Darkness had settled and no stars were visible in the cloud-patched sky. The Winter Soldier and the Fatal Shadow had scoured the streets of the city, inspecting every corner, measuring the heights and distance of buildings, calculating the best escape routes and hidden attack positions. They had mapped out the entire town in their minds, engraving and recording every detail with just a simple glance. They were preparing for their inevitable attack. There had been some argument as to whether or not the use of explosives would be safe or even necessary; they had no intentions on endangering civilians. This was their first chance to decide who they wanted to harm or kill themselves, and now that they could make that decision, they chose not to. Save for the Hydra associates, who wouldn't be too lucky as to be shown mercy by the two deadliest assassins in the world.
She glared at him, staring him square in the face as he returned her cold gaze. She was shorter than him, but just as intimidating. "We have to use explosives." She stated firmly as she studied his face.
"We can't afford to do that; It's too dangerous for the other people. We don't want to destroy buildings!" He replied just as sternly, taking a step towards her rigid stance.
"That's exactly what we're going to do." She said matter-of-factly. This caught the Winter Soldier off-guard. "What?" He asked incredulously, certain he had misunderstood.
"We can't risk Hydra not coming with quinjets, so we have to create something big that they will hear of; something they have to get to immediately." She explained, raising an eyebrow as her voice prodded him to catch on. He frowned, angry and confused. "You want to evacuate the whole city?" He questioned, trying to analyze the logic of her plan. It made sense, but he had a different course of action in mind.
"We don't have to evacuate the entire city; just one section. Then we'll set off the explosives. The rest of the civilians will be sure to pour out in panic. Hydra is bound to hear about it before we're even done." She explained further, and swept their surroundings with her eyes before setting them on the soldier again.
"What if we just set explosions on the outskirts of the city? That way, we won't have to cause collateral damage." He proposed, wiping the bridge of his nose with his hands.
"Then how will we create the fire? We need a lot of smoke. Something big hat they can see." Her brows knitted as she thought harder. "We'll be able to find things to carry to the outskirts. But the main point is to create panic." He explained. She nodded her head, still deep in thought.
"We need a commotion. News that would spread like fire." She mumbled distractedly.
They could use the pipes in the city. The trash bins. The rusted poles. There were so many resources right at the tips of her fingers that she could easily transform into weapons of mass destruction. Her fingers tingled with the urge to get to work. To connect wires and attach fuses. This made her excited. Eager. The mere thought of assembling an explosive was enough to get the adrenaline pumping in her body. The Winter Solider eyed her, seeing as her fingers fidgeted once. She suddenly turned to him, staring straight into his steel-blue orbs, once again catching him off guard with her own dark ones. "Let's get to work.
Raven's fingers deftly assembled the third explosive. Pipe bombs were generally classified as improvised weaponry, and could be made with the use of common materials which were widely available and even had use in day to day activities.
They had easily dismantled water pipes, and though they were rustier than Raven would have liked to work with, it would have to do, since they neither had the time nor the resources to improvise. All required components were in their possession, and the Winter Soldier watched closely as she carefully inserted the fuse into the steel pipe, guiding the wires out through the hole he had helped make with his left finger, and leading them to the other side of the pipe, where the opening had been sealed with a brass cap. The water pipe had been filled with gun powder earlier, and Raven finished off the bomb by connecting the fuse to the battery.
The process didn't take up much time, and assembling such a weapon was as easy and normal for her as one was accustomed to walking and eating. It was second-nature, and the amount of times she'd required these skills for a mission was beyond counting, not to mention the hours of training it took to master each step, creating a reliable bomb in the least amount of time possible.
Watching her hands weave among the items and wires made the Winter Soldier feel like he was in a trance. Her movements were so natural, so deft. But what really caught attention was her serene expression; she had a slight frown of concentration, and she looked about as comfortable at assembling the bomb as one would be watering plants. He forgot, momentarily, she was building a deadly weapon.
Raven felt the keen stare of the Winter Soldier as he studied her movements,She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
"It was a large part of my training," She began, and the soldier, surprised yet pleased at her choice to speak, listened carefully.
"I often lost the explosives that were given to me on my early missions, so I had to improvise." She finished another pipe bomb and carefully set it aside among the others. "I remember that."
He nodded his head, digging among his own scattered memories, but unable to recall any memory regarding extensive training which focused on creating explosives. He knew other skills he was especially trained for, aside from hand-to-hand and knife combat, such as sniper and tactical practices including reaction-speeds and agility, among other similar sense training programs which were unnerving to remember.
"The pipes are rusted, I don't want to risk premature ignition, so I suggest we set the bombs as soon as possible." She got up from the wooden floor, gray dust staining her black pants.
"These," She said, placing two of the slightly smaller pipe bombs in his hand. "Are more pressurized; shrapnel. They're going near the entrances. They're chances of premature ignition are more, so set these first."
