Chapter Text
The first thing Clint thinks recovering consciousness, is that he is screwed.
It had been a month of dates with psychologists and SHIELD specialists that had promised him help getting over his traumas, because of Loki’s mind control. But nothing had worked, the nightmares were more close to each other than ever, and he was no longer able to take his frustration out in the range as he was forbidden from going until the medics told him he was alright.
That’s why he didn’t hesitate in accepting Alexander Pierce’s proposal. It was supposed to be a few months in an intensive program, that would help him get over Loki’s mind control.
He must have paid his SHIELD psychologist for liberation.
Pierce was HYDRA’s new leader, while it was asleep and hidden within SHIELD.
Clint was tortured for months before they put him in a chair that released some electric impulses with the intention of wiping his memories so they could use him as they wished.
It didn’t work.
It seemed to be that Loki had made him some kind of mental protection. The HYDRA scientists speculated that it was so no one could figured out what had happened to him in while he was Loki’s thoughtless soldier.
That’s why he was now being thrown in a closed room with no less than the most feared ghost of all spies, the master assassin, the perfect Soldier, the one who never failed a mission: The Winter Soldier.
*****************************************************
When the soldier was awoken, he waited patiently until they told him his mission. Anyhow his handlers had other plans. He was ordered to weaken an enemy agent until he was barely alive so they could condition him easily.
It wasn’t the first time the Soldier had to do something like that, but was the first time his handlers looked so desperate. If the Soldier didn’t accomplish his mission in two days, he had to kill the agent to avoid any possibility of escape.
The Soldier was kept in a room for what seemed hours until some lesser ranked agents came in, dragging what the Soldier supposed was the enemy agent they wanted him to torture.
The first thing the Soldier notices is how the man is struggling to stand upright, probably because of a fracture in his left ankle; one of his arms is hanging dead at his side while the other one is shaking. His thin body shows the missed meals, and the beginnings of dehydration. His dark blond hair looks matted with a bit of what the Soldier suspected to be blood. But his eyes are the thing that stick in the Soldier’s mind.
A pair of blue eyes that shine with challenge. The most intense blue the Soldier has ever seen. The fire burns in them, the fury for what was happening to him, the hate for his handlers.
The wish of a fight to the death and coming out victorious.
The Soldier had seen the same look in another pair of blue eyes, hidden behind a bright blond hair and inside a smaller and mistreated body.
Steve says his mind, like an echo of a missing memory.
But that didn’t matter so much.
The Soldier can’t damage the man in front of him.
And isn’t going to let anybody damage him either.
********************************************************
When Clint sees the Soldier for the first time, he can understand why he is the most feared of the assassins, why even Natasha Romanoff slightly trembles at the mention of his name.
So Clint knows that he won’t get out of this one. Only someone delusional could think they can fight The Winter Soldier in a good physical state. With how beaten and mistreated Clint is, there is no way hope he can fight him, nevermind win.
“You should had seen the other guy,” jokes Clint, because if he is gonna die, at least he can say some jokes.
But just as Clint expects the Soldier doesn’t say anything. Just stays there, standing with his arms crossed and looking at the archer’s body, with his intense grey-blue gaze.
“I guess you don’t have a big sense of humor,” mumbles the blond, repressing a groan. Talking hurts; he had some broken ribs for sure. “I know compassion is not your thing, but if you could hurry I would gladly appreciate it. This hurts like a bitch and I want to die conscious.”
Again, the Soldier doesn’t say anything. Clint fears he will have to provoke him to kill him at once.
“Buddy the waiting is killing me…ironically,” he jokes again, before arching an eyebrow when he sees the Soldier rolling his eyes. “So you must have some humor.”
The silence was driving him nuts, he didn’t believe he could hold any longer; one thing was talking in the middle of torture, and another very different thing was if they didn’t want to answer.
*************************************************
“You should have seen the other guy,” the Soldier hears the man say.
It was clearly an attempt to distract him or he simply didn’t have any self-preservation.
