Bucky wasn’t in the bathroom. He wasn’t in the bedroom closet. He wasn’t outside the bedroom door. He wasn’t in the kitchen. He wasn’t in the untouched second bedroom. He wasn’t on the couch, in any of the closets, behind a curtain, or wedged into the pantry. He wasn’t in a corner of the ceiling. He wasn’t soundlessly following in Steve’s blind spot.
JARVIS didn’t respond when Steve asked for Bucky’s location.
Steve scrambled for the elevator, uncaring of the fact he was only wearing the boxers he’d slept in.
“Good morning, Captain Rogers,” said JARVIS.
“Where’s Bucky?” Steve demanded.
“Sergeant Barnes is asleep in your bedroom,” the AI told him.
Steve spun and almost dented the closing door in his haste to get out. Maybe he somehow hadn’t seen Bucky under the covers?
But, no. Bucky wasn’t in their suite.
He wasn’t in the building.
Working together, it took Tony and JARVIS less than a minute to determine how Bucky had fooled JARVIS.
Much less.
In the time it took Steve to throw on a shirt and pants, they had moved on to watching the footage of Bucky strolling out the side door from the ground floor coffee shop. It was a 24 shop, not meant to provide three AM public access to the tower’s lobby, but not designed to prevent traffic from the tower. There was only one employee in the coffee shop at that time. He turned away to operate the blender and Bucky walked right past him and out. The few customers were focused on their phones. Not one looked up to see the Winter Soldier’s exit.
At least Bucky was wearing clothes. He had a pair of black sweatpants and a black t-shirt with STARK INDUSTRIES written across the back in bright blue. Black or dark gray socks.
He wasn’t wearing shoes. His combat boots were in an evidence bag and Steve had let himself be convinced Bucky didn’t need shoes yet because they couldn’t leave the tower.
“Fuck,” he breathed.
Bucky had been in bed with him at least part of the night. He couldn’t have gone far.
No, Steve couldn’t lie to himself. The Winter Soldier was eminently capable of traversing huge distances without detection.
Bucky was gone.
“You lost the asset?” Rumlow laughed, breaking off into a wheezing cough as the movement jostled his injuries. “Really? What did you do? Try to make it be a person all the time? I thought you said you learned from me.”
Steve glowered. Seeing Rumlow had been a mistake. “All I want to learn from you is where he might go. The only reason you haven’t been interrogated yet is that I knocked you into next week. A little cooperation could go a long way at this stage.”
Determining who should have jurisdiction over the HYDRA agents was an ongoing effort. In the meantime, no one wanted to take responsibility for offering any deals, so Steve had been told to avoid making any promises.
The grin Rumlow was wearing had to be painful. “Oh, Stevie. You try so hard. It’s not your fault you’re not made for interrogation.”
Steve walked to the cell door and knocked to be let out.
“Let me guess, you did exactly what I said you’d do and tried to take it all back. Apologies and denial. When’d you last let it please you? You think it thinks you don’t want it?”
Shut up. He wouldn’t give Rumlow the satisfaction.
“How long until it goes looking for something familiar to give it order again, huh, Captain?” Rumlow taunted.
The door opened.
“Goodbye, Brock,” Steve said.
Bucky wouldn’t.
The asset would.
Don’t think about it.
“There’s no evidence he didn’t leave on his own,” Natasha told him.
Steve snarled wordlessly and stalked away. Why had Bucky left? What had Steve done? Or, what had Steve done to prompt this extreme response? Had Bucky been planning to escape from the start?
They’d had one more sighting - at the Smithsonian Captain America exhibit - and the Winter Soldier’s trail went cold. Natasha and Clint were certain the sighting had been planned but refused to speculate on what that meant.
The Avengers’ current mandate was to destroy HYDRA. A familiar weight of numbness, grief, guilt, and rage propelled Steve forward again. He didn’t have time to sit around talking about it. Captain America was needed to do what supersoldiers did best.
Destroy.
The Avengers eyed him with open worry. Steve knew he was acting reckless, irrational, and dangerous. He couldn’t care. Not when Bucky was out there without him in uncertain physical and mental condition.
A month into Steve’s blood vengeance, they were running out of active locations and Steve’s teammates unanimously agreed to make him take a night off. He was lying on a bed in a hotel in Naples, reading the updates Tony had promised while he tried to construct an argument that would let him continue their campaign against HYDRA, when the phone in his hand rang.
“Rog-”
He was cut off. JARVIS said, “Captain Rogers, I am forwarding a call from an unidentified source. The caller claims to be the Winter-”
“Bucky?” Steve sat up, blood racing.
“-Soldier. He insists he will hang up and not call back if you say more than ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Do you-”
“Yes, I accept his terms!”
There was a pause before the line began to crackle with noise. Steve pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth to keep himself from speaking. He wanted to call Bucky’s name, but he couldn’t fuck this up.
A sound that might have been a deep inhalation rose out of the background noise.
Then: “Steve?”
Bucky. It was Bucky.
“Yes,” Steve said at once. He waited, hardly daring to breathe.
From the other end, all he could hear was breathing. “Steve. Please?”
“Yes,” Steve said again, not even caring what Bucky wanted his yes for.
Fill 104/110: Undeniable Plausibility - On to the aftermath!
