- CHAPTER 3: BUCKY -
- OMNISCIENT POV -
The night before
Pierce was the type of guy who liked to drink a glass of milk as he was settling in for the night. Maybe he thought it helped his old bones, his pale face already sagging with the weight of his age. It was all he could think about as he walked down the hallway of his extravagant home—the one he bought with the money he earned by running Hydra via S.H.I.E.L.D. In his hand, he held a beige folder.
"Did you need anything else before I leave, Mr. Pierce?" his housekeeper, Renata, asked from the doorway.
"No, it's fine," he replied simply as he turned into the kitchen. "You can head out."
"Goodnight, then! See you tomorrow." He heard the front door close behind her.
The fridge was blinding in the darkness of the kitchen. He pulled the milk and turned to set it on the counter with a thud. In the dark, he barely even noticed the hulking figure that sat a few feet away, a gun planted firmly in front of him on the table.
The Winter Soldier was just that quiet. The perfect assassin.
"Want some milk?" Pierce asked the unmoving soldier. He knew the answer was no but thought it would be fun to ask.
He grabbed a glass, filling it and then settling in across the soldier at the table. They eyed each other up for a moment as he sipped.
Pierce wasn't afraid of the Winter Soldier, never had been. The soldier had been brutalized, forced into submission by the great organization he led.
If only he would have had the hindsight to do the same to their other asset before she was able to run off and disappear.
But at least they'd caught a break. They knew who she was with, what their next move most likely was. He didn't remember her being so reckless when it came to her ability to make decisions, but it didn't matter. He finally had an opportunity to get her back, and he wouldn't make the same mistake again. She clearly couldn't be controlled by submission alone. Who she was as a person would have to be destroyed.
Just like they had done to the soldier in front of him.
The only thing Pierce could see were his eyes, bright even in the moonlight.
"Turns out," he said, putting the almost empty glass down, "we're going to need to move a little faster than planned."
As usual, the soldier said nothing. Always ready to listen, always ready to comply.
"Firstly, we have two targets, level six." As Pierce spoke, he placed the folder in front of the soldier. Opening it, he revealed images of Captain America and Black Widow. "I want them dead within ten hours. They've cost me enough already."
He knew it was risky, showing the Winter Soldier a picture of Steve Rogers. But he also knew that the soldier's brain had been fried to hell and back, so the chances of him remembering his best friend were nonexistent.
It was the next target that had him a little more worried.
He flipped to another picture of a plump young woman with long black hair. It was the most recent picture they had of Illusion, taken just a couple of months before she vanished. In the photo, she didn't smile, just stared blankly ahead with her silver eyes. They were a stark contrast to the black they grew when she unleashed her powers.
At least that's what he'd seen in recordings of her training—he'd never actually met the brat. That would definitely change once she was no longer a free thinker.
"Do you recognize her?" Pierce got to the point.
The Winter Soldier didn't fidget, even as something prickled the back of his mind. Pierce took his silence as a negative to his question.
"Good." He nodded his approval. "She's to be recovered, not killed." He gulped down some more milk. "But please give her a good beating to let her know what she's missed, yeah?"
The soldier remained quiet, but Pierce knew he understood.
"Sorry, Mr. Pierce. I forgot my—" Renata rounded the corner to the kitchen, the words dying on her lips as she took in the scene.
"Goddammit, Renata." Pierce sighed. "This is why you knock."
With a tilt of the head, he commanded the Winter Soldier into action. Standing without hesitation, the soldier advanced on the maid. She didn't even have the time to scream before he grabbed ahold of her.
Pierce finished off the last of his milk as he listened to the quiet struggle going on behind him. He placed the empty cup down on the table at the exact same time he heard her body hit the floor.
- ILANA'S POV -
I kicked the gear stick into reverse.
"Gas! Gas! Gas!" I yelled while slapping Sam on the arm.
My brain told me there was no way we could outrun him, but we had to at least try.
He put his foot to the pedal but instead of rocketing backwards, we were hit by a monstrous force to the back of our car. My head whipped forward, my face slamming into the driver's side headrest and busting my lip. The taste of rust filled my mouth.
Looking behind us, I saw a heavily reinforced army hummer. It pushed us forward at a rapid speed until we were right in front of the Winter Soldier. He used the momentum to jump back on top of the car, shattering the back window in the process. I felt more glass shards peck at my cheeks.
Sam tried breaking, sparks flying so high that I could see them through the window. A metal arm punched through the roof, grabbing the steering wheel and ripping it out with ease. We were left without control over the car. Nat started firing and I heard the soldier's feet leave the roof. Turning, I saw him jump on the hood of the hummer. Picking up my own gun from where it fell to the floor, I aimed through the broken glass and fired. Rather than at the soldier, I tried to gun for the driver, but the glass was bulletproof.
Our car gained some distance from the hummer, but without control it was pointless. Eventually, we felt another hit to the destroyed bummer. We veered to hit the concrete divider, seconds away from rolling over completely.
"I've got Sam!" I shouted to Steve, grabbing ahold of the man in front of me and pulling him to the backseat.
Steve grabbed ahold of Nat, using his shield to absorb their blow as they fell out of the wrecked car. I kicked my own door open and wrapped my arms around Sam's torso. He mimicked me and I launched us out of the car just as it became airborne from all its rolling. I summoned a force exactly like the one I had used at the bunker to wrap us in a blanket that softened our impact as we rolled several yards down the road. We finally came to a stop, him resting on top of me.
