18+ WARNING MINORS DNI
Steve steps out of the elevator and walks into the lab. He can hear classical music drifting out into the foyer from a half open door. Light pours out from the small opening between the doorframe and the door. It's late. Around 1:00am. The rest of the 10th floor was quiet as Steve crept out of his room and headed downstairs.
He knocks on the dooframe and hears the music shut off.
"Come in."
Bruce is sitting at his desk, plugging away at something on his computer. Steve still has an aversion to those things.
"You wanted to see me?" He asks, pushing the door open.
"Yeah. Close the door."
Bruce shuts off whatever he was working on and turns around, grabbing a pad of paper. He gestures to an empty chair near a cold metal table with a bunch of gadgets on it. Steve grabs the chair and pulls it away. It's not that he hates technology, it's that it hates him. Once Sam asked him to turn on his laptop, Steve pressed the button, and the thing wouldn't start. He pressed the button about a thousand times until it started making a long beeping sound. Sam would have been angry, but he was laughing too hard. He told Steve he had the kiss of death when it came to computers, so Steve just stays away from them completely.
He folds his hands in his lap.
"What's going on?"
"I translated the code words," Bruce says softly.
"Explains why you'd want to meet in the middle of the night."
"Well, I'm not really a morning person," Bruce chuckles. "I still think you're insane for getting up at 4:30am."
Steve grins and Bruce sips his tea, handing him a notebook. Steve glances down - the words are only written in English.
Longing
Rusted
Seventeen
Daybreak
Furnace
Nine
Benign
Homecoming
One
Freight car
"I don't understand," Steve says softly, running his fingers over the page. "Why did you write these in English?"
"Well, I don't exactly want the Russian words lying around. Bucky's brain scans are on a flash drive that's password protected and locked in a safe. Nobody but me can get to them."
"Thank God," Steve breathes.
"These words mean nothing to you?"
Steve shakes his head.
"Do you know if any of those words hold significance for Bucky? Outside of them being used to activate the Winter Soldier?"
Steve sighs and runs a hand through his hair.
"Can't we just ask Bucky?"
"I'm afraid of stressing him out any more than he already is. He's got a lot going on."
"True," Steve whispers. "Yeah, no, that's fair." He stares at the words, trying to make sense of them. "This is the order they're in?"
"Yeah."
"Jeez. Okay. Uh, nine and seventeen... Well, he was born in 1917. Hydra would have gotten that information from his dog tags, but I don't understand why they would use some of the numbers for activation words."
Bruce scribbles some notes down on a pad of paper.
"Okay. I had a theory about 'nine' - in Greek mythology, Hydra is a monster with nine heads. Do you know how many Winter Soldiers there were?"
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Attachment Theory - Bucky BarnesxOC
Fanfiction**WATTY'S SHORTLIST 2022** Bucky Barnes is lost. After going into hiding, he winds up in Las Vegas, struggling to reclaim his identity and craving human connection. He meets Alice, a dancer at Empire, who finds herself unable to ignore the mysterio...
