Unexpected Savior
Pairings: The Winter Soldier x OFC Cadence Michaelson (platonic), Bucky Barnes x OFC Cadence Michaelson (platonic), Bucky Barnes x OFC Jane Michaelson (implied)
Characters: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Bruce Banner/Hulk, Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, The Winter Soldier, OFC Jane Michaelson, and OFC Cadence Michaelson
Rating: Mature
Tags: Angst, fluff, Bucky's trigger words, Hydra, weapons, use of a syringe/needle, mentions of killing, anxiety, fear, crying, explicit language, and I think that's it.
Word Count: 2,992
Betas: T. Thompson and A. DiLorenza
Title Card: Yours Truly
A/N: This fic is based on my daughter. She is absolutely obsessed with Bucky and if he were real and this happened to her in real life, she would 100% defend him. I am not fluent in Russian, nor do I trust Google translate to get the words right. I'm sorry if the trigger words aren't spelled correctly. If anyone is Russian or knows the language, please feel free to correct me! I will change it in the fic if need be.
Bucky knew going on this mission was a bad idea. It wasn't a difficult one, but he just had this feeling. A gut instinct told him that he should stay back at the Avenger's Tower. The team needed him though, so despite his bad feeling, he got on the Quinjet with them anyway.
Their objective was simple. Fury needed some Hydra intel about a supposed secret base location. All they had to do was search an old warehouse that had been previously abandoned and see if they'd left behind any clue of where it could be.
Once they arrived the team thought it best to split up so they could cover more ground. Steve and Bucky had gone east, Clint and Natasha chose the north side, Sam and Tony took the larger west side. That left Thor and Bruce with the south end.
Things were fine at first, searching filing cabinets, desks, and boxes while communicating through their comms system. A few minutes later, however, Bucky started to feel uneasy. Almost like he was being watched. He shook it off and told Steve he was going to check the rooms at the end of one of the hallways.
The first two didn't have anything useful, but the third one had a safe. Bucky had set his rifle down on a nearby desk and began pulling at the handle with his metal arm. Everything happened so fast. The door slammed shut, a needle in his neck, and muffled voices was all he remembered before everything went black.
That brings him to where he is now. He's tied to a chair, his metal arm is stuck between two pieces of heavy machinery, and Rumlow sits in front of him with the book. The fucking book ruined his goddamn life.
"Hello, James. It's good to see you again."
Bucky glares at him menacingly, "fuck you, Rumlow."
"Well, that's not very nice. I'm here to do you a favor after all."
Bucky scoffs and continues to try and break free of his bonds. "I'd rather you go to hell!"
Rumlow smirks and leans in close to his face. "You first."
He opens the book and stands up, staring straight at Bucky as he speaks.
Zhelaniye
Bucky grits his teeth and pulls harder on the ropes.
Rjaviy
"No!" He closes his eyes and wills himself not to listen.
Semnadtsať
It wasn't working. Bucky can feel himself slipping away.
Rassvet
"Aghhhh! Stop!"
Pech'
His mind starts to fog over, the evil inside him beginning to rise and take hold again.
Devyať
All he can do is scream. He knows it won't work. He's past the point of no return now.
Dobroserdechnyy
Bucky hangs his head, his chest heaving as the monster gains the upper hand inside him.
Vozvrashcheniye na rodinu
He's fading, like he's in a nightmare where he can see what's going on, but can't control anything.
Odin
The last sliver of himself slowly dissipates, the vile desire to kill flooding through his body.
Tovarnyy vagon
He's gone. Bucky Barnes is pushed to the side as pure evil, the Winter Soldier, takes complete control of his body.
Rumlow walks to stand in front of the soldier, crouching down so he can see the emotionless blue eyes of his weapon. He unties him and raises the metal machinery.
"Soldat?"
Bucky doesn't move, he doesn't even blink, but he answers the Hydra affiliate nonetheless. "Ya gotov otvechet"
His response is deep, very monotone, and he stands staring straight ahead as he waits for his mission instructions.
"Do you see this man?" Rumlow holds up a file with a man's picture on it and Bucky immediately responds. "Da."
"This man has stolen vital information from Hydra, and he needs to be eliminated within the next twelve hours."
The Winter Soldier stalks out of the small room and takes a high-powered gun from one of the guards. His stealthy nature allows him to sneak out of the back without being detected by the Avengers, and within minutes he's on his way back to New York.
Steve is furious. He's pacing back and forth in the common room of the tower chastising himself for allowing this to happen again. Bucky is his best friend. He's been through so much torture, so much pain, and he couldn't even protect him on an easy mission.
"Goddammit!" He slams his fist into the wall, punching right through it, and making everyone else in the room jump.
Natasha stands and walks across the room. "We're gonna get him back, Steve."
He snaps his gaze to hers, "how, Natasha? We don't know where they took him. Hell, he could be in Siberia and we wouldn't know."
Stark cuts in before she can respond. "Actually, you're wrong."
All eyes move to Tony, but he isn't focused on them. Instead, he's typing something into one of his many tech devices.
Clint raises an eyebrow, "care to elaborate?"
