Fire and Ice - (Bucky Barnes x OC) 18+

Chapter 53

To say that it was a shit storm at the compound would be an understatement. During the time that Alex had been away, which happened to be a month—literal chaos had ensued. The team uncovered the woman behind the uprising—an ex shield agent named Sharon Carter.

It came at a surprise to the team that in the beginning of Steve's introduction to Shield, he had a short fling with her. It lasted a few weeks tops before he broke it off and after that she fell off the grid.

Sharon had spent those years biding her time, learning secrets and building herself an organisation that would bow at her every command. She's the one behind creating the super soldier serum with the help of Brock Rumlow, the one and only man who had survived the Hydra building collapse a few years ago when they rescued Alex.

The ex commander suffered burn scars over his whole body from the fire damage but otherwise he was in tact. He'd joined Sharons cause and gave her everything she needed to know about Hydra.

The Avengers worked multiple angles to stop her. Tony managed to break records and create a time machine in which they sent Steve through to the past. The mission was to go back to the moment Sharon fell off grid and gain intel on where her base was located. Something unfortunate happened, the information came through burnt to a crisp, but the captain remained stuck in a loop repeating a moment no one knew, over and over again.

The longer that Steve was missing made the team have to give the government more excuses as to why their captain was incognito. The political high horses refused to take any more, so they found a new icon to take his place.

Bucky and Sam both pleaded to the secretary their reasons on why either of them should be chosen to keep Steve's legacy in tact. They both had the qualifications for the job. However, it was no surprise that the government didn't listen and instead they chose a former soldier named, John Walker.

The man happened to be allied with Sharon after being given a deal he could not refuse. A dose of the serum. And any information he gained was reported back to her. He became the perfect inside spy. When the team came to the secretary with that knowledge, Ross waved it off as if it was heresy, and jealousy of not being given the opportunity.

It didn't matter if they managed to get a step ahead, the team was always knocked three steps back because Sharon knew how to weasel her way into peoples minds, and manipulate them into doing her dirty deeds. It wasn't power or magic in that sense, it was just her skill set.

The whole team was not handling things very well, especially with Steve being gone. It didn't help that Alex was gone for so long either. Everything happened so fast that no one could comprehend or catch up.

Tony walked into the kitchen and came to a stop by the counter.

"Hey barnes, how you holding up?" he asked.

Bucky glanced at him. "I'm fine," Though, he really wasn't.

"Look...i know things haven't been easy around here, you don't have to lie to me,"

Bucky really looked at Tony then, his gaze was softer than normal and he could see a bit of Alex in the brunettes eyes. It somehow made him miss her more.

Tony exhaled through his nose. "We're all suffering okay, you don't have to do it alone." He took that moment to clasp a hand on Bucky's shoulder and give it a squeeze. 

"Besides, Alex will be back tomorrow."

That gold gem of news had the super soldier piping up suddenly. 

"Does she know anything?" He asked.

Tony shook his head slowly. "No, it's going to be a shock when we fill her in...unless you told her something in your texts?"