Author's Note: I don't own this, nope, nadda, nothing. I'm so sorry for the long delay. First term papers, then final, then my car got broken into and my computer was stolen alone with a bag full of my clothes. So... well its been a tough couple of months. I just now got access to a computer and I can finally get out some of the chapters I've been working on. Yay! One good thing of the past few weeks was that I got to see Age of Ultron four times. I wont give anything away but next to Winter Soldier its my favorite Marvel film by far. I've already started thinking about either incorporating this story into Age of Ultron or maybe starting a new facfic, most likely the former. So now without further ado here's chapter nine.
Chapter 9
Clara's POV
It was freezing as we walked down from the cell to the cargo hold. When Bucky and I came into sight on the upper level everyone noticeably tensed up before resuming their preparations with a little more forced rigor than before. Beside me I felt Bucky tense.
"It's okay." I patted his arm and started towards the steps, only going down the staircase when I heard him following behind me.
Out beyond the plane's lowered ramp was snow and gently rolling mountains as far as the eye could see. There wasn't a single trace of civilization.
"Put this on." Phil ordered and he tossed me a standard issue SHIELD artic jacket when the both of us reached the bottom of the spiral stair case.
I caught the jacket, well more accurately it hit me in the chest and I caught it before it hit the floor. Once I had righted it I began to unzip it and fit my arm through but stopped when I noticed that Bucky was still standing on the last step. He was clearly contemplating whether or not he should just stay or come with us.
"Where are we?" I called out to Phil who had gone over to help Skye with her gear.
I finished zipping up my own jacket and then bent over to rummage through the rest of the artic gear that had been brought out of storage. I grabbed two survival backpacks, one for me and one for Bucky. No one else at present seemed too inclined to go near Bucky so I grabbed another coat for him since he still only had on the flimsy jacket we found in the HYDRA facility. Slinging the two backpacks over my shoulders I walked back to where he was frozen on the stairs. He raised his eyebrows when I handed him the jacket and backpack but said nothing as he took them. He did however give a small smile in thanks before slipping the jacket on and walking fully into the cargo hold.
"Northern Canada." Phil answered as he finished helping Skye. He then came over and started fussing over my gear, reaching to adjust the shoulder strap of my backpack.
"Is there a safe house up here?" I politely batted away his hands.
"No." Phil said. Then without any explanation he began to walk away. This behavior was nothing like the Phil I used to know, granted I hadn't seen him in two years but it still concerned me.
"Then why are we here?" I reached out and lightly grabbed his arm to keep him from walking away.
Phil stopped and turned to face me. "Fury sent me coordinates." He reached into his pants pocket and fumbled around a little bit before whipping out and showing me his badge with red numbers glowing along the bottom. "He's trying to tell us something."
"Phil." I said sadly, thinking back to that night in the hospital. "I was there when Fury died."
All action in the cargo hold ceased. Fitz and Simmons were frozen midway though packing extra equipment into their bags. Agent Trip and May had been checking their weapons but quickly holstered them away. Skye just looked at Phil with a look of profound sympathy and sadness. And Bucky, Bucky hid his reaction well, with only a slight visible clenching of his jaw as the one sign he had heard me.
"You actually saw him die?" Agent May was at my side in an instant and spoke in a clipped tone, though she shot Phil a concerned look.
"Yes." I said, my mouth went dry, and I tightened my grip on my pack's straps.
"I told you that Fury couldn't have sent you those coordinates." May pressed Phil and began to reach for his badge.
"Don't!" Phil shouted and wrenched his arm away. "Coordinates are about a 7-mile hike from here." He started down the plane's ramp as if nothing had just happened.
Never before had I seen him so, so broken. SHIELD was all he ever knew and he was clinging to any shred he could that his life hadn't been completely uprooted. It broke my heart. Tears were threatening to spill out but I was an Agent of SHIELD, and I had to be strong.
Surprisingly out of all of us it was Agent Trip who picked his bag up and was the first to follow Phil. "If you're set on doing this Agent May and I should lead a scouting party first, make sure this isn't a trap." He said coming to a stop where Phil had been standing near the bottom of the ramp surveying the surroundings.
