[Bucky Barnes; R] The Righteous Side Of Hell: Chapter 8 Character/Series: Bucky Barnes, Cast; Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: R Notes: Mercury was in retrograde when I wrote this. To anyone superstitious, this will mean something to you. Title: The Righteous Side Of Hell - Chapter 8: In The Mercy Of Night Author:yuuo Word Count: 6672 Summary:They tested the strength of the cable and winch a few times before declaring it safe for the Soldier's use.
but now someone's entered the walls are defied the shadows they watched while the dark sympathized but there in the silence there in the silence there in the silence something hides something lies something dies -Savatage
They tested the strength of the cable and winch a few times before declaring it safe for the Soldier's use. The winch was built by Stark engineers, there was little surprise that it held, and the cable was industrial steel, strong enough to lift a car, there was no problem holding his weight.
Unlike the so-called industrial pipes in Kiev.
It hadn't taken long to install the winch, an hour at most, and another half hour of testing, then they were back in the air with a cautious goodbye to Tony. The Soldier dearly hoped they wouldn't see him again until the mission was over and they were safely back at the Tower. Calling in Iron Man on top of their little group meant that something had gone seriously pear shaped.
The Soldier hated it when plans did that. Fortunately, he actually was good at improvising despite what he let Tony think, a talent of Bucky's that had been perfected through conditioning and chemical enhancements. He just didn't want to.
But Tony was at the Tower, possibly there by the time Sharon had swung the jet over Quebec, their geodesic taking them through the eastern parts of Canada, a brief pause in Greenland for Maria and Sharon to switch places, then on down to northern Europe.
The Soldier marked the time. Steve had left the night before, and would have arrived at three in the afternoon IDT, barring no delays back in Boston. The Avengers had left for New Mexico just past noon on that second day. It was night, or rather, very early morning, when they arrived on the third day at approximately two-thirty in the morning IDT. If that counted as morning beyond a technicality. They reached Jericho just hours before Steve would be woken and put on the truck. That gave them almost a full day to do a fly over of the facility before finding a place to hide and wait for sundown, when Steve would arrive.
The airspace over Israel and Palestine (and some of the surrounding countries) was a nightmare to navigate; even with Junior throwing out false radar returns and the other shielding the quinjet had, the Soldier was on edge as Maria flew them near Tell es-Sultan. Part of Junior's processing power was thrown into take surveillance pictures. Two fly-bys were the most they chanced, flying off and landing a few miles away, far enough to not interfere with regular security, but close enough to get the Soldier into the facility when the volunteers arrived. When Steve arrived.
That would be cutting it close. Very close. But Steve was more likely to be overlooked if the Soldier was already inside, creating virtual hell in their computer systems. The Soldier would have to be fast.
While Maria took their second fly by, and with Sharon occupied with the information coming in from Junior's computers, Bruce seemed to see it as an opportunity to speak with the Soldier alone.
"Here," Bruce said, and the Soldier looked up from his place at the weapons storage where he had been switching out some of his noise making guns for a few more silent combat knives. Bruce was holding a black coat that looked similar to one he'd worn time to time with Hydra, though equipped with a pair of knife holsters sticking out of the bottom, snaps on them to hold the knives in until needed. "This is the coat they designed for you," he said, watching the Soldier, confusion on his face."You're going to need it."
The Soldier finished putting his guns away, then stood, taking the coat from Bruce and giving it a look over. "I recognize the design."
"I'm not surprised," Bruce said. "We stole Hydra's original design. It works the same, just with your liquid armor in it instead of kevlar and nomex."
The Soldier frowned. "How?"
"What, how we found the design? Tony traced back to the sources that had released information on your affiliation with Hydra and stole some information. After he'd calmed down enough to do it."
Oh, hi guilt, want to help set nerves on edge?
Bruce interrupted any attempt at thoughts in the Soldier's head. "Mind taking the face gear off? I want to talk to Bucky. But before that, why did you trade out all your guns? That doesn't seem smart to me."
