Chapter 24: Zero

October 17, 2014

It was a cool and clear night, making Summer's watch even easier than usual, though she was no less militant. Winter was asleep on the pallet, his metal arm resting stretched out to the side she normally slept on, as if he were reaching for her. If she had a mind to, she could just go lay there next to him. He'd probably wrap his arm around her, protecting her back from any threats from the window. Yes, that would be the reasoning. His skin would be warm, helping to rid her of some of the chill that never seemed to leave. Though temperatures were dropping, he slept shirtless, the cold night air feeling good to him. She couldn't help but trace the lines of his chest and abdomen with her eyes, remembering how they felt under her fingers and lips.

Summer chided herself for being distracted. Ever since that night - the first time they'd taken a step out of their comfort zone and into vulnerability - it was harder for her to keep her mind on her mission. It felt like her brain was muddled as feelings from the past started to swirl with her current pieced-together state. She'd always worked to protect Winter and support him, but it was beyond protocol at this point. The need to care for him was so deeply ingrained in her that it made her believe that, whenever the scientists injected her with the things that enhanced her, they also enhanced the connection between them. She wasn't sure if Winter felt the same way. She hoped he did.

Something flashed in the distance, making all thoughts about feelings and emotions and sex disappear. That was not the light of a passing car, or a flashlight from local teenagers committing some sort of mischief. It wasn't an animal, or trash blowing in the wind. No, she knew the flash of a sniper sight when she saw one.

"Winter." she whispered sharply. She heard as his breath changed and he woke immediately, then pushed himself up. She didn't bother looking back at him and instead brought her own sight to her eye, slowly scanning the area where she saw the glint of the glass.

"Threat level?" he asked, getting up from the pallet. She heard him moving around, pulling his shirt on and gathering the weapons he'd laid beside him so as to not impede his rest. Finally she was able to isolate the relative area where she saw the light, approximately four hundred yards away.

"Three." she replied, the out of ten part understood. "Likely one to two enemies. Possible sniper involvement."

"Check. I'll pack up here and draw the second one." he said, easily slipping back into the commander role even if they were equals now. But he wasn't bossing her, he was simply playing to their strengths. She was always better at stealth and tracking, and therefore would be better at apprehending the hidden opponent. She nodded, pulling her eyes away from the sight and getting up. Her muscles weren't tight nor were her joints stiff; adrenaline pushed her body into reactive mode instantly. Her footsteps were nearly silent as she went downstairs and out the back door of the villa, her boots making it easy to traverse the rocky terrain of the surrounding mountains. If she took the proper path - the one that appeared blue in her mind map of the area - then she would be able to sneak up on the marksman. The likelihood that he was there for caution and backup was high, so she figured that he would not move once she removed herself from the window. The second enemy was probably waiting to find either one of them on their own. It's what she would have done in the same situation: separate the marks, take them down one at a time. Something pulled in her chest, a feeling she identified as worry, but she quickly shut it down. Winter could take down any threat that came their way.

She slowed down as she neared the estimated area of the watcher, making sure her footsteps were as quiet as possible since the sounds of nighttime wildlife could only mask her advancement so much. She balanced between two rocks and ducked down, listening for the tell tale signs of a sniper. But there was no shifting, no breathing, no tap-tap-tap as someone kept their trigger finger warm while waiting to use it. She was confused for a moment; she knew she'd seen the flash here, knew that a marksman would not be able to dismantle his setup and move in the time it had taken her to track him down, especially without any noise. Something wasn't right. She slung her rifle around to her back, instead choosing a knife from her belt. This was going to be close range combat - if there was any combat at all.

It wasn't easy to keep her climb up the rock quiet with a weapon in her hand, but it was not the most difficult thing she'd ever done. People tended to keep their attention at eye level, often forgetting to check areas below them or above them. More than likely, Summer was smaller than whoever was waiting for her. The strength that the serum gave her certainly helped with fights with people too big for her, but nothing could beat the element of surprise. The moon was bright as she crested the rock, and she moved just enough to spot the setup and the sniper.

