Steve banged his tightened fists against the table, the room finally going silent for the first time in about an hour, each set of eyes turning to pay attention to the frustrated Captain. Blue swiveled around the room, capturing every eye for a brief second before finally landing on Natasha— the only one who knew. She watched him shift around, nodding slightly as if to saygo ahead, because if you don’t do it, I will. Nodding stiffly and with a certain air of authority, he made his way to the front of the table, Fury stepping back with no questions asked because when the captain meant business, you get out of the way. Running a hand over his face, a small puff of breath flew out of his lips as he cleared his throat. “Killing the Winter Soldier is not on the table, we need to figure out another way to take him down. And if anyone goes against this, I’ll fight you myself,” Steve practically growled the last bit, images of Bucky falling off that train still haunted him, and probably always will. Holding up his hand before Tony would protest or interject with a snarky comment, he shook his head, fire in his eyes. “We’re not going to kill him, because the Winter Soldier— he, he’s Bucky. Bucky was—” “your best friend? Back in the day? Yeah, we all know the story, buddy,” Steve frowned, throwing his best authoritative look over at Tony for the interruption before continuing. “Yes, Bucky was more than just my friend, a lot more than just my left hand at battle— he was my brother,” he concluded, looking back at Fury, “and killing him was off the table.”
Dragging his feet through the one bedroom apartment, Steve stared at the bathroom tiles dejectedly. After an hour of fiery debating, he’d finally convinced the team that they’d figure out a way to capture him, even if it meant Steve wouldn’t make it out. There was no way he was losing his best friend again, especially not when he could do something to change it. Splashing his face with cold water, he flinched as images from his past continued to haunt him— he could’ve done something. No matter how many times he replayed that scenario in his head, it always ended with Bucky falling to his death and his heart dropping down with him. And still, when he finally went to bed, all he did was writhe against the sheets helplessly, reaching out for a hand that would never reach his own before waking up screaming— covered in his own sweat and the deep-seated feeling of guilt and regret.
But that was just another day in the life of Steve Rogers, and the next day, he was back at work, seated in his assigned chair as he swiveled a pen between his fingers, trying his best to look alive when all he wanted to do was rip apart every single person who’d had any hand in turning Bucky into what he was. Only then, it seemed, he’d have any sort of peace of mind. When Bucky looked at him like he wasn’t a stranger, only then he’d have any sort of hope for his redemption. It was hard for him, a lot harder than he let anyone see, and it definitely took a toll on him in every possible. Not only had the bags under his eyes grown tenfold, he found himself looking over his shoulder every few minutes, paranoid. Paranoia had never been an issue with Steve, in fact, there wasn’t a single situation involving war that would cause him to flinch. But with every bit of his subconscious haunting him with Bucky, he didn’t know how much he trusted himself at this point.
And yet, he sat quietly in that conference room, watching them all argue and bicker and all he gave back was silence, Sam and Natasha fighting his fight for them because they truly seemed to be the only ones who grasped how important Bucky was to him. Well, them and Phil— for obvious reasons of course. But it seemed to be a battle they were desperately losing. From what he could see, and from the many ideas flung back and forth, there really was no way to but an end to the Winter Soldier without putting an end to Bucky, and if that really was the case, he’d go down with him, and that was one thing that wasn’t up for debate. The yelling just seemed to get louder by the second, bogging down on him and pushing him to the point of frustration that caused him to leap out of his chair, arms crossed over his broad shoulders as he wandered over to the large window, staring out into the expanse of the city, his mind wandering back to the past. It was all so different now, so altered.
A sharp voice brought him out of his daydream, blinking rapidly at the source standing in front of him. Frowning, he looked over at Coulson, almost as if to say who is this again? And why aren’t we doing what she wants? Receiving just a nod as a reply, he looked back down at the girl, nodding with an air of understanding. “I’ll do it— whatever you need me to do. If it’s gon’ save Buck’s life, ‘m all ears, ma’am.”