Resisting a heavy sigh, Bucky set down the coat and removed his face gear, setting them beside the coat. He sat down next to it. "I had an idea. I know originally Steve and I were supposed to get out together, but I want him running for the exit first."
"Why?"
"Because if he makes noise and I don't, I can get into Hydra's system and trash every copy of the Winter Soldier files. I know Steve would hate me for this idea, but the Winter Soldier Project is my responsibility, from beginning to end. I have to be the one to clear the place, and I need to not get caught doing it."
Bruce took in a deep breath. "That's not going to make him happy. And he probably won't listen."
"I'll be going in the back door, he'll be at the front door," Bucky pointed out. "I'll be done and out before he could find me, so he's just shit out of luck. Those files are my responsibility."
"The Soldier's a pretty heavy burden to bear alone, you know," Bruce said.
"I know, but it's my head he's in." Then he looked at Bruce. "And speaking of, you had something to say about him."
Bruce glanced at Sharon, who was still busy, then sat down across from Bucky. "I do," he said. "I understand. I know it's different, but I still understand." Before Bucky could ask why the conversation needed to be had, Bruce continued. "I just want to make sure the Soldier and the other guy are gonna get along if he has to join us."
Bucky looked down at the face mask next to him. "The Soldier isn't a separate person, I make the last calls. I just need him for this mission. He's done these missions before, I haven't. He's not going to do anything to upset the other guy. Even if he were a different person, he's not stupid."
Bruce snorted out a quiet chuckle, then checked again on Sharon. She was still mostly occupied with the computers, but she was starting to glance back at them every now and then. Bucky frowned. Bruce waved her concern off, and she went back to the computers. "That's good to hear, but that's not what I mean. The other guy has somewhat learned to distinguish between people who go smash and those who don't. Bucky's one of the ones we don't smash. The other guy's already proven that he'll actively save an ally's life. I just wanted to make sure that he'd be able to tell the difference between you two."
Bucky fiddled with the catches on his tactical gear to change into the coat. "He can't tell by sight?"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bruce shrug. "In theory, but we've never been able to see how he reacts to someone he recognizes behaving in an unfamiliar way. I take enough chances with him. I'm taking a big one bringing him here. He's not going to listen to an explanation that's not given in advance."
Fair enough. Bucky stripped off the tactical gear and rubbed the forearm of his metal arm, still exposed by the simple turtleneck he wore under his gear. "Then I'll handle him. He knows me, and the Soldier's just a tool. I might listen to his instructions, but I'll be the one handling the big guy if he joins me inside the facility. If things go that badly, neither the Soldier nor I want things going even worse because the Soldier and the other guy can't get along. He'll yield to me."
Bruce sat back a bit, back straighter, watching as Bucky pulled on the coat. "That's all we needed to know." Then he motioned to Bucky to stand. "Get up, let's see how that fits. Tony really admired your formula for that stuff."
Bucky stood, finishing zipping up the coat and adjusting its collar around his shirt's, leaving almost nothing of his neck exposed. "It fits at least," he said. "I'm going to be dripping sweat in this, but it seems serviceable." He flexed his left arm. "Keeps this thing hidden."
Bruce grabbed Bucky's face gear and got up. "That was the point," he said, then held out the goggles and mask. "Okay, Soldier. We have new information to go over. You're in charge."
Bucky took the face gear, then looked at Bruce. "You people are too accepting of this shit."
That got a smile that was at once pained and very amused. "You're saying this to me?"
"I know your excuse," Bucky said. "But the others are nuts to accept this kind of insanity."
"It's not insanity, Bucky," Bruce said. "I'm not a psychiatrist, but I've listened to my teammates, watched how they worked. You're not crazy, you're just protecting yourself and those around you from the people who put him in there. Nothing wrong with that."
"Hey, guys?" Sharon said, interrupting whatever might've been said further. "We're about to land, Junior's almost got everything from our fly-bys processed. We're going to need to look at this stuff to know how to move in there."