"Not as smooth as I had hoped," I groaned, leaning up as he jumped off of me. He heaved me to my feet with two strong arms on my shoulders.
The hummer flew past us, Winter Soldier still sitting atop it. They swerved at an angle, blocking any oncoming traffic. The soldier jumped off the hood as a plethora of others began exiting the vehicle. One handed him a superfluously large rocket launcher, and I groaned again. They always had to be so extra. I pulled Sam behind a minivan and out of the soldier's vision, hoping that Steve and Nat were able to do the same.
But as a rocket fired off, I watched in horror as it impacted Steve's shield, sending him flying over the edge of the elevated highway. Nat was able to avoid another shot, rolling to hide with Sam and me.
"Any pointers here, Ilana?" she asked me breathlessly. Pulling out another gun from her jacket, she checked to make sure the safety was off.
"You know that guy?" Sam asked in shock.
I side-eyed him. "Do you want my life story or do you want to live?"
He didn't have time to answer as another shot destroyed an SUV right next to us. We scattered, Nat and I running behind another minivan while Sam took off further down the road. Taking turns, Nat and I tried taking shots at the onslaught of soldiers but to no avail. With every dip above the car, I watched the Winter Soldier as he approached casually.
In response to a shot from Nat, he fired off another rocket, forcing us to jump over the divider and into oncoming traffic. He barely gave us half a second before firing another one. We both lept off the edge to avoid the explosion. She immediately shot off a wire, using it to swing onto the road gracefully as it attached to the underside of the highway.
"Ilana!" She screamed in fear, trying to reach out.
We were too far away from each other for her to catch me, so my body reacted automatically. The scales engulfed my hands, talons digging into the nearest concrete column as I used it to slow my fall.
The car fell and landed behind us in a wave of flames. We spent no time gawking as we ran off. Nearing the other side of the highway, Nat pulled me to a stop. She pointed at the shadow on the ground, clearly the Winter Soldier waiting to take us down. I was pissed that I hadn't caught it first.
Inching forward, she raised her gun high until she was just underneath him. I moved to stand right beside her, my gun wrapped in the metal of my hands. Then, she fired off a couple of rounds, and I watched as his body rocked backwards and out of view.
"Headshot," she said confidently. "Easy."
"Yeah, if your goal was to piss him off," I replied without humor.
I pulled her immediately, rushing off to find cover behind a nearby bus that had been flipped on its side. Sure enough, the bullets started flying from up on the highway. They barely missed us as they pierced the vehicle. I rolled to move behind a nearby car, firing my gun when I found cover. Nat moved out of her hiding position to fire off as well, neither of us hitting any targets. She darted to meet me, both of us leaning against the bumper as we avoided another round of bullets.
"Again, any pointers?" she asked seriously, throwing away one of her empty guns.
"For now," I began, standing up to fire off another round, "run."
She was quick to follow as I began sprinting down the sidewalk, chaos ensuing around us as pedestrians fled. We used the cars as shields as the bullets kept coming. Nearing the end of the block, I chanced a peek back and felt a wave of fear crash over me. The Winter Soldier jumped from the highway, crushing a car as he landed, and made his way after us.
Nat whispered into some sort of device before planting it by one of the cars. She pulled me across the road, utilizing the chaos as a disguise, and we ducked behind another vehicle.
"Looks like you've got a plan, then?" I asked, catching my breath. "And a death wish to go along with it?"
"We can't outrun him forever," she breathed. "He has to be taken down if we want to stop those Helicarriers."
A knot twisted in my stomach at how unbothered she was by the need to end his life. Memories flashed in my vision from the night I escaped the claws of Hydra, and I found myself pausing. I wasn't completely sure I wanted him dead.
"I left a repeating recording as a distraction. He's going to go for it and then I'll jump," Nat readied a wire to strangle him. "Can you cover me in the front?" I barely registered her words through the fog of emotions I was feeling. "Ilana?" She said louder, and I finally turned to look at her. "Can you cover my front?" she repeated, a little more sternly this time.
"Yeah, I got you," I said with a shaky breath. "I'll ready up."
With a glance around the car, I made sure the coast was clear before crawling to lean against another vehicle. Through the windows, I could see the broad shoulders of the Winter Soldier. He was creeping forward, machine gun at the ready as he surveyed the landscape. His goggles were gone, revealing his light blue eyes that shone even from this distance.
I wanted to throw up—my mind torn between the need to survive and the hope that we wouldn't have to end his life to do so.
As silently as I could, I ditched my gun and leather jacket. My exposed arms illuminated with the metal scales that formed, and I felt them continue on to cover my entire chest. Elevated vision sprouted in my eyes as I felt them radiate with magic. Ready to go, I waited, watching every minuscule movement of the Winter Soldier as he drew near.
I heard the sound of the recording faintly, not close enough to understand exactly what it was saying. But it had worked. The soldier ducked, sending a small bomb rolling under the car. It exploded a couple of seconds later, confusion flashing across his face. Nat didn't waste any time, launching off of a car until her legs were wrapped around his shoulders. She pulled the wire under his neck, but he was able to hold it off with a large hand.
I guess that was my cue.
Jumping over the hood of the car, I hurried over and landed a kick to his stomach. It forced him back, giving Nat a tiny bit more leverage to land some blows on his head. With lithe movements, I jabbed at his wrist with taloned fingers, forcing him to let go of his gun. I grabbed the firearm immediately and shattered it over my knee.
