Bound To You (Bucky Barnes X OC)

Location

It had been three weeks since Jade had disappeared. Tony was pacing back and forth in his lab as FRIDAY ran another search for known and possible Hydra bases. Every route he had tried to follow had been a dead end. He had become so desperate that he even asked Fury for Shield's help. It left a bad taste in his mouth to ask for help, but if it meant getting Jade back then he would do anything in his power to find her.

Steve wandered into the lab looking like he hadn't slept in days. He held two cups of coffee and a bag of bagels. He sat the cups and bag down on the desk that Tony was currently pacing in front of.

"Jesus, Cap. When's the last time you slept?"

"I think I slept for a couple hours last night." Steve replied dully.

"You gotta get some sleep. Bucky is already burning the midnight oil enough for the whole damn team. We don't need you adding to it. One of you needs to be alert enough to help us when I find Jade."

"It's not for lack of trying, Tony. I know I need to rest or my focus is going to be non-existent, but I can't shut my mind off. I just keep thinking about how I failed her and Bucky."

"Steve, you didn't fail either of them. No one could have predicted this. It's not your fault and it's not Bucky's fault. You want to protect Jade? You take care of yourself so you're prepared for the fight that's coming, because I'm going to find her."

"Okay, okay. I'll try. Have you found anything at all?"

Tony shook his head with a grimace on his face. He wouldn't admit it to the team, but he was starting to fear the worst. There hadn't been one single sign of Jade or her father. After three weeks of nothing, Tony was starting to wonder if they were looking for Jade or her body. He wasn't a praying man, but he had sent up a few requests that they were looking for a woman with a beating heart and not a corpse.

He should have done more, added extra security in the extended perimeter or monitored the area better, something to protect even the farthest reaches of the grounds. While he was reassuring Steve that this wasn't his fault, Tony was internally blaming himself. He could pass out advice all day long, but he could never take it. Steve saw the look of defeat on Tony's face and knew that he was blaming himself as much as Steve and Bucky were.

"You know, it's not your fault either, Tony."

"I should've done more to make sure everything was secure." Tony mumbled.

Tony began pacing again after picking up one of the cups Steve had sat down. They were standing in silence staring at a screen when the door burst open and Bucky rushed in. His hair was a mess and his eyes were red, both from lack of sleep and crying. He had healed quickly thanks to his increased cell regeneration, so as soon as he was cleared he began contacting anyone he could think of that might have information about Hydra.

He hadn't talked to anyone in the compound except Steve and most of the time it was just arguing. Bucky's guilt was consuming him. He barely ate or slept. When he did sleep, it was a broken sleep punctuated by nightmares of him finding Jade dead or seeing George kill her in front of him. Bucky refused to believe that Jade was dead. He couldn't explain it, but it was almost as if he could sense that she was still alive.

He had just come from a meeting with his last contact. If this information was a bust, then he didn't know what else to try. But he wouldn't give up. Not when Jade was still out there with the same organization that had tortured him and turned him into a killer. He rushed over to Tony and Steve with a file in his hand.

"Steve! Tony! I might have something. An old Hydra informant has been keeping tabs on the new activity. He's spotted some of their agents coming and going from an abandoned coal mining town in West Virginia."