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Steve struggled and fought as the Hydra agents dragged him down the corridor but it was no use. Just like every time they had moved him in the past, they restrained and drugged him. They had obviously been prepared to take on another super soldier, a thought that filled Steve with dread.
Regardless, he twisted and turned, shouting “Bucky!” At the top of his lungs. One of the guards drew back his gun and landed a blow on the back of Steve’s head, causing him to stumble to get his bearings once more. Unfortunately before he could do that a steel door opened and they threw him in a cell. The slam echoed around the tiny room, filling Steve’s ears with ringing, followed shortly by a click.
Immediately he began looking around. He tested the door and all of the wall, checking for weak spots. He found none. He did, however notice one wall had a tiny barred window leading into what looked like another cell. Upon first glance it was empty, but then something shifted in the shadows.
“Hello?” Steve called. Much to his dismay, he was ignored. He went up to the bars and grabbed on to them, hoping to get the things attention. “My name is Steve Rogers. I’ll get us out of here, don’t worry.” He almost thought he could see an outline now, but then the thing huffed and moved further away from him.
With nothing left to do, Steve moved away from the wall and went to sit in the far corner. He didn’t want to be in danger if the thing was some sort of animal with claws or a shapeshifter. Besides, he had to think of a plan.
Bucky and himself were taken around a week go when the two went on a walk outside of the safe house in Bulgaria. Clint, Sam, and Wanda would definitely be looking for them, as well as Natasha when she returned. As much as he believed in their skills, he didn’t think they would find him. Tony was always the one who hunted down the Hydra bases and people, and he hadn’t been seen for six months, since their skirmish in Siberia.
Steve was beginning to get worried something had gone wrong. Where was Tony? Pepper and Rhodes hadn’t made any statements so the only news he got was speculation from the media. They all had wildly ranging stories, from he was taking a vacation to he had died due to heart failure. In response, Steve left Wakanda with his team and Bucky in tow (without Tony, Princess Shuri had admitted, I can not use the BARF. I can’t even recreate it, because he used the materials available to him, not vibranium. I have not studied biology or neurology, I can not help you.) and they began looking for the billionaire. Clint and Wanda were of the opinion that he was in hiding and licking his wounds, but Natasha wasn’t so sure. They wouldn’t know for certain until they found Tony, however, so they had been traveling around, trying to find even the smallest glimpse of the celebrity.
In fact, that’s exactly what Steve and Bucky had been doing when they were captured. Steve couldn’t help but harbor a little resentment at the fact that if Tony really was fine, he and Bucky were risking their lives for no reason. He wasn’t even sure Bucky still had his life anymore.
Swallowing down that thought, Steve tilted his head back against the wall. He began to drift off, only to be woken abruptly by a door slamming open.
“On your knees!” Someone yelled from the cell next to his. He raced to the tiny window, hoping to get a glimpse of the thing.
It was a person, he discovered as he watched the Hydra agents file into the room. And apparently a dangerous person at that, if the sheer number of guns pointed at them was any indication. The person themself was still in the shadows, but the small amount of light filtering in through the door proved them kneeling and hanging their head down submissively. They have dark brown curly hair, but that’s about all Steve can tell from his angle.
“Volpe?” One of the men speaks. {Fox?}
“Pronto a rispettare,” the person replies, voice hoarse and scratchy as if they haven’t spoken in a long time. {Ready to comply}
One of the agents, presumably one of the higher ups, chuckles and moves forward, grabbing the person by the chin and appearing to examine their face. He lets go with a sharp jerk, causing their head to dip back down.
“I suppose we have you to thank for this gift, Captain,” the man says with dark amusement in his voice. “You left him all wrapped up in a nice little bow.” He shakes his head.
“Who is he?” Steve asks, racking his brain for even the smallest hint of anyone he may have left in Hydra’s grasp.
“It kills you not knowing, doesn’t it?” The agent sneers after a long pause in which Steve thought his question would get lost. “I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough. You should recognize him.” He looks down at the man at his feet and smirks. He pats him on head. “Good pet.”
Ignoring Steve’s protests, the agent sweeps out of the room. The others back up at a more sedate pace, not removing their weapons from the man until they are safely behind the door. Oddly he doesn’t hear the sound of a lock engaging.
“Hey,” he calls softly. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Sì,” the man answers promptly.
“Do you speak English?”
“Yes.”
