Chapter 5
It was almost 8pm when Sam sat down to eat dinner in the compounds dining room with Steve, Clint and Nat. They were all exhausted, having been awake since 3am trying to get a lead on Bucky and Sharon's whereabouts.
He craned his neck and looked around the crowded room.
"Hey, has anyone seen Cookie? I stopped by her office earlier but haven't seen her since. She has a bad habit of working through meals and bed time."
The others all shook their heads and mumbled something in the negative.
Sam frowned "I should take some food up to her, maybe remind her to get some sleep."
Nat scoffed "She's a grown woman, she can take care of herself. Besides, it wouldn't hurt her to skip a meal. Or two."
Sam gave her an off look "What the Hell Romanoff? Cookie's gorgeous as she is, why are your claws out? Still miffed Barnes was giving her so much attention?"
Nat smirked "Was being the keyword in that sentence. Watching that little social climber being iced out by the Winter Soldier has been a source of great joy for me. She should have stayed in her lane with the other nerds instead of trying to sleep her way up."
Sam shook his head "Mee-ow, Romanoff. Didn't realize you felt so threatened by her. Well I'm going to look in on her. See you around."
Sam went into the kitchen to make a plate for Cookie before heading up to her office.
Clint looked at Nat "What is your problem with Cookie? She's a sweetheart and the best analyst here. I'm gonna hit my rack while I can. Later."
Nat sat with Steve for a few more minutes before standing up. "I have some leads to look into. See ya."
Steve shook his head at his friends strange behavior but wrote it off as stress over the missing agents and dove into his food.
Sam left the elevator on the mission support floor and was surprised to find Cookie's office locked up, lights out. He figured she must have gone to bed and headed for her room. He knocked on her door and when there was no response he felt like he needed to be sure.
"Friday? Where's Cookie?"
"Agent Y/L/N left the compound with Agent Iris Daniels at 1:17 this afternoon."
"Wait, what? She's gone?"
"Yes Captain Wilson."
Sam shook his head "This isn't good. Why would she just leave?" He mumbled to himself, before asking
"Friday, did she leave any word of where she was going or when she would return?"
"I'm sorry Captain Wilson she didn't."
"Fuck! Friday, can you find her?"
"I'm on it, Captain."
"Where's Stark?"
"Mr Stark is in his lab."
"Can you tell him I'm on my way there. We need to talk. And tell Rogers too."
"Of course, Captain."
Sam hurried up to Tony Starks lab, followed by Steve.
Tony looked up "What's up, Captains? Any leads on Carter and Barnes?"
Sam shook his head "No, there's another problem."
Tony tensed "Now what?"
"Cookie is gone. She left early this afternoon with one of her analysts. Didn't leave a note or tell anyone where she went. I tried to call both of them but it went straight to voicemail. Considering the tension between Cookie, Bucky and Carter this seems to have gotten more serious. Cookie knows more about the classified workings here than anyone else. Carter might find her useful."
Steve tried to protest "I'm sure Cookie is just following a lead, I doubt she's in any kind of trouble. Just because she had a falling out with Bucky, doesn't mean he would let anything happen to her."
Tony closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Really Rogers? I know you're not around much but Barnes and Carter have effectively iced Cookie out, she's with Sam more than she's with Barnes." he rubbed his neck
"Friday, any clues where they might have gone?"
"No, boss but Captain Wilson started a search for her and the agent she left with. I'll let you know if I find them."
Sam looked at Tony "There has to be more we can do than sit here waiting for one of them to pop up in Fridays search."
Tony sighed "Friday, how did they leave the compound?"
"They took one of your cars, boss."
Tony shouted, Sam and Steve flinched "That's it, find that car."
"I'll notify you when I do Mr Stark."
Tony notified the rest of the team to suit up and be ready to go as soon as they had a location.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bucky woke up with a start, he could feel that he was sitting on a dirt floor, against a cold concrete wall, wrists bound behind his back with some kind of handcuffs that he couldn't get out of. Ankles bound together as well. He opened his eyes and the room was dark with a musty, earthy smell. He couldn't see much and concluded he was probably in a basement since there were no windows.
He shook his head to try and clear it.
He remembered talking to Sharon after waking up in a cabin upstate but when he tried to remember anything else his head started pounding again and he gave up.
Bucky decided to see if he could find anything and pushed against the wall to stand up. He kept next to the wall and took small steps around the room to see if he could find a way out or if there was anything he could use as a weapon.
He bumped into what felt like another wall but he couldn't see it, even though his eyes were adjusted to the dark, and it seemed too close to be a wall. He shuffled along next to it until he came to another corner.
Bucky snapped around when he heard a door open then flinched when a light came on.
"Aahhh, you're awake finally. Your little friend is still out so we will have to wait to get started."
Bucky moved towards the voice and ran into a clear wall but could see her on the other side of the wall smiling. He growled when he couldn't push through the wall. "Sharon? What the fuck is going on?"
Sharon chuckled "Oh Bucky, poor confused baby. I'm not a Bond villain who is going to explain my whole plan while you figure out how to escape. You'll just have to wait and see. Don't worry your precious Cookie should be awake soon."
She motioned her head to his right.
Bucky felt like he couldn't breathe when he saw Cookie tied up on the floor and unconscious, in a second, smaller room with clear walls. Sharon approached her and dumped a bucket of water on her before leaving that room and sitting on one of the steps that led upstairs.