Mission planning. The Soldier took back over as followed Bruce to the computer console that Sharon was at. He rested a hand against the wall for bracing as the quinjet quietly turned around in its spot and set down, then pulled his face gear back on, fully immersing himself into his old training.
Maria joined them seconds later. "What do we have, Junior?"
The Soldier was actually expecting to hear an accent from Junior that would make one think of a cat, but she spoke in clear American English when she replied with "there's a back up generator on the back side of the base. The main arc reactor is towards the front of the base, about one hundred yards to the west of the front door. The entrance to it is hidden behind part of the excavation signs into the ruins themselves."
"How long do the back up generators take to boot up?" the Soldier asked.
"I can't say for sure," Junior replied. "They looked poorly maintained, but that may not mean anything. I'm guessing no more than thirty seconds, though."
The Soldier looked at Maria. "How long can we stay above the facility before being spotted?"
Maria glanced back towards the cockpit, quiet as if doing the mental math, then looked back at him. "With the engines on silent and Junior putting all her processing power into keeping us hidden? As close as we'd have to be, I'd say fifteen seconds, maybe twenty before we chance being spotted. We'll have to already be in the air."
"If we're counting on a dead facility before the back ups kick in, one of us is going to have to go knock out the arc reactor," Sharon pointed out.
"I'll do that," Bruce said. "Bucky's gotta get inside, and I know more about the mechanisms behind the arc reactor. I can shut it down easily."
Sharon turned in her seat. "Bruce, you out there alone against potential Hydra guards? You're going to need a bodyguard, or the other guy is going to just smash the whole place down. I know we'd all love him to, but not until after we have Steve and Bucky out of there."
"Then go with him," the Soldier said. Sharon looked at him, blinking wide brown eyes like he'd just told her exactly what he told her and she wasn't sure she'd heard right. "You're a bodyguard, that's been your profession before you knew about Hydra. Keep him safe so that the other guy doesn't feel the need to interfere. You don't all three need to be in the jet when I go in through the back door."
"He's right," Maria said. "We only need one person in the quinjet until it's time to evacuate. I'm the better pilot. You two are best placed taking down their main power source."
"Where do we go after that?" Sharon said. "They'll come looking to see what happened."
"If I can make a suggestion," Junior interrupted, and she almost-but-not-quite reminded the Soldier of JARVIS, as if she were a younger sibling. "The arc reactor is stored in part of the excavated ruins. The ruins are extensive, and I didn't see signs of anyone past the perimeter of the facility. It wouldn't be hard to get to another part of the site before you're caught."
Sharon glanced a Bruce. "What do you think? Can we move that fast?"
"We may not have a choice," Bruce said. "The question is if that'd still put us in easy pick up range after Bucky gets that information and gets out with Steve."
Maria raised an eyebrow at him. "With the right pilot."
Bruce looked a bit embarrassed at that. "Sorry, I wasn't- I didn't mean to insult your skills. I was more thinking do we know how fast Hydra can move?"
"Not fast enough," the Soldier said. "I'm going to be doing more than just shredding the project files, I'm going to have Junior gather up all their information before shorting the system. They'll have plenty of problems to keep them distracted."
"Interesting idea," Bruce said. "When'd you come up with it? I hadn't heard that part of the plan."
"Just now," the Soldier admitted. "We have more information to work with, that means I have to change some details." He looked at Bruce. "We want to make sure this work becomes public. Exposing Hydra in the Israeli government is going to cause a lot of problems, but we won't be able to flush them out without suitable evidence. What we hear over Steve's communicator and what I can grab from the computers should be enough to cast suspicion, if not outright convince the Prime Minister."
Sharon looked up at him over her shoulder. "I didn't realize we'd figured out that she wasn't Hydra."
"We'll know once we're in. If she is, we'll find somewhere else to put the information. Failing all other options, we can give it to Anonymous and let them handle it."
Bruce choked on a laugh. "Anonymous?"
