A/N

Out of curiosity, who here is a rereader? Much love to all of you for your constant support.

x Noelle

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0 8

п е ч ь

(furnace)

A LENGTHY SILENCE followed. Bucky was the first to recover. He murmured something in Russian, and kissed the side of her head. Then another to the shell of her ear, and another on the pulse point on her neck. He didn't seem to care that they weren't alone. She smiled and quietly assured him that she was fine, and he narrowed his eyes at Tony.

Rhodes looked uncomfortable with the tension. But Tony blinked and let out an incredulous laugh. "What?"

"Not directly, but – " She dragged a hand through her hair and reached for Bucky with the other. He automatically gave it, intertwining his fingers through hers and she could feel his steady warmth beneath her skin. " – my Dad was working a term in Afghanistan and my Mom went to visit him. There was a raid and – well, they never made it out. Later, I learnt that it was just indiscriminate bombing. The base was just caught in the crossfire and they chose to blow it up with Stark weaponry."

For a long time, she'd thought about what it would be like if she ever got to see Tony Stark face to face. She hated that, while her parents were rotting away in their graves, he was all the world wanted – him with weapons that put an end to all wars, then a suit that began an era of peace, then a team that made the world a utopia. As if saving the lives of thousands was sufficient to wipe out the fact that he'd killed thousands before. It didn't work that way. It never did. The thousands saved were not the thousands killed, and never would be.

But facing him now was different. She didn't feel that ugly surge of bitterness or anger anymore. All that happened was in the past. And all that remained was equilibrium. Serenity. Peace with knowing what had happened and still being okay with it.

"I didn't – I didn't realise," Tony said at last, shaking his head apologetically. "I hear about collateral damage but – when I was still making weapons for war, I just never bothered myself with things like these." He exhaled and lowered his head. "I'm sorry."

"That's okay," She said quickly, even though she caught Bucky shooting her a surprised glance in her peripheral vision. "Look, it's not solely your fault. My parents were at the wrong place at the wrong time, and it's always easy to pin the blame on a face that's known. In your case, your face was kind of everywhere."

"Literally everywhere." Rhodes's joke swiftly diffused the tension.

Tony, however, still shifted; looking almost uneasy. "I don't make weapons anymore, at least not the kind that took your parents out," He added sincerely, his gaze fixed on her. "I can assure you of that. And I'll do anything I can to make it up to you."

"No, it's alright." She smiled faintly at him. "It's all in the past. Everything – you creating the weapons that killed my parents, Bucky killing yours, and in this case, I'm assuming he was brainwashed – " She shot a brief glance at Bucky for affirmation and he quickly nodded. " – right. So, just – try to build that metaphorical bridge that helps you to be okay with it."

Tony's lips quirked in the ghost of his signature grin. "I'll try."

"Good," Rhodes said enthusiastically, and nodded at Bucky and Tony. "Now if you two would just shake hands, this could all be water under the bridge – "

"I'm not shaking hands with him," Bucky said flatly.

Tony smirked. "Yeah, me neither. I don't want to get cooties."

"Cooties? You kids still use that word?"

"I know you're trying to assert your superiority, but can I remind you that you're the hundred-year old cradle-robber making moony-eyes at Summers here when you think she isn't looking? Even Romeo was less of a lovesick puppy compared to you."

"Still better than a man who can't get up without a suit supporting him."

"No, I don't think anything's worse than a hundred-year old cradle-robber, McLoveMuffin."

Rhodes exchanged an amused look with Dakota. She smiled and leaned her head on Bucky's shoulder, listening to his and Tony's snippy exchange for the rest of the ride.

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"So where is this place?" Dakota asked Rhodes, who strolled beside her with Bucky on her other side. They'd landed on the roof of a building that, while new and well-furnished, seemed empty.

"Avengers facility," Rhodes told her.

"Doesn't look like it," remarked Bucky, holding the door open for Dakota to step through first, and then Rhodes, before letting it swing shut behind him. Tony was leading the way, proudly flinging doors open like he owned the place. Dakota figured that he probably did.

"It's a little old and rusted," Tony said, even though the building seemed anything but. "This place hasn't been in use ever since – well, no point maintaining the Avengers facility when the Avengers no longer exist, right?" His voice was a false upbeat that Dakota saw through immediately. He was still smiling, but he looked tired, somehow.

