Chapter Text
Steve
Fear.
The scent of it hit him directly in the face as he walked into the room, hanging over everything like a woolen blanket suffocating him in summer heat. Bucky. The Omega’s terror was pouring off of him, permeating the air around him. For a wild moment, Steve wanted to follow that instinctive pull to go to him, to cover Bucky in his scent and protect him from whatever danger he was in.
But as he pushed back against the urge, reminding himself that they were safe, he picked up Tony’s scent, his anger lacing through Bucky’s fear like a lighthouse’s beacon warning away anyone who may think about getting close. It had been a hard twelve hours for everyone and Steve knew that Tony was upset about what had happened.
Coming into the living room, he saw Tony in the same armchair he’d been in when Steve had left for the med-bay; elbows leaning on his thighs with his shoulders tense and hunched, he was ready to spring into action if he needed to but Steve could see him holding back. It wasn’t easy to sit in a room with an Omega in so much distress and not be able to do anything about it and Tony had spent nearly an hour with Bucky while Steve was getting stitched up.
Bucky was still just as he had been an hour ago. Sitting on the couch with his knees pulled up to his chest, the hood of Steve’s sweatshirt draped over his head, and his eyes far away. It broke his heart to see him like this, small and vulnerable and so clearly shattered.
“Tony?” Steve called softly as he walked into the room.
Tony stood and crossed the room, joining Steve in the hallway. “How’s your wound?”
“Oh, it’s fine,” Steve waved it away, “it’ll be healed in a day or so. How’s Bucky?”
“Is that a serious question, Steve?” Tony raised an eyebrow. “I mean, you can smell how he is. And do you blame him?”
“No,” Steve shook his head, “I just—did he say anything to you? Did he tell you anything?”
“No, he hasn’t said a word,” Tony said, “and I wasn’t about to ask. I mean, how do I even start the conversations? ‘Hey shouldn’t you be super dead?’”
“Christ, Tony, you don’t have to be—“
“Sorry, okay, yeah, sorry, I’m being an ass,” Tony agreed quickly, “I’m tired, I’m stressed, I’m being a dick. Point is, no, we’re no closer to understanding how he ended up in HYDRA’s custody but the team is digging and we’ll find out what happened.”
“Well, I know how he survived the fall,” Steve sighed, “Zola. When Bucky’s unit was capture, I… I found him in a lab. Strapped down to a table. I knew he’d been experimented on but I never thought—he must have gotten some version of the serum.”
“Fuck. Why would they give an Omega the serum, Steve? Wouldn’t he still be vulnerable? That doesn’t make any sense,” Tony shook his head.
“That’s the thing,” Steve dropped his voice further, “Bucky was an Alpha when he fell from that train.”
“Jesus, Steve, what—“
“I don’t know,” Steve sighed, “I don’t know what they did to him, Tony.”