"They have their uses. They're good at what they do, and it may divert attention away from the Avengers so we don't get blamed for it. Tony was already preparing to evacuate us. We can give him less reason to have to."
"I can't fault that reasoning," Maria said.
The Soldier looked through the cockpit at the rising sun. Their fly-bys had been cautious, slow enough to get proper intelligence, but too fast to be detected. All in all, it was somewhere around four thirty in the morning. Steve was up, but not on his way to Jericho. The Soldier would try to raise him on the comm when he estimated Steve would be in the city. He wasn't sure if the communications channel would reach that far, but it would be worth a shot.
The hurry up and wait time set in, and everyone rested off and on, recovering from a long night of flying and preparing for a long night of infiltrating a Hydra facility and collecting information to overturn the entire Israeli government. It'd be a busy night, they were all wise to rest as much as possible.
Maria seemed to stay asleep the easiest. Sharon kept waking for a few seconds now and then, her eyes snapping open before drifting close again. Bruce had his arms crossed on his medical table, face buried against his arms.
As for the Soldier, while he took small naps now and again, he remained mostly alert, occasionally speaking in a whisper into his activated communication chip. He'd wait ten seconds for any sound of reply before settling back down to wait.
By two in the afternoon, even the Soldier was wanting sleep, but with Hydra agents only a couple miles away at most, he couldn't afford to, and his crew needed the rest more than he did. The Hulk aside, they were normal humans, and he was an enhanced super soldier. He could stay awake far longer and easier than they could.
By two-thirty, he hadn't given up, but an idea had occurred to him and he approached Bruce, walking quietly enough to not wake the girls, but not silent as to startle Bruce. It took Bruce a moment, but before the Soldier could even tap him on the arm, he lifted his head and stared up at the Soldier with heavy lids and crossed eyes. "You need something."
"The methylphenidate-C," the Soldier replied. "Did you bring any?"
Bruce continued to give him that not awake look, before sitting up and blinking a few times until his eyes uncrossed. "Yeah, I did. I have Steve's bottle, in case he needs a sedative. I still don't understand why it does that to him." He looked up at the Soldier "How many do you need?"
"Enough to get me through today and tonight," the Soldier replied.
Bruce dug around in the cabinet with the medicines, finally pulling out the right pill bottle. "We could sleep in rotations," he said. "Give you a chance to rest." He handed the pills over. "Don't overdose, the last thing we need is the Winter Soldier buzzing around like an overstimulated humming bird."
The Soldier took the pills, shaking out one and glaring at the size of it. They'd been smart enough to bring two coolers full of cold water, chancing full bladders, but that supply was running low. "We need all of you coherent. I can remain so longer, and I now have chemical help. Bucky's tested it, it works well for us." He didn't dignify the humming bird statement. After handing the pill bottle back to Bruce, he grabbed a bottle out of the cooler and stared at it for a moment. "It occurs to me to recommend everyone take a turn at relieving themselves outside before tonight."
Bruce put the bottle away and watched him take a pill with a healthy swallow of water. "Not a bad idea." He looked over at the sleeping women. "Think we should go in pairs by gender, or one at a time?"
"Pairs. I don't want anyone left alone right now."
"So the buddy system."
"If you choose to call it that."
Bruce took one more look at the women before turning to the Soldier. "Are you sure you trust Sharon? You gave her a heavy job, guarding me."
The Soldier's eyebrows shot up. "You noticed?"
Bruce shrugged. "I was the first to wonder about that. But she's been down in the lab on your off days enough that I think she'll come down on our side. She sure won't come down on Hydra's."
The Soldier looked at Sharon. "Tony mentioned it as well. I have worries. Which is why I paired her off with you. She can't hurt you."
"Good thing," Bruce said. "She and I talk about the other guy quite a bit. If I thought she was going to prioritize the CIA over the Avengers, I wouldn't have answered anything. But she seemed genuinely curious as to what he was like and why he was an obvious ally in New York. Like I said, he can recognize friendlies."
