Tree arrived at the suburban house Fury tracked down, seeing that the black van was still there.
"Alright, I'm here." Tree said into her comms. "What should I be looking for?"
"Just sweep the whole area." Fury ordered. "They've got to be there somewhere." Tree shut down her earpiece, and after taking a deep breath, she drew her standard Glock 17 firearm and kicked down the door.
In one of the rooms of the house, the red haired woman and Bucky looked up, hearing a crash and footsteps.
"Someone's here." Bucky warned, smiling. "It won't be long before they find me, or Steve and Tony."
"Perhaps." The woman smirked, beginning to load her revolver and watched the uninvited guest from a monitor. "Sit tight." The red head chuckled at her twisted joke, before leaving Barnes to search for the intruder.
Deep in the the bathroom basement, Tony and Steve heard the door upstairs being kicked down.
"Hear that?" Stark asked, looking up excitedly. "Someone's coming for us."
"Let's hope so." Rogers said worriedly, glancing at the clock. "Bucky has five minutes left."
Tree began sweeping through the house, room to room, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. It seemed like it was just a regular house.
"Dammit." Tree muttered, lowering her gun and activating her comms. "Director Fury, I think this is a bust- oof!" Tree felt herself being hit from behind, but before she collapsed on the ground, she quickly rolled forward and spun around, drawing the Glock once more and pointing it at her attacker. Once Tree stood back up, she took in the person standing before her, having red hair, tattoos along her right arm, and brandishing a .44 magnum revolver.
"You shouldn't be here." the woman said matter of factly.
"I disagree." Tree challenged, levelling her gun at the red head. "Who are you?"
"John's successor." the accomplice said proudly, and fired her magnum while backing up. Thinking quickly, Tree dove behind one of the room's walls, and waited for the sound of all six bullets of the revolver to be wasted.
"Shit." Jigsaw's accomplice muttered, and Tree emerged from her hiding spot, firing her glock and hitting her in the shoulder. The apprentice cried out in pain, clutching her shoulder, and began limping out of the room. Tree slowly followed her, eventually reaching a secret room in the house filled with television monitors. Gelbman looked around, noticing that a man with a metal arm was cuffed to a chair, with a strange vise like contraption on his head. Upon further inspection, there were three tall windows behind the monitors, covered with black curtains
"Let him go." Tree ordered.
"No." the red head nearly shouted. "You've sealed Mister Barnes' fate." With that, she pressed a button on the contraption, which slowly began closing in on his head. Tree instantly shot the woman in the chest, before going to help Barnes.
"How do I get this off?" Tree asked, while the vise kept closing.
"I- I don't think you can." Bucky admitted. "I just woke up with this." Tree tried pushing the same button the mysterious woman did, but nothing happened. She then tried shooting the vise, but the bullets ricocheted around the room.
"Stop." Bucky rasped out, as the vise started to press into his flesh. "Tony and Steve are here somewhere. You have to save them!"
"I'm going to save you too." Tree vowed.
"It's too late…" Bucky moaned, and the vise pressed closer, popping his eyes out of their sockets. Tree watched in horror, as the soldier's teeth shot out of his jaw, blood began pouring out his mouth, nostrils, and eyes, and within seconds, Barnes' head was completely crushed.
"No…" Tree gasped, fumbling for her glock. "I won't let someone die. I won't." Tree raised the glock to her head, hands shaking, and closed her eyes.
The last thing she heard was the crack of a gunshot, right next to her temple.
As she expected, Tree woke up on the same morning, having successfully reset the day. Unfortunately, she had a splitting headache, since the damage from the headshot carried over from her "death". Realizing that her phone was going off again, Tree shut off the AC/DC music and answered Fury's call.
"Morning Director." Tree greeted cheerfully. "I know, Rogers and Stark are captured by Jigsaw. I'm on my way to the location." The other line was silent for a moment, until Fury began to speak.
"You reset the day, didn't you?" Nick asked.
"Sure did." Tree said. "Someone named Barnes is also there. I'll call you once I secure the area." Before Fury could respond, Tree ended the call, put on her SHIELD uniform, took her glock, and left her apartment room without waking Carter.
Agent Gelbman approached the same house she investigated earlier, beginning to walk around the area for the windows with black curtains. Eventually, she found them, and after seeing movement behind the curtains, Tree charged forward, shooting the glass and jumping through the window.
Tree crashed through the broken glass, rolling across the floor and brought her gun up, pointing it right at the red haired woman.
"You shouldn't-" the woman tried to say, but Tree fired a shot, putting a hole right between her eyes.
"Heard it before." Gelbman muttered, before approaching Bucky. "You alright?"
"Yes." Barnes confirmed. "But Tony and Steve are here too."
"I know." Tree said casually, and patted down the red head's body, eventually finding a key around the corpse's neck. Tree quickly took the key, and after a few seconds of searching, found a lock on the vise contraption, which she unlocked. With the trap taken off, Bucky cracked his neck in relief, as Tree undid the vise that held his metal arm in place.
"Thanks." Bucky smirked, using his metal arm to rip off the cuff holding his flesh arm down. "Come on, we have to find Steve and Tony."
Tree and Bucky searched the house, eventually finding a trap door in what looked like the living room.
"Think they're down there?" Tree asked, while Bucky opened the door.
"Must be." Bucky muttered, and he descended down into a dark tunnel. Tree shrugged, before following the soldier. The pair walked through the tunnels for only a few minutes, and they eventually found a large iron door. Bucky used his metal arm to open it without much effort, finding Tony and Steve chained up to pipes on opposite ends of what looked like a dirty bathroom.
"Steve!" Bucky yelled, running towards his lifelong friend. Steve looked up, seeing his best friend.
"Buck?" Rogers asked, confused. "You're alright?"
"Yeah, she helped me." Bucky pointed over towards Tree, who was tending to Stark. "Hold on, lemme get you out of this."
"It's made of vibranium." Steve mumbled, but Bucky merely grinned.
"Have you forgotten what my new arm is made of?" Bucky grabbed the chain his his metal hand, and after a few tugs, the chain snapped, freeing Rogers. Bucky stood there for a moment, marvelling at his arm, before walking over to Tony and freeing him as well.
"You're all okay?" Tree asked, pulling out a phone to contact Fury. The three men nodded.
"Yeah, but ask Nick to look into this." Stark piped up. "Jigsaw's been dead for over twelve years now, but he knew about events that happened recently. Something doesn't add up." Tree nodded, and called the Director.
"Fury, I have Stark, Rogers, and Barnes with me." Tree reported. "They're all fine, but something's not right. Jigsaw knew about events that happened after his death. At least, that's what Tony told me."
"Interesting." Fury mused. "SHIELD agents are approaching the house now. Head back to my facility for debrief."