Red, White & Blue | Bucky x Reader

Chapter Fifteen

We step into the elevator, descending into the depths of the bunker. When it stops, Steve gives us each a quick nod before heaving up the cage door. Bucky walks out first, his rifle raised in front of him, followed by me, my fingers dancing at my sides, and Steve, shield up and ready to strike.

We stay close to the wall as we quietly march through the hallway. Approach a corner, Bucky peers around it to find an alcove full of junk, and we continue moving forward, eventually reaching a set of stairs. As we begin to climb them, a loud creak screeches behind us, and we spin on our heels, facing the direction we came. Steve lifts his shield, preparing to defend us as Bucky aims his weapon over our shoulders.

"You ready?" Steve asks.

"Yeah," we reply.

The elevator doors creak again as they are forced open, surprising us when they reveal the face of Iron Man.

Tony slowly walks toward us as he retracts his helmet. "You seem a little defensive."

With his shield still raised, Steve approaches Tony, and Bucky carefully steps around me, keeping his rifle on Tony while shielding me with his body. I stay behind him, but I keep my hands loose at my sides, ready to call up my powers at the slightest movement.

"It's been a long day," Steve replies.

"At ease, soldiers," Tony calls to us. "I'm not currently after you."

Bucky and I don't move from our positions.

"Then why are you here?" Steve demands.

"Could be your story's not so crazy," Tony admits. "Dr. Broussard, the real Dr. Broussard, was found dead in a Berlin hotel room a few hours ago. A man called Helmut Zemo killed and impersonated him to get access to Barnes."

"Things would've been a whole lot easier if you'd just listened to us from the start," I state.

"Clearly, I was wrong," Tony replies. "I made a mistake."

"I guess there's a first time for everything," I say, finally relaxing from my defensive position.

Tony half-smiles. "Look, Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself."

"Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork," Steve jokes, lowering his shield. "It's good to see you, Tony."

"You too, Cap," Tony replies before turning to Bucky. "Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop..."

I take a step down the stairs, placing a hand on Bucky's arm reassurance. With a quick glance between me and Steve, he lowers his weapon.

Tony reengages his helmet as he takes the lead, the four of us cautiously continuing through the hallways, moving deeper into the facility. Turning around the next corner, we discover an enormous chamber, its thick, metal door propped wide open.

Tony stops us. "I got heat signatures."

"How many?" Steve asks.

"Uh..." Tony hesitates. "One."

The lights click on as we enter the vast chamber, and in the middle of the room, six large capsules sit in a half circle, a hazy, yellow mist pouring out of them. In the centre of the half circle is a chair with metal arms and a variety of monitoring equipment sitting on the floor beside it.

I look over at Bucky to see his eyes are on the chair, a tortured look on his face as he relives his HYDRA memories. I take a step toward him, gently running a knuckle down his side to pull him back to the present moment. He offers me a small smile in thanks.

Slowly, we creep further into the room, Steve and Tony moving to investigate the capsules on the right as Bucky and I move to investigate the ones on the left.

An accented voice suddenly comes through the speakers. "If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep."

Approaching the capsules, I see that a bullet has been shot through each one, shattering the glass and piercing the skull of the enhanced individuals inside.

"Did you really think I wanted more of you?" the voice asks.

"What the hell?" Bucky mumbles, lifting his rifle higher. I stick close to his side, powers ready, as we glance around, searching for the source of the voice.

"I'm grateful to them, though," the voice continues. "They brought you here."

On the far side of the room, a light clicks on and we spin toward it, Steve hurling his shield at the man sitting on the other side of the window. It bounces off the unbreakable glass, rebounding off a nearby pillar before returning to Steve's arm.

"Please, Captain," Zemo chuckles. "The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets."

"Yeah, but I bet they didn't build it to withstand teleporters," I threaten, taking a few steps forward. "I can just teleport in there and kick your ass."

"Oh, I'm sure you could, Lieutenant Y/l/n," Zemo replies, stopping me in my tracks. "But then you'd never know why you came."

Steve approaches the control room where Zemo sits, peering at him through the glass. "You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?"

"I thought of nothing else for over a year," Zemo confesses. "I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here... I just realized... There's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw."

"You're Sokovian," Steve realizes, picking up on the accent. "Is that what this is about?"

"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell," Zemo states. "No. I'm here because I made a promise."

"You lost someone?" Steve asks.

"I lost everyone, and so will you," Zemo states, turning to press a button. Nearby, a monitor boots up. "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumples from within? That's dead. Forever."

Steve, Tony, Bucky, and I reach the screen as the surveillance footage begins to play, the date on the bottom reading: December 16th, 1991.

"I know that road," Tony mumbles, turning to Zemo. "What is this?"

Bucky and I glance at each other, both of us knowing exactly what's about to play out on the screen.