Chapter 15
"Steve?" Bucky coughed, confused. "How . . . what's going on? Why am I-" Bucky tested the bands holding him in place- "strapped down?"
Steve sighed, leaning back. He simply looked relieved.
"It's a pretty long story, Bucky," Steve replied. "And most of the guys here did it for their own safety. Well, they think they did."
"What?"
"Just relax, Bucky," Steve said softly, trying to calm down his friend. "You blacked out at the HYDRA base and have been unconscious ever since. Some people thought that you wouldn't wake up."
But you didn't, Bucky thought, staring at the man above him. I can see that.
"I . . . how long was I out?" Bucky asked.
"Three and a half days," Steve replied, a wry smile on his face. "It's probably more than you've slept in weeks."
A small smile formed on Bucky's face in response, but it was instantly wiped away as the door leading into the medical bay burst open and SHIELD agents swarmed in. Steve jumped to his feet and stepped in front of Bucky, shielding him.
What are you doing, Steve?
"Fury!" Steve called. "This really isn't necessary!"
Bucky could only stare at all of the weapons pointed at him. Images flashed through his mind of other men pointing weapons, being strapped to a table, and bright lights-
"Bucky, calm down!"
Steve was now crouched next to his friend, who was sweating and pale. His face was concerned, and Bucky slowly calmed himself, remembering that he wasn't there anymore. He was with Steve, not HYDRA.
"I think it is necessary, Rogers," a new voice said. The SHIELD agents parted as Nick Fury strode into the room, immediately diverting all attention to himself.
"How so?" Steve argued, his hands clenched into fists. "Bucky's not going to do anything!"
Are they . . . afraid? Is that why they're aiming weapons at me?
"We don't know that, Captain," Fury replied coldly. "I'd rather not risk my men. We're moving him to the prison block now that he's regained consciousness."
"You can't do that!" Steve protested. "I vouch for him. You trust me, at least!"
"Sorry, Cap, but I'm not risking the security of this installation." Fury nodded to the men next to him. "Take him."
The SHIELD agents pushed past a very distraught-looking Steve Rogers and quickly undid the restraints on Bucky, only to immediately replace them with handcuffs. Bucky was pulled to his feet and shoved forward, causing him to stumble slightly.
They don't trust me. But . . . I haven't done anything. I rescued Steve! Doesn't that count for anything? Or am I always going to be bad?
"Fury," Steve seethed, putting on hand on Bucky's shoulder and stopping the SHIELD agents from taking him away, "you're making a mistake. You're also forgetting that Bucky rescued me from HYDRA. If he hadn't, I wouldn't be standing here right now!"
"I don't care, Rogers!" Fury snapped. "The only reason I have survived this long is that I am a very paranoid man, and I will not let a convicted assassin wander freely on your say-so!"
"Then do it on mine."
What-?
Natasha Romanova stepped into the room, one hand on her hip and a determined expression on her face. Hawkeye stepped in behind her, the same look in his eyes.
"Same goes for me," he added. "Natasha and I got there after the Wi- Bucky collapsed, but it was obvious that he was resisting HYDRA. You can't imprison a man who didn't know what he was doing!"
Clint was visibly trembling, and Steve's eyes widened in realization.
That's right. When Loki - Clint must be taking this personally, Steve thought.
Fury was taken aback, staring at the two people who had suddenly interrupted.
"Clint," he eventually said, "this is different than your situation."
"How is it?" Clint shot back. "As far as I can see, this guy-" he gestured to Bucky, who was staring at him with wide eyes - "used to be fighting on our side, but was being controlled against his will by a force outside of his control, but Steve snapped him out of it. Does any of this sound familiar to you, Fury? Because it's definitely ringing a few bells in my head!"
Clint's face was red by the end of his delivery, and he was breathing heavily. Natasha put a hand on his arm to calm him down, and then turned to Fury.
"You can't just dismiss the circumstances because you caught Bucky," she said seriously. "Yes, he's done bad things, but I did the same and you trust me. Why can't you extend the same courtesy to the man right in front of you?" Her voice never approached a yell, but it cracked like a whip. Some of the SHIELD agents exchanged looks, uncertain of how to proceed. Nick Fury's one good eye narrowed, but his expression lost some of its intensity.