"No one comes here anymore," Rhodes added. "So it'll be safe for the time being until we find a way to get out of this mess."

Tony made a vague noise of agreement and led them down another corridor, before tapping a code on the keypad of the last room. The doors slid open, and Tony stepped in, waving his hands with an exaggerated flourish. "State of the art security, state of the art décor, courtesy of yours truly, and – oh, what fresh hell is this?"

He stopped short at the sight of the two people on the couch. Dakota looked at them curiously, her eyes widening when she saw a man who looked strangely cybernetic, his skin a dark shade of purple and blue, and his arms wrapped around a brunette who sat on his lap.

Rhodes laughed, but Tony looked at the couple in disgust before lifting his eyes skywards in a pained expression. "Friday, please tell me the Wicked Witch of the West didn't ride the broomstick of my pet Android on my couch."

"No, sir, they didn't." The voice came out of nowhere and Bucky stiffened, clenching his fists involuntarily as he scanned the room for its source. "But Ms Maximoff did try surfing the internet for information about sexual organs in an – "

"Thank you, Friday." The woman's cheeks flamed a bright red as she hastily got up, smoothing her skirt down self-consciously, before looking over at Dakota and Bucky. "Hi," She stepped towards them. "I'm Wanda," She grasped the hand that Dakota offered gently and smiled, before pointing to the man getting to his feet behind her. "That's Vision. We've been wanting to meet you ever since Steve told us what happened."

"It's nice to meet you."

"Yes, let's get all the introductions out of the way," Tony clapped his hands briskly. "That's Dakota, keeper of the wayward Avengers; Capsicle and Co. call her Dot, apparently. And the both of you already know the cause of all our trouble – the Grinch who killed Christmas over here," He rolled his eyes at Bucky, who was still trying to look around the place for Friday. "Oh, lighten up, that's a programme; it's not going to eat you and your metal arm alive."

Bucky shot him a frosty look, and nodded at Wanda and Vision. Then he tugged Dakota close to his side. "So what's the plan?"

"Would you relax? Friday, play the theme song of the purple dinosaur, so Barney here can see where he got his surname. And after this, we can go out for shawarma. You ever tried shawarma, Dot-Com?"

Dakota blinked when he turned to her. "You talk about a thousand words a minute. I'd love to try shawarma sometime, but will Sam and the others be alright?"

"They're staying on com," Rhodes assured her. "They'll make their way over once it's clear on their end." He settled down on the couch and looked up at Vision. "What intel do we have?"

"I've tracked the base," Vision said. "And Friday has hacked into the system. Most of these men are trained in combat, but some operate under the government. Friday?"

"At least sixty of them work for the government," said Friday. "Under the C.I.A., the F.B.I. and the recently demolished S.H.I.E.L.D. Do you remember Karl Kraus, sir? Mr Kraus used to deal with StarkTech for weaponry design, but his records have been traced back to the base in Bucharest."

"Son of a bitch," Tony muttered, raking an annoyed hand through his hair.

"Kraus?" Bucky's arm tightened around her. "He works for Hydra."

"Double son of a bitch."

"Thank you, Tony, that's very helpful," Rhodes deadpanned and turned back to Bucky. "So you think that the agents who were after you work for Hydra? But Hydra no longer exists."

"Hydra doesn't go down that easily," Wanda interjected.

Tony frowned. "But we took down Strucker – "

"Ultron took down Strucker," Vision reminded him.

" – Semantics. It's down. It ended with Rumlow's death."

Bucky let out a sardonic laugh. "You thought Rumlow was the new head of Hydra?" He shook his head in disbelief, his hair falling into his dark eyes. "There is a motto that Hydra has always carried," He continued, a hint of an edge in his voice. His gaze was unfocused, a look that Dakota had seen on him on multiple occasions when he was dredging up old memories within his haphazard history. "Cut off a limb and two more shall take its place. Who's to say they haven't found new heads?"

