This is a SEARCH Party Dammit Guys
Emotions are such an odd thing - a strange concept. Our brains tell us how something makes us feel, and our bodies respond. Joy can elicit laughter from the very bottom of your gut - anger can make your fists curl in on themselves automatically as if gearing up for the fight of a lifetime. But the worst emotion - the worst emotion is sadness. Devastation. Grief. Because sadness paralyzes you. It can bring a grown man who has seen more than any man has a right to down to his knees. It can make him shake with fear, it can light a rage inside of him that would carry him to his death and help him fight his way through hell.
James Buchanan Barnes was never a man who felt things, he had to be strong, so he was. So the onslaught of feelings he felt when he dropped the phone to the floor was paralyzing. Which was why James Buchanan Barnes had to go away for a while - and the Winter Soldier had to take the reigns.
------------
The first thing he had to do was find allies, he didn’t like working with a team, but he knew that he couldn’t retrieve his mission alone. He considered his options, and eventually decided that the four men that the mission called ‘Dad’ would be his first stop. They were difficult to track, but not impossible. He found them in the middle of what appeared to be a covert mission in Bahrain. The asset - No, Bucky Barnes - remembered the last time he was here, and the way that the mission - that Darcy - had protected him from those who sought to harm him. And his resolve, along with that of Barnes’, hardened even more.
“Dammit Carl! I thought I told you to stay in the van!” the large dark man that the Asset passed first yelled in his direction.
“Carl is in the van. He is unconscious,” he assured him before incapacitating him, and killing the men who had been engaged with the Assets target. Dragging his prone body to rest next to ‘Carls’. He set out after the other two.
The next one was easy to take down, his face showed surprise as he turned to face the Asset, and in doing so, lost the seconds it took Bucky to shoot him with the weapon that his mission had favoured. The second man, however, let out a howl of rage at seeing his partner knocked unconscious, and refused to listen to reason.
“You sonova bitch!” he yelled, charging at the asset with a force that he calculated would break three of his ribs if he did not dodge. Stepping neatly to the side, he cocked his head at the other man in confusion at his emotion.
“Your friend lives,” he told him, dodging another bodily attack.
“That’s my husband you psychotic piece of -” he snarled angrily, and the Asset decided that before he enlisted this man to assist in retrieving his mission, he would have to discuss his anger issues with him. He did not need emotion clouding anybodies decisions when it came to such precious cargo.
------------
Six minutes and Forty Three seconds later - the Asset counted - the first man awoke. From the files Bucky had studied, he knew his name was Jake Lewis, formerly Jake Greene, he was 6’3”, a member of the prestigious Alpha Team, of African-American decent, and aged 47.
“Where the fuck is Darcy you piece of shit?!” His file also mentioned his affinity for loud and frequent swearing at those who had displeased him. The Asset noted that the mission - Darcy - must have learnt that trait from him. The Asset decided that the most prudent course of action was to await until all members of the party were awake before laying out his plan, so he sat at parade rest and waited for the others.
One minute and Three seconds after that, the second man came to his senses. This was one of the original parents of the - of the Darcy - and his name was Carl Lewis. He was a caucasian male aged 52, he had recently suffered a heart attack that caused him to retire from thirty years of service with the CIA.
“You listen here son, if you don’t untie us and tell me where my goddamn daughter is I will hurt you in ways you can’t even imagine,” His file also said that he was trained in interrogation. The Asset knew what this meant, and he doubted an American could possibly have the creativity of some of his past handlers. When he told him this, Carl Lewis shut up.
Exactly Thirty Five seconds after that, the last two woke up in sync. His files told him that they were a pair. Luke Garcia, formerly Luke Lewis - and even the Asset could see how that could cause problems in a marriage - was another of the original parents. He was a Hispanic male aged 51, and he had been serving in the Navy since age 18. He was the leader of the Alpha team, and was three inches taller than his second in command, Jake Lewis, formerly Jake Greene.
“I am going to kill you. It will be slow, and it will be painful, and you will regret ever laying eyes on my daughter,” His devotion to his family was not in his file, but knowing Darcy as he did, he could understand it.
The final one, a lean asian male aged 44, was the linguistics and weapons expert of Alpha team, was Caleb Garcia, formerly Caleb Ng, and he was born and raised in the state of Hawaii. Although smaller than the other two, his file had said he was the most dangerous of all due to his cunning nature, and ability to use a variety of platforms to inflict pain on others. He did not speak, but the look in his eyes was one the Asset had seen before. A man threatened, his family vulnerable and at risk. The Asset decided he would be the most valuable of them all in this fight.
When he was satisfied he had their attention, he cleared his throat and looked each of them in the eye.
