Chapter 3
Steve clapped Bucky on the shoulder as they exited the jet with Sam and Natasha. Bucky had only started coming on missions with them for the last seven months. The first six he was with them, Bucky fell into himself. The first day or two were great, but then the quiet set in and other people got involved. After Two months, Steve begged him to go to therapy.
Bucky relented, spending the first few weeks sitting in silence, staring at the lamp on an end table. When he finally started speaking, it was slow and tedious. Eventually, he sorted out his mind and gained a lot of memories back. Worked through some of his triggers and was trying to figure out how he fit now that he was his own person again. The quality time with Steve helped too.
Once his therapist cleared him, Steve offered Bucky a job working with the Avengers. Bucky took a couple of nights to think about it. He thought of what he might do otherwise and could not come up with anything. After all the hurt he did, maybe he could use this opportunity to do some good.
He was an American soldier before Hydra got its hands on him. He was a good sniper, his time as the winter soldier made him a good fighter in hand-to-hand combat. He wanted to do this.
He had given Steve the Intel Brooke had handed off to him. They had taken down two bases by the time he was ready to join them. They spent the last couple of months taking down a few more.
Bucky had also tried tracking Brooke down. It was harder to do when he realized all he had to go on was her first name and that her father had worked for Hydra.
He knew a lot of things about her, her favourite breakfast food, that she liked wearing fuzzy socks and loved Disney movies. She hated board games but loved to play cards. They played a lot of cards during their week together. He knew that she gave up her power in the bedroom so that he could start reclaiming his. Knew what her cum tasted like on his tongue.
He knew things only a lover could know about her, but not the basics. Not anything that could help him find her now.
After a particularly Low night, Steve had confronted him, asking what had been bummed him out.
Bucky had already told Steve about Brooke and explained that she risked Hydra's rath to pull him out. When Steve realized Bucky had been working to track her down, he put F.R.I.D.A.Y on it. Brooke's face was on their security feeds from last year when she brought him to the Tower.
The system would use facial rec to try and locate her; until then, there was not much Bucky could do. She had been spotted once three weeks after she dropped him off in New York. If he had to guess the footage was of when Brooke had gone home after heading up 'north', but then nothing. That caused a heavy knot to settle into his stomach because if Brooke had just gone back to her regular life, F.R.I.D.A.Y would have easily tracked her down by now.
With no way to find her Bucky dove into work hard, finding as many hydra bases as he could. He had a nauseating feeling surrounding her disappearance, if he covered enough bases, maybe he could find a way to her through them.
"She extorted Hydra, she is probably laying low for a little while." Steve had tried to comfort him. "If she was smart enough to infiltrate them, I'm sure she can evade them just as easily."
Brooke was smart, that much he knew, but it didn't mean Hydra could not get to her.
Exiting the jet, Bucky steeled himself. As much as he wanted to take down Hydra, every time he entered one of their facilities he had a fear that this was all a dream. That Brooke had not come for him, that he was not really free.
"Looks like it's all one level, we move fast, grab any information that might be useful and get out."
"Cap," Sam called out. "Does that door look open to you?"
They all turned, Sam was right the door to the facility was wide open.
"You think someone beat us here?" Natasha asked.
"Let's find out." Steve picked up his pace.
"Redwing clocks two people," Sam informed the group as they breached. "Maybe someone broke in, this place is not really well hidden."
They heard music playing from one room down near the end of the building. With the rest of the rooms coming up clear they converged in on the one. Bucky kicked the door in, letting Steve walk in before him.
"Drop the needle and step away from the girl," Steve demanded.
Sam who was entering behind Bucky ran into his solid back as the super soldier stopped on a dime. His stomach turned.
"oUCH!" Sam grumbled, "Outta the way tin man."
Her face was pale, eyes closed and skin clammy but it was her.
"Brooke."
Steve snapped his gaze to his best friend. "What?"
Bucky raised his gun pointing it at the man in the white lab coat. "Back away from the girl."
"Brooke is fine." The man protested. "I took a little too much blood and she passed out. As you can see, there are no restraints on her; she volunteered."
"I won't ask you again." Steve walked toward the man, making him back away from the leather chair.
Bucky stowed his gun, jogging over to Brooke and dropping to his knees. His hands hovered over her not sure how or where he should touch her. Natasha came over and felt a pulse on her neck.
