A/N: Please read and review :) Thank you for all the favorites/follows!

10. I'm Sick of the Misery

"Natasha, we have to go," Steve said to her urgently, pushing open the door to the computer lab.

"Why?" she asked, annoyed. "I'm almost done. You can take the other car if you're in a hurry."

"No, I can't," he replied.

She finally looked up at him. "He took it?"

"Yeah."

"Don't worry, Steve. We'll find him," she assured him, unplugging the flash drive and leaving the console. He moved aside and allowed her to lead the way down the hall.

"He saw his name," he told her, the guilt he felt evident in his voice.

"What? Where?" she asked, glancing back at him.

He pointed as they reached the end of the corridor. "On the Wall of Valor."

She stopped dead in her tracks and he almost ran into her. "His name was on there?" He nodded, surprised. "Okay, I don't know how he'll react, but I know how I would."

"What would you do?"

"Disappear." She strode forward again, toward the unconscious man on the floor. "Bring him. We can take him in and go back to the Tower. Then maybe Tony will have something that can help us track him down."

He bent and picked up the prisoner, throwing him over his shoulder. "You think so?" he asked doubtfully.

She sighed. "I don't know, Steve. If he doesn't want to be found, he won't be."

He clenched his jaw and nodded. They walked out to the car and he placed his burden, a little roughly, in the back seat, then climbed into the passenger seat. Natasha drove. He was glad, because he would have been unable to focus on the road. Bucky had scraped his name off of the Wall. Why? He supposed it was because he didn't think he deserved it. Because the memories of what he'd been doing for the last seventy years were returning.

Steve thought of when Bucky had remembered his mission involving Howard Stark: how feral and otherworldly he'd looked in the darkness, his blue eyes looking icy and distant. He didn't look anything like Bucky in that moment. He was clearly the Soldier, the ghost story. At least, he was when Steve came in. Then it was worse, because he was more Bucky but a version of his friend he'd never seen before. All that had happened to him, all that was still happening to him, was obvious in his face. Bucky was always stubborn, always pragmatic. He still was, but where before it had been used to serve his country, and Captain America. Now… He could see his friend struggling to deal with what the Soldier had done. He had no idea how to help him.

He was brought out of his thoughts by Natasha parking the car. They were in a parking garage. He didn't know where they were, and struggled to bring himself back to the task at hand.

"Can you grab him?" Natasha asked, climbing out of the vehicle.

"Yeah, sure," he replied, following suit. He opened the back door and looked down at the man, wondering if they should be concerned that he was still unconscious. It had to have been over an hour, maybe up to three. He checked his pulse, then swung him over his shoulder. He was alive, anyway. Steve didn't know how good a resource he would be, though.

Natasha led the way into the building. The only entrance was an elevator. They waited in silence while it carried them to the fifth floor. He thought back to what seemed ages ago, when he'd ridden on the elevator with Nick Fury down to see Project Insight. The idea still made his skin crawl. There was no way to know if the algorithm had been destroyed along with everything else. He wondered if anyone else had considered that, and shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"You okay, Rogers?" she asked, her eyes fixed on the display showing the changing floor numbers.

"I was just thinking about the Insight algorithm. Do you think we got rid of it?"

She shrugged, glancing at him briefly. "I think it's pretty hard to get rid of something completely these days."

He nodded quickly in affirmation, his jaw set grimly. The doors opened and they exited the elevator. They were in a long, white hallway with doors every fifteen feet on either side. The fluorescent lights were harsh where they reflected off the pale surfaces. Natasha continued to lead the way and he shifted the position of the prisoner before he followed. She walked down to the third door on the right and opened it.

"Put him in here," she said, motioning.

The room inside was clearly a cell. It was clean and white, but there was no mistaking its purpose. He carried the man to the cot in the corner and left him there. When he was out of the room, Natasha pulled the door shut and turned the bolt, before turning back to the elevator.

"Don't you think we should get him a doctor or something?" Steve asked, glancing back at the cell uncertainly.

"Did you want to carry him all over the building?" she called back, not slowing down.

He shrugged and caught up with her. They got on the elevator again, this time to the tenth floor, which was the top of the building. When the doors opened, they stepped out into one large room. There were a few rows of desks, filing cabinets around the outside of the room, and a long table at the other end of the room. Maria Hill was the only one in the room, standing over the table and leafing through papers.

"Hello, Cap, Natasha," she said, without looking up. "What can I do for you?"

"We brought someone in," Natasha answered.

"Where?"

"Room 531."

Hill leaned forward and pressed a button on the console to her left. "Who?"

"George Porter," Steve said.

She looked up sharply, her gaze flicking between the two of them. "You found him?" she addressed Natasha, her lips pressing together.

"With some help," Natasha responded, sitting halfway on the table, meeting Hill's eye. Steve stood nearby, assessing their expressions.

"Who?" Hill stood up, looking down at Natasha, strain faintly evident on her face.

Natasha turned to Steve, and watched him expectantly. Hill turned to face him, too. "Steve?" she prompted.

"Bucky," he said quietly.

Hill pulled up a chair and sat down heavily. "Barnes? Why wasn't I informed?"

He held her gaze calmly. "He isn't ready."

"I'll have to tell the Director," she told him regretfully.

"Do what you have to," he replied.

She sighed. "We wanted to help you find him."

"We may have lost him," Natasha said suddenly. They both turned to look at her. "So we might still need some assistance."

"You lost him?" Hill repeated slowly.

"He took off after we got Porter," Natasha explained.

"Why would he do that?" Hill asked, eyes narrowing.

"His name was on the Wall of Valor," Steve said quietly.

"I see." Hill stood up and looked between the two of them. "Well, let me know what I can do. I'll let you know if Porter says anything important."