Phil shook his head in the negative. "There's no time. In less than eight hours, a NATO satellite will pass directly over us. The Bus's cloaking mechanism fried shortly after we landed. If the Bus is still here, they'll know." He patted Trip on the shoulder and turned around to face where the rest of us were trying to decide what to do. "If Fury is dead, which I don't believe for a second, then maybe he left something we can use to stay alive. I've been doing this long enough to know that something's up there. But this mission has to be your choice." He made eye contact with each member of his team. When he came to me his eyes held an apology, knowing he had hurt me when he didn't believe me. Finally his eyes settled on Bucky, there was still suspicion but not as much as before.
"A lot's changed in the last few days." He continued. "I know you all have your doubts about what we've been doing, about me. But I don't, which is why I'm going to find whatever Fury has waiting for us... with you or without you." Phil flipped open his compass in one hand and held his badge in the other. Then without another word he started walking off into the forest without another word.
"Well, you heard the man." Fitz said pushing past Agent May and Jemma. "We don't have much time."
Trip, May and Skye followed behind immediately. Jemma let out a sigh before she hoisted up her pack and heading down the ramp.
All that were left was Bucky and I. I wiped my hands against my cheeks to get rid of the few stray tears that had escaped. "Are you coming?" I asked when he made no move to follow.
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Third Person POV
"Are you coming?" Clara asked Bucky. He noticed that her eyes were red, near tears, as they watched her leader who was already far in the distance.
He thought about his answer for a moment before making up his mind. Bucky reached out his hand.
Clara stared at his outstretched hand questioningly before realizing he was offering his hand to her to hold. Besides when she'd been shot and unconscious all the other moments of physical contact had been initiated by her. In truth Bucky was afraid he'd break her.
She smiled and took his hand in hers. Tentaively with his free hand he carefully brushed away at a few more tears that had streamed down her cheek. He hated using his metal arm, it reminded him only of the horrible things that he'd done in his past. Which was why he was astounded that Clara had never shown any fear towards it and he found that using it to comfort someone he cared about felt like a small victory over what HYDRA had done to him.
Clara smile and placed her hand over the one he still had on her cheek and held it there before they dropped their hands. "We really should catch up." She turned her bright brown eyes up at him and hand in hand they followed the rest of the group out of the plane.
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Bucky's mind had wondered off while he and Clara walked at the end of the group. His mind turned to some of the memories of his childhood, memories he hadn't revisited in a long time.
Like the time he first met Steve, his best friend. The little punk had started a fight with the biggest bully in their class because Steve had seen him pulling on the braids of a girl. And of course the punk had gotten himself all bloodied up and Bucky had to save him from making a close acquaintance with the ground a seventh time.
Then there was the moments leading up to when he fell off that train that ended his life as he knew it. He, Steve and the rest of their Commando's had been perched high up in the snowy mountains waiting for Zola's train to pass under them. A thin wire was attached to the rock behind them and was going to be their life line down to the train in just a few short moments.
Then the seriousness of the mission had been shattered when his best friend brought up the time Bucky had forced Steve to go on a roller-coaster with him and Steve had thrown up.
"This wouldn't be revenge for that now would it?" Bucky had asked Steve with a grin.
It was hard to believe that less than ten minutes from that moment Bucky would lose his grip on the train. And with his lost grip he would lose his arm and any chance for a normal life.
He hadn't lied when he told Clara that some of his memories were fuzzy. Beyond the good times with Steve that he remembered perfectly, the only other memories that were just as crystal clear were those terrifying seconds as he plummeted down off the icy cliff. He could feel it now. The cold, the searing pain in his shoulder that he had come to realize was his arm being ripped off...
"Oh God." Clara's whimpering jolted him from his memory.
Bucky shook his head to dispel the last of the memories and he looked own at Clara. Clara was staring at the ground and trembling. She pressed herself closer to him.
Then Bucky saw what was causing her distress. Where her feet were in contact with the ground steam was rising up and the snow was melting. Even through the glove on her hand that he was holding he felt her temperature rising. Suddenly white hot pain flared in his palm causing Bucky to drop Clara's hand.
"Dr. Simmons." His voice boomed towards the team, gathering all of their attention.
