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Summary: Dr. Austin helps the team understand how memories can be fabricated, and they decide what their next steps are in regards to Y/N. Pairing:Eventual Bucky Barnes x Reader Word Count:3249 Warnings: Minor angst, medical stuff, a startling amount of exposition, discussions of sciencey magic stuff, Tony being Tony and trying to embarrass Steve and Bucky A/N:Thank you all for being so patient, I had this chapter like 75% done for a few weeks, but I needed something to break up the mountains of information. So when I got stuck, I used that to my advantage. You’ll see what I mean. lol You can also follow this story & others on my Ao3 as well. The series was beta’d by the lovely@idjitmonkey and I hope you enjoy!
Dr. Austin’s gaze slowly moved across the three men sitting in front of her, forcing her to lightly bite the inside of her cheek to avoid laughing at the varying expressions of dismay and confusion showing on their faces. Although the teacher part of her brain was screaming at her to explain, she waited patiently for them to process what she’d told them. Fortunately, and unsurprisingly, it was Tony who spoke first only a few minutes later.
“Not only do you have a psychic on speed dial that can read people’s minds, but you’re telling me Y/N’s memories are… fake? How is that even possible?”
“Is speed dial even a thing anymore?” Dr. Austin mumbled before shifting her eyes to Steve and Bucky who appeared to have finished processing and were now paying attention. “Charles Xavier is an extremely powerful mutant, and his psychic abilities allow him to locate and connect to the minds of every mutant in the world. It allows him to stop a problem before it even becomes one.”
“Really? So, what, he’s a mutant version of a Precog? Last time I checked, Minority Report didn’t end well for a lot of people.” Tony exhaled with a groan before running a hand down his face. “I’m… not a fan of mind control or mind reading.”
“I understand your, uhhh… less than amicable history with Wanda Maximoff may be causing your unease, but Charles is not motivated by anything malicious, nor does he assist the police with any kind of crime prevention involving humans; he only steps in when there’s mutants involved. The police stay out of his way because his abilities can help avoid preventable human casualties by a frightened mutant who has no idea what’s happening to their body.”
Tony rolled his eyes. “They all say that at first. It’s only a matter of time before they stick their nose where—”
Dr. Austin aggressively raised her hand and cut him off, much to Tony’s surprise, before she walked around to the other side of the conference room table to sit down. “It’s about safety, Mr. Stark, not snooping. A mutant’s abilities usually don’t manifest until they hit puberty, and most of these kids don’t have a support system to help them understand their gifts, or worse, they are feared and shunned by their own families. Charles uses his psychic connection to locate these kids and offer his assistance before something potentially catastrophic happens.”
Steve nodded and gave a half-shrug. “Preventative is always better than reactionary, but I’m not sure I agree with his methods.”
Dr. Austin blinked, before shaking her head with an incredulous snort of laughter. “Why not, Captain Rogers? The government uses non-intrusive methods like facial recognition and GPS tracking to locate people under the guise of preventing criminal activity all the time.”
Tony smirked and pointed to Steve. “She’s gotcha there, Cap.”
“The ethicality of casual mind reading aside,” Bucky murmured while rubbing his temples, “what do you mean her memories were fake? Are you sure it’s not just my memories that’ve gotten mixed with hers due to the link we had?”
“No. Charles was positive that the fading memories she’s retained from the ordeal are separate from the ones that were altered.” The doctor sighed a shaky breath, still distressed by what the professor told her. “Almost all of her memories from the time she was a child until she was in her late teens have been replaced or altered by another mutant or magic user. Based on the levels of residual power he found, some were barely changed at all while others had to be entirely new memories.”
Bucky slumped forward and pressed his forehead against the cool surface of the table. The pounding in his head felt similar to a distant yet unforgettable memory involving his first introduction to the chair Hydra used to scramble his brain. It was making him twitchy, unsettled… and even though he was barely showing any outward signs, he could practically feel the concern radiating off of Steve.
“Mutants… magic…” Bucky groaned and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to control his breathing as a familiar hand landed on his metal shoulder to ground him. Bucky cursed his and Steve’s close friendship because of Steve’s annoying ability to see right through him hiding his anxiety. “My brain hurts.”