“I need your help,” he said, and sat calmly as they all spat insults and swore over various dead relatives graves that they would sooner die than assist the man who had stolen their child. The only one who didn’t speak, was Caleb Garcia, formerly Ng. He simply stared at the asset for a minute, before clearing his throat and ordering the others into silence.
“Darcy?” he asked quietly, and without blinking, the Asset shook his head slowly.
“They took her from me,” he told them, “And I need you to help me get her back,”
-----------
The Asset was pleasantly surprised when he untied his four allies and found that they kept their word to not brutally murder him, he was not, however, surprised when the one with a temper - Carl - socked him on the jaw the moment he was free. Carl however, seemed shocked by his lack of response.
“Jesus, whats wrong with him?” He asked, and the Asset assumed it was a rhetorical question, so he began driving the van towards where he had left the Quinjet that Darcy had procured for them on the Rio mission. Three minutes and Forty-Seven seconds into the drive, he noted that Carl had not yet taken his eyes off of him, the Asset was used to being observed, so he let this pass.
“Are you… Jesus I can’t fucking believe I’m asking this, but are you - okay?” Carl spoke, and the Asset took a moment to assess his physical well-being, finding nothing out of sorts, he answered the question with confidence.
“I am functional,” The Asset noted that this must have been the incorrect response, and waited patiently for the man known as Carl to decide his fate. He made a quick calculation, and decided the limits that could be reached before he would need to eliminate the punishment for the sake of the mission.
He was once again surprised when instead of anger Carl reacted with… a strange emotion that the Asset was not familiar with.
“You poor bastard,” Carl spoke, and the Asset noted that the other men in the van seemed to be sharing the emotion that Carl was showing. The Asset hoped it was not catching - as it looked like it would decrease his functionality. “What the fuck did they do to you?” Again, the Asset thought this must be a rhetorical question, as it would take an unnecessary amount of time to list the actions dealt to the Asset by the Handlers over the years.
The one known as Jake spoke then, and the Asset gave him an appropriate amount of attention whilst ensuring he did not cause any accidents on the busy road.
“Darcy’d kill us if we found her and he was this - this shell of a man,” The Asset noted the way the other men agreed, and he decided he would have to make Darcy’s(The Mission) emotional well-being second on his list of priorities, the first, of course, being keeping her alive.
When they reached the field in which the Quinjet was stored, the men seemed to have decided that the one known as Carl would lead in a discussion they were going to have with the Asset about… his feelings? The Asset found it strange, but decided he would permit it, so long as it did not prevent him from readying the aircraft.
“James..?” the one known as Carl asked, and rather than explaining that the one known as James was simply not fit for the job of protecting Darcy(Mission), he gave a one word answer.
“No,” The Asset did not miss the sharp inhale from behind him, but again chose to ignore it in favor of running the pre-flight checks that Darcy(Mission) had taught him.
“James I… I know you’re in there, somewhere, and I understand that this is - hard… but I really think Darcy will need you when we get her. And we will get her,” The Asset could feel James rising the the surface, and he clenched his metal fist and slammed it on the dashboard.
“No,” he growled out through his teeth, and went back to his checks.
“James do you remember Carl? Not me - the llama,” the Asset searched his memory for any such creature, and when he found the desired moment, he nodded stiffly. “Barton was real pissed when he came home from the supermarket one day and it was asleep in his apartment with his dog. I thought - oh god I thought he was gonna burst a vein in his brain he was so annoyed,” Before the Asset could stop him, James let out a bark of laughter and clawed his way a little closer to the surface.
“I know, she set up a camera in his room to ‘immortalize’ his reaction, she laughed so hard she peed her pants,” at his triumph, the Asset clenched both fists and slammed them on the dashboard.
“You love her - don’t you?” the one named Caleb asked, and before the Asset could tell him love was a useless emotion, James had surged to the forefront, and had banished him to the darkest corner of his mind - and Yes James thought triumphantly, it was his mind. Turning to Caleb, he gave a wry grin and shrugged.
“She makes it kinda’ impossible not to,” he said, and felt his smile grow a little at the relieved look on the faces of the men that had raised his girl. “Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to find her so I can watch her kick the ass of whoever was stupid enough to take her,”
-------------
After that an uneasy treaty was established, it was something along the lines of ‘My daughter is currently kidnapped, so I’ll hold off on giving you hell for falling her until she is present to make horrified faces and whine “Daaaaad” a whole bunch of times’. They talked about their options for a while, and came to the conclusion that Stark was their best chance for finding her quickly, of course, that also meant seeing Steve, but Bucky was prepared to do literally anything to get her back, even face the man who had once been family. Before, you know, he tried to murder him brutally. Twice.