“Good, that’s...good.” He awkwardly murmurs. “They said-they said I know you?”
The man rasps a terrible and frightening imitation of a laugh. The sound grates like broken glass on Steve’s ears. “You do.”
“Then who are you?” A heavy pit of dread fills his stomach. He knows that voice, and he’s terrified to find out from where. He desperately looks for any detail, any smallest point that would force away the theory he doesn’t want to accept yet. Frustratingly, the cells are just too lightless, and this man knows exactly how to hide in in the darkness.
“Don’t you remember me Rogers?” He shakes his head, an action Steve can barely see and if it weren’t for the slight sound of swishing that would accompany hair he would believe he had imagined the action. “I was your friend after all. Or was that all a lie as well?”
“Tony?” Steve guesses, praying that he’s wrong.
“Got it in one.” There’s a mechanical noise, then some shuffling, and finally Tony settles again.
“Tony, what-what happened?”
“Life happened. Death. You.” Tony tells the wall in front of him, his back to Steve. Something unsettles the super soldier, the fact that he hasn’t seen Tony in full light, perhaps. “That Hydra base wasn’t as abandoned as you thought. Did you really believe they would leave five of their top assets frozen in a bunker in Siberia without protection?” Steve jumps when he giggles. “Shh, not time yet.”
“What was that?” He clarifies.
“Hmm? That’s what happens when you’ve been locked up with no one but Nazis for six months.” Steve can hear the malicious grin in his voice as he waves his hand in the vague direction of his head. “You start to go a little crazy.” He giggles again.
“Right,” Steve responds hesitantly. “We need to get out of here.”
Tony immediately sobers. “We can’t. They’ll find us.”
“No they won’t. We’ll escape before they even realize we’re gone. We just have to get Bucky out of here and we’re home free.” Steve infuses his voice with a little bit of his Captain America determination. It will work. It has to. Now, they just have to find a way out of the cells. Speaking of, “Is your door unlocked?”
“Yes.”
“What? Then why haven’t you left yet?”
“They’ll get me,” Tony whispers. “They don’t appreciate disobedience.” Terror unfurls in Steve’s chest.
“What about Bucky?”
“What about him?” Tony inquires, as if genuinely curious.
“You just said they don’t appreciate disobedience. I’m pretty sure Bucky’s been pretty bad considering he’s wiped out half of Hydra after breaking free of their control.”
Tony laughs like a hyena, sharp and barking. “Cut off one head, two shall take its place!” He cuts himself off. “But their symbol. It’s not a hydra, that’s a multiheaded creature of Greek mythology, similar to that of a dragon. Their symbol is a skull with eight tentacles. That’s an octopus.” He picks up his laughing. “Red Skull of Octopus. Hail Octopus.”
“Tony,” Steve ventures. “Think of Bucky.”
“Why?” Tony asks. “Why should I care?”
“You don’t know what he went through.”
“I don’t, do I?” His voice has lost all traces of humor.
“No, Tony, you don’t. Quite frankly, you have no idea. Do you know they cut off his arm and replaced it with that machine? Do you know what it’s like to have your free will take from you, to be trapped in your head without a way out and forced to commit acts against your own volition.”
“But I do,” Tony mutters, seemingly to himself. Steve doesn’t care, it feels good to get this out.
“Bullshit! You can walk out of here whenever you want! You don’t know what they are doing to him, what they did to him!”
“You don’t know what they did to me!” Tony screeches, finally stepping into the light. Steve flinches back, almost falling on his ass in shock. Before him stands Tony Stark, but it’s not. The clothes are not too odd, albeit old, a ratty tank top and torn black pants being the entirety. It’s something Tony would probably wear around his workshop.
The body itself is where the differences lie. Tony shifts his weight, and in the holes that are worn in the left leg of his pants, a gleaming shine is visible, almost as if...no. No, it’s not possible. But it is. Attached to his torso where two perfect capable arms should be attached, there are metal limbs. They look just like their biological counterparts, but unforgiving metal has replaced skin, plates constantly shifting and catching the light. Steve’s eyes drag up to Tony’s face that’s his, but so, so wrong. The left side of his face is the same, if only a little more haggard in appearance. The right is marred with a terrible scar running from his hairline, through his eyebrow and eye, all the way past his lips and ending on his chin. It’s pink enough to know it is not an old wound. The eye that the scar goes over is no longer an eye, but an orb of glowing blue light. When Tony bares his teeth at Steve, white and sharp canines make themselves known.
