Perfect Alliance (Bucky Barnes)

Part Fifteen

*This chapter makes me so sad :(

"The Futurist, ladies and gentlemen! The Futurist is here! He sees all! He knows what's best for you, whether you like it or not." Clint shouted as Tony stepped further into the cell block, a concerned frown on his aging face.

"Give me a break, Barton." He scoffed. "I had no idea they'll put you here. Come on."

"Yeah, well, you knew they'd put us somewhere, Tony." Tony's frown deepened as he looked around the room. Taking in Kat's defensive posture, her back straightened, legs bent at the knee, hands resting on top of them. Sam was pacing his cell, fists clenched at his side. And Scott was sat on his bed, head in his hands. 

"Yeah, but not some super-max floating ocean pokey." He finally responded. "You know, this place is for maniacs. This is a place for..." 

"Criminals." Clint finished for him. "Criminals, Tony. Think that's the word you're looking for." Kat watched Tony deflate running a hand through his hair. "Right? That didn't used to mean me. Or Sam, or Wanda. But here we are."

"Because you broke the law." Tony said. 

"Yeah." 

"I didn't make you." 

"La la la." Clint muttered, waving the older man off. 

"You read it, you broke it." 

"La la la la." He continued, and Tony sighed, throwing his hands up. 

"Alright, you're all grown up, you got a wife and kids." He muttered one last attempt. "I don't understand, why didn't you think about them before you chose the wrong side?" He continued past Kat's cell and the woman glared at him. "I guess you think I'm wrong as well." 

"Your motive is right, your approach is wrong." Kat responded, her fingers tapping on her knee. Tony huffed, as if he was surprised at the woman's approach. "I am not completely aware of the situation between the Avengers and the Government, and to be quite honest it really isn't something I will concern myself with." 

"They why?" Tony said, cocking his head. "Why did you help him?" 

Kat smirked, shaking her head. "I thought you said he was the smart one?" Kat said, looking over Tony's shoulder to Sam. "I think you have the right idea, the Avengers are a task force, and task forces do need to be regulated, but your also people, and people have impulses, imperfections and feelings. And people deserve free will." 

"That actually made sense." Tony huffed again, shrugging his shoulders. "If Rogers had given me ten minutes to explain my side, we could have nutted this out." 

"And vice versa, I hear." Kat retorted; her eyebrows raised on her forehead. Tony sighed, shaking his head. "Look, all I care about is James being safe. I'm not an Avenger, and none of you are my friends. James is the only thing I'm here for." 

Tony nodded, turning his back to Kat moving toward Sam who's slowed his pacing to a stop. "How's Rhodes?" He asked, guilt eating at him. 

"They're flying him to Columbia Medical tomorrow. So... fingers crossed." Sam nodded, rolling his shoulders. "What do you need? They feed you yet?" Tony continued, the other man raising a brow.

"You're the good cop now?"

"I'm just the guy who needs to know where Steve went." Tony tried, making Sam scoff. 

"Well, you better go get a bad cop, because you're gonna have to go Mark Fuhrman on my ass to get information out of me." Sam retorted, standing in front of Tony, his arms crossed.

"Oh, I just knocked the 'A' out of their 'AV'." Tony said, pointing to the cameras subtly. "We got about 30 seconds before they realize it's not their equipment." Sam frowned, glancing at Kat over Tony's shoulder, meeting her equally confused expression. "Just look. Because that is the fellow who was supposed to interrogate Barnes." Tony lifted his wrist to show a holographic image of a dead man, body collapsed into a bathtub. "Clearly, I made a mistake. Sam, I was wrong."

"That's a first." Sam remarked. 

"Cap is definitely off the reservation but he's about to need all the help he can get." Tony sighed. "We don't know each other very well. You don't have to..."

"Hey, it's alright." Sam interrupted. Tony leaned in closer, looking hopeful which made Sam groan. "Look, I'll tell you... but you have to go alone and as a friend."

"Easy." 

When Tony had left, Sam collapsed onto his stretcher bed, releasing a few curse words into the empty air before him. By the sounds of it Scott had long passed out, soft snores echoing from his cell. Clint was tapping the ground of his cell, the sound allowing Kat to focus on something other than the walls that felt like they were slowly closing in. 

"I hope you know what you're doing, Sam." Clint commented, the sound of his tapping coming to a halt. "You could have just given Ross exactly what he wanted." 

"He was sincere." Kat returned, watching Sam's shoulders deflate.

"How could you know that?" He asked. 

"I just do." 

"That's comforting." 

Kat slid off of the edge of the mattress, her knees pulling to her chest. The feeling of impending doom sat heavily on her chest, and what made it weigh more, was the cell she was in. It was barely wider than her arm-span and it was illuminated by sterile looking lights.

Kat had hated small spaces since she was placed in the Black Widow program, only ever having cramped living spaces and caged cells as her living quarters. When she'd graduated and Giovanni had deemed her well-trained, she had moved up to a proper bedroom, allowing her to breathe more clearly. 

This cell reminded her of those time she was whipped, smacked and beat until she couldn't comprehend anything, her brain a constant whir. She was thrown to her cell without a second thought, her wounds carelessly tended to. 

Kat's breathing started to increase as she felt the walls touch her shoulders, her arms curling around her legs. Her heart was beating furiously in her chest, and the sound echoed in her ear. It was as if the sound was bouncing off of the walls, rebounding off of every surface and hitting her skin. 

"Shh, shh." She muttered to herself, her hands now covering her ears. "It's okay." Her self-soothing reminded her of the times when she was a child, alone and cold, rubbing her own arms and imagining it was her mother, whispering soothing words and imaging her father whispering them. "It's okay." 

Sam watched the woman sadly, her body now rocking. The girl already looked young, but seeing her the way she was only cemented it. He couldn't believe what a life she had gone through, especially so young. When Natasha had explained Kat's past to them, it had made Sam sick to his stomach that anyone would think of doing such things to children.

"Kat." Sam spoke calmly, but loud enough for the girl to hear. Her eyes met his, and Sam was shocked to see such juvenile fear behind the usually stone cold green eyes. "Do you know what's happening?" Kat nodded, her teeth clenching. "You've experienced this before?" Nodding again, Kat swallowed thickly. "Think about it, the walls aren't tight, reach your arms out, they're not touching you." Kat did as instructed, her arms reaching out and releasing a stuttered breath. "Look around, put your hands on the walls, you've got room." 

"I can barely breathe." She whispered; her palms now flat against the wall. 

"Yes, you can, nothing is restricting your breathing." Kat nodded, screwing her eyes closed. "It's okay, Kat." Kat felt tears drip over her cheeks at Sam's words, the first time anyone had said such things to her, since she was a kid. "It's okay."