For the record, I have never been to Paris before (But it's on my bucket list) so my description of what the city is like may not be accurate to someone who has been there so I'm going to try to keep it as simple as possible. But I kept my promise, there's plenty of action later in the chapter. For the first part of this chapter, I recommend listening to "Deep Blue Day" by Brian Eno, it helps set the tone (If you like that kind of music). But when things start to get serious, any action movie song would probably be fine. So here we go...
Chapter 10: Home Is Where The Heart Is
They arrived at the safe house outside of Paris shortly before midnight where they met Natasha's contact named Luc. He informed them that his men were watching the Hydra agent's hotel. In the morning shortly after sunrise, they would go to the hotel and stop him from leaving. Luc showed everyone to their rooms. Steve and Sam took the first, Natasha and Wanda took the second, and that left the last room to Arno.
Everyone except Arno seemed tired from the flight to France, but Arno figured he would try to sleep anyway. He sat on the bed and looked out his window. He could see the lights shining into the sky. He continued to watch for a few more minutes. Finally, his curiousity got the better of him. He stood from his bed and put on his hood.
Natasha had helped him design a new hood over the last few weeks. It no longer looked like something out of the 18th century, but something modern that would blend in well with crowds. It was a slick grey and hung almost to his knees in the back.
He walked to the door, slowly opened it, and stepped into the hall. He took three steps and the door beside him opened, there stood Natasha.
Her face told him she knew what he was doing but she asked anyway. "Where do you think you're going?"
Arno smiled. "Just feeling curious."
She let out a chuckle and he noticed she was still wearing her civilian clothes. "Mind if I join you? I doubt it's the same as you remember. You might get lost."
Arno didn't say a word. He extended his arm for her to take as if they were somewhere formal. She took him by the arm and they walked out of the house and in the direction of the bright glowing city.
Half an hour later they were walking through the city and despite the late hours, the streets were full of life. He admired how bright the lights shone on the streets as opposed to the dim lanterns he remembered. The streets were paved and the buildings didn't look worn and falling apart.
He and Natasha walked until he saw something that took his breath away. A large tower stood about a half mile away but it was the brightest thing in the night sky. Natasha had been holding onto his arm as they walked together through the streets.
She saw the look on his face and realized he'd never seen this before so she figured she'd inform him. "That's the Eiffel Tower. It was built some time after you... left."
After a few seconds he spoke. "It's beautiful."
Feeling excited, Natasha pulled him along knowing where she was going. A few minutes later they rounded a corner and there stood a large concrete building that formed an arc underneath it. "What is that?"
"The Arc de Triomphe. We can go to the top if you want to get a view of the city."
Arno smiled like a little kid. "Yes! That'd be great!"
She laughed at his excitement over seeing a city that he'd spent far more time in than she had. As they reached the base of the monument, there was a sign that read "Fermé" (Closed) hanging on a metal gate. Natasha was disappointed that they wouldn't be able to go to the top but before she could say anything, she heard Arno's boots hit the ground on the other side. Her eyes went wide. "What are you doing?" He smiled through the gate. "They'll need more than a sign to stop me. Come on." She let out a breath before looking around to make sure nobody was watching. She quickly climbed over the gate and they both started jogging up the stairs laughing.
It took a few minutes to get to the top but when they did, the view was extraordinary. You could see for miles through a metal fence that surrounded the top of the monument. The cold wind blew in the early hours of the morning.
Arno and Natasha climbed a wall and sat on a flat maintenance platform at the highest possible point. It allowed them to sit and also see over the metal fence. Arno admired the view and he saw Natasha shiver a little next to him, she didn't bring a jacket. He stood and removed his hood before sitting back down and placing it over her shoulders and wrapping his arm around her. She pulled his hood around her until it encircled her and blocked the wind. She felt his hand slide around her to rest on her upper arm. A smile crept across her lips as she laid her head on his shoulder.