With brutal force, he whipped Nat over his head and sent her flying into a nearby minivan. Eyes pulled to her, I didn't notice the fist he sent to my sternum. It collided with the metal, not doing much damage beyond pushing me back a few feet. My back collided with an SUV, my head hitting the window harshly and causing me to let out a hiss in pain.
I watched him use our temporary state of weakness to pull out another large gun. God, where was he hiding those?
Nat recovered quickly and threw a tiny disk at his metal arm. It incapacitated him, the arm going limp from the electric shocks coursing through the ligament. It pulled on another memory, and I found myself reaching up to touch the back of my neck. She yanked me along with her as we sprinted off.
"Split up!" she yelled and I obliged.
Running left, she quickly disappeared from view as I veered right. I could vaguely hear her as she screamed for civilians to run and hide. A single shot rang out, echoing off of the vehicles. Stopping, I was just able to witness Nat collapse behind a car as she grabbed her shoulder. Meanwhile, the Winter Soldier advanced quickly, spotting the perfect vantage point to finally put an end to his fight with her.
As he jumped onto the hood of a car, I sprinted out from hiding. His reaction was quick, metal meeting metal as his fist flew into my open palm. My upper body absorbed it painfully, the force too much to keep it from roughing up my shoulder socket. He swung my arm out of the way with the butt of his gun before kicking me back a few feet. I rolled to avoid his bullets, barely missing some of them as they nicked my covered arms.
I knew the only way I could match him was if I forced him away from his guns and he had to face me one-on-one. So I kept dodging, getting closer as I let him use up his ammunition. Mercifully, he spent the machine gun quickly and moved on to his smaller pieces. I got close enough to kick one out of his hands, landing a fist on his face before rolling over another car. He fired with what I thought was his last gun, and when the bullets ran out, I charged.
Landing a solid punch to his abdomen he buckled, and I brought my knee up to meet his face. He grabbed one of my arms, spinning me but not able to force me to the ground.
"Hey!" I said intensely, locking onto his gaze as I trapped his metal arm within my taloned fist. "It's me. You know who I am."
I could have sworn a slight look of confusion flitted across his irises. Hope welled in the dark pit that was my stomach but was quickly whacked away as he slammed his head into mine. I spiralled back, my talons touching pavement as the force of his headbutt landed me a few feet away. A headache was beginning to ravish my temples. But I stood once more.
With no more guns, I watched as he pulled a large knife from his belt.
Fucking hell.
He flipped it around in his hand as he lunged, my arm going up to absorb the first jab as the blade slid from my wrist to my elbow without puncturing my magical armor. He effortlessly passed it between one hand and another as we traded and blocked blows. His aim was immaculate, but I knew his tricks well enough to keep out of the way while he let the knife fly. He always snatched it out of the air at the optimal position to strike.
As he brought it down to stab at my shoulder, I reached up and grabbed the blade. My armor prevented me from feeling anything but hard pressure. But I was dancing a fine line. Any more force and the blade would be sure to penetrate through and to my skin.
"Stop it," I seethed, just inches from his face. He was breathing heavily through his mask. "I don't want to hurt you... and I don't think you want to hurt me."
Another millisecond of distraction before he slid the blade from my grasp to ready for another strike. He went lower this time, the knife grazing my hip deeply enough to make me bleed. His eyes lit up, knowing where he had to aim. All of his hits targeted lower, trying to get a good stab in where I was vulnerable.
"Alright then, I guess you do want to hurt me," I grumbled through a pained groan, sending an elbow to his arm in an attempt to throw him off balance.
Eventually, I was able to grab onto his metal wrist, my talons scratching the surface. I twisted his arm, making him drop the knife before kicking him so hard in the stomach that it sent him crashing into a nearby van. Before he could recover, I kneed him in the chest, keeping it there as I grabbed onto his neck.
"James," I pleaded, forcing my eyes to return to their normal shade of bright silver. His head tilted slightly, eyebrows scrunching as he assessed my face. "Please. You have to stop." He flickered back into the Winter Soldier, metal arm raising to strike but I grabbed ahold of it. This was hands-down the best I'd ever fared against him, and I wasn't going to lose my momentum if I could talk him down. "I am not your enemy." It came out in a desperate whisper.
He looked almost sad, and it distracted me enough that I didn't notice his other hand come crashing down onto the thigh of my leg that was pinning him to the van. Pain ricocheted through me, and he doubled it by landing a punch to my abdomen and then immediately my chin. With his metal arm, he grabbed my neck, lifting me up and pulling me forward. Another wave of recognition sparked his gaze, but I didn't get to see it for long as he punted me over a car.
My back hit the concrete hard. With my eyes no longer enchanted, black spots grew in my vision and made it hard for me to see. He was immediately over me, knees straddling my hips as he lifted his fist to deliver the final blow.
But it never came as a flash of muscle and blonde hair tackled him to the side.
I was only able to roll, my back feeling like it was broken. As the adrenaline faded, my pain increased and I felt as the magic drained from my body. My scales receded, feeling like someone was pulling off bits of my flesh. The transition back was always arduous when I took a significant beating.
From my lopsided vision, I watched as the two super-soldiers fought. They were evenly matched but the Winter Soldier was beginning to get the upper hand. I tried to lift myself but vertigo hit me, making me fall back onto the road. Their fight became a spiral of movement, dark versus light as their hair was the only indication of who was moving where.
Pushing myself onto my knees, I threw up the eggs Sam had fed us this morning. With it, I was able to regain my senses, standing up but only having the strength to lean against the car I was just flipped over.