Except there was no sniper. And there was no setup. There was just a sight resting on top of a stone, pointed back towards the villa. It had all been a ruse to separate them, as she suspected. But now she knew there was only one enemy to deal with.

Back at the villa, Winter quickly folded and rolled the few things they had for bedding, stuffing them in their packs. He donned his entire arsenal; he trusted Summer's assessment of the threat, but one could never be too cautious when on the run from a seedy underground organization. He put Summer's book in her bag and turned to go downstairs when he heard the sound of a boot scraping the edge of the roof. He did an about-face and pulled a pistol from its home at his waist, his aim true as someone swung off the roof and onto the balcony.

"Whoa there, big guy." the person said, holding up their hands to show they didn't have a weapon. It was a woman, smaller and slighter than Summer. Her hair was tucked into a beanie, but a few dark wisps were escaping, framing a heart-shaped face. She was pretty, Winter realized, though the thought was nothing more than that. More importantly, he didn't recognize her. Whether that was good or bad remained to be seen.

"Tell me why I shouldn't shoot you." he said, though his muscles ached with the desire to pull the trigger and run. She wasn't with Hydra, he could tell that by her uniform. Hydra preferred black and kevlar, and often used rough materials that could withstand most any weather. But this woman wore a pixelated pattern of black and grey and blue, ideal for camouflage in low-light, non-urban areas.

"You two were really hard to track down, you know that, right?" she continued as if he hadn't spoken, and Winter felt something he hadn't experienced in a long time - vague annoyance. He changed his grip slightly on the pistol, making sure his threat was evident.

"You have three seconds." he said. It was three more seconds than people sneaking up on him usually got, and he tended to count fast.

"I can get you past the borders." she said quickly, making his hand falter. It was strange enough that she found them, but now she was offering to help them? The deeply ingrained training still told him to shoot her, that they were compromised and needed to tie off loose ends before retreating. But he didn't want to be a killer, not if he didn't have to be.

"Lie." he challenged, moving closer. It was obvious at this point that the pistol was pointed right at her forehead. He didn't want to kill her, but he couldn't afford a mistake. She held her ground, her hands still up in the air as she gazed at him with an expression that almost seemed exasperated.

"Look, I get it, you're on the run. You don't know who to trust. Been there, done that." she said, rolling her eyes and gesturing slightly. "I'll explain everything when your counterpart gets back from checking my little diversion. Which, by my estimation, should be in-"

Summer appeared over the railing, jumping onto the balcony and pulling the woman to her chest, her knife at her throat. "Wait!" Winter said, barely in time. A thin trail of blood trickled from where the knife had nicked her throat, but the woman made a good show of being brave.

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you." Summer said harshly, the knife staying exactly where it was. The woman sighed, looking back to Winter.

"See? This is why I wanted to wait. I hate having to tell the same story twice." she said, as if there was no immediate danger in her future. Summer and Winter didn't move, waiting for her to continue. "As I was explaining to him, I can get you two past the borders."

"Lie." Summer said, sinking the knife in again.

"Wait wait wait!" the woman said, and with a look from Winter she stayed her hand. The woman let out a frustrated huff. "Do you two like, share a brain or something? Is that why you're so good at working together? That would explain-"

"The point." Winter interrupted, his voice low and deadly calm. The woman gestured to both of them.

"It's a little easier to explain if I don't have multiple ways to die happening all at once." she said. Summer looked to Winter again, and he made a small gesture with his head. She kept her hand and knife where it was, but used her other one to pat the woman down, tossing out any weapons that she found. It was an impressive amount for such a small person, Summer could give her that. Once her pockets were empty Summer shoved her towards the wall, hiding her from outside view. Signs pointed to her working alone, but they were not going to take the chance. Summer kicked the doors to the balcony closed.

"Talk." Winter said, lowering his pistol but not holstering it. The woman straightened her beanie and wiped the blood from her neck, making a disgusted face as she wiped it on her pants, staining the blue and grey portions of it a dark maroon.

