Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm sitting at my desk in my Halloween costume as I type this out. Thank you so much for your reviews! I have something awesome to share! The wonderful Like it Random has made fan art! Holy cow! Fan art, for this fanfic! That's absolutely crazy! It came out amazing and I wanted you guys to see it! The link is in my profile and for your reference it's
like-it-random . deviantart art/Riley-J-Campbell-To-Catch-A-Ghost-569033196
like-it-random . deviantart. com /art/Stand-Off-To-Catch-A-Ghost-569169255
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Like it Random: Yay updates! Hope you enjoy the next chapter!
SarahMichelleGellarFan1: Thank you!
Lynnspid5: New adventures are usually awesome…. Maybe not for our favorite red head and Ghost…
You know the drill!
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Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Marvel.
They were silent for most of their walk; the crunching snow beneath their feet sounded like bombs going off in Riley's ears. She even jumped slightly at the snapping of a nearby branch under the snow's weight. She was on edge; high alert even. They both were. It's like they knew something was coming and all they could do was wait for the hammer to fall.
"So what are we looking for, Ghost?" She finally spoke, she had to. The deafening silence was driving her mad. "Will this base have any Intel?"
Bucky kept his head forward, his boots crushing into the snow with force as he went. "It should have something for us. Abandoned bases are usually cleared out but there's always something left behind."
She wasn't convinced. "And if there isn't?"
He smirked. "Back to square one, I guess."
"I don't think we really have time to go back to square one." She muttered as they continued to walk. "They could have survivors from my family, we have to get to them."
"And we will." He said, stopping finally after their long walk. Riley stopped beside him as he turned to finally face her. "I promise you, if they're alive we'll rescue them. If not, we'll avenge them. That's a promise I plan on keeping, Red."
She smiled wearily, trying to joke now. "So there were other promises you didn't intend to keep?"
He chuckled, pulling her close and kissing her the top of her head. "All my promises to you—" He began as he pulled away from her. "I don't plan on breaking."
"Well, you promised to kill me once."
"There's still time for that, doll." He winked as he turned from his sniper counterpart and heading forward towards a rather large lump of snow.
"That's not funny!" She called from behind him, grinning like an idiot as she raced forward to see what he was looking at. The large pile of snow seemed to be covering something much bigger than she expected. 'This must be it' she thought. "The base?"
Bucky nodded, walking to the front of the large pile and brushing off as much snow as he could to reveal a metal door. "We're here, now we just need to get it."
Something seemed really familiar about this place, Riley couldn't place it at first. Even covered in snow, this place had familiarity. "How do we get in?" She asked.
"Have a little patience, darling." Bucky teased as he reached for the crack in the door. Using his metal arm he began to pull with all his might. The metal door creaked and moaned, echoing in the empty woods as snow fell from the top of the frame. He pulled and pulled, making just enough of a gap that the two could sneak in. Bucky stood up straight again, brushing off any snow that fell on him as he looked at Riley. "Shall we?" She hesitated for a millisecond, this was it, the start of the end. Bucky noticed and merely sighed. "We don't have to go in, we can turn around."
Riley shook her head, forcing herself forward and she smirked. "Now where's your sense of adventure, Ghost?" She said mockingly. "We have to go forward, I'm fine."
"Promise?" He asked.
"Promise." She repeated, receiving a not-so-convinced nod from Ghost as the two entered the bunker.
Another Time and Place...
"We have readings from outside the abandoned bunker. Three miles out." The man said, visibly shaking as he gave the news to his superior.
"Aircraft?" She asked in her velvety voice as she lounged elegantly on her chase. It was her favorite piece of furniture, one she kept with her in her state room.
He nodded. "Small plane, it seems. No word on how many passengers." She pursed her lips, looking up finally at the man with no name. She couldn't care less for who he was or his rank, he was inferior. "Should we send recon to eliminate any possible threat?"
"That won't be necessary." She sounded almost bored. "We are going to have a guest. Send out the welcome wagon." Her lips curled to a small smile. "You can prepare a room for our new guest." The man nodded before quickly leaving. Nora was in a fantastic mood. Soon, she'd have her daughter right where she wanted her.
Riley noted that Bucky seemed almost too prepared for their spontaneous and rebellious mission. He came equipped with a heavy duty mag light to help them see throughout the dark and cold corridors. This place had been abandoned for months, it seemed. She did noticed a lot of brownish red stains on the walls; it was hard not to notice. "What happened here?" She asked.
"I happened." Bucky said sternly.
Riley felt guilty for even mentioning it. "You were under orders; brainwashed."
He shrugged. "I still did it. The Winter Soldier is a part of me, lest we forget that little detail."
"If this was a HYDRA base, then why did you—" She couldn't even finish the thought.
"Loose ends. HYDRA did that a lot for bases that had no use, or were too easy to infiltrate. I don't really remember the specifics of this mission, I just know I had something to do with it." He said with a sigh. "Server room is this way, I'm sure there's files in here still."
Riley began to notice more familiar things about the bunker; the color of the chipping painted walls, the floor. It wasn't until the two walked into the server room she nearly busted out laughing. Bucky watched the girl curiously as she wandered the dark room in excitement, like a kid in a candy store. "This is amazing!" She exclaimed.
