Chapter 5
Brooke listened as Neil and Sharon summarized the events of the last hour to the group who had just shown up. They were here to take Jessie away and sweep her apartment, look for evidence.
They asked a couple of questions before getting started, spreading out around her home. Once she was no longer needed Sharon came back over to her.
"Come on, let's go outside."
Brooke shook her head. "He's a child of Hydra. I know exactly what you all think of us. I am not leaving here until I know he is going to be treated right."
Sharon leaned down in front of her. "I promise you, nobody is going to handle Jessie with anything other than respect."
Brooke looked around at the men taking inventory in her apartment. So many strangers, so many lab coats. Looking at Jessie one more time Brooke got to her feet. She needed to get the hell out of there, so she nodded her compliance. She walked over to her dresser, grabbing the only thing she cared about in this whole place.
A gold bracelet that was her mother's. She had left it behind when Kai came to her because she was afraid he would take it or it would get damaged. Brooke knew she would not be allowed to take anything else with her from her place, so she fasted the gold rope to her wrist and walked out.
Getting down to the street Brooke noticed the sun was high in the sky. It must have been nearing lunchtime by now, she wondered if the debrief was over by now. Brooke needed to walk, she needed to move or do anything. She could not believe Kai could do this, to his own son. She thought he was working alone but clearly, she was wrong, because Kai was in custody, he could not have done this.
Meaning he was probably working more closely with Hydra or the red room than she thought. The idea made her sick, this was a warning to her. Someone else was involved. Someone not locked away, someone she could get to.
"Miss Mitchell we need to stay close to the scene in case our guys want to question you."
Brooke turned on Beckett, She had had enough, "About what? I've been with you all for the last 48 hours. You think I did this? Disturbed Jessie's body? For what!? I risked everything and went back to that place to try and save him. All so I could be saved only for it to be too late for him. Do you know what it's like to be used as a lab rat by Hydra? Because I do. I let myself be tortured daily at the chance of saving that kid and you still think I'm guilty, that I'm the Hydra agent."
"Agent Beckett, walk away," Sharon told him.
"No!" Brooke marched up to Agent Beckett. "If you think I did this you might as well lock me up or shoot me now. I tried everything to save him!" Brooke's voice cracked, tears welling in her eyes. "Everything. It wasn't enough, I wasn't enough."
A bike roared down the street, coming upon them loud and fast.
"Take a step back," Neil commanded.
Brooke shook her head, disgusted by this agent. So she did what the red room taught her. In one solid movement, she took his gun from his hip and knocked his feet out from under him.
Neil was quick pulling her down on top of him and rolling them, hand at her throat while she had his gun pressed under his chin. His ankle gun was retrieved cocked and pressed against her temple.
Brooke felt her air start to thin as he applied pressure to her windpipe. She could see Sharon's blonde hair as she edged closer to them, gun drawn.
Sharon was speaking firmly, telling Brooke to drop the gun. But she was also speaking to Neil, telling him to stand down. Her orders became rushed at some point, and Brooke felt her vision start to close in, darkening around the edges.
She knew how to get out from under him, the training had been beaten into her. Even if she was not with them long, the red room had etched itself into her bones. Brooke set the gun calmly down on the pavement before forcing her lower body upward, her left hand shooting up and out to distance the gun from her temple. Neil had not expected her to keep fighting once she laid down the gun. He was easily toppled.
In reality, Brooke laid down the gun so she would be less of a threat and Sharon would not shoot her for what she did next. Neil fought back but was too late, he went headfirst over her shoulders, and she tucked going with him. Only so she could look down at him with one more frown of disgust.
These people were going to see her as Hydra or property of Hydra. I mean they had got two agents to watch her and make sure she did not do anything sinister or Hydraish. Which was a little redundant considering SHIELD had been fifty percent Hydra by the time it disbanded.
Brooke got to her feet stepping over Neil so he would not have the chance to retaliate, though he did scurry to his feet quickly. When she looked up, she was face to face with Bucky. Instead of looking at her with anger or disappointment. His eyes held soft worry and strong resolve.
He reached out for her, finger markings already forming on her neck.
"Brooke Cassidy you are under arrest." Neil declared loudly with anger.