"Okay, presuming Snowflake here is right, then – Friday, show me Rumlow, God rest his dear, blackened soul – " Tony waited until the programme had launched a picture of a fierce-looking man on the plain white wall. " – if he's dead and Strucker is dead...file these under what we know of Hydra, thanks, sweetheart – and we have Kraus and – "

Bucky stiffened at the Hydra emblem, but Dakota's eyes went wide. The skull. Six legs extended. When had she seen this before?

"Wait, I know this." Everyone turned to her in surprise, and she swallowed hard. "I had a therapy session with a patient who told me about his nightmares. I advised him to draw them out. That appeared in every one of his pictures."

Bucky tightened his grip around her. "What was his name, doll?"

"Grant, I think," She said, and Tony immediately asked for Friday to do a quick scan of the database. "I don't think I'll forget him; the pictures he drew were so disturbing."

"Isn't that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database?" Rhodes asked, when Friday loaded up a new page.

"Mr Grant Ward, aged thirty-three, born January 7th, 1983," stated Friday. "Combat and espionage specialist, working for S.H.I.E.L.D. as a double agent of Hydra – "

"Status?" asked Tony.

" – deceased, sir."

Silence fell upon the group. Dakota shuddered at revelation. Just some years ago, she'd tried to help him. And now he was dead.

Bucky seemed to sense her mood and tugged her to his chest. "It wasn't your fault," he whispered. "He wasn't someone you could fix."

Wanda placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Did Grant Ward tell you anything else?"

"I don't think so, I – " Dakota bit her lip and thought hard. The pieces were slowly but steadily slipping into place, and it was like seeing a bigger picture and fitting all the loose ends together, now that she knew the context. "He did mention he had a place in Hell's Kitchen, because he told me that I had to try the food from a diner there – "

"Please, honey, I know you're dying for some shawarma," Tony's voice cut in, sounding half-distracted as he stared at the screen. "But focus, please, Polka-Dots."

" – I am if you'd just listen," Dakota insisted, and Tony turned to look at her. "Okay – if Ward lived in a place that belongs to the Kingpin's syndicate, then – "

"The what?"

"The Kingpin," She repeated, only to stop in surprise when she met all their blank looks. "The guy who owns Hell's Kitchen?" They all looked confused, even though Tony had already begun sourcing for new information based on what she'd just said. "He runs a crime syndicate, the rich are insanely rich and the poor can't play his games because that's how the Kingpin works. I'm just saying – the Kingpin knows everything about everyone in Hell's Kitchen. It's unlikely that he'd let Grant Ward live there without knowing about his background. So if the Kingpin knew he worked for Hydra, and still let him live there, it's likely that the Kingpin himself has affiliations with Hydra."

Another silence fell upon the group at her words, even though she caught Bucky looking at her from the corner of her eye, a vague expression of pride on his face. He didn't seem to care very much that he wasn't in the know about these things – after all, he had recently come out from the ice; but Tony was appalled.

"How do you know these things?" He cried, fingers flying across the keyboard rapidly as he began to hack into systems to source for more information again. Instantly, page after page began loading up on the computer, and Dakota smiled in amusement.

"I go out and talk to people," She shrugged, dragging her fingers through her hair almost self-consciously as the others were still staring at her in surprise. "Look, I know the Avengers gets a lot of intel, but when it comes to the streets, maybe you guys don't hear much about it because it's not up your alley. The Avengers do stuff like saving the world on a big-scale. Smaller crime syndicates don't usually reach the government's ears, and normal people like us usually suffer in silence until someone steps up. That's what the Defenders are for."

Vision looked at her curiously. "The Defenders?"

"New York City's very own small-scale version of the Avengers," Friday explained swiftly, loading up four separate pages on the wall. A video on the first page began playing, and the group leaned forward in interest as they watched a man in a red suit fighting several thugs in an alleyway. "Matthew Murdock – goes by the alias of Daredevil; has enhanced senses and fights with billy clubs. Jessica Jones – enhanced speed, strength and mobility. Luke Cage – enhanced strength, durability and an excellent combatant. Daniel Rand – known as Iron Fist, master of K'un Lun's martial arts."

There was a pause after Friday finished speaking, and then Dakota turn to Tony with a wary expression on her face. "Did Friday just unmask the Defenders?"

"You're worried about that? Dandy-Randy over there is coming way too close to my copyright with that whole Iron Fist thing!"

