Avengers: Age of Ultron | Saviors | The Last Hydra Base
Four Months Later…Sokovia…Hydra Base…
Winter bounces from side to side in combat mode - Hydra soldiers are coming in from all places, but she's too strong and too skilled for them to take her down so easily. They are falling like limp rocks. Four months have passed since the talk Tony gave her, and since them, things have been moving along at a good smooth-enough pace - she's still remembering details here and there. But the biggest achievement so far is being able to talk to Steve and Bucky without acting like, well, a bitch.
To put it simply, the three of them made a deal. She will try her hardest in bringing out Avery Rogers and in return, they are not to push her. From now on she has decided to go with Ava, or Avery, as her name, but, in the field, she's to be called Winter. This is the compromise. She's still far away from being the real Avery Rogers but this is a start, and she's actually finding it pretty nice to bounce between the two personalities.
Since that day more Avengers Missions have been happening - these superheroes have given her the full briefing after a month of being around, telling her what is really going on - what happened during wherever she was that made her miss the action. She must have been in a cryochamber when this first alien fight happened in new York - she honestly wishes she fought in it, it sounded exciting in a way.
Beside her, doing the exact same thing as her is Bucky. They actually work pretty well as a team, Ava figured out. She still doesn't have many of the earlier memories but she does remember some for when she fought side by side with the two American heroes in the past - before her altered personality. And this is a good thing. A though occurred to her one night, that if eh had regained these memories during her tine as The Winter Soldier, maybe she wouldn't have tried to kill them last year - or even built up such a hatred towards them. But everything that was told to her was from two someone's she presumably trusted, Dr. Zola and Agent Alexander Pierce. She feels like such a fool for being tricked by those hooligans - she should have used her training more to figure out what the true goal was. She was just a pawn in one of their spiteful and disgusting games.
"Winter!" Bucky yells, flinging his shield towards her - seeing two men holding rifles in their hands, all about ready to shoot her.
Winter grabs the object without even looking, directing it's oncoming force towards those two men - the shield bounces from one face to the other - effectively knocking them out cold…and probably breaking both their foreheads. That's sure to hurt in the morning…if they even wake up.
"Shit!" Tony's annoyed curse blurts through their earpieces. He bounced off the forcefield around the building that they are infiltrating, which caused him to yell this.
"Language," Steve's immediate reply is - this is something that releases a chuckle from both Winter and Bucky. They share an amused look. In the last three months, things between them have gotten a lot more comfortable - it isn't just about the deal that was made between them. Winter knows and can slightly remember that Ava means a lot to Bucky - so much so that they were to be wed. This gave her a different idea for their relationship until the days he regains her full memories back. They are to essentially start over - pretty much completely over.
"How about we start over?" Winter suggests, shrugging slightly at a loss for ideas. "I want you to show me the guy Avery fell in love with. Who knows…maybe something will…click?"
Bucky looks down for a moment, thinking. After everything, each of them have been through, maybe this will be the best overall solution? "Okay," he agrees, nodding his head after a second. He slowly forms a grin on his lips, looking up to her and letting his hand raise up between them - remembering how they first met in the first place. "I'm James," he introduces himself. "James Buchanan Barnes."
Winter's shoulders slump just a touch, her eyes looking relieved. "I'm Winter," she starts to shake his hand, not being able to help but notice how warm and soft his touch is. "Or…I-I go by Ava, Avery Rogers." She hesitated for a second when she said Ava-s name - but she said it, and it's a start. This new beginning will be good for everyone…they hope.
"Jarvis," Bucky throws another soldier into a three, less are coming at them now - these Hydra soldiers obviously get the picture that they'll be beaten to a bloody pulp if they try to get near then. "What's the view from up there?"
"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield," Jarvis' robotic voice replies almost instantly after being asked. "Strucker's technology is well beyond any other Hydra base we've taken."
Winter chucks the shield back to Bucky. "There seems to be a lot more idiots to fight too," she mutters, grunting as she elbows another gunman in the face as he tries to get up from his attack. There are only five people left to take down. 'A piece of cake,' she thinks. Winter is glad to have a new uniform, it's much easier to maneuver in and is pretty stylish too considering her lack of clothing taste. The uniform is nicely shielded and has pockets for at least five different funs of her choice, including a couple of knife pockets too as a precaution.
"Loki's scepter must be here," Thor declares, the power of his voice booming through. "Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it." He's determined to push forwards with all his might. "At long last."
Natasha's grunt comes through next. "'At long last' is lasting a little too long, guys," she says as she shoots down some soldiers.
"Yeah," Clint speaks sarcastically. "I think we lost the element of surprise." You can practically imagine him rolling his eyes as he says this. A gunman just upside the hill is taking his aim at Winter, the man preparing to shoot when Bucky notices him. His eyes widen, and without even thinking about it, his own gun is relinquished from its holder against his hip - immediately pointed towards the guy's head. His finger pulls the trigger and the bullet ricochets through the now dead man's skull. The body drops with a thud towards the snowy ground.
