Lies of Silver, Heart of Gold ~§~ Bucky Barnes

-035-

Carina wakes up, once again in the cold metal chair she has come to dread, to the whirring and screaming of Bucky in his chair on the other side of the partition.

"В какой день? (What day?)" she asks the guard, still groggy.

"10 августа (10 August)," he replies monotonously.

She was not expecting it to have only been four months, though to her it feels like years. The date the guard says doesn't completely register to her for a few seconds, but once it does, she chokes back a sob.

Two years in a row, she thinks. Two fucking years I haven't been there. I need to get out of here.

Carina starts to twirl her ring with her thumb in rhythm with her breathing in order to calm herself down. An orangey-red lock of hair falls in her face and she tries to blow it out of her eye, but the sound of the door opening startles her and she jerks upright, causing the lock to fall right back where it was.

"Welcome back, Agent Nyx," Rumlow's gruff voice utters. Carina hates the code name he gave her, especially due to its double meaning—the goddess of night, for her ability to kill from the shadows, though she wishes she didn't have to; and nothing, as her reminder that she is worth nothing without her powers and would be nixed if she ever refused to use them on a mission.

Rumlow continues. "The mission last week went better than I could have hoped. Oh, and," he smirks, "I've received a little tidbit of information, as leader of the S.T.R.I.K.E. team, that your friend Romanoff is having her physical to be cleared from medical leave tomorrow. In fact, I'm testing her fighting skills for field missions myself."

"Why are you bothering to tell me this?" Carina asks with as much snark as she can muster, though she feels to stiff and exhausted to come up with much.

Rumlow lunges forward and grabs her chin. "Because," he growls through his teeth, "your reward for that mission's great success depends on her results tomorrow. She passes—you get a day of solitude with your man as his boring self. Fail," he pauses again, "and you have to have a physical of your own, a complete work up done by yours truly, while boring Bucky watches you get poked and prodded."

Carina hadn't noticed until now that the electrocution had stopped, but upon hearing Rumlow's words, Bucky starts breathlessly cursing and making threats at their handler.

"Get your filthy hands off her, you two-faced сука!" he yells. "Rumlow, I swear to God if you touch her I will make your last moments the most excruciating, blinding, painful experience until I finally rip you to shreds!"

Rumlow scoffs, not bothering to look away from Carina. "Well, look who's back to being awake so quickly. Say hi to Bucky before he goes to the freezer for the night, sweetheart." He lets go of Carina and steps back to the wall. He hits a button and a loud buzz echoes in her ears as the shackles on her wrists open and she watches the clear partition slide into a thin opening in the wall. Before she realizes what she's doing, Carina lunges for Bucky and smashes her lips into his—the first physical contact they've had as themselves since they were taken.

"See you tomorrow, Riana, for better or worse," he whispers, leaning into her hand in order to feel the ring he hasn't touched since he put it on her. "Let's hope with everything we have that Nat passes that physical, okay?"

Carina reads his mind and can't help but laugh at the nickname stemming from her first middle name, just like his. She nods and kisses him once more before the doctor enters with what she knows is a sedative and she sneaks a wisp of protective magic into his ear, hoping it will last until the next time they try to activate him. Rumlow pulls her off him and sets her back in her own half of the room, then hits the button on the wall again, closing the partition and reclasping her shackles.

"Don't worry, Nyxie, you'll see him tomorrow," Rumlow sneers into her ear as she watches Bucky slump over from the sedative. "You better hope Romanoff passes or this won't be fun for either of you."

"Remember I'm a human lie detector, Brock," she chimes. "If you aren't honest with me about her results tomorrow, I'll know."

~§~

Clint follows Nat to the Quinjet, where they are met by Tony and Pepper.

"Thank you for flying Iron Man Air, please find your seat and wait for instructions," Tony jokes. He takes the duffel bag of arrows from Clint and leads them into the jet. Natasha waits until they're in the air to start talking again.

"Do you really think I'm ready to go back?" Nat asks nervously.

Clint fidgets with the small bracelet on his wrist, tracing the bronze around the gold with his finger, though not bothering to look at the jewelry. "I've trained with you myself, Nat. You can relax—we're not in Budapest anymore, and there's no Red Room here. There won't be any punishment if you don't pass. You're safe and you're ready, I promise."

Natasha glances at Clint's hand against the bracelet and presses her lips together to fight off her words momentarily. She sighs. "I know you miss Carina, Clint. You know, if we're careful enough, Rumlow will get sloppy with his double-agency at some point and lead us right to them."

"And how long is that gonna take?" Clint snaps, still not removing his finger from the bracelet. "I just want my kid home again. I wanted her to meet Lila and Coop, and Laura, I would've even taken Barnes if it would've convinced her to go. Part of her birthday present from me would've been an invitation to the farm, and then the safe house got raided and—"

"—and it wasn't your fault, Clint," Nat interrupts. "I know a thousand percent that's exactly what you think, that you led HYDRA to them with your visits. But I seriously doubt that was the case." She gets up and moves across the Quinjet to sit next to Clint. "You didn't do this to her, and you need to stop telling yourself that you did."

Clint finally lets go of the bracelet and rests his head in his hands, unable to continue speaking without his voice breaking.

Once the Quinjet arrives at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Clint and Natasha manage brave faces and make their way inside, where Director Fury is waiting.

"Agent Romanoff," he calls. "Good to see you. Ready for your physical?"