Living Nightmare ~ (Bucky Barnes) COMPLETED

history I

~ seven years earlier ~

"we don't know how many potential victims there are inside so keep your eyes open and remember our priority is getting them out" Steve instructed.

Wanda, Clint, Natasha, Sam, Bucky and Bruce sat round the table and Steve and Tony stood at the front of the room. Tony had finished going over the mission intel and Steve had started directing the team as to what the plan was. The team had received intelligence that a man they had been looking into was set up in a facility in Russia. Dmitri Sarkov. He was well-known in the criminal world and the Avengers had first come across him in their fight against Hydra. After taking out their bases one by one, all that remained of the organisation was Sarkov's little corner.

The team suited up and headed to the jet that would get them as close as possible to the target without them being detected. The plan was to drop in about a mile away and continue the rest of the way on foot. Although they wanted to take down the remainder of Hydra leadership, the main objective here was to liberate the hostages. At least 6 young girls had been taken by Sarkov and the Avengers didn't know what he was doing to them but they knew it couldn't be good. It had taken months of searching but now they finally had confirmation of his whereabouts they wasted no time.

***

After dropping from the jet, the team regrouped and split into their teams before heading off in different directions to surround the base. Bucky and Natasha, Clint and Wanda and Steve and Sam all entered through separate doorways while Tony flew above the building. His focus was finding any files kept on the girls so the team could try and understand what had been done to them. Bruce was back on the jet, not trusting himself not to make things worse with his alter ego.

Bucky and Natasha took the south entrance, blasting their way in and taking out several guards that had been patrolling that section. Sam and Steve took the east door, Wanda and Clint the west and Tony entered through a window on the north wall. He sent a blast towards several guards  knocking them out and then left his suit to watch as he rummaged through several boxes of files. What he really wanted was a computer so he could simply hack the information he needed but the bad guys never made it that easy. The rest of the team continued fighting their way through the building, checking each room they came to for any sign of the missing girls.

Steve kicked a door in and Sam entered the cell, a dark look clouding his face as he took in the scene before him. "we got one of them" he said into his earpiece, "she's dead". Steve used the shield to incapacitate two more guards running towards them and knowing there was nothing left to do for her they left and carried on searching. On the other side of the base, Clint and Wanda were making progress. Wanda used her powers to throw a group of guards towards the ceiling as Clint checked the rooms on either side of the corridor. He found the same as Sam and announced it to the rest of the team.

"I got two more, dead" he said sharply.

Hearing the news of the three dead girls only made Bucky and Natasha move quicker. None of them had been killed too long ago so they still believed there was a chance for the remaining three. That hope began to fade as they recovered yet another body and Steve reported a fifth over comms. Determined not to let them win, Bucky hurtled towards the final door in his section, seeing a number of guards enter the room.

"I think I've got the last one, Nat." he yelled backwards as she took down another two guards.

Natasha moved quickly and caught up with Bucky just before be reached the door. As they approached, the sounds of screams from behind the door jolted them into action. Nat called for backup and Bucky kicked the door down, raining bullets on the men inside. Natasha sent a blast of electricity towards them and the final few guards collapsed leaving the room clear apart from a small girl shackled to a chair.

Bucky took a step towards the girl and she flinched causing him to pause.

"I'm not going to hurt you" he said slowly, raising his hands to show he had no weapons.

This did little to calm the girl and she whimpered slightly. Bucky gave in and took a few steps backwards allowing Natasha to make her way towards the chair instead. The girl still looked petrified but let Natasha approach without making too much of a fuss. Nat crouched down in front of her and gently started removing the chains from her feet.

"it's okay sweetie, we're here to help you okay. No one's hurting you, you're safe now"

The girls eyes darted around Natasha's face, looking for any signs she was lying but as she found her legs free from the chains she forgot to be scared and Natasha quickly removed the chains restricting her arms. The girl slumped forward, hugging her arms to her chest protectively and Natasha brushed her shoulders.

"it's okay now, we're gonna get you out of here okay?" The girl nodded, unable to speak. Natasha smiled at the girl, amazed she was even aware of her presence, "this is my friend, Bucky"

As he heard his name Bucky took a small step forward, prompting another whimper from the girl.

"I know he looks scary but I promise he isn't here to hurt you, he just wants to help"

The girl finally looked up and saw that the man although clearly very dangerous judging by the bodies in the room, looked kind and she nodded at Natasha's words.

"do you think you can walk?" Natasha asked as she helped the girl to her feet.

Without having chance to answer, the girl dropped to the floor, her legs giving way, unable to hold her own weight. Natasha bent down to help her off the floor but Bucky swooped in and lifted the girl in his arms. She didn't put up a fight as she allowed him to carry her out of the room although Bucky could feel her heart pounding and knew that she was still nervous of him. He carried her all the way to the jet and gently placed her down on the bench as Bruce rushed over to help. The others piled into the jet, glad to see that they had managed to save at least one of the girls. Tony joined Bruce and Bucky next to the girl and he handed Bruce a file.

"this is everything I found, logs of what experiments they were using them for, what they ate, torture etc."

Bucky bristled at Tony's casual use of the word and looked down at the girl with sympathetic understanding. It pained him to think about someone else experiencing that, especially someone as small as the girl lying in front of him. As the jet set off the girl jerked upwards, shocked by the sudden movement and now fully aware that she was surrounded by people she didn't know. This didn't help to ease any anxiety and Bucky noticed a familiar expression in her face as he sat down next to her.

"hey don't worry," he said gently, "nobody here wants to hurt you, we're taking you home" he smiled at her glad he had managed to catch her attention before she spiraled completely.

"I'm Bucky, the woman that helped you is Natasha," he began gesturing at the others sat around, "that's Clint, Wanda, Sam, he can be annoying but he means well,"

The girl laughed quietly and Bucky stopped glad to hear something happy leave her mouth,

"this is Steve and those two are Tony and Bruce, they gave you something for the pain so hopefully you'll feel a bit better when that kicks in"

The girl nodded and the jet fell silent as eventually the meds kicked in and she drifted off to sleep.