Well, things are progressing nicely.

So one of my favourite things about writing this chapter was the weapon handling drills in it, but the problem was trying to put it into words. Like, in my head and through muscle memory (ex-serving here...hi) I know exactly what I'm doing and the military lingo, but for the life of me I struggle to put it into civilian words hahaha.

Many thanks to Neese96, Pensgirl87, basilbeast (yay Bucky trash!), doctor3378, TheNoPickleZone, 19vanelkc, guacamole lover and Alexcupcake for jumping on board for my little psycho's adventure :P

Enjoy

xo

Chapter 9

I'll Be Damned

Steve flew the Quinjet towards snow capped mountains, Bucky sitting behind him with his back against one side of the jet's interior, while Lex sat across from him against the other, her stave resting on her lap, with an arm draped over it.

Bucky watched her as she looked around the Quinjet with interest. Of course, she wouldn't be used to anything like this, this kind of tech would have barely been thought of when she was a kid.

A kid. She didn't even have a chance to be a kid, did she? What could that have been like for her? He had his memories with Steve, from before the war, as hazy as they were these days. What did she have?

The silence amongst them was eating away at Bucky, so he finally asked what he was certain was on everyone's mind. "What's going to happen to your friends?"

Steve stared ahead, looking dejected, before he sighed and shook his head. "Whatever it is... I'll deal with it."

Bucky pursed his lips, feeling guilty as he imagined the persecution awaiting Steve's friends. He looked down at his hands. "I don't know if I'm worth all this, Steve."

Steve craned his neck to glance at Bucky over his shoulder as he flew the jet. "What you did all those years... It wasn't you. You didn't have a choice."

"I know. But I did it."

He leaned back against the wall of the Quinjet, to find Lex was staring at him, a look of sympathy on her face.

Her deep brown eyes blinked and the corners of her lips upturned slightly as she gave him a sympathetic smile. "You're not a bad person, Bucky," Lex tried to comfort, looking awkwardly away. "The fact you're trying to make amends now, speaks volumes."

He looked at her gratefully, but he still questioned the validity of her point, as he looked back down at his hands, considering how he had come to this point.

When he looked back at Lex, she was staring at the floor dejectedly, appearing deep in thought, lines creasing her forehead as she seemed to be considering something painful to her.

"Hey." She looked up to meet his gaze. "You're not a bad person either, Lex."

She scoffed slightly, a small smile appearing on her lips, with the slightest touch of menace to it. "Oh, no, Bucky. I most definitely am. It's just a matter of keeping it in check from time to time." She cocked her head to one side and raised her eyebrows once, before winking at him.

He offered a quiet laugh at her personal joke, but shook his head. "No, you're not, I know it's all an act, every now and then you let it slip and I can see the real you."

She looked at him with raised eyebrows and a sceptical look on her features, her brown eyes seeming to tease him. "Oh, really? Well, I'll have to do something about that." She rolled her eyes at him, before turning her face and looking away, Bucky spotting the slightest of pink tinges to her cheek.

Steve banked the Quinjet, bringing it down to land beside a caterpillar truck on a very remote and icy mountain top.

They began moving around the Quinjet.

Lex strapped her stave to her back again as Bucky looked around the inside of the Quinjet. He noticed what appeared to be a locker or draw labelled 'Romanoff', reaching for it and pulling out a rack from the side of the fuselage. It contained rows of guns and rifles. He lifted a light machine gun from the rack, picking up a few extra magazines of ammunition and putting them into his pockets.

He looked to Lex as she put her fingerless gloves back onto her hands, considering her for a brief second, before grabbing a semi automatic rifle. "Hey." She turned to look at him and he threw it to her, she caught it in surprise and looked down at it with raised eyebrows. "Still remember how to use one of these?"

Steve stopped beside her to watch as Bucky held out a magazine of ammunition to her. She analysed the weapon in her hands for a moment, before taking the magazine from Bucky, sliding it into the magazine catch, before sliding the bolt mechanism backward easily, releasing it and letting it snap back to its original position, finally aiming it away from them, towards the back of the Quinjet.

Her eyes flicked back to look at Bucky. "Think I can work with it," she said with a smirk of satisfaction as both of the men appraised her. Bucky was thoroughly impressed, grinning brightly at her. She lowered the rifle as she turned to look at Bucky, cocking her head to one side. "I told you, you should smile more."

Bucky felt his cheeks heat slightly, as Steve looked at him with a pointed expression. "Yeah, Bucky." Bucky scowled and rolled his eyes, ignoring Steve's underlying innuendo.

Steve hit a button on the wall of the Quinjet, causing the rear of the jet to begin to lower slowly. Bucky, Steve and Lex stood together, waiting for the exit ramp to descend, in silence, the only sound coming from the hydraulics of the jet.

Steve leaned his head closer to Bucky. "You remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway Beach in the back of that freezer truck?"