"She's recognizing him as a person."
Bruce nodded. "That's what drove him to save Tony's life, to care at all. I think she's got a decent chance at bringing him down if it's needed. When they wake up, I'll talk to her about it."
"Before you potentially scare her with that burden, I recommend we let the girls find some privacy outside."
Bruce smiled. "Did the Soldier just make a piss joke?"
"I hadn't meant it as a joke," the Soldier said. "You can thank Bucky for that if it came across as such. We're in a rest period, he gets bored."
"It's comforting to hear he's still the same in there," Bruce said. "Let's wake the girls. They can at least take the chance to become more alert while we take our turn."
After everyone had returned, it was more hurry up and wait. Three passed to four. Somewhere in there, Bruce spoke with Sharon. Maria, the one that was going to have to fly them back to the States, decided to go back to sleep.
Five hit and the Soldier decided to try to raise Steve on the comm again. Silence. More hurry up and wait. He snuck another pill past Bruce. More waiting.
Finally, the sun began to turn red as it dipped to the horizon. "Steve?"
Steve's voice finally came on the line, asking who the Soldier presumed to be a Hydra agent how much farther it was. There was background noise, the dull growl of a vehicle that needed work, the sounds of a bumpy road as tires popped and sank along the way. It was followed by an almost clear voice replying to have patience, they were close.
"He's almost here," the Soldier said, getting up from the floor by the hatch. "Everyone wake up."
His team responded sluggishly, eyelids slow to open and eyes equally slow to focus. The Soldier dearly hoped they'd wake up more before it was time to get to work.
Maria was the first to her feet, yawning enough to make her eyes water, then rubbed her hands over her face. "He's almost here?"
"He's in range of the comm units," the Soldier confirmed. "He wasn't told anything useful beyond that."
"But you picked up his transmission, that's all we need," Maria said, moving to the cockpit to turn on Junior's onboard communications system. The background noise that the Soldier was hearing in his ear bled over the speakers, but no clear voices. "Junior, about how far away would you guess them to be?"
"Judging by the quality of the transmission, I would guess about a quarter mile," Junior replied.
Sharon walked over to the weapons storage, retrieving her Glock. "So how long do we give Steve to gather intel before we kick out the lights?"
"As long as possible," the Soldier answered. "We'll listen for signs of the volunteers being split up, knock out power, keep him from being isolated with Hydra scientists." He hoped.
"Allowing Steve to get away to meet up with you," Maria added, somewhat asking for clarification, but stated less as a question.
The Soldier nodded once. "That's the idea," he said, completely lying. He'd push for Steve to get out before he worried about himself. He looked at Bruce and Sharon. "Get what you have to to do your job, then deploy immediately. Make sure you take comms with you, you'll need to hear the signal."
Bruce tapped his right ear where a small comm piece was nestled. "Ahead of you." He looked at Sharon. "Are you ready?"
Sharon holstered her firearm and grabbed a comm. After getting it properly situated in her ear and tested, she gave a thumbs up. "Ready."
Junior opened the back hatch for them and they disappeared into the sunset.
Maria strapped herself into the pilot's seat, starting the engines back up and turning up the volume on the comm system. The Soldier hung over her shoulder to listen in, momentarily ignoring the comm under his ear. He wasn't used to it being there yet, and like his arm, it was going to take some training to have it become instinct.
"Tell us when you're in, Steve," he said. He didn't expect a direct answer, not while he was with other people. So he wasn't surprised when they didn't receive an immediate response. He decided to check on the others. "Bruce, Sharon, update us when you reach the reactor. Steve's not quite here yet, we probably have until dark. Find a place to hide in the meantime."
"I thought we were supposed to charge in," Bruce said, with his dry humor in his voice. "We'll be hiding, don't worry. What signal should we be listening for so we can get into the reactor in time?"
