Rogue (An Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter 38: My Name Is Bucky

*WARNING: Contains 'Captain America: Civil War' Spoilers!

I stepped out of the taxi, facing the German Special Forces headquarters in Berlin.

"Are you sure?" Wanda asked me again over the phone. Since my first footstep on German soil, she'd been trying to convince me to come home, to stay out of this mess.

"I can't leave him," I said. Bucky was innocent, completely innocent. I couldn't let him be punished for this – I couldn't let anyone else destroy him.

"This is turning into a huge deal. If this thing goes badly, the Avengers may never be able to recover from this."

"If I come home and do nothing, and something happens to Bucky or Steve or Falcon, I'll never be able to recover," I said honestly. We were a team, we had to stick together. On the other end of the phone, Wanda sighed deeply.

"Rogue – this guy... Barnes, he's not worth losing anything over. He's not worth the team, or the civilian casualties, or your life. Please don't save him at the expense of the team," she begged me.

"I promise," I said, hanging up the phone. If I could find a way out of this situation, a way to help Steve and Falcon, and maybe free Bucky, I would do whatever it took.

"You're going to let me in, and you'll tell no one that I'm here."

The guard stepped aside, allowing me to enter the building without a fuss. I walked towards the sound of raised voices and saw Steve and Falcon standing opposite Sharon Carter and a man that I didn't recognise. Bucky was being restrained in a glass cage.

"What about a lawyer?" I heard Steve ask the man.

"Lawyer? That's funny," he said, making me dislike him instantly. I stood so that I was hidden from sight, the only person who could see me was Bucky. "See that their weapons are placed in a lock-up," the man continued, gesturing for them to follow him.

"I better not look out the window and see anybody flying around in that," Falcon said under his breath. Steve turned back to look at Bucky and caught my eye, looking nervous. I wanted to tell him that he had nothing to be worried about – I'd protect Bucky no matter what.

As a man started to take Bucky away, I ran towards them.

"Excuse me," I said, making him turn around before looking him in the eyes. "I'm going wherever you take him. If anyone asks why I'm here, you'll say that I've been asked to keep an eye on him."

The man nodded, repeating my words back to me. I smiled slightly and turned to Bucky.

"Are you OK?"

He didn't answer. His eyes filled with a deep sadness that made my heart ache, he didn't deserve this. No one deserved this, but least of all him. Least of all someone who had been brainwashed and forced to be something that they weren't.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked me softly.

"Doing what?" I replied in surprise.

"Helping me," he answered, looking up at me for the first time. His blue eyes were mesmerising.

"Because you need help," I said simply, wondering why he was so surprised until I realised that, before me, the only person who had ever helped him was Steve, his best friend. I guessed any other help was unexpected.

"Thank you," he said after a while.

"You're innocent, you don't have to thank me." We waited a while, before going to different parts of the building, turning around unexpected corners and through tunnels that were too dark to see.

"Do you know what it's like... to have someone play with your mind... to not know who you really are?" Bucky asked me suddenly. My thoughts immediately went to my mother, to Frollo, to all the people that had stolen Hazel Miller and turned me into Rogue.

"Actually, I do," I said. It was easy to tell how surprised he was as we rounded yet another corner. "I had my memories taken when I was younger. I don't remember the first 12 years of my life," I told him.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, looking down as we entered a room.

"The room needs to be completely empty to conduct the psychological evaluation," a man said. He was sitting at a small table in front of where Bucky had been placed. I thought about fighting against his wishes, but decided that there would be no point. Bucky was restrained – no one could hurt him. I stepped outside the room and slightly closed the door, leaving it open a crack so that I could hear what was happening.

"Hello Mr. Barnes," he said. "I have been sent from the United Nations to evaluate you. Do you know where you are, James?" When Bucky didn't answer, he tried again. "I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."

"My name is Bucky," he said softly, still looking down. His voice sounded like that of a child, a child that was scared about what would happen next. Those four words were enough to break my heart.

All of a sudden, the building went completely dark, pitch black. As my eyes adjusted to the lack of light, I walked to the end of the hallway, to the elevator, and pressed both the up and down buttons, expecting them to light up. Nothing happened. It wasn't just the lights that went out, all the power in the building had blown. I walked back to the room to hear the evaluator now speaking to Bucky in a language that I didn't recognise.

"No," Bucky said, so softly that I almost didn't hear him. "Stop." The man continued to reel off words in this language. "Stop!" Bucky said more forcefully. Then he screamed out, almost as if he was in pain. I ran into the room.

"What are you doing to him?" I asked. He ignored me, still speaking to Bucky, who had managed to break free of the constraints and had begun punching at the glass cage, getting a bit closer to breaking it each time.

"Stop it!" I shouted, at both Bucky and the evaluator, who both ignored me. It didn't take long for Bucky to completely break free of the cage. They looked at each other in silence, before the man said something and Bucky responded in the same language. I felt a cold shiver run down my spine. This was different, something was wrong.

"Mission report: December 16 1991."

Bucky turned to me, no recognition in his eyes.

"Bucky?" I called softly as he started to come towards me. Then I realised, I wasn't speaking to Bucky anymore – this was the Winter Soldier...

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Thanks for reading! Come back next Saturday to see what happens next!

So, will the Winter Soldier hurt Rogue? Or will she get away and bring Bucky back before it's too late? Comment your thoughts and vote if you liked this chapter! xx