Bucky

Bucky felt his muscles strain and he gritted his teeth and he grimaced in pain as his arms burned. He pulled a large metal door shut and he heard it seal shut and he let go and he felt the pain in his muscles recede. Bucky took a breath and walked forward and he made it two steps when he felt a painful jolt in his head. He gasped and his hand shot up to his head and he felt the pain pulsing. He groaned and leaned against the wall. He gritted his teeth as the pain became more severe as he went along. "Not now" Bucky struggled to say and he collapsed to the floor.

Bucky could only feel the cold floor and nothing else, all sound had faded away and all smell had dissipated. He tried to move, but it only made it worse. His head was still pulsing and he felt his eyes become heavy and he saw the world dim before him. The last thing he could think of was a winter long ago.

1957

Bucky felt a jolt of warmth, then he was covered in water, or sweat. He couldn't tell the difference. He felt as if a wall had open in front of him and he fell forward. Hands caught him as he fell and some left, while others helped support him. He blinked and his vision slowly came back to him. He saw the darkness slowly fade away and the color was in black and white. He blinked a few more times and his eyes hurt from the lights in the large room. That was a guess, he could be in a house and wouldn't know, but he could make a good guess. Bucky was carefully walked over to a table and he sat on it and his legs were hanging down toward the floor.

Bucky noticed that his hair was longer than before, water dripped off of it steadily and a doctor stood in front of him.

"Let's see if any damages have been attained" he said and he put a small flashlight to Bucky's eyes to see if his pupils were reacting to the light correctly.

The doctor ran more tests, but Bucky was in a daze half the time. He couldn't remember what they did after the light was shown into his eyes. He felt warm, but his insides seemed to be freezing. He felt his lungs ache every time he took a breath. He was then lying down on a table and he was beginning to feel warm, but he was in a different room. He must have been moved and he hadn't realized it.

Bucky saw another bright light and then he was in a warm bed and he woke up in a dimly lit room. He noticed that he was in his usual attire and he slowly sat up and climbed out of the bed. He stood and he felt like he hadn't moved in years. He blinked and then he was a completely different setting. He was in a mansion and he was standing on a balcony overlooking a large room and they had one person down there with other people he didn't recognize, but he did know one of them. He looked down at Natalia Romanova and they gave her a gun and a man was sitting in front of her with a bag over his head. They spoke of what he had done and who he was; nothing important. Bucky had trained her to let go of emotion and hide it, and also how to manipulate people. Then he heard what they always made her say: "I'm the best"

Then a gunshot ran through out the mansion and Bucky heard the bullet break into the man's skull and make his brain turn to mush. Bucky heard the voice of a woman that he hated.

"Good job girl, you are trained not to think or to feel when tasked to kill, and you have shown it brilliantly"

Bucky felt like shooting her, funny how he had actually slept with that woman. Well it was years ago now and she was less… bitchy. That was the only word he could use describe her at the moment. He sighed and he looked down at Natalia and she looked up at him, knowing that he would be there. He saw her face and her bright green eyes and he smirked and she gave him a smirk back. He had to admit there were only two reasons why he ever helped Red Room. One he like Natalia and he was proud of her, and secondly Niko had shown some true promise. He just hoped that they hadn't messed with him while he was under.

Present time

Bucky groaned and the world slowly became more lit and he could smell the disgusting taste of the prison. Bucky stood up and he took a step forward and he noticed someone walk out in front of him. He stopped and he noticed that it was Niko. Niko turned toward him and smiled.

"You having problems my old friend?" Niko asked, sure that he saw what had just happened Bucky stayed silent.

"Well, your friend is. Natalia is really hurting him, well that maybe because he isn't trying to hurt her" Niko said

"Why involve her in this, this is about you and me?" Bucky finally said

"No, it involves all three of us. We are the last surviving members of Red Room, and for Red Room to be finally destroyed, it must come with our deaths" Niko said

"Really, you are going to kill us both and then take your own life, you're so full of shit" Bucky said

"Maybe, but it doesn't matter I died in 1957 and now I'm an empty shell wandering around waiting for the seams to tear and the world fall apart."

"We all died in Red Room" Bucky said knowing that it was true a part of his died in that place and he had assuredly killed a part of Natasha in that place as well.