"Her pulse is a little thready, but it's probably pain-induced, she's ok."
Bucky knew that he could hear her heart beating in her chest. She was dressed in a tight t-shirt and shorts, she looked well-fed and taken care of, aside from the two large needles in her forearms. They connected to two large blood bags hanging on either side of her.
"Brooke. Hey, hey, wake up." She groaned, and Bucky growled at the scientist. "Take it out."
Steve stepped aside so the man could do as he was told, Bucky stayed kneeling in front of Brooke, watching every move the man made. Once the first IV was removed The scientist tapped a cotton ball to Brooke's pale arm.
When he went to remove the second one, Sam stopped him. "Wait, she needs electro lights."
"Kai?" A laboured breath. "Kai?"
Bucky perked up at her voice. "Atta a girl, open your eyes."
She frowned at the strange voice and could feel the warmth from two hands on her knees. Brooke tried to listen and open her eyes, but she felt lightheaded, and her eyelids felt heavy.
Kai retrieved two bags full of yellow fluid. He hung them and connected them to the second IV. He flushed the blood out and then sent the elector lights into her veins.
Steve forced Kai back to stand against the wall as they all waited for Brooke to regain consciousness. About five minutes in she stirred again.
As if his heart was not already racing, Brooke opened her eyes and focused in on him. Bucky watched the confusion and uncertainty play out on her face. She took a look around the room zeroing in on every face.
Her eyes landed back on him, and she smiled, "Guess I should have let you worry about me."
Bucky scoffed; she was really joking with him right now. "Yeah."
Brooke shut her eyes, taking a couple of deep breaths. In through her nose, out through her mouth.
"Here." She opened her eyes, and Sam was holding out a cup toward her. "OJ, it'll help."
"Thanks." Brooke smiled sweetly.
Her hands shook as she continued to take little sips while resting her eyes. The saliva that had been pooling in her mouth slowly subsided with her nausea.
"We can't stay here much longer," Natasha told them. "We need to be in the air in the next ten minutes."
Bucky nodded, taking Brooke's hand. "You ready to get outta here?"
She smiled and nodded, "I have to go wake up Jessie."
"Who's Jessie?" Bucky asked.
The smile dropped from Brooke's face. She looked around the room till her eyes landed on Kai. He stared at her, his face expressionless.
"You son of a bi-" Brooke moved to jump toward him, but Bucky stayed planted in front of her chair.
She nearly fell over him with her erratic movements, the Electrolights and Orange juice could only do so much.
"Woah." Bucky pressed her back into her seat, worried the IV would rip out of her arm.
It was probably a good thing he had, Brooke was still weak and experiencing blurred vision from the amount of blood taken from her.
"You wouldn't have given me what I needed if you knew he was dead."
A fire lit in his belly as Bucky watched a look of complete devastation take over Brooke.
"Shut up." Bucky snapped at him.
"No." Brooke whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut.
She had seen Jessie less than a week ago. He still looked pale and sickly but he seemed in good spirits, he was getting better. She had been promised that he was improving and getting healthier by the day.
Bucky watched on as Brooke spiralled. "You never stopped testing on him, did you? You said if I stayed, you would stop, that you would help him get better, how could you do that?"
"It's science, sweetheart, nothing personal."
Brooke lunged again; she would have tripped over Bucky and fallen on her face if he had not stood and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her to his chest. She continued to launch herself in Kai's direction but made no headway. Bucky motioned silently for Steve to take Kai from the room.
"He was your son, you sick son of a bitch. He was twelve years old!" She continued to yell after him even once he was escorted from the room.
"Brooke" Bucky raised his voice to get her attention. "Hey. Brooke looked at me."
She blinked up at him with tears welling in her eyes and then robotically sat back down in the chair she had previously occupied. Natasha moved forward and took the IV from her arm, placing a cotton ball and tape over the leaking wound.
"You didn't find a body?"
Bucky looked back at Natasha; she shook her head.
"There were only two heat signatures in the building; we did a scan of every room and did not find anyone else." Brooke nodded slowly, accepting the information for what it was.
"Come on." Bucky held out his hand for her to take.
Brooke looked at his outstretched hand and a distant memory pulled up the corner of her mouth. She had reached a hand out to him not all that long ago. Unlike he had, Brooke accepted the hand, holding it tight as the three of them walked the long hallways to the fresh air outside.
