A/N If I ever get any Russian wrong, please let me know. My Russian is mediocre at best
Tony Stark sighed as he lounged in his chair across from an anxious Kat Hastings and a bored Sam Wilson in his office pouring yet another whiskey.
"Sorry, I'm not quite wrapping my head around this. This secret organization that was running inside Shield, named after a Greek monster that is kind of terrifying kidnapped Bucky in 1945 when he fell off a train and supposedly died and brainwashed him, using him as a weapon for seventy something years?"
"Yep, that's it exactly," Tony smirked as he sipped his drink. "I have the detailed files if you ever want some late night readings. But be warned, the shit in there is nightmare material."
"No, thanks. I have enough nightmares to fuel an army," Kat mumbled with a roll of her eyes. Tony shrugged and nodded, not bothering to explore the subject further. If it was him, he wouldn't want some random asshole interrogating him on his nightmares.
"What I'm not getting is I read about Hydra. It was disbanded in the forties after Steve Rogers flew the plane into the goddamn ocean."
Tony raised an impressed eyebrow. "Got a smart one here, Wilson, and a looker at that too."
"She did graduate high school at sixteen," Sam reasoned.
"And she is still in the room listening to everything you're saying."
"Right, Hydra was brought back covertly inside Shield by Dr. Arnim Zola." Tony told her.
"Oh, yeah. He was Steve's prisoner for a while and helped them because he really had no other choice," she chuckled. "He was a Swiss scientist and Shield recruited him a while later because he could help them. After all, he was a certified genius just really odd," she shrugged. "You're saying he grew Hydra in Shield like some sort of virus?"
Tony nodded and frowned at the girl, lost in thought as he peered at her familiar looks and overwhelming intelligence. "Who are your parents? Brains like that I feel like I'd have known your parents."
"They worked for Shield most of their lives. Thomas and Elizabeth Hastings, and that's past tense. They died in a car crash when I was nineteen."
"I'm sorry, but you said they worked for Shield? What did they do?"
"My dad was a scientist, my mom was a surgeon. Why?"
"I feel like I may have met them," he shook his head and sighed. While the names did sound familiar, he couldn't place particular faces to the names, so he dismissed the matter. "Regardless, I think it's time for the good doctor to go."
"Wait," she said, holding a hand up. "Let me look at him."
"We have a more than capable med staff here."
"No, but I'm not just a physical doctor," she let out an irritated sigh as she tried to make this man see. She knew she could help Bucky it was just a matter of whether or not she would be allowed to. "My dad was in the army for two years. I know how to handle PTSD and depression. Beyond that, I've had training in physical and mental health. I know how to treat someone in his condition better than probably half the staff here and I've studied him in school all my life. I know how to help. Just let me."
Tony smirked at her. "You got balls kid. I like that. Tell you what, you can meet Cap. If he gives the okay then be my guest. It's not really my place to decide anyway. I'll take you to him in just a second," he downed the last of his whiskey and Kat rolled her eyes before he cleared his throat and nodded. "Let's go."
They rounded the corner to find Steve pacing anxiously in front of a room that had Russian being screamed so loud, Kat wondered if Russia could actually hear what was being said.
Regardless, she took a deep breath and put herself to the test.
She decided now was the best time to prove herself to Steve if she was going to get the job looking after Bucky.
This man had safeguarded her childhood without knowing it and now she felt the need to pay him the same respect. It was only because of him after all that she was still confidently standing there.
"Don't-Don't touch me. No more missions. Please. I don't want anymore missions." She roughly translated and Steve's head whipped towards her so fast she worried he might get whiplash.
Then again, he was a super soldier who had survived being a popsicle for seventy years. Maybe, whiplash was beneath him.
"What did you say?" He questioned and she held up a finger.
"Translating. I liked learning languages in high school so I could learn five different ways of cursing without my parents knowing. Now, shh. He's speaking really fast."
Steve nodded with wide eyes and back away, watching her impatiently.
"I know I have failed my last mission. I am sorry. I could not kill him. He was my friend. Please do not punish me. Please do not give me more missions. Just kill me. Please just kill me. End it. The world is so different now. I don't think I can survive in it. Just kill me."
She looked up and saw Steve watching her in horror and disparity.
"Maybe, I shouldn't have translated?" She guessed, nervously glancing up at Sam who was staring at his friend with concern. "Sorry, I just-"
"No, it's okay. It's better to know. Thank you…?" He prompted.
"Kat. Kat Hastings. I'm a doctor."
"A doctor? Do you think you can help him?" He seemed hopeful and Kat simply smiled.
"If you let me, I can try."
He looked back at the door which contained his suicidal best friend. He took a deep breath. "Can you try?"
She nodded and immediately headed inside.
Bucky was spending each waking second in fear of the next. In fear of what was to come. Who Hydra would want him to kill next. Perhaps, they would be unsatisfied with him leaving his previous mission alive and send him to kill him again. His friend.
He just wanted to die. He had seen the world. He knew what he would be returning to if he stayed alive. He just wanted to die. He had been denied an honorable death, so why not give him one that arose out of exhaustion?
