InsaneJournal

[Bucky Barnes; R] The Righteous Side Of Hell: Chapter 5
Character/Series: Bucky Barnes, Cast; Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: R
Notes: The devil's in the details and I fought with the devil over this chapter. Bad science and technology ahead!
Title: The Righteous Side Of Hell - Chapter 5: Somewhere It's Always Time
Author: yuuo
Word Count: 6207
Summary: Even on the couch, the nightmares came.


we've got the tools
we've got the time
to punish a most worthy crime
against humanity
somewhere it's always time for tea
-Emilie Autumn

Even on the couch, the nightmares came. They were more disquieting than terrifying, forgotten as soon as they were over, but they left him feeling cold and restless. It wasn't until Steve had sat down on the floor beside him and pet back his hair and made soothing noises that Bucky was only vaguely aware of did his mind quiet down enough for decent sleep. Bucky wasn't sure what time that was, or if it had even happened, but real or not, it eased his nerves and let him get much needed sleep.

He was awoken into a lighter sleep by JARVIS speaking up in his library voice. "Miss Maria Hill is at the door."

Bucky tried to rouse himself up into wakefulness, but it wasn't happening. He'd had such poor sleep most of the night, sleep he'd need for the upcoming mission, that his body refused to wake from the rest cycle.

"I'll talk to her," Steve said, followed by rustling on the couch near Bucky's head, then Steve's footsteps fading as he went up the three stairs between the living room and the rest of the apartment. "Maria?"

"You're still in sleepwear."

Steve sounded tired as he answered around a yawn. "Yeah, stayed up a bit late. Bucky was having troubles with nightmares. Took awhile to get him sleeping properly."

Oh. So maybe that did happen. Bucky tried again to wake up, but as before, the conditioning in his mind kept him at a low level of sleep. He had a mission coming up, it would be hard to say when he might get to sleep properly again. So he let himself stay still, only partly awake, and listen in.

"I'm sorry. I thought that you two would both be awake by nine."

"Normally, we are. Just a rough night."

"Should I wait to gather the others, then?"

"For what?"

Maria sounded a bit surprised that Steve clearly had no idea what she was talking about. "For further planning. We need to set up for us to follow you. That means going over the technology available to us."

Oh, mission stuff. Time to get up then.

After stretching uncomfortably, Bucky sat up. He ran his flesh hand through his hair, then looked back over the back of the couch. "We slept in, didn't we?"

Maria tilted a bit to look past Steve. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

Bucky shook his head. "No, not really, I was sorta awake. Just old conditioning kept me from getting up." He squinted at her. "New outfit?"

Maria glanced down at her dark blue pant suit with high boots and a holster slung around her hips. Up by her shoulder was the red A that marked all Avengers property. "It's practical for fighting. Sharon has one too. We were the only Avengers that lacked a uniform."

Bucky shook his head, clearing his brain before it got more sidetracked by Maria's uniform and how it flattered her figure, the shade of blue attractive on her, and honestly, if he were more awake and not already in mission briefing mode, he'd be tempted to tell Steve to go amuse himself somewhere while he tried to convince Maria to join him in his room.

Right. Mission stuff. Other stuff can wait.

"Anyway, you have mission information for us?"

"We do," Maria said. "But it can wait if you need more sleep."

"I do, but I'm not allowed to get any more at this point. It's time for mission briefing."

Maria took his wording in stride. She'd asked about it before, and it seemed to have started to help her understand how Hydra's conditioning had affected him in some rather odd ways. Steve didn't even notice the quirks anymore. "Should I wait in the hall while you two get dressed?"

"Considering you've seen him undress, I don't think that'd be a problem for him," Steve said, sounding like he was holding back a laugh that could only come from an annoying little brother screaming "he's got a girlfriend! I saw them kissing!"

"Shut up, Steve," Bucky said, getting up. "Come sit, Maria. There's no reason for you to stand in the hall." He grabbed his pillow and blanket and headed back for his room. He changed quickly; cargos, a Winter Soldier t-shirt that Steve got him because he thought he was funny, back holster and gun.

Steve was still changing when Bucky emerged from his bedroom. Actually, Steve had probably stopped to make his bed because the man just could not stand leaving his bed in a rumple of blankets. He used to get frustrated enough by the mess Bucky left of his bed in DC that he'd started making Bucky's bed for him. Obsessive nitpick.