Brooke flinched, he'd used her father's name on purpose.
Bucky's eyes hardened over, he took hold her of wrist moving her behind him. "That's not happening."
"OK, guys, let's take a step back here. People are starting to gather." The situation was already bad, Sharon did not want it to escalate by Bucky beating the crap out of Neil.
"She assaulted an Agent." Neil snapped, cuffs already in his hands. "She's clearly trained, she needs to be taken into custody."
With a lick to his lips and a shake of his head, Bucky stepped forward. "You aren't taking her anywhere."
His goal to silently intimidate Neil, forcing him to back down. No matter how much time Bucky spends around the agents or with the Avengers, he is a deadly assassin and everyone was well aware of his body count. Usually, it made him ashamed or discouraged when people would avoid him or feel fearful of him. Today he would contently milk it.
Neil glared up at him. It was obvious with Bucky on the scene now, he was not going to be able to get his way. Instead, he turned pulling out his phone, he was going to report this to Fury, like he had been instructed to do.
"I will handle him," Sharon told Bucky, walking after her partner.
"Are you ok?" Bucky turned to Brooke, giving no more thought to Neil.
Brooke shook her head, arms wrapped around herself.
When Bucky rolled up, he spotted Brooke immediately. Recognized how distraught and mad she looked as she marched up to Neil, their bodies inches apart. He caught the tail end of what she was saying. "I wasn't enough." Her voice was raw and broken. Heard Neil callus order to "step back" a second before Brooke snapped taking him to the ground. The whole altercation took place in 18 seconds.
Sharon had texted him over an hour and a half ago. Bucky was trying to force the pieces together and figure out what happened to cause this. He saw the van of a clean-up crew, saw government-issued vehicles parked outside her building.
"It's only been a couple of days, but I had already forgotten how little he is."
Bucky observed Brooke, counting the signs of shock cultivating within her. She was shaking, hyper-fixated, sweat beading on her forehead. He reached out and took her hand, hoping to coax her into explaining when a flash of blonde entered his preferal vision.
Sharon appeared back at their side, Bucky could hear Neil grumbling and swearing as he headed around the block, guns back in their hosters.
"I already called Steve, he and Sam are on their way, they should arrive in about an hour." Sharon took in Brooke. "We should get her inside, I know an old Shield safe house, one of Culson's favourites, we can go there till Fury gets in touch."
Bucky shook his head, "My place isn't too far from here. I'll take her there."
Sharon bit her lip. "Look, she did assault an Agent in broad daylight, people saw. I can buy you a couple of hours but Neil isn't going to stay quiet, she's going to have to answer for it. I have to go back inside and deal with this. Leave your bike and take my car. Once I'm done here, I'll have Steve and Sam give me a lift to your place."
Bucky nodded stepping closer to the blonde and lowering his voice. "What the hell happened?"
"Someone put Jessie's body in her apartment." His heart sank as his eyes scanned the surrounding area.
"I sent Neil around the block to look for anyone who might not fit in with the public. Whoever did this was clearly hoping for a reaction, I figured they might stay around to watch."
Bucky nodded, that was his assessment as well. "Look for cameras and devices in her loft."
"Take care of her. I have the situation handled until Steve gets here."
Turning from Sharon dismissing her Bucky focused back on Brooke who had clearly tuned them out and had not been listening. Instead, her eyes were locked in on her building, no doubt imaging the little body inside.
"Hey." He said softly, fingers spreading over her back, "Let's go to my place."
Brooke followed robotically, Bucky let her sit in silence as they drove into Brooklyn. Bucky was happy for once at the hours of shopping Steve and Sam had forced upon him. His apartment was pretty bare when he first got it. His goal was to suffer in peace without bothering anyone, but as he healed he found himself wanting to make it a little homier. So he moved to a nicer building and bought furniture.
When they pulled up, Bucky parked on the street. Walking around the car to open the door for Brooke. She got out and immediately turned and puked into the bushes. Bucky rubbed her back and held her hair up out of the way.
Once she was done, Brooke straightened. Her face had gone a little grey, she was deteriorating quickly. Bucky leads her up to his apartment, pulling her inside taking her into the bathroom.
He turned the taps on, heating up the water to a non-skin-burning temperature.
