Disclaimer: I do not own any recognizable characters or settings. Spoilers for Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Colder than a Cell

The gravity of the situation got to Sitwell, "Hydra doesn't like leaks," he stated from the backseat.

Sam had enough of this guy and tried to shut him up. "So why don't you try sticking a cork in it," he said while driving yet another 'borrowed' car.

"He says launch is in 16 hours, we're cutting it a little bit close here," Nat chimed in from the backseat.

Steve said from the passenger seat, "I know. We use him to bypass the DNA scans and access the helicarriers directly."

Sitwell leaned forward and said, "What? Are you crazy? That is a terrible, terrible, idea-" Suddenly a thump could be heard on the roof of the car. A metal arm burst through the window and yanked Sitwell out into on coming traffic.

The Winter Soldier began to shoot at them through the roof. Natasha jumped onto Steve's lap pushing his head and Sam's out of the line fire. Steve yanked on the break. The car skidded to a stop and the force of it threw the Winter Soldier off. His metal arm gripped into the road and stopped any real damage.

An armored vehicle came slamming into the back of the little black car. It pushed them forward to the Soldier. He flipped back on the roof and as they struggled to search for a gun, he shattered the windshield and ripped the steering wheel right off of the dashboard.

Sam shouted, "Shit!" Nat found the gun and began shooting at the roof.

"Contact Cass!" She shouted to either of them. They needed to get out of there. The Winter Soldier jumped from their car to the armored vehicle as Sam called Cass.

Without the steering wheel the car veered from left to right. The threatening vehicle rammed into them causing them to hit the wall on a bridge. The car began to flip.

"Hang on!" Steve screamed at both of them as he tucked his shield under him. He broke the car door and used it as a buffer. The car flipped wildly on the bridge as Steve, Natasha, and Sam skidded across the road on the car door. Sam rolled off of it, hitting the hard gravel. The armored car screeched to a stop.

The Winter Soldier jumped down and was a handed a grenade launcher by one of the many men behind him. Steve pushed Nat out of the way and used his shield. The explosion sent him flying through the air and crashing into a bus. Another truck slammed into it and flipped it over. The Soldiers operatives began closing in on Natasha and Sam shooting in V formation. They split up and took cover. The Soldier shot another grenade at Natasha and she jumped off the bridge using a grapple she landed safely.

The Soldier and his men began shooting at the bus where Steve should be. Natasha began shooting at him. He returned fire. Natasha ran off to try to lead them away.

"/I have her. Find him,/" the Winter Soldier commanded his men in russian. He jumped off of the bridge and landed on car. His men began to descend from the bridge as well when a shot rang through the air and a man hit the ground.

Cassandra had finally arrived. She aimed at another man as she got closer and shot. Some of the men had already made it down and began shooting at Steve again. Sam took out the last man on the bridge by sneaking up behind him and slicing his chest and kicking him off of the bridge.

He turned to Cass and said, "Decided to join the party, huh?"

"Brought you a present," she handed him the rifle. He began to shoot at the men on the ground.

"Go! We got this!" He yelled at Steve who had just retrieved his shield. Another explosion could be seen in the distance. Cass dropped down on one of the operatives and began fighting them in hand to hand combat. They weren't very well-trained so she took the ones she reached down with ease.

Civilians scattered and ran from the streets as the Winter Soldier walked through them. Natasha set up a trap for him. She recorded a message and played it back on a device behind a car while she waited for him to take the bait. He did and she sprung up and kicked the gun out of his hands and tried to choke him but he threw her off roughly. He picked up his gun again but before he had the chance to use it, she threw an EMP at his arm, temporarily disabling it. She ran off while she could, warning people off the street. The Soldier shot her in the back and she went down.

Steve intervened and shielded himself from a hit. The metal arm clanged when it hit the vibranium hard. They got into a brawl that ended with the Winter Soldier getting ahold of the shield. He threw it at Steve, who dodged it, and the shield ended up embedded in a van. He produced a knife and attempted to stab Steve but he dodged every swipe. They fought with an even amount of force and continued to try to gain the upper hand.

Cass had left Sam who had no one left to shoot at. He ran to the destroyed car to search for his wings. She saw Steve being choked so she intervened and slammed into the Soldiers back with her knee. He turned to look at her but Steve hit him again. They both just started throwing punches and blocking them until Steve hit a van. The Winter Soldier produced another knife from his person and tried to slam it into Steves skull but he blocked it with his arms. Cass tackled him down and Steve yanked the shield stuck in the van. The Soldier flipped her on her back and went to stab her, she let him to get a better shot at his ribs while his arm was raised. Steve pulled him off of her. He tried to elbow Steve with his arm but his shield blocked it. Steve hit him in the face and flipped him over.