Clara's breathing stated to pick up and a faint glow started up under her cheeks. She turned her frightened browns eyes up at him and he saw with alarm that even they started to glow a dull orange light like a flame was burning under her irises.
Rage suddenly flared in Bucky. He cursed HYRDA, the people who made him what he was, for turning their depraved experiments onto Clara. They destroyed everything they touched.
From the trees around them snow began to melt away and it was getting almost too hot for even him to stay where he was standing beside Clara.
"Clara, it's okay." Bucky ignored the burning pain and gripped her by the shoulders. He turned her around forced her to face him and not the rapidly melting snow around them.
"It was just thinking about…" Clara started. He had an idea that what she was thinking about wasn't pleasant. "And now I can't stop it."
"What's wrong?" Dr. Simmons and the rest of the team and reached them, only to be hit with an intense heat wave. Their faces flushed red.
"Stay back!" Bucky warned. "Clara, look at me focus." Clara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes she locked onto his. "You're in control, just breath."
Slowly Clara's breath's calmed and returned to normal. Steam ceased to rise around them and the biting cold rushed in to return the area to it normal sub-zero temperatures. Clara took in a few more deep breaths as the glowing in her cheeks and eyes died away.
She pressed her eyes closed and breathed in deep one more time. "I'm sorry, I'm okay." Then she opened her eyes while pressing her hand to his chest. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I… I was just thinking about things."
"What were you thinking about?" Dr. Simmons walked towards Clara and reached out a hand to touch Clara's arm only to pause and drop her arm to her side as if Clara might burn her.
This action was not lost on Clara and she wasn't to hide the initial hurt on her face. She quickly placed a mask over her face to hide her emotions, it was a move that Bucky recognized from his time as a soldier and spy.
"It's nothing I'm fine." Clara said dismissively. "We need to keep going." She started walking forwards but quickly stopped. "Oh dear." While the heat had died down her feet still melted footsteps into the snow.
"Those will leave a trail. We can't let the satellite see where we're going." Coulson crossed his arms and thought for a moment. "Someone will have to carry her."
Clara's eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me."
"I'll do it." Agent Trip stepped forward.
However as Trip reached to hoist Clara up Bucky stepped into his path, his glare making the other man immediately back off. There was no way Bucky would trust anyone else with Clara, definitely not the same man who had stopped him from getting Clara to the infirmary. If it hadn't been for Clara's new ability to heal she would have died, and Bucky would have held him partially accountable.
Bucky glared at Trip and he swore that if he'd been the one with Clara's new powers, Trip would have been a cinder by now.
"Bucky," Clara spoke and Bucky felt a gentle hand on his arm but he was too busy staring down the agent who had dared to…
"How about we let Sergeant Barnes carry her?" Coulson delegated.
"Good idea sir." Trip began walking backwards as a breakneck speed. "I'm just going to be up here, no particular reason." His mumbling died away as he moved out of hearing range.
"Don't you worry one bit." Dr. Simmons clutched at her packs straps. "As soon as we find whatever we're supposed to find we'll look you over proper." She moved to hug Clara, and again she stopped just short of touching her. "We'll fix this I promise."
Clara nodded and crossed her arms across her chest and her lips began to tremble, the mask she had put on was beginning to break. "Okay Jemma." She raised her head and looked at Fitz hopefully.
Unlike Dr. Simmons, Fitz stepped forward and embraced his friend. "Everything will be okay." As he let her go he gave her a very chaste kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks." Clara clasped his hand before he went to catch up with Jemma who had already started to move away with the rest of the team.
"So." Clara pushed some of her hair out of her face and raised her eyes expectantly to Bucky. "So how're you going to…?"
Bucky smirked, a particular memory from one of the many dance dates he'd been on popped into his head. Swing dancing had been among his favorites and he had loved to sweep beautiful girls off their feet. He reached down around her legs and threw her up and just as she began to fall back down he caught her. It was so fast that Clara let out a screech and threw her arms around his neck. There was a quick rise in the air's temerature from Clara's surprise that died down as soon as it flared up.
"Sorry." Clara apologized when she saw Bucky's face flush red from the heat. "Maybe you all should just come back for me later, I don't want to burn you."
"No." Bucky's grip on her tightened. "We're not leaving you here. And you won't hurt me." And he began to follow the rest of the team.