“Seconded. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but can you dumb it down for the less magically-educated of us, Doc?” Tony asked, rubbing his neck to try and relieve a brewing tension headache of his own.
While it wasn’t a topic Dr. Austin would consider herself an expert in by any means, Charles had used layman’s terms to explain things to her in the past when she was still new to the world of mutants, so she was fairly confident she could explain. “Alright, think of reading someone’s mind as essentially watching a video. Memories, when formed in the brain based on our experiences, play back clearer than those that have been fabricated or altered by an external source. So, the things you experience first-hand are… ‘recorded’, I guess, by your eyes and then immediately stored in your brain with zero loss of quality. Following so far?”
The three men nodded, but their pinched facial expressions still showed their confusion as she continued.
“Charles explained that when memories are altered by a psychic, they take a stored memory, edit it to overlay false events in specific parts, and then put it back where they found it. According to him, ‘edited’ memories are extremely noticeable when reading someone’s mind, like the difference in quality between an original image and one that has been photocopied a hundred times. The fabricated memories appear blurry because magic is used to create these false events, not your own eyes through first-hand experience. Y/N likely had difficulty distinguishing specific details, like faces or locations, when her brain accessed them for recollection.”
“You’re saying someone essentially hacked her brain and doctored over a decade’s worth of memories?” Steve asked, trying to wrap his head around the horrific implications of altering someone’s life like that. When Dr. Austin nodded, he took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly out of his nose as he brought his hands up to rest on his hips. “Wow.”
“Not to pile on, but he also said that the original memories were completely obliterated by whatever process was used to rewrite or alter them, so unfortunately there’s nothing left for Charles to restore.” All three men blinked at her, and Dr. Austin frowned. “It was done on purpose; memory manipulation usually only involves altered segments of memory being laid over the actual memory in order to hide what actually happened, so those changes can be taken away and reversed at any time since the original memory is merely concealed by another.”
Dr. Austin was sure she could see steam coming from Tony’s head, so she tried to word it in a language he was familiar with. “Think of a memory as a computer file. When memory manipulation is done normally, there is only surface-level tampering of the memory file to conceal what is actually there, which allows for the integrity of the file itself to be maintained despite any changes that are made. In Y/N’s case, the original file was essentially deleted and the fabricated one was implanted in its place. It wasn’t edited and concealed, it was deleted and replaced.”
Tony immediately understood the analogy and he clenched his jaw as he nodded. “They didn’t want anyone to be able to restore or view her original memories. What were they trying to hide?”
“She probably did or saw something she wasn’t supposed to, but she was deemed too useful to kill,” Bucky stated factually, his voice chilling and void of emotion.
“The ‘why’ isn’t something we have the ability to figure out right now, but Charles did say that the ‘who’ might be easier to…” Dr. Austin trailed off, her eyes focused on Bucky and the tension coiled in his muscles as he rocked his head back and forth on the table, his forehead still pressed to the wood. “Are you okay, Sergeant Barnes?”
“M’fine,” he waved her off with a lethargic wiggle of his metal hand, “just had a lot of… unpleasant stuff float to the surface after what happened with Y/N.”
“Oh, I…” Dr. Austin’s eyes darted to Steve, who gave a minute shake of his head to silently tell her not to press. Reluctantly, she nodded and ignored the innate desire to help and heal that every doctor has. “Well, Charles did say that the level of complexity mixed with the sheer amount of memory replacement and manipulation done requires a much higher level of skill than a normal psychic.”
“Narrows down our pool of people, does it?” Tony asked, already poking at the hologram of a database search screen being projected from the Iron Man gauntlet still on his arm.
“Considerably, yes.” Dr. Austin attentively watched Tony’s fingers dance across the hologram as he swiped from screen to screen. “Charles wasn’t able to locate any unfamiliar mutants that have enough power to do this kind of memory manipulation, but there are ways people have hidden from him in the past to avoid detection. He’s going to reach out to some of his acquaintances, those mutants or magic users with psychic abilities, to see if anyone’s heard of a psychic for hire that could pull this off.”