I wanted to help, to prevent either of them from going too far. But I couldn't move, so I watched helplessly as Steve rammed his shield into the Winter Soldier's face. Immediately after, Steve grabbed him by the chin and sent him flying. He landed in a roll about six feet away, and I saw his mask fly off.
With bile threatening to spill from my mouth, my gaze was sternly set on the two men. The Winter Soldier stood, turning to reveal the handsome face I had killed beside for so many years. His jaw was set, eyes determined to kill the blonde man before him.
Instead of charging like I thought he would, Steve froze.
"Bucky?" he called out, voice laced with shock.
"Who the hell is Bucky?" the Winter Soldier immediately replied, and he pulled another gun from his pants and raised it.
Sam decided to finally join the party, flying in and sending the Winter Soldier sideways. He wasn't able to stick the landing, metal shoulder hitting the ground hard as he toppled over. Steve still didn't move, as if he were fixed to the spot. I saw the look of confusion on his face contort to anguish.
Even more baffling was the Winter Soldier's hesitancy. Usually, he would have used the vulnerability to strike, but instead, his eyes glazed for a moment. He shot me a sideways glance before setting his sights back on Steve, raising his gun once more.
An explosion went off right behind me, Nat leaning on a car as she shot off one of the rocket launchers that he must have dropped. The truck beside the Winter Soldier went up in flames, and when the chaos settled, he was gone.
In his place came a multitude of those same army hummers, their sirens blaring. STRIKE members flooded out of them until we were completely surrounded by dozens of them. Rumlow led, screaming as he held up a machine gun to Steve's head.
Once he had someone cuff him, he rushed over to me, gun dropping as he kneed me in the stomach. I buckled, allowing him to turn me around and place cuffs around my wrists. The hit to the gut was a little excessive—I didn't have the energy to fight anyway.
"Hope you were able to say goodbye to your new friends," he whispered, warm breath invading my ear. "After we off them, it's straight to Pierce for you."
"He sounds absolutely delightful," my tired voice replied, dripping with what little sarcasm I could muster. "I'm dying to meet him."
Rumlow chuckled, lacing a meaty hand around my braid to pull me off the car. "I'm going to miss your witty remarks when they turn that brain of yours to swiss cheese."
I didn't respond, letting him lead me with rough tugs into a black van behind Sam, Nat, and Steve. They placed me and the super-soldier in industrial cuffs, stifling our abilities to fight our way out. Another heavy metal piece was strapped across my neck as an extra precaution.
Steve was right across from me, heartache written all over his face. Nat sat beside him, while Sam was placed next to me. Two guards, armed with guns and electric batons, stationed themselves in the back to watch over us. The van started moving, and we all sat in deathly silence.
I should have known that I would never be able to rid myself from the grasps of Hydra. In fact, three years out of their control had probably only been pure luck.
I'd been such an idiot, taking on this mission. It was the very definition of flying too close to the sun. Maybe I was jaded with my temporary reprieve of their control. Maybe I assumed I had made a life for myself that was hidden enough to where I could attempt something as idiotic as this.
Or maybe, I was looking for something else. A chance to help someone who helped me, while also taking revenge on the organization that had made us do unspeakable things.
Well, at least we would both no longer be in control of our actions.
My eyes closed as I felt a throbbing headache hit my temples.
"He didn't even know me." My eyes opened slowly at Steve's silent words. There was numb shock littered across his features. I wasn't even sure if he cared that we had been captured. "Looked right at me but still raised the gun."
My headache raged. I barely registered what Steve was talking about, and part of me didn't want to care. They'd be dead in less than an hour anyway.
"How could it be possible?" Sam asked.
"Zola, no doubt," he replied. My saliva was thick, my throat begging for water. "Bucky's unit was captured during the war, and he experimented on them. Whatever they did... helped him to survive the fall. "
A gasp escaped my lips. I'd read about that in a log from one of the scientists working under the Red Skull. All names and associations had been redacted. The idea was for me to just understand the capabilities and past endeavors of Hydra. Turns out, it was also to keep me oblivious to who was being experimented on so I couldn't have any kind of leverage. So all this time, I'd known what they did to Steve's best friend. I closed my eyes again, this time from shame.
I'd known how he became the Winter Soldier.
"None of this is your fault," I croaked, my throat scratchy.
"Yeah," Nat's voice came out in a moan, and I opened my eyes. She was bleeding. A lot. "You couldn't have known."
"I always had Bucky." Steve shook his head. "Even when I had nothing."
Nat's head rolled back, clearly trying to bite her tongue from the pain.
"We need to get a doctor," Sam said urgently to the guards, "or she's going to bleed out." I don't know why he bothered. Her dying from that gunshot wound would be a mercy compared to dying at the hands of Rumlow.
One of the guards raised their electric baton in warning, and I flinched from the sound. I'd been on the other end of one of those enough times to know how bad they hurt.
But then the guard flipped it in their hands, stabbing it right into the abdomen of the other guard before kicking them unconscious with a kick to the face. We all just gaped, all pain from my head forgotten. The guard began to take off their helmet, revealing a pale woman with a slim face and brown hair thrown up in a low ponytail.
"Jesus, that was squishing my brain," she said casually. We all looked at her in shock, though Nat and Steve's eyes flashed with recognition. The brunette looked at me and Sam in slight confusion. "Who're these guys?"
"Who are you?" Sam said defensively.
