Hydra

Chapter Two

Steve ruffles Bucky's hair before wandering over to his desk. Bucky didn't like being left home alone so he usually came with Steve when he worked weekends. Peggy was visiting family in London for a month so it was just Steve and Bucky. He sits at his desk while Bucky wanders off to find Natasha most likely. Bucky was halfway down the hall when they bring in Jasper Sitwell. Steve looks up from where he sat. Bucky stands frozen in place. Jasper smiles at him dangerously.

  "Hail HYDRA." He whispers and lunges at Bucky.

Bucky wakes up on the floor and the back of his head hurt. Had Jasper knocked him out? Or had he fainted. He sighs both possibilities were equally embarrassing. Sam helps him sit up.

  "You okay?" He asks, watching him. Bucky rubs the back of his head.

  "What happened?" Bucky asks.

  "You passed out." He answers and Bucky swallows. He catches Flash's father staring at him. He swallows and gets up.

  "I'm fine. Where's Steve?" He asks quietly, staring at the ground.

  "He had to go do the interrogation." Sam explains and Bucky nods.

  "I'm going to head home. Let him know please." He says quietly and Sam nods.

  "Need a ride?"

Bucky shakes his head. "I'll walk." Sam nods and doesn't say anything. Bucky wanders the streets with his backpack on his back. He sees a cafe and decides he should probably have some lunch at some point in time since he'd skipped breakfast. He steps into the cafe and instantly regrets it. Flash sat at a table with his friends and catches Bucky's eye when he walks in. Bucky turns around to leave.

"Hey Barnes. Heard you fainted." Flash calls, Bucky freezes. Flash smirks and comes closer.

"Take it outside boys." The manager calls to them. Flash grabs Bucky by the collar and drags him out the door. He throws him to the ground and the contents of his bag spill everywhere. Miko lands in a puddle. Flash laughs and picks the stuffed rabbit up.

"Still play with dollies Barnes?" Flash taunts, Bucky gets up but Flash shoves him back down again. Bucky glares up at him. Flash swings the first punch. Bucky falls into a puddle and stands up again only to get thrown back down again. Bucky gets a few hits in but Flash is bigger and stronger. Bucky doesn't stand much of a chance. He grabs a trash can lid and tries to use it as a shield but Flash grabs it and throws him to the ground. Bucky gets back to his feet.

"I can do this all day." He mumbles, his lip split in two places. Flash swings another punch and Bucky lands hard on his butt. Flash is grabbed by his collar and pulled back. Bucky looks up at Steve.

"In the car. Both of you. Now." Steve growls. Bucky blanches and scrambles to grab all of his things before following Steve's order. Bucky shoves Miko into his bag reluctantly and gets into the car. They drive in silence. Steve gets to the station and follows them in. Flash kept shoving Bucky from behind. Steve continues to walk.

"What are you doing with my kid?" Flash's father roars at Steve. Steve stands his ground.

  "I found him in an alley beating up my son." Steve answers.

  "He wouldn't do that!" He roars pulling Flash away from Steve and Bucky.

  "Oh yeah. 'Cause you know, he can totally beat himself up." Steve snaps while Bucky cowers behind him. Natasha swoops in and rests a hand on Bucky's shoulder while Thor separates the other pair.

  "Keep your freak of a child away from my son." Flash's father growls before walking out with Flash. Bucky bolts before Steve can stop him.

Steve gets a call from Tony to let him know that Bucky was safe and that he was planning on spending the night at the Stark tower. Sam comes over to give Steve some company.

  "I'm worried about him Sam. He still hasn't made in any friends and it seems like he's coming home with new bruises everyday." Steve sighs and Sam pats his back.

"You could always talk with Jane, maybe she'll have some thoughts." Sam suggests. Steve runs a hand through his hair sighing.

  "Yeah. Okay." He nods.

_________________________________________________________________________________

  "I want to drop out. It's not like it'll matter to anyone anyways." Bucky sighs. He was with Tony in the lab, curled up on a single couch cushion holding a bag of peas to his jaw. Tony looks up from his current project.

"It'll be hard to get a job if you don't graduate." Tony points out, watching the teen with concern. He glances at Bucky's untouched slice of pizza and then back up at his face. Bucky laughs bitterly.

  "I pretty much dropped out of school when I was twelve and only just started recently again. Besides. It's not like anyone would hire me even if I did graduate." He mumbles. Tony sighs.

"You have perfect grades and you're brilliant. People would be tripping over each other to hire you." Tony replies. Bucky shakes his head.

"You're wrong. They'd never give me a second glance." He mumbles, pulling the bag of peas away from his face. "I'm going to bed. See you in the morning." Bucky mumbles getting up.

"Night." Tony sighs, watching him go.

Bucky stayed up until about one before trying to get some sleep. He wakes up after having a nightmare about HYDRA capturing him again. He paces his room anxiously for about an hour, ignoring the growing pain in his stomach. He knew he should eat. But he was stressed out and tired, Steve usually had to remind him to eat when he got this way. He pulls Miko out of his bag and throws him across the room angrily before scrambling over to him and holding him tightly with his knees drawn to his chest. He buries his face in Miko's fur. J.A.R.V.I.S. Let's him know that Tony has made breakfast. Bucky mumbles a quiet thank you before making his way down stairs.