A couple of seconds later, he projects a map for all of them to see. "This," he points to a little moving dot, "is Barnes' current location."
"After our last big mission, I took the liberty of putting tracking devices in everyone's gear. I would have tracked him earlier, but I didn't think we'd need the main tracker module for such a small mission. I was wrong. The good news is, it looks like he's right here in Manhattan."
Steve moves to stand in front of the map, watching the tiny, red dot. The moment it stops, he notes the location and grabs his shield.
Bruce steps in front of him holding out a hand. "Whoa, don't you think we should talk about this, Steve? We can't just go into this blind."
"I agree with Banner," Thor adds. "I've definitely learned my lesson from charging into a battle without a plan."
The Captain turns around, giving his team a stern look. "Bucky is my best friend. I was the only one he remotely recognized back when we had the conflict with the Accords. If anyone is going to bring him back, it's me."
Jane pulls her red Chevy Malibu into the gas station parking lot. She and her nine-year-old daughter, Cadence, have been driving for nearly twelve hours now, and they're hungry. Their hotel isn't too far away, but she wants to stock up on snacks for the room since the amenities they provide cost an arm and a leg.
She brought her daughter here for her birthday since it's been the only thing she's asked for over the past eight months. Cadence is a bit more unique than the rest of the kids in her grade. They were all playing outside or watching their favorite cartoons while having sleepovers with their friends.
Not her baby though. No, she spends almost all her time watching the news just to catch a glimpse of her favorite team of superheroes. Almost everything in her room revolves around the Avengers, specifically Captain America and Bucky Barnes. Cadence would often tell Jane that she wants a best friend like Bucky and Steve are to each other.
Jane isn't sure if their tower allows visitors, but they plan to try tomorrow morning. Her baby will be ten in just under eleven hours, and it would make her entire life if she could have a chance to meet her idols.
The gas station is quiet. Other than the cashier, they're the only ones there. Jane walks down one of the back aisles and begins to grab bags of chips. She turns to her daughter and smiles.
"Hey baby, do you wanna go pick out some candy for the room? Pick whatever you want, okay?"
Cadence nods, "Okay, Mommy!"
Even though the candy aisle is on the opposite end of the store, she doesn't think anything of it. It's not that big, and she can still see her while she stocks up on drinks. As she is reaching for a two liter of Coke, all hell breaks loose.
Jane whips around at the sound of the door being ripped off its hinges. She watches in horror as her daughter's idol walks in with an assault rifle. Cadence stands no more than five feet away staring wide-eyed at the super soldier. Jane knows he isn't Bucky, but her baby doesn't. She didn't have the heart to tell her about all the torture James had to go through when he was captured by Hydra.
Now her daughter is mere feet away from the assassin, and she's too scared to even blink for fear of him turning around and shooting her little girl.
Just when Bucky raises the gun at the startled cashier, the rest of the Avengers come barreling through the wall, courtesy of the Hulk, to try and stop him from adding another kill to his list.
"Bucky! Stop!"
Steve shouts at his friend causing him to turn around and narrow his eyes. He doesn't speak, but his intent to kill is evident.
Everyone is armed and ready to strike if James so much as twitches. Jane looks at her daughter and tries to get her attention as quietly as she can, but it's no use. Her baby is laser-focused on the situation, her eyes wide with fear and wonder.
The moment Iron Man raises his hand to fire a beam at James, Jane's worst fear becomes a reality. Everything happens in slow motion as Cadence drops the bag of Skittles she's holding and runs straight into the line of fire.
"No! No, don't hurt him, Iron Man! Don't hurt my Bucky!"
She stops in front of the Winter Soldier and wraps her tiny hands around his waist, burying her face in the front piece of his tactical gear. Everyone stops. It's so quiet that you can hear a pin drop.
Steve, Tony, Sam, Thor, Natasha, Clint, and even the Hulk stand completely still with horrified looks on their faces. Never in the history of their careers has a civilian intervened on any of their missions. Especially not a child. Now they're standing there, trying to come up with a strategy on how to save this tiny little girl from one of the world's most deadly assassins.
Steve is the closest to her. She's probably no more than forty-five pounds and maybe three and a half feet tall. He could probably grab her before she got too injured. He isn't sure that's the right way to go about this though. He gauges Bucky's reaction to try and figure out the best solution.
The Winter Soldier looks down at her, confusion written all over his face. He isn't trained in any interactions other than the ones where he kills. He's mostly confused about what she said. My Bucky. There's that name again, the one that the Steve guy called him on the bridge a few years ago.
"I'm not Bucky."
She looks up into his menacing eyes and hugs him a bit tighter.
"You look like my Bucky. And you talk like him. Did you lose your memory? The tall blonde over there," she points to Steve, "he's your best friend! I think you guys have been friends for like a hundred years or something. My Mommy told me once, but I forgot the story."
Tony speaks up to try and coax her away from the danger she's in. "Hey, sweetheart…Bucky isn't feeling good right now and he needs our help. Can you go hang out with my friend Natasha over there so we can help him?"
Cadence turns around, her arms are spread out and her back presses up against Bucky's legs.
