Rise of the Phoenix (L. Laufey/Odinson)

1.

Bucky sets Nina down on the medical bed set up whilst they were away, word sent ahead for them to prepare for them. He sighs and brushes her hair back out of her face. She looks exhausted, even when sedated. But still Nina. Her face he knows so well but everything else, her hair, her body it's....different. The red hair, the toned muscular body, it's all Hydra. He brushes his fingers through her hair, when was the last time Hydra let her wash it? When was the last time they let her eat? She's skinny, too much so, he can feel her bones under his hands. When was the last time he really looked at his sister? When was the last time he looked at her and recognised her? He takes her hand and pulls it to his forehead to rest against it. Bucky barely glances up at the sound of boots walking towards him, though it is a familiar presence, one he's come to recognise. Sharon. Steve's wife. Not long though, they were together a while before Steve asked her. With everything that happened, with everything that went on it took Bucky kicking his ass into gear before he asked Sharon to marry him. The wedding it's self had been quiet, just the three of them, Shuri, T'Challa and Sam. They didn't want any fuss. Sharon stops at Bucky's side and he looks to her as she places her hand on his shoulder.

"How is she?" Sharon asks, Bucky nods a little and looks back to Nina.

"She's sleeping" he answers stroking Nina's hair.

"How are you?" Sharon counter asks, Bucky huffs out a breath and shrugs a little.

"Don't really know" he answers honestly. "I'm glad she's back...I'm glad she's out but..."

"Until she wakes up you don't know how out she is?" Sharon asks, he nods. "Steve was the same" she admits. "Looking for you..." Bucky looks to her. "Talk to him"

"I have" Bucky turns away.

"Did you know that she told him you weren't dead?" Sharon asks, Bucky frowns a little. "Back when he....he had to tell her what happened on the train, she screamed at him, told him that you weren't dead, threw things at him, some hit him" Bucky closes his eyes but smiles a little knowing Nina. "But everyone around her kept telling her that you were dead, but she wouldn't....she wouldn't believe them,....got to the point that Steve...he had have her..." Sharon looks down, it's hard enough for Steve to talk about what happened, she knows Steve would never admit this to Bucky. "She was sectioned" Bucky sniffles and frowns. "But she was right, all along she was right about you. She had faith in you...even when the world told her she was wrong....." Sharon offers. "I know the others don't see what you see, they don't want to believe like you" she whispers. "But keep faith in her" he nods and brushes his hands over his face. "Like she did you" he looks up at her.

"Steve's pretty damn lucky" Bucky offers, Sharon smiles before she drops it.

"Bucky" she starts. "There was another reason I had to come in here..." she pauses and holds out the two pairs of cuffs she'd been hiding behind her back. Bucky closes his eyes and sighs knowing, he knew this would happen. "It's protocol" Sharon tells him. "Just till we're sure" Bucky reluctantly gives up his hold on Nina's hand, Sharon snaps the cuff onto her wrist and then attaches it to the bed before moving around the other side of the bed to cuff her other hand, making sure she's secure. Bucky has more faith then any of them with Nina's state of mind when she comes around. He's hoping for something, for recognition. But those that faced him remember Bucky, they remember the Winter Soldier. They remember what he was like. Bucky doesn't move from Nina's side, keeps vigil over her as she rests. Sharon leaves him alone and Steve eventually joins him, but sits away, letting the twins have their space, he finds a nice patch of floor, props himself up against the wall with a tablet to write up his report of the mission, whilst a success there were issues, they'd caught a scientist mid-shredding Nina's file, and pages, upon pages of data are now missing, pages from the early years, the data they need the most to figure out what was done to her. What they changed in her. How much of Nina still remains. Banner walks into the room, having stopped to talk to Steve and then called Shuri for help, for advice on how they helped Bucky when he first arrived, just in case. Shuri hung up with the promise of files and notes. And given the beeping the printer is making she kept her word and they are coming through now. Banner sorts the papers out before moving back across the room, setting a huge ring binder on the desk, Nina's name now written on the spine. Her full name: Nina Enya Barnes. At least they'd marked it like that, Bucky's file has Winter Soldier written on it. Bruce grabs a needle kit from the side and turns to Bucky, he takes a breath and leans away nodding. Bruce then goes about pulling blood from Nina whilst she's out before he is moving back to his desk. Bucky rests his head on Nina's shoulder, his own exhaustion hitting him, the relief settling into his bones and soul. Knowing she's here, knowing she's in touching distance. Bucky closes his eyes and takes a breath. He kind of wishes they'd given him a dose of the sedative, just for a few hours, because even though he's tired, even though he really wants to sleep, he knows he won't, not until she wakes up. The sedative is something they know works on them, they've had to use it on Bucky before, a nightmare too much for him had him pleading for them to do something, to let him sleep, and the sedative had been born. He and Steve, all they can do now, is wait. And it's probably not that long but for Bucky it feels like an eternity that he waits, an eternity until he hears it, she sighs through her nose. Long. Drawn out. Pained sigh. He lifts his head and looks down at Nina, her face twisting into pain and confusion.

