Chapter Text
The shocking pain that ran through his tired body wasn’t a match for the disappointed looks on their faces. He wanted to rip them off, his eyes trailed down to the metal that was lodged in the machine below him.
His heart was hammered in his chest, the feeling of shame and regret almost wanted to spill from his eyes but he knew better than to cry, he didn’t even remember when was the last time he cried.
“Should I call Stark?” He avoided their gazes and stared in brut anger at the ground.
“No.” His eyes shot up at Captain who looked at him back, he could almost feel the disappointment in his eyes, it made him wish that he had left him to drown.
Maybe.
Just maybe he should have.
“Well I know somebody.” Sam squatted down next to him and stared at his trapped arm. “We’re going to get you out.” He stood up and took out his phone, walking away to make a call.
“I don’t want your pity.” The solider spat out weakly, he hadn’t eaten in days and his mouth was starting to taste like copper, every word that left his mouth felt like nails in his throat.
Steve shook his head. “It’s not pity Buck.” He opened his mouth to speak. “I don’t care if you don’t think that’s your name.” The sudden look of sadness made his mouth close. “It is.”
He frowned and let his head hang, his hair covering his eyes. “What do you want?” He forced the words out bitterly and coughed at the strain on his throat.
“We’re going to help you.”
“How do you expect to do that?”
“I know a guy and they’re coming right now.” Sam stepped back into the room, earning a worried look from Steve. “Don’t worry we can trust her, plus she owes me a favor anyways.”
Confusion washed over Steve’s face. “She?”
“Now don’t be sexist man.” Sam laughed.
The blonde looked away embarrassed. “I’m not! It’s just I didn’t think you would be calling a woman to help us.”
Sam frowned, “Now that’s definitely sexist man.”
~
The call was a little unexpected but (Y/N) was glad for it, it was Friday night and she had no plans, she’d rather help Sam then sit around with a remote at her fingertip and a couple stray tissues sitting around her living room as she marathoned an old TV show with her best friend on speed dial for moral support.
During the drive she had begun to wonder what the hell Sam had gotten himself into that she needed to bring the Jaws of Life. She glanced at the instrument that sat with her tool box in the backseat of her car and tsk’d.
While it was short drive out of DC, it took more time to find the abandoned building in a sea of abandoned buildings, eventually she just gave up and called Sam. “Yeah, I’m fucking lost.”
“I'll come outside.” She looked around and eventually spotted him coming out of a warehouse she passed twice.The thing that confused her was that he looked perfectly fine.
(Y/N) stepped out of the car, putting on her tool belt and sliding a few necessary tools into the pockets before occupying her hands with the Jaws of Life.
When she slowly approached him with the instrument, she gave him a look that equaled to ‘Why am I here?’
“A friend of mine, uh well not really a friend, but someone I know got his arm stuck in something.”
She frowned and rolled her eyes, “So why didn’t you just call 911?”
“Trust me is not that kind of arm.” She looked confused but simply followed him inside, soon meeting face to… a very muscular chest that belonged to Captain America.
“Hello.” Steve just simply waved and moved out the way for her to see the mysterious man, when she stepped closer, there was a light that hit the metal and glistened all so perfectly that it made her hold in a breath. She looked back at them “Is this..?” They both nodded and she got on her knees examining the damage to the arm and how tight the machines hold was on him.
(Y/N) turned to look at who she was working with, his face looked like a beaten puppy and it made her slightly feel bad for him. “How did this happen, big guy?” Her voice was soft and gentle, almost like the vocal formation of a hug for the soul, it made him look away in disgust for himself.
He hesitated but simply answered, “I was trying to fix it, but I got stuck.” He cleared his throat, “Been here for a couple days now.”
‘His throat sounds dry’ She thought and turned to the idiots behind her. “Did no one think to try and give him water? Ya know, I know he’s a bad guy but like how rude are you gonna be?” They scurried and looked around awkwardly for something, flinching as she threw them her keys. “I’ve got a couple bottles of water and a candy in my truck, bring 'em and my tool box.”
