Chapter Twenty-One:

Oh, tell me how did it feel?

Did it all get too real for you?

Everybody's screaming out your name

Are you scared?

''Where are we going?'' Bucky said gruffly, as he took his seat as the chopper whipped up a storm of white powdered snow around them and the doors slid shut with a barely audible slap over the din of the helicopter.

His only company were six of the guards in black.

He had been given a map, shown a picture, and told only that he was to acquire his target - alive.
He was uncertain whether these guards were in charge of him, or he was in charge of them. It was of little consequence, he would do the job, and return as quickly as possible.

There was no answer from any of his compatriots - not that he had expected any, their masked faces and frosty glares left him a little unnerved. He busied himself by adjusting the straps on his boots and told himself that this was going to be a silent journey.

He thoughts were filled with her, Rachel, his Rachel, and his heart was filled with an unfamiliar ache.
He could taste her lips on his, and he swore by everything he knew, he could feel that again.

She was alone, she was alone in a Hydra base and he could not help her.

As the chopper gained height and the snow covered ground of an unfamiliar landscape met his eyes he tried to comfort himself with the knowledge that she would be there when he got back.

Rachel's thoughts not of a dissimilar nature as her blood colored the cold floor, - looking horribly bright against the stone.

Her jaw was starting to swell already and she was pretty sure there was a tooth in the blood she had just spat out. The only thought she held onto was the fact that
Bucky had promised to come back to her. She held it tightly and it warmed her from the inside out, she would hold it within her until she could hold Bucky in the flesh.

''Tell me.'' Wanda's sinister grin echoed almost distantly, she was balancing a knife on her middle finger. There was a strangely startling red aura around her that made Rachel nervous. There was something altogether unsettling about Wanda. Something not natural or even human.

''I don't know.'' Rachel breathed, her chest heaving, ''I treated Bucky, I never had access to any files, I was never told any of this stuff. No passwords, no codes, no information about anything that wasn't to do with Bucky.''

Wanda rocked back on her heels. She looked disappointed, ''The sad thing is that I believe you 7145...'' She strode towards Rachel with a purpose and a determination that made a shiver run down Rachel's spine.

She wondered blindly where Bucky was, and in a second of tortured bliss she thought she felt his lips on hers once more, burning and harsh.

''We have much time to spend together.'' Wanda touched Rachel's swollen cheek with her fingers, causing her to flinch violently against her will.

She knew what was about to happen, yet she could neither stop it nor tell herself it wasn't real once Wanda got inside her head.

Rachel could feel the sand beneath her toes, the fresh air whipped her hair around her, she could taste the salt on her lips instead of blood. Wanda and her pain were a million miles away.

It was blissful ignorance, and upon opening her eyes she saw she was in fact on a beach, the light blue sundress she wore rolled around her knees playfully in the afternoon breeze.

''That color is beautiful on you.'' Bucky's fingers laced between her own, and she was not surprised to find warm skin instead of cold steel.
She looked up into his bright blue eyes and to her - the glistening surface of the ocean paled in comparison. He was smiling down at her and moved to stand behind her, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist.

It was perfection personified and Rachel wondered briefly if life could get any better.
She closed her eyes and did not notice the clouds rolling in.

She noticed nothing out of the ordinary until she felt the cold sting of the blade pierce the soft pale skin of her neck. Her eyes flew open and she tried to lift her hands but Bucky held her wrists tightly in one of his own.
''B-Buc-''
''Keep your mouth shut.'' he snarled with a venom that sounded horribly natural to him.
She could feel the heat of the blood as it ran down her neck.

''You're Stark's bitch.'' he went on.
''A slave to that filthy war-monger.'' the blade pressed more tightly still and Rachel struggled helplessly against him, but it was of little use, Bucky's grip did not shift an inch.

''You betrayed me!'' He roared and in the sun the blade glinted as it sliced her, all but from ear to ear. She felt the blood bubble in the back of her throat and screamed, a horrible gurgling sound.

Bucky was falling, the sensation was sickening.

The first explosion had skimmed the chopper with minimal damage.
The second explosion was slightly more effective.

The tail end of the chopper had been ripped away, and several of the soldiers accompanying Bucky who had not strapped themselves in where torn from their seats, and no amount of training or conditioning would stop them screeching like children.

Bucky knew they were lost, he was - for the first time in his life grateful for his metal arm. Instinct had kicked in as second explosion hit, and he whipped around and latched onto the back bar of the seat with his left arm, it was the only thing that stopped him from being pulled from the now spinning chopper.

He could hear the pilot's shouting, the remaining solider's were stock still, eyes closed and breathing shallow.

It was a split decision that saves Bucky's life.
He knew they were under attack, he did not know by whom, but he knew he would not live for very long if he stayed inside the chopped.

Bucky let go.

The air whipped around him so forcefully he thought his neck might snap. His stomach somersaulted as he rolled through the icy air. The ocean was rising up to meet him and he maneuvered himself for minimal impact.

That's going to be cold. He thought absently as he inhaled and placed his hand over his mouth and closing his eyes.

