Author's Note – Here is chapter 2 – Soldier's viewpoint. The final chapter – from Darcy's POV – should be up in a day or so.
Soldier's Mission
Soldier strode out of his…their room. His shoulders almost twitched at the thought of the other part of him…the weaker one…'Bucky'. A shadow of derision colored his thoughts as the Other's name crossed his mind. He forced himself to refocus. The uniform felt stiff, unused, but that would change tonight. His handler had been taken – he would fix that. His handler, Darcy Lewis, did not belong on the streets by herself, unguarded, unprotected. The Other's apparently 'fond' memories notwithstanding, it was too dangerous. She wasn't part of the field personnel – she didn't even carry a proper weapon. His eyes narrowed above the dark mask.
Something would change.
She possessed more authority as his handler than he did as one of the assets naturally, except when her well-being came under fire. During those times his mission was clear. Locate, retrieve, and guard the handler until such time as they could return to base. Every asset learned fast – the handler possessed the contacts and supplies necessary to survival. Too much time, effort, and money had been spent on finding and creating assets to lose them to something stupid such as a lack of supplies. Therefore each of them received a handler who dealt with the mundane day-to-day items as well as any paperwork.
Not that his bosses allowed much paperwork – it left too many trails.
Regardless, the handler allowed the asset to focus on the mission and only the mission. Missions began to be completed in a timelier manner with fewer errors and lost money or supplies with the handlers working in conjunction with the assets. After watching their numbers improve so drastically, the upper brass met, considered, and issued a new directive for all assets: the handler's word was law – until and unless the handler themselves fell into danger. Should such a thing happen an asset would suspend a mission, even to the point of allowing it to fall apart, in order to remove the handler from any danger.
Soldier did not trust the Avengers, not even the two known as Captain America or Black Widow despite their shared paths, but they had given him, unknowingly or not, a new handler and a new focus.
He considered the Other's 'love' for Lewis as he rode the elevator to the roof. Soldier frowned at the idea. The emotion called love was a weakness, something to be exploited and used when undermining a target. It had no place in his…their life. The Other, though… Soldier repressed another irritable twitch. The Other reached for connection, wanted those emotions in his life. It should have made him weak – weaker than he already was – and yet…
Those same emotions evoked something dark in the Other, something feral, primitive.
Instead of fighting those feelings, the Other nourished them and fed their energy to Soldier and let him take control.
Odd…suspicious…and yet Soldier would take it and use it as he would any other tool that came to hand.
The elevator chimed and he stepped onto the roof to be met by the full complement of Avengers. His mind automatically categorized them into his familiar personnel slots.
Captain America – leader – asset, boss, a weak spot for the Other, made more efficient use of team than SHIELD ever had
Black Widow – spy/assassin – asset, most likely of the team to be a potential traitor, knew too much about him due to shared past
Iron Man – engineer/air support – asset, scientist, to be watched carefully due unexpected bouts of incalculable genius, too well-known and wealthy to disappear quietly
Thor – alien prince/air support – asset, potential boss, a weak spot for Lewis, dangerous personally and due to his connections to his homeworld and its many assets and resources
Hulk – berserker/living equivalent of a tank – asset, scientist in human form, potentially most dangerous from a physical standpoint
Hawkeye – sniper/assassin – asset, potential boss, dangerous tactician and strategist, stupidly underused by SHIELD
Most of them stared at him with suspicion. Smart. He already knew a half dozen ways to take out most of them should it become necessary. Only Thor and Hulk gave him pause, but they could be manipulated and broken if need be – it was the price of being 'in love'.
The Other stirred briefly, but Iron Man spoke and drew Soldier's attention.
"Oh, yeah, Tin Man wants to play," he told his teammates in a breezy voice.
Soldier's eyes narrowed, but he remained silent. The mission – Lewis – came first.
Captain America stepped forward, his face a professional mask, but his blue eyes showing the interior battle waging between his heart and his mind. He said nothing for a long moment and the rest of the team stirred.
Hawkeye broke the silence. "Your call, Cap," he shrugged, walking up into the quinjet and taking the pilot's seat.
"Agreed," Hulk's human form, Banner approved. His eyes met Soldier's and a green shimmer seemed to glaze over them for a moment. Something akin to understanding and sympathy entered that gaze as it drained back to brown. The Other shifted and Soldier could feel him reconsidering Banner, Hulk, and Soldier himself.
Soldier repressed a scoff. This was not the place.
Thor stepped forward, crossing his arms over his chest. "Lady Darcy's safety is of prime importance to both myself and my lady Jane. I will be most disgruntled should some harm come to her through any action or non-action of all those present this night."
Soldier's eyebrow quirked up slightly and he tilted his head in silent recognition of Thor's meaning and importance in Lewis' life. He silently adjusted some of his priorities. Thor could take care of himself, but it suddenly occurred to Soldier he needed to update the status of Doctor Jane Foster, scientist. Lewis trusted her more than any of the others – Doctor Foster would need to be placed under Soldier's protection as well. They would need a trustworthy scientist should something go wrong and they be required to operate independently. Thor was an acceptable ally.
The Other almost gave a snort of amusement, but Soldier ignored him.