So he limits himself to watching him, to evaluate how much trouble he could be…
“I guess you don’t have a big sense of humor,” the man mumbles, making a face. Broken ribs. “I know compassion is not your thing, but if you could hurry I would gladly appreciate it. This hurts like a bitch and I want to die conscious.”
He wanted to die? In general the Soldier would hear targets begging for him to pardon their lives. Never before had someone asked him to kill them instantly.
“Buddy the waiting is killing me…ironically.”
The Soldier can’t avoid rolling his eyes at that.
“So you must have some humor.”
Without thinking about it too much, he uncrosses his arms, taking off the mask that covered his face. In that moment his attention goes back to the blond when he hears him inhale in amazement.
“Bucky Barnes?”
“Who the hell is Bucky?”
************************************************
There were a lot of things that Clint didn’t believe are possible… until he became part of SHIELD.
He didn’t believe in second chances. Coulson changed that by shooting him in the shoulder and taking him to SHIELD as a pupil.
He didn’t believe in family. Coulson and Nat became his.
He didn’t believe in justified murder. He shot a bastard that tried to set an orphanage on fire while running away from SHIELD.
He didn’t believe that someone could go crazy for love. Then Betty Ross helped Bruce Banner, The Hulk, escape from her father so he wouldn’t capture him and experiment on him.
He didn’t believe someone could hide behind a mask all their life. Natasha was the first one showing him wrong…and later Tony Stark would do the same in becoming Iron Man
He didn’t believe in gods. Then he met Thor and Loki.
He didn’t believe in internal peace. Loki showed him that under his control.
He didn’t believe in heroes. Steve Rogers survived 70 years under the ice and he came out to still be Captain America.
He didn’t believe in anybody being invincible. Then he was captured by HYDRA and met The Winter Soldier.
He didn’t believe in miracles. The Soldier was Bucky Barnes.
“Who the hell is Bucky?”
Clint didn’t believe there could be something worse that mind control. But with all Alexander Pierce had been telling him… he knew there was something worse.
“Who the hell is Bucky?”
White board is what he had been hearing from the HYDRA scientist. In that moment he didn’t understand what they meant but now…
“Who the hell is Bucky?”
Now he knows he can’t die. He should fight like he always does to take a prisoner of war home…if he still had a home.
Barnes would only have Steve; none of his other friends would be alive or conscious enough. But it was something.
“Who the hell is Bucky?”
“James Buchanan Barnes,” Clint says, looking into his eyes. “Better known by everyone as Bucky.” He continues, trying to find the confidence and sincerity in his words and also his eyes. “It’s you.”
*********************************************************
“James Buchanan Barnes… Better known by everyone as Bucky… It’s you”
The soldier can’t comprehend what the blond is saying. He isn’t Bucky or Barnes or whatever other the name the man had said. The Soldier is just the Soldier or the Asset to some of his handlers. He is HYDRA’s weapon, he doesn’t have an identity.
But the blond looks so sure that this man he talked about is the Soldier.
And yet for some weird reason, the Soldier feels it is the truth.
“I’m the Soldier or the Asset,” he tries to convince himself more than the other man. “I’m just a weapon, I’m nobody.”
With surprise he looks at the man in front of him who is furious on his behalf. Like the Soldier matters, like the Soldier is worthy.
“Don’t worry, I’m going to get us out of here and we’ll go with Tony,” the man starts to say. “For sure he has something in his luxurious tower to help you regain your memory… and there’s Steve too.”
Steve…that name means something for him but the Soldier isn’t sure of what. That’s why he limits himself to watching the other man in cold silence.
“You don’t know what I’m talking ‘bout,” affirms the blond, stopping the rambling. “I can’t blame you, the mind control isn’t pretty…I need a cup of coffee and tons of alcohol for a talk about it, but I don’t think HYDRA has room service…so I’ll do second best for the time being…”
The Soldier watches him go to the farthest wall, pressing his back against it and sitting down before he starts talking.
