Bucky woke to find himself on the jet. His head throbbed and his ears ached. It took him a moment longer than he liked to recall the grenade. He looked around for a dazed moment until his gaze fell on the group gathered a short distance away. "What's going on?"

Everyone fell silent and turned their attention to him. It was then he noticed you were nowhere to be seen. He pushed himself to his feet immediately, ignoring the headrush he got when he did so. "Where is she?"

No one answered as they exchanged glances with each other.

Bucky clenched his teeth. He stepped closer to Steve and grasped his upper arm. "Where. Is. She?"

Steve sighed. "We had to leave her behind."

Anger and fear shot through him in equal measure. "You did what?" His voice was low, hard and far more terrifying than if he'd been yelling. His attention shot to Natasha and Clint. "You can't be okay with this."

"Calm down, Barnes. We haven't actually left her. We're still on the ground," Clint responded. "We need a plan. It's more dangerous since they know we're here, but we won't let them keep her."

That eased some of the tension in his chest. Made it a little easier to breathe.

"How's it looking, Bruce?" Steve called to the scientist who was watching the monitors showing the area around the jet.

He shook his head. "Nothing yet."

Cap nodded. "Just keep watching." He gestured to the map of the area that was spread out on the table. "Go on, Pietro. What were you saying?"

The blond pointed, indicating an area away from the main entrance. "There is another way in here. They use it for supplies."

"Okay," Steve said. "That's our entry point. Tony, Nat, Clint, we need a distraction at the main entrance. Bucky and I will go in the side."

"What about us?" Wanda asked, sounding vaguely insulted they hadn't been included in the plans.

"You're staying here. The both of you. There's too much risk of you being recaptured," Steve answered.

"Don't be stupid," Pietro snapped. "Your friend was taken because she helped us. Now, we will help her in return."

There was a pause as Steve looked over the twins. "Fine. You two are with me and Buck. Let's go."

Irritation and worry flowed through Bucky as he followed his team out of the back of the jet. They were no more than ten feet from it when an explosion rocked the area causing the ground beneath them to tremble. His face went slack as he shifted on his feet and he paled. No.

He repeated the word, out loud this time, as a glow lit the sky in front of them. Smoke poured into the sky. He ran forward, ignoring the shouts of the others. When he finally confirmed that the facility was gone, destroyed, he dropped to his knees. Closing his eyes, he buried his face in his hands. He reached out, searching for any sign of you. Any hint of your emotions. Nothing. There was nothing.

He refused to believe you were dead. That he'd lost you already, but he felt empty just the same.

***

You weren't certain how much time passed before you woke. It seemed as soon as you'd lost sight of your team, Hydra had knocked you out to keep you from resisting. That was probably smart on their part. If they were that intelligent, it was unlikely you were in the same base. Too much risk of rescue. Damn it.

When you tried to lift your hand, you discovered you were bound to a metal table. And didn't that bring back memories? You stifled the jolt of fear that slammed through you at the thought and focused on assessing your current circumstances.

You were bound with several straps on both your legs and arms. A raging headache pounded behind your eyes but other than that you appeared to be relatively uninjured. You blinked several times and widened your eyes in an attempt to push aside some of the fatigue weighing you down. It was mostly unsuccessful.

As you came more into yourself you felt an overwhelming sense of worry mixed with just a bit of relief. Bucky. You tried to convey the fact that you were alright at least for the moment but that wasn't really an emotion so you were uncertain how successful you actually were.

Before you could put too much thought into it, Baron Wolfgang von Strucker sauntered into the room. A smirk twisted his lips and you wanted nothing more than to rip that stupid monocle off his face and crush it to bits. "So, we meet again, Nicto. I was beginning to think it would never happen."

You clenched your teeth and set your jaw. God, you hated this man. "Nicto doesn't exist anymore."

His grin turned feral. "Oh, but she does. We just have to push a little."

***

And push they did in the days to come.

Experiment after experiment. Torture after torture. They were certainly welcoming you home the only way Hydra knew how. Every time they stepped into your room you would grit your teeth and remind yourself that it was worth it. That as long as Bucky escaped this, it was worth it. You'd endure every bit of it for him.

As the minutes, hours and days passed you said nothing. Your declaration that Nicto was dead being the last words to cross your lips. They prodded and poked trying to get a response from you. Not that you were completely silent. Screams echoed through the lab rather frequently, truth be told. You had a plethora of new scars and bruises to add to your collection.