"Excellent!" Thor boomed out in response to Soldier's nod. "We shall rescue Lady Darcy and bring justice to whatever foul miscreant erred in laying hands upon her." He turned to Captain America. "If our new shield brother is coming with us, I shall fly and let him take my seat in the vehicle."
Captain America nodded at Thor before refocusing on Soldier. His eyes narrowed and then shifted to Black Widow. "Widow?"
The redheaded spy stepped forward, eyes focused with deadly intent on Soldier's. She spoke to him softly, though the captain could likely hear her. "If anything you do or refrain from doing causes harm to her, I will carve out your still beating heart." No emotion marred the words – she spoke as though noting the clouds breaking up overhead – but there was no hiding the honest threat behind those blank green eyes.
She knew. Widow knew Soldier still resided within the Other – part of him, but separate, like binary stars who could not be whole unless bound together.
He did not speak, merely stared back at her until she nodded. She walked towards the Quinjet, a small rolling shrug her only answer for the captain.
"My team," Captain America finally spoke directly to him. "My team, my rules."
Soldier gave a decisive nod. "Agreed," he replied coolly. "As long as it is understood that Lewis is my focus."
"Why?" Captain America's eyes narrowed behind his mask once more.
"Does it matter?" Soldier countered, not quite willing to explain the odd link between he and Lewis.
"Not at the moment." The captain's words granted him a breather, but not a reprieve. "For now the mission is simple. We go in, we find her, and we get her out. Casualties are to be kept at a minimum." Here he paused to fix a hard, direct stare on Soldier who just nodded. He had expected that. He thought it was stupid, leaving potential enemies alive behind them, but it was not a surprise. The captain continued, "No destruction of property."
Soldier frowned, confusion furrowing his brow.
"Widow will be combing the place for information," Captain America replied to the unspoken question. "I want to know who and why , not to mention if there are more cells around."
Understanding flared in Soldier's mind and his face cleared. Of course – any mission automatically included a secondary priority of intelligence gathering. With her male teammates more than capable of rescuing Lewis and handling any physical altercations, Widow would be the perfect choice to fulfill that priority.
"Then let's go," Captain America ordered, gesturing towards the Quinjet.
Soldier boarded and took the indicated seat. He began double checking his weapons as the vehicle rose into the air. The silence allowed his mind to consider the scene on the roof. He could feel the Other stirring and poking at his priority list. It seemed fairly simple to Soldier – get to Lewis and get her out of danger. He would assist and protect the other Avengers unless doing so interfered with his main goal.
And the innocent?
The Other's thought scratched at his mind. His automatic response – there is no such thing – felt wrong somehow. It was the answer he had received from his previous handlers and bosses, but he knew this team saw things differently. More importantly – Lewis saw things differently. Fine – he would do what he could to keep the innocent out of the line of fire – again, unless it interfered with his main goal.
Lewis.
Captain America spoke up even as he offered Soldier a comm device. Soldier hooked the device to his ear, listening as the captain talked to the team.
"Widow – get in and get any information you can find. I don't want this group coming back to bite us in the ass. When Widow has the information and Darcy is safe, then the place gets leveled. I want to leave them a sign, a reminder not to go after our people. That's going to be Thor and Hulk's duty. Hang back until it's time and then raze it to the ground." Thor grumbled, but the captain cut him off. "I know you want to go in after her, Thor, but I need you to help send a message to anybody who might try this in the future." Thor's grumbles died away as he agreed with the necessity. "Hawkeye," Captain America continued. "You've got long distance watch and evac responsibilities. Make sure we don't get cut off."
"You got it, Cap," came the cool response. Soldier approved – he always preferred working with snipers when possible. They knew how to turn off their emotions and get the job done.
"Iron Man and I are going to be the distraction," the captain informed them before turning his serious gaze on Soldier. "You go get Darcy – get her out and get her back to the jet. No side trips." A heavy silence fell, but Captain America never looked away from Soldier, keeping their eyes locked.
Soldier gave a slow nod. "The place comes down?" He wanted to be sure.
"As soon as Darcy and Widow are both out," the captain agreed.
"Good," Soldier replied calmly and simply.
The jet landed softly on the building across the intersection from their target.
Cold blue eyes focused on the target building as they quietly exited the jet. They held his handler somewhere in that structure. Soon, very soon – he would have her back out. He might dislike the idea of not contributing to the destruction, but Thor and Hulk could be trusted to handle that mission. It would have to be enough. Right now he could only focus on getting his handler out alive and as quickly as possible. He crouched on the edge of the roof, waiting for the others to get into position and all of them given the word to go.
The Other's thoughts stirred for a moment. Hold on, Darcy, we're coming.
For once Soldier found himself in complete accord.
Captain America's voice came over the comm. "Go."
He dropped over the side of the building and into the darkness of the street, blending into the shadows without a second thought.
Too bad the world could not take note, but at this moment the world itself changed. The Winter Soldier became an Avenger to save the life of one ordinary but extraordinary young woman who would probably never be known by the vast majority of the world.
A ghost, a shadow, a man once called Death itself became a hero…all for the sake of one young woman named Darcy Lewis.