"Maria Hill," she said flatly, standing as much as she could. Her baton went straight through Sam's cuffs. "S.H.I.— well, ex-S.H.I.E.L.D., I should say." She cut through Nat's handcuffs just as easily, the redhead immediately grabbing ahold of her wound to try and stifle the blood.
"How were you—" Nat started but let out a groan.
"Save your strength," Maria said. "It's gonna be a hell of a landing to get out of here."
She peeked out the window, what looked like the outskirts of D.C. passing us by. We were moving quickly, our captors no doubt wanting to get to wherever it was they planned to kill the three of them.
"We're almost there," she said, turning to Steve. She let out a breath of air. "Let's hope this works!" Her offhand tone just didn't make sense within the context of what the hell was going on.
She began to saw at Steve's reinforced metal restraint. It was slow going, Maria looking out the window every couple of seconds. She eventually got most of the way through before sighing, wiping away the sweat from her efforts.
"Could use a hand?" She directed the hopeful question at the blonde. With so little metal holding him back, he was able to pull himself free. "Thanks." She looked back out the window, eyes furrowing in worry as she looked back at me.
"Just go," I croaked, eyes shutting in exhaustion. "They're not going to kill me, so it's fine."
"Not a chance," Nat was able to mumble.
I heard heavy feet move to the other side of the van. Without seeing it, I felt Steve's shield cut straight through the heavy metal surrounding my wrists. My eyes opened just in time to watch him reach out, his fingers suffocating me momentarily as he pulled my neck free.
"Get up," he said sternly. Despite my body begging me to just stay still, I did as I was told.
"Keep your space," Maria said, kneeling down.
With her baton, she began to carve a hole in the bottom of the van. It was a haphazard circle, lines far from smooth due to the effort of cutting through the tough metal. Before it was completely cut, a mere centimeter from falling onto the road, she grabbed ahold of the melted hunk of truck and folded it back. She rose quickly, looking out the window once more.
"Perfect timing," she said with a smile. "I am so good at my job."
"Before we promote an ego," Sam snapped back, "what's the plan here?"
"We're about to take a turn onto a narrow street flooded with alleys. One of them is covered by dumpsters. So, we're going to jump out, using them as a cover to roll into the alley. I have a van waiting there to take us to a safe house."
"Are you able to make a jump like that?" I asked as I turned to Nat, very worried by how pale she looked.
"I've got her," Steve said, a little too defensively. I missed the downtrodden attitude he had not fifteen minutes ago as I watched him glare at me.
"Ready up," Maria ignored all the tension. Sure enough, we began to turn a corner, the windows darkening from the constriction of the walls around us. "And... now!"
She jumped out first, quickly rolling out of the way. Sam followed right behind, me not waiting a second before following suit. As I moved out of the way of the back wheels of the van, Sam pulled me the rest of the way behind the dumpster. Steve and Nat were not a breath behind us, the former shielding the redhead from any major impact until we were all lined up and pressed against the wall in crouching positions. Hummers passed by us, oblivious that their precious cargo had just escaped.
"I'm going to be honest," Nat gasped, "I can't really believe that worked. And I'm a super spy."
With my remaining energy, I was able to chuckle. When the dust settled and the hummers seemed to be well out of range, we snuck over to the waiting van at the very back of the alley. It was hidden by the darkness of the narrow passage, easy to miss if you weren't paying close attention.
We all piled in, me reaching a hand out to Nat as she tried to climb up. She didn't get a chance to grab on, Steve hoisting her up as he shot me a glare. I had a feeling I knew what his problem was, but no way in hell was I going to bring it up now. So instead, I sat by Sam. Steve and Nat across from us, placing us exactly as we had been in the hummer.
"Do you know her?" Sam asked me, nodding in the direction of Maria who had taken to the driver's seat. "Think we can trust her?"
"Don't know..." I glanced at Steve who was still eyeing me maliciously. "I guess if they trust her, we should." I shrugged and we all lapsed into a heated silence.
There were no windows in the van—the front of it where Maria drove obscured by a door with a small fence for a window—so I had no way of knowing where we were or where we were going. But I really had no energy to care. If this woman was actually sent to kill us, I wouldn't mind. Better than becoming another Winter Soldier.
After what seemed like an hour had passed, we finally came to a smooth stop. Maria opened the sliding van door, the noise too loud and the light too bright as it flooded inside. My eyes scrunched, my headache igniting once more. We all piled out of the van, Nat so weak now that she had to hang on to both Sam and Steve to stay standing. Even then, her feet dragged, on the verge of passing out.
We were brought to what looked like an abandoned dam of some sort. Water still dripped from crevices, lining the large wall with sticky moss and staining the concrete of the structure. We entered the facility through a heavy gate door at the foot of the dam where it met the grassy bank. Ahead of us lay a concrete hallway with not a lot of light to lead the way to where we were trying to go.
I felt panic creep into me as I rounded out the rear of our group. Flashes of men in uniforms leading me down similar-looking hallways, cuffed despite being only ten years old, crossed my vision. They were replaced with a metal arm as I was led to a sparring room, as well as the ghost of electricity rocking my veins. My headache increased ten-fold.
"Enjoying the foliage out there?" Maria called back. If I wasn't in so much shock, I might have been able to admit that I liked her and her jaunty attitude.
With a shaky breath, I entered the hallway and let the gate slam shut behind me.
I reached them quickly and fell into place, not allowing myself to take in too much of my surroundings. A man in glasses and a suit appeared from a hallway, jogging to keep up with us.
"GSW," Maria told him, "probably lost a couple of pints."