They'd just electrocuted your brain as they tried to 'reset' you as they'd done to Bucky. It hadn't worked when you were a child, you didn't understand why they thought it would now. The door opened and you turned your head expecting to see Strucker. The smug bastard had made it a habit to check on you several times a day. "Here she is," that voice you loathed announced.

You shifted your attention from him to the man trailing behind. Alexander Pierce. The universe had to be fucking with you. Apparently, SHIELD hadn't completely eliminated the Hydra threat from the agency. Not when this bastard was at the head of it. This did explain some things about the particularly shitty intel you'd gotten on a few missions.

His blue eyes studied you, ran over you from head to toe, before he stepped forward. "Ms. Coulson. I have to admit, I didn't expect to see you here. I was quite surprised when they told me they'd captured you. I was beginning to think the day would never come." Someone brought him a chair and he sat beside you as if you were two friends having a conversation.

You just stared at him, hoping you could convey all the hatred and anger you carried for him and Hydra through your glare alone.

Pierce looked from you to the scientist standing at your head. The flick of a switch, another jolt of electricity flowing through your body. Your muscles burned, your blood boiled. Fuck you hated that feeling.

"It's rude to not respond when someone is speaking with you," Pierce said then pursed his lips.

They removed the bit from your mouth and you licked your lips. "Fuck you, Pierce, you fucking traitor."

He nodded and they fried you again. Longer this time. Stronger. They hadn't bothered with the bit this time and you were pretty sure you'd cracked at least one tooth as you snapped your mouth closed in pain. You'd also bit the end of your tongue. You were lucky you didn't sever it.

You turned your head and spit a mouthful of blood on the floor beside Pierce. You smiled, knowing your teeth would be coated in red. "Hi."

He pursed his lips again as he narrowed his gaze to look you over once more. Finally, he nodded. "Better." He leaned back in the chair and crossed his legs. "You know, we've discovered that our soldiers are more effective if they aren't mindless killing machines. Intelligence is always an asset on the battlefield. So, we condition them. Train them. Help them to tap into skills they were unaware they were capable of."

You frowned and wondered where he was going with this. "If you're trying to recruit me, you're wasting your breath."

His arms spread to indicate the room around them. "I have no need to recruit you when we already possess you. No, I'm giving you a warning, Nicto." You hated the way he emphasized that name. "Strucker here is going to continue to oversee your conditioning and training. Should you continue to fail to respond, we will have no other option than to make you the mindless machine."

The sick feeling of fear settled in your belly and spread into your chest.

Pierce leaned forward and pressed a finger to your temple. His voice lowered which gave the conversation a sense of intimacy it shouldn't have. "They'll drill, just here. Then they will go in and remove everything that makes you, you. All the rebellion. The kindness." He paused there to study you and make sure he had your complete attention. "The love for your soulmate. All that will be left is hatred, anger and a desire to follow orders."

After another long minute of studying you, he stood suddenly. He turned to Strucker who stood at the side of the room with his arms crossed watching everything. "You have one week. If there's no progress, you drill." With that, he was gone.

***

Steve hadn't seen Bucky for hours. He should have hunted him down earlier, but they'd been busy coordinating everyone that was coming to help them find you. After nearly a week, they believed they had a good idea where you were being held, but they were going to need all the help they could get to rescue you. The base was large and remote. It was more than their small team could handle, even with all of their skills.

After getting a location from Jarvis, Steve headed to your room. You hadn't stayed in it much lately, preferring to sleep with Bucky, but it was still yours.

Steve knocked and received no response. He opened the door slowly, sticking his head in as he did so. "Buck?"

"Yeah." The voice was rough and broken.

The blond stepped fully into the room but didn't see his friend until he walked around the end of your bed. He sucked in a breath at the sight that greeted him.

Bucky sat on the floor with his knees bent in front of him, arms draped across them. His face was red and tear-stained. Fresh tears flowed from his eyes as his bottom lip trembled.

Steve crouched near him but didn't touch him, afraid that he would set him off somehow. "It's okay, Buck. We'll get her back."

The brunet shook his head and swallowed. "It's not that."

Cap frowned. "Then what is it? What's wrong?"

Finally, the grieving man looked at his friend. "She's terrified. She's so fucking scared and I'm not there to save her."