Chapter 5: Last Lead
"Bucky!" Steve calls again but he's already gone, disappearing past the flames, and there's too many Hydra people for Steve to get through to chase him. He doesn't know what just happened except that Yelena just –
Did something to him.
Something that they're using to control him somehow, because he would never have gone with her willingly.
And he doesn't understand because he didn't know Yelena but she was Natasha's sister and he thought they could trust her if they could trust Natasha.
He'll think about that – and how much the betrayal hurts – later. Who else can't they actually trust?
All he knows is that he needs to get to Bucky and try to get him back with them somehow. He can't let Hydra get him back. He doesn't know what they're going to do to him and nor does she have any idea how they'll ever find him again if they lose him now.
Yelena took out Natasha, though, so she must be safe. Steve scrambles over to her side where she's still on the floor, using his shield to block the shots from the Hydra people who are all retreating away. "Natasha?" he calls, shaking her shoulder.
She blinks awake after a moment, quickly collecting herself and stumbling to her feet, collecting her weapons to start shooting back.
Several energy blasts fly in from somewhere over their heads, taking down a bunch of the Hydra people and Steve looks up to see Tony flying in, blasting.
He's taking down the Hydra people easily now.
"Did you see Bucky?" Steve asks, over the shooting.
"He and Yelena were heading for the jet," Tony calls back, "Said they were getting us a ride."
...Oh.
Oh no.
"Stop them!" Natasha orders breathlessly.
"Wait – why?" Tony asks, firing another blast at the Hydra people.
"Yelena's turned on us. She took Bucky," Steve explains.
Tony's exclamation is drowned out by the shooting. There's a sudden flash of green and Loki reenters the room. He seems to be moving alright, and Steve's instantly relieved to see that at least. That explosion would have killed anyone else.
"We must leave," Loki warns, "Something is coming – "
He never gets the chance to finish the sentence before Steve hears the sound of metal tearing and a deafening explosion. There's a blinding flash above him and he scrambles for Natasha to give her cover – she's the most exposed of all of them – lifting his shield to block it as much as he can.
Something still falls on him – the entire building is falling down around them – and Steve waits a moment until the structure is settling out before he tries to shove the debris off him.
There's nothing left of the building but smoking wreckage now, and he can see the sky above him as he clamors out, offering a hand to Nat to pull her up.
Tony and Loki are mid-digging themselves out.
The jet is gone.
There's no sign left of any Hydra people or of Bucky.
Bucky's gone.
Steve brought him with them because he thought... he thought he wouldn't make the same mistake a second time over and lose his best friend. He thought he could keep Bucky safe. That they wouldn't be ripped apart again, but they were, and he has no idea how to find him a second time.
"I don't suppose you guys got that info?" Tony asks, visor lifting.
Natasha is limping, and Steve grips her arm to support her. "We were literally this close and then we tripped an explosive. I think this whole thing was a trap."
It started the same. A door that shut between them and cut the team in half. Ended the same – with Bucky gone. Just like the train when...
Tony whistles. "What a sweet little sister."
"We need a pick up," Steve says over him, "They'll be back to finish their work soon, and we need to be out of here."
"Something's not right," Natasha objects quietly, shaking her head. "I knew Yelena – she wouldn't do something like this."
"Seems like she did," Tony objects unhelpfully.
"Not of her own," Natasha argues, "There's something more to this. She was genuinely happy when she came to see me again and I haven't seen her in years, but I don't believe that could be faked."
"We are overlooking something," Loki interjects, "I am uncertain as to what."
"Well, I'll call in Clint to come pick us up," Tony volunteers.
"Is there anything you can do to track Bucky?" Steve queries hopefully, looking to Loki. He's afraid to hope but – Loki's magic works in ways he doesn't understand.
"No," Loki replies quietly. "He was not much appreciative of me spelling him again."
His disappointment swells even if he didn't think so. Mostly, he's just panicking because he has no idea how they're going to get Bucky back or if he's going to be as mind-wiped as before by the time they find him again or –
Steve won't let himself think about the what if they don't get to him for months or years. They have to. He won't stop until they do. Somehow.
"We have one lead," Natasha speaks up, expression tight, "Yelena was taken to the Red Room. Clint and I already took it out but... if Yelena's with Hydra, maybe whoever was left of the Red Room allied with them. I thought I took it down, but it's the best shot we've got. I know where to start looking."
"Ready to go anytime," Tony says, "I can even order another jet. But Hydra will be paying for the one they stole."
"Clint and I should be able to handle it alone."
Steve doesn't like the idea of just sitting this out, but Natasha would ask if she needed backup, and they don't even have a guarantee that whatever she's doing is going to get them anywhere. And maybe another lead will come up in the meantime.
For now, all they can do is wait until Clint gets here to pick them up.
**w**
They start with going back to Stark Tower. They're all injured and they need a moment to rest and recover and just breath before they do anything else. Even if Steve doesn't want to do that at all when he knows Bucky may very well be being tortured right now.
Natasha's hospital trip is the longest and Tony's busy trying to see if there's a way he can track the jet – though apparently, all trackers were removed already – which gives Steve a moment alone with Loki.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Steve asks, eyeing him, "You nearly got blown up twice." And Loki had opted out of getting checked over by "Midgardian healers", in his words.
