Chapter 4
It had been a week since their encounter with the Winchester brothers and Bucky wanted to rip his hair out. Steve was driving him insane, he loved his best friend he really did, but the man was not patient especially when it came to Hydra. Bucky continued to be impressed by Coulson’s calm demeanor in the face of Captain America’s irritable attitude. The agent was once again calmly explaining to Steve that they had to wait for the Winchesters intel before they went barging into a Hydra base unprepared. Bucky watched with slight smirk as his friend sputtered in the face of that logic. Finally, taking mercy on Steve and Coulson, Bucky went over to his friend and dragged him away towards the elevator and kindly asked JARVIS to take them down to the gym. Bucky was going to help Steve with all of this pent up energy by beating it out of his best friend and hopefully get a good workout for himself in.
Thankfully the gym was deserted as Bucky dragged Steve to the mats in the center of the floor. They both slipped their shoes off and Steve stripped his sweatshirt, leaving the muscle shirt on as Bucky stood in the center of the mats in his t-shirt and sweats, metal plates whining as he settled into a crouch, fists raised. Steve came at him like a freight train, muscles coiled and snapping out with unmatched strength. Bucky countered the initial attack and soon he and Steve fell into a rhythm of ruthless and no holds barred blows, both of them falling into focus as their super soldier personas emerged. Bucky planted Steve on his back a while later and his friend tapped out, breathing harsh as sweat beaded both of their bodies. Bucky stood a moment later and pulled his best friend to his feet, Steve looking over his shoulder as Sam entered the gym.
“Winchesters called, they’re on their way. Should be getting here tomorrow morning,” the Falcon called out as he made his way over to Bucky and Steve.
“So, what do you think of them?” Steve nodded as he quirked his brow at Sam.
“Honestly, I’ve got no idea, hard to really get a read on either of them. Never mind that Dean was dying when we approached him and he truly didn’t care. Seeing what they dealt with in that barn, I can only imagine the extent of their PTSD,” Sam grimaced and Bucky knew the therapist in Sam was cringing at the thought.
PTSD was something Sam had helped him with over the past year. Bucky could recognize his triggers and Sam had taught him how to bring himself out of the tailspin and suffocating decent into the Winter Soldier. He wasn’t a slave to his conditioning any longer and for that, Bucky was grateful. The memories, however, were something else entirely. All of the coping mechanisms Sam taught him would go out the window once a memory accosted him. Bucky’s body would shut down as frozen as the icy terrain Hydra had uncovered him from while grisly memories played out in his head. Bucky wondered how Dean Winchester dealt with his PTSD and what the man felt when he was consumed by memories.
“Buck?” Steve’s voice was worried as it dragged Bucky out of his thoughts.
“Dangerous,” Bucky grunted.
“Well, obviously,” Steve sighed as he rubbed his hand through his hair, the sweat causing it to spike.
“Then I guess it all depends on how much you trust Coulson,” Bucky shrugged, bending down to slip his shoes back on.
“We need to see what other information Coulson has on them because vampires sure as hell weren’t in the initial briefing,” Sam pronounced giving Steve a serious look.
“I agree with you Sam, but Buck, I want your opinion,” Steve’s eyes were level and slightly imploring.
Bucky’s jaw clenched as he thought back to that night a week ago. He thought about the man he had seen slumped over on a bale of hay, blood dripping from the machete and gun trained on Steve. Dean Winchester. He was bloody and broken, surrounded by death and waiting for his own. Bucky had seen a lot of death over the decades; he himself had been the cause of most of it. Bodies shouldn’t faze him anymore, then again, most of his kills were clean and instantaneous. It’s probably one of the reasons he was having such a hard time with the scene from the barn. Decapitation was not an easy feat, it required skill and strength all accompanied by a sharp blade. It was a brutal way to die, a fierce way to kill. The Winchesters had taken the heads off of six people; vampires, monsters who came from legends and were apparently real and these two brothers could kill them and apparently did on a regular basis. Coulson sought them out for a reason; they held knowledge and had skills no one else had.
Dean Winchester made the Winter Soldier stir in the depths of Bucky’s mind. Of course they were dangerous. Yet, Bucky couldn’t help but remember Dean’s face as the man sat resigned and covered in blood. The way shock followed by resigned gratitude filtered across his face as Bucky helped staunch his bleeding wounds. In that moment, Bucky felt a fierce determination usually reserved for Steve well up inside him; he wasn’t going to let Dean Winchester die.
“He was the first person who didn’t look at me like I was about to end their life,” Bucky gave a wry grin and Steve’s face flushed in grief.