Rhodes rolled his eyes. "Well, if the Defenders can keep Hell's Kitchen under control, then we shouldn't worry about that. Let them do their jobs."

"It appears that the man who calls himself Daredevil has been credited with the recent capture of the Kingpin, alias Wilson Fisk," Vision added, glancing up from the computer. "I suggest that we infiltrate Mr Fisk's database and see if we can source for more information about Hydra's bases."

"Good job, RoboCop." Tony nodded approvingly. "Friday, start running numbers."

"I'll get you both some food," Wanda offered, and patted Dakota on the shoulder. "You must be starving."

Dakota thanked her and Wanda headed out of the room. Leaving the others to their jobs, Bucky settled down onto the couch. He wrapped an arm around Dakota and tilted her chin to inspect the bruises on her neck. "You alright, doll?" he murmured softly.

"I'm okay," She assured him, letting her eyes flutter shut when he pressed his lips gently to her forehead. For a moment, she wished that they were back in her apartment, where it was quiet and there was a peace she missed already. "It's been a long day."

"Too long." He hummed in agreement, tracing the tips of his metal fingers gently against her neck. His fingers were cool against her bruised skin, and she felt a strange sort of comfort at the sensation. "We should really put some ice on that."

"Friday, call Sabrina the Teenage Witch and inform her that my patient needs ice," Tony interjected, smirking when Bucky shot him a pointed glare and looking completely unfazed, like he hadn't just intruded into their conversation. "And C-3PO, stop staring at them. Didn't Daddy Ultron teach you any manners?"

"I am fascinated by the different methods of human interaction," Vision stated mildly, unbothered by the fact that Tony had called him out on it. He tilted his head curiously as he regarded them and Dakota smiled. Bucky, on the other hand, stared back at him with guarded eyes. "I feel that Mr Barnes and Ms Summers are excellent specimens for me to study."

"Friday, remind me to buy a Sex For Dummies book for my pet android over here one of these days. Also, the Joys Of Sex, and – " He paused abruptly when a red light on the computer flickered. Everyone in the room immediately stiffened, and Bucky reached for the rifle. "We have a perimeter breach. Witcheroo, are you on com?"

Wanda's voice echoed through the room seconds later. "Would you like me to investigate?"

"Yes – wait, no, nevermind," He shook his head, waving his hands wildly around in a vague attempt to calm everyone down. "It's just Romanoff. False alarm, guys." He tapped several buttons across the keyboard, and a camera view of Natasha popped up on the screen. "What do you have for us, Ginger Snaps?"

Natasha seemed to sense where the camera was and she turned to it. "We've got a little situation here," She started, her tone brisk. "Sam and Steve are tracking the agents back to their base, but they're not certain where they're headed. We need backup, just in case."

"Right. Give us ten minutes." Tony shut off the camera, raking his fingers through his hair rapidly as he considered the situation. When Steve wasn't around, Dakota was fast realising that he was the next-in-command, and everyone seemed to look to him. "Friday, anything?"

"I've traced the records of Wilson Fisk. Ms Summers was right – according to the database, he was the original director of the Las Vegas branch of Hydra. But that base is no longer operational as Wilson Fisk has been incarcerated since."

"Anything else?"

"Another one here," Vision said, turning the computer towards Tony. "This one is headed by a woman called Ophelia Sarkissian, better known as the Viper, or Madame Hydra. Location: Southeast Asia – Madripoor."

"Try Gehenna," Bucky's voice was startling in the tense silence and everyone turned to look at him. Dakota suddenly recalled it as the word he'd murmured in his sleep some nights ago. He shook his head, shutting his eyes briefly before opening them again. "The word keeps surfacing in my nightmares. Might be a solid clue."

"It's a start," Tony nodded and pushed himself off the table, pacing the room rapidly as he thought. "Rhodey, you fly us over and pick up Captain Spandex and Big-Bird on the way. Once we update Cap on the situation, he might have a better idea of which base to raid first. The both of you – stay," He added, pointing firmly at Dakota and Bucky. "We don't need to save anymore damsels-in-distress."

Wanda entered the room, setting down a tray of food and a first-aid box on the table, before pulling on the jacket that Vision handed to her. Rhodes got off the couch, grabbing his clutches on the way, and the others did their preparations in varying degrees. After Tony had stepped into his suit, he tapped the keyboard for awhile more before glancing up.