Bucky grabbed his boots, heading to the couch to sit down to put them on. He plopped himself next to Maria. "Good morning, beautiful lady."

Maria rested her head on his shoulder for a few seconds in greeting. She was more expressive when there weren't important things on her mind. "Do you wear anything besides those pants and boots? Nice shirt, by the way."

Bucky paused, one boot half laced. "Steve gave it to me. I think it was revenge for something. And I have multiple pairs of pants," he said, going back to his boots. "It's not like they never get washed. And the boots are handy. I like boots. I can step on really big bugs with them."

She raised an eyebrow. "You don't like bugs?"

"I'm not one of the ones that love them, no," Bucky said, pulling on his other boot. "But Steve has problems with them. At least with roaches. He had some as roommates for awhile before I forced him to move to a better place. There was a law that went into effect in '37 that built up affordable housing. It replaced something else, but I don't remember what. I didn't push at him to get something better when it first was passed, but he didn't tell me about the roaches, either. As soon as I found out about them, I made him jump through the hoops to get a new place. First time he ever lived in a nice home since the Crash when he and his mom lost everything."

"You're talking about me?" Steve said, walking into the room. "What about this time?"

Bucky half turned on the couch to look back at Steve. "Why do you think I was talking about you? You're not that interesting."

Steve gave him a dirty look that could almost be called a facial version of saying 'fuck you' and raising the middle finger. Steve must be grouchy. "I heard you say my name."

Bucky shrugged, getting up. He held a hand out to Maria, who accepted his completely unnecessary but gentlemanly gesture. "I was just talking about your hatred of roaches and how my boots are good for stomping them."

Steve's entire face screwed up as if he were smelling something rotten. "If I never see another roach again, I will die a happy man." He pulled on his shoes, probably more appropriate than Bucky's combat boots, but he wasn't the one that had to stomp roaches and potentially kick people in the face.

"Where're we meeting?" Bucky asked Maria.

"The penthouse," Maria said, heading towards the door. Bucky followed right on her heels. "The quinjet is on the landing pad for inspection. JARVIS, please contact Sharon and Bruce and direct them to the penthouse."

"Yes, Miss Hill."

Steve stepped out last, the door locking behind them. "Where have you guys been hiding that all this time?"

Maria looked back at him. "Stark Industries maintains the weapons testing grounds that was used back in the day that we were a weapons contractor for the US military. Tony used it for the arc reactor when he decided to use it on a bigger scale than his suit. The Avengers Tower wouldn't be powered by the technology if not for those tests. We now use it for developing tools for the Avengers."

"So back to weapons," Bucky said as they got to the elevator.

Maria pushed the button, then looked at him. "In a manner of speaking."

"Does Tony know about this?" Steve asked as they stepped into the elevator. "Or is this all Pepper's doing?"

"He knows," Maria said, arms crossed and watching the floor numbers tick by. "It was his idea. Pepper tried to talk him out of it, after how deeply he'd been affected by the sale of Stark weapons to terrorists, but according to her, he was more stubborn than usual. Tony doesn't like losing people important to him. These may be weapons, but they're to be used only to protect his friends."

The elevator came to a stop and Maria led them out into the penthouse. Outside the glass, on the landing pad, sat an impressive-looking quinjet with the ends of its wings folded up to fit on the pad. It was bigger than the sub-orbital they'd taken to Syria and Bucky wondered how it fit on that landing pad. It looked like 'barely' was the answer.

Like the one they took to Syria, it was fitted with sub-orbital engines, tucked in on either side of the main engines. There were two visible missiles attached just ahead of the back hatch, and Bucky was pretty sure he saw a nice pair of cannons attached under the cockpit.

"Those are revolver canons, aren't they?" Bucky asked, walking close to the glass to get a better view.

While Steve had joined him, Maria had hung back. "They are."

"That's European in design," Bucky commented, then looked back at her. "No gatlings?"

"No, the engineers we had working on this recommended putting diversity into the design to make it harder to replicate." She smiled with fond amusement. "I know you want all the technical details right now and to go out and play, but we should wait for the others."