"I could have done that." She told him numbly.
"I know you can, but let me help you anyway." He told her. "I'm going to step out, Steve's been calling me. I'll bring some sweats for you to throw on, I;ll leave them just outside the door, ok?"
Brooke nodded, the steam coming from the shower was inviting and she felt so cold.
.
"How bad is it?" Bucky asked when Steve answered his call.
"Agent Beckett's got a mouth on him, he's not thrilled about his and Brooke's attraction. Sharon explained what happened, It was off-side on both accounts. Brooke shouldn't have disarmed him as she did, but Beckett should have been more sympathetic to her situation. He's the agent, he should have kept his cool. But he could always argue that he was defending himself or that he felt there was a threat to the public."
"Do you think anything is going to come of it?"
"Hard to say." Bucky sighed leaning against his kitchen counter. "How's Brooke holding up?"
"She's in shock."
A pause, "And how are you?"
"I'm pissed. Brooke said Kai was working alone, and that it was only the three of them for a year. It seemed like maybe Kai was working outside of Hydra. After what happened today, we have to assume that Hydra put Jessie in her loft. Kai was working with or for someone else. Them leaving his body in there like it was a threat."
"I agree. We found no one around the scene and you were right, there were cameras and listening devices set up around Brooke's loft, theirs and ours."
Bucky froze. "We bugged her place?"
"I know you want her situation to be simple Buck but it isn't. Fury needed a couple of assurances, but the apartment was empty when the tech was installed. That gives us a timeline. Nat and Tony are going to go through surveillance, and see if they can pick up anyone coming or going from the building."
"This is all my fault, Steve."
"How do you mean?"
"She came back for me. Brooke ran away from them all, she reinserted herself just to get me out. Now she's back on their radar."
"She's a child of one of their scientist. Looks like they planned to use her in one of their experiments. I don't think she ever stopped being on their radar. Don't blame yourself for this." Bucky clenched his jaw.
"She was evading them just fine for the last 10 years."
"Listen, we're going to be wrapping up here in the next couple of hours. We'll come to your place as soon as we're finished, ok?"
"Yea, ok."
"Watch your back, Buck. Until we figure out who Kai was working with, we have to assume they are coming after her."
"I'm not going to let them get their hands on her again."
"You aren't exactly off their radar either. Just be careful, I'll see you in a few hours."
"Bye."
Rolling his neck, Bucky listened to Brooke. He could hear her moving around in the shower, the sound of a cap being snapped shut. It was a slight relief, at least she was not standing in their catatonic.
Going into his room, Bucky grabbed a sweatshirt and sweatpants for her to wear when she got out of the shower.
Which she did eventually slip into after nearly twenty-five minutes in the shower. Bucky had to force himself to stay in the kitchen instead of going to check on her. His only saving grace was his ability to listen in and make sure she was holing up alright.
While she got dressed he went around and closed all the windows and pulled the blinds so no one could see into the apartment. The last he needed was someone taking shots at them from one of the surrounding rooftops.
"Hi." Brooke came in, curling up in the corner of the couch. "What are you doing?"
"Shutting the blinds for the night."
"I'm sorry you were pulled from the briefing, I told Agent Carter not to call you."
"I was already on my way when she texted." Bucky frowned, sitting on the coffee table in front of her.
Brooke played with her fingers. "You were?"
"Yea. Carter and Beckett were there to keep people safe from you, not the other way around. I didn't trust them to look out for you."
"Sharon was nice. Beckett's an ass." Bucky clenched his jaw, eyes dropping to the finger marks on her neck. "But I shouldn't have dropped him like that. I didn't exactly prove to anyone today that I'm someone to be trusted."
"I'd trust you to watch my back. I saw your takedown."
Brooke rubbed her eyes, groaning. She had hoped Bucky had not been there to see her lose her cool like that, she was embarrassed that he had. Neil had forced her instincts to take over. She had not stretched those skills in almost a decade, but they came back like it was nothing.
"How much trouble am I in?"
"Nothing is going to come back on you. Emotions were high, and Beckett was unprofessional."
"They are going to bury Jessie right? I don't want him ending up in a lab."
"I'll make sure of it."
