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Steve Rogers didn’t get scared.
Even now, he was not scared per say. No, of course not, just concerned is all.
Steve had spent long days in Nazi Germany adapting to his enhanced body, enhanced hearing. Learning how to fall asleep even though he could hear the thumping heart beat and huffing of breath from everybody in a two hundred foot radius so clearly, throbbing in his ears. It was difficult to try and tune out the step, step, stepping of others in the surrounding area so he could focus on his own priorities, and he was glad he did or else he wouldn’t do anything but constantly listen to the blinking and blood rushing of the people around him.
So Steve knew that it was odd that he could hear the beating of heart of all of the Avengers in the room around him, but what was even more odd was the fact that there was one too many.
He checked the room over again, one for Natasha, one for Clint, and one for Bruce. Beating accompanied by buzzing for Tony. He could hear Thor’s along with Loki’s. He counted Sam and double, triple checked that he counted the beating of his own heart.
Eight. Eight hearts beating in this room. So why is he hearing nine?
He does feel a bit bad for zoning out of the stories that Thor and Loki were sharing that everyone, even Natasha and Tony, seemed to be enjoying, but he knew that something was off. He focused on the hearts, eliminating the ones he knew belonged to so he could try the outlier. The humming with the thumping was Tony, the slightly out of pattern beat was Bruce, and Thor and Loki’s beat was slower than a misgardians heart so those were out. He finally slimmed it down to two, knowing everyone else's besides 2 patterns, one belonging to Clint and the other to the … unknown being. He carefully shifted to his right, towards Clint, and listened as the slower, calmer heart beat got louder. So the slightly fast one was… them.
He felt minute guilt, but he knew he was going to have to interrupt their fun bonding time with his current issues. Why is there another being, most likely human considering it is so similar to the others in the room, in the tower with them, or close enough in his ear shot (not that it would be any better because Steve’s earshot was all Tony’s private property.
“Erm,” Steve says through his teeth, watching as everyone focuses their gaze on him. “It’s just us here, right?”
“Yeah, should be.” Tony replies, glancing at the ceiling, as if JARVIS, the most advanced AI, will suddenly alert them of a foreign body after the 100 year old man.
“What kind of question is that?” Clint mumbles, adjusting his positing slightly, his fingers clenching slightly closer to where his quiver would be resting on his back.
“I’m hearing something, another heart beat.” Steve states, standing up out of his seat on the couch, inching closer in the direction of the heart beat he knows doesn’t belong to any of the people in the room.
“What, where from?” Thor asks, standing up and moving closer to Steve.
Before Tony could ask JARVIS to scan for heart beats, heat detection, and fingerprints Steve jerked the door open to one of the many entrances of the Avengers tower. Steve couldn’t help the astonished gasp that escaped him while slapping a hand over his face.
There, kneeling down on the doorstep, was James Buchanan Barnes. His childhood best friend that he lost, that he thought was dead, and that he learned was being used and manipulated by HYDRA. He was on the doormat with his shins and the top of his feet flat on the ground, bottom on his heels, and hand and metal hand tucked behind his back. He was wearing what used to be some plaid loose fitting boxers and a white t-shirt, but could now be considered rags.
Steve didn't even care that his private areas were barely covered. Instead he immediately crouched down, knees bent, so he was closer to Bucky’s height and tried his best to calm himself down. After some quick deep breath and a mini mental self pep talk about not overwhelming the kneeling man, he was a POW.
"Hey, it's nice to see you again." Steve told Bucky, voice slightly wavering, hoping that this wasn't some twisted trap from Hydra.
Although Steve was aware that Hydra had Bucky a little while after he got out of the ice, there hadn't been anything he could do about it without serious planning that took a while. They had to start by weeding HYDRA from SHIELD to lessen their access to SHIELD tech, and that had just finished days ago. So Steve couldn't help but believe that this was a sick joke to keep HYDRA from justice longer by sticking the soldier on unprepared Avengers.
Steve, and the other Avengers that have now surrounded a kneeling Steve in a semi-circle, looked on as James Barnes stared at Steve with no recognition in his eyes. Steve looked on at Bucky, who was gazing deep into Steve's eyes, as if he could find answers to whatever was in his mind at the moment in them.
“This is the Winter Soldier?” Thor rumbles, adjusting his posture to be slightly bent down as Steve.