When they entered the jet Bucky felt Brooke tense up as she clocked Kai. Instead of seating her across from him, Bucky sat them in the same row but in the seat furthest from him, placing himself between them. There was no need for Brooke to stare at him for the next couple of hours.
It was a three-hour flight and Brooke continued to hold his hand even after she passed out, the blood loss catching up to her. Bucky felt the white-hot anger sitting heavy in his gut for the man sitting to his left. Brooke was pale and had dark circles under her eyes, but other than that she did look well taken care of. She was clean, her skin void of any bruises or cuts, aside from the marks where the needles had rested in her forearms.
What the hell happened to her? How did she end up in a Hydra base with one of their scientists? From the fight between Brooke and Kai, Bucky gathered some deal had been made between the two of them. He said she had "volunteered.". Bucky was smart enough to know there was more to it than that.
Sam and Natasha took turns trying to talk with Kia and pull some information out of him, but he refused to talk. Which meant they would have to wait till Brooke woke up to get the full picture.
Steve handed the reins over to Natasha and watched his best friend for a moment before making his way over to him.
"How are you doin'?"
Bucky clenched his jaw, "She's been there this whole time, Steve. Who knows what he's done to her? What she's been through."
Taking a moment, Steve thought about how he wanted to word his next sentence. "There were no signs of restraints; one of the bedrooms there looked like it belonged to a woman. It seems like she may have been there willingly."
"No. I know where your head is at, and no, she is not working with Hydra. You know what she did for me."
"I know. Maybe you are right but we need to take all the facts into account here. You know Fury will need proof of innocence before he can let her go free."
Bucky tensed. "You're going to lock her up."
"No. She's hurt. We are going to take her home and get her to medical. She's injured. Bruce is already prepping blood bags; we got her blood type off one of the test tubes. She'll be in medical for a day or two, and by then, we should hear from Fury." Steve sighed. "I get it, Buck, she broke you out, and you trust her. I'm not saying I don't. I just want to prepare you for what will happen when we land. You told me her father was a Hydra scientist, she broke into Hydra to see you after the attack on the freeway. Here she is again, found unrestrained in a Hydra facility, and she seemed to know Kia pretty well. This situation, it's not so black and white."
Steve went back to manning the jet, saving them both from sitting in uncomfortable silence. Steve hoped more than anything that Bucky was right, that Brooke was just another casualty of Hydra and not one of them.
Brooke shifted beside Bucky but did not wake. As Bucky had hoped she had stayed asleep the full fight and continued when he carried her inside to their medical centre. A place he did not often go, it reminded him too much of Hydra. He was also a supersoldier, his body healed him and kept him alive better than Bruce knew how.
Bruce had given Brooke blood, and vitamins to make sure she woke up feeling better. Bucky stayed in medial through the night to watch over her and make sure she would not wake up alone. He was afraid that if he went to his room to sleep he would wake up and she would be gone.
When she did wake up, Bucky was happy they had the room to themselves.
Brooke woke up and looked down at her hand, she snorted. "More IVs."
"How are you feeling?"
"Where are we?" Brooke pushed one of the buttons on the bed to sit her up more.
"We are at the Avengers training facility. You're in medical, Dr. Banner gave you blood and other things to make you feel better."
Brooke nodded, giving herself a minute to wake up. "You look a lot better than the last time I saw you."
"A year is a long time." She nodded in agreement. "What happened Brooke? You were back in New York three weeks after you left-"
Brooke smiled wickedly at him. "Keeping tabs on me, Sargent?"
Bucky gave her a no-nonsense look, "Once I got my shit together, I wanted to reach out. We couldn't find a trace of you. Starks tech caught you on a New York street headed into the subway. After that, nothing. Finding you today was luck."
"I was hoping to be out of there before you could stumble across me. Thought I figured you would eventually with all the information I gave to you. I was there longer than I anticipated." Brooke looked down at her hands, eyebrows pulling together.
Bucky shifted so he was sitting with his knees pressed against the side of the bed.
"So you left New York and what?"
"I returned the information like I said I would, and once they got their info back, Hydra really didn't give a crap about me. Then enters Kai, who worked with my father in the science division. I guess they were trying to figure out a way to, instead of creating super soldiers, they wanted to procreate them, train them young as they did with the Red Room program."