****
It was late afternoon when Bucky and the rest of the Avengers were gathered in the living room waiting for Coulson. The agent had sent a message asking for the team to gather for a briefing before the Winchesters arrived. Bucky was glad for it and he knew Steve was too judging by the relief that flashed across his friends face when their phones beeped earlier with Coulson’s message. Bucky had showered quickly before heading up to the Avengers common floor for the meeting. The team appeared to be lounging around as they waited for Coulson, but Bucky could see the tense and wary lines in everyone’s faces. This mission so far was full of holes and unknown variables which set everyone on edge.
Bucky’s ears perked as the elevator opened and Coulson’s soft steps made their way towards the group. A massive file was unceremoniously dropped on the coffee table in front of Bucky and Steve. Off to the side, near the bar, Bucky heard Stark and Barton groan. He couldn’t blame either of them, it was an impressive file and there was only one copy which Bucky found odd.
“Why is there only one copy and for that matter why is it not on SHIELD’s server? This would be so much easier if JARVIS could just pull it up,” Stark whined as he plopped down next to Steve on the couch.
“Coulson obviously didn’t want anyone else to have access to this information, Stark,” Natasha’s voice was dry as she slid into a seat opposite Bucky and flipped open the file.
“Is it seriously that important? Out of all the information SHIELD could have and should have kept out of the bad guys hands, a file on some brothers is the one he picks,” Stark snorted in derision.
“It wasn’t always the case, the information used to be accessible to SHIELD personnel,” Coulson acknowledged.
“So what happened, why remove it from record?” Steve asked eyes intent on Coulson.
“Dean Winchester was 22 years old when Fury sent me to shadow him for possible recruitment. SHIELD had their eye on him for some time. He was a high school drop out with a militaristic upbringing and a police record that was growing every year. It wasn’t until his brother left for college that we felt it was time to approach him with our offer,” Coulson’s eyes were distant.
“I take it recruitment didn’t go as planned,” Barton chuckled and Coulson shot him a withering look.
“No, it did not Clint, Dean Winchester gave his answer by shooting me. Suffice to say I took it as a ‘no’,” a small smile played on the agent’s mouth. Bucky was shocked, from what he heard very few people could get the drop on Coulson.
“Little did Fury and I know, but we didn’t have all of the facts at the time,” Coulson continued through the stunned silence, “Dean Winchester’s life wasn’t so black and white. After I got out of the hospital and after Fury cursed me out, I went back to our intel on Dean and his family and found a supernatural world of monsters hiding among our own.”
“Hydra’s obsession with the occult, that’s the reason you and Fury got rid of all the information on the Winchesters,” Bucky hung his head, a weary sigh escaping his throat.
“Yes, but Fury and I knew the benefits of having the information so we kept a single file, one I have kept updated over time as we followed Dean and Sam from a distance,” Coulson tapped the file on the coffee table.
“They must have known or there must have been times you lost track of them,” Stark spoke up, hands fiddling with his phone.
“I don’t know if Dean ever suspected I was still keeping tabs on him. But, yes, we would lose track of them every now and again,” Coulson admitted, he was clearly disgruntled by these failures.
Bucky stared at the file still being leafed through by Natasha. The Black Widow’s face was impassive, but Bucky was the Winter Soldier and he could read the small tremors that ran through her body, he could read the tightening around her eyes and he knew what dread looked like. Dangerous. Just how dangerous though was the question. Dangerous enough that Fury and Coulson knew they needed to destroy all traces of these two men. Dangerous enough that Coulson was willing to ask for their help in bringing down SHIELD’s greatest threat.
“Both men have been on the FBI’s Most Wanted list and FBI reports state they’ve been declared legally dead on multiple separate occasions,” Natasha’s voice was sardonic as she arched an eyebrow at Coulson. Dangerous. Bucky glanced over at Steve’s grim face, his best friend’s blue eyes steady on the agent.
“There is something you need to understand about the Winchesters. There is only one thing that comes before family and that is the fate of the world which is why I trust them to do the right thing and help us. But threaten either one of them and you will find yourself at the other end of a bullet,” Coulson nodded to each of them before he made his way back to the elevator leaving silence in his wake.
Bucky stared after the man as the rest of the Avengers took up various positions around Natasha and proceeded to read over her shoulder. Steve made eye contact with Bucky and tilted his head towards the empty space next to the super soldier, an invitation for Bucky to join them. Distaste curled in Bucky’s gut, his mouth turning down in a frown. It didn’t seem right reading Dean’s file after he had met the man and helped patch him up. Bucky had discerned more about Dean in those couple of hours in that barn than he needed. He knew what type of man Dean Winchester was. He liked the type of man Dean Winchester was. Bucky’s head snapped up, drawing a concerned look from Steve which the former assassin ignored. He genuinely liked Dean. Bucky dropped his chin to his chest as he felt the Winter Soldier programming shift in the back of his mind; he wasn’t the only one who liked Dean.