𝑼𝒔, 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 - 𝑩. 𝑩𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒔

9b

Bucky and Steve had no luck either in finding the Other assassins. They walked past the empty holding cells mindful of their surroundings and any noises that could be heard. Steve could tell coming back to this place was haunting Bucky. He could see it in his eyes. It was that look that some soldiers had after reliving a memory or seeing the horror of battle.

Bucky stopped frozen at a cell and Steve turned to look, curiously and worried.

There were two cells conjoined but separated by thick metal bars that were slightly bent. The first cell had large scratches and punch holes in the walls. There was a flat mat as a makeshift bed, it was slightly ripped. The other cell was in better condition. There were no scratch marks, or rips in their mat. There was writing in the dust that formed on the ground by the bed though. Steve looked at them closely and realized the words were names.

Marcella, was one he could make out.The other one made him turn to Bucky. James.

"This was mine," Bucky tapped the bars of the first one, the one destroyed in anger. Steve nodded. He felt like he had something in his throat, he couldn't speak. Captain America left his right hand man in the war, and Bucky spent all those years Steve never experienced, being used like a toy soldier.

"And that was Marcella's sometimes." Bucky moved past Steve and grabbed the bars of the other cell. "There were a few times we'd be in here together."

"Was it just you two down here?" Steve asked.

"Yeah but she was gone a lot. Karpov always wanted her right after they took her out of the ice. She went to the Red Room for months on end, then missions. In the eighties everything went wrong."

"What happened?"

"They were putting her on ice, but she wasn't like us. Her body couldn't handle it for much longer and Karpov started treating her differently. I saw her in 1982, then not again until 1991 when I... when she was given the serum." Bucky looked at Steve, his jaw clenched. "She would've died if she didn't get it."

Bucky and Steve waited at the meeting spot for a few moments before seeing Tony and Marcella. She was holding onto him like a crutch and Bucky almost lost it. He ran forward and grabbed Marcella's other side, lifting her back to Steve and away from Stark.

"It was my fault." Marcella said before he turned his worry into anger.

"What happened?" Steve asked, worried that it was the assassins.

"The stairs collapsed and I fell through. Stark patched me up... kind of. I'll need to moment."

Bucky looked at her, worry and stress painted on his face and in his eyes. He was a horrible actor when it came down to the people he cared about.

"By a moment, she means she's out. Her ankle is broken." Stark huffed at looked to Steve, "We found nothing. You?"

"Nothing." Steve shook his head.

Marcella looked at Tony. "I bet you, all I have, in 10 minutes I can run again."

He rolled his eyes, "What do you have?"

Marcella thought about it for a moment, then smiled through the pain of her leg, "Five bucks and profound life advice."

Stark snorted, "I'll bet Stark Industries you can't."