Children of HYDRA

Over the following weeks, Bucky makes an occasional appearance, usually only saying a phrase or two, but clearly as himself and not the Soldier. The Soldier himself seems more at ease, more laid back and more affectionate, displaying many of the attributes, particularly in body language and vocabulary, that Bucky had in the thirties and forties. It's clear the Soldier is fading, making way for Bucky Barnes to come out, but the mood swings and tantrums show that there is a resistance, maybe even an animosity towards Bucky for the Soldier's loss of self identity.

Rumlow and Steve are arguing about the best way to handle it.

"It's just growing pains," says Steve. "He'll get over it and it will be fine."

"Steve, you're not listening. I'm trained to handle him, I know what this is."

"He doesn't need a handler! He needs his boyfriends!"

"I'm not saying that, I'm saying we need to give the Soldier some face time so he doesn't feel like he's being erased. Bucky is coming back, there's no stopping that. How would you feel if you found out you had been someone else before and your personality and memories were being erased so a long dead person could take over your body?"

"He's not dead! He's in the other room!"

"That's another thing you're mishandling. Keep your fucking voice down. He has enhanced hearing and he doesn't need to hear you saying this shit. He'll feel like he doesn't matter to you."

"You know he matters to me."

"But he doesn't. So show him. Let me bring the Soldier out to play and he can be Barnes later. Please."

"What if you're wrong? What if using those codewords will just erase Bucky all over again? You really want to make all the progress he's made count for nothing?"

"STOP FIGHTING!!!" screams Bucky as he runs into the room, hair disheveled. "You two are assholes! Why don't you ask me what I want instead of acting like I'm a child? You're my romantic partners, so fucking act like it! Stop saying this shit where I can hear it! Stop saying it at all!"

"Tell us what you want, Soldier," says Rumlow.

"MY NAME IS BUCKY!!" he screams, shrill and guttural.

"What do you want, Buck?" says Steve. "Tell us. Please."

"I want you to use the triggers. I want to be the Soldier right now. And I want that to be okay. I'm still me, Steve. I need you. We both do. So stop pretending like I'm the only one who matters. He loves you and you've broken his heart over and over again while he's still navigating what it's like to process emotions. He's in turmoil, Steve, and it's your fault."

Steve is crushed, face fallen into a frightened frown. "Buck, I'm sorry."

"Stop being sorry and start being my commanding officer. I need the loves of my life, but the Soldier needs his handlers. Like it or not, that's what you are to him."

Rumlow takes Bucky's hand and kisses it. "We'll do whatever you need."

"I'm fine. But the Soldier needs you. Both of you. And I'm tired and I'm pissed off."

Rumlow starts the process, ignoring whatever Steve was about to say and covering Steve's mouth with his hand.

"Желание.

"Ржавый.

"Семнадцать.

"Рассвет.

"Печь.

"Девять.

"Доброкачественный.

"Возвращение на родину.

"Один.

"Грузовой вагон."

Bucky's eyes and posture change in an instant. He looks to Rumlow.

"Солдат?" says Rumlow.

"Я готов соблюдать," says the Soldier.

Rumlow says lazer tag or paintball would be best, but given their limited space and the fact that Rumlow can't leave, Steve has other ideas.

"Teach me how he likes it," says Steve.

"Likes what?" asks Rumlow.

"Sex. Being used. I know he used to love the TRASH parties the HYDRA agents would throw for him. He told me on our dates. The Russians used to do the same thing. Show me how to TRASH him."

"Steve, this is some fucked up shit. There's no going back from it if we do this."

"He'll love it, and he'll know I want him for him. That's what's important right now."

The Soldier is looking back and forth between them anxiously, vibrating with a desire he thought he could keep hidden, but Rumlow knows and Steve has an inkling.

"Alright. Let's do this. First take his clothes off. Tear them and bruise him. Be rough, like you're angry with him."

"So pretend he's you. Got it."

"Very quippy, Rogers. Just do it."

Steve grabs the Soldier by the shoulders and pushes him against the wall, ripping his shirt. Then he punches him hard in the face before spinning him. "Hands against the wall, and don't move unless I tell you!" barks Steve.

"Yes, Sir!" says the Soldier. He complies and Steve rips the back of his pajama pants apart and shoves his fingers unlubed into the Soldier's hole.

"Now you're getting it," says Rumlow. "Now call him a dirty bitch."

"Language!" says Steve.

Rumlow laughs as the Soldier tenses.

"Sorry," says Steve. "It just slipped out."

"Call him dirty names of your choice, asshole. Now!"

"Listen up, cuntwad!" screams Steve. "You're a dirty bitch, but you're our bitch and we're gonna use you like the fucktoy comebucket you are!"

The Soldier smiles against the wall as Steve unbuttons his pants one-handed, another hand closing around the Soldier's throat.

