Chapter Twenty-One – No Plan Survives Contact

U2 – All I Want Is You

"Brock," Maria's voice crackled in his ear, "there's only one heat signature in the vehicle, and that's the driver. No other vehicles moving in the plant."

Fucking hell. They'd hoped that Bakshi would bring Jemma out with him – Rumlow had demanded it – but Bakshi obviously had something else planned. Tricky bastard. Brock bared his teeth with frustration.

"Copy that," he murmured finally. "Plan B."

Plan B was that Brock would demand Jemma be brought out. Plan C was that he go in, and once he reached her location, use an electronic signaller that Tony had fixed to the inside of one of his front teeth, to let the team know he had Jemma. He would then protect her while the team assaulted the facility to get them out – if, of course, he couldn't talk their way out.

All the plans went straight in the crapper when Bakshi sat down and pulled out his phone.

"Here's your proof of life, Rumlow," he said without preamble. "Live feed from her cell."

Brock took the phone. The camera was filming from the front, through cell bars. He could see Jemma sitting on the floor, against the bars on one side, but nothing else. She was right in the corner of the picture.

"How do I know this is live?" he said, willing his voice not to shake. She looked all right. No bruises, no marks. Her hair was even combed and she was wearing light blue hospital scrubs.

Bakshi shrugged. "I could call and order someone to go in and wave, if you like?"

Rumlow looked into his eyes. Saw the fear there. "No. I believe you." And he did. Bakshi knew what he was capable of, wouldn't dare double-cross him. "So what's the deal?"

"The higher-ups want you back, Rumlow. They're prepared to let you keep her, but you know very well they'll try to use her to control you. They're not happy about what you did in Charlotte, mind you, but considering your past service," Bakshi shrugged again. "If Whitehall was still alive, I daresay you'd be made to comply. But with him gone, there's no one else as effective at the process."

"It might well not work on us anyway," Brock looked back down at the phone in his hand. It was a good, clear image. He could see Jemma's lips moving; she was talking to someone. A fellow prisoner, perhaps?

"She's fine, Rumlow," Bakshi sighed as he saw Rumlow look down. "She was sick as a dog when she came in, some nasty flu-type virus, but I handed her over to medical and they sorted her out. No one's hurt her, I promise you."

"Rollins?"

"I pulled some strings and had him sent on an errand to Miami. He should be back in a day or so, so you don't want to delay too long." Bakshi hesitated, then admitted the truth. "The two of us don't get along without you around."

Rumlow smiled tightly. "I can imagine you wouldn't. Questioning your authority, is he?"

Bakshi said nothing.

"I want Jemma out."

"You know that's not going to happen. She's SHIELD and she could be used to compromise you. Like I said, the higher-ups are prepared to let you keep her – but you already went rogue for her sake once. I know from personal experience how smart she is. Who's to say she couldn't convince you to switch sides?"

Brock laughed harshly at that. "Switch sides, are you kidding me? Me? I'd be for the firing squad if Coulson ever caught up with me, we both know that. I couldn't sing loud or long enough to save my neck, not with the things I've done."

Bakshi smirked, nodding. "Well, I'm glad you're smart enough to see that. So you see, you really have no option, Rumlow. You need to come back in."

Rumlow sat for a moment. Looked down at the phone again. "I'll get to keep her?" he made his voice come out low and snarling. It wasn't difficult, considering the rage bubbling deep inside him.

Bakshi's smirk widened, thinking he'd found Rumlow's weakness. "You know I'm not the ultimate authority. But I spoke to von Strucker and he's prepared to forgive and forget, as long as you come in."

"Any restrictions?"

"What, unarmed? I wouldn't insult you that way, sir." The sir slipped out unintentionally, and Bakshi silently cursed himself. Technically, he and Rumlow were – or had been, anyway – equal in rank within HYDRA. The need to show deference to the other man seemed to be instinctual after they were enhanced, though; he couldn't help himself. He could fight it with Rollins – the man was an idiot – but Rumlow was another matter.

"Good." Rumlow took one last glance down at the phone in his hand, at Jemma sitting on the floor of her cell. "Let's be going, then." He hadn't touched anything, but the camera feed suddenly shut off. "What the… did you do that?"

"Do what?" Bakshi took the phone back, tapped buttons. Scowled and dialled a number, lifting the phone to his ear. "The camera feed's down, what the hell?" he snapped when someone answered at the other end.

Brock's enhanced hearing quite clearly picked up the answer. "Rollins has gone in, sir, he must have cut the feed."

"Send them in after him," Brock was on his feet instantly, grabbing Bakshi's expensive silk tie. "Right the fuck now. And we're going there. Now. Move!"

