The Red Soldier: Origins of the Red Soldier

ISSUE #3

After a week of recouperation, Bucky, (Y/N) and Steve were sent back home to meet with Howard Stark, along with Agent Peggy Carter and Colonel Phillips. The six of them sat around a large, circular, table. Bucky surveyed each of them closely. Steve sat up straight, his posture immaculate, whilst (Y/N) slouched over, twiddling his thumbs absentmindedly.

The other three sat quite normally, as though they weren't sat in front of three science experiments; albeit they weren't aware of the sheer power (Y/N) (L/N) possessed, and nobody knew what exactly it was that the scientists at HYDRA had done to Bucky Barnes.

'The three of you faced Red Skull head on and survived,' Phillips stated, his eyes darting between the three men, before settling on Bucky and (Y/N). 'I'm not entirely certain what it is you two have in you, but that took guts.'

Bucky smiled proudly, (Y/N) stared at the colonel, stone-faced. Bucky assumed he was just tired; it had been a long couple of days full of travelling, talking to various military personnel, and late nights spent awake, tossing and turning in the proper beds they had now they'd returned home.

'It seems only appropriate we assign you three the task of bringing HYDRA down, what with your experience with Schmidt and his weaponry,' said Peggy Carter, sliding a manilla folder in Steve's direction. He opened it carefully, removing the papers and studying them. Bucky glanced over at them, he'd provided a lot of the information displayed on the pages: locations of HYDRA research facilities, descriptions of the weapons they possessed, the methods of torture used on him in the name of science.

'I'll supply the weapons,' Howard Stark added, slightly smugly.

Steve turned to his two friends, 'how about it? You ready to follow Captain America into the jaws of death?'

'Hell no,' Bucky smirked, that little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb not to run away from a fight – I'm following him.'

'Me too,' said (Y/N) with an affirming nod.

After the meeting, both Bucky and (Y/N) were dismissed. Bucky wandered the halls of the base, finding (Y/N) sat at a desk opposite a pretty blonde woman who seemed quite interested in what he was doing. Her blue dough eyes studied his every move, from the way his fingers guided the pen across a piece of letter paper, to how his lips sucked at the lucky strike hanging from the corner of his mouth.

'What'cha writing there, Doc?' she asked sweetly, her arms stretching across her own desk, pushing out her bosom.

'A letter,' grumbled (Y/N), his eyes not leaving the page.

'To a girlfriend? A Mrs (L/N)?' she pouted, fluttering her eyelashes.

'Mrs (L/N), my mam,' he answered, looking up from his page for a split second to meet the girl's gaze, before turning back to his writing.

Bucky Barnes couldn't help but laugh internally. (Y/N) had always been so incredibly blind to any kind of flirtation. There had been times when the three of them had gone out to bars and girls would try their hardest to get any sort of attention from him. They'd overhear a British man talk about his work as a doctor and would immediately gravitate towards him.

Any other man would have jumped at the opportunity to buy these girls a drink and walk them home, but not (Y/N); he was always too focused on his friends, and his work.

'Perhaps I could give you my telephone number to write down,' the girl offered hopefully.

'I don't see why I'd need it,' responded (Y/N), removing the cigarette from his mouth, and replacing it with another one, 'I'm leaving within the week.'