Natasha had been feeling particularly bored on the day when things went to hell. Her morning consisted of the usual; a quick workout, a run that left her legs shaking because she always went a mile or more too long, and a quick shower before the daily team meeting. All before 6am. Today, she strolled casually into the kitchen to grab breakfast when she realized that she had forgotten all about it, though it wasn't necessarily unusual for her to do. She paused, looking around the room behind her, and taking a glance out the door into the hallway, trying her best to not look suspicious as she snatched the last chocolate chip muffin from the basket at the center of the table. She hummed to herself in contentment, the first bite always the best, and it was a treat that she rarely allowed herself.

"Hey, Nat!"

"I wasn't eating it!" she answered in surprise, her mouth full with puffed out cheeks and crumbs falling from her lips as she dropped the muffin quickly into the basket again.

"Clearly," Clint snickered with a grin, but it was short-lived. "Grab it to go, there's no time." He turned to run back down the hallway and towards the hangar bay, leaving her to chase after him and to forget all about the half-eaten breakfast that she left behind for someone to give her a hard time about later.

"Barton! Wait! Where are we going? What happened?"

"Steve's got a distress call from Barnes and (Y/N). He's giving us two minutes before he goes on his own, and I'm pretty sure that's a terrible idea to let him."

~~~

Bucky had been feeling particularly lucky in his life on the day when things went to hell. He should have known better to consider that the feeling could last as he stood by your side, holding your hand while you spent far too long deciding on a flavor of ice cream for the two of you to share. He didn't mind, though; it gave him time to watch you, to appreciate things that he had never noticed in you before. He felt like an idiot when his lips curled just slightly when you smiled, not even looking in his direction. He was sure he had lost his mind when he knew what you were going to say before the words could find your voice, and his own thoughts began to mimic yours. Steve would call him gone over you, and Bucky was perfectly content in losing himself there.

"Buck?"

"Hmm?" he mumbled softly, still staring.

"I said, is chocolate okay?"

"Oh...yeah! Sorry! I was just thinkin'."

"About what?"

"How chocolate is perfect," he smiled, giving your hand a small squeeze. He reached into his pocket with his open hand, tossing a few bills onto the street vendor's cart before taking the filled cone that was given in return. He turned and held the snack up for you to taste first, his eyes eager to take in every subtlety of your reaction. "You first, doll."

You were just about to accept his offer when something caught your eye behind him. It was a quick movement that could have easily been played off as a trick that your eyes were playing on you, but it didn't feel that way. Your nerves came to life and your skin was crawling at whatever it was. Bucky was quick to pick up on the change when your demeanor shifted, turning to look at what had taken your attentions from him, tossing the cone into a nearby garbage when he suddenly felt the same as you were.

"Come on, we need to move," he commanded quietly, but his voice was stern.

"Yeah, good call."

As calmly as he could, despite his anxiety pulsing through his body, he slipped his hand around the phone in his pocket as you walked, trying to remember the exact placement of the keys on the screen so that he could get a message out to Steve. He had promised himself that he would reserve this call for desperate needs, and when his mind was moving his fingers without conscious effort, he knew this was the time. "We should get out of sight."

"We should stay in the open," you argued. "It's less likely for someone to make a scene."

"Hydra won't care. If they engage us out of sight, there are less civilians to get in the way."

"Do you think that's who it is?"

"Who else would it be?" Bucky's hand pressed against the small of your back, directing you towards the only open door that he could see, holding his breath as the two of you went inside. It was dark, with only enough light to see shadows around you as your eyes adjusted to the change. "Hello?" he called out quietly. "Anyone here?"

"I think we're alone," you answered as silence was the response to his question. "Alright, what do we do? I'm ready for my orders."

Bucky sucked in a harsh, shocked breath at your words from a life he didn't want to revisit, awash in both fear and remorse hitting him enough to make him take a step back. "(Y/N)...what did you say?"

"I said, I'm ready for my orders. I'm obviously not ready to be giving them if I haven't been on the team for almost a year now, and my mind is still jumbled up. I mean, sure, I outrank you there, but I feel better if you take this one."