********************************
They aren’t bothered in the two days that Clint uses to tell the other man everything he knows about Captain America and the Howling Commandos. Internally he was grateful to his past handler, Phil Coulson, for being so obsessed with them. Everything he told Bucky were the things Phil told him when Clint admitted to not knowing anything else beside the punch Steve gave Hitler.
At the need of their peaceful second day, Alexander Pierce and two of his bullies enter the room with one intention.
“You shouldn’t be alive, Agent Barton, but that’s something we can fix easily,” is the greeting Pierce gives, smiling creepily. “Soldier, kill him!”
**************************************************
“Soldier, kill him!”
The Soldier feels the desire of obeying but drawing on forces he previously believed non-existent, he stays still, refusing to obey.
“Soldier,” says Pierce. “I gave you an order.”
Again, the Soldier managed to resist but is afraid that his will won’t last any longer. He should look for a way to neutralize them so he can leave with the blond man.
“ тоскующий … ржавый … печь … рассвет … семнадцать … доброкачественный … девять … добропожаловать … один … грузовойвагон …”
Stifling a grunt, the soldier falls on his knees. He puts his head between his hands to try and stop the words working.
“No! Stop it! Son of a bitch!”
Out of the corner of his eye he can see the blond man struggling to reach him but he is repressed by the two agents that came in with his handlers. Both agents don’t hesitate in hitting the shattered man, reopening some wounds as well as creating some new ones.
But the blond stands again, trying to get to the Soldier, to help him. He can see him falling and getting up again even when all the strength seems to be giving up along with his body.
That image, combined with the words that kept him obedient, opens a door in the memory of the Soldier that had been closed ages ago.
And he remembers.
He remembers going into the cold streets of Brooklyn in the company of a very small and sick kid. Steve.
He remembers watching how his father left through the door of his old apartment wearing a military uniform.
He remembers his mother crying because of thet letter that said that his father wouldn’t come back.
He remembers his poor mother growing tired everyday in that old factory.
He remembers his three younger sisters. Rebecca, Isabelle and Maria.
He remembers working sun to sun so his mother could feed his sister.
He remembers going to live with Steve in an old apartment when Steve’s nurse and mother, Sarah Rogers, died.
He remembers working as a mechanic.
He remembers the cold night when the cops went into his building and took his neighbor William and what it seemed to be his lover, Nicolau.
He remembers fearing being the next one…
He remembers the letter with the time and day on which he would go to Europe.
He remembers being part of the regiment 107th.
He remembers a bigger and healthier Steve saving him after HYDRA experimented on him.
He remembers being part of the Howling Commandos.
He remembers falling off the train.
He remembers the everlasting minutes in the snow where he could only think he was dying.
He remembers a pain worse than death when he was picked up by the Soviets.
From that point, every memory is a little misty. But he can still see himself sitting in a chair, again, again and again. Always listening to the same phrase: Wipe him
He remembers all the assassinations, the infiltrations, the tortures and more that he did when he wasn’t in possession of his own mind and body.
But for the first time in years, he knows who he is.
He is The Winter Soldier, the Asset. He is James Buchanan Barnes…He is Bucky.
************************************
Clint tries to fight with the agents that are repressing him but his efforts are useless. His body still hadn’t recovered and has multiple fractures that are preventing him from reaching his maximum potential
When he hears Pierce saying some words that sounded Russian, he knows he’s lost. The Soldier wouldn’t hesitate to kill him at the first order.
Silence follows as the last words are said.
“Готов встретиться.” The gruff tone that came out of the Soldier’s lips make Clint’s body shiver.
Clint isn’t going to think about that. He could be about to die but even he knows how stupid it is to think about how dangerously hot his future murderer is…or how he would like to climb him like a tree…
Without counting on the existence of a law that would forbid him of taking advantage of National Patrimony…for more attractive the idea may seem.
The distraction is why Clint doesn’t the soldier moving until the moment the Soldier stands in front of him, a gun aiming directly at his head.
He holds the Soldier’s gaze; the archer makes sure he doesn’t take his eyes off the other man, maybe in a useless attempt to make him stop.
The Soldier is using the flesh hand to hold the weapon. With ease he takes the safety off and without hesitating his finger presses the trigger.
