The long lost Barnes

A Fractured Peace

Day Thirty: The Calm Before the Storm

The compound had returned to a semblance of normalcy after the tension of the previous weeks. On the surface, things seemed fine—people moved in and out of the mission rooms, briefings were scheduled, and the Avengers' routines continued as they planned their next steps in the fight against Hydra. But beneath it all, a storm was brewing.

For Bucky, every moment of peace with Leia felt like a gift. They had begun to rebuild a relationship that had been fractured by years of darkness. But as he watched her grow stronger—slowly shedding the weight of Hydra's manipulation—he knew that the battle wasn't just against external enemies. It was against the ghosts of the past, ones that both of them had been running from for too long.

Leia had made incredible strides. She was no longer the fractured, guarded woman who had first arrived at the compound. There were moments—brief, fleeting moments—where she allowed herself to feel joy again. Where she allowed herself to be close to him. But just as quickly, those moments would slip away, her mind drawn back to the darkness that still haunted her.

And then, there was Steve. The fracture between him and Leia, as much as Bucky had hoped would heal with time, was still there—an open wound that neither of them could ignore.

Bucky had seen it in Steve's eyes during their debriefs, during the quiet moments when they weren't in front of the team. The guilt. The anger. But also, a deep, unresolved love—a brother's love—that felt suffocating at times. And Leia, for all her strength, wasn't ready to forgive the man who had abandoned her, even if it had been in the name of protecting her.

Day Thirty-One: The Ghosts of Hydra

The real storm, though, was about to hit.

It came in the form of a report from SHIELD intelligence—a satellite had picked up unusual Hydra activity near an abandoned facility in the Arctic Circle. The data was sparse, but the few coordinates they could gather indicated something far more troubling than a standard Hydra operation. They were working on something big. And the source of the information was disturbing enough to get Steve to call an emergency meeting.

The Avengers assembled once again in the briefing room, a sense of urgency hanging in the air.

"This isn't just another outpost," Steve said, his face drawn and tense. "Hydra's moving something, or someone, and I don't like the sound of it. It's too quiet. We need to find out what they're up to before it's too late."

Bucky had seen Steve like this before—focused, determined, but also burdened with a sense of impending doom. Steve didn't trust Hydra. But it wasn't just the mission that had him on edge. It was the knowledge that they were walking into the unknown, and that, somehow, it all felt connected to Leia.

She had been quiet throughout the briefing, sitting at the back of the room with her arms crossed, her gaze focused on the screen but distant in a way that was impossible to ignore.

"Do you think they're still hunting you?" Natasha asked, her eyes fixed on Leia. Her tone wasn't accusatory, but it carried the weight of concern. They had all seen the records—Hydra's experiments, their interest in Leia, how they'd used her as a template for their most dangerous weapons.

Leia's expression hardened, but she didn't flinch. "I don't think they ever stopped hunting me," she said, her voice even, but with an edge of bitterness. "But it's not just me anymore. It never was."

Bucky felt her words like a punch to the gut, the weight of her statement sinking deep. It wasn't just about her. It was about everyone they had lost. Everyone Hydra had twisted and turned into tools for their experiments. Bucky knew that better than anyone. But to hear Leia speak it so bluntly, so matter-of-factly, made it real in a way that was almost unbearable.

"We're going," Steve said, his voice cutting through the tension. "But we need to be prepared. Whatever Hydra is doing up there, it's serious. I don't know if we can go in with the full team—too many moving parts. We'll need to stay stealthy."

"You think they might have another super-soldier serum?" Sam asked, his tone skeptical.

"I don't know," Steve admitted, his jaw tight. "But I'm not taking any chances."

Day Thirty-Five: The Arctic Mission

The journey to the Arctic was cold. Unforgiving. The harsh winds and the snowstorm they encountered en route only amplified the tension that had been building between the team. They flew in under the radar, and as soon as they set down on the icy plain, they moved quickly, securing the perimeter of the facility.

It was a large, heavily fortified structure, buried deep within the ice and snow, almost like a forgotten relic of a time before. But as they got closer, they noticed something that was wrong—something was alive inside. The compound was active.

"This isn't just a research facility," Wanda murmured as she extended her senses. "There are people inside. And they're... moving."

Steve turned to the group, his face steely. "We go in, we go in hard. No hesitation."

The team moved through the blizzard, the wind biting through their clothes as they approached the facility's entrance. Bucky stayed close to Leia, his eyes constantly scanning their surroundings. He could feel the pull of something in the air—the same sense of dread he had felt during his own time with Hydra. But this time, it was different. It wasn't just the ghosts of the past. It was the possibility that Hydra was about to create something that would destroy everything.

--------------------------------------------------

The facility was vast, filled with high-tech equipment and monitoring stations, but everything was eerily silent. As they moved deeper into the compound, Bucky could feel the weight of the walls pressing in on him. The same cold, sterile environment that had once been his prison now surrounded Leia—his wife, his partner—and he knew that whatever was happening here was personal.

They found their first sign of life when they entered a large lab at the center of the compound. A group of Hydra scientists was gathered around a table, working on a device that looked suspiciously like the machine that had been used to enhance the Winter Soldier. The equipment wasn't just for weapons. It was for control. Bucky's heart began to race.

"What are they doing?" Steve asked, his voice low.

Leia stepped forward, her eyes scanning the lab with sharp focus. "They're trying to unlock the full potential of the serum. But it's not just about physical enhancement. They're creating a way to control the soldiers."

The scientists didn't see them coming until it was too late. Bucky and Steve moved in, taking them down with swift precision. As they searched the room, they found files on Project Leviathan—the latest Hydra initiative designed to create an army of super-soldiers who could be controlled with a neural implant.

But there was something else in the data that froze Bucky in place. The final entry was labeled "Project Phoenix - Final Phase." His blood ran cold.

"That's..." Bucky swallowed, trying to process what he was seeing. "That's Leia. They're using her as the blueprint for this."

Leia's eyes widened. "No... no, that's impossible."

But the files didn't lie. The Phoenix serum wasn't just a new iteration of the super-soldier serum. It was designed to bring a soldier to peak physical and mental control, erasing their free will entirely. It wasn't just about enhancing a person's abilities. It was about owning them.

The full horror of what they had uncovered hit like a ton of bricks. Hydra had taken Leia's genetic blueprint and perfected it, using it to create a new generation of soldiers. She wasn't just a victim—they had made her the foundation of their nightmare.