"I have to agree with Apollo over here," another voice drawled. Tony Stark strode into the room, taking most of the spotlight off of Nick Fury. His smirk when he entered the room was nothing short of cocky, but his body language didn't lend to the idea that he was intentionally doing it.
Of course it's Stark, Steve thought somewhat ruefully. Knowing him, he'll get Fury to simply kick Bucky onto the streets.
"The name's Clint, Tony," Clint muttered, rolling his eyes. Tony just turned his smirk to Clint and then continued, holding out his hand for Natasha to fist bump.
"Been a while, Natasha," he said brightly. Natasha leveled Tony with a glare and pushed down his fist.
"Wait, she's Natasha while I'm Apollo? Why do you even use nicknames?" Clint looked lost.
"To keep things interesting," Tony replied easily. Then he abruptly got serious and turned back to Fury. "Fury, I have to agree with the Dangerous Duo over here as well as Cap."
"Seriously?" Clint groaned under his breath, earning an elbow from the woman next to him. Tony ignored Clint's interruption.
"I didn't come here just because Steve asked me to fix Bionic Boy's arm," Tony continued. "I came here just so you wouldn't throw him in prison. I know you, Nick, and I know that you are perfectly willing to do just that, but you can't."
"And why can't I?" Fury questioned dangerously. Tony returned his look with a cool, self-assured confidence that anyone else would be hard-pressed to pull off.
"Because then you'd have to arrest Clint. And Natasha. Hell, I've probably done something to get thrown in jail."
"I can agree with that," Clint muttered, earning himself another elbow from Natasha. He sulked quietly, rubbing his side.
"I swear, Stark," Fury sighed, rubbing his good eye. "You're going to be the death of me."
"Probably," Tony replied, grinning, "but right now I'm just saving you from pissing off the Avengers. You know how Bruce can get; if everyone else is upset . . ."
"You don't need to remind me," Fury spoke, cutting off what Tony was going to say. The director of (what was left of) SHIELD groaned, looking more tired than Steve was expecting. "You're making this difficult, Stark."
"It's what I'm best at. Anyway, you've got nothing to gain from locking this guy up. If you want to interrogate him-" Bucky looked freaked at the concept, which concerned Steve- "you're not going to get much. From what I read of the HYDRA files, this guy had his memory erased more times than I could count. I doubt he could tell you anything, much less anything more than all of the HYDRA personnel you took prisoner during that raid while you were trying to rescue Cap."
"How do you know all of that?" Fury asked somewhat coldly, his eyebrow going up. Tony smiled mischievously.
"I may have hacked your files. It was a bit too easy."
"Stark!" Fury spluttered, his hand halfway to his gun.
"Take it easy, Nick," Tony smirked. "If I wasn't too valuable to you, you would've kicked me off the Avengers Initiative ages ago."
"Then where were you during the Insight incident?" Natasha inquired. Tony visibly reddened.
"There was a . . . ah . . . complication with some new armor that I was building. It may have exploded."
"May have," Clint snorted.
"Are you just here to provide commentary?" Natasha snapped.
"Yes," Clint replied. "Deal with it."
He paid for that remark by getting punched in the stomach. Clint immediately collapsed, groaning. Natasha grinned for the first time, crossing her arms and daring anyone to comment. For their safety, no one in the room did, not even Nick Fury.
"Tony," Steve put in, trying to draw the conversation back to its point, "what exactly are you trying to say?"
"What I'm trying to say is . . ."
"Get on with it," Clint gasped from the floor. Natasha's high-heeled yet somehow extremely functional shoe crashed down on Clint's neck, cutting off his words.
"What I'm trying to say is," Tony repeated, stressing each word and shooting Clint daggers with his eyes, "the Avengers can take care of Bucky. SHIELD doesn't need to get its hands dirtier than they already are."
Woooo I got halfway through this chapter before I realized that I needed to put Stark in here. Whoops.
Anyway, thank you all for reviewing! Please keep on doing so and let me know what you think about Stark! Honestly, his character is fun to write just because he's so self-absorbed and totally is a foil to Nick. Also, Natasha and Clint are equally fun to write and yes, I do ship them, but I promise those of you who don't that none of the upcoming chapters will be quite so heavy with 'em.
Please keep reviewing!
-RoR