Steve felt a flash of fear go through him that Bucky was going to be triggered by his title and would start attacking, but he didn’t. Bucky just stared at Steve, as if Steve was his guide. As he gave a positive answer to Thor, he tried to think about what to do. After very little thought, he decided, yes, he was getting Bucky back. They would put him in a Hulk proof room if they had to, as Steve just got Bucky back and he was never, never letting go.
“Come on, Bucky. Let’s go inside.” Steve says, making a small waving motion with his hand, to summon him into the tower, away from the possibility of HYDRA watching on. If they thought that they could taunt Bucky in front of him like this and then take him away yet again they were truly mistaken.
Steve listened as the Avengers went back into the room they were sitting in, knowing that Steve would do whatever he needed to and any interruption on the leader of their team would make things worse. Captain did notice the way that Bucky’s head snapped up even more at the word ‘come’, but didn’t see any recognition at the other words, as if he was following commands. Steve knew that this was the case, but he still felt waves of helplessness and anger flash through what had happened to his Bucky.
Rogers turned and walked into the room so he was standing facing the rest of his team, leaving Bucky to come in behind him. He couldn’t bring himself to treat Bucky as a criminal or a threat, he couldn’t. He looked on as the rest of the Avengers stared at James as he followed him in. Steve couldn’t help but close his eyes as he heard 4 'foot steps’ behind him instead of 2, telling him that he was crawling after Steve and hadn't left his submissive kneeling form.
Tony watched as Steve’s childhood best friends that he had heard stories from his father in childhood kneeled beside Steve’s left side and curled in on himself as much as he could with his tall body. He could see that he was lean, bordering on thin, now giving him clues that his captors were not feeding him as much as they were whenever he was last spotted with them. Trying to ease a bit of the tension in the room and maybe make Captain look less like he was going to strangle every single HYDRA agent, he commented.
“He looks like a dog, Cap.” He remarks, before regretting it as Bucky’s eyes snapped up from the floor to Tony’s eyes. “Oh god, was that a trigger word? Is he gonna go murder-mode on me now?”
Steve looked down at Bucky’s face and saw that he was looking at Tony the way he was looking at himself. Come? Dog? Those are the words that made Bucky focus? What do those two things have in common- Oh.
“Bucky?” The kneeling man was still focused on Tony. “James?” Nothing. “Barnes?” Steve tried as a last ditch effort. “Dog?” Steve managed to choke out, feeling as if he had swallowed a rock.
The room full of people all watched as the former Winter Soldier immediately turned his head to give Steve his full attention. Not to his nickname or name, but to the word dog. The action was eerily familiar to a dog responding to its owner saying ‘walk’ or ‘treat’.
They all see the way Steve's face falls, the way that his eyes look glossy and his lips tremble. He is quick to cover his mouth as small, distressed noises escape. He glances down at Bucky just in time to see his eyes fill with fear, and in some heart shattering attempt to cheer up the person he assumes is his master, he nuzzles up against Steve’s foot and shin.
Steve’s hand doesn’t control the noises that escape after that.
Steve has seen his handful of strays. Varieties of breeds wandering the streets and alleyways as their owners can barely feed themselves let alone animals. Cowering and back pedaling until they were eventually trapped in corners and snapped. Fight or flight might take time in humans, but to a hungry homeless dog, biting came quicker than running on overgrown claws through busted concrete of back alleys.
The reactions from the brainwashed man were few and far between so far, but the strangled cry muffled by Steve’s own hand caused just what was supposed to happen. Bucky’s back arched up to make himself appear bigger, extending his elbows completely to make his head stand up higher. His cosmetically sharpened canine teeth were revealed as he snarled and bared his teeth, not quite at Steve, but at the sounds, the threat of Steve.
Tony, ever to break the tension with reckless abandon, knows a suit would be quick to wrap around soft flash, speaks.
“Down boy, that's a nice doggy.” he murmurs, his voice holding real and fake worry.
Once again, and tragically, the reaction was instant. Instantly dropping to his chest, Bucky bowed his back and crossed his arms behind his back, putting himself in an inoffensive position. Small whimpers escaping his mouth. Almost a plea for mercy. For forgiveness.
“Shh. Shh, Bucky. You’re okay. It’s okay.” Steve managed to get out of his closing throat in what he can only hope was a calming tone.