"Such a warm welcome." she muttered to herself. Summer sheathed her knife but pulled out her own pistol, chambering a round just to make a point. The woman held up her hands again. "Okay, okay I get it. Listen, you guys should know that like, everyone is looking for you. Hydra is offering immunity to the first person to bring you in alive." she explained. Immediately Summer and Winter aimed their pistols at her again. "Wait! Just let me finish explaining, and if you still wanna kill me after that, then go for it."

"It could be a trap." Summer said in Russian, the first language her tongue chose besides English.

"It probably is." Winter agreed in kind. The woman actually stomped her foot like a child.

"It's not." she said, also in Russian before switching back to English. "Do you think I wanna deal with anyone else while tracking you two down? No. It would've just slowed me down."

Something about that felt familiar, but Summer couldn't place it. Now was not the time anyway. "Talk." she said, realizing too late that that was what Winter had said earlier.

"Do you just...copy everything he says? They said Hydra was working on a way to telepathically link all their super soldiers but I didn't think it was real. They'd need that girl in New York-" Winter took a step closer to her, his arm starting to raise. "Right! Right, sorry. The point. The long and the short of it is, I have a mission for you two. And if you help me, then I'll help you get across the borders on the black map."

"You're Nought." Winter realized. There were multiple circles that ran in the shadows, Hydra being the biggest one and the most feared. But they'd formed treaties with some of the others. Likely they planned to eventually betray them in the future, but neither Winter nor Summer knew of any immediate plans. The woman struck a pose.

"Nought is just who I work for. You can call me Cero." she said with a smile.

"Zero." Summer deadpanned. Sure, the word was in Spanish, but it was still zero.

"I know. I could've gotten a cool one like Neoni or Miden, but I got stuck with Cero." she said, as if they were supposed to lament her codename with her. "It's not so bad though. Easy to spell. Easy to say. Anyways, what I'm trying to say is, I figure we can get a little quid pro quo action going on here. You help me, I help you, we all end up staying alive for another day in this hellscape."

"Why do you need our help?" Winter asked. The woman gave no signs that she was lying, but he'd known women that could do that. Hell, he'd trained most of them.

"And why do you want to help us?" Summer added. This seemed wrong, entirely wrong. And yet, something kept them from pulling the trigger. Cero took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second as if she were trying to keep herself from snapping at a child.

"I get it. You guys have a lot of questions. But I was kind of hoping we could pitter patter out of here and get on the road cause if I was able to find you, then there probably aren't many people far behind. So we gotta go." she said, gesturing towards the front of the villa. Summer and Winter looked at each other; leaving right now did not seem ideal, but Cero also had a point. They were experts at disappearing, but if the whole underworld was looking for them then they might have to change plans. "I get it. You've got a sweet set up here. Nice kitchen, super romantic lighting at night…" she paused, waiting for them to be embarrassed at her insinuation. They were not. "But you gotta move on."

"How did you find us?" Summer asked. She did not care about Cero's impatience, she was going to ask as many questions as she wanted. They'd had enough commanding officers - they were the ones in control now, and they were not going to relinquish that control to her easily. If she got too frustrated, tried to make a move, well then they could just shoot her.

"Not the questions you need to be asking right now!" she exclaimed. They didn't flinch at her outburst, nor move in the direction she wanted. They waited in silence, which was clearly the best way to get the answers from her that they wanted. "Ugh, fine. You two are so annoying, I don't know why Hydra wants you back alive." she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. When she spoke again, it was in a condescending tone. "I hacked through the databases between Hydra and SHIELD and the US government to find out about your previous life, figuring you would end up somewhere from that. I didn't know you guys were so old though, you look great."

"There's records." Summer said to Winter. They'd gotten their records from Hydra, but there were more out there, with more information about them and their past. He nodded, raising his pistol up towards Cero again.

"Where are these records?" he asked. His voice was still steady; this was the Winter she knew, not the man that he was slowly becoming.

