The Mechanic || 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘳¹

ten

Bucky is with them. The Avengers. They saved him, he saved himself, he was saved. He got out. He's free. He's not The Winter Soldier anymore. He should be happy, relieved.

But he's not.

He's still confused, not sure what's reality and what's imagination, what's present and what's past. The others try to help him. Especially Steve. He shows him what's real.

Bucky has tried to talk to him about a girl he met. A girl at Hydra. Steve tells him she's not real. He dreamt of her. He dreamt of her helping him. He imagined her in moments of desperation when he needed something, someone, to preserve his sanity.

But he was alone all the time. Because no one at Hydra would be so nice. No one at Hydra would help him.

And he wants to believe them. Wants to believe that there is no one. No one who helped him, no one who's kind, no one who got him out, no one he left behind. I got out myself, he says to himself because it's what his therapist wants him to do. I saved myself. He doesn't believe it, no matter how often he repeats it.

Nick Fury is the first to tell them about The Mechanic.

He has called The Avengers for an emergency meeting. Fury walks in, throwing a file on the table. Stark looks up and frowns. Romanoff takes the file. Steve walks up to her and looks over her shoulder until she gives it to him. Banner frowns, looking from the file to Fury and back. Barton is unimpressed. Bucky doesn't react.

He's sitting in the corner, staring out of the window. He thinks this meeting isn't important for him. He's never been on missions, never been out with the Avengers. The world doesn't trust him. He doesn't trust himself. That's why he locks himself into his room every day and only Steve can get him out.

"This," Fury says, "is The Mechanic. We don't know how old or strong he is, or where he comes from. We do know exactly what he wants us to know, and that's not enough. He's dangerous because he's in control."

Bucky slightly shifts in his seat. That sounds too much like him.

Steve thinks the same. "Like The Winter Soldier?" he asks. Fury nods.

"We don't think it's a coincidence. Him, showing up seven weeks after we saved The Winter Soldier." Bucky flinches at the name. He doesn't like hearing it. It bears too many memories he wants to forget and the weight of memories he's lost.

"But their tactics are different. The Mechanic is more careful. He strikes only when we don't expect it at all and from far away. Never from close up like The Winter Soldier. His weapons are something we've never seen before. Whoever he is, he's great at mechanics."

The name. The name. Bucky knows something. He knows the name. The Mechanic. Why does he know the name?

"The Mechanic sets traps that even the best agents of Shield don't see until right before they are activated. His ability to build bombs is extraordinary."

Bucky touches the metal arm. They've painted over the red star, to hide The Winter Soldier, to hide his past. But he can still see it when he looks in the mirror, see it like he remembers his past. The red paint is part of his arm just like The Winter Soldier is of him.

Someone hands him the file. Romanoff. She's frowning worriedly, already thinking of how she could beat someone like that. She always does that. Have a plan A, B, C, all the way to Z. Stark improvises. Steve is ready for both. Banner doesn't like surprises. Barton is an agent; he knows how to make an improvised plan.

Bucky takes the file and browses through it. There are pictures. Pictures of a figure wearing black, standing too far away to see the details. Pictures of a person lying on a roof, aiming with a rifle. Pictures of a building blowing up while the person in black walks away in the middle of the panicked crowd.

Pictures that are taken with a purpose. Symbolic pictures to show the strength of The Mechanic.

Pictures from the front of the person. Blurred, but Bucky still sees it. A mask, just like his. Glasses, just like his. A hood, covering their head in shadows. But he sees the hair. Shoulder long. A color he was sure he'd imagined. A color Steve convinced him he'd imagined.

Bucky jumps to his feet. His chair falls to the ground, but he doesn't care. All he sees is the person in black. Everyone is looking at him.

"The Mechanic is not a man," he says. "She's a woman. And I know her."

And then he tells them about her. How she built his arm, built the chair, gave him his name.

They look disgusted. They look terrified. Terrified of someone capable of doing that and not regretting anything.

But Bucky also talks about how she accompanied him. Talked to him when no one else would. Made him remember. He talks about how she sabotaged the chair. How she slowly defeated The Winter Soldier in his mind. How she made him remember who he was. Made him remember Steve.

How she risked everything to save him.

"But she made The Winter Soldier," they say. "It's only fair that she brought you back again."

They don't understand. They've never seen it. The atmosphere, down in the dungeons. Down where all his pain started. They can't understand the numbing feeling of hopelessness. He tries to tell them. Tries to make them understand what effect that has on a mind, even without machines that control it.

He tries to explain that she couldn't help it. Tries to explain that she's not The Mechanic. The Mechanic is a role, made up by Hydra, made up to torture him, to torture her.

He tries, but he fails.