"K." She looked up at him from under her lashes. "I'm thinking this is more of a Hydra move than the red room."
Bucky nodded in agreeance. "That was the general consensus from the scene. They also planted wires and cameras in your place."
"I've been trying to think who could be working with Kai. It has to be a new player, someone I haven't met before. I only saw Kai and - and Jessie, no one else was there with us, or if they were, I never saw them."
"I believe you."
"But Fury doesn't." She had him there.
"Steve, Sam and Sharon are going to head over here once they are done with your place. Until then, did you want some food? You haven't eaten since breakfast."
"No thanks, I'm not hungry." He shot her an unimpressed look.
"Brooke."
"It was a late breakfast." Bucky shook his head, not it wasn't.
He did not want to argue with her and remind her that she just lost her breakfast in the bushes outside his apartment. Instead, he studied her tired eyes and the vulnerable way she played with her fingers and avoided his gaze. A different girl than the one he spent last night with, or the one he saw take down one of Fury's agents.
"I can't stay here, Bucky."
"I am more than happy to sleep on the couch. Just because we were together last night, I'm not expecting anything."
A sad smile pulled at her lips, he was being so sweet it made her heartache. "No. I mean here, like New York here. Hydra outings themselves like that, it's just something they don't do. Not for one red room dropout."
"You think they are planning something bigger?"
"I think I'm a dangerous person to be around right now."
"We're all dangerous to be around. We all have people who want us dead and would kill others to make that happen." Brooke pulled her knees up into her chest. "You aren't going anywhere."
"Is that an order, Sargent."
He knew she was joking, trying to lighten the moment but he wanted her to know how serious he was about this. "Yes, it is."
"It's going to get bad, this is just the beginning. I need to talk to Kai."
Bucky shook his head. "They aren't going to let you do that. But after today they are going to bring him back into integration. They'll find out who he was working with."
"This is a disaster. I'm going to have to sell the loft."
"I was hoping you might consider moving into the compound." Brooke frowned. "Hear me out. I'll be leaving in two days for a mission, it would make me feel better if I knew you were in a fortified compound and not in some apartment all on your own."
"Me, Neil and Sharon, you mean. Two agents and a red room drop out. I think we'd fend for ourselves quite well."
"Think about it. Brooke. Please?" She looked up into his sincere eyes and nodded, she would consider it.
He exhaled sharply in relief, nodding his head. She might as well agree to it now, it's not like they were going to allow her to roam free after this.
Bucky's phone buzzed letting him know Steve was there. He left Brooke on the couch to go let the group in. He was happy to see Neil was not with them.
"He's running surveillance from the car." Steve told him, "Figured it would be a bad idea to have him come up."
Bucky nodded. Neil was lucky, Bucky wanted to break his nose for marks on Brooke's neck like he did.
Steve walked over to Brooke, "Natasha and Clint are with Jessie. They will make sure he is treated with respect."
"Thank you." Brooke had straightened out now that other people were here. "Did you talk with Fury?"
"I did." Steve sat down next to her on the couch. "Nat went to bat for you, talked him down to probation time. Which basically means that one of us needs to be with you at all times when you're out in public, and you would need to put off moving into your own place and come stay at the compound."
"How long is the probation for?"
"Eight months."
Brooke looked up at Bucky, "Guess you got Lucky."
Bucky smiled at her, he was Lucky. What had Brooke said to him the other day about his Karma? After all the bad luck he has had he deserved an easy couple of decades. Her living in close proximity to him was definitely a good start.
"One of us will go with you, back to your place. Grab your clothes and whatever else you would like to have with you."
Brooke paled at the thought of having to go back there. Even though Steve had said Jessie had been moved, she knew all she would see was him laying in her bed.
Sharon cleared her throat. "If you write me a list of things, I can go pack it all up, and bring it to the compound."
Brooke stood from the couch, straightening her clothes. "No, I can do it. Let go now, get it done."
Bucky crossed his arms over his chest. The only place Brooke should be is curled up in his bed, sleeping it off. She was pushing herself when she did not have to and he understood it. The war and Hydra taught him to never stop moving, even after the distance he had from them. He still felt it, the urge to move in silent moments and downtime.
