Melioration ~ James Buchanan Barnes

OO4 ~ Bucky

'Who the hell is Bucky?' He asks and watches how hope and relief are disappearing in the man's eyes. 'It's me, Steve.' Steve? He doesn't know a Steve. Right? 

But then a memory vaguely shines through in his mind. A memory of the 1940's, right before he joined the army. A skinny boy who he called his best friend got himself in a fight again. 

It's a distant memory and it goes just as quickly as it came. 'I have no idea who you are.' Bucky then says bluntly. And for the most part, he speaks the truth. He wants to grab his gun again but the Iron Man blasts him towards the other end of the hallway. 'We are not having another Loki. Steve, put your emotions aside and take him into custody. He's not going anywhere until I have answers.' How naive to think Bucky will stay here. At least, that's what he thinks. 

Unfortunately, Steve succeeds in capturing Bucky and ten minutes later he is standing in a glass cage. The cage is clearly made for something even stronger than Bucky but that aside, how is {y/n} going to react? She sees everything, follows his every step. No way he's just going to walk away like it's nothing after this. But he's not worried about that now. He rather worries about finding a way out of here and towards the Scepter to then take it back to Chicago where you await him. He is not going to let the Avengers win from him. Not today.

~

Back in Chicago you watch it all happening step by step. Anger is taking the best of you and with screams of rage you throw your things off your desk. 'Damn you, Stark!' You squint your eyes as you watch him stepping out of his suit right before Captain America takes James away. 

How could you not have seen this? Captain America... Only the name brings up so much disgust. And he happens to be James' best friend. Luckily, he doesn't remember him at all and that crushed him. But to set things straight, you need to go there and help James out of his cage and to then steal the Scepter together. No way in hell that they can succeed in turning him back to good ole' Bucky. If you did your work right, it's not possible. 

You get on a Hydra jet fast, disguised as a private airline company, and fly towards New York. You can take a plane, James can't due to his status as Winter Soldier. He has quite the record and even though mysterious and never caught, someone did once describe the way he looks to the police. He always had a red star on his arm, you didn't change that and on second thought, you should have. It's the first thing they recognize about him. Even though you fly with Hydra, you need to land on an airport. 

'Thank you. Hail Hydra!' You say when you step off the plane and see the pilot quickly when getting off. A car is waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs you come off and a driver is greeting you. A small Hydra pin is visible on his jacket. It's wonderful to see so many people within the organization and also out there in the world. Hydra is everywhere. Hospitals, airports, public transportation, fire department, politics etc. The only place for them to set root is the police department and the army. They once had the army as well until Captain fucking America. He knew the schemes and saw right through the people. He exposed them all and now there are two clean places. Luckily, they're planning again to return on those spots. Because, well, Hail Hydra! And not every place is crawling with Hydra. The airport for example is still the smallest within the organization.

The driver takes you towards the Avengers Tower after letting you change into something with more.. credibility. You will pose as someone from the government so they have to let you in. Once you have gained a little bit of trust, you free Barnes and take the Scepter. Theoretically speaking, you should be able to pull this off. Now you're hoping that the Avengers are dumber than they look. 

You enter the building with confidence, seeing the damage James has done already and you can't help but feel proud. He did that because you told him to and it feels great. Now let's hope he'd kill Steve Rogers for you. 

'Excuse me.' You smile sweetly at a woman who is trying to clean this all up. The body's have already been taken somewhere else. 'I'm looking for Mr Tony Stark. I'm from the department of defense and I need to speak with him urgently.' You say and point at the map you're holding. It contains nothing important. It's all nonsense but it will hopefully get you far enough in your plan. 

The woman openly panics because well, something major happened here and now the so called "department of defense" is standing in the building. 'I will call him. Please wait.' She hastily says and she calls him through the intercom. Not many moments later, Tony Stark himself appears from the elevator. 

'Ah! Ms...' He shakes your hand and you smile while giving him your alias. 'Jones. Mariah Jones.' It's not your name obviously but seeming that the Avengers are a part of Shield who has their eyes on Hydra, it could be that they know your name. It was a lucky guess to see if they know your face as well. But they don't. 

'Ms Jones. Welcome at the Avengers base. I wasn't expecting you so soon!' He smiles a little nervously. 'I know. I should have called but this is urgent and acquires your attention immediately. It's about the threat we're facing. I think you're already familiar with him seeming the damage on the ground floor.' 

He gets a hand through his hair and guides you into some sort of break room on the second floor. 'That depends what threat you're talking about, Mariah.' Oh, he switched to first name already. You're digging that. 'That threat is called the Winter Soldier. Mysterious and never caught by law enforcements. It has recently come to our attention that he is planning another hit. On you most definitely. I'm guessing you have something here that he, or the ones that are controlling him, want to have. Is this true?' You watch him intently as he softly scratches his neck. 

'No. We didn't have an attack from someone like that. Truth be told, and I was ashamed to tell you, we had a mistake with my Iron Man suit and it destroyed the ground floor. I need to tinker more, I guess. If you want, we can look for him in the city or perhaps even the state?' You can't believe that he is lying to your face right now. To someone who is even above him in job function. 

'Oh, well. There are speculations that he would come here to get something. Tell me or I am forced to get a warrant, what do you have in here that he wants?' You're starting to lose your patience and you want him to tell you where the damn Scepter is.