He supposed that if he did have another mission he could just allow whoever it was to kill him, but they might wipe his memory before he had the chance.
He choked back a sob. When did his life become a question of the easiest way to die? Why couldn't they just end it?
Just then, a woman walked in the room. She was a short, young, brunette woman. She had on a light shirt that revealed her shoulder and dark jeans.
Bucky frowned at her. She didn't seem to be Hydra. She was far prettier than the brutish men that had ruled Hydra. She flashed him a quick smile before she pulled out a chair and sat beside him.
"Hi, Sergeant Barnes. My name is Kat," she introduced and Bucky simply stared at her, his eyes begging for answers about what was going to happen next.
"I heard you out there and I want you to know that there will be no more missions."
"Are they finally going to kill me?" He asked his tone hopeful and expectant.
"No, Sergeant Barnes you're not in Hydra anymore. Hydra is gone."
Who was this woman? "Hydra is never gone," he said coldly.
She frowned and shook her head. She didn't expect his tone to be so cold and she certainly did not expect that chilling statement. However, she persisted, throwing on a fake smile and wringing her hands anxiously. When did she become so nervous? "Well, you're safe. I can promise you that." Her heart broke watching him. Here was this man. This brave survivor who never wanted to hurt an innocent soul and all that was left was the broken pieces of him.
While full recovery wasn't possible, Kat knew she had to help the man who she had so often looked up to. If you had the chance to help your childhood icon and the man who saved you from giving up and killing yourself, wouldn't you? No matter what it took?
"Where am I?" He asked, glancing around at the room tentatively. If he wasn't in Hydra, who else would want him?
"You're at an Avengers Headquarters."
"Avengers?"
"Yes, Steve is part of the team. Steven Rogers."
Bucky furrowed his eyebrows. The name sounded familiar, but he wasn't certain.
"Steven Rogers, you've got to be the dumbest kid in all of Brooklyn. And Queens. And Jersey." Bucky frowned. "You're probably the only guy I know that would get his ass kicked countless times and then keep going back for more. What was it this time?"
"He was being a bully," the skinny little kid said as he brushed the dirt off of him. The guy had kicked him into the dirt and punched him repeatedly before Bucky came and told him to beat it.
"Aren't they all?" Bucky chuckled, wrapping his arm around the boy's shoulders. "Come on, your mom's gonna have a fit that I didn't step in sooner."
"You didn't have to step him, I had him on the ropes," Steve insisted.
Bucky laughed. "Then I'm sorry I stopped him from bashing your face in before you could have your moment of glory. My apologies."
"Steve," he breathed.
She nodded. "Do you want to see him, or-?"
Bucky shook his head. "No. Don't let him see me."
"Understandable," she said.
Just then, Bucky's stomach rumbled and she giggled as his cheeks pinkened.
"Don't feel embarrassed. It happens to the best of us. Why don't I see about getting you some food? What would you like to eat?" She asked, getting up out of her chair.
"I don't know," he mumbled. He never had to pick out what to eat in Hydra. They always just gave him food and if he didn't like it, he didn't eat. Why couldn't this woman just give him something? He didn't care.
She nodded. "I'll figure something out."
He frowned at her kindness. It seemed so foreign after years of aggression and indifference, and yet he found himself grateful for it. He was grateful that he was finally being treated like a human being instead of a weapon.
He felt a swell of emotion for this young girl who flashed him a quick smile before closing the door behind her roughly.
Thank you.
"Well, that was interesting," she sighed. "To say the least."
"What did he say?" Steve asked.
"Well, for starters, he remembers you." Steve smiled and she held up a finger. "But he doesn't want to see you just yet. Don't look upset. He has good reasoning. When my dad was discharged he hated being in the same room as my mom and I. He didn't want us to see what the war made of him. He was ashamed. I suspect the same thing is happening in Sergeant Barnes. He's just ashamed. Even if he doesn't realize it, something in the back of his head is telling him not to let his best friend since childhood see him like this."
Steve nodded and took a deep breath. "Okay. Okay, well, first things first you're hired," he sighed with a small shrug as though that were obvious.
Kat grinned, her heart soaring as she realized what this meant. She got to treat her childhood hero. The man even her dad called a hero.
He was now her patient.
"Really?" She squeaked.
"Yeah, of course. You speak Russian and understand PTSD thoroughly. I'd be an idiot not to hire you."
She squealed and Sam picked her up and spun her around in a hug. "Congratulations, Katty!" He exclaimed, and she laughed. Her legs were jelly as she repeated what Steve said over and over in her mind.
If she told her fifteen-year-old self she would soon be a doctor for James Buchanan Barnes, she would slap herself in the face and think it was some sick prank.
She knew he wasn't the same man anymore, but she couldn't help but think that somehow she was repaying some debt she owed the man.
She spun around giddily. "I have to get him some food but right now this is just sinking in."
Steve chuckled. "Friday, can you ask Maria to get some food for Bucky?"
"Certainly, sir."