"No! I won't let you hurt him! If you're gonna make him better, then why would you shoot him? That's not how you play with your friends. You don't hurt them. My mommy says friends are supposed to give each other hugs when they're upset. Right, Mommy?"
Everyone, including Bucky, turns their gaze to Jane. She's moved a bit closer now, still too scared to make any sudden movements.
"T-That's right honey," she whispers. "Can you do what Iron Man said and go stand with Black Widow? Please, baby?"
Jane's voice is shaky and she's got tears in her eyes. Bucky picks up on it all. His confusion increases and he's starting to feel different.
His flesh hand is still on the trigger of the rifle, but it's pointed at the floor now. Cadence moves to stand at Bucky's side, and everyone watches in amazement and fear as she grabs his metal hand in hers, holding it tightly.
"I can't, Mommy! Iron Man will hurt him." She starts to cry, thick tears sliding down her tiny cheeks onto her shirt. "I love him, Mommy. I love Bucky and I won't let anyone hurt him because he's a good person. He's just having a bad day, and we all have those."
Bucky squeezes his eyes shut, his head beginning to throb. His breathing pattern changes and then suddenly, he feels the anger leave his body. He looks down at the tiny blonde holding his bionic hand and pries it from her grasp. The movement makes Steve step forward, ready to pull her away from him in an instant. Instead, he and everyone else stare in awe as Bucky gently rubs the back of her head.
All their eyes widen in shock. Sam is the first to move. He folds his wings into his pack and slowly steps forward.
"Buck? Hey, man you good?"
James looks up and drops the gun. He feels lightheaded and quickly falls to his knees. Cadence is now level with his face and she smiles warmly at him.
"It's okay, Bucky. Sometimes superheroes need protecting too."
She snakes her arms around his neck and rests her tiny cheek on his shoulder.
James has never been shown this much compassion by anyone other than Steve. He looks up at Jane, his eyes shining with tears, and gingerly runs his metal hand down Cadence's back.
"Th-Thank you…" His body starts to shake a little as he cries from both the kindness and the relief of knowing he didn't hurt anybody.
Cadence pulls back to look at him and reaches out to wipe his tears with the sleeve of her shirt. "Oh, please don't cry, Bucky. You're too pretty to cry...well, at least that's what my Mommy says."
Jane goes beet red and buries her face in her hands. Bucky glances at her briefly before looking back into her daughter's big, brown eyes.
"What's your name?"
"My name is Cadence Elizabeth Michaelson and my Mommy's name is Jane Marie Michaelson."
James smiles and cradles her cheek with his flesh hand, "I owe you my life, Cadence. If it weren't for you, I don't know if my friends would have been able to bring me back."
Tony crouches down and removes his helmet. "You're a very brave little girl, Cadence. I could use someone like you on the team. When you're older, of course. I'm sure your Mom wouldn't like it if I recruited you now." He winks.
Steve walks over to Jane and looks her over to make sure she's okay.
"Hi, ma'am. I'm sure you know me, but I'm Captain Steve Rogers. I know this might sound a little strange, but do you think you and your daughter would be willing to come back to the tower with us? I'd like to discuss a few things with you if that's alright?"
She nods, "Yes, that's okay. It's actually why we came here anyway. Cadence's birthday is tomorrow and all she's ever wanted since she was two years old was to meet you guys. Especially Bucky. She has always been drawn to him from the start."
Back at the compound, they all gather in the common room. Nat, Bruce, Sam, Thor, and Clint are eating snacks and watching TV, Steve, Tony, and Jane are chatting in the kitchen, and Bucky is sitting on the floor with Cadence. She's on his lap and reading him her favorite book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
"Ms. Michaelson I-"
She interrupts Steve briefly, "please call me Jane."
He smiles, "Jane, I don't think you understand how extraordinary that was. This isn't the first time Bucky has been brainwashed by Hydra, and the last two times we were in a situation like that, things didn't end well. The only way we were able to bring him out of the Winter Soldier mindset was to restrain him and wait it out."
Tony nods, "he's right, ya know. Barnes doesn't trust anyone really. Well, except for red, white, and blue here and maybe Natasha, but he's still not to that point with everyone else."
Steve puts a big hand on Jane's shoulder. "In all the years I've known Buck, he's never let himself be that vulnerable with anyone other than myself. I don't know what it is about your little girl, but she calms his anxiety. I can see it, and that's why I'm asking you if you'd consider staying here for a while? You'd have your own rooms, own bathroom, all new furniture, and whatever else you need."
Jane's eyes go wide, "y-you...you want us to stay here in the tower… with you?"
He nods, "if you're willing to. I don't think Bucky's really ready to let his new best friend go yet. I know it's selfish of me to ask such a thing of you, but I think it would really help him if she's around."
She looks over at her daughter and watches as she and James laugh at something in the story she's reading him. He really does look relaxed, and despite his strength and metal arm, he's being so careful with her. Jane moves her eyes back to look at the two men in front of her. Her decision comes easy, and she doesn't hesitate in giving them a bright smile.
"Alright, we'll stay."
Does anyone want a Part Two? :)
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