Bucky's jaw clenched, "I guess Dad used my blood to conduct his experiments, but eventually when I ran away, they ran out of product. I guess that's why he had been bringing me to the lab when I was little. He never took too much and always said it was just a "doctor's visit". I never thought to question it as a kid. Kai was waiting for me when I got back to the city. Said his son was sick and he needed access to my dad's files, as long as I gave him what he needed, he'd let me go. I guess when I broke into Hydra he was able to track me down. I went with him, planning to delete everything and burn the place to the ground. I figured it would take a couple of weeks, but over a year later-"
"He experimented on you." Bucky clenched his jaw.
"Not exactly. I was a blood donor. He took what he needed and left me alone the rest of the time. His son-" Brooke inhaled, "Jessie was only sick because Kai had been using him as a test subject. I said I would stay no fuss and give him my blood if he left Jessie alone. We were the only ones at the lab, it was boring a lot of the time. Jessie and I tried to play games when we felt up to it. Things got a little more exciting when Kai started extracting my bone marrow, though. Hydra doesn't really believe in pain meds, you know that."
"What happened to blowing everything up?"
"I spent months trying to find a safe exit for both me and Jessie, but everything I came up with was not safe enough. I had no resources, no real plan. You saw the surrounding area, we would have been caught or killed before we made it someplace secure. Jessie was too weak to go hiking. I thought about going off on my own, finding help to go back for Jessie, but I was afraid they would be gone before I could get back."
Bucky closed his eyes, hating the thought of her hurting and alone. He placed her hands down on the bed and got up, pacing in front of her.
"I should have tried harder to find you. I should have started an investigation, got more resources on it."
Brooke climbed out of bed, and stepped into his path, "It's not your job to save me."
"Kinda is, I work with the Avengers now." Brooke smiled, for the first time taking in his attire.
"The ball cap was sexy but the uniform suits you. I guess you were made to wear one. You have a nickname to go along with that?"
"Tin man."
"NO." Bucky snapped, and Sam smiled at him.
Sam, Steve and Bruce entered the room. Bruce went over to look at the machine placed beside Brooke's bed and the guys came to stand beside Bucky.
"How are you feeling?" Steve asked her; Bucky perked up.
She had not answered that question when he asked earlier. "Where is Kai?"
Steve looked over at Bucky. "We didn't get much from him during interrogation, Tony had him taken to the raft. He'll be locked away for the rest of his life."
Brooke tilted her head at Steve. "Did you ask him about Jessie?"
Stoic as ever Steve softened his voice. "Kai mentioned he laid him to rest, that was all he would say."
"Ok."
Bruce confirmed, "All her sats are up; everything looks to have levelled out."
"If you are feeling up to it, Tony would like to talk with you."
Bucky glared at Steve. "Where? Interrogation."
"In the briefing room. I told you I am on your side, but we can't take any chances."
Brooke reached out and touched Bucky's forearm. "Makes sense. I'd want to talk to me too. Lead the way."
The interrogation was about an hour long, Tony asked her lots of questions about Hydra she couldn't answer, and as soon as Wanda made it back to the compound, Brooke gave her permission to look into her mind. Something Bucky had prickled at.
After they concluded that Brooke was merely another victim to Hydra she was thanked for the intel she had provided them a year back.
"Hydra's hurt a lot of people. I would hand over more information if I had it."
"Where is home for you?" Sam asked her.
"Tribeca."
Sam smirked at Bucky. "Not too far from Brooklyn."
While Bucky had a room in the compound, he bought a place in Brooklyn. When things got loud it was nice to escape from everyone and get some quiet. He may have done a lot of work with his mandated therapist so he could have his pardon, but he was still healing 70 years of war wounds.
Tony leaned back in his seat, "You were with Hydra for a long time, I'm sure the landlord sold your place by now, we can put you up here for a couple of nights until you find yourself a new place to live."
"I bought the loft, so that would be pretty illegal." Brooke tucked a curl behind her ear only for it to spring forward. "It should be just how I left it."
"In that case, I'll have my driver, Happy, take you home. You can put all this behind you and get back to your life."
"Oh, you don't have to do that. I'll take a cab."
"No," Bucky said at the same time, Steve said. "Buck can take you."
"That's really sweet but this place is probably hours from Lower Manhattan. Not to mention the horrible traffic." Brooke stood up. "I've been gone a while, but I remember how it is. Thank you, guys, for finding me and fixing me up. But I'm exhausted and would really like to go sleep for a week in my own bed, without IVs and lab tests. If you point me in the direction of a phone and the front door, I can get out of your hair."
