Fire and Ice - (Bucky Barnes x OC) 18+

Chapter 28

Returning to the Compound in disarray, the Avengers landed the jet and Steve helped Bucky inside. The others all piled in after them and began discussing their next plan of action. Wanda threw Yuri down in the cell blocks while Bruce made sure it was secure. 

The witch tortured the man with his own medicine for good measure. She knew what it felt like to be a test subject in Hydra for a brief time, and relished in taking her anger out on the asshole who was the cause for her best friends pain for decades.

Natasha joined her and together they tried to gain anything they could out of him. Hydras base locations, Pierces secret hideaways, anything and everything. Yuri fought and refused—till it became too painful, then he broke like a canary swaying on a swing in a cage, spilling a few locations just so they would stop the torture. The torturer became the tortured.

"For someone who was praised in the red room, you don't seem like much, Natalia Romanova." Yuri spat her name off his tongue, and the black widow raised a brow while cocking her head.

"Say it again and we'll see just how much i can be," She threatened, her tone laced with venom as she snatched the remote from Wandas hand and pressed the button out of sheer anger. Yuri screamed and squirmed in agony on the floor and it made her lips curl into a sickening smirk. 

While both women could be loving and supportive, they could also be scary dangerous and right now, they chose to dance with the devil. Once the girls relayed the information they got, a plan was set into motion.

"Bucky..." Steve gently touched his best friends shoulder and felt him flinch again. 

"Why don't you go get cleaned up."

Bucky didn't say a word but he did get up and walk upstairs, leaving Steve to exchange a look with Sam, they were both worried about him. Throughout the meeting on planning how to find Alex, Bucky sat silent as the dead while listening and becoming lost in his own thoughts. Much of those thoughts were filled with guilt, anger and confusion.

Why would she do that?...

Why would she switch places and allow that to happen?...

Why would she sacrifice herself for me?...

He couldn't shut it off, everything that happened to both of them over the month tortured him while he stood in the shower fully clothed. He slid his back against the tiled wall and slumped till his butt made contact with the floor. The water fell over him like a soft summer rain, and all he could picture in his head was her face.

The water continued to pour down the drain and after 30 minutes, Friday alerted the compound to running water that had gone on too long. That was when Steve dropped everything and hurried upstairs praying his bestfriend didn't do something stupid. 

He checked Bucky's room, seeing it empty he walked further in checking the ensuite, and finding a soaked through super soldier on the shower floor. Steve loosed a breath of relief before stepping forth to turn the lever off, and crouch down to Bucky's level.

"Hey Buck...come on, let's get you dry, yeah," His voice was soft as if he was talking to a very fragile puppy. When Bucky tilted his face up slightly, Steve's gaze softened at the red rimmed eyes. There was no denying he'd been crying.

"Steve i...she...Alex..." Bucky couldn't form a sentence, his voice wavered and he shook from the cold that suddenly weaved its way into his body, and it wasn't just because he was wet. This cold felt like it went bone deep, even deeper than that.

"I know buck, it's gonna be okay," Steve assured, clasping his hand with Bucky's to help pull him up and out of the shower. He grabbed a towel off the rack and wrapped it around his friends shoulders, rubbing his arms through the towel.