Clara rolled her eyes and sighed. "How can you possible know that?"
Bucky's froze mid-step and thought for a second. "Because I trust you." And with a jolt he realized he did. He hadn't trusted anyone for so long that the only person he could remember ever trusting had been Steve almost seventy years ago
Her mouth fell open but no words came out. Finally she found her voice. "Thank you." The fatigue from the previous days was catching up to her and she thought it couldn't hurt to just rest for a moment and she leaned her head against Bucky's shoulder.
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Third Person POV
Jemma and Fitz stayed huddled close together while hiking thought the frigid terrain. While Jemma had stuffed her hands firmly in her jacket's pockets, Fitz braved the cold and held a small triple screened tablet the continuously scanned radar, electrical signals and heat signatures around the team. They stayed firmly in the middle of the group, both very much aware of the Winter Solider and Clara bringing up the rear behind them. Clara had assured her that she was fine, and she knew that Clara hated being doctored. Regardless Jemma kept glancing back at her friend to make sure everything was alright.
Suddenly Fitz stopped and Jemma bumped into the back of his arm. "This is not good." He lamented looking at the computer readouts.
Jemma quickly glanced around their surroundings and then back to the computer readouts. "Bears. Did it find bears?" While she liked the cute cuddly bears in zoos and on TV she didn't really fancy the very real possibility of coming across a polar bear.
"No. Found nothing. No sign of life or SHIELD base or anything making it even remotely worthwhile freezing our butts off." He threw his hands up in frustration and snapped the tablet shut, if he hadn't found anything by now it was doubtful he would now.
Jemma paused before posing her next question. "Did you mean what you said earlier about Coulson?" He had been so adamant earlier on the plane about trusting Coulson's intuition that Furywas still alive. However, even she had to admit that with Clara claiming to be there when Fury died her faith in their team leader had been shaken.
He sighed and stood on his tiptoes so he could catch a glimpse of Coulson way ahead of them before answering. "I don't know, Jemma. I want to believe Coulson knows what he's doing, but…" Fitz trailed off, unsure how to continue.
"Well," Jemma said with an attempt at her usual brightness. "at least we still have each other." She nudged his arm.
"Yeah. Good. Cause the last thing I want is for things to change." Fitz smiled over at her.
Jemma's smile fell at that. "Fitz..." she glanced back at their common friend hanging on suspiciously close to the ex-assassin as he carried her. Then Jemma pointedly eyed the SHIELD logo on Fitz's jacket and shook her head sadly. "It's too late for that."
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Clara POV
Strangely, as Bucky carried me through the frozen terrain I didn't feel cold one bit. We'd been walking for at least an hour, well I was being carried and Bucky was the one doing the walking. The lull of Bucky's footfall's on the ground combined with the silly idea that I could rest my head and eyes for just a moment without falling asleep had me fighting to stay awake.
"If you want to sleep I promise to wake you when we get there." We'd been moving in silence for so long that hearing Bucky's deep voice jolted me awake.
My head snapped up and I blinked my eyes several times. It probably would have looked comical in not for the situation we were in. "No no, I'm fine. I want to ready to move in case this is a trap."
He stopped walking for a moment and his expression showed he was in deep thought. After a few seconds he raised his eyes to mine and started walking again. "Why is your commanding officer so convinced that there's something out here?"
"I wish I knew. I used to be able to tell what Phil was thinking. He was a man who demanded to see proof and evidence and now he's suddenly talking about having faith. Its not like him at all."
"You sound like you know him very well." Bucky commented.
"He's my uncle."
Bucky's eyes went huge and he stopped to stare at me. "I didn't know..."
"Its okay. He took me in after my parents died. Then about two years ago he was killed. I buried him, I grieved for him. SHIELD took me in and gave me a home after he was gone. Then the world comes apart and I learn that all that time my uncle was alive. I don't know how or why but all I do know is that he's changed. Its scaring me."
"I'm sorry. For everything." Bucky apologized.
"To paraphrase you, I don't blame you. I blame the god who tried to kill Phil in the first place." I said think back to when I received the news that my uncle had been killed in action. If Loki had still been on the planet when Fury had arrived at the apartment Phil and I had shared to tell me, the Allfather wouldn't have had a son to throw into one of his dungeons.