"It's not something you have to do today," Steve told her. "We have two days before we leave for our mission, we can come back tomorrow."
"I don't want to wait." Brooke walked to the door, sliding into her sneakers. "I have boxes and bags at my place already, it shouldn't take me more than 30 minutes."
Bucky had not gotten to go up to her loft, but 30 minutes didn't seem like enough time to pack up her life.
"Ok," Steve said, getting to his feet. "We have both SUVS, we can fill the trunks and everything we can't fit today we can always come back for."
"I don't keep a lot of my stuff in the loft, mainly clothes and my tech. The rest I have in a storage locker. Like I said, it won't take long."
Sam and Sharon took the lead out of the apartment, Brooke and Bucky in the middle, and Steve following behind. They fell into formation without much communication with each other. Brooke knew what they were doing thought, having seen it before, practiced it herself in the red room.
Someone was gunning for her, and they had to protect her. Even if they are still figuring out if she is a threat herself or not.
Sharon road with Neil following behind Steve's SUV. Brooke noticed the windows were bulletproof glass, interesting. Guess it makes sense, they were some of the most dangerous people in the world, it never hurt to be cautious.
"You ok?" Bucky asked her.
Brooke nodded, eyes gazing out the window. She was distancing herself from him, she knew she was. Things were out of control and the independent girl had somehow become the burden of five-plus people. That really bothered her.
Too many people in her business. She could take care of herself and maybe she would have been able to just leave if she had not lashed out at Neil. If she did decide to take off she would not have the Fury sending out a team to apprehend her. Thought in the back of her mind she knew Fury was not her biggest obstacle, Bucky was.
"Here we are," Steve announced pulling in alongside her building.
Brooke was about to tell them to wait here, she would be back soon. But quickly realized, that at least one of them would have to come with her. Before she could decide what to do Sharon opened her door.
"You guys watch the block, Brooke and I will be back soon."
Brooke felt Bucky shift beside her, she knew he wanted to come too. Some part of her did want him to come watch her back, but another part wanted her space.
Steve got out of the car, "Bucky and I are going to do a sweep of the building, once we have an all clear you two can head up."
Sharon nodded, fair enough.
Bucky got out of the car, following Steve inside. They worked top-down, clearing hallways, supply closets and Brooke's loft. Bucky took the extra time to look around her space and check the closets. When they found no one lurking around, they headed back out to send the girls in.
Three hours later they were pulling into the compound. Natasha was waiting for them in the carport.
The spy nodded at her. While Natasha had graduated from the red room she too had walked away from them. She could recognize herself in Brooke. The way the girl's eyes swept around the space, taking in all the people around, assessing them.
"Hey, boys. Tony wants to see you." Bucky looked at Brooke. "Since you'll be staying for a while, Pepper set you up a room on our floor. I'll show you to it."
"I'll come see you once we're done." Bucky told her.
Brooke grabbed her overnight bag from the back seat, she would bring the rest of her things up later. Natasha was quiet on their way up, pointing out the common areas as they went.
"You are across from Sam's room. Bucky's is just down the way there on your left. Your door does lock but FRIDAY can override it. To set up the enter key press pound and then type in your code.
7332, just like her loft.
"You can go mainly anywhere in this building or on the grounds, but Fury would like me to remind you that if you do leave, one of us will come with you. It's rare that all of us will be out on a singular mission. There is usually someone here. But if not, anything you need, let us know and we can have it brought here. Brooke nodded, "I'll leave you to it."
Left alone Brooke looked around the space, it was larger than the room she was in yesterday. It really was like a suite or apartment. Everything seemed to be decorated in pinks, greys and browns. It really was a nice space, which was good considering she planned to spend most of her sentence in here.
She would have to talk to someone, Tony or Fury, they seem to be the two in charge around here. Talk to them about her job, she still wanted to work at the vet's office she had been at previously, but was not sure how possible that would be with a tail on her and the threat from Hydra.
Grabbing a glass of water Brooke headed down the hall to the bedroom. In the centre was a queen bed, a cozy-looking chair off to the side with a bookshelf and a dresser next to the closet. There was even a little desk set in front of the big window.
It was too dark to truly see but it looked out onto a patio and the woods. Not much to look at but Brooke bet that on sunny days sitting in front of the window was going to be one of her favourite places.
