New Mexico

Hydra Base

2015

"You sure you want to watch in on this?" asked Steve as they made their way towards the conference room. They were on the way to watch in on Baron Fleischer's interrogation because Bucky had insisted that they go, and Steve had reluctantly agreed to accompany him.
Bucky nodded, "I have to do this Stevie."

Steve frowned and shoved his hands into his pockets. He knew this was something that Bucky wasn't gonna let go and he understood that it was something he needed to do. But Steve just wished that he would slow down a bit instead of chasing down this mess because he knew that his friend was hurting and the only thing he would gain from this was more hurt. But he understood his friends need to know.

He needed to know what all they did in this sick conquest to recreate the serum, and why they would do this to Yelena and what they hoped to gain. And it wasn't just Bucky that had to know, it was Steve too. This was his best friend's daughter and that by default made her family and there wasn't anything Steve wouldn't do for family.

"Okay," Steve said softly as he grasped his friends shoulder, smiling softly to show his support.
Baron Fleischer was by definition an asshole. The way he held himself and even the way he looked just made Steve want to deliver a swift punch to his pretty little face. His hair was blond and still somehow perfectly styled and his blue eyes glared defiantly at them as they entered.

"Would you look at what the cat dragged in," his smooth voice hinted a slight eastern European accent and was full of sarcasm as he took in the two men's appearance, "Captain America and the Winter Soldier."
"Hello Fleischer," said Steve darkly as he pulled out a chair and swiftly took his seat, Bucky doing the same as well with a deadly glare on his face.

"I would say it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Rogers, but I'm afraid that under these circumstances it's not," said Fleischer smiling at him sarcastically apologetic.

"Hmmm," said Steve staring at him before opening the file placed before him.
"And look who you brought with you," said Fleischer looking over at Bucky and then back at Steve, "the Asset himself, except you don't call yourself the Asset anymore do you?" he said directing his question to Bucky.

"My names Bucky," he said surprisingly calm considering the situation.
"No it's not," Fleischer's eyes widened as he stared Bucky down, "the Asset doesn't have a name."

Bucky's nostrils flared and the vein in his neck started throbbing, his hands clenched tightly as he breathed deep trying to calm himself down. He obviously did not appreciate being told he wasn't even a person by this asshole.

"I'm not him anymore."
"Really?" asked Fleischer in mock surprise, "so you're just going to shake off your training and pretend to be a person when you know you're nothing but a weapon?"

Steve's eyes shot to Bucky and silently communicated with him telling him not to fall prey to this man's words. But he knew Bucky wasn't gonna let someone as petty as this Baron get under his skin with asinine comments like that.

"That's enough," said Steve reviewing the file, "now we're going to ask you some questions and you are going to answer them truthfully," said Steve threateningly as he stared the other man down, daring him to challenge his authority.

The Baron said nothing as he clasped his hands in his lap, not daring to challenge the older man.

"Wise decision, now let's get down to business," said Steve closing the file and sliding forward to rest on his arms, "tell us about Yelena."

"Lena? What do you want to know about her?" he said as he traced his fingers over the table.
"How about everything," said Bucky as he leaned forward.

"She was a failed experiment to recreate your serum," said Fleischer looking at Bucky with a nonchalant expression.
"We are already know that," growled Bucky, "I want to know what you did to her."
"Personally?" asked the Baron.

Bucky nodded, his eyes growing dangerously dark.

"Well if you insist," said Fleischer sadistically as a wide smile crossed his lips.

"When Lena first came here, she was so young and innocent," said Fleischer as his eyes traveled away, "she always had a stuffed bear with her and she would drag it around everywhere she went, and I thought it was cute. She was such a beautiful little girl with her big brown eyes and her stuffed bear and I knew that wouldn't last for long," he said as a sick smile crossed his lips.

Bucky's breathing started to become labored and his metal fist was so tightly grasping the leg of the table that it left finger indents. His mouth was pulled back into a snarl and his eyes dared this man to continue.

"She was so innocent and naive," said Fleischer leaning in, "it was fun tearing her down."

Steve bit the inside of his cheek nervously as he looked over to Bucky, who was trying his best to remain calm and collected as he listened to all the Baron had to say.

"At first she was disobedient," said Fleischer, "but finally we managed to beat her into submission. It was hard but not impossible," he said looking back up at Bucky, "and then we began to train her, just like the girls in the Red Room."

Bucky breathed in deeply as he remembered what sort of training those girls had been forced to go through and he knew it was nothing good. It was horrible and it hurt him to think of Yelena having to go through such a program.

"And she was good," said the Baron with a hint of pride lacing his voice, "she was better than any of the other girls who were admitted into the program."

"You mean Isabel and Anna," said Steve darkly as he remembered reading the file on both of the girls. His blood had boiled in anger when he found out what had happened to them and he had promised himself that he would avenge them. Their voices deserved to be heard even if the Baron had silenced them.

"They failed," he said with a simple shrug of his shoulders, a sign that he didn't care about what had happened to those girls, "and failure is unacceptable."

"So you killed them?" asked Bucky, "just because they didn't measure up to your standards?"

The Baron cocked his head to the side, "they were expendable."

Bucky clenched his metal fist tightly as he imagined what it would feel like to wrap his hands around his throat and squeeze the life out of him. These girls had been abused and murdered at Fleischer's hand and he acted like it had been nothing more than business.