"Oh, right," he sighed heavily, dodging the topic now. "Okay, so let's scout this place out a bit, be sure that we're alone. Then we can start to plan how to get back home and see if we can salvage any of our stuff. Start thinking about where you want to go next, doll, cuz we sure as hell can't stay here anymore."

"But I like it here," you whispered as you began your search, "stupid Hydra ruining everything."

You separated from him for the first time in the year that you had been together here, releasing his hand and making your way into the darkness of the room with only the light of your phone to guide you. There were boxes scattered around the floor and along the walls, their labels in Romanian and hard for you to decipher through the heavy layer of dust that covered them. The air around you was just as heavy, its dampness leaving it harder to fill your lungs with each breath. "Buck?" you called out after several minutes, feeling safe to assume you were there alone.

"Doll, stay there."

Your feet froze in place and you shut your phone's light off to keep as hidden as you could. Bucky's voice left you fearful of what was happening that you couldn't see, but before you dared to speak to him again, a hand came up over your mouth to muffle your yelp of surprise. Another hand pushed against your back, directing you across the room to where you had started. Bucky came into quick view, standing silent and defiantly, though his eyes were on you with a fear that you had never seen in them before.

"So, Bucky is it? Is that what you're going by now...Soldier?"

"That is my name," he replied angrily to the man that you had yet to see in the darkness. "(Y/N), whatever he says or does to me, it's okay. You're going to be okay. I'll never hurt you."

"Buck? Who is he?"

"(Y/N)?" the man asked eagerly, his voice almost giddy at the revelation. You could hear his footsteps getting closer to you but you had yet to see him. You could hear the plates in Bucky's arm shifting in response, and you could see just a hint of shine from his hand as his fist clenched. "(Y/N)? I can't believe my good fortune today."

"Leave her alone," Bucky warned, but it fell on deaf ears. "Don't listen to him, doll."

"Doll," the man mocked, "isn't that just precious? Do you love her, Soldier? I thought we cleared that nonsense out of you. I thought we had taken that ridiculous notion out of the both of you, and now here we are, my two most prized possessions commiserating in what they think is love. How pathetic. I'm actually disgusted."

"We're not your possessions," Bucky answered, "and you keep your damn hands off of her."

"Or what?"

Bucky's foot took only a single step forward, just one, and the sound of weapons arming filled the small room around you, with a gun specifically chosen for you and pressed to the back of your head. He slowly and purposefully pulled his foot back, closing his eyes to try to quell the fear that was gripping him; it wasn't fear for his own life, but for yours. "What do you want from us?" he asked flatly.

"I want you to tell her who you really are," the man said, his steps even closer to you now. "I want you to tell her how you tortured her day after day under my orders. How you stripped her mind of any trace of who she was, making her into an assassin that could only be matched by your own skills. How you made her into your protégée, and how that's all you're doing now. You're keeping her at your side and teaching her again, just like you used to do. Don't you think it's convenient that you found your way together again after so long? Don't you think that maybe this wasn't your choice after all? That you just might be doing what we've expected?"

"Bucky would never do that," you finally spoke. "He would never be that person."

"Oh, my dear, he would. He was the greatest soldier that Hydra had ever known, and if he hadn't suddenly grown a conscience and set you free, you would be an unstoppable force at his side. But now we've found you again, and we can get back to work. I just have a few more things to say before we get started." The man finally stepped into enough light for you to see his face, and it was the one that haunted your nightmares, and one that you would never forget. Bucky heard the strained gasp from your throat and tried to hurry to your side, but hands were around him to hold him in place before he could take a step.

"(Y/N), that's not your father," he insisted, "he's never been a father to you. Don't listen to him."

"No, (Y/N), listen to me very carefully. Listen to every single word that I have to say. You might even find them comforting after so long," he hissed through clenched teeth, his eyes boring into your soul as he began the words that would send the two of you into a past life that you had so desperately tried to erase.

"желание"