"DAMNIT!" Came a scream from the bathroom. The Avengers had been called to the Helicarrier to do a debrief, and Bucky was getting ready.
"Bucky, is something wrong?" Steve burst into the room, the top section of his costume still unzipped, hanging around his waist, brandishing his shield infront of his bare chest. He looked very fierce, until Bucky turned toward him with the most exasperated half-lidded glare ever.
Literally half his face was a mask of eyeliner.
Steve tried to remain all fierce-looking for a second, but broke down within seconds.
"FUCK OFF STEVE!" Shouted Bucky, his clearly painstakingly straightened hair waving around his face.
Natasha peeked inside, wavy red hair falling in messy curls around her face. "Bucky, are you done with my-" She cut off upon seeing his face and a shirtless, laughing Steve. "...Do you need a hand with the pencil?" She asked.
"God, yes, please." Bucky rolled his eyes. "Steve, get your shirtless ass out of this bathroom."
When Steve didn't move, Bucky chased him out, smacking him with a rolled-up magazine.
"Please." He handed her the eyeliner pencil.
"...This is the messiest raccoon eyeliner job I have ever seen." She quirked an eyebrow. "Haven't you done this like, constantly over the last half-century?"
Bucky looked down. "...No." His voice was quiet and guilty.
"...are you telling me," Natasha looked at him coolly. "that HYDRA had a stylist?"
"...yes..." He mumbled.
The corner of her mouth quirked. "Well, now that you're not HYDRA, we'll need to teach you how to do that by yourself. C'mere." She waved him over to the mirror.
Some three minutes later, Bucky had perfect raccoon eyeliner, and somehow Natasha didn't make him look like he was dying, rather, he now looked very fierce.
"Thanks Nat."
"Don't destoy my pencil." She smiled at him kindly, before heading out for the Quinjet.
#^v^v^v^v^v#
"'Every time I put on eye makeup it gets bigger. My whole face is eyeliner now.'" Clint laughed as Tony landed the plane on the Helicarrier's station for it.
"Ok, that's it, I need to know who keeps posting this stuff." Tony snickered, smirking quietly.
The plane touched down quietly, a few assistants running in to tie down the sleek jet.
The Avengers unloaded, heading inside to the meeting room. Assembling around the table, they awaited the arrival of Fury.
When the director walked in with a confident strut, four folders under his arm, everyone blinked slightly.
"Four cases?" Wondered Tony, leaning to Cap. "Don't we only have two?"
Steve gave a small shrug, making a noncommittal noise.
"Two in progress." Natasha nodded. "Looks like we have some extra."
Fury slapped down the folders, glaring around the table. "Agent Maximoff, still in Solkovia with agents Lance and Jocov." He tossed the first file on the table. Immediately, Clint snatched it up.
"How're they doing in there, sir?" He questioned politely, tilting his head.
"Just fine so far, Agent. Just fine." The director nodded at Clint. Pleased, the archer sat back, returning the file to the table. "Agent Lomen is in Manhattan," Fury placed the second 'in progress' file on the table. "investigating the other half of this."
![Alive but not Awake || Bucky Barnes [1] de X-Lisa-Anne-X](https://img.wattpad.com/cover/24531465-80-k371775.jpg)
One of the 'uninvestigated' files was pushed forward. Tony picked it up, opening it. Immediately, several blurry photos of a purple winged shape fell out, landing on the table. "...Huh." Tony nodded. "Heartbeat."
"What?" Steve gave him a strange look, tilting his head. "What did you say?"
"Heartbeat. That's what they're calling the person." Tony nodded to the side. "The media calls them Heartbeat."
"..." Fury glared sideways at Tony. "...Someone call up Agent Smyl and Agent Bartee from the Internet Research Team." He informed a baby agent who quickly nodded and ran elsewhere.
"You actually have an internet research team?" Tony's eyebrows jolted a little with a laugh. Bruce was smiling too, though he was hiding it.
"I'll have you know, Stark, we have a team for nearly everything." Fury griped. "Barton, Romanov," He called, the assassins' heads snapping up. "We're going to send you to investigate the other half of the lead on... Heartbeat. The section in the southern half of Manhattan."
"Shit name." Bucky remarked. "The mask looks more like an owl anyway."
"Agreed." Steve nodded. "Heartbeat sounds almost... Weak?" He gave a small questioning shrug.
"Sir, may I ask why the other half of this lead was in Manhattan?" Natasha requested quietly.
"Supposedly, Agent Romanov, Heartbeat's first sightings were in Manhattan, before they moved here." Fury pointed to the circled red section of the map in the file, a top-down view of Manhattan, centered near a tall apartment. "So far, we've found little to nothing. We're waiting on Agent Lomen's report."
"How's she doing?" Tony's eyes cut from the file to Fury.
"Fine, Stark. I would like to think she is enjoying the city while she looks for our lead." The director's eye rolled, exasperated.
"...And the last case file?" Steve nodded to the final file. Fury slid it onto the table.
"The last of Arnim Zola's laboratories."
Bucky stiffened in his seat, eyes darkening and hiding behind the thin veil of eye-makeup.
There was a pause. "...And what of it." Steve growled coldly as Tony pushed Heartbeat's file away and drew the laboratory one closer, opening it soundlessly.
"Siberia."
Once again, silence.
"We're sending Rogers, Stark and Wilson. The mission will launch as so-" Director Fury resumed his speech before Bucky spoke up.
"With all due respect, sir..." Bucky began, words measured and careful. "I would like to go on this mission."
"I'm afraid I can't permit that, Barnes. We can't risk triggering a potentially dangerous memory." Fury actually had the composure to look pained, how dare he.
"Sir, I'd like to witness the distruction of the place where I was held captive for almost 70 years." Bucky kept his anger in check, but he was all of three seconds from whipping the stapler at Nick's dumb eyepatch.
"Again, denied Barnes. Until we are certain that you are completely free of HYDRA control, we can't send you on potentially triggering missions." Fury informed in cool nonchalance, but it didn't stop Bucky's fist from tightening on the knee of his outfit, balling the black fabric up.
"...Understood, sir." Bucky sat back, glaring at the table.
The period of awkward silence continued until Fury snatched up the two in-progress folders from the table and shouted, "The group of you leave for separate missions in six hours. Dismissed!"