She notice an instant relief wash over the messy haired man as they left the storage house through the rusty door. “You okay?”
He shook his head and glanced at his arm.
“Don’t worry I've got you, I might have to break it up a little bit to get you out.” (Y/n) gave him a gentle smile and started to tap her fingers on the metal and notice the water damage. “Too much water made it inside the circuits and it short fused on you didn’t it?” She watched him look down in shame so she instantly took that as a yes.
Pulling the Jaws of Life from early she set it up inside the split pieces, giving his arm enough space to be pulled out but not pulled off his body. “You got a name sweetie?”
He scuffed, “I don’t have one.”
“Come on, everyone’s got a name, even if it’s bad.” She watched him frown but in return smiled. “I’m (F/N) (L/N) but everyone calls me Rusty because I’m not exactly fit for a cute name like that.” (Y/N) chuckled as she took a screw driver and tapped around to see how far his arm was wedged in. “Do you trust me?”
He hesitated and looked her in the eye.
‘Boy, his eyes are pretty’ She thought momentarily as she waited for an answer. She got a nod of agreement and took out a hammer, she tapped the end of the screw driver hard enough to break off a couple pieces of the arm that were in the way and the water damaged enough to break off with ease, she kept looking up at him, watching his reactions as she chipped away at the medal not even noticing that Steve and Sam had returned.
They watched him awe as she chipped away at the arm and pulled away to open up the Jaws of Life, it took a couple tries but eventually it opened up and the soldier looked up at her in shock, he tried to move it but then remember that he couldn’t, eventually losing the expression on his face to pure anger again. “Don’t worry, I’ll fix it.” She said reassuringly before patting the metal.
Steve soon walked over and sat the water bottles in front of him, already opened. “Thank you for trusting her Buck.” He frowned at name but soon downed the water till the last drop, emptying the other 2 quicker than the first with a sigh of relief.
Steve soon grabbed (Y/N)’s hands and thanked her more then she could count. “No problem just doing my job.”
Sam strode over and patted her on the back. “So how are you ganna fix his arm?”
“Give me a couple days and access to the right material and it’ll be fixed in no time” She noticed the silent hope that gleaned in his eyes. “But it'll take some time for him to get use to the new wiring though, so a of couple weeks.”
Both of them pulled away for a second and lowered their voices “So where are we going to keep him if we can't take him back to the Avengers tower?” Steve sighed and took a moment to think of possibilities.
“I could take him...” They both shot around to look at her as if she was crazy. “Hey I need to fix the arm anyways, and my place is pretty well hidden, better then trying to sneak around from place to place then back to my shop every day to work on his arm."
Sam gave Steve a silent look but he frowned in response “What about your safety mam? Bucky isn’t exactly... stable.”
(Y/N) rolled her eyes “Have you seen the man? He’s probably like that because you use that Captain America voice on him.” She mockingly puffed out her chest and deepened her voice, causing Sam to chuckle despite the glare he earned.
“I don’t do a voice.”
“Yes you do.”
“Not helping me here Sam.” He looked at both of them as if they were crazy. “You can’t be serious here, what if you get hurt, if not by him then what if by Hydra, they’ll kick in your door as soon as they get a whiff of his scent.”
Sam sighed and looked at (Y/N) who look slightly offended. “(Y/N) use to work for Shield a couple years back with her father before you came out of the ice, he was chief of defense and security before he retired and she went along with him."
“My house is pretty damn secure thank you very much.” She stood proud and smiled at Steve.
“Fine, but one of us needs to check up on you when we aren’t busy.”
“Isn’t that the point of being an Avenger? You know you’re always busy avenging things and like fighting crime.” She laughed and softly hit Steve’s shoulder which earned her a glare, she quickly turned around and started to collect her stuff.
When she was done, she reached an arm out to Bucky who was silently eating the candy bar. “Come on sweetie, you’re coming home with me tonight.”