"And I suppose Yelena is expendable too?" he asked with red hot anger.

"Oh no," said the Baron with a sickening smile, "not my little Lena. No she's special."

"Special?" asked Steve with morbid curiosity, his gaze flickering to Bucky to assess his reaction to the hostile statement.

"Ooh," he said leaning back in his chair and smiling maniacally at the duo, "there are multiple ways to tear a little girl down, especially one as pretty as Yelena."

A sick feeling slowly crept into Bucky's stomach at the words and he had no doubt as to what the Baron was trying to tell him. He calmed his urge to vomit, his blue eyes filling with unprecedented rage as he flew out of his chair and over to the smug blond opposite of him. He wasted no time in grabbing the Baron by the throat and bashing his scrawny ass into the nearest wall, his metal fingers tightening as he slowly squeezed the life out of him.

He felt Steve's strong arms grasp around his arms and pull him back as he tried to kill the man in front of him.

"Buck!" cried Steve, "Calm down!"
Steve finally managed to pry Bucky off of Fleischer and held him back from the wheezing and coughing man.

"Y-you need to contain him!" screamed the Baron as he struggled to breathe, his fingers pointed in accusation at the brunette, "he could've killed me!"

Steve swiftly turned around and suckered punched the Baron square in the face hard enough to hear the distinct sound of bone breaking. The Baron's eyes rolled back into his head and he fell backward onto the floor as blood started to pour freely down his face and shirt.

A few agents came running into the room at the sound, but stopped short when they saw the crumpled form of the Baron on the floor.

"Clean this shit up," said Steve to the agents before grabbing a shaking Bucky by the arm and forcing him out the door and into the hallway.

"Hey," said Steve pushing him against the wall as soon as they were out of the room, "calm down!"
"Did you hear what he said? What he did- he did to-," gasped out Bucky, finding himself to talk clearly because of his anger.

"I heard him," said Steve as he attempted to reign in his emotions, "I heard what he said."
"He did that-," Bucky cried out as he banged his head against the wall, "to Yelena."

Steve only shook his head, his eyes looking as lost as he looked at Bucky.
Bucky slid down the wall and came to a sitting position and put his head to his knees in an effort to calm his nerves and to catch his breath.

"He did that to my daughter, Stevie," said Bucky staring up at him, his eyes looking so lost, "he did that to her, and I couldn't stop it."

"No, no don't say that," said Steve sternly, "this isn't your fault Buck, you didn't even know about her. Don't blame yourself for something you didn't even know about, you're not at fault here."

"It's him," growled Bucky, "him, Pierce, Zola, Levine, all of Hydra," he said closing his eyes, "this is all their fault. They think they can do anything and get away with it. We're never gonna be free of them," he said as he sucked in a deep breath, "and neither will Yelena."

"No," said Steve taking his seat next to him, "I'm afraid we'll never be free of them. But I'm still gonna fight because while we may never free of them we can at least make sure that other people are," he said as he referenced the poor girls who would never be free of Hydra because they were dead. It was people like that he was fighting for; innocent people who were being exploited.

"Yelena's a strong girl," began Steve, "and while this will always be one aspect of her life, there's still so much out there for her. And it's our job to make sure she has the best future despite the circumstances."

"And if she's anything like her father then she'll pull through because she's a Barnes," said Steve grasping his shoulder, "and the Barnes family are all a bunch of stubborn mules."

Bucky snorted at Steve's words, "you sure bout that Punk? I'm pretty sure it's the Rogers that are all a bunch of stubborn mules."

"Like when you were adamant to sign up for the Army and you kept lying on the damn form," laughed Bucky, "said you were from Ohio."

Steve snorted as Bucky chuckled at the memory, his face looking genuinely happy as his mind took him back seventy years before they had gotten involved with Hydra.

Those were happier times for the both of them and while they could never go back, they could at least remember.

Bucky stopped smiling and his face went serious, "I should go talk to Yelena."
Steve paused and stuffed his hands into his pockets, "should I come with?"
Bucky frowned, "yeah, I mean if you want to-,"
"Okay."
"You'll come?"
"Of course I'll come," said Steve standing up, "after all don't you think it's time I met my best friends daughter?"

Bucky smiled sadly, "I suppose so."
Bucky pulled himself to his feet and they both set off towards the room where Shield had put Yelena for the night. Steve hadn't met Yelena properly yet and he was a bit apprehensive to do so. He had just watched her talk with Bucky and it hadn't been pretty considering that the other man had gone and tried to get drunk.

He had been so flabbergasted watching the whole scene that all he could do was watch Bucky as he ran out of the room and into the arms of whiskey. But he had to do this, for Bucky because he knew that Bucky would do the same for him if it were him in this situation.

He just hoped things would be better off this round.

AN:

Sofia: I know a few of you are wondering what will happen to Sofia and I promise I have not forgotten her! In fact this next chapter will largely evolve around her and her story as well as adding a different perspective to the story. She deserves to have people who care about her like Yelena and while she isn't as messed up as Yelena is, she obviously has problems too.

Fleischer: This chapter was pretty interesting to write because I got to mess around with Fleischer's character even more and show you just how psycho he really is. He enjoys tormenting people and he really likes to play off of peoples emotions and manipulate them. I also really really enjoyed having Bucky try to kill him and then Steve knocking him out.

Comment and tell me what you thought!