"Our souls, but not out bodies, we must take the next step to find true peace, and that will only come with death"

"Maybe, or we could find something here that makes life a little more bearable" Bucky said thinking about Hill.

"I see you will not comply willingly, I expected as much, especially from you" Niko said

"Niko, I'm going to stop you and I'm going to get Natasha back" Bucky said

Niko smiled and laughed loudly, Bucky looked at him suspiciously

"I have spent years perfecting my technique, the brainwashing will never go away"

"The mind can always repair itself" Bucky said

"Not if it thinks nothing is wrong with it" Niko said

"Brainwashing only goes so far Niko, there is always a way back"

"For you maybe, but not for her. I'm going to tell you something. Listen very carefully, it is the only way you will save Natasha Romanoff from becoming her true self. If you can stop me"

Clint

Clint hated cleaning up, he pulled an arrow out of a man's back and he put it back into his quiver. The entire prison's guards (Niko's men) were either gone or dead. Clint walked past Morse and he made his way to the hallway that he saw Barnes run into. He rounded the corner and he was met with a large metal door that was sealed shut. Clint guessed that Barnes sealed it so Niko couldn't escape. Much help they were going to be, now it's just Bucky and Steve. He hoped Steve found Natasha and that she was alright. He had spared her life so she could get away from Red Room. Now she was being pulled back into it. Clint sat down and he sighed and he noticed how tired he was.

Morse walked over and sat down next to him and she had blood splattered over certain parts of her suit and her hair had some red in it that weren't highlights. She looked at him.

"That was fun" she said

"Yeah, let's not do it again" Clint said

Morse chuckled and she smiled at him "Barton, there is something I have to tell you"

Clint looked at her curious "What?"

"I will admit when I first met you, I hated you"

"Wow using the word hate, you just met me" Clint said teasingly

"Yeah, but with the job I have its stressful and you were very stressful"

Clint smiled "I know someone who would agree to that" he said and his thoughts drifted to a warm slightly peaceful house.

"Well, then we would agree on something"

"Yeah, you two would hate each other" Clint said knowing how the two of them would react to each other

"I'm hated by a lot of people, I guess I'm just used to it"

"Well, here's one person who doesn't hate you"

Morse smiled and chuckled at him "I just find you annoying" he added

"Thanks" she said not sure if she should take that as a complement or an insult

"Otherwise, you're not so bad" Clint said

"Well thank you, I guess"

"What do you do exactly?" Clint asked

"I investigate dirty agents"

"Oh so like an internal affairs, but spy agency level?"

"You would be correct"

"I guess a lot of people would hate you"

"Yeah"

"Well maybe I'll swing by once and see all the fancy equipment" Clint said

"It's nothing as fancy as whatever Stark has in that tower of yours"

"Morse I barely know what we have in that place"

"Bobbi" Morse said

"What?"

"My name it Bobbi" she said and she smiled awkwardly

"Oh, well mine is Clint. Sadly you already knew that"

"Well, we might want to get Fury to land here" Bobbi said looking up and she noticed that the sky was becoming lighter.

"Yeah, and we need to get that door open in that hallway"

Clint stood and then the floor rumbled and fire came up and shot against the stone and turned it black. Clint fell backwards and Bobbi fell with him. They both hit the ground hard and Clint noticed that Hill was also lying on the floor.

"What the hell was that?" Bobbi asked

Clint looked at her and he was completely unsure of what had just happened "No idea, but we need to find a maintenance room"

"Why?" Hill asked

"To see if something is wrong with anything" Clint said

"Well, we better hurry, because it seems that the fire is getting higher" Hill said looking over the railing and the flames were increasing and they were getting closer

"Something must be wrong, what did Steve explode for a diversion?" Clint asked

"Don't know" Hill said

"Ok, well this could be very bad" Clint said

Steve

Steve felt her warm fingers around his throat and they squeezed. He grunted and he took in a breath and he hit her with his elbow and kicked her away. Natasha rolled backwards and came back onto her feet and she ran at him. Steve knew what she was going to do and he took two steps. Natasha jumped at him and Steve was ready and he caught her and he was about to throw her when she shocked him with her Widow's bite. Steve grimaced in pain and he felt her legs tighten around his waist and he saw her lean back and then bring her head up. She made contact with Steve's nose and broke it.