Tony stood up in an un-Tony-like move he was on Bucky's side. "Looks like you're stuck with him, we try to keep the location of our facility as under the radar as possible. Barnes will take you home."
Feeling a little stuck for a moment, Brooke looked around the room. Steve took out a pair of keys and handed them to Bucky. The sergeant could have taken Brooke home on the back of his bike, but then he would not get the chance to talk to her. Thought the appeal of having her body pressed against his back, arms around his waist. It was a nice image, one he hoped to make real one day.
Taking the keys from Steve, Bucky's stomach and directed Brooke out of the room. He wanted to spend some alone time with her and this was the perfect excuse. He did not want to leave her any room to object or figure out another way home.
"You seem good. Happy."
Bucky looked Brooke over, "I'm doing better than the last time we saw each other." She smiled.
"I would hope so. Though your life isn't exactly Hydra-free if you're running around chasing after them." She played with the ring on her pointer finger. "Isn't it scary being so close to them?"
Bucky wanted to laugh. This girl who saved his life, whom he spent a peaceful week with a year ago. She seemed to read him and know him better than Steve, at least it felt like that. She had been back in his life less than twelve hours and she was already reading him like a book.
"What else am I supposed to be doing? If you think about it, I'm continuing on from where I left off." Bucky fiddled with the keys. "We went to Siberia a couple of months back, that was the hardest place to deal with, seeing the chair and the operating room. All the places I've tried really hard to forget. Hydra needs to be stopped, if no one else is going to do it, why not me?"
Bucky opened the passenger side door for Brooke, she climbed up buckling herself in. Brooke waited for him to walk around the vehicle before asking her next question.
"You ever think of doing something pedestrian? Be a mechanic or a wrestler."
Bucky laughed, "Never crossed my mind, no."
"How's everything with Steve?"
Bucky turned sideways to look at her, "Are you asking so many questions because if you stop you know I'll start asking you questions?"
"Can I not just be curious about how you've spent the last year plus of your life?"
"You can, but I got to know you pretty well during that week we spent together. You are a master deflector."
Brooke looked forward, his blue eyes sucking her in. "You're the one who's been out here living life. I've been sitting upstate contributing to the problem."
"You were saving a little boy's life."
Blinking furiously, Brooke licked her lips. "I didn't help anybody! I trusted Kai's word. Why should I, what gave me the impression he was someone to be trusted? He's fucking Hydra! My father did the same thing to me as he did to Jessie, plus he'd thrown me to the red room. Why would Kai be any different with his son? I wanted to believe he would stop, and I was so mad at my father, I wanted the chance to blow up all he'd been proud of in his life, all his work just poof."
Bucky's jaw clenched as emotion poured out of her, and kept listening.
"He was only a little boy, so sweet and innocent. Maybe I should have just taken a chance and run with him, or just killed Kai. I had so many chances! I just sat there, day after day! I gave Kai everything he wanted, Blood, bone marrow- for what? Jessie is dead and I'm still here."
"Woah, hey. Nothing that happened to either of you is your fault." Bucky dropped his hand to Brooke's knee. "You may not believe that, but it's the truth. You gave up a year of your life all because you wanted to save a little boy. Killing someone in cold blood, it isn't easy Brooke. Don't make the fact that you weren't able to a negative."
When Brooke looked up into his eyes, Bucky's heart shattered. Big sloppy tears spilled and poured down her cheeks. Brooke seemed content to sit on her own and cry it out; Bucky's heart could not allow it. He took her wrist pulling her toward him. When she moved with little resistance, Bucky pulled her across the jeep to his lap.
Bucky kissed her forehead and wrapped one arm around her back and the other cradled the back of her head. Brooke's body vibrated as she tried to pull back her sobs and that just hurt his heart more.
It was true Bucky did not know much about Brooke's life after she escaped her father and the red room. Hell, he had not even known her father had sent her to the red room. She only told him that she had started over in New York. He assumed that meant a new job and friends after moving around and running her whole childhood. It was clear to him, that after her mom passed, Brooke dealt with everything alone.
She was used to relying on herself and not others. He found himself wondering how she could be so kind and compassionate after an upbringing like that.