Bucky considered it for a moment. "Was that the time we used our train money to buy hot dogs?" He recalled the moment as a teen in Brooklyn, when Steve was merely a boy of skin and bones.

"You blew three bucks trying to win that stuffed bear for a redhead."

Lex turned and leaned forward to look past Steve to Bucky. "Redhead? Really?" She grinned at Bucky teasingly.

Bucky gave a soft chuckle. "What was her name again?"

"Dolores." Steve looked to Lex, winking. "He called her Dot."

"She's gotta be a hundred years old right now," Bucky added with a slight laugh.

Lex laughed, and it was like being back in her apartment with her, joking around and laughing. Her laugh was always music to his ears, after not hearing laughter for so long. He looked past Steve at her as she grinned while looking down the ramp into the snowy landscape beyond.

Steve placed a hand on Bucky's shoulder. "So are we, pal." He looked over at Lex, who sighed and pursed her lips.

"Actually, I'm a hundred and twenty." She began walking down the ramp, rifle in hand. Bucky watched her for a moment, letting what she had just said sink in. When she got to the bottom she looked back up the ramp at them. "So you better respect your elders." She grinned mischievously and winked at them.

"Well, I'll be damned," Steve murmured, shaking his head slightly, before putting his helmet on.

Steve walked ahead of Bucky and Lex, toward the entrance of the bunker. It was set into the rock face, barely visible through the heavy snow.

Once they were close enough, they found the door open. "He can't have been here more than a few hours," Steve remarked, looking back at Lex and Bucky.

"Long enough to wake them up," Bucky warned, as Lex looked gravely into the dark bunker.

Steve led them into the bunker and they carefully crept into the depths of the base, taking a caged elevator further down until they were into the very bowels of the bunker. The grinding of the elevators gears breaking through the silence of the abandoned base as it lowered them down, putting them all on edge.

Steve looked to Lex and Bucky for affirmation, as Lex knelt down, training her rifle towards the door and Bucky nodded. Steve nodded back to Bucky in response, before heaving up the cage door easily, quick to take his shield from his back in case something was awaiting them.

It was silent.

Bucky led the way through the corridors, his light machine gun raised and trigger finger poised ready. Lex took the rear, maintaining a watchful eye behind them.

They walked along a corridor, keeping close to the wall as Bucky recalled his way through the bunker. It was all very familiar to him, but he couldn't dwell on the why. He had a job to do. He looked into an alcove full of junk, making sure there was no one waiting for them in there, before he and Steve began to move up some stairs.

As he traversed the first steps, there was a loud thud behind them, Bucky and Steve spun around while Lex froze, dropping to a knee and against the wall, her rifle aimed at a heavy door across the wide corridor from them.

Steve stepped to stand next to Lex, his shield held in front of him. "You ready?" he murmured.

"Yeah," Bucky and Lex replied quietly in unison. Bucky's heart was pounding in his chest as he watched the heavy metal doors where the noise had come from. There was a grinding sound, then the sound of metal on metal.

The double doors parted, forced open by Iron Man. Bucky saw Lex tense, her trigger finger moving to hover over the trigger guard of her rifle.

Bucky tensed as well, but waited to see if Tony would attack first, and if the others were with him.

There was silence as Steve stared in surprise at Iron Man. Tony held up his hands, slowly walking towards Steve, Lex and Bucky. He retracted the suits helmet, looking at them apologetically. "You guys seem a little defensive."

Bucky and Lex keep their weapons trained on Tony, as Steve cautiously walked to meet Tony with his shield up to cover them.

"It's been a long day."

Tony looked past Steve at Bucky and Lex, clearly taking note of their tense demeanour, looking slightly perturbed at them. "At ease, Soldiers. I'm not currently after you." Neither changed their stance or aim.

"Then why are you here?" Steve demanded, curiously.

Tony pressed his lips together for a split second, before he answered. "Could be, your story's not so crazy. Maybe. Secretary Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way." He looked pointedly at the three of them. "Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself."

Steve considered Tony for a moment, while Bucky and Lex maintained their positions, not taking their eyes off Tony. "Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork." Steve lowered his shield. "It's good to see you, Tony."

Tony let out a relieved sigh, before nodding. "You too, Cap." He looked behind Steve to Bucky and Lex again. "Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop..." he motioned at their weapons but neither removed their aim. Steve motioned for them to lower their weapons and they complied, albeit, Bucky noticed Lex hesitated and appeared less than impressed.

The four of them cautiously walked along a corridor, Bucky once again in the lead, Lex following up the rear. Tony explained what had been discovered after the fight at Leipzig, the real doctor being found murdered in his hotel and the delivery to the substation. It had all been carefully planned by one Helmut Zemo.

Bucky was careful to check every corner, alcove and doorway, to ensure that Zemo or the Death Squad didn't slip past them. He knew what the Death Squad was capable of, he needed to be ready.