"Nina?" he asks touching her arm, Steve's now on his feet, lingering close just in case. "Nin?" Bucky whispers, his voice breaking, pleading with her to be okay. She has to be okay. She tugs on her wrist, her eyes opening and blinking, adjusting to the light. "Nin" Bucky whispers but she either doesn't hear him or recognise the name. Bucky's heart is breaking as he watches his sister struggle against her bindings. She cries out a little as she gets nowhere, she won't, those cuffs are made of vibranium, given to them by T'Challa to use against the Winter Soldier if he ever had an episode, they haven't had need of them so far. Bucky hates the look on her face, the pain, the confusion, the hurt. She fighting so hard her wrists now bleed. Steve and Bucky grab an arm each and hold her down, they both hate to do it.

"You know me" Bucky pleads with her, her legs thrashing, her eyes closed. "Look at me!" he snaps and she opens her eyes, shifting her gaze to him. "You know me" he whispers, begging, please, please, remember. Just a flicker. That's all it takes. Just something. He pleads in his mind. And there it is. Recognition. He relaxes a little, relief flooding him. But she's confused too. Like she knows she knows him but she doesn't know why. It was the same with him, with Steve. But that's all they need. That tiny sliver of something inside of her that remembers. They can work with that. Bucky looks to Steve as she stops fighting them. Her eyes are still...unfocused, flickering between them both, waiting for...something. It's silent, the only noise coming from Bruce's computer, and their breathing.

"I'll need to treat those" Bruce breaks the silence holding bandages and gauze. Steve and Bucky nod stepping away from Nina who's eyes track Bucky. The first face. Bruce touches her arm and she hisses pulling away from him. Bruce holds his hands up in surrender. Bucky moves straight back to her.

"It's okay" he soothes stroking her hair again. "Your wrists" he tells her. "He needs to treat them" she calms a little but not fully, alert, she's too alert already, the sedatives should still have her groggy. Her eyes stay on Bruce as he moves back to treat her.

..............

Steve leaves the room at some point as Bruce treats Nina's wrists, but he returns just as Bruce is finishing with a tray of food, he sets it next to Bucky who nods in thanks, Steve then shifts to the end of the bed and crosses his arms over his chest. Nina's eyes track Bruce's hands as he cleans up his tools, the bloody clothes. Steve clears his throat trying to get her attention, and it works, Nina turns her eyes to him.

"Do you have a name?" he asks, Bucky closes his eyes knowing Nina is getting Captain America, not Steve. She searches his eyes studying him.

"Pyro" she answers, but her throat is aching and sore so it sounds pained.

"A real name" Steve corrects, she frowns back at him. Steve notes that she is generally confused. "I'm Steve" he offers her. "That's Bucky" he motions to Bucky. "Bruce" he adds nodding to the doctor.

"Pyro" She repeats. Bucky and Steve share a look.

"Alright" Steve sighs. "Do you know who I am?" he asks her, she looks over him, searching, testing her memory. "Do you know who that is?" He points to Bucky and she looks to him and frowns. "Something simpler" Steve mumbles and moves to grab a tablet from the side, he opens a web page and does a random search before turning it to her. "Do you know what this is?" he asks. She shoots him an unimpressed look.

"Cat" she snaps at him.

"Good" he offers. "So you can speak more then one word" he points out, the room seems to get a little warmer in temperature. Bruce pulls at his collar a little.

"Where are the others?" she asks, Steve frowns.

"The others?" he asks back.

"The other doctors" she answers. "The others are usually here..." she draws off confusion swimming in her eyes, the temperature shifts again, Bucky rolls his neck slightly and looks to Bruce who is pulling open the top of his shirt.

"Hey..." Bucky turns to Nina. "Why do they call you Pyro?" he asks her, Steve shoots Bucky a confused look, ignoring the sweat starting to appear on his hairline and the back of his neck. She frowns back at Bucky.

"Because of the fire" she answers like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Steve's frown deepens.

"What fire?" he counter asks, she shifts slightly turning her hands palm up.

"This fire" she states and then two small flames appear in her palms. Bucky and Steve share another look as Bruce makes a note in the file. "I burn things for them....to make a better world" she adds, Bucky closes his eyes, how many times has he heard those words, over and over and over again, justifying the work he did for Hydra. She closes her fingers into her palm snuffing out the fires.