Hands fisted and tucked in between them, Brooke cried into his chest. After a short while of holding it back, she burst letting it all out. Jessie's death, and her father's mistreatment of her. Everything she had gone through with Kai. All the pain and suffering she did with a brave face to try and save a child who was a stranger to her.
When she started to settle Bucky said "You remind me a lot of Steve you know. You're unwavering compassion and dumb, idiotic tendency to risk your life for strangers."
Brooke scoffed. "Excuse me?"
She looked up at him, eyelashes wet. "You broke into Hydra to save me and went with Kai to save his son. You once told me that when you couldn't sleep you'd drive in the middle of the night all the way to the beach, to sit and listen to the waves. Who's to know what the heck other dangers you've walked into."
Brooke cocked her left brow, "You weren't a stranger. I also don't believe you ever thanked me."
"Wasn't really the point I was trying to make." Bucky rolled his eyes.
They drifted into a silence that spanned a short few seconds. They breathe the only noise in the enclosed space.
His eyes darted to her lips, and Brooke leaned into his chest. Bucky held her close, tasting the salt from her tears. "Thank you." He muttered between kisses till Brooke pushed away with a laugh.
Noticing not for the first time that Bucky's left arm was not the same as the last time she saw it. Taking his left hand in hers Brooke interlocked their fingers, studying them. She liked it, a lot. The design was sleeker, the metal shiny and unmared.
Bucky watched her silently, "Stark made it, said the other one was too 1900s."
Brooke gave a small smile, "How do you feel about it?"
"There is no pain with this one." Bucky shifted under her to get more comfortable. "It has sensors in it so I can feel different temperatures. The best part is, it hasn't killed anybody."
Bringing their interlocked hands between their faces, Brooke kissed every finger. Bucky's breath caught in his throat. Almost seeming like she forgot herself, Brooke dropped his hand and made her way back to the passenger seat. Buckling herself once again.
"We should probably get on our way, got a lot of ground to cover."
Bucky smiled at her, not starting the car. "You know I talked about you with my therapist. After weeks we both arrived at the same realization I had a year ago."
"Which was?" Brooke almost did not want to ask.
"Which is that I've never felt like this with other women before. This feeling in my stomach is the same as what my mom used to talk about when she would tell stories of how she and my father met. I remember sitting on the couch with you and imagining you back in my time. Bringing you home to meet my mom and sisters." Bucky flexed his fingers. "And when you kissed me just now, I felt like the last year never happened and we were back in the room at your mom's house. And the thought of taking you home and walking away is panic-inducing. The last time one of us walked away you disappeared for a year."
Brooke was not quite sure what to say. Here was this serious, funny, man, soldier, sweetheart, brave, honest, intelligent person. He's confessing he has feelings for her. She spent the last year thinking of him, hoping he was doing well. She wondered what it would have been like if they never left her mother's house. Turns out, he had been thinking about her too.
"That's really sweet." Brooke folded her hands into her lap. "I've put myself back onto the red rooms radar, if given enough incentive, I'm sure Hydra will spare some resources to help track me down, not that they'll need it. I'm not a good person to be around right now."
"Why? Because your father was an ass?" Bucky scoffed. "My baggage far outweighs yours."
"Hydra is horrible but so is the red room, OK. You don't know them- they"
"For a while, they used me to train some of their girls. I remember feeling their little bones nearly snap under my touch. I remember how the only thing that kept me from breaking bone was every time they would look up at me I would get flashes of you. Those big brown eyes. I didn't know who you were, I didn't have the facts to compliment the memory, but it was enough to make me pause. So Yes I know what the red room is. Don't try to use your past as an excuse to not feel whatever you're feeling."
"It's not an excuse Bucky! You are an Avenger! You save people and take down bad guys. You have choices now. Why in your right mind would you choose to link yourself with the people who spent decades torturing you."
"You were never a part of that."
"Kai is in prison. You don't think Hydra is going to figure out they have a man missing, link him back to me and come looking. He was working on that procreation project for someone and we both know you're not the only Winter Soldier. You don't think Alexander Price has been replaced by someone who is going to reach out to the red room to send people after me? Why would you want to live like that? Watching over your shoulder, living on the run. It isn't exactly sexy."
Bucky smirked. "I ran away from them just like you did. I know that if they were given a chance I would be right back in that chair. They've already sent someone after me."
"The only way that happens is-." Brooke shrieked as someone opened her door.