"I have recovered on my own from injuries far worse," Loki replies though his voice doesn't carry quite the same usual flippant cheer. He's been far more subdued since they came back, a look Steve's hardly ever seen on him.
Bucky was his friend too, though.
"I did not intend to get your friend captured," Loki says after a long stretch of silence, "I believed it would be safe if he came."
It can be hard to tell on Loki, but he can see the guilt there. Bucky and Loki had been the ones who wanted to come, not that Steve blames him. They had no way to know things would go that badly even if he was so scared they would. He desperately wishes they had just left Bucky behind – hopefully, Hydra wouldn't have found some way to get to him anyway, but he can't help wondering if they would have tried regardless – but there's nothing they can do to change that now.
"I thought so, too," Steve sighs. He trusted Yelena. He thought he knew what he was doing. He'd trusted himself when he... "But Hydra would've found another way to get to him. At least we know what happened." It's the most he can say, really, and it would've been so much worse if they left him behind and came back, and Bucky was just gone.
At least they know about Yelena, though...
He hardly even knew the girl, but he still aches with a hurt betrayal whenever he thinks of her. Bucky had been fond of her, and she somehow took him. Steve wants to know how, what she did, how it worked, but he's also not fully certain that he wants all those questions answered.
He feels jittery and tense and he's too tightly wound to do anything.
But they have no leads. Nothing – he should've asked – something. Where Bucky was kept. Anything.
And what if the Bucky he gets back doesn't remember him anymore? Doesn't remember this? It happened before.
Loki might be able to heal it again but that won't change how much Bucky was hurt to make him lose his memories again.
"My brother is still here," Loki says, "With Hydra, I suspect, though I cannot say whether he is their ally."
They also have no lead on Thor, which is another of the things he's concerned about. He could be anywhere, and they don't know if he's a threat. Steve certainly is far from fond of him, but he's still Loki's brother. "We find Bucky, we find Thor," he offers, and he's getting very tired of saying that.
**w**
"We've got a problem," Tony announces, coming to find him the next morning, "Fury's demanding that we all come to see him immediately."
He should have expected. There was a chance it could go bad but – Steve thought they could do it discreetly.
"And now we're being accused of attacking another country," Tony adds, "So it's not looking good on the news."
"Hydra's framing this against us," Steve realizes. That could be very bad. Especially when it's not something they have time to deal with right now. He doesn't know where Fury stands on this, either. Is he Hydra? And even if he's not, he could still cause serious interference in what they're trying to do.
"Well, we better deal with it before Clint and I leave," Natasha says. She's still recovering and considering that she's evidently going to break someone out of prison – Steve never asked her for all the details – she needs to be in good condition for a fight.
Fury's waiting for them when they get there and he does not look happy. "I would like an explanation," he says flatly, "Why did I hear nothing about this mission to Germany from you until I found out about it on the news?"
"That's the base where the Tesseract was located before. Whoever's working with Thor could have left information behind," Steve replies.
"We could have authorized a much more discreet mission to look into it," he replies, no happier.
"We were ambushed after we got there – "
"So Fury's fury-ous," Tony interrupts loudly and Fury glares at him. Steve would almost find the joke funny if he wasn't so worried. Right now though, snippy comments are not going to help, and Steve really wishes he would save it.
"If you were going to look into it, you already had plenty of time," Loki interjects dryly, "And you have yet to impress me with your ability to manage the issues on your planet."
Fury's turns his one-eyed glare to Loki who looks entirely unfazed. "Your brother was the one who brought many of these issues to our planet and you didn't even allow us to apprehend him. And if we had, he wouldn't be running lose here again."
"Thor is a prince of Asgard," Loki replies, "He does not fall under your jurisdiction, or whatever you mortals call it."
"Then you should have kept him off the planet."
"Would you like to take up your concerns with the Allfather?"
"Yes."
Loki's about to say something when Fury's phone starts ringing and he steps out of the room to take the call, leaving them in a tense silence.
"Well that could have gone worse," Clint supplies after a pause.
"Could it?" Tony asks, "What's he think he's going to do? Ground us?"
Clint snorts.
"I wouldn't normally suggest pushing him to see what he could do," Natasha interjects dryly, "But we don't have much choice in this case."
There's a stretch of silence before the door opens again and Fury comes back inside, his expression as severe as before.
"In case you're still Fury-ous – " Tony starts.
"This is a serious situation, Stark," Fury cuts him off sharply, "And we just received word of Thor's location. Can you handle bringing him into custody?"
Loki stiffens.
"We can handle it," Steve confirms, anxiety spiking. They don't have time to be dealing with Thor in the middle of all this, but for all they know, he could have joined up with HDYRA again and – they don't have anything else to be dealing with, to get back Bucky right now, anyway.
"He was spotted near the sight of an unmovable hammer."
"Don't waste your efforts at trying to lift it. You'll never be able to wield it," Loki says, though it doesn't carry the usual snipiness.
"I'll have questions for you about that later. But we need Thor dealt with now."
"I'm already buying another jet," Tony promises.
Steve won't question how he has the money for that.
But it's time for them to go.
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