The "entrances" were the most likely areas that Hydra's quinjet, or quinjets, would come from and un-board their occupants. There had been some discussion between the two soldiers, and the two had similar opinions on the locations. There would be ten normal pipe bombs and six more with shrapnel.
James nodded his head in understanding, slightly unnerved with the two explosives in his hands. The brown rusting of the steel didn't do much to ease him. If one of them caps loosened... Boom; the concentrated pressure which triggered the bombs would be released.
Raven grabbed a brown cardboard box, placing the two non-shrapnel explosives inside before taking the remaining two shrapnel ones from the Winter Soldier's hands and adding them to its contents with much care.
"I'll make the rest while you set these." She handed him the box, which he took cautiously. "You cover the Northeast section."
The Winter Soldier placed the last bomb in its arranged place. Having placed the shrapnel explosives first, it had made him less troubled, but only slightly. He knew that the pipes weren't exactly the best quality one could hope for, but there was no other option, and he trusted Raven's skills.
He met her halfway up the stairs, carrying a box of her own. "This is all of it." She informed, looking down into the box. "I found aerosol cans."
The Winter Soldier looked at her quizzically, unsure of what she meant. Her lips curved up a bit. "I made a few smoke bombs." She took three out from the box, handing two of them to him. "You're taking up the head-front, so you'll need it more than I will."
He nodded his head, carefully securing the smoke bombs in his waist belt as she copied him. He peeked inside the box, and surely enough, the rest of the explosives were all tucked neatly beside each other as Raven carefully made her way down the stairs. Perhaps assembling the bombs in the motel hadn't been the best idea as far as ignition risks were concerned, but what was done was done.
Raven set the remaining explosives covering the Northwest section of the small town. The explosion radius had been calculated and taken under account, and no damage, at least not a lot, would be inflicted on the buildings and houses. One explosion would go off, and the impact radius would set off the next explosion, causing a chain-reaction.
Raven handed her companion one of two rod-tasers she had stolen from the BEMEC Complex, offered him the machine gun, a set of taser disks, and extra ammo for his rifle, not to mention two of the four remaining spherical explosives which she had also taken from the facility's weaponry room. They were to be used only in case of emergencies, since they came quite in handy and were the most sophisticated weapons they had possession of.
The Winter Soldier's doubts remained ever present and flourishing in his mind; he couldn't wrap his head around the fact they were so easily risking their capture by Hydra. To wait for them to come? To lure them here when they had tried to get away? So easily? So soon? There were other options, just none that would be as efficient if things turned out their way. But the course of action they'd taken wasn't efficient considering all matters. The risks were much higher. But if they succeeded, it would be... Amazing. They would have a quinjet. They were more than familiar with its structure and they would be able to disable all tracking devices. But did it out weight the risks? What were the chances of the two soldiers getting that far? The anxiety that uncertainty had given birth to was gnawing at the back of the brains of both assassins. They couldn't change their mind now; if they left for the station, which they didn't even know the location of, Hydra would catch up to them. Hiding in the city wasn't an option; surely they would find them. It didn't matter if it took days or weeks. Staying here wouldn't get them anywhere, even though it was better than returning to the serpentine-logo organization.
Raven came to a stop beside James, the snow crunching softly beneath her boots. "It's not too late to change your mind." She said, taking in the snowscape before her.
"I think it is." He replied grimly. Raven's expression remained blank as both of them kept their gaze ahead of them.
"You could find the station. I could stay back here, distract them with the explosives. They'll think we're both together." She offered. Her proposition surprised him, making him look at her confusedly. "At least one of us gets away that way. If I make it, I'll come for you." She finished. James considered her words but shook his head after a moment's thought. "You won't win on your own."
"I might." She countered, although her voice hinted otherwise. Their chances were already unnervingly low. If one of them were to leave, it would dwindle down to almost zero.
"We're doing this together." He stated, pin-pricks needling his spine as he thought of what would happen if Hydra was successful in capturing them. Any memory he had from the organization was terrifying. He wanted nothing to do with it. Never again. Yet here he was, not accepting the chance to escape. He couldn't pin-point the reason why, exactly. Was it to do because they were "together" in this? Because they were both together so far? Because they both wanted to escape? He didn't know, but it didn't feel right to leave her on her own. It would be like leaving a worm among a flock of hungry pigeons. She wouldn't make it through, and he didn't want that.
She wanted to escape just as much as he did. So why would she offer him the option to leave? Because "one of us gets away that way." He swallowed, deciding not to dwell on the decision any further and simply saying "I am not leaving" in his mind once and for all.
"Let's get into position." The Winter Soldier commanded, and with a brief nod of approval from Raven, they both turned to head back to their appointed battle positions. They were in a battle, after all. Both of them were going to fight with everything they had. They would rather risk everything than be strangled by Hydra's tentacles again. They had nothing to lose.
"Ten seconds." Raven informed before they parted paths.
She glanced one last time at the peaceful scenery before her, drinking in all the silence before turning away. Her thumb pressed down on the trigger.