35

Steve POV 

"Why the hell is your storage closet such a mess?" Sam yells at me as another box falls on him.

"We put things in here to forget about them!" I justify, rummaging through a pile of random crap. "Organizing it would kind of be counterproductive." I throw the box when it turns out to be unhelpful. "It's mostly just war memorabilia and classified files, anyway..." 

"Why did you put the remote for Bucky's arm in here, then?" 

"I didn't see myself needing it in the future!" I can feel myself growing increasingly panicked. It's the middle of the night, and we are running out of time as we search for a tiny little remote control that I threw in this closet ages ago. We're only running on a small hope that Shuri put a tracker in this one, and we have no time to call her and ask. 

"Ooh, a note," Sam observes, procuring a small piece of paper from God knows where. "It says the remote is in the drawer next to your bed. Love, Bucky. Aww." He is not taking this seriously enough. Maybe he trusts in our ability to find him in time, but I don't. 

I jump to my feet and run into our bedroom, pulling the drawer open with enough force that the whole table tips over. Sure enough, the remote topples out of it. I switch it on, staring at the screen as it lights up. I press down on the microphone button, which Shuri put on there so I could use voice commands instead of trying to figure out how to work it properly. 

"Find Bucky," I demand, growing frustrated as this doesn't work. 

Sam enters the room and takes the remote from me. 

"Locate White Wolf," he tells the machine, smiling triumphantly when a map comes onto the screen. "They don't call him Bucky in Wakanda- they call him White Wolf." 

He hands the thing back to me. 

According to the map, Bucky is still in New York. 

------

We suit up and drive all the way back to New York, keeping the remote on the dashboard as a guide. We ditch the car about two blocks down from the entrance to the HYDRA base, which is located on the inside of a condemned tunnel.

There's no use trying to be sneaky, as both of our costumes are brightly colored and would not blend into the shadows. Also, surely they're expecting us. 

So I walk right up to the door, and I knock. It swings open, revealing one guy who looks somewhat confused. 

"Hi!" I greet, punching him in the face. It knocks him out instantly. I crouch down and take the gun from him. Normally, I try not to kill anybody, but today, I will if I need to. 

Sam follows me down the cold, dim hallway of the underground HYDRA base. The lighting is always so green in these places, giving it a sickly sort of feeling. 

This place is small, so it's probably less of a base and more of a lab. There aren't many people here, and the ones that are here are relatively easy to incapacitate. 

I stop in my tracks, cocking my head to the side as I try to identify a noise I'm hearing. Sam doesn't seem to hear it at all. I remove my helmet so I can hear it better. 

It's screaming. 

It's Bucky screaming. 

I drop my helmet and take off running in the direction I think the sound is coming from. Though he can't hear it and has really no chance of keeping up with me, Sam starts running too. 

Nausea twists wretchedly in my stomach as the sound only gets louder. HYDRA agents come running at me, trying to prevent me from getting to him, but I throw my shield at them. Once it bounces fatally off of these men, I leave it on the floor where it lies. 

I reach the furthest end of the base, and only a door separates me and Bucky. A single guard stands outside the door, shaking in his boots at the sight of my massacre. I didn't notice it before, but now I'm realizing how young they all are. They're practically children. 

Nonetheless, I grab the guy by the front of his shirt and press my gun to his head as I drag him over to the keypad on the wall. 

"Open the door," I seethe, pulling back the hammer on the gun. 

Hands quivering, he quickly keys in the correct code. I throw him aside as the door opens. 

And there's Bucky, strapped tightly into the chair, screaming as it pulls his memories painfully from his mind. He doesn't recognize that I'm here- how could he possibly? 

I tear my gaze away from this and look at the man hovering cruelly over the control panel. 

"Rogers," he says, barely audible over the screaming. "How kind of you to come and pay one last visit to Bucky." He sneers the name, voice dripping with disdain. 

I raise my gun and shoot the man in the head, offering him no ceremony or meaning to his death. I do not speak to him, I do not allow him to think himself important. I only allow him to die. 

I shoot the control panel, too, sighing in relief as the machine ceases its aggressive mechanical whirring  and lifts itself from Bucky's head. The screaming stops, replaced with quick and shallow breaths, his chest heaving. I stand in front of him and rip the metal restraints from his arms, the action reminding me of when I pulled him from HYDRA's clutches the first time- way back in World War Two. 

"Hey," I say gently, trying not to startle him. "You're safe, you're okay. I'm not here to hurt you." 

He nods shakily, staring at me with tired eyes. "I know." 

(Bit of a short one! And I know the beginning was kind of silly)