"Steve's going to direct the conversation to gather as much intel as possible. If we hear them confess that the Winter Soldier Project is what they're replicating, or if they confess to being Hydra, either one, I'll call it. We'll be in the air by then. Maria will pick you up once I'm in."
He hoped that Steve heard his instructions; Steve had no way of acknowledging them, not in the presence of Hydra agents.
The sounds of the vehicle stopped, and there was some general talking around Steve. A bit more noise, and then Steve's clear voice saying "It's kind of a dump, isn't it?"
There, he was in. "Get in the air, Maria. Bruce, Sharon, get ready. It won't take Steve long to either succeed or fail at lying."
He had a feeling Steve was trying very hard to not look affronted at the Soldier's accurate accusation.
"These are sacred ruins," someone with a only a trace of an Arabic accent replied.
Right. Because anything but power is sacred to Hydra.
The sounds of the outside died down; Steve must be inside. "So you've hijacked them for human experimentation?" Steve asked, sounding incredulous. Good job, Steve, keep being careful about what you say. For the love of god, don't fuck things up.
Maria turned the quinjet, hovering with engines on silent, all but inching forward to put as little distance between them and that back door as possible. They had less than a minute to get there and get the Soldier in.
"Many here consider it God's work to improve how we can heal the human body," the other voice said. "Don't tell me you're trying to back out. It's too late for that."
"I'm not," Steve said. "Wouldn't mind getting told how likely I am to live so I can see that money I signed up for. Who's funding this place?"
"Volunteers are always so questioning," the man said, as if amused. "Perhaps we should update our offer to avoid these things."
"Probably. That wasn't an answer." Good observation Steve, just don't get to aggressive. Get them to admit they're Hydra before you start smacking them.
"No, I suppose it wasn't, Mister Stiles."
Oh good, Steve had managed to keep that lie up. Bucky's lessons for keeping them alive might just sink in yet.
"So we don't have to worry about running out of funds when I'm halfway up to my eyeballs in drugs?"
"A legitimate worry," the man admitted. "As we consider it God's work, we receive funds from some generous donors in Israel."
That placed Hydra in Israel, but not their government. That would probably be in their computer systems, though, and the Soldier could have Junior download them. Too bad Steve hadn't been able to worm a complete confession.
Yet.
"God's chosen people, makes sense I guess," Steve said, and the Soldier could picture him, hands in his pockets, looking around what the Soldier would guess to be sterile white walls as they went down halls from the entrance to wherever the volunteers were directed before experimentation started. "So what medicine are we testing? What's it do?"
"It's an old project," the man replied. "One we hope would enhance the human body to peak performance."
"Like what was done to Captain America?" Steve asked and the Soldier almost facepalmed. Great, Steve, just bring up your code name around Hydra agents and hope that wouldn't give away your identity as not!John Stiles. Smooth, Rogers.
The Soldier could tell by the Hydra agent's tone that if he hadn't figured it out before, he now knew he was dealing with Steve Rogers and not some schmuck named John Stiles. "More like the Winter Soldier Project. You are dealing with Hydra, gentlemen, I hope none of you expected to leave."
"Go," the Soldier said, not bothered by Maria's sudden acceleration as she flew them to the facility, holding his balance all the way back to the hatch. He readied the winch and cable.
The base went dark. "Good work, you two," he said in the comm to Bruce and Sharon. "Get out of there."
Their acknowledgement was drowned out by Steve. "What happened to the lights?" He wasn't the only person the Soldier picked up saying over his comm. Steve sounded genuinely surprised. How, the Soldier didn't know- unless he wasn't paying attention, he'd heard their plan.
Damnit, Steve.
He didn't have to tell Maria or Junior to open the hatch, one or the other of them already had it opening. The Soldier slipped a foot into the loop at the end of the cable and dropped out of the jet, the winch letting out cable at an almost dangerous rate. He hit the end of the cable, the cable jerking taut, took a second to judge if he could make that drop and not damage something, and then pulled his foot free and let go, falling nearly the length of a football field onto the ground.