"I'll take her," he called out. A doctor, then.
"No, she'll want to see him first."
"Who?" I asked. The only one who responded was Sam with a shrug in confusion.
We were led into a large room, lights illuminating something behind vinyl curtains. Maria pulled them back without fanfare, revealing Nick Fury on a hospital bed. His bald head was set with his usual black eyepatch, his forehead slightly sweaty from what looked like a brutal recovery. IVs were strapped to him as he raised his head weakly. Looks of complete shock passed Nat and Steve's faces. What the hell had happened there?
"About fucking time," Fury said from the bed.
We gathered around him as the doctor was finally able to assess Nat's wound. I hung behind, staying as close to the vinyl curtain as possible. Fury listed off his injuries, all horrible and all sounding very painful. Yet somehow, he had still been able to get to Steve's apartment and give him the flash drive before he was shot through the window. It was absolutely insane that he had made it out alive.
A double assassination attempt. I knawed on my lip, having a gut feeling about who was behind it.
"Don't forget the collapsed lung," the doctor said when Fury stopped talking about his injuries.
"Oh, yeah." Fury chuckled. "God forbid I forget that."
"I watched you die," Nat said, grunting as the doctor put pressure on her wound. "I... I saw your dead body as it laid on a table."
"Tetrodotoxin B." I nodded slightly in approval at his reply. That was definitely clever. "Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress and, while it sure didn't help him, we found it very useful."
"Why wouldn't you tell us?" Steve asked, ire finally directed at someone else besides me.
"I had to make it as believable as I could." He shrugged, causing him to wince. "Only those who needed to absolutely know knew." He gave a tilt in Maria's direction. "And, while I hate to admit it, I wasn't sure who to trust. That includes you two." He looked at Steve and Nat in turn, then his eye moved to me and Sam. "See you brought some friends."
"Sam Wilson," he introduced himself as he stood beside Nat. "I worked pararescue. Was supposed to be retired from it, but... plans changed."
Fury laughed. "Might want to get back out while you can, soldier." His one eye landed on me, and I suddenly felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. "And you?"
"Ilana," I replied simply, hoping he wouldn't ask any more questions about it. But I never really got what I wanted.
"I'm the type of man that likes to know more than first names," he said firmly, keeping his gaze on me.
I let out a sigh. "Ilana Dimitrov," I hesitated, picking at my fingers. "Went by Illusion when I was... deployed."
Surprise dashed across his face for a millisecond before his face turned neutral. It was expected for someone like him to know who I was. After all, he knew everything somehow. Plus, I'd tried to kill him several times but was never successful. I remembered those attempts so clearly, as I was strapped and beaten up every time I came back without achieving the goal of the mission.
Out of my peripheral, I thought I saw Maria put a hand on her gun holster. Even Sam seemed to recognize that name.
"That was you?" he asked me, turning away from Fury to eye me. His features had been glazed with kindness towards me up until this point, but now they glistened with agitation. "So, that's why you weren't surprised about what I did... Because you already knew."
"How?" Steve asked. His voice wasn't very kind.
"Because we had quite a few run-ins with her murder squad," Sam said before I could say anything, huffing as he crossed his arms. "Where was your friend then?"
I didn't answer, eyes downcast to the floor. This was falling apart, and I wished more and more that they had just left me. This was why I'd kept to isolation during my short time on the run. And this was further proof as to why I shouldn't have taken this job, no matter what the reward.
"He asked you a question," Steve seethed.
"I went alone on some missions," I said, meeting his intense gaze. "They didn't always think we needed each other."
"This friend got a metal arm?" Fury asked, jaw set. I just nodded. "He's the one who blew up my car. It was an expensive car, too."
"Well, the next time I'm getting beat up by him," I said through grit teeth, "I'll ask him to write a check."
"You look a lot different without the getup and mask, I will say." Sam's gaze softened as he spoke.
"Yeah." I sighed sadly. "I'd like to think that's not the only thing different about me."
Fury smiled from his hospital bed. "Care to explicate on that? And I'd prefer if you'd just go ahead and told us the truth. Lots of lies floating around lately."
"I've been on the run for three years after escaping Hydra." Sam's eyes widened at the second revelation I'd dropped on him in the past few minutes. "Tried to stay off-radar," my eyes snuck to Nat, "for the most part. Then, these guys knocked on my door." Another sigh as I crossed my arms, my next words coming out in a whisper. "But, unfortunately, it looks like I'm not as helpful as they thought I was."
"Stop that," Nat said harshly. "She saved our lives. Helped us by incapacitating the Winter Soldier a couple of times before he threw her over a car. There have been plenty of times where she could have turned us over. So either she's playing an insanely long game, or she's clearly not a threat to us. I'm leaning towards the latter, and you assholes better be, too." She winced as the doctor began stitching her up. "If anything, she wants to end this as much as we do. And don't give me that bullshit about the other flash drive." She narrowed her eyes at me.
I didn't dare speak, allowing them to absorb everything that had been said. All eyes were on me, with the exception of Nat and the doctor stitching her up. Fury's gaze in particular really unnerved me. He was the one with the most power here, the one who could give the orders to end my life in half a second. Might not be so bad of a way to go, really. It was only fair, after all. Hydra nearly killed him, and I would be the ultimate revenge.
But then I saw Maria release her grip on her gun.
"Briefing in an hour," Fury said. "Go get yourselves cleaned up. You all are stinking up the place."
"Living quarters are down the hall to the left," Maria nodded her head. "Not exactly five star, but they'll work for your needs."