James fought to keep the Soldier under control as he sat in the back of the Quinjet and allowed Luke to pilot. He wasn’t used to having to fight so fiercely for his independence (Recently, at least), but he could see how having the clinical decisions of the Soldier displayed for him could be helpful. If he wasn’t so certain she’d be pissed off at him for emotionally bailing, he’d surrender to it right now. But he knew Darcy, and she needed him, not the weapon they’d made him into.
When they uncloaked on Stark’s landing pad, they found the Avengers waiting for them, weapons at the ready and faces set in grim determination. When they saw Bucky exit with his hands in the air and Darcy’s father’s at his back, all but the Widow, Barton, and Stark lowered their guards.
“Buck?” Steve asked uncertainly, and he fought for control once more, unable to help the slight flinch that he felt when he heard his old nickname.
“We…” he began and cleared his throat before looking at each Avenger in turn. “We need your help, Hydra took Darcy,”
At his declaration, a lot of things happened at once; Stark dropped from his hover, and the whole suit seemed to sag, Steve took a step forwards, as if he was going to comfort him, and then looked horribly conflicted. Thor looked like he was thinking about burning the world down with his lighting. Natasha lowered her weapons and inch, looked him dead in the eye and nodded slightly. Bruce Banner made a small distressed noise, and curled in upon himself as if to stop the other guy from showing his distaste - Bucky knew the feeling. Barton though, he was the worst - his whole face drained of colour, and he backed up until he hit glass, and sunk to the ground, shaking his head and clenching his fists in his hair.
Barton was the one Bucky went to, dropping to a crouch in front of him, he made sure Barton was looking him in the eyes, so he could see he was speaking the truth, and wouldn’t miss any words.
“Can I count of you to do whatever it takes to get her back?” he asked, and slowly, Barton nodded before pushing himself off the floor.
“Fuck yes,” he replied vehemently, shoving his arrow back into the quiver and turning to look at him, “She ain’t allowed to die until I’m the one winning the prank war,”
------------
Twenty minutes later they were settled into the war room, and Bucky was glad that Steve seemed to understand that his priority was finding Darcy, and didn’t come too close to him once he’d given him a firm pat on the shoulder. Tony was hacking into things and working in synchronization with Jarvis while Jamie and Jane demanded he tell everyone exactly how it happened, when he got to the part about her getting shot, Jane shocked everyone by standing up, hurling a coffee mug at the wall and letting out a loud sob.
“Damnit Darcy,” she cursed before allowing Thor to draw her into his arms. Bucky chose to not look at them, because it just reminded him that he somewhere Darcy was hurt, and she was afraid, and he couldn’t hold her to make it better.
Just as he was about to continue, one of the air shafts clattered out of the way, and a man in a full-body red suit dropped down into a chair. Ignoring the impressive amount of weaponry that was suddenly pointed his way, Deadpool simply gestured to Bucky to continue, and folded his arms behind his head.
“Wade?!” Came the shocked question from where Luke was sitting, and everyone turned to him in interest.
“What? Who? I mean I have no idea who this Wade guy is-”
“Holy shit,” Jake said, and took a step towards him, “It really is him,”
“No, Nope, I have no idea what you’re-” his frantic backpedalling was cut off when Carlos, who had snuck up behind him during the exchange, ripped off his mask to reveal a man in his thirties with sandy blonde hair.
“You owe me money,” Carlos told him solemnly before returning to his seat, mask in hand.
“Doesn’t secret identity mean anything to you people?!” he demanded, bringing his hands up to his face. “Oh fuckity fucksticks. I came here trying to do a nice thing and help you save my friend Darcy from the evil clutches of those Nazi fuckers and you repay me like this!”
His rant was cut short when Jamie, the woman Darcy had saved on the day he caught up to her, stepped up to him and slapped her hand over his mouth. Rolling her eyes at his shocked expression she turned back to the room.
“All in favour of the annoying power-ranger shutting up so we can finish hearing about what happened to Darcy say Aye,” she said, and when the resounding chorus of ‘Aye’s’ came back, she turned and arched an eyebrow at him. “Excellent, shut up now, Daredevil,”
“Oh come on I look nothing like that guy!” he whined, but quickly shut his mouth when she turned and gave him another fierce glare. “Sorry sweetheart,” Wade mumbled quietly, and Bucky thought that if he wasn’t so worried about his own girl, he might find it interesting the way her face flushed at the pet name.
When he finally finished telling them the story, everyone went silent for a moment, and Jamie opened her mouth - presumably to offer up a solution. Before she could speak, though, they were interrupted again, this time by JARVIS.
“Sir, I must inform you that my protocols are being overridden, and there are four unknowns alongside a Phil Coulson in the elevator. A put upon sigh escaped Tony’s lips from where he was seated, and without turning he pointed at Pepper.
