Compelling Secrets
You, Clint, and Natasha sprinted out of the building and through the forest towards the Quinjet landing site. As soon as you were in the air you unclenched your fist, the note crumpled into your hand. You pulled out your phone and rang Steve’s number but he didn’t pick up. You sat and stared at the ground, your hands shaking, dropping your phone on the floor.
“(Y/N), we’ll make sure it’s okay. Call Tony and see if they’re there,” Natasha said in a consoling voice. You nodded weakly and took a deep, shaky breath. You dialled Tony’s phone and he picked up after 3 rings.
“What’s up, buttercup?” You could almost hear the smirk on his face through the phone.
“Tony? Are Steve and Bucky there?” you urged quickly, still trying to catch your breath.
“Not that I know of, last I heard they were off to tell your brother you weren’t showing up. When did you get a brother? Why is this the first I’m hearing of this?” he demanded jokingly.
“Listen, I don’t have time to talk about this, we think HYDRA is after Bucky, the mission was a set up!” you exclaimed, trying to control your voice but it broke at the end.
“Crap… Okay I’ve got a tracker on Steve’s phone; I’ll check it out and call back as soon as I find something.”
You hung up and let your hands fall to your lap. You looked up grimly to see the concerned faces of Clint and Natasha.
“They’re not home, Tony’s tracking Steve now.” Clint gave a curt nod and as soon as he thought you weren’t looking, slipped a hand into Natasha’s. You watched out of the corner of your eye as she squeezed it and leaned against him, shutting her eyes. You did the same, not wanting to think about how they knew they were safe in each other’s arms, but Bucky could be anywhere. You interlocked your fingers and began muttering please be okay over and over until the words lost meaning. After a while, you felt a slender hand rest on your shoulder and used all your strength to open your eyes and look at the redhead.
“You need to eat,” Nat said, handing you something in a foil wrapper. You shook your head and pushed it away. You went to stand but your head began to spin and dancing shapes dotted your vision. You closed your eyes tightly and gripped Nat’s arm when she reached out for you. The world around you began to fall and crash into oblivion and your chest was constricting tighter and tighter. This was your fault, you should have known something weird was going on with that note from your brother.
Your eyes shot open. Ryan. What happened to him? Was he captured by HYDRA? Was he tortured? Was he dead? You choked at that last thought and gasped for air, tears threatening to spill out onto your cheeks. You blinked and cleared your throat, avoiding Natasha’s piercing gaze. You were doing it again, showing weakness. God dammit this is what relationships do! They make you weak and worried. Some part of you knew that if that’s what being in a relationship with Bucky would be like, then you didn’t want to be strong and calm.
“We’re nearly there,” Clint confirmed. Your head shot up and you gathered your composure.
“What are we going to do,” you said. You were almost shocked at how calm your voice sounded, like it was a different person speaking.
“We never got a call back from Tony, so we go straight to him. Then, we work with what we have,” Natasha said, pacing along the small aisle of the Quinjet.
“Actually… I asked Bucky to run an errand for me. My brother left a note, asking to meet him at the pizza place two blocks away. I didn’t have time to let him know I couldn’t make it, so I told Bucky to take Steve and tell him I couldn’t meet him, so he wouldn’t be waiting around. Tony said they never came back,” you explained, hoping that would give you some kind of clue.
“You have a brother?” Clint inquired, his eyebrows shooting up. Nat glared at him and then her expression deadpanned.
“(Y/N), what did the note say? Was there anything unusual about it?” she said urgently.
“Um… it said ‘Meet me at the pizza place two blocks right from the tower at 1.
-R’, nothing weird. Except it did smell like roses? That’s the only thing I can think of.”
Natasha’s eyes widened.
“Okay (Y/N), this is important, did it touch your skin?” she said. You almost laughed at the ridiculous question but the seriousness in her face told you she wasn’t kidding.
“No, I was wearing gloves, why?”
“What about Bucky?” she pressed.
“No. No I’m almost positive he picked it up with his metal hand. Natasha what is going on?” you rushed impatiently.
“If I remember correctly, HYDRA somehow isolated a chemical that is basically a compulsion, and they must have laced it with the paper, hence the masking smell of roses. If it touches your skin, you’re basically a mindless slave to them for a short period of time, until the toxins leave your body,” she told you, slowly working it out in her head.
“Wait… Steve was acting kind of weird this morning… He told me there was a note and I asked if it was important and he was super vague and told me to just go and read it. Maybe… do you think he was under the compulsion?” you asked, gnawing on your finger anxiously. “Maybe that’s what happened to my brother too?”
Natasha stared into your eyes and didn’t reply.
