Dead Memories

13

Chapter Thirteen

Steve waited a corner away from Bucky's "room", a paper bag clutched in his too tight fist. The wall warmed up behind his back, he's been standing there that long.

'Gathering courage?' someone asked and Steve turned his head to look at Maria Hill.

'Hey, when did you get here?' he asked.

'Just now,' she said as she walked closer. 'I heard you still haven't been in there.'

Bucky's been at Stark Tower for about 30 hours now and Steve just... he couldn't find the right moment to visit him. He felt really bad about it, and he wasn't a coward, he was not afraid of visiting him. He just wasn't sure what to expect.

'Thor's in there now,' Steve said, not answering the real question.

'Think he will get more out of him?' Maria asked.

Thor probably only asked about Loki and frankly, Steve had no idea how much Bucky would tell him. Loki was one of the things he kept silent about. So Steve just shook his head and shrugged.

He thought he had a pretty good grasp on what this "new" Bucky was like, but that first conversation he had with Natasha proved otherwise. He knew the Winter Soldier's single-minded focus and ruthless drive, how nothing mattered just the mission. The secretive, quiet Bucky he talked to before was strange, but Steve still caught glimpses of the man he used to be. That Bucky smiled when he told him he remembered Becca. That Bucky woke him up to show him the nebula outside his window, and easily pressed their shoulders together as they admired the view. Steve knew nothing of the Bucky he saw through the cameras since he got here. Coiled anger and calmly uttered threats. It was new and disconcerting, even if Steve understood his anger at being imprisoned.

'I think he's going to keep his mouth shut just out of principle,' Steve said then. Bucky was angry, so he was not going to give them anything important. Steve was pretty sure Natasha agreed, but she did not say anything. She seemed a lot less bothered by her first conversation with Bucky than Steve thought she would be. Maybe she thought she could get something out of him eventually. They didn't have that much time though. This whole plan was stupid. Bucky could've been reasoned with, Steve was sure of that, but not like this.

'Something needed to be done, you know that,' said Maria, but Steve just shook his head.

'Yeah, but this won't get us anywhere,' he said firmly. He was absolutely certain of that.

'This is his chance to speak without Loki breathing down his neck,' Maria said. 'That's what Natasha wanted, to give him this chance. Remind him of that, will you?'

This was his chance to come clean, was what Maria meant. He could tell them everything he knew, and then they would help him. A conditional offer of safety. It left a foul taste in Steve's mouth, even if he knew that this was how things were usually done. And Bucky did not want to be rescued, he made that very clear the last time Steve spoke to him. He also did not appreciate being locked up for his own good, that should have been more than obvious to anyone. Yes, something needed to be done, but not this. Steve did not know what, but definitely not this.

Maria walked away just as Steve heard the door to Bucky's room opening and closing.

'How did it go?' Steve asked carefully as Thor got close enough to him.