Bucky made a face. "I feel like it's Christmas morning and I'm waiting for my parents to get up so we can open presents."

"You'll live, I'm sure."

Steve gave him a sidelong look. "And now you sleep in on Christmas mornings and make me wait on you."

"Only this last year," Bucky protested. "And I had good reason."

Behind them, the elevator dinged, doors opening to reveal Bruce in his lab coat (why was he in his lab coat?), and Sharon in the same practical Avengers uniform as Maria. It looked good on her, too, and if Steve didn't at least give her a long second look, Bucky would be disappointed in him.

"That's our new ride?" Sharon said, keeping her gaze out the window as she joined them. "Looks shiny."

Bruce took a spot at the window. "So what is she capable of?"

Maria looked at Bucky. "You didn't have to wait long."

"Good. Now, those are revolver cannons, the engineers mixed up designs to make it hard to replicate. What else?"

Maria didn't disappoint. "As you said, those are revolving cannons, which are European design, while the exterior of the jet itself is based on SHIELD's design. You notice the lack of identifying markers." She walked over to stand beside them. "The four missiles are loosely based on the technology of the AIM-54B from the early seventies. They were known as 'dry' missiles, because they lacked coolant conditioning and had a more simplified construction than the AIM-54 Phoenixes that are still used today. The original dry missiles had been abandoned as not being cost effective. As you can see, Tony and the Stark Industries engineers that worked on them found a way to make them cost effective. Because their design was abandoned in the early seventies, they, like the cannons, will be harder to replicate."

"Who all do we have contacts with for landing for refueling?" Steve asked.

Maria shook her head. "No one. It's powered by arc reactor technology. We could fly around the planet without needing to stop to refuel."

Bucky's brows furrowed slightly as he tore his gaze away from the neat new technology to look at Maria. "Why wasn't I called in on this? I have a good record with Stark Industries for working on things like this."

Maria gave him a look that was somewhat apologetic, although she didn't have to be. She wouldn't have left him out if the decision was in her hands. "Pepper's idea."

"Is she still mad at me?"

Maria raised an eyebrow. "Possibly. But that was not her intention. Tony recommended you, given your history working with Howard and the other technology you've created for Stark Industries and the Avengers, but your ability to commit to the project was called into question."

Bucky's jaw dropped and even the others looked away from the quinjet to look between Bucky and Maria like they weren't sure if they should get out of the way or not. "My commitment? When have I ever given her reason to think that?"

"It didn't come up as a character flaw," Maria said, voice between the gentle handling of Bucky's wounded feelings and the practicality he needed to understand that Pepper's decision hadn't been personal before she even explained. "It came up because you have too much on your plate. You have contracts that come up semi-regularly, and your attendance in R&D or in Bruce's lab is sometimes spotty if you've been working at the shelter for a long stretch. She knew you were capable of the job, but she also knew you had other things to focus on."

Bucky couldn't deny that. And he was angry with himself that he couldn't. He didn't like feeling unreliable to his team.

While he mentally berated himself, Steve brought up the next question. Bucky had to force himself to listen. Too much relied on him knowing the technology he'd be working with to brood on a subject that he could always kick himself for later.

"You said she can vanish, like the helicarrier. How'd you pull that off?"

Maria put her hand on Bucky's shoulder in the briefest of contact before crossing her arms again. "The helicarrier the Avengers were first assembled on used cameras on top to photograph the sky above it and project that image onto LED panels on the bottom, effectively rendering it invisible to the naked eye. There was some use of carbon nanotubes in the surface paint to absorb radar pings, but the stealth was hardly perfect."

"No technology is," Bucky said, reinserting himself into the conversation. "So how'd we get around that?"

"A new computer interface that gives a mock return signal to return to the radar receiver. She's fast, efficient, and well-tested in this regard. Between her and the nanotubes, we're going to be almost impossible to detect short of someone walking into the landing wheels by accident once we're on the ground."

Bruce leaned back slightly to see Maria around Bucky. "I don't think I've ever heard you use gendered pronouns on inanimate objects."

That earned a deep breath and an almost-laugh. "Tony named the UI after the cat."