The landing was a bit rough, tucking himself into a roll at the last second, aiming his left arm and shoulder to absorb the worst of the impact. The biomechtium shifted, and the liquid armor in his coat dispersed the energy of his hard landing.
He had another ten seconds before Junior's estimation of how long it'd take for the back up generators to come back on.
There was already one guard posted at the back door, a door that looked like it had an electronic lock. The Soldier would have to get through that before the power kicked in. The guard looked taken by surprise by the Soldier's appearance, probably more focused on why the power went out to notice him drop in until it was too late. The guard fell with a knife to his throat.
The Soldier slipped his knife back in its holster, snapping the holster around the hilt.
Five seconds.
The door was heavy without the automatic opener. A weaker man wouldn't make it. The left arm yanked it open with a metal cracking that sounded the way biting down on aluminum felt.
"I'm in," he said, voice low to avoid spooking Hydra personnel.
"I'm out of range of the base," Maria responded. "Sharon, Bruce, where are you?"
"Hiding in a hole," Sharon replied. "I'm hearing people coming our way. We're going to back off a bit more. Keep us notified."
"Was turning out the lights supposed to be part of the plan?" Steve demanded, finally joining them in the conversation.
"It was after we got here," the Soldier said. "We had to improvise."
"Your improvisations are always interesting, Bucky."
Bzzt. Wrong, but thanks for trying. "You can thank him later. Get out. I'm waiting for the electricity to come back so I can get into the computer systems."
There was a pause on Steve's end, although Maria spoke up. "You're not staying in there alone."
"You're not staying without me," Steve added, voice firm. "Where are you? I'll come keep an eye out for trouble while you work."
Idiot. It took all of the Soldier's willpower not to yell at him. "I said get out, Rogers. I have this."
"You are not stayi-" Steve's voice abruptly cut off as the lights came back on. "Hang on, found trouble."
Fucking figured.
The HUD in the Soldier's goggles lit up the lines of electricity, directing him to some of the larger uses, tracking down the closest computer for him. Steve was momentarily distracted, but if Hydra was focusing on him for the moment, it gave the Soldier a chance to get to that computer and start trashing their systems.
Not that either the Soldier or Bucky liked Steve in trouble without him, but the noises in his ear through the comm chip sounded like Steve was holding his own.
The Soldier only encountered two more personnel, neither armed, and both quickly dead, landing on the floor, one with his head hanging at an awkward angle from having his neck snapped, the other bleeding out of a gaping knife wound to her face.
The first computer station his HUD led him to was in a small office, no entrance or exits save the one door. It didn't provide him with an alternate escape if he was attacked, but at the same time, a group of attackers could only enter one at a time and they wouldn't last long in the doorway. He called it good enough.
"Steve, how's that trouble coming?" Bruce asked, voice clear in the Soldier's ear. "Please tell me we don't need a Code Green."
"Nope, doing fine," Steve said, grunting and yelping from time to time. The Soldier wondered where he was; Bucky wanted to go help, but the Soldier was firm in assuring him that Steve could handle himself, and that they had their own part of the mission to do. Let Steve do his.
Half-tuning out the sounds of Steve's fighting and the occasional check-in from the other three teammates, the Soldier pulled the USB with a copy of Junior in it from one of his pockets on his belt and plugged it into the computer.
Junior snagged her hooks into the facility's system, icons of various file times flew through a pattern in the center of the screen. "Searching for Winter Soldier Project files now."
"Look for signs of other projects and make a copy of them for Bruce to analyze," he told Junior.
"Will do," Junior replied, sounding a bit too enthusiastic about this job. If she was a little sibling to JARVIS, she was trying too hard to be as good as big brother.
Seconds passed. The sound of the fight in his ear became more frantic. More seconds.
"Winter Soldier Project files shredded," Junior said. "Downloading information on other projects. I also found status and financial reports. Should I get them too?"
