Connie sighed as she and Wanda are wrapped tight in straight jackets. Captain America's team is now incarcerated on The Raft in the middle of the ocean. Helicopter or Quinjet are the only vessels in or out.
Connie sat on the floor of her cell with her back in a corner with her legs stretched out in front of her. Wanda's has the same treatment including a collar around her neck in her own cell, the light and life gone from the young witch. Clint's cell is next to her, followed by Scott's cell and lastly Sam's cell.
Secretary Ross strolls in with a high mighty 'I got you now' smug look on his face. "Well, well, well. I knew you'd do something whreckless so I can catch you." He taunts. "Your powers are too dangerous." He addresses Connie, who glares at him. "What's wrong, you didn't like your necklace?"
"Go jump off the Empire's State building!" Connie snarls.
Ross continues to glare, then his glare turns to look at the others. "Anyone have a location on Captain Rogers?"
"You're just jealous!" Connie growls, making Ross turn back to her.
"Excuse me?" He demands. "Me? What do I have to be jealous of?"
"The Avengers have more fans than you!" Connie answered with a sneer. "They kept people safe." She tried to swallow hard. "Yes, people get hurt and sadly someone ends up dying. It's not the Avengers fault."
Ross narrowed his eyes. "Alright. Forget the Avengers. Forget the Captain." His ease and lazy comment had Clint, Scott and Sam turning to look at Ross like he was out of his damn mind. "Where's Barnes? You all give me the murderer and you all go free."
"How about you kiss your own crotch!" Clint yelled.
XxXxXxXxX
Inside the security office, the security watch the cameras.
"GIVE ME THE LOCATION OF CAPTAIN ROGERS!" Ross' enraged scream had the severity all wince and pull their headphones from their ears.
"NEVER!" Connie's scream is just as harshly. The security rub their ears.
XxXxXxXxXx
"You're after the wrong man, Secretary." Connie continued. "Sargent Barnes is innocent!"
"What makes you think I'm gonna believe you?" Ross demands. "Because your his tramp?"
"Watch your mouth, Ross!" Sam yelled, slamming a fist on his glass door cell.
"Yeah, or we'll wire it shut for you and the only thing you'll be eating is applesauce!" Clint added.
"I don't like repeating myself. Where. Is. Barnes?" Ross asked. "First one who tells gets leniency."
"Go fuck yourself!" Clint snarls. Ross storms out, leaving them once again in silence.
Clint turns to Connie. "You ok, Con?" He asks.
"Yeah." She stiffly nods. "No one's called me that before."
"Don't listen to that dick face." Sam told her.
"You still believe we have fans out there?" Clint asks Connie.
"I never stopped believing it."
15 minutes later, the cell door opens again and everyone looks up. Clint slowly claps.
"The Futurist, ladies and gentlemen! The Futurist is here! He sees all. He knows what's best for you, whether you like it or not." Clint said sarcastically. Tony slowly turns and looks at him and approaches his cell.
"Give me a break, Barton. "I had no idea they'd put you here."
Clint's expression turns sour and glares before spitting on the floor. ""Yeah, well, you know they'd put us somewhere, Tony."
"Yeah, but not some super max floating ocean pokey." Tony half hearty joked. "This place is for maniacs. This is for."-
"Criminals?" Clint raises his eyebrows as he stands to fully face Tony. "Criminals, Tony. Think that's the word you're looking for. Right? That didn't used to mean me. Or Sam, or Wanda, or Connie! She's an honorary Avenger!" He then challenged. "But you don't give a damn, do you?" He demands. "But now here we are."
"Because you broke the law."
"Yeah."
"I didn't make you."
"La, la, la, la, la, la." Clint sang out, ignoring Tony.
"You read it, you broke it. You're all grown up. You got a wife and kids. I don't understand, why didn't you think about them before you chose the wrong side?"
Clint angrily stands up again to again face Tony, who walks away. "You gotta watch your back with guy!" Hawkeye calls before slamming his hands on his cell door. "There's a chance he's gonna break it!"
"Hank Pym always said you never can trust a Stark." Scott glares at Tony as he passes.
"Who are you?"
"Come on, man." Scott whines.
Tony approaches Sam, who has his back to the cell door.
"How's Rhodes?" Sam asks quietly, Guilt was eating him alive after what happened.
"They're flying him to Columbia Medical tomorrow … so, fingers crossed. What do you need? They feed you yet?"
"Like Ross would let us have any kind of food." Connie huffs, earring a chuckle from Clint.
"You're the good cop now?" Sam turns with his eyebrows raised.
"I'm just the guy who needs to know where Steve went." Tony counters.
"Well, you better be the bad cop, cause you're gonna have to go Mark Fuhrman on my ass to get information out of me!" Sam snaps.
"Well, I just knocked the A out of their AV." Tony says as he messes with his watch. "We got about 30 seconds before they realize it's not their equipment. Just look." He enlarges a picture for Sam. "Because that … is the fellow who was suppose to interrogate Barnes. Clearly, I made a mistake. Sam, I was wrong."