Winter throws out her tightened fist once more, it harshly connects with the last soldier's face who dares to face up to her skill and strength. He drops too with a thump, his breathing shallow but strong. He's officially unconscious. She looks up to notice the body upside the hill, Bucky is staring a the dead body with shock running through his veins, his eyes slightly narrowed with hatred towards the man. They guy tried to kill the woman he loved. No one is going to touch her ever again he swears. He won't let her life fall through his fingers again, he can't.
Winter blinks, thankful and relieved but also unsure at the same time. "Thanks," she mutters to herself, realizing what he has just done for her - if he hadn't shot the man, she'd probably be the one with a bullet in the head. She has magnificent healing powers, but a bullet to the head sounds a little too far stretched to live through.
Bucky hears the sound of her unsure voice, turning towards her - the glaring now throws aside. He starts to open his mouth to say something to her but Tony interrupts him, what a pain in the ass this man is…
"Wait a second!" Tony exclaims, bringing everyone's attention to him. "Is no one else going to deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language'?"
"I know," Steve replies, you can tell from his voice that he's probably huffing to himself at his mistake - he should have stopped himself and now he'll probably be the mockery of the day. He throws his bike at his soldiers after driving up in their truck. "It just slipped out."
"Winter rolls her eyes out of the blue. "You always were the goody-too-shoes in the relationship, Steve," she quirks, not noticing the small grin forming on Bucky's face and evidently a similar look appearing on Captain America himself on the other end of the mic.
At the Hydra Research Base in Sokovia that the Avengers are raiding, Strucker, the leader of the base, waltzes up to the tables with different computers on them. The whole room is filled with dust and there's barely any lights. You can tell they don't have a cleaner.
"Who gave the order to attack?" He urgently asks. It's been on his mind ever since he heard about the Avengers attacking, over 30 minutes ago.
"Herr Strucker, it's the Avengers," a soldier says, worriedly. He doesn't want to get fired or killed.
"They landed in the far woods, the perimeter guard panicked," another soldier says, waltzing away, readying his gun as he does.
"They have to be after the scepter," Strucker says to the main doctor at the base. They can't risk letting the Avengers find out everything they've worked so hard for. "Can we hold them?" He says louder than before to the first soldier.
"They're the Avengers!" The soldier says, like beating them is impossible, because in reality it is impossible.
"Deploy the rest of the tanks," he orders the soldier. The soldier sys a quick 'Yes, sir,' before rushing off to follow through with the order. "Concentrate fire on the weak ones. A hit may make them close ranks." After he's done he walks up to Dr. List and quiets his voice. "Everything we've accomplished…we're on the verge of our greatest breakthrough."
"Then let's show them what we've accomplished. Send out the twins," he says, gesturing to the red head and the blonde in the corner. The blonde male, Pietro, grips his sister's hand tightly. This is the first time they've been in this situation, and he can tell his sister is worried, even if she's the mind reader of the two.
"It's too soon," Strucker denies, not ready to send his two most precious objects into the world.
"It's what they signed up for."
"My men can hold them," Strucker says, though internally he doubts his own statement.
After a moment, Winter starts to stare down at one of the many bodies in front of her. She killed them. She killed pretty much most of these soldiers who were just trying to fight for what they believed in - it was Bucky who just tried to hurt them so they can't walk or fight again. She can't help but think of how much a monster she is - what she has become after all these years…
Bucky sighs, looking around at all the dead or wounded bodies of the Hydra agents - there are so many it's completely devastating to witness and commit. He turns to the woman he loves, frowning when he sees the blank look on her face. "We should head back to the others," he starts, jolting her out of whatever thinking space she was in. "Help them out, I think we're about good in this sector."
Winter blinks, turning away from the bodies towards him. "Yes," she nods after another moment of though. The Winter Soldier still feels the need to prove herself on the field, whether she needs to or not is another matter. She turns to him this time. "Is the bike broken?" She wonders, gesturing over to the motorcycle they rode in on - the one that looks similar to Steve's. It took some getting used to, riding on it, but she actually found an interest in the bike - they are electrical and fast. That's something that really seems to peak her interest.
Bucky cringes looking at his beloved bike that harbors a massive dent in the side. "Ahh," he purses his lips, looking at the machine sadly. "That's a big mark." He starts moving towards it, his shoulders hunching as he does - this bike has been with him since he was removed from the ice - he desperately and silently hopes that Stark can fix it for him after this fight is over.
A ways away in the forest, Pietro runs at lightning speed out of the tunnel from the Hydra base. He runs and runs until he sees Clint. Clint shoots an arrow at a bunker, hiding behind a tree. But the arrow doesn't make it to the bunker because Pietro zooms by and grabs it before it can hit anyone. He then circles back around and knocks Barton's feet out from underneath him.