"I think you're slowly succumbing to hypothermia and are currently in the stage of insanity." Barnes deduced as he watched her.
Riley practically skipped over to him. "You don't recognize this place, do you?"
Bucky shook his head. "I just remember completing a mission here."
She smiled. "You once chased a red head that you planned to kill, out of this room and pulled her out of an air vent."
Bucky looked at her, no recognition on his face as he tried to remember. Why did that sound familiar? He tried to think long and hard about it, did he really encounter Riley here? Then it clicked, the flash drive; she had tricked him by switching out the blank one. "You switched flash drives." Riley smiled mischievously as Bucky chuckled. "I still need to get revenge for that." He was remembering things that felt like distant memories; slowly, intimately, they were coming back to him. That was something he had desperately wanted; to remember everything about his red head and their time together. For the first time in a while, he felt like he was finally getting that chance.
"This was my first mission, grabbing Intel from their servers." Riley reminisced. "I was trying not to get killed and you were making so much noise. It was like a bull in a china shop." She joked. He loved this moment, he loved everything about her in this moment. The way she smiled telling him about their time here, the way she laughed at something obscene about that day; her nervous quirk, brushing her hair behind her ears. He loved it all. "You chased me out of this room and down the hallway to where I came in. You were actually nice to me." She said. "You told me the best way to get out unscathed."
"How could I let someone else take my kill?" He simpered.
Riley looked at him in disbelief before laughing. "It's like déjà vu, you said the same exact thing." She came closer to him, her Ghost, smiling up at him. Right now in this moment she truly realized just how tall and towering he was over her. "Do you remember anything about this?"
He gently pulled her closer. "I remember not wanting to kill you, at least, not here."
"So romantic." Riley teased, rolling her eyes.
"I remember your red hair more than anything." He said. "But I do remember your sarcasm, I don't remember exactly what you said to me but, I can remember your tone." He chuckled. "It's really hard to forget your sarcasm."
"It's my best feature." She said, trying her best not to sound sarcastic; it always came out that way. Bucky gave her a knowing look. "Anyway, we should start looking around." He wished they wouldn't, he wished they could just reminisce all day and not look at this dead end. She'd realize it soon enough that there was nothing here for her… then what? He watched Riley head off into the dark and towards what looked like filing cabinets. He took a deep breath and followed her to the far corner. She grabbed the handle and tried to pull open the first drawer; nothing. She tried again with no avail. Finally, she looked at Bucky, almost apologetically.
He gave her a small smile before grabbing the handle with his metal hand and pulling with great force, the drawer opening with a loud squeak. "What would you do without me?" He asked causing Riley to groan at his boast.
"Probably be retired on a beach somewhere." She was being facetious.
"Well, there's still Brazil." He mentioned in passing as Riley searched the file drawer only to come up empty handed. He then assisted by opening the second stuck drawer, this one a little harder to open than the first.
"I can't just go retire." Riley said dismissively as she searched the next drawer. This drawer, unlike the first, had scraps of paper. Riley began to rummage through them for any clues. "Can't just leave the Avengers."
"You're not an Avenger." Barnes reminded her.
"Not with that attitude." She quipped before sighing, these papers were meaningless. Nothing on any other bases, Nora, anything. "We aren't going to find anything here, are we?"
"Not with that attitude." He mimicked only to receive a playful whack to the arm. "We just have to keep looking." He said between chuckles. "Keep searching through these, I'll look over there." He said, handing her his flashlight.
"How are you going to see?" She asked.
"I know my way around this place." Bucky said, wandering off into the darkness of the server room.
As much as she wanted to, she didn't trust him. Whether that was because of her training, her past, or the fact that he was acting odd; she couldn't place it. Something was off, she could feel it. The more she searched the file cabinets, the more she began to realize the answers she wanted weren't here. Riley couldn't help but feel that Bucky already knew that.
Twenty minutes had gone by and Riley had found nothing. Absolutely nothing. Frustration was beginning to set in as she groaned, tossing papers in the air and sat on the floor. "There's nothing here!" She exclaimed. "This place has nothing vital about any other bases."
"Maybe there's another—" Barnes began.
"No, there's nothing here." She was firm. "We need to go to the HIVE." Even in the dark she could see the hesitation on Bucky's face. "Why can't we go to the HIVE?"
"I can't guarantee what's going to happen at the HIVE." Bucky said cryptically.
Riley groaned as she forced herself to stand. "Ghost, I'm tired of this." She said. "You're hiding something from me."
He scoffed. "What could I possibly be hiding?"
"I don't know but, I thought you were here to help me." She said. "Either help me or get out of my way."
"You can't go out there alone." He rolled his eyes at her. "Don't be stupid."
"Then what is it?" Riley demanded. "Why can't we go to the HIVE?"
"The HIVE is where I was created." Bucky finally said, frustration in every syllable. "It's a dangerous place, I'm pretty sure it was cleared out but, it's still not safe."
Riley felt a twinge of guilt, the HIVE was where his nightmares began and she was forcing him there. "Ghost, I didn't know—"
"How could you have known?" Bucky shrugged.