Bucky raised one of his eye brows. "God?" His voice conveyed how incredulous he thought the idea was.
"Well Loki wasn't technically a god, he just thought he was one. And he was willing to level most of New York City to prove it." I let out a sigh thinking back to the Battle of New York. I'd been in a small cafe just under Stark Tower when the portal opened and an alien army poured forth. While I didn't meet the Avengers officially until Phil's funeral, I got to see them in action. "Luckily Steve and his Avengers were there."
"Avengers? It seems I've missed out on a lot." Bucky said sadly.
"A lot has changed, yes, but we'll help you through it." I opened my mouth to tell him that I was going to be there for him no matter what, but Phil's yelling made me put that thought on the back-burner for now.
"This is it." Phil's voice rang clear as Bucky and I brought up the rear into a rather large clearing in the otherwise dense forest.
Phil looked down at the coordinates on his badge and his compass and then back up at the clearing we were now all standing in. "There's got to be something here. Stay alert, eyes open. Its got to be here somewhere."
The team tentatively spread out. Agent May and Trip seemed to be testing the ground for any hidden booby-traps in the snow while Fitzsimmons walked around aimlessly. Bucky bent over and sat me firmly on the ground.
"Stay close to me." He whispered in my ear.
Skye glance around for a moment and at finding nothing approached Coulson. "How long should we look before thinking about heading back?" She jerked her head back towards the general direction of the plane.
Coulson only shook his head and, without meeting her gaze, answered. "We're not going back. Not until we find whatever Fury has waiting for us."
"What about the NATO Satellite you were talking about?" I asked moving across the clearing towards Phil ignoring the sizzling sound my feet made as they came into contact with the snow.
"Doesn't matter, the Bus used all its remaining fuel just to get us here." Phil's tone was matter of fact.
And this new fact had everyone stopping in their tracks and turning to face our leader.
"Did you know this before flying us out into the middle of nowhere?!" Jemma demanded.
"It was the right play. Fury sent us those coordinates for a reason."
"Why would Fury send us here?" I threw up my arms in frustration.
Phil whirled on me. "I don't know Clara! I DON'T KNOW!" He shouted, then seemingly remembering that he yelled at me his expression turned apologetic. "There has to be something here." He pleaded and held up his badge for everyone to see. "This means something. This had to mean something! The world needs us. HYDRA is out there."
His gaze briefly turned to Bucky who remained a little ways off from the rest of the group but was listening just as intently. At the HYDRA comment Bucky's face soured.
If Phil noticed any of this he didn't let it stop his tirade. "We cannot let them win. We... we cannot let them define us. Do you understand that?!" His searching eyes went over every member of our team who were all stock still at his outburst.
Phil didn't even wait for a response, he just kept going. "We are not agents of nothing we are Agents of SHIELD and that carries weight with me. That...that has to still carries weight! After everything, after everything we've all been through that carries weight!"
Hardly anyone moved, save for awkward shuffling to avoid Phil's gaze. Phil's eyes went wide and he looked down at his SHIELD badge in his hand. When tears began to pool in his eyes the paralysis on my limbs snapped and I grabbed him into a hug. Nothing I could have said at that moment would have made the situation better so I just offered what strength I had.
Phil pressed his face into my hair and kissed my forehead. "I'm sorry." He said loud enough so the rest of the team could head and understand that he was apologizing to them as well.
Suddenly he wrenched himself out of my grasp, swung his arm back and let his badge fly as hard as he could.
We all watched the bright metal sail though the frigid air, and then. BANG! BANG! BANG! Machine gun fire tore into the badge, completely obliterating it.
Simultaneous screams of, "Take cover!" and "Get down!" rang out.
Bucky was at Phil's and my side instantly. He grabbed the two of us by the arms and nearly hefted us up and behind a rock for cover.
"Well." Fitz shouted from behind a rock on the other side of the clearing where he was hiding with Skye. "It seems like we found them!"
Author's Note: I working on developing the idea for a new strain of extremis that got injected into Clara, its somewhere between Iron Man 3's extremis and the centipede soldiers. Any ideas you have are most welcome.