"You didn't see that coming?" Pietro asks, with a thick Sokovian accent, walking at a normal pace beside where Clint lays on the ground. He zooms off after that and he knocks down Steve, who does a full flip in the air, landing on one knee instead of his face.
"We have an enhanced in the field," Steve says, not missing a beat after he was knocked around.
"Clint's hit!" Natasha yells, seeing her best friend on the ground in pain. She hopes in her mind that he makes it. She doesn't let it show though, like her training taught her to. The Hulk comes by and tramples the bunker that hit Clint. "Thank you," she says, thankful that she isn't in any immediate danger right now, while she tends to her friend.
Winter is about to open her mouth, nearly going to ask why this particular bike is so cared for when there seems to be hundreds of them out there as it is. But a piece of movement catches her eye towards the right, and without eve realizing it her eyes widen in horror - a screamed name hallowing from her throat. "James!" Her voice only comes out as a blast of energy is fired towards Bucky, she feels the urge to move but her legs just don't seem to understand the command.
Bucky's head is startled upwards as his real name is shouted, he doesn't even begin to comprehend that Winter was the one to scream his name out until something toasty like hot lava smashes against his shoulder, slivering up towards his neck - the heat rips through the fabrics of is uniform and connects with his skin like a hot boil. He can practically feel his skin instantly cooking at the temperature - he falls backwards with a strangles gasp, his breathing deepening with pain.
As he topples to the floor, Winter's legs finally seem to regain their consciousness - she skids towards Bucky's shield still laying in the snow and without a second thought, she flings it towards the large shooting machine that hurt her man. The energy tank blows to smithereens on impact at the force, she has literally thrown the rounded plate close to lightning speed before the impact.
A groan behind her makes her attention snap back to the injured man laying on the floor - Bucky is laying there with shock in his eyes, he has never been this hurt before. His skin is burning alive and it's nearly killing his nervous system. She quickly skids her way back to him, and with her heightened instincts, she grabs something from one of her back pockets - a small first aid damage kit. Everyone has one just in case. She rips it open without even seeing the damages first, but when she does - let's just say that she feels something else that never even crossed her thoughts before. A bubbling fear that Bucky isn't going to make it crawls its way into her heart. There's a gaping hole in his shoulder, a small part missing from the skin of his neck too. The look of it actually makes her want to throw up, this has never happened either.
"You're going to be okay," she shakily tells him, her voice has never sounded so bad before - she doesn't even realize that a layer of salty water has begun to appear against her pupils. "Y-you're going to be fine." She grabs an injection needle with a clear liquid rolling around inside before plunging it into the side of his neck that isn't torn through.
Bucky's eyes are fluttering, his eyes blearily looking towards her through the pain - his heart constricts seeing her face. She looks so much like her, but she's so much not like her at the same time. "Y-you called me J-James," he stutters, his words coming out with several stuttered breaths.
Winter swallows as the remembrance of what she called him comes back to her. She rips open some kind of cream that numbs wounds - she starts to dab the substance around the wound on his shoulder with shaky hands. She taps the side of her earpiece, turning it on. "Bucky's hurt, bad. He needs immediate assistance." She doesn't even realize how fearful her voice sounds, she doesn't even realize how much she mirrors Avery Rogers at the moment.
Bucky's hand jumps on her own, the one that's about to place a large sterile patch on his shoulder. "Avery…" he breathes, pain radiating off him in waves. Darkness is starting to fill his vision, he can feel himself slipping away.
Winter licks her lips nervously. "Yeah," she lets out a large breath, her shoulder heaving down for some reason. If anyone is to look at her right now, someone who isn't Bucky - they would have thought acceptance radiated off her. Like she has accepted the name…but no one is there to witness this, so no one will ever really know. No one will realize what she has finally figured out about herself. A tear finally makes its way down her cheek as she looks down at him - still kneeling by his side, holding his hand with a comforting grip.
Bucky's eyes flutter a little more and they start to slowly close. "I love you…" With that, his eyes close as darkness finally takes him. Right then, Winter knows the medicine is now working. Stark's substance keeps the body alive and he mind asleep until it can be repaired, adding that to Bucky's already heightened strands of DNA makes the injection a bonus.
Winter taps the coms again. "We need E-Vac, now!" She orders, not letting go of Bucky's hand - her heart beating a mile a minute as she gazes down at the dark-haired American hero. So many things are beginning to riddle around in her head…hundreds of things are running through her mind. Winter can literally feel something snapping inside of her, something she hopes is good. That headache is coming back, the ones she used to get when memories were fluttering back into existence. She just hopes this'll be over soon…she wants to be real again, she wants to be one person and one person only. But, that's the person she doesn't know who to be anymore.
Darkness finally fills her consciousness, as she screams in pain and just as the E-Vac's are arriving…her eyes roll to the back of her head, passing out as her body flops to the side. Her hand is still in Bucky's but they are laying next to each other…who knows what will happen when either one will wake up.