“Security snafu, that’s on you,”
When the doors opened, Wade had managed to steal his mask back, and was sliding it on. Barton had his arms crossed firmly and his jaw clenched angrily as he stared down at the table, and if he didn’t know better, he would have sworn Romanoff was planning to eviscerate whoever came through the door with her stare alone. The rest of the Avengers had pissed off looks on their faces, and quite frankly, if they didn’t start getting their shit together, Bucky was going to be knocking some skulls.
Coulson was the first to step out, and if he was surprised by the group that had gathered, he didn’t show it. He looked around solemnly for a moment, his gaze resting on Clint a little longer than strictly necessary, before turning to Steve.
“You’re probably wondering how I’m here right now,” he said, and Steve - American icon of all that is good and pure - rolled his eyes. Actually rolled them. So hard that Bucky thought they might roll right out of his skull.
“Quite frankly,” he said, glaring at Coulson until the man seemed to shrink an inch or two, “I couldn’t give less of a fuck. We have bigger issues than you right now,””
“But-” Coulson began, looking thoroughly confused, “I came to-”
“Oh shut up,” this time it was Clint that interrupted. “We’ve known you were alive for months man, and I have no doubt you’re only here right now because you need something-”
“-Well actually,” Coulson tried, but was swiftly overridden by Clint once more.
“But like the man said, we got bigger shit to worry about, so take your lying ass and get it out of our fucking building,” A chorus of agreements met his statement, and Coulson looked like he just might follow that suggestion, but then Trip - the one who had seemed to be close with Darcy when they’d met him in Rio - stepped forwards.
“Trip?!” Luke called out incredulously, and he spared him a small smile before turning to Bucky.
“Listen man, you guys can be pissed at Coulson all you like, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’re here because we want to help you find Darcy,” He said, and Bucky could see in his level stare that he was telling the truth.
“How’d you even find out she was missing?” asked Wade incredulously, and Coulson looked sheepish for a moment and mumbling something that sounded an awful lot like ‘We were tracking you’.
“No way,” Bucky said certainly, “That isn’t possible, I woulda picked up a tail,” as soon as he finished speaking, Trip vanished from where he was standing for a few seconds before flickering back into sight. Predictably, every weapon in the room was once again, pointed in his direction. Raising his hands placatingly, he raised an eyebrow at Bucky.
“Okay,” he conceded, “Maybe not,”
-------------
When Darcy woke up, she fought to keep her breathing even and not move, just like Clint had taught her. Wracking her brain, she found the last thing she could remember was - was - Bucky? Kissing her? No, that wasn’t right. If she pushed harder, she could just remember a struggle. There was a lot of blood - and somehow - Trip was there? She thought she could remember him screaming her name, telling her to run and - No, she must have hallucinated that part, because when he was shot, he disappeared. It must have been her overactive imagination wanting to believe she wasn’t alone in her moments before death. Only, she wasn’t dead. At least, not as far as she could tell.
She decided that there must be something seriously wrong with her priorities that she was more concerned about where they put her underwear (They were Batman okay and they were cute), then she was by the fact that she didn’t think she was wearing underwear. When the haze had finally cleared from her mind, she began to take stock of the situation. Clothes? Not Check. Limbs? All accounted for. Stunning Sense of Humor? In tact, thank god. Throbbing Gunshot Wound? Yep, still there.
She was strapped the a metal gurney in what seemed to be some kind of lab, and she was lying underneath an incredibly thin sheet. She was suddenly viscerally glad she hadn’t shaved in a while, Take that, asshole kidnappers! She thought triumphantly, before she remembered who the real winner was in this situation. (Hint: Not her). Just when she was starting to get a little bored with this whole captivity thing (The movies made it seem way more exciting) a PA system crackled to life and a clear German voice filled the air.
“Gut Afternoon Ms. Lewis,” came the creepy voice that Darcy decided absolutely had to belong to a small fat man with no hair and a bow tie. “I am so glat you could join us today,”
“Oh no,” Darcy broke in sarcastically, “The pleasure is all mine, really,” Creepy little bow tie man laughed suddenly, and Darcy realised he must have been able to hear her as well.
“I haf been vanting to get my hands on you since I saw you adapt so well to the Asset and your new… circumstances,” Darcy repressed a heavy shudder at the glee in his tone, and concentrated on counting backwards from one hundred as the sudden dread that filled her stomach made her nauseous.
“I am quite looking forvards to seeing how receptive you are to any other changes I can think up,”
“And I am quite looking forwards to kicking you in your stupid Nazi mouth,” Darcy snarled back - and, shut up! She was scared and alone, so what if her insults weren’t quite as great as they usually were?!
After she finished speaking, a sinister laugh that sounded very much unlike the man who had previously been talking filled the room.
“It is time to begin,” the new voice said - and then the real pain started.