14. Never Mind, Turn Back Time

"Not yet, Steve," Bucky's voice echoed in his head. He was sitting in the back of the quinjet, face in his hands, thinking. Sam was flying. He didn't care where they were going; it didn't matter. Not toward Bucky.

Steve had awakened groggily on the tarmac, Sam standing over him, shouting at him. He'd jumped to his feet immediately, calling out for Bucky. Sam stopped him and told him his friend was gone. With Natasha. What the hell was she doing with him? Why hadn't she told him about this? Was there some past history she hadn't mentioned? He'd thought he could trust her. To save his life, to help him. Not to go off with his friend on some mission without letting him know Buck wasn't with HYDRA, wasn't dead.

"Steve, calm down," Sam's voice had finally broken through his chaotic thoughts. "She said she'd bring him in when he'd let her."

"You talked to her?" Steve demanded, turning to face his friend.

"Yeah, man, come on. Let's not chat here."

Steve looked around. There were people on the tarmac, staring at them. The plane, Bucky's plane, was gone. He followed Sam and paced the floor inside the quinjet while Sam relayed what Natasha had told him.

"How'd she find him?" Steve wondered aloud.

"I don't know. She didn't say. What do you think we should do, Cap?"

He sighed. "Hang back, like she said. I guess we could go back to Tony's. Gather intel on him so we can be useful whenever she gets him to come back to us."

"Good thinking. Have a seat. I'll fly."

The flight was a few hours. Steve was lost in thought for the majority of it. He'd been excited to be on Bucky's trail, but finding him had definitely not gone how he'd imagined (or hoped) it would. What was Bucky doing? Taking down HYDRA, it looked like. Or trying to. Steve thought painfully that this had been the mission Bucky had been doing before he fell. And the Winter Soldier would certainly have a good reason to continue it. Wouldn't it be easier to complete if he had some help? Well, Steve supposed, that was potentially where Natasha came in. Had Bucky recruited her or had she found him? He couldn't wait to hear the story.

Tony was not surprised to see them. Sam explained what had happened, and Tony showed them some rooms they could borrow. Steve stayed in his for a long time. Eventually, he joined Sam and Tony, and occasionally Pepper or Bruce, mainly to discuss what Bucky and Nat could possibly be doing. And theorize how they had ended up working together. The last time they'd met, on the highway, Nat had barely escaped with her life. She might not have, if Steve hadn't been there. It was generally agreed that her being alive still was a good sign in terms of Bucky's recovery from being the Soldier. It was anyone's guess where his mind was, though.

Time passed slowly for Steve. He worried constantly about his friends, and Sam and Tony could do little to distract him. Not that they didn't try, of course, but were rarely successful. Steve wasn't sure how many days it had been, perhaps a week, when his laptop suddenly displayed a message in the corner. His heart skipped a beat when he saw it was from Nat. It was encoded, of course, but he'd had plenty of experience decoding messages from allies; it didn't take him too long to find out what she had to say. Bucky was okay, she assured him, and had eleven bases he was going to take down. Then they might have a reunion.

He had heard about other bases being destroyed. Well, about destruction, anyway. The news reports did not contain as much information as he would have liked. Bucky and his team were not caught on film again, so it was unclear how many bases Steve could say with certainty his friend had found and demolished. In any case, knowing there was a finite number before Bucky might consider himself done was great news. Steve hurried to tell Sam and Tony, and let them distract him from his guilt for an evening.

The next morning, Steve woke up before everyone else. That was often the case. He opened his laptop to read more of the files he had on Bucky. He'd read them all before, but spent a great deal of time looking for further clues. Even if he found the likely location of a base where the Winter Soldier had been worked on, he knew he had to resist going there. Natasha had told him to wait, and he was willing to put his trust in her. Though his patience had been wearing thin until yesterday. Now he wanted to use the information in the files to determine exactly how many of the eleven bases were already destroyed.

To his surprise, there was another message on his screen. It provided the coordinates of a location in South America and a time; twelve hours from now. His brow furrowed. It was clearly from Nat, but he definitely hadn't expected to hear from her again so soon. Was something wrong? He looked up from his laptop and saw that the sun, at least, was up. Tony had finished Sam's suit two days ago, so Steve decided it was a good time to wake everyone.

The coordinates Nat sent lead Steve and Sam to a field in Chile. It currently had no crops growing on it, so it was an easy landing spot. The jungle rimmed three sides of the field. Steve told Sam to wait and left the quinjet alone, dressed in his stealth uniform and holding his shield. They had scanned the area for any kind of trap, and come up with nothing. Still, it was good not to rush into things.

"Hey, Steve," Natasha called, stepping out of the jungle.

Steve looked passed her, but no one else seemed to be there. "Hey, Nat. You doing okay?" he asked, focusing on her. Her stride was a little slow, and she seemed to be favoring her side.

"Just got shot at a little. I'm fine," she answered with a smirk as she closed the distance between them. He clenched his jaw, frowning at her. "Don't worry, Rogers. There was a mole. A few, actually. We took care of them. But I was hoping you could help us take down their boss," she explained.

"We?"

She smiled a little sadly. "Your pal Bucky. And me. The rest of the men were let go."

"So just the three of us?"

"Sam won't want to sit this one out."

He glanced toward the quinjet. "You're right. What's the plan?"