The rest of the room was an absolute mess, not to say that the centenarians weren’t, but Thor and Loki were sitting on the couch, backs pressed to the cushions in a long lasting flinch, trying to figure out if other humans growled when scared or maybe this was another species altogether? Natasha was balanced on the arm rest of the couch with her hand tucked to whatever weapon was tucked in her waistband. Clint had tried to reach for higher ground and was precariously positioned on a hanging shelf that was holding fake plants on the wall behind where he was originally sitting. Bruce looked a little green, both from sickness and well… gamma radiation.
“Listen to me carefully, can you speak?” Natasha asked in a collected voice while leaving
no room for argument. Not even her worst of traumas could compare to the training that would cause the response.
“Arf!” was the immediate response from Bucky. It was eerily dog-like, almost impossible to replicate with human vocal cords. It was not loud, but it was definitely firm, a response to an order. Speak.
“Fuck. Fuck. I’m going to fucking-” Tony’s voice came out wheezily. “He needs help. We need to help.”
“I know. I don’t know how.” were the words that shakily escaped Steve as tears filled his waterline.
“He’s… a dog?” Loki wonders aloud.
“He is a human. His captures tortured him to do whatever they wanted. This seems to be what they wanted.” Clint tries to explain. God humans were awful compared to gods.
“Obedience without intellect or morals.” Bruce mutters, his fingers fumbling with themselves.
Bucky shakes and whines as Steve gets closer and lowers himself back down to his level. A mantra of fear and protocols flowing through his head.
Submit to your handlers, mutt-
Only bad dogs make noise when not asked-
You are below your master-
You belong on the floor-
Be a good boy and everything will be okay-
“Hey Buck- erm- dog. It is going to be okay. We’ll help you.” the captain says softly, his hand carefully patting Bucky’s head.
The room scatters as Bruce, Thor, and Loki go to find clothes for the new guest. Perhaps the task doesn’t need three people, but that room is not a favorable place to be at the moment. Natasha and Clint get down from their positions and stand guard on either side of the room. Tony simply watches, trying his best to help without interfering with the calm Steve is trying to create.
After a few more moments of soft spoken words from Steve and some rearranging of furniture from Tony, Steve manages to sit himself down back on the sofa and manages to cajole Bucky into getting on the low sitting ottoman. It was the best compromise as Bucky could barely even look at the couch without the hair on his arms standing up and Steve couldn’t keep his eyes from watering every time Bucky kneeled at his feet and gazed up at him as his master.
With the change of clothes back and Clint and Natasha confirming with JARVIS that the vehicle that dropped Bucky off was gone and did not inject anyone else onto the property. Steve began what he could only call the beginning to the beginning.
“Dog,” Steve watches as Bucky’s head and ears perk up immediately, making eye contact with him. “You will now respond to the name Bucky. Bucky, we need to change your clothes real quick. Maybe it will help you get more comfortable.
Bucky didn’t quite understand the concept of clothes as the ones he has been wearing have been used as bedding in his crate from quite some time and were only slipped on him by an agent before he was loaded into a van. He pawed confused and his crotch, pushing the thin material away. Steve was quick to jump in, carefully maneuvering Bucky to keep him from getting tangled.
Bucky felt nervous once he was bare, despite there barely being a difference it was something new to these new masters in the room. As the blue-eyed owner shimmied the soft, elastic cloth over his feet all the way up to his waist, effectively covering his genitals he felt a rush through his body. He didn’t know the word for it, but he knew that it was the same feeling he got when he heard the latch on his cage close, followed by the click of the locking mechanism on the door of his cell, ending with footsteps leading away from his section of the building.
Once he had pieces of cloth all over his body he felt not only himself, but everyone else in the room settle. He knew something was very different, but that was of no true concern to him. He would just do as he was told, no other options, no other thoughts.
“Things are going to change, Bucky. But it is going to be okay. Nothing will hurt you again, not anymore.” Steve tells Bucky as Bucky gazes up at his blue eyes.
He knows them, from where, he has no clue. But he knows them, so he tells himself that this is it. His handler says bark, he says how loud.
A silence settles over the Avengers as they slowly think through their thoughts. How to explain to a dog-human that they have rights, and opposable thumbs.
“I know it might not seem like it, but it is going to get better.” Natasha assures, seeing the look in Bucky’s eyes, knowing he is relinquishing himself.
The shine in the Master's eyes as he says “Promise.” makes Bucky believe it. He doesn’t know what better means, but he is sure eager to learn. An old dog can learn new tricks. Or perhaps they aren’t all that new.