“It seems like every time we answer a question, three more appear in its place,” Tony mused before he snorted, a smirk curling the side of his lip. “It’s like a Q&A version of that stupid Hydra saying.”
Steve turned to glare at a still grinning Tony, before shifting his attention to the doctor. “While we’re waiting for an update from Mr. Xavier—”
“Professor,” Dr. Austin corrected, smiling shyly.
“Right, so while we’re waiting for Professor Xavier to get back to us, we do have a question in front of us we can answer right now. What do we tell Y/N?” Steve leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms with a shrug. “I mean, she’s back to being herself again, which is great, but being told that the memories you have from ten plus years of your life are essentially fake on top of the mental strain caused by that psychic link? It doesn’t seem like a smart idea.”
“As the only person here who’s actually had their memories fucked with,” Bucky grumbled, his breath fogging up the glossy surface of the table as he spoke, “you should tell her as soon as possible. She’ll be upset, but we need her participation if we want to figure out what the hell is going on. Having it explained by someone who wants to help you remember will make it a lot easier to process than rediscovering your identity and the missing chunks of your life on your own.”
Steve frowned and shifted forward to perch on the edge of his chair. “Buck—”
“I know, punk,” Bucky interrupted, ceasing his friend’s impending guilt spiral as he turned his head to lock eyes with Steve. “I was the one who ran. I thought I was better off alone.”
Steve smiled sadly and reached out to grip Bucky’s flesh shoulder. “Not alone anymore, jerk.”
“Huh,” Tony remarked from his seat at the end of the conference room table, his eyes wide and locked on Steve and Bucky. “Wow, yeah, I definitely see it now.”
Steve raised an eyebrow and turned to face Tony, a move which Bucky mirrored. “See what?”
“The heart eyes you give each other,” Tony explained, his mouth quivering with the effort of holding back his smile and laughter. “The internet? They call you two ‘Stucky’, by the way.”
Bucky’s head shot up from the table, the quick movement making Tony flinch, but his knowing grin quickly vanished when the throbbing in his skull returned with a vengeance. Playing dumb, he cleared his throat and glanced over at Tony. “Stucky?”
“Like, stuck as in we’re somehow stuck to each other? Or do they mean stuck with each other?” Steve asked, feigning innocence as well.
Tony flashed a mischievous grin that Loki himself would be proud of. “Well, the two of you actually have quite the following online, and there are some very talented people who like to…”
Tony’s voice became a low hum in the background as Bucky tuned him out, and he traded a look with Steve which told him his friend did as well. Thanks to a full briefing about the more… fan-driven parts of the internet after Bucky’s rescue, recovery, and placement on the team were made public, both super soldiers were well aware of the moniker given to them by those who saw their relationship as romantic instead of platonic. Natasha fully enjoyed explaining every little thing about Stucky and showing them every aspect of fan-created content sounding it—some of which she’d even called her “go-to pics” of them together—until both men were as red as her hair.
After the initial shock wore off, they both agreed that it was amusing and flattering, not at all insulting, and despite Steve’s protests, it even led to Bucky buying some fanart that he proudly has hanging in his room at the compound. Sure, the art might be a painting of Steve laying on his back, completely naked, with a detached version of Bucky’s old silver Winter Soldier arm the only thing covering his junk, but the look on Steve’s face every time he walks into Bucky’s room and sees it makes him laugh every time.
“…lovers, you know?” Bucky sighed as he focused on Tony’s rambling again, giving Dr. Austin an apologetic smile that the exacerbated doctor shrugged off with an eye roll. “Reunited after being separated for seventy years, only to find out that your best friend is trying to kill you because he had his memory erased by the enemy?” Tony clicked his tongue and swiped his hand to close the dozens of fan art images Bucky hadn’t realized were displayed on the hologram. “That is a Grade A, USDA Approved, one-hundred percent Beefy,” Tony pointedly stared at both men’s arms, “example of the ‘reunited lovers’ trope.”
“Seems like you’ve done a lot of research into this, Tony,” Steve commented, his face completely stoic even though Bucky could hear the fluttering of amused excitement in his heartbeat. “Is… there something you want to tell us? I mean, you know, since we’re already on the topic of sharing things with other people.”