Cookie jerked and spluttered awake when the water hit her "Wh what th th the fuck?"
Sharon clapped happily "Oh good, you're awake. Don't worry, this won't take too long. I'm just so excited that we finally get to do this."
Bucky slammed his shoulder against the wall with no effect. "Dammit Sharon, let her go. She doesn't have anything to do with this. You have me, I did everything you asked so just leave her alone."
Sharon giggled "That's not true, you refused to kill her for me but don't worry, we're going to fix that today."
Bucky shook his head "No Sharon, you don't need to do this. You already have me."
Sharon sighed "Typical man, thinks it's all about him. Did it ever occur to you that the head of intel might be valuable to bad actors? Her head has so much information, more than anyone except maybe Fury."
Cookie spoke up "You're crazy if you think I'm telling you anything. I don't care if you torture me. You won't get anything from me."
Sharon laughed "You know, most of the people who say that end up spilling their guts when it starts to hurt. That's ok, I have other options. Antonia?"
A woman came down the stairs to stand next to Sharon, Cookie did a double take "Antonia? Dreykov? But that's Iris? What are you doing here? You said we-" she shook her head "You're the mole. Why?"
Antonia pulled off the photostatic veil to reveal her own face and smiled "For my father, to bring the Red Room back to its former glory. Once you're gone, I'll take your job and be able to access all the top level intel you refused to share. If you had just let me in, you wouldn't be here now."
Bucky slammed himself against the wall separating him from Sharon. "No, please. You can't kill her. I'll go with you willingly, I'll be yours, just don't hurt her."
Sharon smirked "You will come with me either way. We've been tweaking the mind control serum that Dreykov created so you shouldn't be able to break free like you have been. The Super soldier serum helped you keep waking up from the mind control but we've found a way to compensate for that so you won't even be sad your precious Cookie is dead." She winked at him "Or that you killed her."
As if on cue Natasha descended the stairs with her sister Yelena and handed a small tranq dart to Sharon "Here's the serum for Barnes. Let's get this over with before Stark figures out where we are."
Bucky stared at Natasha "Why are you doing this? Betraying the Avengers, hurting more innocent people?"
Nat smirked "I told you all of it, don't you remember? The morning after you fucked her.
***Flashback***
Bucky woke up from one of the best nights sleep he had ever had and smiled when he felt a warm body next to him, Cookie. He pulled her into him, amazed that she was here in his bed. That she wanted him too. He could tell the sun wasn't up yet so he closed his eyes and dozed off.
A little while later he woke again, needing to pee, so carefully extracted himself. When he was done he saw the time and hurried to meet Steve and Sam for their morning run.
When he got to the lobby he saw neither of them were there so decided on a short run so he could get back to Cookie. He smiled as he thought about her cuddled up in his bed and spending the day in bed together.
Before he was through the doors he heard Nat calling him. She propositioned him but he refused and told her about him and Cookie.
Nat frowned and shook her head "I have to apologize in advance then." She pulled something out of her pocket and gently slapped his neck.
Bucky pulled back "Owww, what was that?"
Nat sighed "A serum that Dreykov used to control the Widows."
Bucky looked at her, confused "Mind control? What are you doing, Nat? I- whu" he closed his eyes and when he opened them they were emotionless.
Nat grinned "Soldat?"
"готов подчиниться" Ready to comply
Nat smiled "Good boy. Now take your run, then go tell Cookie you just want sex, make some excuse up. And then stay away from her, Sharon will be here soon to be your handler. Once all is said and done, Cookie, Sharon and the rest of the Avengers will all be dead and you will be by my side. The Black Widow and Winter Soldier, running SWORD, HYDRA and the Red Room together."
Bucky nodded.
She showed him a picture of Sharon and repeated "Handler"
Then she patted his cheek "Go on, Soldat. Complete your mission."
Bucky nodded "миссия" Mission
Nat shook her head "That won't do. Soldat? I need you to act like Barnes or this won't work. Relax"
Soldat nodded and smirked "Of course, Natty. I'll take care of everything for you."
Then jogged off around the lake before heading back to the compound to break Cookies heart.
***end Flashback***
Bucky shook his head "Why did you make me hurt Cookie? I would never do that, I'm in love with her."
Cookie gasped "But-"
Sharon snapped "But nothing. I'm bored" she went into the room where Bucky was. He tried to fight her but with his arms and legs bound she was able to get close enough to hit him with the dart. She quickly backed away and Nat pushed a button that lowered the wall between Soldat and Cookie.
"Soldat?"
Bucky stood up straight "готов подчиниться" Ready to comply
Cookie cried out "No, Bucky please. Don't let her do this. Bucky!!"
Natasha glared at Cookie and clicked on a remote that unlocked Bucky's restraints "Enough of your whining. Soldat, kill her."
The Soldat nodded and then turned to Cookie who was cowering against the wall. She tried to push herself up to standing but the Soldat was too fast and wrapped his vibranium hand around her throat and lifted her up until her feet couldn't reach the ground.
Cookie looked at the cold face of her friend, the man she had loved for 2 years and rasped out "Bucky. Please." She looked into his emotionless eyes and she realized this was it, she closed her eyes and tried to say "I forgive you" as she lost consciousness.