Bakshi gabbled hasty orders as Rumlow dragged him to his feet. He pointed outside, to the car he'd come in, and the two men rushed for it at once.

Brock snatched the phone as they reached the car, put it on speaker as Bakshi started the vehicle and peeled out of the parking space. He knew the rest of the team were listening in on comms and this really wasn't the way even Plan C was supposed to go down, but with Rollins in there with Jemma…

"Rollins has come out, sir," the voice on the other end of the line said shakily.

"Get the camera feed back up!" Bakshi ordered.

"Sir – Rollins says the Soldier is loose. He's locked the vault door." The voice firmed slightly. "I'm not going in there if the Soldier's on the loose, sir. I'd rather you shot me." And the line was abruptly cut.

"Fucking cowards!" Bakshi spat. He cast one look at Rumlow's bared teeth and pressed his foot down harder on the accelerator.

"What the fuck, Bakshi, you said Rollins was in Miami – and what the fuck is the Winter Soldier doing here?" Rumlow knew everything he said was being picked up by the tiny, flesh-coloured comm button in his ear. His would be muted unless he deliberately keyed it on, though, they couldn't risk Bakshi hearing something and realising he was wired. This haste might actually work in his favour, Rumlow realised; Bakshi might well be too distracted to have him searched.

"Rollins was in Miami but obviously he's back early!" Bakshi ran a red light. "As for the Soldier, they picked him up about six weeks ago in Georgia, of all places. His cryo tube was destroyed in the Triskelion basement and there wasn't a spare; they're making a new one in Austria and shipping it out, but it's not here yet. Even with frequent wipes he was getting difficult to manage, so when I got out of Gitmo they sent me here to keep an eye on him. He doesn't listen to me like he does you, but I can keep him reasonably quiet without resorting to overly brutal tactics."

Like Rollins, Rumlow thought but didn't say. He hadn't really mentioned the Winter Soldier to the Avengers, since he had no idea where Barnes was. Hearing that he'd been in captivity for weeks though – why the hell hadn't they called Rumlow in to manage him? He said as much.

Bakshi glanced sideways at him. "Rollins was the one who found him. I heard he convinced the powers that be that you'd always been too soft on him."

Rumlow snorted. "He's not a dog. No point treating him like one. Even if he was, you beat a dog, it's gunna bite you."

A tight smile curved Bakshi's mouth. "I think Rollins found that out."

They were coming up on the facility now. It was late, after ten o'clock, and full dark, and there were lights blazing everywhere, men running around like ants. For a horrible moment Brock wondered if the Avengers had kicked off the attack without him, but then realised he couldn't hear gunfire anywhere.

"What the hell," Bakshi muttered as the security guard opened the gates to let them in. There was no point arguing with the guard, though, so he turned the car and drove to the last but one concrete cube.

"This the place?" Brock got out of the car quickly and headed for the door.

"Yes, this is the medical and holding facility. Rumlow…"

"Shut up and move, Bakshi!" He turned with a snarl, and the other man cast his eyes down, stilling. Acknowledging the greater predator.

Aware he would probably lose the signal the second he walked through the door, Rumlow glanced up at the sky and quickly flicked his tongue three times against the signaller glued to his tooth. It was an agreed signal. They'd give him ten minutes and then come in guns blazing. He needed to get to Jemma before that happened.

"Bucky's in there, I'm going in now!" Steve was on his feet as soon as Rumlow set the locator off. Tony, suited up and ready, was the only one with a chance of stopping him – and he did, crashing into him hard and taking them both to the ground.

"Ten minutes, Steve, that's the signal. If you jump the gun and get Jemma killed, you won't bloody survive long enough to see Bucky again because Rumlow will kill you!"

"And if he doesn't, one of us will," Bobbi muttered, fingering her stun batons.

"Patience! Hawk's inbound with Widow and Skull, Bakshi took off like a bat out of hell and they're a couple of minutes behind anyway. Let's wait until we have everyone here and the best chance of success, hmm?"

All eyes were on Steve, panting on the ground, Tony holding him down with his armour.

"Fine!" he snapped at last. "Who's got the timer?"

"It's on the clock, Steve," Maria's voice said in his ear, completely unruffled. "Nine minutes and seven seconds to go. Tony, flash them a heads-up display so I can show them which building."

Within a minute the other car screeched up and Clint, Natasha and Sharon piled out, coming over to look at the display Tony's helmet was projecting onto the ground as they thrashed out their tactics for the assault. "Gimme a lift, Stark," Clint demanded as the timer ticked down to zero, and Tony grinned, snapping his faceplate down.

"Time to rock 'n'roll!"

They were all startled by the explosion that blew out a good chunk of one of the building's walls.

Where Rumlow goes, explosions seem to follow – a lot can happen in ten minutes. As we'll see in the next chapter…