Everything happens so fast; Clint hears the shot and feels a heavy hit on his head.
The darkness takes over him.
When his eyes open again, he sees without being at all upset the corpses of the two agents and Alexander Pierce.
“Man, the next time you save my life, please don’t throw me into a wall,” complains the archer, rubbing the nape of his neck.
“Next time I’ll let you die,” mumbles the Soldier trying to clean the knife in the clothes of one of the dead agents “So I’ll…probably end up locked away with a shrink because I remember all the shit from the last seventy years.”
“You remember?” Clint asks with surprise. “You really remember who you are?”
“Yes.”
“That’s amazing!” Clint exclaims cheerfully. “Now you can reunite with Steve and do whatever you two did in the forties.”
“We killed Nazis, I don’t think we can keep on doing that,” answered the Soldier sarcastically, before a loud alarm started to ring. “And that’s our signal to leave.”
“I’m Clint by the way,” said the archer with a dumb smile, while he analyzed how much his body could take if they started to run.
“Bucky,” he answers easily, while he moves quickly until he is standing besides Clint. He picks him up and throws him over his shoulder like he’s a sack of potatoes.
“Hey, What are you doing?”
“I refuse to let your slowness kill us.”
“I can walk perfectly…”
“No, in your state you can’t.”
Clint can’t avoid groaning even when he had a good view to admire.
*******************************************
Getting a car wasn’t a problem for Bucky. As the Soldier, he knows every place in the HYDRA base.
The problem was that all of the cars had a tracker and there wasn’t enough time to look for it.
Driving like crazy he took them to what it looked like a mall. They sneaked in by the deposit and changed their clothes for other. Bucky put on a blue cap to try to hide his face while Clint wore a White Shirt with a hood and some Purple tinted glasses.
They walked all over the place trying to disappear.
“At your ten and your six” mumbled in a tone barely hearable.
“Too late to avoid them” mumbles Bucky in the same tone “Any ideas?”
“…Just one” answers the blond “…but please don’t kill me”
Bucky arches an eyebrow at the archer’s word. With ease watches Clint slowly raising his hands to rest in his face as his thumbs goes over the small stubble that the Soldier usually wears. His eyes intertwined and without noticing Clint goes up as Bucky goes Down making their mouth collide half-way.
At first is just a tentative touch, and step by step they start opening their mouths making their breaths to intertwined giving it more reality to the situation. They touch their lips with more confidence feeling emotions in which they don’t want to think too much about it.
They part slowly, their eyes fixed on the others. The silence was still reigning in their surrounds until the strong sound of glass breaking pulls them off their little bubble. The sound makes them clear their throats a bit uncomfortable.
“They are gone” mumbles Clint after some seconds in Silence.
“We should continue” says Bucky before tentative wrapping the blonds’ waist with his arm and taking him to the closest exit.
Bucky isn’t sure if he pays attention everywhere because of the HYDRA agents may come back…or if someone was going to try and catch them.
They manage to escape until they arrive at an empty parking lot where they looked surrounded by HYDRA agents.
Bucky didn’t hesitated in fighting the agents trying to avoid Clint getting involved because of his physical state, but the blond wasn’t going to stay like a damsel in distress so even with the body weakened he could finish up some agents that had the luck of missing the Soldier.
When the last agent fell they saw how a bunch of trucks were going their direction in a high speed. They knew what would happen if they stayed there waiting.
So they start running.
***********************************************
They manage to go, to what it seems to be an abandoned warehouse.
They look at each other with the breath shaken up by the action from before.
None of them is sure who started it. But in less than a minute they are in each other arms sharing the dirtiest kiss they ever give.
“You shouldn’t worry so much Widow” they were surprised by a masculine voice causing them to separate “I was right when I said that for sure he leaved to spent some days with a hot body”
“I hate when you’re right Stark” a female voice mocks.
Clint looks surprised as Iron Man and Black Widow float down from the ceiling.
“Nat! Tony!” greets cheerfully the blond at seeing his associates in front of him.