Bucky wasn’t in the bathroom. He wasn’t in the bedroom closet. He wasn’t outside the bedroom door. He wasn’t in the kitchen. He wasn’t in the untouched second bedroom. He wasn’t on the couch, in any of the closets, behind a curtain, or wedged into the pantry. He wasn’t in a corner of the ceiling. He wasn’t soundlessly following in Steve’s blind spot.
JARVIS didn’t respond when Steve asked for Bucky’s location.
Steve scrambled for the elevator, uncaring of the fact he was only wearing the boxers he’d slept in.
“Good morning, Captain Rogers,” said JARVIS.
“Where’s Bucky?” Steve demanded.
“Sergeant Barnes is asleep in your bedroom,” the AI told him.
Steve spun and almost dented the closing door in his haste to get out. Maybe he somehow hadn’t seen Bucky under the covers?
But, no. Bucky wasn’t in their suite.
He wasn’t in the building.
Working together, it took Tony and JARVIS less than a minute to determine how Bucky had fooled JARVIS.
Much less.
In the time it took Steve to throw on a shirt and pants, they had moved on to watching the footage of Bucky strolling out the side door from the ground floor coffee shop. It was a 24 shop, not meant to provide three AM public access to the tower’s lobby, but not designed to prevent traffic from the tower. There was only one employee in the coffee shop at that time. He turned away to operate the blender and Bucky walked right past him and out. The few customers were focused on their phones. Not one looked up to see the Winter Soldier’s exit.
At least Bucky was wearing clothes. He had a pair of black sweatpants and a black t-shirt with STARK INDUSTRIES written across the back in bright blue. Black or dark gray socks.
He wasn’t wearing shoes. His combat boots were in an evidence bag and Steve had let himself be convinced Bucky didn’t need shoes yet because they couldn’t leave the tower.
“Fuck,” he breathed.
Bucky had been in bed with him at least part of the night. He couldn’t have gone far.
No, Steve couldn’t lie to himself. The Winter Soldier was eminently capable of traversing huge distances without detection.
Bucky was gone.
“You lost the asset?” Rumlow laughed, breaking off into a wheezing cough as the movement jostled his injuries. “Really? What did you do? Try to make it be a person all the time? I thought you said you learned from me.”
Steve glowered. Seeing Rumlow had been a mistake. “All I want to learn from you is where he might go. The only reason you haven’t been interrogated yet is that I knocked you into next week. A little cooperation could go a long way at this stage.”
Determining who should have jurisdiction over the HYDRA agents was an ongoing effort. In the meantime, no one wanted to take responsibility for offering any deals, so Steve had been told to avoid making any promises.
The grin Rumlow was wearing had to be painful. “Oh, Stevie. You try so hard. It’s not your fault you’re not made for interrogation.”
Steve walked to the cell door and knocked to be let out.
“Let me guess, you did exactly what I said you’d do and tried to take it all back. Apologies and denial. When’d you last let it please you? You think it thinks you don’t want it?”
Shut up. He wouldn’t give Rumlow the satisfaction.
“How long until it goes looking for something familiar to give it order again, huh, Captain?” Rumlow taunted.
The door opened.
“Goodbye, Brock,” Steve said.
Bucky wouldn’t.
The asset would.
Don’t think about it.
“There’s no evidence he didn’t leave on his own,” Natasha told him.
Steve snarled wordlessly and stalked away. Why had Bucky left? What had Steve done? Or, what had Steve done to prompt this extreme response? Had Bucky been planning to escape from the start?
They’d had one more sighting - at the Smithsonian Captain America exhibit - and the Winter Soldier’s trail went cold. Natasha and Clint were certain the sighting had been planned but refused to speculate on what that meant.
The Avengers’ current mandate was to destroy HYDRA. A familiar weight of numbness, grief, guilt, and rage propelled Steve forward again. He didn’t have time to sit around talking about it. Captain America was needed to do what supersoldiers did best.
Destroy.
The Avengers eyed him with open worry. Steve knew he was acting reckless, irrational, and dangerous. He couldn’t care. Not when Bucky was out there without him in uncertain physical and mental condition.
A month into Steve’s blood vengeance, they were running out of active locations and Steve’s teammates unanimously agreed to make him take a night off. He was lying on a bed in a hotel in Naples, reading the updates Tony had promised while he tried to construct an argument that would let him continue their campaign against HYDRA, when the phone in his hand rang.
“Rog-”
He was cut off. JARVIS said, “Captain Rogers, I am forwarding a call from an unidentified source. The caller claims to be the Winter-”
“Bucky?” Steve sat up, blood racing.
“-Soldier. He insists he will hang up and not call back if you say more than ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Do you-”
“Yes, I accept his terms!”
There was a pause before the line began to crackle with noise. Steve pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth to keep himself from speaking. He wanted to call Bucky’s name, but he couldn’t fuck this up.
A sound that might have been a deep inhalation rose out of the background noise.
Then: “Steve?”
Bucky. It was Bucky.
“Yes,” Steve said at once. He waited, hardly daring to breathe.
From the other end, all he could hear was breathing. “Steve. Please?”
“Yes,” Steve said again, not even caring what Bucky wanted his yes for.
The call ended.