“We’re here,” she announced after a moment. The Quinjet descended smoothly onto the landing dock. As soon as the door opened, the three of you jumped out and ran into the tower, taking the steps down the stairs two at a time until you reached the floor with all of Tony and Bruce’s equipment.
“Tony?” Clint called as they walked in. A holographic screen was minimized and Tony sat on a spinning chair behind it.
“What’s happening? I traced Capsicle’s phone to some trash can outside a pizza place close by but they weren’t anywhere near,” Tony informed you. Nat filled him in on what happened with the notes from your brother and HYRDA.
“Mr Stark sir, a message has been left for Miss Romanoff and Miss (Y/L/N),” J.A.R.V.I.S. chimed in, sounding almost bored.
“From who? Make sure they don’t leave the building!” You exclaimed, turning sharply and running towards the staircase, with Natasha, Clint, and Tony fast at your heels.
“Building on lockdown now,” the AI stated blankly. You sprinted down the stairs and swung the door to the lobby open to find 3 men standing by the door, attempting to bash it open.
“You break it, you pay for it,” Tony chirped, smirking until they turned around. Two of the men were tall and muscular, pulling handguns out of their pockets of their neat suits. The man on the right had a severely scarred and burned face, his menacing grin nearly impossible to make out over his disfiguration. You gasped when you saw the one standing in the middle, dragging a hand through his hair.
“Ryan,” you whispered. Your legs threatened to give out from beneath you as you struggled to control your heart from jumping straight through your ribcage.
Natasha pulled out a gun from her holster and had it aimed at his head.
“Natasha don’t! He’s under the compulsion, he doesn’t know what he’s doing!” you cried, attempting to stand in front of her aim.
“(Y/N) step back, you don’t know what you’re dealing with,” she growled, pushing me out of the way.
“Of course I do, he’s my brother!”
“I played it convincingly too, didn’t I?” Ryan sneered, striding towards you. “You never did ask what my job was did you, little sis.”
“You… you can’t…” you couldn’t form a coherent sentence and stood dumbfounded, turning to look at him.
“Listen to me (Y/N), he’s not your brother anymore. A long time ago, I came across a HYDRA assassin, it had been in the days where they learned to brainwash targets without wiping their memories like the Winter Soldier,” she began to explain, “Totally incapable of submerging into their former selves unless ordered to. And I had forgotten his name, but something in the back of my mind sparked when you joined us. Because the assassin had the same name as you.”
“That’s right. I was sick (Y/N),” Ryan said, “Sick with emotions, with feelings. It’s much better being empty. I remember what I felt, how I felt it, and why, right up to the day that they cured me. I resisted at first, I was foolish for clinging to the memories of our childhood. I remember being so depressed leaving you and it almost broke my heart for you to look at me like I was abandoning you, but now, I feel nothing when you look at me like that.”
“You d-don’t mean t-that,” you murmured, tears forming in your eyes.
“Save us the embarrassment of your blubbering. I used you!” he laughed manically. “When I heard that you were acting as though you were a real member of the Avengers, I thought I’d call on my acting skills and exploit you. Oh you could imagine my delight when I found poor little forgotten super-soldier, Mr Barnes, had earned your affections. Well from there, it was just too easy.”
You felt anger bubble inside of you, not for the words that he spat at you, but for what HYDRA had done to your brother, what they were now doing to your boyfriend.
“What. Did. You. Do. To. Him?” you said fiercely, practically hissing at him.
“I’m sure Natasha has already helped you uncover our compulsion tactic, so we led him into a trap, using your precious Captain America to knock him out, seeing as our own work of his metal prosthetic worked a little too well, as he never really touched the note with his skin. Being the original man out of time, Mr Rogers was soon shaking off the compulsion, so we had to sedate him too. Bit of a nuisance really.” Ryan had begun pacing, reeling off this story as if he had been practicing it.
The man to the right, which you had deciphered was Rumlow, had been sharpening a knife quietly. You heard the faint click of buttons pressing and glanced over your shoulder and saw Tony fiddling with what looked like his watch. He looked up and winked at you before clearing his throat.
“That’s a very touching story, but it’s been too long since I’ve said anything, so… I’m Tony Stark, genius, playboy, billionaire, philanthropist, pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Tony announced, thrusting a hand towards Ryan. He frowned at Tony’s hand and raised an eyebrow. Tony yanked his hand up and laughed.
“Oh, too slow!” he exclaimed as there was a crash and a whirlwind of metal and dry wall flashed across your vision. Tony’s suit began to assemble itself, snapping onto him, piece by piece. You squinted and spluttered dust from your mouth, choking on the particles in the air. “Now it’s a party!”