"I got them all right here" she said, patting a pocket on her shirt, "-and then scrubbed them clean. I wasn't about to let someone else make the same discovery I did. I'm very competitive like that."

"Give them to us." he said, holding his hand out.

"You're serious right now? That's your most pressing concern?" she said, tilting her head to the side.

"Now." he said. She grumbled something rude that she did not realize they could hear, slowly reaching into her pocket with two fingers to pull out a flash drive. She tossed it to him and he easily caught it in his metal hand, analyzing it for just enough time to determine it wasn't a tracker or explosive before putting it into his own pocket.

"Are you happy now? Can we go?" she asked. They still didn't move. "Seriously. It's time for you two lovebirds to leave the nest."

"Where?" Winter said. Cero was clearly getting tired of their questions, but allowed them for the sake of her mission - at least for right now.

"Hope you packed your toga, cause we gotta go to Thessaloniki." she said with a grin.

"Togas are from Rome, not Greece." Summer pointed out.

"Whatever! Can we just -?" she gestured wildly at the window, and neither Summer nor Winter could deny that her arrival did increase the sense of impending doom. They shared a long look that probably didn't help Cero's belief of a telepathic connection before finally turning back to her.

"I'll drive." Summer said. Cero looked relieved, her posture relaxing and her hands dropping.

"Fucking finally. Geeze, I didn't think it would be so hard to convince two soldiers to go on a mission." she said. Summer reached into her pack, pulling out a zip tie and tossing it towards her. She watched it fall on the floor in front of her. "What am I supposed to do with that?"

"Tie your wrists." Summer ordered. She thought it was obvious, but perhaps Cero was not as smart as she thought, even if she was able to find them. "And we're not soldiers. Not anymore."

"I thought we just discussed how we're on the same team here? Enemy of my enemy is my friend and all?" she said, grabbing the zip tie roughly and huffing loudly to express her displeasure. "And you're gonna be soldiers one more time, or else I'm not gonna be able to help you out."

Winter moved first, taking three long steps so that the muzzle of his pistol was flush against her forehead. She stopped what she was doing, her eyes shining as she stared unblinkingly at him. "We," he said, his voice icy cold, "are not soldiers."

"Fine. What would you like me to call you? Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum?" she asked. Winter slowly reached to the zip tie, tightening it around her wrists with a rough pull.

"Call us what you want. But you will not call us soldat." he spat. Anger burned in Summer as he said the word; she could feel in her bones how it was thrown her way during their time in captivity. Soldat was not a person. Soldat was a weapon, an asset. And they were more than that now.

"Got it. Fuck, you guys are sensitive." she said, though a hitch in her breath and a skip in her heartbeat gave away her fear. Winter put some space between them and lowered his pistol, taking one more glance at Summer.

"I'll drive." she reminded them, eyeing Cero one more time. The woman gave her a sarcastic smile, clearly not happy with the turn of events. But she didn't protest. Instead, she just followed them down the stairs, waited while Winter packed up the rest of their things, and even willingly got in the back seat of the tiny car, putting her in close quarters with the assassin.

"Head east, driver." she said in some sort of American accent that sounded familiar, though Summer couldn't place it. For some reason, it made her think of people in grayscale. Winter settled into the car, looking at her through the rearview mirror. His pistol was still out, just in case Cero had a trick up her sleeve. Summer nodded at him and turned the car on, pulling out of the drive and starting the slow descent back to the road. Normally, she would continue forward without a thought, but this time she found herself glancing back at the villa, a stone settling in her stomach as it disappeared from view.

Longing, she realized. She was going to miss this place.

Things are moving and shaking! I didn't expect to feel anything for Cero but I'm already attached to her...oops! I'm sorry the chapters haven't been super long, stress has kind of been taking its toll on me. But we're all doing our best, right?

I can't thank you enough for your reviews! I love them all so much, and I looooove hearing your thoughts. I hope this story can give you a little distraction during this crazy time. Please stay safe!

-XM

PS if anyone's on tumblr, you can find me under the username whindsor.