Riley shook her head. "I'm sorry for trying to force you there, I'm sure it would be hard to go back and relive all that."
"That's not the problem, Red." He sighed, his frustration never waving. "I don't want you to see who I was."
She was shocked. "I've never once judged you for that."
"Still a difficult thing to show you." He said. "I couldn't let you go alone to find the HIVE, I couldn't let you see who I was and I most certainly wouldn't be able to handle if you were caught or worse by them."
Riley's shoulders fell as she moved closer to her agitated Ghost. "And what happens if you get caught? If anyone should be worried about that, it's me."
"Because then they'd have their monster again." He assumed.
"No, because then they'd have the man I love." She corrected him. "It was selfish of me to allow you to come with me, I should have done this alone. This is my problem, after all."
In that moment, Bucky Barnes, Ghost, The Winter Soldier, whoever he was; realized how much HYDRA had really affected and predominantly destroyed both their lives. He wasn't going to hold her back anymore, they both needed this revenge. As crazy as it sounded, they needed to take down HYDRA together. Forget waiting for the Avengers to arrive, it was now or never. "Then let's go to the HIVE." He finally said. Before Riley could object, he continued. "I was supposed to keep us here, keep you busy until the Avengers showed up." He watched Riley's confusion turn more into anger; he interrupted her once more. "I shouldn't have let them convince me of that. We need to infiltrate them, we need to go now. Let's head for the HIVE."
She bit her lip. "As much as I want to hit you for lying to me—" She began. "I can't have you come to the HIVE and put you in danger." Riley walked away from Ghost and over to a nearby desk and sitting on it. She began playing with the flashlight, waving it around to see more of the old server room. The same room she ran out of to escape her Ghost so long ago.
"I think you're getting this backwards, Red." Bucky said. "I'm supposed to be protecting you."
"Think of it this way." Riley paused. "If they get you, a lot of bad stuff can happen. If they get me, well, nothing crazy can happen."
Ghost narrowed his eyes. "You getting captured is still a bad thing."
"But the lesser of two evils." She said. "Let me go to the HIVE, alone. You owe me for lying to me."
Before Bucky could protest a rather loud thud came from the front door and echoed through the abandoned bunker. The two looked at each other, horror and realization coming to their faces. "I didn't think they'd send anyone."
"Wait, what?" Riley asked as Bucky ran to the server room door. "What do you mean?" She got off the desk and ran beside him, her hand touching an old fire extinguisher and nearly spooking herself as Bucky looked out the hallway.
"If HYDRA found the plane a threat, they'd send recon if nearby." He explained quickly. "Normally that takes about fifteen minutes and they're gone. I expected them done and gone by the time we arrived... I thought we'd be good."
"So you knew this could be a problem?" She asked in disbelief. "How do we know it's not the Calvary?"
"Tony would have sent me a signal that they're coming." He said, somewhat panicked. "This isn't them. HYDRA knows we're here."
"I can't let them take you." She said softly, her stomach tying in knots.
"We can get through this, we just have to fight our way out." Bucky said, his eyes locked down the hall. "I have one of those communicators in my pocket, we'll let the team know what's happening."
Riley steadied herself on the old fire extinguisher, her body beginning to shake. It was all her fault they were in this predicament and now her soldier would be taken. HYDRA would have their asset, it would be too late by the time the Avengers came. No, she wouldn't let this happen.
On impulse, Riley took matters into her own hands as she quietly grabbed the extinguisher, raising it with all her might as high as she could and slamming it down onto the back of her soldier's head. As he tumbled down unconscious, Riley dropped the extinguisher and began to pull on his legs. "I'm sorry, Ghost, I'm so sorry." She huffed as she dragged his unmoving body back into the room and under the large desk; out of sight. "I have to do this." She quickly rummaged through his back pockets for the communicator, the sound of heavy boots began to step through the halls.
Riley quickly turned on the communicator, pushing as many buttons as possible before someone finally answered. "Whoa, Terminator, easy on the buttons; you're going to break it." She heard Stark's voice.
"Stark, it's Riley. We're at an abandoned HYDRA base, the Crown, I think. Bucky is unconscious, find him here. Keep him safe." She said quickly.
"Wait, Deadshot, what is happening?" Stark asked. Riley turned off the communicator and placed it back into Bucky's pocket.
She looked at the passed out soldier, the boots getting louder in the hall; she was running out of time. "Come find me." She whispered before getting to her feet and racing out into the hall to greet her newest enemies.
Riley ran for the main door, turning down a few hallways until a gun was pointed right in her face. "Hold!" A man with an assault rifle shouted in Russian.
Riley raised her hands. "I am unarmed." She said in somewhat broken Russian.
Another man joined the first man. "Is this her?" He asked.
"Looks like her." The first man confirmed.
The second man nodded. "You're coming with us." He said sternly, walking behind Riley and forcing her to march forward. She knew nothing good was awaiting her at the HYDRA base, however, her Ghost would be safe for now. It was a sacrifice she was willing to make, now she was heading to be face to face with the woman she once called 'Mom'.
Final Thought: Happy Halloween all, remember to review!
