Honesty ♧ Bucky Barnes

Darkness Returns

Guess who's back.... back again.... shady's back.... tell a friend...

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There were many words that could be used to describe Colonel Stephen Pine, but 'patient' wasn't one of them. He let out an elongated sigh and sat further back in his seat, folding his large arms over his chest and looking over his desk at the man stood in front of him. He could literally see him shrink at the expression on Pine's face.

"So what you're telling me," Pine asked, his deep voice laced with contempt, "Is that you have no idea where he is and you came here just to waste my time?"

The man stood in his office cringed at the harsh tone of voice. He was in his mid-sixties, a ring of white hair around his head, with none on the top. His skin sagged like wet paper on his face, a sign of a hard life.

"There was a tracker installed in his arm, Sir," the older man tried to explain, "But it appears to not be working. He may have removed it himself."

A single tick eyebrow raised over Pine's cold, grey eye.

"And you didn't have measures in place to prevent it from being removed?"

The man stumbled over himself in an attempt to answer the question. He was skinny, but next to Pine's bulk looked almost emaciated in comparison.

"We... we did, Sir. We surrounded the chip with synthetic nerve-endings. It would have caused him great pain to take it out."

Pine raised an eyebrow.

"I'm talking about immense pain, Sir. The Soldier would have felt as if his arm were on fire."

"But he took it out anyway?" Pine asked.

The man was silent for a second, then nodded.

"It appears so, Sir."

"Get out of my sight,"

The man seemed almost too eager to collect his briefcase and flee from the room. As he shut the door behind him, Pine leant forward on the desk and put his head in his hands.

"Fuck..." the word was muttered out of his mouth, low enough for nobody to be able to hear it from outside. This wasn't what he had wanted. Ever since HYDRA had been compromised, he had been forced to go into hiding. He couldn't have stayed in Poland, obviously, as people now knew about the base there. At the moment he was holed up in some shithole in the middle of Turkey.

Ever since the day that blasted biochemist had escaped his clutches and turned his best Solider against him, everything had gone downhill. He had attempted to use the Soldier to take down Nick Fury so that HYDRA's agents could step in and take over SHIELD from the inside out. Instead, what had happened was that his best weapon had gone MIA, HYDRA had been uncovered and his boss, Alexander Pierce had been killed by the very man he had tried to have assassinated.

He had also, during the escapade, lost his son.

James had always been a bit of a disappointment to the family, he couldn't deny that. At eighteen he had exclaimed to Stephen that he didn't want to follow the same life as his father. He had left the family, even gone as far as to change his surname to 'Goodwinson' to truly sever all ties. Of course, he had come crawling back when he had realised that he couldn't make much money as a freelance journalist. Pine had taken him back in on the condition that he join him in working for HYDRA.

The boy had always been soft. He should have known better than to send him in to talk to Jefferson. Pine had mistakenly assumed that it would toughen him up, to see her in such a state. In fact, it had done the opposite.

And then he had died.

There was a part of Pine that, despite knowing he was the one who dealt the deadly blow, blamed Jefferson for the death of his son. She corrupted him, turned him against the organisation.

It had been her fault.

The door to Pine's office burst open, and he straightened up immediately, surprised by the unexpected interruption. A tall man walked in in a fitted blue suit. His smart clothes and shining teeth looked out of place next to Pine's buzzcut hair and scarred face. This was a person he hadn't been expecting to see.

"Doctor Kennedy?"

The ageing psychiatrist was supposed to still be in America. He had been one of the only HYDRA agents to avoid detection and had been told to stay at his post. If he was here now, something must be very wrong.

"Pine." The man's voice was deep, throaty. He sounded tired.

"What the fuck are you doing here, David?"

He licked his lips nervously and shifted his feet on the floor before looking back up at Pine. His eyes were so dark they were almost black.

"I think I've found him."

Pine sat up in his seat, his eyes lighting up.

"Say that again."

Kennedy's mouth quirked up into a nervous smile.

"So you know how I was in conference with Jefferson?"

Pine nodded. Yes, he had known that. After the incident in Poland, Erin had been sent to a SHIELD psychiatrist for PTSD counselling. Luckily for him, that psychiatrist had been one that was in direct contact with him, a double agent.

"Well. I think he's staying with her."

"What?"

"She came to me a few weeks ago and told me she had a room-mate. Erin doesn't let anybody into her life, but she seems to really trust this man. It struck me as suspicious so I did some digging."

Pine raised a single eyebrow, but Kennedy continued, seeming to want to get all the information out.

"He's called James, apparently. She said she met him in Poland?"

A corner of the Colonel's mouth quirked up. He'd fucking found him.

"Erin's living in a small flat in the middle of Washington," Kennedy continued, but Pine raised his hand for silence. He was thinking. There was no way that he could catch The Soldier if he went straight after him, but if he used the girl...? That could work.

"What do you know about their relationship?" Pine enquired. When Erin had been in Poland, Bucky had been unexpectedly protective of her, up to the point where he had actually prevented Pine from hurting her on occasion. If he remembered any of that, his plan may work.

"She likes him." Kennedy said, "From what I can gather, she likes him a lot. She mentioned something about him relying on her..."

Perfect. Pine would have no chance in a confrontation against The Soldier. The man was a war machine, he could rip the Colonel to pieces in seconds. If he took Erin, however, he would have a bargaining chip.

"We've fucking got him."

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