Red in my Ledger

Chapter Forty-Five

Rumlow stood beside you with a needle, drawing another sample of your blood.
You were paying no attention to him as you stared at the ceiling, muttering under your breath.
Suddenly there was yelling. Gunfire.
Rumlow worriedly looked up at the door, then back down at you.
"Stay here... oh right" he laughed. "You don't have a choice."
He chuckled to himself as he took his gun from his holster and barged out the door.
You took no notice.
All you did now was ignore him. Ignore everything and everyone.
It had been three days since the party.
You had been abused non-stop. Something was injected into you every so often, or they would take some of your blood for testing. You didn't know what they were doing. You didn't care anymore.
Your head was shaking slightly. Your eyes half-closed, you continued mumbling to yourself. Your words were almost indistinguishable as you quietly prayed that they would kill you already. Just get it over with.
You didn't notice someone was in the room with you until they were right next to you, placing a hand on your shoulder.
They startled you; you moved your body to get away, only causing the ties to dig deeper into your skin.
You turned to face them with wide, fearful eyes.
"Hey. It's okay. It's me" he smiled to calm you.
You stared at him, still terrified, as he carefully freed you from your restraints.
Your whole body ached as you tried to sit yourself up on the table. You were still shaking, and flinched when he put his hand on your arm.
"Y/n, everything's okay. You're safe now."
He put a hand on your back and gently pushed you off the table to stand on your feet.
They felt numb, and you stumbled, but he caught you.
He put an arm around you, but with the little strength left inside of you, you pushed him away.
Using the table for support, you stood up on your own, breathing heavily as you processed what was happening.
You turned your head to properly face Clint.
Then you noticed over his shoulder as Tony flew in, followed by Thor.
"No" you whispered and shook your head.
Tony landed and stepped towards you.
"Y/n you're okay" Tony smiled and got closer.
"No" you repeated, louder.
"Y/n..." Tony reached his arm out.
"No!" you screamed.
You dodged his arm and ran for the door, evading everyone's arms trying to grab you.
You turned back just as you ran out the door, but you collided with someone else trying to enter.
You fell to the floor, staring up at Steve.
He walked closer, aiming to help you up.
"No, no, no" you muttered as you shuffled backwards.
You turned and hurriedly got to your feet, but Thor was standing in front of you.
You looked around at everyone staring back at you.
You started backing up, hoping to find the wall.
You hit something metal.
It wrapped around you.
Before you could scream, Tony hit the side of your neck with something.
You get your eyelids slowly droop shut.
"I'm so sorry y/n" Tony apologised.
"Tony..."
Your eyes closed and you lost control of your body. It went limp in Tony's arms, but he tried to hold you up.
He picked you up and followed the others out the room to take you home.
---
"No. No. Let me go."
"Guys..." Nat called for the attention of the others, and she pointed at you as you began to move in your sleep.
"No... No" you mumbled.
The Avengers all looked at you, but you went quiet and stopped moving again.
Then suddenly you sat up gasping for breath.
It took a moment for you to notice the others, and the glass separating you.
"What's going on? Why am I in here?"
You looked over at Tony, who was smiling at you.
You wanted to cry.
You slowly stood up from the bed and walked over, placing your hand on the glass.
"Why am I in here?" you asked again. "I- I didn't do anything."
"I know" Tony said. "It was just a precaution. We didn't know what they had done to you."
"You drugged me" you recalled.
"Y/n, like Tony said" Natasha added. "It was just a precaution."
"I didn't do anything."
"Y/n-"
"No, I didn't do anything. I- I just wanted to help him" your eyes began to water with worry.
"You wanted to help him?" Natasha asked.
"Please tell me he's okay."
"We didn't check. We left as soon as we found you."
"No, no, no. I've gotta help him!"
The others didn't say anything, so you started banging on the glass.
"Let me out! Let me out!" you tried to yell, but the pain and fear that consumed you degraded your voice to a croak. Your throat still felt sore, but you persisted. "Please, Tony" you looked at him.
Tony opened his mouth and took a deep breath, but said nothing. He wanted to open the cell and just hold you in his arms. He seemed as though he was about to give in, but Natasha interrupted.
"Tony, we can't."
You felt betrayed. Untrusted.
