Chapter Text
“Who the hell is Bucky?”
It still echoed in your mind. The way his eyebrows knotted together, the way he questioned it, made you realize he was brainwashed. He didn’t choose to become the Winter Soldier, he was forced to become the weapon for HYDRA. It didn’t seem that Bucky recognized Steve, so is there even a slight chance to save him?
“How did you find out it was Bucky?” Steve’s question was drawing you back to reality. You turn to face the man next to you, who was handcuffed just like you and the rest of the team in the prison van. Unfortunately, Bucky escaped, and the four of you were now getting taken into custody by Rumlow and his team. You can feel your body bruised from the car accident earlier. The tight handcuffs around your wrists weren’t any help.
“There has to be a way to save him, right? I know he’s the Winter Soldier, but I know deep down we can get him back.” Steve wanted reassurance. He was searching your face to find any small hint that you were on his side. Of course, you wanted to help him, but the brain wasn’t your expertise at all. Fix any physical injury with science? Easy. Work on that robotic arm of Bucky? You can do it. But reversing a brainwash?
“Steve..” You softly said, trying to find the correct words not to let him down. It was definitely going to be a challenge, but will it even be successful?
“Enough already!” One of the guards stood up, raising his weapon above his head. Ready to swing towards you. Your body was feeling fatigued and in pain, and your only reaction was to shut your eyes and get ready for the impact.
The guard screamed, making your eyes shut open to him on the floor, getting electrocuted by the second guard who was just sitting next to him. The second guard took off their mask, revealing their identity.
“Agent Hill?!” you furrowed your eyebrows. A bit confused, but relieved that everyone was now saved.
“Sorry. I just needed to keep my cover just for a bit longer.” She huffed out as she set everyone free and escaped from the van.
Agent Hill takes the four of you to a secret facility, and the four of you come to a halt, seeing the man you all thought was dead sitting at the table, looking up at you with his good eye.
“What the hell, Fury?! I thought you died!” Your feelings were starting to get stirred. You were happy that he was alive, of course, but also angry that he didn’t let you in on his plan. You almost cried at his death just a day ago, and now he’s alive and well?!
“Your invention, not mine.” Fury threw a small glass container towards you, and you caught it mid-air. You look at the serum, realizing it was one of the many anti-stress serums you had worked on with Bruce that lowers a heartbeat to only one beat per minute. You clung to the serum, annoyed at how he used it without keeping you in the loop. The sting on your wrist increased rapidly as you opened your hand and covered your wrist with your other hand.
Fuck, my wrist is broken.
“I’ve told you many times, don’t limit that brain of yours, kid. Just because you’re finally doing what you love, doesn’t mean you need to stop growing. You’ll be surprised what you can achieve.”
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
After Agent Hill and Fury explained Project Insight and the plan on how to take them down, you headed with Agent Hill to take control of the communication system instead of fighting due to your broken wrist. You pulled up a screen with everyone’s location out in the field, keeping an eye out as you tried to stop the Helicarriers.
“Two down, one more to -” You heard Sam fighting through your earpiece. “He’s here!”
You looked at his location and quickly pulled up the live camera footage where Sam was. He was currently fighting with Bucky. You zoomed in on the fight and took notice of how Bucky was carrying himself. He looked like he was a puppet with tighter strings being pulled. As if they made him have only one mode carved in his brain. Kill.
“Keep holding him off as much as you can! Cap is on his way to the place, the last chip!” You immediately turned off the live footage and tried to focus back on the task. Feeling relieved, you saw the screen notify that the third chip was successfully inserted.
“Romanoff just successfully uploaded all the files online, but the third Helicarrier is about to crash. What happened to Cap?!” Agent Hill’s question makes you look at the screen of everyone’s location.
“He’s still inside there!” You quickly tap on your earpiece to talk to him. “Hey, what’s happening on your end?!”
“It’s - ugh! - B-bucky is here!” You heard Steve receiving punches on the other end. “I’m not going to fight you! I don’t want to hurt you! I’ll be with you ‘til the end of the line.” You knew he was talking to Bucky.
“Steve? Steve! Answer me!” You tried to call out to Steve, but he wasn’t answering anymore. You heard a loud crash outside the window and noticed the Hellicarrier was in flames and falling apart.