"Guys," Lex murmured as Bucky slowed to take a corner. "Something doesn't seem right. It's way too quiet."

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" Tony asked dubiously, looking around through his helmet.

"Not from my experience," Lex replied. "He's been here awhile now, where are these soldiers? I expected to be knee deep in trouble by now."

"Bucky?" Steve asked after considering what Lex had brought up.

"I don't know, maybe they're waiting in there for us."

Tony stepped up beside Bucky. "Let me go first, I can scan for heat signatures."

Bucky looked sideways at Tony, before looking over his shoulder at Steve. He nodded to Bucky, answering his silent question. "Fine."

Tony continued forward, scanning the corridors and rooms as they walked further into the bunker.

Eventually, they came to a long corridor that had no windows or doors and led to large, steel, double doors. Bucky recognised them vaguely, memories trying to push their way out of the haze of his mind.

"I got heat signatures," Tony announced, stopping before the door.

"How many?" Steve asked, stopping beside him.

Tony was quiet for a moment. "Uh, one." The surprise was evident in his voice, as Bucky and Lex glanced at each other in confusion.

Bucky and Steve worked to open the doors, pushing the heavy doors wide. As they entered the vast chamber, the lights flickered on, Lex and Bucky sweeping the chamber and the capsules inside them with their weapons.

Hazy, yellow mist descended within the capsules, swirling about inside. Bucky looked carefully into one of the capsules, recognising the occupant as Josef through the swirling mist. As well as Josef, each one contained an enhanced soldier from the 1991 experiment. Steve and Tony looked around in bewilderment, stunned at the gravity of the situation.

Bucky saw Lex appear at his side, glancing sideways at her. He was stunned to see she didn't look bewildered, or scared. She looked curious.

Of course she might be curious though. This was the life she was supposed to live.

As he stared at her, he noticed her narrowing her eyes and peering closely into the nearest capsule, containing Josef. "Um... fellas. We've got a problem."

"If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep," Zemo said over the loud speaker, his voice resonating throughout the chamber.

Bucky looked into the chamber again, seeing what Lex had seen. As the mist cleared slightly, he saw a bullet wound in his head. Bucky stared at Josef's corpse. "Did you really think I wanted more of you? It is bad enough it turns out there are two of you alive."

Bucky's eyes went wide as he looked at all of the other capsules, all of the enhanced soldiers had bullet wounds. "What the hell?"

Bucky was confused for a moment, as he backed towards Lex. What was the point of bringing them there then? If it wasn't to bring the Death Squad back into circulation, then what did the doctor want with them? He was on edge now, checking every corner, gangway and alcove for possible threats. Could it have been a trap to take him back into HYDRA custody? Or was it Lex that they wanted? Or worse still...both of them?

"It was a trap, the whole bloody thing," Lex growled, she looked around the room before aiming her rifle towards a small porthole window in the wall at the control room.

"I'm grateful to them, though. They brought you here." Zemo appeared in porthole of the control room, smiling grimly at them.

Steve hurled his shield at the window but it bounced back, leaving neither a scratch nor dent. "Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets."

"I'm betting I could beat that," Tony mused, stepping forward.

"Oh, I'm sure you could, Mr. Stark. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came."

Bucky stared at the doctor. His brain was still trying to calculate why they could have been brought there. What had the doctor asked him in Berlin? He searched his memory, continually failing to bring anything useful up.

Lex moved to stand beside him again, looking at him with slight concern. "Bucky...?"

"You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?" Steve asked as he moved to stand directly in front of the porthole. He looked at Zemo through the glass.

"I thought about nothing else for over a year," Zemo sneered menacingly. "I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realized... there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw."

Steve was silent for a moment, staring at Zemo. "You're Sokovian. Is that what this is about?"

Bucky frowned. The Sokovian conflict, it had happened not long after he had gone on the run from HYDRA and Steve. He was confused as to what it had to do with him.

"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No. I'm here because I made a promise."

Steve narrowed his eyes, studying Zemo. "You lost someone?"

Zemo looked gravely at Steve, before speaking again. "I lost everyone. And so will you." Nearby, a video begins to play on a screen near the porthole window. "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumples from within? That's dead... forever."

Tony, Steve and Lex moved to look at the screen. "I know that road. What is this?" Tony queried, looking back to the porthole, but Zemo was gone.

Bucky heard the familiar sound of a motorbike travelling at high speed. Suddenly, he didn't need to know what this was about anymore.

Okay, fun fact...

I don't usually write names for chapters on any of my fics (go look at my others and you'll see) but some numpty had a wah wah over it in another fic (insert eye roll here) and so I thought I'll see what the hype is...

Hate it

But I also started like this, so I got to keep going now, and in case you haven't figured it out, I'm basically just pulling random words or phrases from the chapter to use as the heading hahaha

xo

Krayzee