Stucky's Little Firefly

5. Destruction

Word Count: 1604
Steve's POV

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The meeting had finally concluded, we decided to do thorough research and collect evidence before acting on anything (much to Bucky's annoyance). We all wanted to protect Y/n, and would do anything to prevent them from coming to harm so the meeting was very difficult for us all. It was a big effort to not become extremely biased and act without 'proper' cause.

As I stood up to go talk to Y/n, Tony announced to the room, "Is everyone okay with pizza for dinner?"

I nodded to him, "yeah I'm sure that's fine. I'll let Y/n know." I left swiftly because I was beginning to feel quite hungry; most people stayed behind and soon a heated discussion about the superior pizza broke out. I could hear it even as I reached the end of the corridor.

As I reached Y/n's bedroom door, I listened for any noise, so that I wouldn't be disrupting them if they were on the phone or listening to something, but it was completely silent other than some light wind. I knocked on the door, "hey, Firefly, can I come in?" I got no response so I tried again, "Firefly?"

This time, I opened the door slightly and poked my head round it. Y/n wasn't on their bed like usual so I stepped into the room. Instantly, I noticed that everything had been trashed: their desk chair was sprawled on the floor, the bookshelf nearest their window had also fallen; it was resting against the edge of their bed, and all of the books had fallen out, they were now scattered around and many of them looked damaged; the window was smashed and the glass was littering the floor in front of it.

I checked the ensuite and saw they weren't there either so I stopped and stood staring at the demolished room, my thoughts non-existent until I heard myself shouting desperately for F.R.I.D.A.Y., when she didn't answer, my panic continued to grow so I sprinted down the stairs - the elevator would only slow me down - and went straight to find everyone. Passing Wanda and Vision in a hurry, I bursted into the meeting room once again, I immediately got everyone's attention and cried out, "Y/n's room- it's all- and I- I don't-"

Buck came over and grabbed my shoulders, he looked slightly panicked but spoke softly, "Deep breaths, Steve. Then tell us what you want to say."

After taking a second to catch my breath, I spoke again, "Y/n's room has been destroyed, their window was smashed, and I don't know where they are."

Buck's face dropped and then hardened, he dropped his hands from my shoulders and stood staring at the ground. Bruce was staring at us, opened mouthed and stood awkwardly. No one said anything for a while, Nat was the first to speak, "Let's kick their asses and get our kid back."

Tony nodded, "F.R.I.D.A.Y, alert all Avengers outside of this room to come here."

There was no response but then I remembered, "F.R.I.D.A.Y wasn't answering me when I was in Y/n's room."

"That's unusual. Hold on, I need to check something." He pulled out his phone and hurriedly left the room.

Sam followed behind him, "I'll go find everyone. It'll be quicker."

Everyone had returned to the room, bar Tony, fury consuming us all. No one spoke but everyone's eyes kept flicking over to Bucky and I. Bruce was about to go hunt down Tony and drag him back into the room but then we heard F.R.I.D.A.Y, "hello, Avengers. How may I be of assistance?"

Tony strutted into the room, "Don't everyone applaud at once."

Sternly, I asked, "Tony, do you have anything on Y/n?"

"Sort of. I briefly looked over footage from outside the building, but couldn't see anything. You are more than welcome to look for yourself, Rogers."

We spent thirty minutes watching the footage of Firefly's abduction over and over again, analysing every millisecond. The culprits were wearing all black with a small red Hydra symbol on their arm; Bucky had pointed out, "Hydra wants us to know it was them that took Y/n. Agents don't usually wear the emblem, Hydra being a secret organisation and all."

I had to take a minute so I excused myself and left the room: I stood away from the doors and held my head in my hand. I couldn't go through this all again. Losing Buck to Hydra and fighting to get him back was so painfully excruciating, how on Earth could I cope with losing Firefly. Imagining Hydra hurting them made me so angry I nearly punched whoever was standing behind me. With hesitance, I turned to see Sam standing there, he was out of arm's reach, and spoke slowly, like I was a wild horse that wasn't used to humans, "We're going to get them back, Steve. None of us will rest until Y/n is safe and in their bed. I can guarantee that."

My voice shook, "What are they doing with them?"

"I don't know, man. But I would do anything for RB. You and Bucky aren't alone. You can talk to us, we're here for you."

Nodding, I stepped forward and spoke with sincerity, "I know. Thank you, Sam."

We walked back into the room, Buck waited until I was sat next to him again until he asked if I was alright.

"I'm not the one we need to worry about, Buck."

Wanda captured both of our attention when she suddenly stood up, "I can try to use my magic to see into Y/n's location. My magic gets weaker the further away they are but it could help us narrow down their location."

"Do whatever you can. We need any information we can get a hold of. No matter how small it is." Bucky spoke with authority, it was usually during game nights that he spoke like this, Y/n was always trying to steal money in Monopoly or 'dropped' the dice whenever they were really far behind. It always makes me feel safe. In that moment, some hope was restored within me.

We all remained silent as Wanda prepared herself to hunt for Firefly. As red swarmed her hands, she began to levitate slightly off the ground. It didn't take long until she broke the silence, "I have an image but it's faint. They're in a sort of I don't know what, it doesn't look to be an official Hydra base though."

Nat moved forward, "Can you see them?"

"I think so. It looks like there's a couple of kids around their age here."

Her breathing hitched and I moved to the edge of my seat, "What is it?" Urgency rang through my voice.

"Y/n is- they're on a chair, like a dentist's chair. They don't look conscious or wounded... but I can feel their energy."

"Wanda, sweetheart, what do you mean?" Vision stood next to her.

"I can't describe it. It's like there's another voice here, it's talking to them. They're frightened, they want to get away from it."

Before she could say anything else, Wanda fell to the floor, her consciousness now back in the room. Vision helped her up and onto a seat. Once she had settled she looked at Buck and I and spoke carefully, "It doesn't look like they've been injured, but they are incredibly distressed and frightened."

"Did you find any clues as to where they might be?" Buck sounded as if he was on the edge of tears. I can't imagine how he's feeling right now, surely this Hydra talk is triggering him?

"I don't think so. All I could see was that it was a large space, probably some sort of warehouse or below ground area. The walls looked old, so was the chair Y/n was in."

"Can we go off that?" Sam asked.

"Tony and I will narrow things down. Do you remember what the chair looked like? We could find the model and hopefully see everyone who purchased it. It works on crime shows..." He spoke sympathetically, "No promises but we'll do our best." Bruce fiddled with his glasses and kept flicking his eyes towards the ground. He's never been one for situations like this, but he tries his hardest and I am so grateful.

Tony, Bruce, and Wanda left the room to get a good start on research. Bucky and I followed closely behind them; instead of going into the lab, we went into our bedroom - we needed to be away from everyone and in our own space to process everything.

We were both dumbfounded and hardly spoke to each other until I heard a quiet cry coming from Buck. I sat next to him on the end of our bed and pulled him towards me for a hug, he sank into me and I could feel how his body moved from the crying. A few tears slipped down my cheek - I couldn't offer either of us comfort and neither could he but no words needed to be spoken.

We both knew how this could turn out. Parents sometimes think about what kind of situations their child could be in, the difference is that ours could very possibly be stolen from us. Even if we were sitting across from them, they might be Hydra not Firefly.

There's a very real possibility this could end in brainwashing or death. Maybe both.