Chapter 5
"How about we go rattle Buddy's cage some more, babe? I bet he's figured out its better for him if he talks," Steve said, pulling away from Bucky before things got steamy again.
He'd been pressed against the wall, hands roaming underneath Bucky's shirt, feeling the hard muscle and groaning into their kiss as their tongues danced.
"Fine, but only if I get to play bad cop again." Bucky relented, releasing Steve and straightening up his clothes. "Of course baby," Steve said, returning the favor from earlier and smacking Bucky's ass.
~
They walked out into the bullpen, not sure what to expect. Clint and Nat stood over a desk studying a scattered mess of papers; Nat was leaning on Clint's shoulder with her arm.
Agent Coulson emerged from the interrogation room, and upon seeing Steve and Bucky, said, "He's all yours, Detectives."
"Thank you Agent." They exchanged respectful nods as Coulson passed.
"Detectives!" A startled shout caused Bucky and Steve to whip their ups around. Agent Hill was frantically waving her arms. "There's something wrong! I think he's having a seizure of some sort," she said hurriedly. "Go get Fury," Steve said, stepping around her to go into the room, Bucky close in step behind him.
Buddy was writhing on the floor, sweating and shaking. "Hey, hey Buddy!" Steve shouted, pinning the struggling man to the ground, sitting in his flailing legs and attempting to hold down his arms. One of them slapped him in the face with an inhuman amount of force, sending him reeling off and hitting his head on the wall.
He heard Bucky curse and hiss, "Oh he'll pay for that later." He felt strong arms support him up. "I'm fine Buck," he choked out. "You get him."
That wasn't entirely true, and Bucky knew it. Steve's head lolled in a way that made him worry about a possible concussion.
Nat and Clint had also made their way into the room, and once Bucky was confident that they could handle the man, dragged Steve out and plopped him into a chair.
Grabbing an ice pack, he handed it to him. "I had him on the ropes Buck," Steve said as he gingerly held the ice pack to his head. "Sure you did Stevie," snorted Bucky, who rolled his eyes.
He went back inside to check on Nat and Clint. Immediately, Buck could tell something was wrong - more wrong than before.
Instead of a struggling mess of people, which he'd expected to see, he instead saw a motionless form in a tracksuit on its stomach, arms and legs spread. Natasha was carefully examining Buddy's limp arm, and turned it toward Buck so he could see what troubled her.
Angry blue veins popped out of the flesh of the arm, which was red and irritated. A tattoo of a serpent, which hadn't been there before, stood out in black ink, throbbing.
"Is that smoke coming out of that thing on his arm?" Fury's voice came from behind Bucky, incredulous. His eye grew big as he stared.
Finally, after what was like hours of silent staring, he seemed to have composed himself again, for he cleared his throat and asked, "Just what the hell are we dealing with here?!"
No one could give him an answer.