Steve grabbed her and he head butted her and she let him go and she fell to the floor and rolled and got back up. Steve felt blood flowing down his nostrils and he spit as it touched his lips. Steve swung at her and she blocked it and he countered with a knee and she blocked it as well. Steve had fought Natasha before, but this wasn't Natasha, it was Natalia and he remembered in their first year as partners that she said that she could be more ruthless than she already was. When he asked about it, she gave him the normal shoulder shrug and then the smirk she likes to hide behind and she said: "It's complicated". Natasha brought her foot up and hit him in the knee. Steve fell down to his knee and then another knee made contact with his jaw.

He felt his head fly back and he fell over. He felt his jaw was slightly dislocated. He pressed the right side with his knuckles and it popped back into place. Steve saw what was coming next; a kick to his broken ribs. Steve stopped her foot and then she brought her hand down and shocked him when she got to his neck. Steve let go of her foot and then she slammed her foot down on his hand and he felt two fingers break. Steve grunted in pain and he countered by jabbing her in the ribs and then got to his knees and he put his left hand to her right knee. He took his right hand with two broken fingers and he felt around for her side of the knee and he hit her hard. Her knee cracked and she let out a painful scream. He felt tears come to his eyes and he hoped he never had to hear that scream again. He hit her with enough force to crack her leg, but it would heal just fine, but it would be very painful to walk on. Natasha gasped for air as she let all the rest out with the painful scream and she winced as she put very little pressure on her leg. Steve stood up and head butted her and she flew back and hit a wall and fell down. He back was against the wall and she had a pained face on. Steve walked forward and he knelt down next to her and he saw that she was going to be able to move like before, at least for a little bit. Her eyes were flaring with anger and pain and he was breathing heavily.

She grabbed him by the throat and he didn't fight back. She wanted to crush his larynx and kill him, but something was stopping her. She was angry at him and she wanted to kill him, but some weird part of her could see the pain in his eyes and she stared as a tear fell out of his eye and she squeezed more. Who the hell was this man? She felt like she knew him, and also back when he was on top of her something else made her guard go down and she felt warm and peaceful. It felt like something was in the back of her mind and was telling her something. She kept trying to squeeze his throat, but no matter what she did she couldn't squeeze any tighter.

She suddenly felt tears coming to her eyes and she closed them and they burned. She felt herself leave and then she was back. Steve looked at her and her eyes opened and it was Natasha, the one he had saw before when he had broken the brainwashing for a split second.

"Steve" she shuttered and she noticed that her hand was on his throat and she let go and she was in shock of what she was doing.

Steve put his hands on her face "Hey, hey its ok" Steve said and he rested his forehead against hers.

Natasha noticed that he had a broken nose, did she do that? Blood was also dry on his tricep. She felt cold and she noticed that her leg was broken and it hurt like a bitch.

"Did you…?"

"I'm sorry, it was the only way I could stop you" Steve said and he let more tears fall down his face.

"You came for me" Natasha said

"It's what partners do" Steve said smiling through tears

"I was pulled out, Niko he took me away and replaced me with something else"

"I know, its ok" Steve said rubbing his hand through her hair and he lightly wiped a tear away from her cheek.

"Is it broken, or am I just going to be here for a few more seconds?" Natasha asked scared of herself

"I think so, but I'm not sure" Steve said

Natasha swallowed and she felt how dry her throat was. "I wish I could have said this under better circumstances"

Steve lightly chuckled.

"I love you" Natasha said softly

"I love you to" Steve said and they both closed their eyes and rested their foreheads together.

Natasha felt weird why was she crying? She was trained not to cry or feel, and right now she was a mess. Natasha suddenly turned it all off and she opened her eyes and she was looking at the man again that she was going to kill.

Steve knew that it was Natasha and he didn't care and he saw her reach for her knife and he closed his eyes. Natasha took the blade and stabbed him in the chest. Steve felt the cold metal go through his flesh and he kept the pain back and he looked at her and he saw nothing in her stare, no emotion and no remorse. Steve fell onto his back with her knife sticking out of his chest.