“So tell me Legolas” purrs Tony with mockery as he uncovers his face to talk to the Archer “Why your boy toy has an alarming resemblance to Bucky Barnes, I don’t think Cap is gonna like that”
“Is The Winter Soldier” grunts suddenly Natasha taking off her guns and aiming to Bucky.
“Nat wait!” stops her Clint “Yes he is The Winter Soldier but he is also Bucky Barnes” says quickly at the look on the face of the redhead “He spent the last 70 years being HYDRA’s puppet but he managed to break his programation”
“Wait” says Tony raising his hands in a manner or speech “He is Bucky Barnes?” asks pointing the Soldier “The same Bucky Barnes that fell of the train and was Captain America’s best friend?”
“Yes”
“And you say that Hydra…the organization professedly defeated by the Captain, had him prisoner”
“In fact HYDRA was hiding inside of SHIELD” comments Bucky speaking for the first time.
“Pierce was the new head” adds Clint.
“I knew SHIELD wasn’t trustworthy” mumbles Tony on the low “Ok new plan” says clapping his hands “We all gonna leave and we’ll plan the best way to banish HYDRA from SHIELD and tell Cap about Barnes” continuous pensative “But first someone explain me why everyone who lived or existed in the 40’s have the bad habit of coming back”
Is in that instant that two things happens. First, a huge group of HYDRA agents enter the warehouse aiming their weapons to the Heroes and the Soldier. Second, from the ceiling fall 5 SHIELD agents being led by a very alive Phil Coulson.
“Son of a Bitch you’re still alive!” screams Clint pointing to Coulson.
“I can’t die if you keep getting in trouble” answered Phil Coulson with his calm smile “You know how many paperwork you produce”
“I don’t think is the best moment for the Katniss and Prim reunion”
“Really Tony” laughs Natasha while Tony smiles mocking
“My only interest is knowing why Agent Barton is being followed by SHIELD agents” interrupted Coulson.
“HYDRA” corrects Bucky “They’re HYDRA agents”
“You’re…” babbled Coulson first noticing the Soldier “You are Bucky Barnes” quickly gets closer “Is an honor meeting you…”
“I don’t think you want to touch that Phil, Barton already put his saliva on him”
“NAT!”
Bucky could only smile in amusement at the look on the Agent face, until that moment impassive, opening and closing his mouth while he looked at Clint as he just confessed to throw puppies and orphans from building rooftops.
“Look at the positive side. Now you can use those forms you created if someone assaulted or took advantage of a National Relic” kept talking Natasha completely entertained with everything that was going on.
“I would have to do new ones…the ones I had, I already pre-filled them thinking Stark would try to take advantage of the Captain” answered a still half stunned Coulson.
“Hey! That offends me!”
“Are we going to fight or you’ll keep arguing?” interrupts annoyed one of the HYDRA agents.
Just then they remember they were in the middle of a confrontation.
Without losing any more seconds, an Asian Agent that arrived with Coulson jumped with Natasha over a group of HYDRA agents. Tony Stark lets his face plate covering his face and raising a hand releases a Strong draft that launches several HYDRA agents into a Wall leaving them unconscious in the moment. Natasha and the Asian Agent finish the rest of the enemies.
“That was fun” commented the Asian Agent “I’m Melinda May” greets tending her hand to Natasha.
“Romanoff” answers the Widow corresponding the greeting.
“It would be good if we all go to the Tower” says Tony “And by all I mean Nat, Merida and that beautiful metal arm”
“Tony…”
“Yes, yes Merida, you can keep the rest of the body, but I want a session with that arm”
Clint can only breathe resigned at the joke of the Genius. In his back feels the comforting presence of Bucky and for the first time he left himself that everything would be alright.
Hours later after Steve came back from an empty warehouse that Fury send him to go, enters in the common area of the Tower to find the beautifully awful surprise that his best friend was alive and about to have sex with a just appeared Hawkeye
“Bucky I told you many time that not in the living room!”
Steve’s scream only caused both Clint and Bucky to break into laughter.