The eerie, quiet feeling that fell upon the room as Alex tried to speak was nerve wracking, to say the least. But…then again, she had just burst into the conference room with the Avengers present, Director Fury and Coulson – of course she was going to be given the cold shoulder, so to speak. Though, the constant frown that was smeared over Phil’s face was discouraging; he clearly wasn’t impressed with her, but she couldn’t let an innocent man get put down, right? Well, brainwashed, somewhat innocent – it didn’t matter. All the agents knew the stories about Captain America and his best friend, Bucky Barnes, best friends until the end. It made Alex think of her relationship with her best friend, Riley, and how if it were the two of them in the situation Steve was in with Bucky – there’d be no way in hell she’d let anyone harm her, so this was Alex’s way of making up for the want – no, the need to put a stop to The Winter Soldier by means of death. That was something the young agent appreciated about S.H.I.E.L.D, death was never really an option, only in an extreme circumstance, so clearly a brainwashed-by-Hydra Bucky Barnes classified as an extreme circumstance, but the team hadn’t exhausted every option yet, and that’s why Alex couldn’t help but interrupt in the conference room. “I’ll do it— whatever you need me to do. If it’s gon’ save Buck’s life, ‘m all ears, ma’am.” Raising a brow in the Captain’s direction, the brunette was impressed. “Alright, so Cap is on my side – does that mean I get to finish my impromptu presentation?” Alex asked, with a little bit of sass being directed at Coulson, before directing her attention to Fury as he perked up. “Let’s hear the girl out, she’s obviously eager to get her point across; what harm could it do?” The fact that Nicholas J Fury was on her side and wanted to know what her plan was, gave Alex an instant confidence boost – something that was definitely needed in the presence of the Avengers. “Oh, go on, Reed,” Coulson commented, finally giving in, which caused an automatic smile to form over her face. “Let’s do it,” she replied, beaming as she took a few steps towards the table to place the device within clear view of everyone; so she could explain all the functions and have every person in the room on the same page, rather than going back and forth. “Okay, so this is the…shit, I haven’t actually come up with a name for it. Whatever, now isn’t the time, anyway. This device is a demo that I knocked up over the last few days, since eavesdropping on Coulson and finding out about The Winter Soldier.” “– the fact that death seems to be the most obvious answer for this guy – without any other attempts at rescuing him – and yes I’m using the word rescue, since it’s clear he’s been a prisoner of Hydra for, well, just under a hundred years…” Trailing off, Alex had to pause and collect her thoughts, shifting her gaze to and from Phil, Fury, Steve, Tony, Natasha, Clint, Thor and Bruce, hoping they were all following. “I’m getting way off track, aren’t I?” She mumbled, mainly to herself. Alex had been known to get too invested in missions, and ramble…just a little, so mentally, she was reigning herself in to not look like an idiot in front of the heroic and now iconic members of S.H.I.E.L.D. “Why don’t we try a different approach? One that saves a life? We can disable his strengths and turn them to weaknesses; we can bring him in and put him in a cell until we’re able to fix him. What gives The Winter Solider the upper hand?” “His mechanically enhanced arm,” Thor perked up, stating the obvious – which was what she wanted, though, it was typical Thor fashion; blunt and to the point. Asgardian’s were some of her favorite beings to interact with, she found the way they found Earth and the human way fascinating. “Exactly, and that’s what this does – it’ll disable any use of his mechanics, making him basically human, with human strength…and humans are easy to bring in.” Watching from the corner of her eye, Alex watched as Coulson came closer, obviously impressed with what she was saying. He hovered over her shoulder to inspect her device a little more. “You did this in three days?” He asked, shifting his hues to look at her. “Mhm,” the girl replied, proud of her work. “How does it disable the arm?” Tony interrupted. “You haven’t mentioned that yet, Agent?” “Reed, Agent Reed, and I was just getting to that, Mr. Stark – it’s simple, really, all I have to do is attach and activate it.” “And how are you going to get close enough to do that?” Shooting Tony an unimpressed look, again, it soon softened – she knew it was coming, and she knew majority of the team wouldn’t be accepting of what she had to say next. Which was why she looked at Steve, focusing in on him. He was her key to being able to do this mission, it was his heartstrings she needed to pull at, using Bucky – he would be the one that would be on her side and help convince the others that they at least needed to try, and she would succeed. “I have to get close enough to the arm…” Alex said, softly, looking down for a moment, before back up. “If I get close enough to attach it while he’s not expecting it, I can make a run for cover and activate it from a distance, it’s just getting it on there.” “Why can’t we attach it to one of Clint’s arrows and do it that way?” Natasha spoke, arms folded over her chest. “Oh, I…uh, it doesn’t work like that, it needs to be manually placed and…I’m the only one who can do it.” Swallowing the newly formed lump in her throat, Alex awaited the full reactions of those in the room, though she couldn’t help but look up at Steve.