"Be quick," the Soldier said, looking up at the door with paranoia. He didn't like being in such an enclosed space in an enemy base. His finger began to tap on the desk. It stopped as the sounds of Steve fighting abruptly went silent. "Steve?" No answer. A second attempt went unanswered as well. Maybe his comm wasn't working. "Everyone check in."
"I'm here," Maria said. Sharon and Bruce answered in kind. "I lost Steve's transmissions."
Bucky began to violently swear in his head, and it was all the Soldier could do to rein in the panic. "Junior, how close are you to being done?"
"Almost," Junior said in a tone that indicated she understood the urgency of the situation. "Give me thirty seconds."
Bucky was sure that wasn't enough time to find Steve, not before he got flooded with chemicals or dissected or who knew what Hydra would do to him. The more seconds that ticked by, the more worked up he got. The Soldier held him still, held him at the desk, leaning over the chair, arms taking his weight on the edge of the desk.
"Got it," Junior said. "Information stored."
Outside in the hall somewhere near were the sounds of running footsteps, about a dozen if he counted right. He was out of time. He grabbed the USB, yanking it out of its port. There wasn't even enough time to pocket it before a woman ran into the room, gun aimed.
Shit.
The Soldier ducked down on the other side of the desk, crammed into a small space that would be difficult to defend from. He shoved Junior's USB under the desk, hoping that nobody would find it- there were others he saw behind the woman -until he'd cleared the room of enemy combatants.
Which would be difficult, as at least one of them had a gun and all he had were knives. Maybe leaving the guns behind had been a mistake.
The woman had already let in two more agents, also armed with guns. This wasn't going to be an easy fight. He decided to let Bucky's urgency to get out and get to Steve add more adrenaline to what was already pounding through the body's system.
The Soldier dove out from behind his cover, flinging one of his Yari IIs at the woman with the gun, under her aim and into her belly. He was moving, on his feet and grabbing the desk chair before the other two agents could fire off a shot. He jumped back against the far wall to give himself space, then flung the desk chair with just enough effort to lodge it in the doorway instead of going through it, blocking the route in for the other agents.
Just enough to buy him time.
Another bullet zinged by, his HUD screeching a visual warning as it went perilously close to his face. For the love of god, please don't let him lose another pair of goggles to a lucky shot. These guys weren't even as good as Natasha to make it less embarrassing.
He took mental stock of his weapons- two Mark IIs, one Yari II left, and his SOCP, which was too small to do much in hand to hand. It'd be great for a easier target like a throat, though.
All this had taken a half a second, and he pushed off against the wall to land on the desk, the SOCP already drawn. He dove at the agent closest to the door, landing on his back. His knife found its mark in the base of the man's skull, the man going down with the Soldier's weight on his back.
The Soldier started to move, to grab a Mark II for the last agent in the room, when something sharp hit the back of his thigh. He chucked the Mark II at the last target in the room, clumsier than normal as the force of whatever hit him knocked him down on his elbow. His knife still managed to catch the last agent in the room in the face. The Soldier pushed himself up onto one foot, pulling himself out of view of the door. He reached back with his left hand to check the damage as he twisted himself down to the ground on the other side of the desk.
The mechanical hand bumped up against something and the sting shrieked into more pain than he expected. He rolled onto his side, and glanced up when the chair began to move, becoming dislodged. He didn't have much time.
After getting a grip on whatever his hand had found, he yanked out what proved to be a syringe. Shit. Shit no. He had the presence of mind to throw it to the side; it was empty. Whatever had been in it had all gotten into him. His presence of mind barely held on long enough to realize that it'd been shot from under the chair. That hadn't been as good of a road block as he thought.
"Fuck," he muttered under his breath, trying to pull himself under the desk. It wasn't going to help; whatever had been injected into him was already making his head swim and his hands shake. His stomach wanted to rebel and breathing was hard. Hiding under the desk wasn't going to give him any protection. That shit was already in his system and he was already fading out.
No, no, don't drag me back there. No, god please no. I need to get Steve out of here.
He heard the chair hit the ground just as his vision went black.