For a second, nobody said a word, everyone looking at Maria like they all hoped she'd say 'just kidding, it's a copy of JARVIS onboard.' When she clearly didn't, Bucky pinched the bridge of his nose while Bruce laughed. Sharon put a hand over her mouth to hide what looked like the threat of laughter, and Steve introduced his forehead to the glass.

"He named the UI of the Avengers' quinjet after Junior?" Bucky asked, trying to wrap his head around it and getting as successful as wrapping a steel beam around a tree just by throwing it at one. It wasn't working very well.

"Oh Tony," Sharon said, the amusement still clear in her voice.

"He's something all right," Bruce added.

"We're all special snowflakes around here," Steve said. "Please tell me that the computer isn't going to meow at us."

How Maria managed to keep from laughing at that, Bucky couldn't figure out. "No, she's programmed with several languages, none of them feline, and American English is set as her default." She stepped back. "Shall we go investigate the inside?"

At the group agreement, Maria turned and headed around the glass to the landing pad.

"I still could've been pulled in on this," Bucky said. "I can take time off from the shelter and the lab."

"You still have your contracts with Steve," Maria pointed out in a professional voice. Her next words Bucky could hear a smile in, despite being right behind and unable to see her face. "You'll like our next asset. It was your baby in the lab."

Bucky glanced way back at Bruce. "Do you know which one she's talking about?"

Bruce shrugged. "You've got a lot of projects going on. I'm not sure which one, either."

"Patience, gentlemen," Maria said. "Junior, open the hatch."

While the hatch opened at command, Bucky put his hands over his face. "I still can't believe he named the UI after his cat."

Steve gave him an accusing look. "Just remember, him having that cat is your fault."

"I was giving her to Pepper," Bucky protested.

Maria stood by the open hatch, arms folded behind her back as if she were former military in an at-ease position. "Care to actually inspect the inside, or just argue over the UI?"

"Yeah, guys?" Sharon said as she drew up behind them. "Cat can be argued about later. There's still a lot to do."

"The woman speaks wise words," Bruce said. "I'm curious about what we'll be flying in."

"Sorry," Steve and Bucky managed to say in tandem. They headed up the ramp and into the interior.

The inside was a technological marvel, computers lining the top, seats with buckles for sub-orbital flight surrounding a middle support that was also lined with computers just over the heads of the seats. The roof looked tall enough for even Thor to stand with comfortable head room. The cockpit was just visible on the other side of the central seating. Off to each side were spaces with obviously dedicated purpose; one side looked big enough to hold Steve's shield with other weapons comfortably, and the other side looked like a small medical station.

Maria led them in a brief once around the room. "Over here is your corner, Bruce," she said, confirming the medical station. "I'm sorry we couldn't give you a full size operating table, but we could only make the jet so big." She crouched at one end. "As you can see, there's a small cooler. Before missions, it will be stocked with O- blood."

Bruce sat down at his station, pulling out his glasses and inspecting the computers. "Vitals monitors. More convenient than our Christmas trip to the Middle East." He looked up at Maria. "The universal donor."

Maria nodded once. "There are a variety of blood types in the Avengers, there wouldn't be enough room to put enough of everyone's blood type for transfusions if they become necessary."

"I know," Bruce said, then looked at the cooler. "I'm not lucky enough for that. Not sure what to do about Thor. Asgardian blood may not be compatible with anything we have here on Earth."

"We may have to risk it," Maria said. "Or perhaps ask Heimdall to take him to Asgard." She motioned to the head of the station's operating area. "There is also a storage space for basic medical tools on the right of the vitals computer, and a place for a handful of medicines on the other side."

Bruce took off his glasses, putting them away in the chest pocket of his lab coat (why was he wearing his lab coat?). "This is a nice set up. Whoever designed the inside of this place knew the Avengers and our needs very well."

"Tony did the basic sketches and let the engineers make it as close to reality as possible," Maria replied. She continued on around. "Above us are the specific computers that Junior will use to return the mock up signal to radar pings."

The computers in question lined the roof of the entire quinjet, wrapped around the central seat space, and gave the whole thing the impression that they were walking through something out of Star Trek, made to look more advance than even it probably was.

Leave it to Tony.

On the other side of the seating area from Bruce's medical station was what Maria confirmed to be a storage space for weapons; it was built to hold everything, including Tony's suit when it was broken down and put away. And yes, Mister One-Man-Army Barnes, everything of yours will fit too.