After a few minutes she looked up at him. His eyes scanned the city and his face showed no emotion. She broke the silence. "Something wrong?"
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and then looked back in front of him. "In my mind it's only been a few months since I've been here, not 200 years... I spent many years here but I feel like I'm seeing it for the first time."
She softly smiled. "Welcome home Arno."
He smirked and met her eyes. "It's not my home anymore."
He leaned over and captured her lips. After a couple of seconds he deepened the kiss and placed his hand on her cheek. A few more seconds passed before he pulled back a couple of inches and looked into her eyes. His mouth formed a smile as did her's. Although it was cold outside, he felt nothing but warmth. He leaned his head against her's and he pulled her closer, but the moment was cut short. Both of their phones went off at the same time. Wanda texted Natasha and Steve texted Arno at the same time asking where they were and that it was time to go to the hotel. Natasha replied, telling them where they were and that they would meet them a couple of blocks from the hotel. She also asked if they would bring them their weapons. (Except for Arno's sword, it would draw too much attention.)
Three hours later the sun was beginning to rise.
Arno and Natasha had met up with the rest of the team at a food court a couple of blocks from the hotel. Luc explained that his source in the police department had cleared all cops from the area. The team would have fifteen minutes from the start of the operation to capture the agent and get out before the police arrived. They needed to be as quiet as possible about this.
They went over the details of the plan and headed out. A single SUV would park in front of the hotel and the agent would leave with two armed guards. Steve would quarterback everything from the second floor of the office across the street while Sam was on over-watch in case the agent managed to get into the SUV. Wanda would disarm the guards to avoid any civilian injuries while Arno would grab the agent with Natasha covering him. If something went wrong, the rendezvous would be at the safe house. It was a simple plan. Almost too simple...
Wanda sat at a cafe sipping coffee as she glanced to her side at the hotel every few seconds. Natasha and Arno sat in opposite alleys beside the hotel. Sam stood on the roof ready to track the SUV if the agent got inside. Steve spoke into the comms. "Alright, Luc's men said the SUV is five minutes out. Nobody moves until we confirm the agent is out of the hotel."
Five minutes later the SUV pulled to a stop in front of the hotel. The two guards walked outside with their guns concealed beneath their coats. They looked around the street for threats and one of them spoke into a headset.
A few seconds later, a man in a suit emerged from the building carrying a briefcase. Wanda glanced at the hotel and spotted the agent. "Confirmed."
Steve immediately replied. "Copy. Mission is a go." Without hesitation, Wanda seized the guard's guns but she didn't expect what happened next. Instead of trying to hold onto their weapons, one of the guards shouted into his headset as he spotted Wanda. "ENGAGE! ACROSS THE STREET!"
A second later, a sentry gun rose from the top of the SUV and two more on the driver's side emerged from the doors. They all zeroed in on Wanda and opened fire. There were about eight civilians in the cafe. She deflected every bullet she could to shield them until they could get clear of the line of fire.
Meanwhile, Natasha and Arno sensed the plan going down the drain so they ran from their cover in the alleys and the two guards attacked them. They made quick work of them but not quick enough. As they finished them off, the sentry gun on top had turned on them and two more emerged from the doors on the passenger's side. Arno saw the agent getting into the backseat but not wanting to get shot again, he dove behind a dumpster and pulled Natasha with him as they started shooting. The SUV sped away down the street.
Arno knew they were going to have to improvise or they'd lose the agent for good. "Sam, I need you to give me a lift." A couple of seconds later, Sam flew down and grabbed Arno's arm. "Let's try this again." He lifted Arno off the ground and sped away in the direction of the SUV.
It wasn't hard to spot but unfortunately, neither were they. All five sentries pointed up at Arno and Sam. Arno shouted loud as he could. "GO LEFT!" Not asking questions, Sam got out of the line of sight as he heard Steve speaking through the comms. "What's the plan?"