We took that as our dismissal. I left first, Steve and Sam following close after. Nat was transferred to another hospital bed, the doctor hard at work to make sure her newly stitched wound was cleaned up properly. Based on how annoyed she looked, I couldn't imagine she was usually doted on this much after an altercation.
We were barely ten feet down the hallway when I felt heavy arms on my shoulders. I didn't even raise a hand as Steve flipped and shoved me hard against the wall. My shoulders ached from the intensity of it. I was lucky my head didn't make contact, or else I might be dealing with a fractured skull. He glared down from where he towered over me.
"Alright man," Sam said calmly as he approached, "let's just take it easy. It's been a stressful day for—"
"You need to start talking," Steve seethed at me. I just looked up at him with tired eyes. He shoved me once more. "What do you know?"
"I just told you all," I said, deadpan, "apparently not much." Another shove.
"What did they do to Bucky?"
"I don't really know who that is." Another shove. "I do know that if you don't stop that, I'm going to punch you in the face."
"C'mon," Sam reasoned as he placed a hand on Steve's shoulder. "You can hear her out without pummeling her into the concrete."
The blonde glared at me for a few moments more, jaw tightening before he let me go with one final shove. Hand still on his shoulder, Sam guided him to the other side of the hallway where they both leaned back and crossed their arms. I did the same, mirrors of one another across ten feet of concrete flooring.
"What did they do to Bucky?"
I sighed. "If you're talking about the Winter Soldier—"
"Don't call him that."
"Well, that's all I know him as!" I finally snapped. "The Winter Soldier, Hydra's most successful assassin for the past half a century. He's got hundreds of kills under his belt."
"Nat only said a couple dozen." I had a feeling he was trying to lessen just how horrible his old friend's crimes had been.
So, I couldn't help but chuckle. "That's just the main players. No one ever counts the bodyguards, the housekeepers, the... innocent bystanders. If they did, that number increases ten-fold." I swallowed hard. "Mine increases ten-fold considering we worked side-by-side."
"How could he continue to operate for fifty years and look like a day hasn't passed?"
"I told you... How do you think you're still so young despite being like a hundred years old? Just like you, he was on ice. Only being unfrozen when he was needed."
"But you also said he's permanently off the ice?"
"I think..." I hesitated, considering my time in Siberia. "But I'm not sure."
"Not sure?" He almost took a step forward but Sam stopped him.
"No, I'm not," I said through grit teeth. "I was a kid and a pawn. They didn't exactly tell me everything, as you've found out over the past few days." I sighed, leaning my head back to face the ceiling. "He was around a lot after I turned fifteen. It was twelve years ago, but you guys age slowly so not unreasonable that he hasn't really changed."
Steve remained still, eyes analytical as he took me in. "You started going on missions with him when you were eighteen?"
"God," I rubbed my eyes against my palms, "so many fucking questions." That one, in particular, I didn't want to address. It brought up too many memories, too many lives I brought to a brutal end.
"Yeah, you don't like questions?" This time Sam couldn't hold him back as he retook his position of holding me firmly against the concrete. "Then you better just give up all you know because up until now, you haven't been very forthcoming about—"
"What's all this?" Nat said from the doorway. Her tank top was covered in blood, her shoulder bandaged, but other than that she looked completely unbothered. She assessed the situation calmly before coming to stand in the middle of the hallway a few feet away. "Steve, you want to step back?"
Another shove and another huff as he moved back. He took back his place next to Sam, Nat acting as Swizterland and keeping neutral ground between us. The hallway sank into startling silence, the rusty pipes creaking ominously around us.
"I've been as forthcoming as I can," I finally said. "I've answered all your questions as truthfully as I can with what knowledge I have."
"You haven't answered all our questions," the blonde seethed.
"Steve," Nat reprimanded.
"Because some of them you don't have the right to know the answer to!" I yelled as I lifted myself off the wall.
This was getting dangerous. I could feel my blood boiling, the veins around my eyes bulging ever so slightly. Talons peeked at the tip of my fingers, breaking skin as I bunched my hands into fists.
"You want to talk to me about rights?" He scoffed. "Oh, sorry if I don't think a trained killer working under a terrorist organization has the right to withhold information."
"Worked." My teeth clenched.
I could feel the magic pulsating now, my fingers glistening in my peripheral.
"Steve," Nat said, ire and warning dripping from her voice.
"We don't even really know if you're not still working with them!" He raised his hands in disbelief, looking around at all of us. Sam didn't say a word as he looked straight ahead. Meanwhile, Nat glared at the blonde in disbelief. "And excuse me if I find it hard to believe that you knew nothing about Bucky. Why would you keep something like that from me?"
"I told you, I didn't—" He cut off my screaming voice.
"Oh, don't give me that!" He slammed his back against the wall behind him in frustration. There was about a foot between him and Sam. "You knew and you just didn't want to tell me because you're a threat." He shook his head and I felt myself begin to shake. "We shouldn't have brought you here. Shouldn't have trusted you. We don't even know what you can do because you refuse to tell us anything—"
Before I had the chance to consider what was happening, metal sprouted on my right hand and up to my wrist. Raising the same arm, I threw hard, a long cone-like piece of metal lodging directly in the center between his and Sam's head. I could feel the veins around my eyes pulsating, my magic a little unhinged but still manageable.
They all gaped at me as I took a deep breath, my eyes cooling while the metal withdrew into me once more. With casual movements, I leaned back on the wall.
