on the shoulder. "We'll all be here if you need us. He doesn't have to face this alone. I know you're his friend and the only one he really knows but...we're all in his corner already anyway. In case you need us."

Everyone nods in agreement, even Tony despite how reluctant he was to accept Bucky in the beginning. Steve nods back gratefully, climbing up to sit at Bucky's bedside after Loki climbs down.

"So what now?" Evie asks, the energy in the room seeming to rapidly drain.

"Bucky needs to rest," Loki says, rolling his sleeves back down.

"We all need to rest," Ratchet concurs. "I think everyone can agree it has been a very long day."

"How secure is this place since Hydra is apparently still a thing?" Darcy wonders, glancing at the barn doors nervously. "They're not gonna be able to find us and kill us in our sleep or anything, right?"

"The only people who know this place's existence outside of those already here are Clint and Phil," Natasha states confidently. "And the alarm system is top of the line. It's safe to sleep. We should get as much sleep as we can because this is probably the safest we'll be for a while."

"Well, alright then," Jane mumbles, wiping at heavy eyes as she goes back downstairs to find a place to sleep, Thor following along behind her.

"Please, please, please tell me there's a shower somewhere in this place?" Lina practically begs, picking at her sweaty and dirty shirt. "And maybe some change in clothes?"

"I got some stuff from one of the caches we hit before meeting up," Will offers.

Ari shakes her head. "Wearing the N.E.S.T. logo right now probably isn't a good idea. We're all going to need a change of clothes."

"I've got some stuff," Natasha says, leading the way downstairs again. "I keep spare clothes here, in varying sizes, just in case. There should be enough for everyone."

On the other side of the racks of weapons is a hallway Ari didn't notice before, lined with two doors on the left, two doors on the right, and ending at another door. Natasha goes into the second door on the left, revealing a bedroom. The furnishings are Spartan, minimal, with only a bed, a nightstand with a lamp, and a dresser. She opens up the dresser, the top drawer filled with t-shirts in a couple different colors and sizes.

"It's not much, but pick whatever you like," Natasha offers, stepping back for them to choose.

Lina hobbles forward eagerly. "At this point, I don't care."

"I don't either," Ari agrees, picking out some stuff for herself. Natasha even has sneakers in a bottom drawer. Not quite the right size for her, but beggars can't be choosers.

It's weird not having the luxury of her own stuff right not, but at least she has the option of a change of clothes. She didn't have that opportunity during Egypt.

"So, shower?" Evie asks, turning hopeful eyes on Natasha.

"You'll have to take turns," she warns, jerking her thumb at the door across the hall. "But there's shampoo and stuff in there."

"Awesome," Lina sighs, taking another hobbling step forward with a grimace. "As the only injured person here, I demand first dibs. Though I might need help."

"Will you help her?' Ari asks Evie. "I'll be there in a minute. I just need to talk to Optimus real quick."

"Yeah, 'course," Evie agrees easily, pulling Lina's arm over her shoulders to take some of her weight.

"Thanks."

Ari then looks at Optimus's holoform, tipping her head to signal him to follow her. He nods, the two of them walking up to the barn again to lean against the bumper of his semi side by side, seeking a bit of privacy.

"What is it, Ari?" Optimus prompts after a few minutes of silence.

She bunches the fabric of her skirt in her hands, unable to look at him. "I just…I wanted to apologize."

"What for?" he asks in bafflement.

She snorts humorlessly. "What for? For all of this. For people you trusted turning out to be traitors. Again. For making you work for fragging Nazis."

"Ari." He places a hand on her shoulder, turning her to face him, but she keeps her eyes focused on his boots. "None of this is your fault."

"How is it not?" Tears sting at the backs of her eyes and she stubbornly pushes them away. "I should have known! With the AllSpark, I could have found out about Hydra ages ago. But no, I've been too focused on trying to find Unicron that I failed to pay attention to what's been going on right here in our own backyard. And I encouraged you to work for S.H.I.E.L.D.. I got you into all of this. Who knows how many people have ended up hurt because of what they—what I—have asked you to do."

It's like Sentinel all over again. The AllSpark warned her he'd turned sides, and she ignored it. She's had ample opportunity to find out about Hydra. The knowledge hadn't been blocked off from her. She could have found out ages ago, back when they first got involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. and before they started doing missions for them.

What did she get them into?

"Are any of the missions we went on for Hydra?" he asks, lacking any of the anger or accusation she feels she deserves. He should be yelling at her—raging that he's never going to trust another fragging human again. It's what she deserves. It's what they all deserve.

"Look at the knowledge the AllSpark has given you," he encourages instead, soft and gentle like a patient parent. "Has Hydra ever orchestrated any of our missions?"

She doesn't see the point of this but follows his direction anyway, closing her eyes to concentrate. She sifts through the S.H.I.E.L.D. missions that were actually Hydra design, looking for any handed to N.E.S.T. and the Autobots.

Except…there aren't any.

"They didn't give us any missions," she breathes, voice quavering in shock and relief. "They tried to—Galloway tried to any chance he got—but I…I turned them all down. The missions that sounded like assassinations. I didn't like the sound of them, didn't like the idea of you guys doing them, so I told him no."

Optimus lifts her head with a finger under her chin, giving her a soft smile. "You see? We did not fall to their deceptions thanks to you."

"But how did you know?"

He pulls her into a hug, holding her tightly. "Because I know you. I trust you, and I knew you would protect us."

She wraps her arms around his waist, burying her face in his leather jacket. "Thank you."

"And I know you will help us set this right."

She's quiet for a moment, afraid to voice her next thought but needing to know. "I'd understand, you know. If you didn't want to help us. This isn't your fight."

"And the Decepticons aren't your fight, and yet you fight in our war. You are our friends. Family. We will not leave you to face this on your own."

She smiles, snuggling closer. "I love you, too."

There's still a hollowness in her chest, though. Of failure. Of disappointment. Disappointment in herself. A sense that she could have—should have—done more.

If she had, maybe Nick would still be alive.


Author's Note

So, everyone's world just turned upside down, Ari's feeling guilty, and Bucky's going to be okay. Eventually. Let's face it, even with magic, this isn't something you just bounce back from. It's going to be a long road for him.

And next chapter we get back on the road and back into a little action. I hope all the talking doesn't bore you but these are big, necessary reveals. The next chapter should be up June 22.

Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time!