She handed him a flash drive. "Follow the instructions carefully, Rogers. I'd hate for you to jeopardize the whole operation," she explained, her smirk returning.

"I understand," he replied, not matching her expression.

She put a hand on his shoulder. "Steve. He's okay. We'll all meet up again soon, and maybe we can take some time off to catch up."

"Thanks, Nat," he said sincerely. She nodded at him, and turned away, disappearing back into the jungle. He frowned after her, then looked down at the drive in his hand.

They arrived in Nice, France before dawn. Following Nat's directions exactly saw them waiting in a small café near the center of the city, drinking coffee. They were right on time. Sam had his wings on under his jacket, and Steve was similarly suited up. His shield was on his back, not handy, but he was ready. At 07:00, they left the café and ducked down the alley next to it. There was a door some ways back, which Steve knocked on as instructed.

The door opened and a man stood before them, frowning at them. "Who are you?" he demanded in French.

Steve looked passed him, into the long, narrow room behind him. "Captain America," he replied calmly, then punched the man in the face. With Sam on his heels, he entered the room, stepping over the unconscious door guard. There was a television, some couches, and some lab equipment.

"I hate this part," Sam said quietly as Steve wrenched open the hidden elevator at the back of the room.

"What part?" Steve asked conversationally as they got in and waited patiently to reach the correct floor.

Sam pulled off his jacket and tossed it on the floor. "It's hard to use wings underground," he explained, pulling out his pistols.

"I'm sure you'll manage," Steve answered as the doors opened to reveal a room large enough to be a hangar bay.

"Looks like it," Sam replied quickly before the first set of guards noticed their presence. After that, there wasn't any time for talking. Sam took off and dispatched the men on the parapets. Steve dove into the fray and made quick work of the dozen or so men around him. They were not as well-trained as the Strike team, and he had more room to use his shield. When he'd gotten through the first wave of men, he tossed his shield to take down a man trying to snipe Sam, who soon was returning the favor. Air support was always a big advantage in a battle, even such a small one as this.

The second group of guards to reach Steve had clearly been better trained, and it took him some time to drop them all. Midway through them, he heard alarms blaring and things exploding. He was strongly reminded of the last mission on the helicarriers, and wondered vaguely if that meant Bucky was here. Or, more accurately, the Winter Soldier. Bucky had always relied more on stealth.

Panting, Steve paused to catch his breath and survey the damage. The men he'd fought were mainly unconscious, but might awaken soon. The far side of the cavernous room was aflame, and more guards were heading in that direction than coming to face him. "You okay, Sam?" he asked into his radio, looking up.

Sam landed next to him. "So far," he replied. "Got grazed a little, but I'll live. Shall we?"

"Let's go."

On the other side of the compound, which they crossed with little opposition, Steve knew there was another room. It was smaller, with heavy steel doors and thick concrete walls. Nat didn't know if it also contained an elevator or went further underground, but she had known this was where they would find their target. So far, Steve and Sam had engaged and beaten twenty-five guards. She had thought there might be at least fifty men working down there. As they approached the smaller room, they saw bodies of at least ten men. Others ran toward them, or maybe away, and Steve knocked these down, so they couldn't come back and corner their attackers while they were busy in the small room.

When they finally got to the other side, Steve and Sam found that there were several corridors they hadn't expected. Exchanging a glance, they split up and went down the two furthest left. Steve walked lightly, not wanting to attract notice. There were explosions and flames behind him, but he couldn't hear anything up ahead. The hallway turned to the right at a 270 degree angle and he slowed to a stop behind the curve, listening hard. He could hear a scuffle. He tightened his grip on his shield and moved forward.

The room was clearly someone's quarters. There was a bed, a desk, some chairs, a television. These were in disarray, debris covering the ground. The Winter Soldier stood near the far wall, his metal arm holding an older man off his feet by the throat. The Soldier was masked, and the man was gasping, hands scrabbling against the metal. Before Steve could say anything, a panel of wall magically slid aside and a man leaned out, pressing the barrel of a rifle against the Soldier's side. Bucky froze, eyebrows drawn down in a glare as he turned his head slightly in the direction of the threat. Steve could guess what would happen next, and took the opportunity to throw his shield. A gunshot rang out as it hit the guard in the chest, knocking him back, then bounced and hit Bucky as well, with enough force for him to drop his captive.

Steve jumped forward to retrieve it, then grabbed the older man by the collar and pushed him onto his knees. He brought his hands behind his back and stood behind him, looking at Bucky. "Sorry about that," he said quietly.

The Soldier was rubbing absently at his side where the shield had struck him. "I had him," he replied.

Both tensed when footsteps could be heard running down the hall, ready to face another attack. But then Sam and Nat appeared. "Oh, good," she said, slowing.

"Guess I picked the wrong hallway," Sam muttered. He looked a little worse for wear.

"The guard barracks," Nat explained, motioning in the direction Sam had gone. "I came along just in time."

"Yeah, thanks," Sam told her, smiling briefly.

"Well, that went mostly according to plan. Shall we get out of here?" Nat suggested, hands on her hips.

Steve glanced at Bucky, who hadn't moved except to relax a little since the two had appeared. "Yeah, I've got him," he said, referring to the man at his feet.

"Great." Nat smiled almost reassuringly at him, seeing the way he'd glanced at Bucky. "Let's move out, gentlemen."