The Doctor
By the time we made it to the hallway where Bucky was being held, we saw the bodies of guards slumped on the floor.
"Shit," I breathed as we walked into the next room, where more bodies lined the floor. I crouched next to one, checking for a pulse, but there was nothing. The Winter Soldier had left his mark.
"Help me," came a voice from the next room. I glanced up as Steve marched in, finding a man on the floor, seemingly in pain. "Help."
I lingered back with Sam, sharing a worried glance with him. Steve confronted the man. "Get up."
When the man didn't move, Steve lifted him up and pinned him against the wall with little effort. "Who are you? What do you want?" Steve demanded.
Sam and I moved to join them as he replied, "To see an empire fall." But as we crossed the threshhold, we saw movement to my left and Sam dragged me down in time for the Winter Soldier's fist to come flying at us, instead hitting the wall above our heads and cracking the brick.
I cursed and quickly pulled my gun from its holster as Sam tried to hit back but he was flung across the room. I raised my gun and shot at him, attempting to wound him, but he deflected it with his metal arm and kicked me in the stomach, winding me. I coughed and doubled over when he swiped a knife out at me. I scrambled back onto the floor, away from the blade as Steve stepped in and became the Winter Soldier's new target. The pair of them fought, moving through the rooms we had come from, the sounds of impact landing making me wince.
"Sam, you okay?" I called and when he didn't reply, I crawled over to him, relieved when I saw his chest was rising and falling. There was the sound of metal breaking and then someone falling and I looked up to see the elevator door wide open, the Winter Soldier gone and no sign of Steve. "Shit. Shit, shit, shit."
I looked back and shook Sam's shoulders until his eyelids fluttered open. He groaned and sat up, looking past me to the elevator. "Hey!" he cried and I glanced back to see the man - the fake doctor - standing there. "Hey!"
The man turned back and saw us. When we started to rise, he fled quickly. Sam and I followed, the sounds of alarms blaring around us. We chased after him, back down the corridor and up an empty stairwell. We glanced up and saw the man several levels above, looking down at us. He disappeared again and we surged upwards.
We reached the ground floor level and the door to the atrium was open. "Did we lose him?" I asked, chewing my lip.
"Not if I can help it," Sam replied as we entered the atrium.
It was chaos. People everywhere were screaming, evacuating the building. Shattered glass lined the floor and tables were broken, evidence that the Winter Soldier had torn through it. I shook my head, horrified, as we left the building altogether. The streets were just as chaotic but Sam spied a jacket on the ground and went to pick it up.
"The bastard," I breathed. "He swapped clothes."
"We'll never find him," Sam confirmed, and I could feel his anger. I felt it too. "Damn it."
My phone began to ring and I answered it. "Guys?" Steve's voice came and I put it on speaker.
"We're here," I replied.
"Did you catch the other guy?" Steve asked and my stomach flipped with a combination of anger and guilt.
"He got away," Sam sighed. "What about your guy?"
"I've got him," Steve said. "Come meet me. I'll text you my location."
"Are you safe?" I blurted out.
He paused. "Yeah. I'm safe. See you soon." The call ended.
I pocketed my phone and glanced around. People were still running everywhere. "We need a vehicle."
"Got any ideas?" Sam asked. "I left my sports car at home."
I huffed a laugh but it gave me any idea. "Tony..." I murmured and took off down the street, Sam following after me with a surprised yelp. We rounded the corner to the side of the building and there sat one of Tony's cars. He must still be inside, dealing with the mess. "Excellent."
"Oh, no," Sam shook his head. "You're going to steal your brother's car?"
My phone pinged and I checked it. The text from Steve with his location. I showed it to Sam. "It's not far, see? We could walk, or...We go in style. Your choice, bird boy."
He glared at me. "I am not responding to that," he said and then sighed. "All right, steal your brother's car. But I am not getting in trouble for it."
I grinned wickedly at him. "Neither am I."
We walked over and I wasted no time in breaking open the door and disabling the alarm. Then it was a matter of minutes to hotwire it and the engine came to life. I settled into the driver's seat as Sam climbed in the passenger's side.
"Where the hell did you learn to hotwire a car?"
I shrugged and adjusted the mirrors. "A girl gets bored."
Minutes later, we entered the old garage where Steve was holding Bucky. The latter was passed out, his metal arm pressed under a vice to keep him still. As we entered, Sam groaned, "I am never letting you drive again."
I shot him a glare. "I'm not that bad."
"You very much are. Tony's lucky I didn't throw up all over his leather seats."
I wrinkled my nose. "He wouldn't appreciate that. They're Italian."
Steve's head turned as he saw us. He came over and pressed a chaste kiss to the top of my forehead and nodded at Sam, relieved we were both safe.
"How bad is it?" Steve asked.
I hummed. "Bad. This is the last thing we needed. He was doing so well, and now everyone thinks the Winter Soldier is bad to destroy the whole world." Steve's face fell and he nodded grimly. "But," I added. "We'll do what we can to solve it. I promise."
He nodded and walked over to the door we'd come through as Sam went to inspect Bucky. Outside, a helicopter flew past, searching for any sign of us (wanted criminals, essentially) and Bucky.
"Hey, Cap!" Sam called and we jogged over to join him.
We watched as Bucky groaned and woke up, clearly in pain. He seemed to notice us. "Steve."
"Which Bucky am I talking to?" Steve questioned, no mercy in his voice. He was clearly angry.
Bucky looked at him through his dark hair and said, "Your mom's name was Sarah." He paused. "You used to wear newspapers in your shoes." He chuckled.
A hint of smile cracked on Steve's face. "Can't read that in a museum."
Sam wasn't convinced. "Just like that, we're supposed to be cool?"
"What did I do?" Bucky asked, shame already marring his face.
"Enough," I told him.
He hung his head. "Oh god, I knew this would happen. Everything HYDRA put in me is still there. All he had to do was say the goddamn words."
"Who was he?" Steve asked.
"I don't know."
"People are dead," I said. "The bombing, the setup..."
"The doctor did all that just to get ten minutes with you," Steve finished. "I need you to do better than 'I don't know.'"
Bucky thought, his face crumpling in concentration. Then, "He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where."
"Why would he need to know that?"
There was silence for a moment and then Bucky said, "Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier."
"Fuck..." I breathed, raking a hand through my hair. It was a mess after the events of the day, dried with sweat. Steve and Sam looked equally troubled by the news and Steve went to lean against the wall, settling against it.
"Who were they?"
"Their most elite death squad," Bucky told us. "More kills than anyone in HYDRA history. And that was before the serum."
"They all turn out like you?" Sam asked.
"Worse," Bucky replied without a beat.
"The doctor," I piped up. "Could he control them?"
"Enough." Bucky let his head fall again, pained by the memory of his past. Once again, I found myself feeling sorry for him. This was not his fault.
Steve looked at Sam and I. "Said he wanted to see an empire fall."
"With these guys, he could do it," Bucky said. "They speak thirty languages, hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take a whole country down in one night. You'd never see them coming."
Sam walked up to Steve and I followed. Under his breath, he said, "This would have been a lot easier a week ago."
Before the Accords.
"If we call Tony..." I began.
"He'd never believe us," Sam cut me off.
"Even if he did--" Steve began.
"Who knows if the Accords would let him help," Sam finished.
"Were on our own," Steve said resignedly.
"Maybe not," Sam said, thinking. "I know a guy."