Despite her circumstances, Brooke felt herself start to relax in the quiet space. Pulling out her phone she plugged it in, setting up her laptop on the desk. Unpacking what clothes she had in her overnight bag, and thought about changing out of Bucky's but decided against it. She liked his smell. Dropping her soap and things into the bathroom, Brooke was happy to find a toothbrush, paste and a couple of extra things already in there in the wrapping.
Feeling herself fading fast, Brooke brushed her teeth. With her phone now on and charging Brooke opened her Spotify and played white noise before crawling into bed.
.
Brooke woke up before the sun, grabbed a book off the self and curled up on the chair in her room to read.
She was halfway through a tale of two cities when there was a knock at her door.
"Mr. Stark."
Tony nodded, taking in her attire. "FRIDAY informed me you were awake. Would you mind taking a walk with me?"
"Sure."
They walked to the elevator going up a couple of floors.
"I was hoping we could go to the lab. After looking through your files, Bruce and I wanted to run a couple of tests on you, to see if you have any advances or adaptions to your DNA."
Brooke swallowed thickly, "Yea. Ok, it would be nice to know for sure."
"You're a lot more agreeable without a supersoldier on your shoulder."
"He knows what it's like to be experimented on. If I were him, I wouldn't be trusting of anyone in a lap coat either."
"You also spent time around a lot of lab coats."
Brooke shrugged, "Not as much as Bucky."
"Bruce you've already met, he's going to be drawing some blood and setting you up on a monitor so we can monitor your stress responses and other things." Brooke nodded.
"I know it was not really optional but thank you for letting me stay here."
Tony shrugged, "No big deal. Steve, Nat and Bucky went to bat for you. Enough to convince Fury and the board."
"I know I didn't make the best impression with Agent Beckett yesterday."
"Neil's an ass, always has been. It's why he's riding Agent 13, we're hoping she can reform him." Brooke smiles to herself, stepping into the lab.
"Miss Mitchell, nice to see you again."
"Hi, Doctor Banner. Brooke is fine."
"Brooke." He smiled at her. "We'll start with your height and weight and then get you attached to some of the machines here."
"Ok." She followed him around the room while Tony watched.
When she took a seat on the exam table she felt relief hearing the wax paper crinkle under her. Hydra and the Red Room never cared much about hygiene or making sure their stations were sanitary. The little difference already putting her at ease.
Bruce attached a monitor to her heart, head and wrists. Then set a metal headband around her temples, and a little glass lens flicked down to capture her eye movement.
"We are going to throw a couple of things at you to get started. Test your reaction to things and how your body reacts under stress." Tony explained.
"Alright." What did she have to lose, if he father or Kai did anything to her, Brooke wanted to know what.
Brooke passed all tests, and it was nearly two hours later, just after seven in the morning when Bruce started unhooking her from everything.
"Looks like you're one of the lucky ones. We will still run some tests on your blood just to make sure." Tony told her, "I guess you won't be joining the Avengers."
Brooke played with her fingers, "Actually I did have a question for you about that. While on probation at least, it seems like I'll be stuck here most of the time, but what about work? I was a vet before all this, but I doubt there are many pets running around here."
"So you have medical experience."
"With animals, as a vet."
Tony looked over at Bruce, "We could use your help in the lab. I assume you can perform basic stitches." Brooke nodded, "You can assist Banner. He prefers to stay behind his lab equipment, he could use someone to run interference and patch up any agents who come in."
"I can do that," Brooke said, happy to know she would not just be sitting around reading the next eight months.
Tony threw a black clip at her, "It's a beeper. We don't work regular hours so you are free, unless that goes off. We expect you to respond to it."
"You got it. Is there anything else I could do here?"
"No." Tony's hand landed on her back, he walked her out of the lab and back to the elevators.
The doors opened and instead of stepping in Tony froze up. Bucky and Steve were standing before them. Bucky's eyes first locked in on the bruises on Brooke's neck, they somehow looked darker than yesterday. His eyes dropped down to Tony's arm which was extending behind Brooke, looking like his hand was wrapped around her waist. Lastly, he looked up into her eyes, clocking the indents along her forehead.
What the fuck!