"That's a first." Sam retorts.
"Cap is definitely off the reservation, but he's about to need all the help get can get." Tony attempts to reason.
"We did tell you, Stark!" Connie angrily replied. "Steve tried to make you see reason, but you wouldn't lesson."
Tony ignored her, he continued to look at Sam. "We don't know each other very well. You don't have to."-
"Talk to Connie!" Sam cuts in with ice. "I'm not revealing anything."
"She'd kick my nose off."
"You deserve it." Sam grumped, then sighed as he finally caved in. "Look I'll tell you … but you go alone and as a friend."
"Easy."
"Sam, don't." Connie begs.
"Thanks to Stark, Steve and Barnes are walking into a trap without us for backup." Sam told her gently.
"Stark is the wrong man for that backup!" She rounds.
"Excuse me?" Tony asks, raising his eyebrows.
"What other choice do we have?" Sam asks, making Connie shake her head.
"I don't know." She admits in defeat.
"There's a HYDRA base." Sam told Tony. "In Siberia."
With a nod of thanks, Tony moves to approach Connie's cell.
"Pepper likes having you as her assistant."
"Should've thought about that before you signed."
"You're a nice girl, but that wasn't nice."
"Was not suppose to be nice." Connie retorts, her eyes narrow on Tony. "You hurt either of my boys, I hurt you!" She threatens. "That's all I have to say to you."
XxXxXxXxXxX
A few days later. The rough Avengers still stayed in their cells. Board as hell. Connie sighed. "Not only does Ross not feed us, he doesn't even give us anything to do? No TV, no book? I'll take a coloring book and crayons!"
"He probably fears that we could easily escape with that stuff." Clint answered, his sitting next to his cell door and his poison is easy for him to see her inside her own cell.
"You had to mention food." Scott groans. "I'm starving!"
Connie smiles. "Just don't ask Sam for toilet paper."
"Me?" Sam asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise. "Girl, you hide all the toilet paper that day."
"I do feel guilty that you got poison ivy." Connie said sweetly, causing Clint to laugh.
"You even buffed my kitchen counter tops." Connie smiled, causing Clint to laugh more.
"You go sliding Sam?" He asks while chuckling.
"And ended up face planting on the floor." Sam said. "Steve came in, and said he didn't want to know and walked out. What about the whoopee cushion? Steve blamed me for that!" He whines.
"I told you, that that was meant for Steve." Connie said as Clint and Scott howled with laughter. "I even tried to warn you, but you sat down anyway."
"You had it well hidden." Sam folds his arms.
It was quiet for another hour, before the door of the room breaks open, cutting off the laughter as the loud noise made everyone in the room jump and turn to the door. A silhouette of a tall man from the shadows approaches and to their relief it's a man they've been needing.
Steve Rogers.
He lifts a hand as he holds a remote and presses the button with is thumb, opening their cells. "Cap, you're a sight for sore eyes." Sam smiled as he, Scott, and Clint step out of their cells.
"Where are the girls?" Steve asks.
"Over here Steve." Connie said as she continued to sit in the corner of her cell. Both Steve and Sam hurry over to her, while Clint and Scott went for Wanda.
"Connie!" Steve breathed as he and Sam help her up and start to break off the restrains. Connie yelps as she stretches her very sore arms after being so stiff for who knows how long, she slowly stood up but collapsed.
"I'm not touching a walker or a wheelchair." Connie said sternly as Steve lifts her up in his arms. "Cause I'll break it over Ross' head!"
"I'll pay you to do that." Clint said as he approaches with Wanda in his arms and the collar is off. "You should've seen her Cap! She was amazing going toe to toe with Ross."
XxXxXxXxX
They quickly head to the Quinjet, finding Natasha in the pilots seat. "Everybody in?"
"Nat?" Clint is surprised, but very happy to see her.
"Yes." Steve gently sets Connie down in a chair. "Let's blow this popsicle stand!"
"Please don't mention food." Clint begged, they were all hungry.
XxXxXxXxX
Hours later inside a safe house. Clint, Sam, Scott, and Connie happily ate four large pizzas and the boys had a burping contest, but at the hunger fest it wasn't fun as they had downed their sodas and needed more. Wanda, understandably, eat like a bird. The collar had hurt her throat so much it was hard to talk let alone eat.
"That felt good!" Clint pats his stomach, then burped.
"It felt great!" Scott smiles.
XxXxXxXx
Another hour later, Steve and Connie are on their way to another location. "Why don't you just tell me where Bucky is?" She asked. "I'm dying to know where he is!"
Steve turns to give her a guilty look. "We're going there now."
"Captain Steven Rogers!"-
"Wakanda! He's in Wakanda!" Steve flinches, then dares a peek at her.
"WHAT!?" She screams in horror. "Oh my God!" She breathed. "We should've brought the others!" She cries.
Steve turns to fully face her. "Connie." He gently took her hands and she looks at him. "Everything's ok. T'Challa is on our side now."
