Chapter Text
You knew immediately what I was doing, and you played along, you played along and they got scared.
They hadn’t looked scared. And the Asset hadn’t known what the New Asset Steve his name is Steve had been doing.
That’s your mission. Keep me safe. And to do that, you have to remember what I told you. And you have to leave.
The Asset (B—?) hadn’t wanted to leave. Steve had been in the Chair the Chair is a gift and their handlers hadn’t looked scared like Steve had said, Steve had been the one that looked scared and—
“When do you ship out?”
B— folds up the letter, running his thumb along the seal. “Two weeks.”
Steve is staring at the letter with an odd mix of fear and longing. “I’m coming with you.”
B— feels himself smile, even though he wants to do the opposite. “We've all got our parts to play. Yours is here, alright? So no running off and doing something stupid."
“So I’m just meant to go around collecting scrap in my little toy wagon while you go off and fight?”
“Yes!” He catches Steve’s look, and quickly backtracks. “Look after Ma for me, and the girls. They’re gonna need you while I’m gone.”
Steve sniffs, that determined look still aimed at the letter. B— pulls him into a one-armed hug, messing up his hair despite Steve’s yelp of protest. “Cheer up, it’s not like I’m going to be gone forever.”
Steve shoves him away. “You better not be. Just save some of the fight for when I get there.”
“Punk.”
“Jerk.” Steve goes serious again. “Just...come back, okay?”
“Thought you were going to meet me over there and punch Hitler yourself.”
Steve doesn’t reply, all joking gone.
“Hey. Look at me.” He waits until Steve is looking him reluctantly in the eye. “I’m coming back, alright? Just got to go fight for a bit, and then I’ll be back, no matter what. You can’t get rid of me that easily. Who would yell at you for getting into fights you can’t win?”
“I win some of them.”
“Yeah, yeah.” This time, when B— pulls him in for a hug, Steve doesn’t pull away. “I’ll be back. It’s you and me, til the end of the line, and some stupid war isn’t changing that.”
And if Steve hugs him back a little tighter than usual, B— doesn’t comment on it. “I know, Bucky. Just promise me you’ll come back."
Bucky.
Bucky.
His name is Bucky.
Play along.
He wants to say that’s what he’s doing, staying still, playing dead, but within minutes he can barely move his body. He probably couldn’t have attacked the agent who came to check on him even if he had wanted to. His body’s acting on memory, shutting down in the cold, and he lets it. Until the agent walks away. Until the sky finally grows dark.
Sleep, his body is telling him. It’s cold. You sleep when it’s cold and they wake you when you’re needed.
I’m needed now, he protests back. Steve needs me now. He needs…
He moves a foot first. Then a hand. Then his neck, driving feeling back into his senseless body. Then he forces himself to his feet. The wind is whipping around him, almost knocking him over, snow and ice driving into his face, but he persists.
Keep me safe. And to do that, you have to remember what I told you. And you have to leave.
He has no plan but the words echoing through his skull: Avengers Compound. New York. Safe there. The words ring true; don't feel like a trap.
So he begins to walk, and walk, and walk. The act of moving is jarring his brain, solidifying the malfunctions memories. He’s not leaving Steve behind forever. He has to go and fight for a bit, and then he’ll be back. He will save Steve, because Steve had saved him. That’s what they do. But not now, not without a plan, not without supplies. Going back now, he’d just get himself captured, and that wouldn’t do Steve any good. To keep Steve safe he has to leave him. For now.
He walks until he sees the faint pink stain of the skyline, marred by a shape that looks like a giant insect perched on the ice. A cargo plane.
There’s no one around, so he slips inside. The crates within are nearly empty, the surfaces frosted over. This base is so far from anything, and there are no resources here in the icy tundra. HYDRA will have to fly out soon, to pick up more supplies. He doesn’t know when that will be, but he can hide out here until they do. He can hitch a ride to civilization, and then make his way to where Steve had said to go.
Avengers Compound. New York. Someone named Tony.
Safe.
He can get there. He can get help. And then he’ll come back and get Steve out.
It isn’t the end of the line, not yet. Not if he can help it.
He isn’t the Asset. He’s Bucky Barnes. And he has a mission to complete.