Bucky never planned on using it, but it was nice to know.

"Okay," Bucky said once he'd finished his inspection, not caring if the others had. "You said the next thing on our list was something I worked on. Out with it."

Sharon stepped over and stood by Maria as if she was part of the presentation, and swept her arms down over herself, then Maria, as if showing off outfits that their respective boyfriends should be giving an enthusiastic approval to was somehow an answer.

"I don't recall designing uniforms."

Maria gave Sharon a look both amused and clearly resisting rolling her eyes. "The uniforms are fitted with the liquid armor you designed."

Bucky almost felt excited; that was one of his pet projects, and it was finally getting used. Then he remembered something that put a damper on his pride. "I didn't submit that. It's not ready to be put through the testing phase."

"This mission is the testing phase," Maria said. "Tony redesigned Steve's uniform with it and a bit of an updated look. We didn't have access to your tactical gear to upgrade it, but we did design a coat with two full sleeves with it. You'll have something for cool weather or when your arm needs to be hidden. Once you provide your normal uniform, we'll give it the same treatment."

Bucky rubbed his forehead, feeling frustrated and not particularly happy. He ignored the coat for the moment, although it sounded like it'd be amazing if he wasn't busy wanting to smack someone. "You don't test a weapon by throwing it into the middle of a battle. This is not Ghostbusters, we do not take unlicensed nuclear accelerators into the hotel without a test. And how'd Tony get that, anyway? Who took it behind my back?"

Maria blinked at him, and he suddenly remembered the surprise on her face the night before. "Tony did. Everything developed in Bruce's private lab is for Avengers use only, and Tony took charge of that. He saw the formula and decided we couldn't risk the time of more nitpicking before making it, precisely because of a situation like this."

"When did anyone want to tell me that lab was Avengers stuff?"

"I did, when you first started working with me," Bruce said.

Bucky stared at him like he'd lost his mind. Or maybe it was Bucky that was losing his mind. "I don't remember you saying anything of the sort."

Bucky and Bruce stared at each other, both confused and both trying to beat the other to an answer. Bucky would be more amused at their usual games if it wasn't for the fact that they were trying to figure out why there was a major hole in his memory. If anything from Hydra was suddenly coming back to haunt him, he didn't know what he'd do. He couldn't go through forgetting important people and events twice.

Bruce didn't look terribly much closer to an answer than Bucky was when he spoke up, but he seemed to be moving a bit faster. "After I asked you to come work on medicines for you and Steve, what did we test first?"

"No idea," Bucky said. "I remember you saying I should come help you with that in your lab, and that's it."

Bruce tapped his chin with his fist. "I want to say it was an alternative to Ativan for you, something that would stick better without putting you to sleep."

Bucky looked at the ground off to one side, suddenly acutely aware of the other three around them. They all knew about his occasional episodes, but needing medicine for it wasn't something liked to admit, nor wanted people to know about. "We wouldn't have used it unless it was needed."

"I think it was," Bruce said. "I think we tested it by giving you some, then approaching you for a mock blood draw. It didn't work well, so I gave you some Ativan and sent you home."

Bucky looked back up at him. "I don't remember that at all."

Bruce took in a deep breath. "Then I think I can safely say we're throwing that medicine out as a failure. I can't think of anything else that might've affected your memory around that time period."

Bucky took in a deep breath, torn between anger and fear, before he gave up with disgusted shake of his head. "You're probably right. I don't remember this at all."

"All it means is that we're going to have to be more careful about giving medications to you in the future," Bruce said. "That's why about all our work on those is in the lab."

Bucky held his forehead in his hands. "Yeah, I knew we were working on stuff for Steve and I in there. I didn't realize that was more than a pet project."

"What's this about a new uniform?" Steve asked, interrupting the conversation in an awkward manner. Bucky almost throttled him. The uniform wasn't as important as they were testing an experimental weapon in an actual mission. That was supposed to be tested before that. And then there was the matter that Bucky had experimented his memory away and thanks for the concern, jackass.

But at least Bucky could feel grateful that Steve had taken the spotlight off of the fact that he sometimes had to take medicine to control his anxiety.

