Chapter Text
Bob woke up in an unfamiliar room.
For a second, it’s so uncomfortably unfamiliar that he almost expected Valentina’s voice to start talking in his ear.
But no. This room wasn’t nearly manipulatively comfy enough for it to be Valentina.
The interrogation room was gone. This time, he woke up in something much closer to a cell. It looked almost like a sci-fi movie space pod, with a restraining chair in the center. All sides were glass- reinforced, if he had to guess. The room outside of the pod had a lot more cameras than the pitiful one from the interrogation room. Other than a single figure in the middle of the room, it was empty.
The single figure was wearing a familiar red, white, and blue. Holding a very familiar shield in a protective position in front of himself.
At first, when the sleep was still in his eyes, Bob muttered an unsure “Walker?”.
The figure didn’t respond to that. His vision cleared, and he sighed.
“Captain America.” Bob acknowledged, letting out a low groan. His head was killing him.
Cap nodded at him. “Sentry. Who’s Walker?”
“No, no. Not Sentry. Sorry.” Bob shook his head. “Trying, anyway. To not be Sentry. Sorry. Walker is… someone I know.”
“Anyone we need to be worried about?”
“I doubt it. I don’t think he’d come near any of the Avengers with a ten foot pole, if he could help it. Especially not you.”
Captain America frowned. “I feel like I should be taking offense to that.”
“Don’t. I’m pretty sure he idolizes you. Don’t tell him I said that.” Bob blinked hard. The headache was going away, but incredibly unfortunately it was being replaced by a growing impending feeling of dread. “Hey, I know this is an absolutely absurd thing to ask, but can I phone a friend?”
Captain America shifted his shield a bit away from his center. That was nice. Trusting. Bob wasn’t entirely sure he deserved it. “What?” He sounded incredulous.
“I get- sorry-” he gestured towards his head the best he could with the restraints. “I get these highs, sometimes, you know? Feel invincible. Powerful.” He chuckled. “And then when I got these… medically induced super powers? Not like yours, not super serum, just… something. Some study. I don’t remember. And my highs, they become Sentry. I have the powers all the time, technically, but if I use them, they feed into it. He’s not… separate, not really, but he also is. It’s hard to explain. But I’m… I’m okay now. I think. Better. Normal.”
“This is normal for you?” Captain America seemed to not be able to stop himself from saying it out loud, although, to his credit, he did look like he felt bad right after he said it.
“Yeah.” He huffed. “Yeah, this is normal. But uh… after. After the high, after Sentry, I get low. Really low. And that…” He looks up to carefully make eye contact with the original Captain America. “That comes with its own problems.”
“Is this related to that thing you said earlier, in the tower? ‘Voiding’ us?”
“You’re quick. Yeah, that’s the one. The Void.” He tips his head back, gently hitting it against the chair’s headrest. “And I know you think Sentry was pretty bad, but the lows, the Void, he’s worse.”
“So you want to phone a friend?”
“Ideally. I have a few friends, they help… even me out. Pull me back.”
“And why would we trust you about that? Why would we bring a known superpowered individual an unknown ‘friend’, who could probably help break him out of prison?”
“I’m not entirely sure if this is actually comforting or not, but I’m pretty sure you’ve seen what Sentry… what I can do. If I wanted to break out, I don’t think this could stop me.” He nodded towards the reinforced glass. “And you can do… a background check, or whatever. Just… please.”
Captain America took a few steps forwards, analyzing Bob through the panes of glass. Bob tried to look as normal and nonthreatening as possible. Hopefully, it was working. Ava had said before that Bob’s ‘permanent state was adorably pathetic’. A bit rude, but not necessarily untrue, and working in his favor in this particular situation.
“Who are you looking for?”
And wasn’t that just the question.
Yelena would be preferable. She had been the most consistent, steadying rock for him. But she had her own ties to Natasha that would make her difficult to ask after- not to mention that, at this time, she was probably still with the Red Room. And weren’t they chemically subjugated there, too? If she came, there was a pretty high chance she wouldn’t be herself.
His next selection would probably be Bucky. But he was the Winter Soldier right now. And he wasn’t sure what was worse, asking SHIELD to see the Winter Soldier or asking Steve Rogers to see Bucky Barnes.
Ava. A secret operative he shouldn’t know about. He’s probably already let the cat out of the bag on the whole ‘knowing things he shouldn’t’ bit, but, if he’s got his timing right, Ava’s phasing hasn’t even been healed yet. She’s got her own problems. He couldn’t ask for her.
Alexei. A Russian operative, also connected to the Red Room. Currently in prison. Also, another one that would be bad to ask for with Natasha so close to the situation.
Christ.
Alright.
Bob looked up at Captain America, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. “Captain John Walker, U.S. Military.”
“The Walker we were just talking about? The one who wouldn’t come near the Avengers with a ten foot pole?”
“Yeah. He… I think he’ll come. Hope he’ll come. Just… ask if he knows me? And if he does, tell him that Sentry made an appearance. He’ll know what that means. He’ll come.” At this point, Bob wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince Captain America or himself.
The super soldier’s expression flickered between confusion, deep thought, and doubt, but settled quickly on that typical noble determination. “I’ll see what I can do.”