Five hours later, Steve and Rumlow are exhausted and Bucky is complaining about the loss of his favorite pajamas. But for the first time in decades, he feels peace inside, and for the first time ever, he and the Soldier are both smiling.

It continues like this for a few months. The Soldier gets time to be himself, and when it's time to be Bucky again, the shift happens naturally. Rumlow says they can bring about the shift by using the Russian triggers and commanding the Soldier to change states of mind, but he's hesitant to do that yet. Natural shifts in personality are healthier while Bucky is becoming himself again. Sometimes he can feel the shift before it happens and occasionally head it off if he's not ready to change yet. But sometimes the shift is immediate, even in the middle of a conversation. He seems to barely retain whatever the other personality has heard and it seems their memories are being recorded separately. Likewise, their old memories as they return seem to only transcend identities in dreams and nightmares.

Steve is happy with the progress. It's going faster than Rumlow expected and the personalities seem to be complete and separate within a few months. Bucky's also started therapy and the therapist is getting a hell of a paycheck to keep Rumlow a secret. He's become Bucky's therapy partner, helping him shift personalities in therapy when needed, but also being a source of moral support and occasionally, input. The therapist says that Rumlow may be released to the custody of Captain America if he turns himself in, particularly because of his usefulness in helping the Winter Soldier during therapy sessions and in life in general. After all, Bucky is a war hero and the longest held prisoner of war. Steve decides it's a good idea to try and submits a hypothetical to the courts, saying that he'll help them find Rumlow if they decide to offer this deal.

The courts come back with a positive! They say Rumlow is too dangerous as a fugitive and that Captain America could better contain him than a prison anyway since Rumlow doesn't qualify for the Raft or one of the other superhuman facilities.

Steve waits two weeks before bringing Rumlow to court, Rumlow telling the feds over the phone that he's turning himself in. Everything goes as planned and after a short time in jail while the court arrangements are finalized, Rumlow is back in his home with Steve, Bucky and the Soldier, wearing an ankle monitor and essentially free as long as Steve is with him when they leave the Tower.

A part of the benefits of the arrangements is that Rumlow can get better medical help for his scars. Helen Cho has a machine called the Cradle. It generates tissue and with the help of surgeons, the Cradle is able to help Rumlow get a skin graft that gives most of his mobility back. While he isn't good as new and his face is still scarred, it isn't as bad as it was and now he's able to function in combat. Before, the scars took away so much elasticity he couldn't stretch and have his normal speed. Now he's able to train again and man! does that feel good!

Bucky's particularly happy to spar with him. The Soldier always loved sparring with his Commander and Bucky's enjoying it just as much. Steve's a little rough with him from time to time, but Rumlow figures that if Steve can blow off some steam in training and feel better about their relationship in general, it's a good trade.

But everything changes the day Tony suggests Rumlow become an Avenger.

The first thing Rumlow does is design a uniform with vibranium steel plating and a face mask. The gauntlet of one hand has a retractable blade and the other gauntlet forms a mechanical fist that can pack a punch with a hydraulic spring. The rest is pretty much standard armor and the chest plate will have two diagonal white stripes forming an X. The mask is reminiscent of a skull, but stylized. The theme of the outfit is the skull and crossbones. Bucky says it's because he always calls Rumlow a butt-pirate, but Rumlow insists it's just a symbol he's always identified with. His new codename is Crossbones and Steve says it's a little menacing, but Rumlow says, "So fucking what."

Then it's paperwork time and Tony presents a large packet for Rumlow to read and sign. "What's all this?" asks Steve.

"It's just all the paperwork involved in becoming an Avenger," says Tony. "You know, liability and all that."

Rumlow flips through the pages. "These are the Sokovian Accords," he says. "I'm not a superhuman."

"Neither is Clint, but he had to sign them. It's just permission for oversight."

"It's more than that, Tony," says Steve. "This puts him in an international database with his address and God knows what other information. The whole point of his mask is to keep his identity safe from people who want revenge for whatever HYDRA did."

"You know how many people would be trying to skin me alive?!" says Rumlow. "This is a hazard to my health! And besides that, it's immoral."

"Accountability is immoral?!" demands Tony.

"I think he means the part where the Accords are set up to use any superhuman registered as the government's guinea pigs and do their dirty jobs for them," says Bucky. "You know how much bullshit mutants get. They're not just bullied, they're attacked with intent to kill on a regular basis. If the Accords gain enough headway, it'll be mutant registration all over again, but this time for all metahumans. It's dangerous, stupid and unAmerican."

"So are a lot of things the government does," says Tony. "It's the right thing to do."

"No it isn't," says Steve. "And you know that. You really want Peter to be targeted in his civilian life by all the enemies of Spider-Man? What about his aunt, his friends? You think they won't become hostages or collateral damage if he's forced into the open?"

"It's not about what I want, it's about following the law."

"Right now, the Accords are a proposition," says Bucky. "They aren't mandatory."

"For Avengers, they are."