Bruce seemed sympathetic, at least. He patted Bucky's shoulder with a look that said he was sorry about the confusion. Before he could even give an apology, Bucky took in a sigh and waved him off. He'd get over it. There was really nobody to be mad at about it.

"Tony designed it," Sharon said. "I had input to make sure he didn't make it ridiculous. I told him that if he didn't want to look ridiculous, he shouldn't make you look ridiculous. I think you'll like it."

Steve rubbed the back of his neck, resisting a sigh. "Well, I guess the old one is beat up enough, a new one is probably due. If it's got Bucky's liquid armor in it, it's probably safer than the old one too." He hesitated. "I'm guessing it's still in Old Glory colors?"

Sharon nodded. "It's huge step up from the World War II design you wear now, with a bit of your SHIELD uniform's advantages, but you're still Captain America."

Steve looked at Bucky. "Wearing the American flag around Palestine's not going to make it easy to sneak into a Hydra base and get information. Should we try what we did in North Korea?"

Bucky rubbed both hands over his face, somewhere between still worrying about the new armor not getting tested before this, his apparent memory loss that led to that stuff's creation without him knowing, and trying to come up with a solution to the problem Steve just pointed o-

Oh.

Oh no, not that.

Bucky dropped his hands to just over his lips and chin. "I know a way in. And I hate myself with a passion for it."

"You usually do for your creative ones," Steve said. "And they pretty much always saved our butts. Whatever it is, it can't be as bad as some of the stuff we've done before."

Bucky shook his head. "No. Oh no. This is by far my worst." He sighed. "I can sell us on the dark web. The easiest way to sneak into a lab is as a volunteer."

"No, absolutely not," Maria said without one second of hesitation. "You can't sneak weapons in with you. That is a Hydra lab, you are not going in unarmed."

Steve studied Bucky, and Bucky could see him seriously debating the idea. It was a decent one, and they could figure out how to fill in the weapon hole that Maria just pointed out. And Bucky hated himself for it.

"What about your arm?" Sharon said. "You wouldn't be able to sneak by at all with it."

"I can do it," Steve said. "I don't have anything they can be tipped off by, and it'd mean I'm not wandering around in a red, white, and blue target."

Even worse. Bucky wished whatever part of his brain came up with that idea would crawl out before the rest of him had a stroke over it.

"Steve, no," Maria said. "That leaves you walking into a trap unarmed."

"Our last run on Hydra and the Valkyrie project back in the war was about as dumb," Steve said. "I just ran in and rang the doorbell."

"And it left you frozen in the Arctic for decades!" Sharon protested. "We can't lose you again like that. The world still needs Captain America. And what about Bucky? Or the rest of us?"

Bucky didn't hear Bruce speaking up; he could only imagine that Bruce wasn't going to jump in between two women and two stupid men unless he could do so without getting scratched by one side and hit by the other. Then the other guy would have to step in and it'd just be a big mess.

"I'll be fine," Steve said, trying to assure her but probably failing. "Every mission I go on has that risk. Bucky can do the sneaking, he's better at it and his uniform is better suited for it," Steve said. "I'll be inside, we'll stay in contact. If I can get a layout to him, he can get in and clean the place. Once he's done, I'll borrow one of his weapons and we'll take care of business. We'll be in contact with you guys, you'll know right away if we need back up."

"You're seriously considering this?" Sharon demanded, disbelief scrawled on her face.

"Actually, yes, I am," Steve said. "When Bucky gets ideas this out there, they're usually the best ones we have. I trust him, he wouldn't suggest putting me into the line of fire, even against his will, if it weren't a good idea. And if I do go in there this way, I'll have four people watching my back, three more than if it were just Bucky and I. Having you three along makes this a good idea with an acceptable risk factor."

Next to Bucky, Bruce inhaled a wary-sounding breath. "I guess this is my turn to show off," he said. "If either of you go in there as a volunteer, you'll need a way of communicating with the rest of us without the comm piece being spotted and removed."

So this was really happening. Bucky wanted to beat his head on a wall. "You have something for that?"

Bruce nodded. "I do. Which was next on the list anyway. Come on, we'll go down to the medical lab."

Steve raised his eyebrows as they paraded out of the quinjet. Junior closed the hatch behind them. "A communication problem is solved in the medlab?"

