Teacher Down Under
Chapter 1
(Author's note: I finally got to see CACW for the second time. It solidified some of the thoughts roaming through my brain about my fan pics. What to do to make them Marvel Movie Universe compliant? Do I even want to? I think the answer is yes.
So, Bucky never existed in Teacher. That is rewritten in my head. Cooperstown still happened. I still want to take Bucky there too eventually. Bucky will still spend time with Marie San Angelo, though that is shortened. I may still write it. But this one is bugging me first. Bucky's trial does not happen as written. Maybe.
But what is not going away is the character of the teacher, Melody Bishop. Due to psychiatric regulations, she cannot have any sort of relationship with Steve Rogers for 5 years. Since the others were not her clients, that doesn't apply.
When "Bucky's Trial" ended, Melody was going back to Canada to finish up there. Time to get this started… Let me know what you think.)
I was finally, almost done with Canada. Just paperwork and such. I hadn't had any luck in finding someone to train as my replacement, but then my job requires a specific set of skills. Colson had talked about sending me to Australia and New Zealand, so I was expecting that next.
Instead I got a phone call from Natasha, asking me if I was up for a trip to Russia for a few days? We got together in Montreal for a briefing. The often postponed trip to St. Petersburg was on. I asked her how she felt about it? Her response was that Russia had been a stronghold of Hydra for many, many years and they were probably still pretty imbedded in the power structure, despite the public attempts to out them. She suspected a trap, but on the chance it wasn't, I should go. But she was going with me. And I should bring my cross bow with plenty of bolts. The good news was that, since I had been living in Canada, I at least had the clothes.
So, Nat, the pilot and I made the long flight in a Quint jet. Since it was late spring, there was still snow on the ground. Nat said it was a nice day. We landed at a small air strip well outside of town. The idea was that I would come in, do my evaluations, and leave, with customs not really knowing I was there. Made me a bit nervous.
Conditions were a bitter more primitive than I had expected, and we were way, way out of town. But at least we had heat, power and internet. The names of the people I was to interview weren't sent to me until we were underway, which bothered me. Did they think I wouldn't be able to get the information when I was airborne? I kept hearing Admiral Akbar in my head saying, "It's a trap!"
I really need to send Tony another thank you note for Travis, my AI. He looks like a lap top, but is so much more. While he was translating information on people to be interviewed from Russian into English, he was also running security sweeps on the area for us. I don't like to be caught unprepared. My flight time investigations indicated that a high number of the supposed Shield people I was to interview had been and probably were Hydra. Colson was pretty unhappy at that news and told us to be careful. There's a reason why the jet was already refueled and our pilot kept the engines ready. Nat was bringing food out to him, after she had checked it. While the pilot slept he kept the plane on complete lockdown. Good man. He deserves a bonus after this.
We joined the Shield staff out there for dinner. It included borscht, which made both Nat and I happy. She said hers is better, and I agree. There was drinking afterwards, but I claimed age and jet lag and we retired early.
If anything was going to happen, it would probably be the next day. I set my "office" up carefully, with several nasty surprises not in view. Nat had brought food out to our pilot and told him to be ready to go at any time. We were as prepared as we could be. I had packed irreplaceables in a small bad. With that and Travis, I was good to go. I'd miss the other stuff, but…
The first interview went fine. He was very low level and probably not Hydra to begin with. The second interview was with what was probably a Hydra thug. Not all that bright, but fanatical. The ones I really dislike. But he behaved himself at first. My finger was still on the button that would remotely sent a tranquilizing dart into him.
And then, suddenly all hell broke loose. Travis was yelling in my ear bud about attackers. There were noises outside. My "client" suddenly looked more relaxed, like a signal had been given. I pushed the button and my client slumped over before he know what hit him. God bless fast acting drugs. I grabbed Travis, my bag, and my cross bow with bolts and headed out.
As I exited the building Nat yelled at me to get myself to the jet. As I headed that way a new bunch of Hydra showed up heading towards Nat. Some of the enemy peeled of from Nat and headed towards me. I started firing my cross bow. One got close enough to hit me with what looked like a hypodermic needle. Natasha was yelling at me to get my ass to the plane, so I took off.
With me providing covering fire from inside the plane, Nat was able to get to the plane and the pilot took off. Luckily for us, no rocket launchers. The pilot asked where we were going and Natasha told him to take us out of Russian airspace, as quickly and invisibly as possible.
I looked at her and said, "I'm not going back to Russia."
She grinned and then said, "Never say never. Next time you may be an honored guest of the Soviet Premier."
"Fat chance of that."
Our relaxation was interrupted by Nat's phone. Colson asked if we could take a side trip to rescue a Shield task force that had sustained injuries and needed transport? I groaned while Natasha went to talk to the pilot about the change. I refilled my supply of crossbow bolts and checked our first aid supplies.
I still have no idea where we picked up the Shield team. Someplace in Eastern Europe. We landed in a clearing and the team came running towards us. Nat provided most of the covering fire while I pulled the team inside the plane. Luckily I don't have a problem dealing with blood. I think it comes from dealing with my children and their friends. But there was a lot of blood. Once I ran out of bandaids I grabbed my bag and started ripping to created what the team needed.
By the time we landed at a secure site (Germany?) triage was done and the team was stable for now. They would all need real doctors to treat them. They were efficiently hauled away for care and Natasha and I looked at each other. The only clothes I had left were the ones I was wearing and those had a lot of blood on them.
The pilot looked at Natasha. "We have clearance to leave. Do we head back to New York?"
Nat smiled. "No, we're going to Paris."