"Then I guess I'm no longer an Avenger," says Steve. "We'll find a place. You do what you have to do, but don't be surprised when we're enemies on the battlefield."

"Cap? You don't mean that…" says Tony, hurt in his voice and all over his face.

"I thought you were better than this, Tony. I guess I was wrong about you."

"You can't be Captain America if you're going to break the laws of the U.S."

"Then recruit Captain Walker. There are two Captain Americas. You have a selection. Lucky you."

"Cap, you are irreplaceable."

"Call me when you come to your senses," says Steve. "We'll move back in when you do."

"And where are you going to go?"

"I don't know yet. Brooklyn, Russia? Maybe Sokovia. Where's Wanda going to go? You ever think of how unfair this is to her?"

"She's an illegal alien and the U.S. doesn't grant Visas to weapons of mass destruction!"

"Tony, she's a child! Do you really want the government pulling her strings to use her like a weapon?!"

"I want her safe. The Accords can guarantee—"

"Tony, she'll be interrogating terrorists at a C.I.A. black site! Or doing special ops in the Middle East! You really think that's safer for her?"

"I think not being locked up like an animal is safer for her."

"We're not seeing eye to eye," says Steve.

"Tell me something I don't know."

"You're a fool," says Steve. "I bet you didn't know that."

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," says Tony.

"We still have to get moved out," says Rumlow. "We're hoping you'll change your mind before we do."

Tony doesn't change his mind. Of course he doesn't, the stubborn ass. Steve asks around. The U.S. may not be the safest place for his family right now, and Steve is hesitant to just go on the run. Bucky's used to the idea, having imagined as the Soldier that that's what his life would be like after the failure of Project Insight. Rumlow imagined the same thing, but Steve wants stability for his family. They may even have kids one day. Bucky wants to adopt Superboy, but there's no way they're going to drag the Kryptonian teen all over the world. It wouldn't be fair to not give him a stable home, even though Steve agrees with Bucky about adopting him.

Finally, they find a safehaven. King T'Challa is offering them a place in his palace. He, too, disagrees with the Accords. While he agrees with Tony that the Avengers and X-Men and other groups that cause collateral damage in their fights should be held accountable for their actions, he strongly disagrees with teenagers and children being registered on public record where anyone can look up their names, addresses, powers and weaknesses. It's unfair to demand a specific demographic of citizens to participate in the government's dirty work or go on dangerous missions simply because they have powers.

Beyond that, T'Challa thinks the Accords should have a civilian record that protects identities and forbids the world governments from using the registered citizens as experimental subjects and weapons in their wars. Steve agrees that he'd be much easier on Tony if that were the case. But Steve still thinks registered masked vigilantes should be able to retain anonymity for the protection of their loved ones.

The following months are hard. T'Challa brings these ideas to the United Nations and tried to gain support for an amending of the Accords, but several governments want to take advantage of legalizing human experimentation, including the U.S., and Steve refuses to go back to his country as long as it supports the subjugation of its citizens.

Steve paints the whites of his uniform black and takes the name 'Nomad', fighting alongside Bucky, Crossbones and the Black Panther as they run secret ops to free people enslaved with the abuse of the Sokovian Accords.

The worst fallout is when the Avengers answer the call of the U.N. and face the four heroes head on. Thor, Black Widow, Falcon, Spider-Man and Ant-Man switch sides mid-fight, changing their loyalty and becoming fugitives in the process. When all is said and done, everyone is either incapacitated or running, except for Iron Man and the Winter Soldier. Steve doesn't know when Bucky changed personalities in the fight, but it's definitely the Soldier fighting Tony now.

The Soldier is merciless, ripping Tony's armor to shreds and nearly ripping the arc reactor from his heart when a repulsor blast goes off from Tony's chest and the Soldier's arm is incinerated by the blast, leaving a cybernetic stump hanging from his shoulder. Steve frees himself from the grip of the Hulk and rushes Tony, hitting his chest dead center with his vibranium shield and destroying the repulsor but not the arc reactor, leaving Tony alive, but unprotected and unable to fire any more repulsor blasts.

The fugitives flee the scene before the rest of the Avengers have the chance to regroup. T'Challa takes them all to Wakanda and they nurse their wounds.

Bucky is himself again when the Wakandan surgeons replace his arm, having already made a vibranium one for him. It's the same as his other one in appearance, but much stronger and much lighter. It's also better for his body since carbonadium is poisonous and vibranium isn't. T'Challa presents the Tesseract battery that was in his HYDRA-Tech arm as a gift which he in turn presents to Steve, and Steve smiles, suggesting they save it as a night light for their first child.

That makes Bucky grin wide. The thought of something that was part of him that he felt had no purpose but destruction becoming a source of comfort for a child makes him feel less broken. Though it won't absolve the Soldier of the lives he's taken and the lives he's destroyed, it comforts him in a way he never expected. Bucky speaks with both of their voices when he tells Steve a simple 'thank you'.