“You don’t know what they did to me,” Tony repeats quieter, turning his back on Steve.
“Tony,” Steve gulps. “I-I didn’t know.”
“Didn’t know, or didn’t care?” Tony snaps. “Admit it, it relieved you to know I wasn’t around anymore. You and your precious Bucky were safe.”
“I-it wasn’t like that,” Steve stutters, stubbornly denying what he knows to be true.
Tony slumps. “I may have believed that before, maybe even after Siberia. I know better now. Hydra had a need for another asset, so I got the full treatment plus additional training.” He snorts. “You can’t lie to me anymore. No one can.”
“Why do you still have your memory then?” Steve suddenly confronts, anger swelling up through him. “Why aren’t you brainwashed?”
“They didn’t want to accidentally erase my skills,” Tony admits, voice monotone and emotionless. “Hence why I’m not Asset.”
“What do you mean?”
“They don’t need another killing machine, they need a spy, a hacker. In their mind, I can fulfill both. But you’re right. I’m not brainwashed. I’m a risk. That’s why my name is Pet, not Asset.”
Steve swallows hard. “Your name is Tony Stark, not Pet.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Tony Stark died in Siberia six months ago. There is only Pet now. It is to fulfill it’s purpose for Hydra.”
Something had shifted in his voice, the tone that was once angry and broken now was detached, uninterested in the conversation as if reciting something that had been told to it.
“What-what is Pet’s purpose?” Steve inquired, the name leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Pet is to serve handlers in whatever way is required. It is to be assistant to Asset, used for data retrieval and in any other method the handler gives.”
“Bravo, Volpe,” The man from earlier interrupts, somehow having snuck into Tony’s cell. Tony immediately sinks to his knees in habit. The agent runs his hands through Tony’s hair, as if he was a particularly loyal dog. Tony cackles, crying out,
“Fox! Artic! For Winter! Bravo, Volpe!”
The agent chuckles. “Yes, very good, Fox.” He turns to Steve. “As you can see, Captain, there are still a few kinks to work out, but those are all cosmetic. It performs as it is supposed to on missions, that is all that is important.”
“You won’t get away with this,” Steve warns.”Tony’s still in there.”
“Yes, he is,” the agent agrees, throwing him for a loop. “He is broken, however. Easily controlled. You see, we don’t need weapons, or money, or anything else Stark can provide, with the exception of a few services.” He smirks at that last statement like it was particularly funny. “And without that security blanket? You’ve seen what happened. You were the last thing keeping him tethered. Now? Well, watch.”
Someone else is pushed into the room as well. Tony cocks his head at the newcomer, before letting out a pitiful whine. The handler shushes him. “Hush, little fox. It is almost time.” He beckons at the other person.
He turns to Steve when he lets out a gasp. Bucky.
“Feel honored, Captain,” the agent proclaims. “You are the first person to witness the new Fist of Hydra.” Bucky moves to stand by Tony, eyeing him curiously. He slowly reaches out and Tony butts his head into his palm. “Behold, the Asset and his Pet! The Winter Soldier and the Arctic Fox!”
“Arctic! Winter! Asset? Pet?” Tony barks, furrowing his brows.
“Yes, Volpe, this is Asset. Asset, this is Pet. He is your new partner. You will not let him out of your sight.”
“Понял.” Bucky replies, still staring at Tony. {Understood.}
“You won’t get away with this,” Steve argues, feeling like a broken record. Tony clambers to his feet, only to lean into Bucky softly murmuring in Italian. From what little Steve understands, none of it makes sense. His hopes pick up when he thinks it might be some sort of code, but from the way Bucky watching him impassively he knows it’s futile. Even if it is, no one’s listening. The once bright and stubborn intelligence in Tony’s eyes is gone, replaced only by a compliance Steve has only ever seen in animals.
“Oh Captain,” the handler says with faux sympathy. He leads Tony and Bucky out the door clipping something around Tony’s neck. Steve feels bile rising up in the back of his throat when he realizes what it is. A collar. He hands Bucky a rope, no, a leash. He can only stare in horror as Bucky slips the loop on the end over his wrist, face a perfect barren mask and bringing back memories of the first time Steve saw the Winter Soldier.
“Captain, Captain, Captain,” agent mocks. “When will you learn? We already have.”