"You'll see."

They were all quiet as Bruce led them down to medlab, making the elevator ride uncomfortable. Bucky was busy hating himself forever, the women were probably plotting his death, Steve was taking the idea way too seriously, and Bruce was avoiding starting a forest fire in the Avengers Tower.

Awkward.

Silence remained until they'd navigated through the medical level to the back rooms and private labs reserved for Avengers care and work. Bruce directed them to wait at a nurse's station while he went on further. Bucky had a feeling he was going to his personal lab. Which meant that whatever it was, it was one of Bruce's projects for the Avengers. That really had Bucky curious, and more than a little nervous. Bruce hadn't told them to wait up in the penthouse while he retrieved whatever communication device he'd created, he'd brought them down to the medlab. And he was wearing his lab coat, which meant he'd been expecting to do some work.

Bucky really wanted out of the medlab. It was disquieting.

Nobody wanted to speak up, not even to speculate about Bruce's project. The girls were probably still mad at him and Steve, Steve was already planning how to fraudulently sell himself to science, and Bucky still hated himself for coming up with the idea, much less giving it voice.

Bruce returned a few minutes later, two thin, clear plastic cases in one hand. "Here we go." He set the cases down on the nurse's station's counter. Inside the cases were two tiny computer chips, about a quarter inch one way and less than that the other way. They looked like the insides of micro SD cards.

"I'm guessing those are communication chips," Bucky said. "They're awful tiny, how're they supposed to fit in the ear without damaging something?"

"They're not," Bruce said. "They get surgically implanted just behind the ear."

Surgery. Bucky balked. "You are not putting a computer chip in my brain, Bruce."

Bruce opened one of the cases, pulling out the tiny comm inside. "I know you're not fond of the idea of surgery. It wouldn't be a major one, I'd perform it under twilight sleep, and I'd give you an Ativan since we know that works before putting in the IV. It'd require a slight removal of some bone in the skull, just a little indent so it can sit comfortably under the skin without being seen."

Bucky had troubles keep his hands from shaking. "I'm already a cyborg, you want to put more technology in me?"

Bruce gave him a patient look. "I know where you stand. We all do. But if you want to be able to keep in contact with Steve and the rest of us without someone potentially losing their contact mid-mission, it's probably your best bet." He set the chip back down in its case. "Besides, it's not implanted into your brain, just under the skin. It wouldn't make you a cyborg any more than wearing a regular communication device. The only part of the surgery that is remotely close to what you're thinking is filing away a small spot of the skull for it to sit without being a noticeable bump."

Steve put a hand on Bucky's shoulder that Bucky almost pulled away from, entirely because he knew that Steve wasn't going to argue on Bucky's side. "Buck, relax. It's a good idea, even if we do things differently. Or for future jobs. Nobody would be able to see our comms and potentially rob us of them. We'd be able to stay in better contact."

Before Bucky could protest further, the idea of surgery making him want to run, and Steve's acceptance of his terrible, horrible, no good very bad idea making him want to shake Steve until the stupid fell out, Maria spoke up. "Let me try," she said. Steve stepped away and Bucky barely got to look at her before she had stepped over to him and put both hands on his face, forcing him to hold eye contact with her. "Bucky, listen to me. Steve wants to go through with this idea, that much is clear. As much as we all hate it, you're both right, it'll be the best way to get him in. If we don't have this technology in place, if we can't keep in contact with you both, someone could die. Including him. This is the best way to protect him."

Boy, she knew him well.

He glanced at Steve out of the corner of his eye. "I don't suppose you'd consider a different plan?"

"It's probably the best way to get us in, get those files out of their system, and get out before anyone else becomes an experiment, or worse, becomes a success," Steve said with a shrug. "It's not any more dangerous than other things we've done and if we're lucky, we'll take out Hydra's foothold in Israel in the process."

Bucky drew in a deep breath to keep from telling Steve he was an idiot, then took Maria's hands and pulled them away from his face without letting go of them. "Fine."

Steve nodded once, a silent acknowledgement of what Bucky didn't say, then looked at Bruce. "Let's get started."

They hadn't even confirmed with their contact that they were taking the contract and Bucky already hated this job.