"Friday, I want this place on total lockdown. Don't let anyone enter, unless their names are in the database. Take good care of Sunshine and her Winter Spirit over here, give them free reign of the place and tell them where the condom stash is if need be." Dakota's face flamed red and Bucky flung a cushion at Tony's head, only to have it bounce right off when the latter flipped his helmet shut just in time. "Keep it R-rated, kids."

Rhodes whacked Tony on the back of his head, before biding the two of them goodbye and heading up. Vision followed, after an odd, polite bow; but Wanda was the last to leave as she threw the both of them an uncertain glance over her shoulder.

"We'll be fine," Dakota assured her. "Stay safe on your end."

"You too." Wanda smiled and left, letting the door slide shut behind her.

For a moment, all that was left was silence in the wake of their departure, the kind of quiet that was very much a reprieve after all the chaotic events that had happened. Dakota watched as Bucky leaned forward, dragging the first-aid kit closer to him.

"Come here," He told her, tugging her closer to him and opening the first-aid kit, squeezing a generous amount of medicine on a cotton swab. After she'd tried to take the medicine from him, only to have him adamantly refuse, she simply let him, waiting patiently as he applied a gentle, fleeting pressure on her bruises.

She studied him for a while, smiling when she saw how entirely focused he was, with the kind of concentration on his face that she never saw elsewhere, not even when he was fighting. Like she was the only one that mattered and everything else – didn't. "You're really good at this," She mused. "Most people I know aren't that gentle when it comes to bruises."

He glanced up, surprise flickering across his face. "Gentle?" His forehead creased as he considered her words. "I don't think anyone's ever called me gentle, doll. Steve said I used to be a charmer around girls back then, and I was rough as the Winter Soldier. Never gentle."

She laughed, reaching up to smooth his frown away with her fingertips. "Maybe you've found your equilibrium."

She'd meant it as a teasing statement, but she didn't expect him to catch her wrist before she could pull back. He held her hand against his cheek, before shifting slightly so that his lips were pressed against the smooth bowl of her palm. "I have," He murmured, his voice unexpectedly warm and soft. He kissed her palm again, before shifting her hand higher so that her fingers were sifting through his dark hair, and his lips were pressing heatedly against the pulse point on her wrist. "It's you. It's always been you. I'd go through the past seventy years of hell all over again if it means being with you at the end."

She felt her eyes sting with unshed tears and she blinked them away swiftly, her lips tilting up in a soft smile as she leaned in, capturing his lips with hers. She kissed him with everything she had in her, wondering if that alone was enough to convey how much he meant to her. Sliding her fingers up to tangle in his hair, she tugged gently and felt a shiver gloss her spine when a heated groan ripped from his throat.

She could taste the faint salty twang on his lips and his scent was purely him, masculine and addictive, and she angled her head carefully, reaching for the right angle as she gently nipped at his lower lip with her teeth. He dragged in a shuddering breath, his large hands sliding up her waist and pulling her onto his lap. All she could feel was his hard length pressing against the fabric of his jeans and she absolutely ached for him, a lit fire gnawing at the bottom of her stomach and her head spinning with the sheer feeling of him beneath her.

"You know," He mumbled at last, sending a thrill down her spine every time he brushed her lips teasingly as he spoke. "This could go a lot further if it wasn't for that damn programme in the room. It's probably recording us and replaying it for Stark at this very moment."

She laughed, easing back from him, even though he kept his hands wrapped securely around her waist. "I'm sure she wouldn't if we asked," She said, tilting her head up to gaze at the ceiling in search for its source. "Friday?"

Nothing but the sound of static silence greeted them.

"Friday?" Dakota repeated, feeling Bucky's hands still around her. He slowly pushed her off his lap, striding quickly towards the computers. "Friday."

More silence.

"Fuck," Bucky swore under his breath, trying to start up first Tony's and then Vision's computer. The screen on the wall remained blank. He reached for the phone on the desk and listened for a couple of seconds before slamming the phone down. When he looked back up at her, she could see the sliver of panic in his eyes. "Power's dead."