"We can't get near it because of those guns. I need you to track it through the traffic cameras and SAT imaging. Me and Arno are going to stay over the buildings to avoid the fire."
Arno spoke up. "Let us know when it makes any turns!" "We've got it here. It's still going south... It just turned right!" Sam turned right and they got a glimpse of the turning SUV before disappearing over the buildings again. "Sam cross over the street!" Sam flew over the street quickly before it could zero in on them.
Arno figured if he timed it right, he could drop onto the top of it. "Ok! Go again!" This time, Arno was ready. As they came over the buildings, Arno surprised Sam and let go. He must've fell about about twenty feet before landing on the roof of the SUV. Arno would admit, it hurt.
He barely grabbed onto the sentry gun to keep from rolling off. Once he stabilized, he started kicking the ammo belt and finally broke it off. The gun fired five shots into the air before it was out. The SUV started swerving trying to throw Arno off but he held on. He started to think of any way he could disable it without harming civilians. Then he looked in front of him and saw a man standing in the middle of the road.
He was wearing all black and had a metal arm. He lifted a gun and fired a disc that disappeared under the SUV. Arno was confused and then he felt the back of it starting to rise off the ground as he heard an explosion. Then he realized what had happened.
He jumped off and came to a complete stop as he landed on the windshield of a parked car. This hit hurt worse than landing on the SUV. He wasn't sure how long he laid there almost knocked out.
As his vision cleared, he was looking at the man face to face, except he was pointing a pistol at Arno's chest. He spoke in clear english. "Who are you?" Arno let out a pained groan. "You must be Bucky. I'm here with Steve."
He raised his eyebrows but kept the gun pointed at him. "Steve? He's here?"
"Yeah." Arno spoke into the comms. "Steve... I found Bucky..."
He could hear Steve on the other side. "Bucky?! Is he attacking you?!"
"No but I don't think he's too convinced I'm on your side." He listened to what Steve said next. It confused him. "What?" He looked to Bucky. "He said he owes you for making him ride the Cyclone, does that mean anything to you?" Bucky chuckled as he lowered his gun. It was then Arno noticed he was dragging the unconscious Hydra agent with his metal arm. Then he heard the sirens. "We should go."
Bucky grabbed Arno's arm and pulled him off the car and he threw the agent over his shoulder before they both started running down an alley. "Steve, I need you to track us and tell us where to go!" Then he heard Sam's voice. "I see you Arno! There's cops at the end of the alley! You need to get out of sight!"
Arno spotted a ladder and turned to Bucky. "Can you climb and carry him?" Bucky nodded and they both ran to the wall. Arno figured Bucky would use the ladder so he just started climbing the wall but he was surprised when Bucky not only kept up with him but he wasn't using the ladder either. They both reached the roof at the same time and Arno spotted Sam flying overhead.
"Sam can you guide us to the river?" "Yeah! It's about half a mile west!" Immediately Arno started sprinting across the rooftop and Bucky stayed with him despite the extra weight. As they jumped to the next roof, they heard guns firing and bullets flying near them. "Arno! You got Hydra agents firing on you from the ground!"
They must have been sent to protect the agent they just captured. "Can you do something about it?!" "There's too many, I'll try to distract them!" Sam flew over and a few agents fired on him but most of them kept their guns trained on Bucky and Arno.
The buildings gave pretty good cover. The roof came to an end and they didn't slow down, as they jumped across the street but they didn't quite make it to the roof and landed on a balcony. Without hesitation, they bursted through the doors and there was a man with a frightened look on his face. Arno only paused for a second. "Your pardon, Monsieur."
They ran to a window on the opposite side and jumped out to the next roof. The Hydra agents were still chasing them. Then Arno heard Steve on the comms. "Arno can you make it to the river?" "Maybe! We're still taking fire!" "There's a boat waiting for you. You need to move fast. They're putting the entire city on full alert."