“Shit! I am not trying to have an actual man die on me!” You hissed as you ran out. You jumped on your motorcycle and rode it towards the falling Hellicarrier. Fearing that something serious had happened to Steve. Did Bucky kill him, or was Steve able to get through him?
You drove as close as you could to the water. You got off your bike and ran through what seemed an endless path of tall grass. Getting more anxious as you brushed through them, “I swear, if you die on me, I’m bringing you back to life and then killing you myself-” you bumped into what felt cold brick wall. You felt someone grabbing onto your shoulders, keeping you from falling. You look up to realize that what you bumped into wasn’t a brick wall. Your eyes locked onto those icy blue eyes once again.
Bucky looked down at you as he tried to catch his breath. His hair was wet hair slicked back, and his whole body was drenched. He felt the contrast between the two of you. His cold hands on your shoulder as your warm hands came up and rested on his forearm. He expected a horror look on your face, just like everyone does when he gets hold of them, let alone gets this close to him. Instead, your face lit up. The way you didn’t hesitate at all to grab on to him. On that metal arm specifically.
“Bucky!” The way you cheerfully said his name. Oh, the way you said it, it made his heart feel like it was finally beating like a human being after so many decades.
“I’m glad you’re safe! Where’s Steve?” You looked to his sides, in the hopes of trying to find any sign of him.
“Do-do I know you?” You looked up at his confused face. Of course, he looked confused. It hit you the way you were acting so casually towards him, as if you two were close friends. You felt embarrassed, letting him go as you took a step back.
“Uh..not necessarily.” You nervously chuckle. “Steve just talked a lot about you, that’s it.”
And I thought you were cute from the photos he will show us of you.
“It’ll be nice to really get to know you more, but I’m really in a time crunch here to get Steve. We should get going.” You grabbed onto his metallic hand, trying to drag him behind you, but he stood still as he looked down at your wrapped-up wrist.
He remembered that night. How he put pressure on them, and now one of them was wrapped while the other was in a cast. He hurt you, yet you didn’t fear him. You didn’t see him as the enemy or the man who tried to kill you. His mind was starting to spiral. This can’t be right. He thought to himself.
“Bucky?” You asked carefully, looking at how he took in your injuries.
“I-I did this to you.” His voice was so soft, it sounded almost apologetic. Steve was right. Bucky was underneath all that brainwashing. He is physically alive, but Bucky is still living inside. Wanting to live once again.
“It’s ok. I’m okay!” You tried to cheer him quickly, proving to him it was nothing to you.
He didn’t feel worthy of this care, second chances, or even love. He had just beaten up Steve after he refused to fight back. Now, you were willing to befriend him after he injured you?
“He’s alive. He’s right up ahead. I pulled him out of the water.” And with that, he let go of your hand and started to walk in the direction you were coming from.
“Wait!” You wanted to chase after him, but you also needed to make sure Steve was fine. You looked back at Bucky, who was starting to disappear into the tall grass. You yelled out your name to him, making him stop in his tracks.
“That’s my name. So now you know me.” He looked over his shoulder, taking one last look at you. How you effortlessly made it look beautiful, standing in the middle of the field. Without saying anything, he turned back and continued to walk away.
You turn on your heels as you continue to run and quickly find Steve on the floor. You got down to his side, and you successfully got him to wake up.
“W-where’s Bucky? Is he okay?” You felt a bing of sadness, realizing how much more this man meant to Steve.
“Yeah, he’s alive,” you huffed out as you sat down next to him. You bring your knees to your chest, wrapping your arms around your legs. “But he left. I don’t know where to, but he left. I’m sorry.”
You looked down at Steve’s beat-up face. Regardless of the beating he received from him, he still believed in him. You saw the way Bucky was feeling conflicted, and you knew he couldn’t do it all by himself. It was going to be a challenge for sure, but you were ready to take it on.
“I’ll help. I’ll do as much research and studying as I can and help undo his brainwash.”
“So it only took you to see him one more time to help him? I didn’t realize he was going to charm you so quickly in person.” He huffed out a chuckle.
You felt a slight warmth creeping to your face at his slight teasing. You only made a few one comment on his appearance, on how he is very attractive, and the teasing of this “crush” never stopped.
You playfully kick his side, embarrassed by his comment. “I should have just let you find your way back.”
