I’ll be your operator baby, I’m in control. Nothing that you do, you do unless I said. The Winter Soldier answers to Steve and Steve alone. Below are my Top 5 Favorite stories:
“The Wolf and The Sheep” (T, 50k) by aislingdoheanta
Steve Rogers is a SHIELD agent who is recruited for a secret project: Becoming a handler for the Asset. Steve’s world is thrown for a loop when he discovers the Asset is an actual person and he needs to figure out who he is and what he’s going to do.
Steve as the Winter Soldier’s handler AU. (Non-HYDRA trash party.)
+ Modern Steve. Captain Rogers makes his own secret plans to free the Winter Soldier and discovers Hydra within Shield. An alternate retelling of the WS movie
-☆-
“Cabin Fever” (E, 11) by Dibsanddabs
It was just Steve’s luck really. It was his first outing as the asset’s handler and everything had gone to shit.
Steve is the asset's new handler, and when a mission goes bad he makes the decision to wait in a safe house. But mountain weather is against them and the pair end up snowed in together. The longer the asset spends out of cryo, the more of Steve's questions he can answer, and Steve might not like what he finds.
+ Alt Canon . Snowed in a cabin together, Bucky’s programming starts to crack and Steve starts to remember this isn’t his first time working with Bucky.
-☆-
“Ready to Comply” (E, 66k) by exclamation
The asset's orders at the end of The Winter Soldier weren't to kill Captain America, but to capture him, so that he could be wiped and turned into another asset. The asset has succeeded in that mission, capturing its target and taking him back to the Hydra base. But the Hydra soldiers are dead, captured, or fled, so there is no one there to give the asset new orders.
Alone with its captive, the asset has no instructions on how it is meant to act. But the more time it spends with its target, the more old protocols start to assert themselves, like the protocol that when that face is hurt and bleeding, the asset is supposed to clean away the blood.
+ Post WS. The Winter Soldier chooses Steve to be his handler and as he recovers, continues to choose Steve. (Numerical rankings, chocolate covered raisins, and cookie bribes)
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“find a way to forgive myself” (T, 34) by napricot
“Okay, let’s try this again,” says Steve’s own voice. “I’m not Loki and I really need you to listen to me. The literal fate of your universe depends on it.” Steve comes up swinging before he’s even really opened his eyes. “Oh for god’s—”
As if Steve’s life isn’t already weird enough what with the waking up in the 21st century and fighting aliens thing, his future self’s Time Heist and Reverse Time Heist have left 2012 Steve in a pretty awkward position: not only does he have to pretend to be HYDRA in order to save Bucky, but now he also has to help save the whole damn universe too? Luckily for him, if the first time was tragedy, then the second time around is definitely a hell of a lot closer to farce.
+ Alt 2012. 2012 Steve gets memories from the future, and goes undercover as Hydra to look for Bucky with help from the Avengers. Featuring the magic space rock mind stone
-☆-
“Blood” (T, 45k) by leveragehunters (Monkeygreen)
In a world where magic is as commonplace as electricity, HYDRA worships a god who craves order through death. They used His blood to create fierce Soldiers then enslaved them by chaining their souls.
The man who was James Barnes is the last Soldier, the rest having been put down after succumbing to the call of the Blood. One night, out of control after a mission, the increasingly unstable Soldier runs into Steve Rogers. Instead of being turned into a red smear on the ground, Steve successfully talks him down. HYDRA decides to keep him. The Soldier's the last one they've got; if Steve can keep him calm he's going to do it whether he likes it or not.
Like fractious racehorses have companion goats, they hand Steve off to the Soldier as a kind of pet. But studies have shown pets can ease depression, despair and loneliness, lead to an increased sense of safety and well-being, and provide a source of protection and unconditional love. HYDRA really should have reviewed the literature before they decided to give Steve to the Soldier. Especially since, once Steve Rogers is involved, protectiveness can get slightly out of hand.
+ Shrinkyclinks. Modern Steve is the only one who can bring the Winter Soldier back from bloodlust. When Shield rescues them, Bucky doesn’t trust anyone but Steve and Steve would never abuse that power.
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-☆- And one where Bucky thinks Steve is a handler -☆-
“This is the Ghost Story” ( T, 45k) by Taste_is_Sweet
You can't have amnesia if you're not supposed to remember.
("I don't want to forget you," Bucky says wistfully.
Steve looks half-asleep, but he blinks and lifts his head. "What do you mean?" he asks. His smile is puzzled. "Why would you forget me?"
"After maintenance, when they'll wipe me and put me in Cryo," Bucky explains. "I'll forget you again, and I don't want to. You're the best handler I've ever had.")
+ Post WS. Bucky gets hurt on an Avengers mission and reverts back to the Winter Soldier. Very intense and angsty. Part of a longer series but can be read stand-alone.
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+ More Handler Steve fics here and the Pepper list (upcoming)