Dakota felt a chill race down her spine and she rushed to the door, recalling how she'd seen Tony punch in a code on the keypad. But one look at the dead light on the keypad and she realised that the line was cut there too. "We have to find another way out."

He swore again and strode towards the door. It was a flurry after that, as she scanned the room rapidly for another secret doorway or alternate means of escape, while he fired a couple of rounds with the rifle he'd brought along with him at the door. The bullets eventually ran out, and he began smashing his metal fist against the surface in an attempt to pound through it. But the door held. Tony clearly wasn't joking when he talked about having maximum security. Only they hadn't pre-empted that the security would lock them in as well.

"Deep breaths, doll," Bucky told her, when he saw the fear in her eyes. He strode quickly towards her, sliding his fingers up the slope of her shoulders and the curve of her neck, before sponging a gentle, fleeting kiss across her lips. "I'll get you out of here, I promise."

Dakota began to nod, but she stopped when Bucky froze, his spine stiffening as he seemed to hear something that she didn't, no matter how much she strained her ears. Then he drew her behind the closest pillar that was away from plain view of the door. With his hands braced on either side of the wall, he turned so that he was facing her directly.

"It'll be okay," He whispered, his lips tilting up faintly in a ghost of his usual smirk, and she knew he was trying to keep her calm, but the tense way he held himself belied his every action. "You'll be fine."

She swallowed, her heart thundering in her chest and nodded. Bucky pressed his forehead against hers and kept his eyes wide open, listening hard. For several, painful moments, all she could hear was the quiet sound of their breathing amidst the deafening silence.

Then there was a rap on the door. She jumped in fright, but Bucky reached down, latching his fingers gently around her waist to keep her steady. But then a voice on the other side of the door broke the silence, the sound of it dark and sinister.

"Soldier, it's been awhile."

Bucky froze.

"You know, the past is a funny thing." The man's voice from the outside sounded disembodied. "You can never run away from it, because it'll always come catching up. You can never be over it, because there'll always be triggers that remind you of it. And you can never forget it, unless you've had your memory wiped for good."

Bucky let out a ragged breath. His eyes were fixed unseeingly on a blank spot on the wall, his hand slowly falling away from her waist.

"But even then – it still comes back in flashes, doesn't it? The past. The memories. The words."

Bucky flinched away so quickly from her she barely registered it and the next moment, his fists were clenched as he braced himself against the wall, arms on either side of her. When she met his gaze, there was nothing but terror in his eyes. "Get away from me," he whispered.

Dakota stilled. "What?"

"Get away from me," He choked out, ripping himself away from the wall and pacing the room rapidly, dragging his hands through his hair as his shoulders wracked with tremendous shudders. "Fuck, this isn't supposed to – not with you in here – I've got to get out, I've got to get out, I've got to – "

"James," Dakota stared at him in alarm when he rammed his metal fist against the door. It didn't make a dent but he continued, again and again and again. "James, what're you – "

"Leave him be," The man said, his voice a chilling amusement that grated on her ears. "He and I have a game we like to play." He let out a mild laugh. "Don't we, Soldier?"

"If you're here to kill me, do it," Bucky hissed, reaching for a chair and hurling it at the door. "You killed all the other Winter Soldiers that Hydra made. Might as well kill me too."

"On the contrary, Soldier, I would never dare to touch the fist of Hydra. You were right about it, by the way. Cut off a limb and two more shall take its place. Who do you think took the place of Wilson Fisk? How do you think I escaped the Raft?"

Hydra. Hydra had helped Zemo escape from the Raft, on the condition that he joined them. The pieces were falling into place now – the Hydra agents that tried to capture them earlier were all just a decoy for Zemo to make his entrance. Dakota felt her heart pound erratically in her chest and stepped away from the door when Bucky tried to drive the chair at it again.

"You know, I spent a long time in the Raft thinking about where I went wrong," Zemo continued, when neither of them spoke. "I was wrong to seek revenge for my family. Because it was never that. It was justice I sought for them all along, a way to right the moral-compass of this world that the Avengers had destroyed."

Dakota glanced over at Bucky and wondered if speaking to Zemo would buy him some time to break through the door. He seemed to be getting more desperate with each second that ticked by. So she shook her head and spoke with a hint of incredulity lacing her voice, "You couldn't possibly think that your moral-compass surpasses that of the Avengers."