That surprised her. "He, he knows the truth?" She asked with shock, watching as Steve nods. "How? I'm mean I'm happy, but." She trailed off.
"A man named Zemo. The guy we were trying to stop in Siberia." Steve explained. "He's the one who started this snowballs journey into hell. Killing hundreds just so he could get us alone, then Tony shows up and just for minutes he was the good guy."
"That was our fault." She whispered. "Me and Sam." She pulls her hands away and leans back in the co pilots seat, pulling her knees up to her chest to hug her legs. "You and me knew the truth about what happened to Howard." She took a deep breath. "Sam told Stark to go alone and as a friend. I warned Sam that Stark was the wrong backup, but we didn't have a choice."
"He started as a friend." Steve gave a small nod. "Then Zemo showed the video of Howard's fate. Tony lost it. All his anger and the feeling of being stabbed in the back completely took control."
"I'm sorry."
Steve shook his head. "Don't be. If anybody should be sorry, it's me. Half my friends turned on me, and one forced me give up the shield."
Connie's eyes grew at the last one. "Stark stole the shield!?"
"If you want to see it that way." He nods.
Connie pressed her lips together. "What happened with Bucky?"
"Tony wanted blood. He nearly killed Bucky, almost succeeding too." Steve pauses.
"Stark did all that with a broken arm!?"
"All that adrenaline rushing through him, gave Tony the fight he needed. And you never thought that his arm was broken." Steve paused. "And because of that, he destroyed Bucky's metal arm."
Connie gasped, her eyes wide in shock and horror. "Oh my God." Her voice shook and she covered her mouth with both her hands.
"Our Buck is fairing." Steve told her. "T'Challa is promising to give him a cure for the triggers words, he's also promised sanctuary for Bucky."
She nodded. "Good, that's good."
XxXxXxXxX
In Wakanda. And in a room, Bucky sat on the corner of his bed staring out the window. He didn't hear his door swooshing open and that Steve appeared in the doorframe.
"Hey Jerk." Steve smiled fondly at his best friend, who turns around and smiles.
"Punk. Thought you said you'd be back tomorrow? It's the middle of the night."
"I got something that might just help you calm a little better." Steve smiled.
"Steve."
"No take backs, I got it on clearance." Steve smiled, he turns to the side expecting Connie, but when she didn't come. "Uhh." Steve held up a finger in the air. "Be right back!" He hurriedly said be he disappears out the door again.
"Punk, what are you doing?" Bucky shook his head, and turned started to turn back to the window. In the reflection he saw his door open and something was pushed in, and his eyes grew when he saw Connie's reflection. "Connie?"
Connie slowly approached him, then stopped. "Hi."
He slowly turns to face her. "I don't want you to see me like this."
"Believe me." Her eyes look at his left shoulder, there's a black cup covering where his arm is suppose to be. "I was scared to see you like this after Steve told me what happened."
"To be honest, I hated the arm. So in a way Stark did me a favor."
"Are you out of your mind!?" Steve demanded as he came up behind Connie.
"That arm was apart of a killing machine." Bucky told him flatly. "T'Challa said I'll be getting a better arm." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.
Connie beamed. "That's great!" It fades. "But you're not happy."
"Because of your reactions. I decided on something that neither of you are going to be happy about."
Steve folds his arms. "And that is?"
Bucky sat back down on the edge of his bed, he turns to look out the window again. "I decided to go back under."
"You want to be frozen again?" Connie gasped, she and Steve did not look happy. "Why!?"
"I'm a danger. After Steve first freed me from the brainwash, I knew I was still a danger because HYDRA played with my brain, I maybe free, but I'm not free." Bucky said sadly, lost in thought. "I cannot trust myself, and if I can't trust myself how the hell am I suppose to keep my girl and best friend safe? HYDRA maybe dead. But those trigger words are still very active."
Connie sat down next to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "How long will you be under?" She asked with a choke.
Bucky shook his head. "I don't know."
Steve sighed. "You're right. I don't like it. But if it's what you want to do, I'll support it."
"It's not what I want, but what I need to do."
XxXxXxXx
The following morning. Bucky sat on a table wearing white pants and a shite tank. Steve and Connie approach. "You sure about this?" Steve asked.
"I can't trust my own mind." Bucky sighs. "Going back under is the best thing." His gaze moves from Steve to Connie with a sad smile. "For everyone."
Connie suddenly threw her arms around him, he hugged her as best as he could with the one arm. "We'll wait for you, James. For as long as it takes."
XxXxXx
Connie stood in the hallway with her arms wrapped around herself as she looks out the windows, Steve approaches to stand by her. The two friends are quiet for a long awhile. Until T'Challa approaches.
"Thank you for this." Steve thanks.
"Your friend and my father, they were both victims. If I can give one of them peace." T'Challa let that hang.
"If they find out Bucky is here, they'll come after him." Connie said with worry.
T'Challa smirks. "Let them try."