“Do I… what? No, I don’t… s-share? What would I share about anything?” Tony sputtered, leaning back in his chair as a dark crimson hue spread across his cheeks.
Bucky hid his smile behind his hair as he turned and stood from his chair to stalk forward and press himself firmly against Steve’s back. Steve stiffened at the contact at first, but two light taps of Bucky’s finger on the back of Steve’s neck was all the communication he needed to tell Steve to play along. Once Steve relaxed, Bucky wrapped his flesh arm around Steve’s chest and nuzzled his face into the man’s neck.
“F-FRIDAY,” Tony whispered as he slowly patted his shirt and pants, his jaw dropping in shock so far it appeared to be almost unhinged; a rare thing to see on the billionaire’s face. “I… photos, where… I need my phone. The internet… is someone documenting this?” Tony’s attention snapped to Dr. Austin. “Are there cameras in this room?”
The stern look Dr. Austin gave Tony in response was enough of an answer. Her stare was full of so much frustrated maternal disappointment, Tony’s eyes widened and he swallowed, waving his hand to vanish the hologram as he slunk down in his chair. The doctor’s eyes shifted to the two super soldiers with a look so hard it felt like it could have come straight from one of the toughest women either man had ever known: Sarah Rogers. Steve and Bucky felt thoroughly chastised and released each other to return to their seats like scolded children.
“After all of the battles you’ve fought side by side, I understand that you gentlemen have the camaraderie of soldiers and enjoy teasing each other,” she began, her voice terrifyingly even, “but there are more pressing matters at hand.”
Since Tony was still frozen in stunned silence at the complete one-eighty in Dr. Austin, Steve cleared his throat and gave her an embarrassed smile. “I apologize Dr. Austin, that was… inappropriate humor.”
Dr. Austin smirked. “It wasn’t inappropriate, Captain; believe me, I do enjoy watching Tony Stark squirm. But now is just… not the time.”
Bucky’s lip twitched and he hung his head, nodding. “Right, well, I still think we need to tell her as soon as possible. We all know how well hiding things from each other has gone in the past, so I’d rather have Y/N associate us with honesty over white lies, even if what we tell her might be shocking to hear.”
“While personally I am inclined to agree, I do know how to read blood work and brain scans despite my inexperience with psychiatry,” Dr. Austin commented. “She needs time to regain her strength, both physical and mental, before we broach the subject.”
Bucky’s jaw clenched, showing his obvious disapproval, but it was Steve that spoke before he could. “I agree.” Bucky’s head snapped up to glare at Steve, who raised his hands. “I don’t like it either, Buck, but think about it like this. She’s been stuck inside someone else’s life—someone else’s memories—for days. Telling her that the actual life she thought she had growing up was also fake while she’s still recovering from the psychic link… it could end up doing more harm than good.”
Bucky’s pained and pleading eyes flicked to Dr. Austin, and she smiled sympathetically. “I understand this is not what you want based on your own similar personal experiences, but I am very concerned that the additional stress could end up causing a psychotic break if she begins to question the validity of the world around her. The stress hormones in her blood are still extremely elevated, and we don’t know if there will be any side effects from the use of her abilities.”
Bucky blinked in disbelief. The thought of possibly causing a psychotic break hadn’t even crossed his mind. It took the serum almost six months to heal the neural pathways that Hydra tried to fry away in his brain, yet he was still plagued by gaps in both his long term and short term memory. But Y/N… she was only human and the mind was deceptively fragile when it came to trauma.
“Fine, but the second she’s able…” Bucky trailed off, his silent request hanging in the air.
Dr. Austin nodded. “We’ll tell her, I promise. I believe you are correct, though, Y/N just may be the key to figuring out what happened during her childhood.”
“Great! What do you guys have for snacks around here?”
Tony’s random sudden interjection made Dr. Austin startle slightly, but Steve and Bucky only rolled their eyes as they followed Tony’s lead and got up from the conference room table to find some food.
None of them felt the golden gaze of Asgard’s guardian on them as he silently watched the developing situation.