"Actually, my dear, I do. It is the perspective of the victor that forms history and defines the future. So long as you win, you claim the moral high ground – no matter the means you used to claim it."

That was twisted and dark and everything she expected from Hydra. The door never eased despite Bucky's repeated efforts to loosen it and Dakota knew that they were running out of time. If they could just hold out until the Avengers arrived –

"This is the new age of Hydra," Zemo said, a sudden edge in his voice. "And my old goal is still in mind. Only this time, Soldier, it's your mission. Shall we begin?"

Bucky froze. Then he ripped himself away from the door, stumbling past Dakota and pushing away the hand that she offered to him. Haphazardly, and in an almost desperate manner, he staggered across the room, almost tripping over himself in his haste until he was standing with his back pressed against the farthest corner of the room.

"Dakota," He whispered, his gaze locking on hers for a fleeting second, looking so terrified that she stilled. "Kill me – "

"Желание."

The word echoed through from outside the door in Zemo's chilling voice and Bucky flinched, pressing his back against the wall as he clapped trembling hands over his ears. "No," he choked out. "Fuck, please, no, not her – please – "

"Ржавый."

" – shut the fuck up!" He screamed, vigorously shaking his head from side to side, like he was trying but failing to get Zemo's voice out of his head. Dakota instinctively took a step forward, but his tortured yell made her flinch back. "Shut up, shut up, shut up – "

"Семнадцать."

Another wrangled cry escaped from his throat, his knees buckling as he slid down onto the floor, his muscles clenched with the sheer effort of pulling himself together. Dakota instinctively found herself crossing the room towards him. "James." She reached for him, only to retract her hands when he flinched away from her. "Stay with me – "

"Рассвет."

He buckled again, squeezing his eyes tight and pressing his fisted hands to his ears. "I'm begging you," He gasped, jaw clenched painfully as he spoke through his teeth. "Just kill me, please, just kill me – "

"Печь."

" – kill me before I kill you – "

"Девять."

Every instinct in her told her to flee when he screamed, but she found herself unable to. Instead, she watched as he curled in on himself, his metal hand clenching and unclenching, and his shoulders heaving as he tried to clear his head. "James," She tried again. "Just come back to me – "

"Добросердечный."

He blinked, once, the faintest flicker of recognition slipping across his face for a moment as he stared at her, followed by a wave of desperation that was almost suffocating. "Я тебя люблю," He whispered, keeping his eyes fixed on hers like she was the only light he could see until he was –

"Возвращение на родину."

– lunging for her the next second, his movements so swift she didn't even register it. She felt a sharp, stinging blow across her cheek as her head whipped to the side. It took awhile for her to right herself, and when she glanced back at him, he was pressed against the wall; gripping his metal hand so tightly she wondered if he was trying to tear it off.

"Один."

And this time, when he opened his eyes, they were the kind of dark she saw when he had nightmares, the same shade they were when he wrapped his hand around her throat. And when he looked at her, she felt a chill race down her spine. He looked at her like he couldn't decide whether she was predator or prey –

"Грузовой вагон."

– prey, definitely. And he was gone. The words had triggered an invisible switch within him, and she watched as his eyes went cold. Obsidian. It was like staring into the eyes of a stranger. For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of her thundering heartbeat, until Zemo spoke again.

"Доброе утро, солдат (good morning, soldier)."

The Winter Soldier lifted his head. "Я готов отвечать (ready to comply)."

Zemo stepped away from the door, his fading footsteps loud in the dead silence as he gave the Soldier his final order. "Eliminate them all."

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ end of chapter ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

r e f e r e n c e s

Hydra

All references to Hydra, while not chronologically, is fairly accurate. In other words, cut off a limb and two more shall take its place is legitimately the motto of Hydra. The Kingpin really did work for Hydra at some point, while Zemo was at another time its leader. And Zemo's words - It is the perspective of the victor that forms history and defines the future. So long as you win, you claim the moral high ground – no matter the means you used to claim it - is a direct reference to what he said in the comics when he ushered in a new age of Hydra. On the other hand, the character of Grant Ward does not follow comics, but rather the plot for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.