But he was not winded by the sudden rush of water.
Instead something slammed into him from behind with such force he knew it couldn't possibly be water, it wasn't until he heard the whirring of the mechanized suit that he realized it was in fact Tony Stark - wearing his Iron Man suit of course.

It took Bucky a moment to fully comprehend as Tony pulled him upwards away from the falling wreckage of the chopped that had been carrying him only seconds ago and flew towards a rather intimidating black jet.

The wind rushed past him so fast he couldn't speak, and Tony's voice was just discernible above the roar of said wind.

''I have him. Open the doors.''

Circling around the back of the jet Bucky watched through squinted eyes as the ramp lowered itself and Tony carried him into the belly of the jet, landing him neatly on his feet. It took Bucky a moment to find his balance, his legs quivered treacherously beneath him.

''Buck!"
It was Steve, of course it was Steve.
Bucky felt a numbing guilt that he could not remember Steve as Steve remembered him.
He reasoned briefly that he would, he would remember this man who cared so inexorably for him.

''I'm okay.'' Bucky's voice was hoarse, but loud as his hand touched his side tenderly where Tony had slammed into him.

''Rachel?'' her name fell from his lips with an unmistakable air of panic.

Steve looked at the floor, ''Not yet, but we'll find her Buck.''

Bucky took a moment to look around.

Natalia - Natasha was in the cockpit. Barton stood behind her, they seemed to be discussing something - neither took interest in the new arrival.
There was the thrum of metal as Tony's helmet retracted, showing his face.

''So what happened Barnes? You leave S.H.I.E.L.D and suddenly your tracer goes dark and Rachel goes missing.'' his brow furrowed and he folded his arms.

A flash of rage - so violent in nature that Bucky couldn't have stopped himself even if he wanted to - flashed through him like a bolt of lightning.
He lunged at Tony with a primal roar.
Bucky's human hand wrapped tightly around his jugular and his metal arm - seemingly with a vendetta of it's own managed to pin both of Tony's armed wrists above his head.

''I would never harm her.'' he snarled. ''I don't know what kind of HYDRA might have done to me but I'm not a goddamned monster.'' he went on.

''BUCKY!" Steve tackled him from the side, catching him off balance and shoving him off Tony who rolled over, coughing loudly.
Tony muttered something that sounded dangerously like - ''Fucking psychopath.'' as he got to his feet.

''C'mon Buck - he didn't mean it, we know - we know where Rachel is. We're going to get her out.'' Steve stood between Iron Man and the Winter Solider, holding his hands up, but it was the mention of the good Doctor's name that brought Bucky back to his senses.

''You've got her location?'' he asked sharply, eyeing Steve carefully.
Steve nodded slowly. ''We're en route - you'll have to s-''

Bucky rolled his eyes, ''Don't even suggest leaving me behind.'' he scoffed.
Steve made to say something but closed his mouth and shook his head.

It was Tony who spoke next - his voice a little shaky.
''Fill in the blanks, we're aware it was a HYDRA sting, and we tracked you to here... but after that...'' he trailed off, massaging his throat and glaring at Bucky.

''Please!" Rachel begged, she was on her hands and knees, the blood poured from her mouth impairing her speech slightly.
Wanda laughed and landed a brutal kick to Rachel's ribs that winded her.

''The only reason you are alive is because Engel wants you alive.'' Wanda's voice was a low growl.
The tears streaked through the dirt and the blood that marred Rachel's face.

''I don't understand why I'm here.'' Rachel's begging had turned to sobs.
While her physical injuries were minimal - an odd fracture or hard bruising, it was the mental attacks she could no longer stand.

The line between what was real and what Wanda projected was becoming harder and harder to find.

Wanda's projections grew more graphic and twisted each time and Rachel's mind was spinning, in her moments of understood reality she started listing off who she was and what she knew to be true.
This too proved a challenge however as - in all truthfulness - her life had be come a tad unrealistic in the previous week/s.

So she brought herself back to what she knew best.
Your name is Rachel.
You're from New York.
You're a Doctor.
You're a good person.
You need to get home.

''7145!" Wanda's voice was so close to her ear - Rachel had not seen her move forward - that not only did Rachel flinch violently.
But something very strange happened.

Rachel's hand took a mind of it's own and she drew out with the back of her hand across Wanda's cheek - the force was such that Wanda did not merely stumble back - she was lifted, several inches off of the ground and thrown violently into the back of the door.

Rachel gasped, clutching her hands to her mouth and looking on in terror, at herself and what she had done.
She was almost certain she had never hit another person in her life - well save for a few well placed taps with the heel of her walking stick when someone was really starting to piss her off.

She didn't work out, she was never taught how to hit someone.
So as she looked at her hands in wonder she was stuck by a thought that rocked her to her very core.

Her hands weren't shaking, not even a tremor. Her mouth ran dry as a voice in the back of her head reminded her softly - the tested on you. You could be just as strong as Bucky or Steve, you just don't know it yet...

Rachel was snapped from her reverie as Wanda groaned and a gunshot sounded from down the corridor.