You looked between Tony and Natasha.
You couldn't figure out why you were in there.
Little did you know, when you said you wanted to help him, they thought you were referring to Rumlow. They had no idea that Bucky was there.
They never realised he had been taken too.
Natasha saw you on the verge of tears, and she faced you with as comforting a look as she could manage.
"Everything will be okay. I promise."
"No, no, no" you muttered repeatedly. You put both hands on your head, pulling on your hair as you walked backwards in your cell. You hit the wall. You slid down it until you were sitting, and you pulled your knees up to your chest. You hid your face so the others couldn't see you cry.
You drowned out what the others were saying.
"Are you sure about this?" Steve asked.
"I don't think she's going to hurt anyone" Bruce argued, noting your weakened state.
"We can't be sure" Natasha sighed. "She wants to go back and help them."
"She tried to get away when we were at the Hydra base" Clint added.
"I don't think she's on our side right now" Nat said.
"Really?" Steve questioned, and he nodded towards you, still crying. "Look, if she attacks us, then we can put her back in there. But I think we should give her a chance."
"Fine. But if you get your ass kicked, that's on you Rogers" Nat shrugged, and went to open the door of the cell.
Steve walked in first, slowly approaching you until he was bent down in front of you.
He placed a hand gently on your shoulder, but you flinched and he pulled away.
You looked up at him apologetically.
Steve then put his hand on your cheek, and his palm felt cold on your burning red face. He ran his hand back in your hair and held the back of your head. He pulled you towards him and you pressed your face into his chest. You wrapped your arms around him and held on for a moment.
He helped you up and had his arm around you as you walked out the cell.
Tony raised his arms when you were close enough and you hugged him tightly.
"It's okay" Tony tried to assure you, stroking his hand up and down your back.
"Please Tony" you cried onto his shirt. "Let me go back."
"I'm sorry y/n."
You stepped back. When he tried to hold on, you shoved him away with more force.
You took one last look around you; everyone was staring at you.
Then you sprinted towards the door, out the room, away.
"You're gonna let her go?" Yelena asked.
Tony stared at the spot on the floor where you stood a moment ago.
He sighed.
"Jarvis lock all exits. Make sure y/n doesn't leave."
"Of course sir."
Tony left.
The others migrated to the lounge.
Steve took a detour, but joined the others a few minutes later.
"Have any of you seen Bucky? I wanted to tell him about y/n but he's not in his room."
The others said "no" and or shook their heads.
"Haven't seen him since the party" Sam said.
"You haven't?"
"No. Sorry."
Steve was slightly concerned, so he called Sharon, standing at the side of the room to have a private conversation.
"Hello?"
"Hey Sharon, it's Steve."
"Mhm. You okay?"
"Yeah. I was just wondering, have you seen Bucky at all?"
"Not since the party, no."
"I thought you, um, you didn't... spend the night together?"
"Nope. I left halfway through. Got the feeling I wasn't wanted."
"How come?"
"Took a beating from the host."
"Tony?"
"His sister."
"Y/n? Why?"
"Apparently, her and Bucky are... something."
"What do you mean?"
"She called Bucky her boyfriend."
"Her what?"
"I know. Surprised me too."
"So they were together when you left?"
"Yup."
"Okay. Im gonna have to call you back" Steve said before hanging up. He looked down at the phone in his hands and didn't notice Natasha looking at him.
"Everything alright?" she asked.
Steve looked up with a worried realisation.
"Y/n wasn't talking about Rumlow" he said. He hurried over to the elevator, hoping to find Tony.
Natasha jumped over the couch to follow him.
They stood in front of the elevator doors, waiting for it to reach their floors.
"You think she was talking about Bucky?" Nat asked.
"Sam said Bucky left with Sharon not long before the crash. Then Sharon said she left Bucky when y/n showed up. Based on what Sharon told me, I reckon they went outside together."
"And what did Sharon tell you?"
"Y/n called Bucky her boyfriend."
Before Natasha could react to the new information, the elevator doors in front of them opened.
They didn't have the chance to enter before Tony walked out.
"Y/n left" Tony said. "Broke the front door."
He tapped his watch and a hologram appeared, playing a video of you smashing the glass door with a chair.
You were going to save him.