I immediately knew, when I saw this prompt, that I was going to write about either Darcy's taser or HYDRA's sick and barbaric memory-erasing machine.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Marvel Cinematic Universe or any of the characters contained therein.

WORD COUNT: 1340

It was one of everyone's worst nightmares. Definitely Bucky and Steve's. Darcy's, too.

HYDRA had re-captured the Winter Soldier.

The bastards had taken advantage of the chaos of a fucking Doombot attack, surrounded him while he was preoccupied, and then trapped him in a next, hit him with a cattle prod, and drugged him into submission. Natasha had spotted him being loaded into a nondescript SUV before a Doombot blocked her from pursuing. By the time the robots had been taken care of, Bucky was gone.

Tony had FRIDAY working overtime, trying to track the vehicle, but the traffic cameras in the area had all been taken out by the attack, so there wasn't much that the young AI could work with. Natasha and Clint had checked in with every single contact they had, looking for information. Tony tore through the files they already had, and most of the other Avengers joined him, adding extra sets of eyes on the massive amounts of data. Steve, joined by Sam and Thor, scoured the entire city on foot, feeling the need to do something even though he had no idea where to start looking. Darcy did her best, but she was seven and a half months pregnant by that point, and eventually Jane gently coaxed her to bed.

(Unbeknownst to the others, Maria Hill contacted Phil Coulson and his new version of S.H.I.E.L.D., all but begging him to help. Coulson needed no begging to get him to help Captain America's best friend, and set Skye on the problem, hacking every source of information she could think of.)

Eventually, one of Natasha's contacts hit paydirt. Bucky was being held in a HYDRA facility somewhere in Texas. With that information, Skye was able to narrow it down to an exact address. (Clint gave Maria a suspicious look when she produced the information, but trusted her enough to leave it alone – for now.)

The full Avengers team – large enough that they didn't always need to bring in the roster for every op – burst into the facility, guns blazing, thunder flashing, and arrows flying. It was easy to find the room Barnes was being kept in – they just followed the screaming.

The Hulk ripped the steel doors apart as if they were made of paper, revealing the horrifying sight. Barnes was strapped into a metal chair, an evil-looking device clamped onto his head and sending jolts of electricity through his brain. The scientists and agents watching him didn't even look bothered until the Avengers entered the room.

On an ordinary mission against HYDRA, the Avengers would at least try to leave at least a few agents alive, for the sake of interrogating them, later. Today's mission was not an ordinary one. This was about rescuing one of their own, and about sending a very clear message about fucking with one of the Avengers: Don't.

Captain America, usually the one to remind the others not to kill everyone, was on the warpath. He punched the scientist manning the controls in the face at full strength, while Iron Man quickly scanned said controls in order to shut the machine down without accidentally doing any additional damage.

They were lucky that Thor was the first one to actually approach Barnes and rip off all his restraints, because the former Asset reacted defensively, lashing out and trying to choke the demigod with his metal hand. Both he and the Captain had to restrain him before Scarlet Witch could telepathically put him to sleep.

Tears were streaming down her face as she slipped back out of his mind. "They didn't erase everything," she reported, "But I don't know how much they got."

When Bucky woke up, he all but flew into a panic, but was mainly stopped by a pounding migraine, an apparent side-effect of the memory eraser. That, and the fact that Steve was at his bedside, still in his dirty and bloodstained uniform. He remembered Steve, and that alone was a huge relief. He remembered most of the Avengers, too, although he struggled to recall some of their names. He didn't remember being captured, or trying to strangle Thor. It was hit or miss with his experiences since moving into the Avengers Compound.

When they finally deemed it safe to bring Darcy into the room, however, it became painfully clear that something was missing.

"I… I know you, right?"

You could hear a pin drop in the infirmary. It would be unrealistic to say that no one expected this, but it was still a shock to hear.

Bucky swallowed hard. "It's just… I don't remember, but I know you. I know I do."

Well, that was something. Darcy sank into the nearest chair, not missing the fact that Bucky's eyes darted to her pregnant stomach. "You do know me," she confirmed softly, "My name is Darcy."

The next couple of weeks had their ups and downs. It took Bucky a full three days to remember that he and Darcy had been in a relationship, immediately followed by the realisation that the baby growing inside her was his.

That had been followed by a meltdown of epic proportions, mostly one of guilt (he was going to be a father and could barely even remember the mother of his child) and panic (how was he supposed to act like a father when he was such a complete and utter wreck?). But once they'd gotten him calmed down, Bucky had thrown himself into the task of regaining all his lost memories with a new determination. Occasionally, this actually caused setbacks, as he sometimes pushed himself too far in his efforts, resulting in panic attacks and/or severe migraines.

Darcy, well, nobody would blame her if she just broke down in tears one day, since HYDRA had basically ripped away all of her lover's memories of her, setting them back to square one just two months before their child was due to be born. But she didn't, and things did seem to be getting better by the day between the two of them. Despite his setbacks, Bucky was remembering more and more the longer they spent together. He remembered the first time he saw her, their first real date, the day she'd told him she was pregnant, and the first time she'd told him she loved him.

Their daughter was born a whole month and a week earlier than expected, which was a terrifying experience for both parents, but aside from being on the small side, the little baby girl was as healthy as a preemie like her could be.

"Rebecca," Bucky said suddenly, late into the day after his daughter's birth. He was sitting in a chair next to Darcy's bed, his eyes fixated on the baby in the bassinet between them. The tiny infant had a healthy grip on his left index finger, completely unbothered by the fact that it was made of metal.

"Huh?" Darcy asked.

"The day before they took me. I remember, now. We didn't know if we were having a girl or a boy, but we talking about names. You agreed to come up with a boy's name, and I would come up with one for a girl. I sat down with a book of names, and literally minutes before I got the call to Assemble, I decided on Rebecca. It was my baby sister's name."

Darcy smiled. "It's a beautiful name. Rebecca Jane Lewis." (They'd already decided to give the baby either 'Steven' or 'Jane' as a middle name, and to use Darcy's surname as an extra layer of protection against the many people and organisations who would target Bucky through his child if they ever found out that he had one).

Rebecca let out a tiny yawn, stuck her daddy's finger in her mouth, and continued sleeping.

So, yeah, some depressing stuff there, but I hope you liked the sappy, fluffy ending!

Next week: "Stay."