They ran across what seemed to be a never-ending stretch of rooftops until they finally made it to the river. Once again, they didn't stop as they jumped off the roof and into the water. Bucky let the agent go as they all fell forty feet into the river. After they hit the water, Arno quickly spotted a boat floating nearby and grabbed the agent who was still out cold. Bucky helped him pull the man to the boat and lift him into it and they climbed in after. As soon as they were in, bullets started flying all around them.
Bucky started the boat and it sped down the river away from the agents and pretty soon they were at the edge of the city. Figuring they would be tracked, Bucky floored the throttle and they jumped out. The empty boat sped down the straight span of the river. Arno and Bucky pulled the agent onto the river bank before they both had to sit down and take a breath.
The unconscious man then started to stir a little before looking around and noticing the two men sitting near him. Without saying a word, Arno punched him across the face and he was out again.
He looked to Bucky who spoke first. "You knocked him out, you can carry him."
Arno rolled his eyes before lifting the agent over his shoulder and they both started walking to find the nearest road. Arno figured he could try the comms. "Can anyone hear me? We made it out of the city." He heard Steve on the other end. "Good! Where are you?" "About a half mile west of the city. We're going north, away from the river. Hydra will be following us so we ditched the boat." "Okay, keep heading north. We'll be there soon."
Arno pulled the comm out of his ear, that thing got annoying after a while. He looked at Bucky. "We haven't officially met, Arno Dorian."
Bucky kept a straight face as he shook Arno's hand. "James Barnes." "How'd you find us?"
"I didn't even know you were in Paris. I've been chasing this guy for a while. I planned to ambush him on his way to the airport but I had to improvise when I heard shooting, so thanks for interrupting my breakfast." Arno laughed. "In all fairness, you forced me to jump off a speeding vehicle."
Now Bucky was laughing. "I've never heard of you. How long have you been with the Avengers?"
"A few months." "How'd you end up with them?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." "Try me."
Arno stopped walking and turned to face Bucky. "I'm an Assassin from the 1790's. I came here when a device on another world brought me to the future. The Avengers found me and took me in." Bucky raised an eyebrow. "That's quite a story."
"Yeah. That's the short version, what's yours?" He hesitated for a second. "70 years ago, I fell off a train in Germany and since then I've been a brainwashed assassin for Hydra."
Now Arno raised an eyebrow. "Well you're pretty good for an old man." "You're one to talk." They shared a laugh before they heard a vehicle approaching.
A rather small car stopped in front of them and Steve got out. Arno couldn't help but wonder how he fit in there. Steve looked at them both before looking directly at Bucky. "Hey Buck. Do you know who I am?"
Bucky softly smiled as he spoke to his best friend. "Your mom's name was Sarah. You used to wear newspapers in your shoes."
Steve smiled as he put a hand on Bucky's shoulder. "Glad you're both alright. We need to go."
Arno spoke up. "Uhh... Did you expect us all to fit in there?" "It was the only inconspicuous car Luc could spare right now. Besides, all of his people are too busy cleaning up our mess in the city."
"How many were hurt?"
"Thankfully, none. Just some property damage but the authorities are on high alert so we need to leave soon. We'll interrogate this guy when we get back to base." Arno and Steve started walking towards the car but Bucky stayed in place. He looked like he was deep in thought, trying to make a decision.
Steve noticed. "Bucky? Aren't you coming with us?" "How can I after everything I've done?"
"That wasn't you. Come with us, you can help us take down Hydra." Bucky thought on this. He'd been going after Hydra alone all this time and he was holding his own but he wasn't able to do much by himself.
"Alright. I'll go." They put the agent into the trunk and all three of them crammed into the tiny car and Steve drove down the road, heading for the safe house and their jet back to America.
I know what you're probably thinking. "This would've been much easier if they brought Vision." Well then the action would be over quick, and where's the fun in that? I was pretty happy with how this chapter turned out :) and I hope y'all were too. I don't know when I'll be able to update again. I'm pretty busy this month getting things ready for my LAST year of college. (Thank God)