Winter Is Coming (A Bucky Barnes Fanfic)

Chapter 2: Ice Castles

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." -John Ruskin

*

    "For the last damn time, I don't know my name, I don't work for anybody, and I don't know what I can do!" Inferno shouts, slamming her hands on the glass table and standing up. It's four thirty in the morning, and Fury is still interrogating Inferno. Every question she gets asked she doesn't know; she can't remember anything.

    "Call Doctor Banner," Fury instructs Stark, finally giving in. "Tell him we need that serum now whether he's finished or not." Stark pulls out his phone and calls Banner.

    "Who's Doctor Banner?" Inferno demands. She did not want another "scientist" doing painful tests on her.

    "Just a friend that can hopefully help us out," Natasha says tiredly, yawning half-sentence.

    "Help with what?" Inferno seems inexhaustible. "I don't need help."

    "You've obviously lost your memory. Banner can help you get it back," Natasha explains further. Inferno clenches her jaw but doesn't argue.

    "Give him fifteen," Stark says as he hangs up.

    "Agent Romanoff, if you would please take Miss Inferno to the lab," Fury directs Natasha.

    "Lab?" Inferno's voice is laced with something she has never spoken with since she came to S.H.I.E.L.D.—fear. She follows Natasha out of the room cautiously, regardless of her sudden emotional change.

    "Don't worry, Banner is an excellent man," Natasha says in an attempt to comfort Inferno. "He'll only help you." She opens the door to the lab and lets Inferno in first.

    "I hope you're right about that."

*

    "Rise and shine, Bucky!" Steve slams his fist against Bucky's apartment door to wake him up. Steve  is eager to get to S.H.I.E.L.D. and meet this Inferno character that Natasha brought in.

    Bucky swings the door open with a frown. "I'm out of coffee."

    Steve laughs. Bucky scoffs and wonders how the hell he's such a morning person.

    "They have coffee at S.H.I.E.L.D., don't worry," Steve reassures him as they take the elevator to the lobby. It was Saturday, which meant that Steve and Bucky walk to S.H.I.E.L.D. instead of motor biking. It was Steve's brilliant idea. He claimed it was good to get fresh air and stretch the legs.

    Bucky clenches his metal arm as they walk, making a fist and opening it, repeating the sequence until he could sense his upper arm working again. He slept on it wrong and must've screwed up a wire.

    The boys enter headquarters, and Steve immediately greets the workers. Bucky didn't enjoy going into S.H.I.E.L.D. sometimes. A lot of the workers there give him cold looks and make guilt crawl up his throat. They don't seem to understand that he was completely brainwashed the entire time; they don't know the difference between a villain and a victim.

    "Head up, Buck," Steve says as they walk to the elevator. "You won't see a bullet coming with your head down."

    Bucky grimaces. "My arm will."

    Steve goes silent until they see Fury. "Did you get them?"

    "Yes," Fury responds. "Natasha was able to get her to come here quite easily, even if she got shot in the process."