His mask laid there on the ground as he got up. Cass noted that he hadn't aged a day since she last saw him. Steve's body language changed instantly. He was dumbstruck, his jaw hanging open and staring at the man. He knew this man. This was the man who he grew up with.

After a long suspended silence he said, "Bucky?" His question confirmed it. Not only did he know him, he knew the man by a name, a real name. His chest burst with a flurry of emotions and he didn't know which one to hang on to.

The man said, "Who the hell is Bucky?" All hope shattered in Steve when he heard those five words come from the most menacing version of his friend, his brother. Even more so when Bucky lifted a gun up to shoot him. Luckily, Sam had come to the rescue with his mechanized wings and kicked the Winter Soldier hard enough to knock him down.

Natasha got a hold of the grenade launcher during the commotion and shot it at him while he wasn't so close to anyone. A few cars went up and flames and created a giant smoke cloud. Cass went into the smoke to find him.

Sirens started to wail and Strike team vehicles surrounded Steve, Natasha, and Sam. Men with guns at the ready started to swarm them screaming for them to get on the ground.

Brock Rumlow was one of them screaming, "Drop the shield, Cap! Get on your knees! Get down! Get down! Get on your knees! Now!" Steve did as he was told he put his hands in the air and let Rumlow kick him to his knees. There wasn't anything he could do. There was no way out. "Don't move," Rumlow told him. Another Strike team operative put a gun to Steves head. He was ready to shoot but Rumlow stopped him.

There was what appeared to be a news chopper in the air and they couldn't very well execute Captain America in the middle of the street. Rumlow said as much, "Put the gun down. Not here. Not here!" Sam and Nat were also apprehended by the Strike team. Steve was too stunned at the moment to do anything other than comply. They put them in the back of an armored truck with two guards.

Meanwhile, Cass was still chasing after the Winter Soldier. He had led her into another alley. He wasn't assigned to do anything to this woman, just the two level six targets. He didn't extend one iota of effort more than he needed to, to get the mission completed and the mission was always the sole objective. He waits for her to make the first move but it never came.

Instead she did something he wasn't expecting, she spoke softly to him, "You don't… remember him?" Cass already knew the answer to that.

"Who?" He barked at her. Her voice was so quiet and soft, he didn't understand why she was speaking to him.

She continued, "You don't remember me?" Two people in one day had insinuated that they knew him. A storm was brewing in his head. This didn't make any sense. Her brown eyes were so sincere, it confused him all the more.

He took a threatening step towards her and said, "How do you know me?" Had he botched a mission? Did everything he had done finally catch up to him? He had been so careful and precise. He needed to know how she had found him so he wouldn't make the same mistake again.

She cocked her head to the side, her raven hair was slipping out of its braids, and her thick eyebrows furrowed. She didn't know how to put it all into words and she wished she could explain it. She wanted so badly to help him. But all that she could say was, "You saved me."

Those were words that the Winter Soldier didn't understand. He felt anger surge through him. This woman was a liar and an accomplice to his targets. He went to attack her but she stopped him with what she said next.

"Scars on your shoulder… and thigh… I did that," she said to him. She wanted him to remember her but didn't know how to do it. It was true. He didn't take inventory on every little thing on his body, he wasn't told that he should. The reason he knew it was true was because she had stabbed him in a different alley while on this mission, and it was exactly next to another scar of the same variety there. He saw it when they stitched him up.

Cass was conflicted. She wanted to stay and say all the things she wanted to but she had a mission of her own involving Steve and Natasha. She stared at him and remembered his shaggy brown hair and scruff. The piercing blue eyes that stared back, it saddened her to leave him. She wanted to stay and answer every question he asked. Taking him with her wasn't an option, he was currently a threat to Steve and Natasha. She'd have to find another way.

"I- I have to go," she stammered. She looked at him one last time and said, "I'll find you." She turned and ran off. He ran after her but once he turned the corner she was already gone. He was unsettled. She didn't threaten him or try to take him down. She had only engaged him earlier to distract him from his targets. When they were alone she actually spoke to him and not at him. The way she said she'd find him… what would she do to him if she did? He just didn't understand and he couldn't understand. Something in him wanted to.