Steve leaned down, "Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. You two need to come back inside, we just got some new information Fury wants Brooke to take a look at it."
"Me?" What could she possibly have to contribute?
"Stark already has Pepper setting up a room for you for the night."
Bucky leaned toward his friend. "What did he find?"
Steve fixed Bucky with a look. "It's best you see it for yourself."
.
Brooke wanted to burst into tears. She was looking at a big screen with her life displayed right out in front of her and all the members of the Avengers to see. Not only had she been used for her blood, in her father's lab but she had had a sister, one she had never been told about.
There was a picture of a girl ten years old, and right next to it was a picture of her death certificate. Her father's first blood donor. He had experimented on her and it resulted in Abby's death. The same way that Kai had killed Jessie. That must have been why he had needed her, he couldn't figure out why his test her failing, just like they had on Abby.
Bucky had migrated closer to Brooke as they ingested all of the information on the screen. Brooke felt the warmth coming from his body, she wanted to lean into him but refrained. He was not hers to touch like that, and she needed to stand on her own.
There was a boy about her age also exhibited. There was a picture of them together at around five and then again at twelve or thirteen. Their DNA and different tests were framed side by side. Cross-tested with each other.
Next to that was his death certificate. The date was within a couple of months after she ran away. It looked like they were being paired off, their genes seemed to fit together almost perfectly. Brooke felt nauseous at what her father had planned for the two of them. Some weird arranged coupling for science.
When she ran away they must not have had any use for him. Experimented on him until they killed him.
"This is sick." Clint shook his head, saliva pooling in his mouth.
His own kids were around the age of those in these pictures. The rest of the group seemed to be feeling the same disgust. All looking a little peaked.
Brooke shook her head. "I don't know what you want me to say."
Tony stepped forward. "This information was in the hard drive we found at the lab you were living in. We have to believe that this is not the only program of its kind."
"I wouldn't know if it was or wasn't. My father never talked about his work with me. I can't remember him drawing my blood or running tests. That is me in that picture but I have no memories of this boy."
"You don't remember anything?"
Bucky snapped, "She just told you she didn't."
Steve also stepped in. "Wanda already cleared her Tony. She doesn't know anything."
"Maybe she just doesn't want to remember. Would you let Wanda take a deeper look into your mind? See if she can find anything you may have forgotten."
"That's enough." Bucky glared. "She isn't doing that"
"If it would make him more comfortable." Her voice shaking. "Maybe there is something useful-"
Bucky turned her toward him, "No. You don't have to prove anything."
Steve agreed. "She jumped through your hoops. If there was anything there to find, Wanda would have uncovered it. She's done."
The women had been through enough, but Steve also stepped in for the team's sake. His friend was riled up and it would take nothing to break the fragile relationship Bucky and Tony had started.
"You two vouch for her them. Is she snaps or is a double agent, you two are responsible."
Steve nodded and Bucky ignored him, focusing on Brooke.
Pepper stepped toward the couple, smiling softly at Brooke. "I'm sure a shower is just about what you need right now, hum?"
A shower would be nice, but being away from all these eyes for a little while sounded even more enticing.
"Ok." Brooke readily agreed, taking one final look at Bucky on her way out.
Once she was all cleaned up, Brooke was not sure what to do with herself. Pepper told her the suit was hers for as long as she stayed here and to make herself at home. Bucky was sitting on the couch.
"Hey."
"I feel like I've lived a double life and one part I remember and the other... I don't even remember him, that boy. I must have spent time with him. I have no memory of it. I don't know if my dad did something to take those memories from me, or if they were so horrific I blocked them out."
Bucky stood, rounding the couch to stand in front of her.
"As messed up as this is, I wish I could go back to that lab, where it was just Jessie, Kai and me. The physical pain is so much better than this."
Bucky pulled Brooke into his chest, hugging her to him. He breathed in the scent of the shampoo on her damp hair, peach.
"It may take longer, but pain is pain. This will pass eventually."
She shook her head. "I ran away."
"You were brave enough to stand up to your father and escape a horrible situation."
"I could have brought him with me."
"You were a kid." Bucky softly scolded.
"I had a sister. He killed her. I don't even know if she knew about me or if she was even my moms."
Bucky kissed her forehead. "I can ask Tony to find out."
"No. I don't want to know. I don't want to think about it." Bucky loosened his hold so he could pull back to look at her.
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to, not anymore." He promised.