"I want it to be known that I could have easily just killed you," I said as calmly as I could, "but I didn't. I could have killed all of you many times by now. But again, I didn't."
Steve glared, jaw set but not moving from his position. Sam was flustered as he turned to assess the protruding weapon.
"So much for unreliable offense." Nat actually had the ability to smirk. "I won't ask the question, but I will hear what you have to say if you want to say it."
I kicked at nothing with my black boot, weighing my options. Hydra had kept my abilities a secret for a reason, I realized. It was because I was valuable, a weapon that could take down an empire if used by the right hands. That's why they had to keep me for themselves.
But these abilities were also an asset, something that could help the world, not harm it. And that began now. No more hiding, it was time to take a stand.
Plus my cover was blown anyway, so what did I really have to lose?
"If you ask one goddamn question before I'm done talking," I glared at Steve, "I will walk away and you will never see me again."
Nat and Sam looked at him with expectancy. The blonde just rolled his eyes before nodding.
"Good." I cleared my throat. "I was born with the ability to manipulate the matter of my body and the space around it. Why or how? No one knows. They killed and studied my parents for years with no answers. And then they wiped my entire family tree to do the same. All of it for nothing." I raised my right hand again, willing the scale-like armor to form just up to the wrist. "They call me Illusion partly to make fun of me. It was a game for them—like my abilities were some sort of cheap trick. But it was also pretty spot on." I whipped another metal cone into my hand, seemingly out of nowhere. "Now you see it." I pulled the weapon back and it disappeared in a flash of light. "Now you don't."
"Not going to lie," Sam said, "it's a little badass." Steve glared but he just shrugged him off.
The corners of my mouth twitched. "It took me years to learn how to manipulate my body... the armor that I'm able to produce. Then came the weapons. I can sometimes form full daggers and swords if I try hard enough." I rubbed the back of my neck, uncomfortable with the amount of knowledge I was just handing over to them. But if this was the life I wanted, this was the truth they needed. "And of course, you've seen me make the... force field or whatever you want to call it. External matter manipulation. I was even trying to learn how to fly by using the same idea."
My head rested on the cool concrete, the weight of everything hitting my shoulders. I remembered days of endless pain as Hydra would electrocute, drown, and beat me into showing them something. It never stopped. In their minds, the only way to make me better was to force the magic out of me.
"I know Steve isn't allowed to," Nat began with hesitation, "but I would like to propose a question."
A hollow chuckle escaped my lips. "For you, anytime."
"Why metal?"
"It's all I ever knew." My reply was immediate. "The walls of my bedroom, the cage I sparred in." I looked over to Steve. "The Winter Soldier I trained and fought beside."
For the first time since this conversation began, his hostility faltered.
When we faced the Winter Soldier, he hadn't seen an enemy or a trained killer. He had seen his childhood best friend. I didn't know what that was like, having one of those. But I'm sure if I did, I would want to know what happened. Even if I had to be an asshole to do so.
"You were right," I talked directly to Steve. I didn't know the full story, but I hoped I knew enough to give him some sort of answer he was looking for. "Your friend survived whatever happened because of Zola, who then turned him into the Winter Soldier. The reason he doesn't remember..." I let out a shaky breath, memories of pained screaming as it echoed through the hallway rang in my ears. "He doesn't remember because they forced him to forget. They wiped his memories and hardwired him into something that could be controlled."
Steve's face set in a hard line, his eyes sad but holding a hint of determination. I sighed, running a hand through my hair, tearing a few strands out of my ruined braid in the process.
"Alright, you get one."
"How could you not know?" he whispered.
The question hurt but not because he had asked it with anger. If anything, he sounded heartbroken. Instead, the question upset me because of how little I knew of the pain that plagued the Winter Soldier that I thought I knew so well. I could have prevented so much unwanted emotion and turmoil if I had just known everything about him.
"They redacted all the names when I was learning about things. And there were never any pictures... I mean, who knows who else they worked on that I don't even know about? All I know is what they did, not who they did it to." I picked at my finger, thinking back to the stack of books in the bleak library. "I used to think it was just how they were. Another kind of torture in the form of boredom." I met his blue eyes from across the hall. "But now I'm pretty sure it's because they didn't want me to have the leverage of knowing one of their experiments was Captain America's best friend."
We all stood in silence, them taking in the information while I just hung my head in a mixture of shame and embarrassment.
"It all makes sense," Nat spoke up, voice echoing throughout the empty hallway. We all looked to her with various levels of bewilderment. "He's an asset with ties to what they consider a serious threat. Any smart terrorist organization would do the same thing and not think twice about it." She looked at Steve pointedly. "Now, we just have to figure out how we deal with it."
A look of anger flashed across his features once more. "I imagine your way of 'dealing with it' varies significantly from mine."
Without giving her a chance to refute, he was off down the hall. He didn't look back as he turned a corner and disappeared from view.
He was definitely feeling it harder than me, but I understood why he would consider Nat's probable solution to be problematic. There had to be a way for all of us, Winter Soldier or Bucky included, to get out of this mostly unscathed.
At least, I hoped for nothing more. For both mine and Steve's sakes.
"That could have gone better," the redhead sighed.
Sam scrunched his brows. "Is it always this dysfunctional?"
"Nah," I spoke up, "I think I brought that with me."
"Well," Nat said, voice laced with a hint of resignation, "we'll see what he thinks after we hear Fury's plan." She smirked as she began to walk casually down the hall. "Nothing makes him giddier than a noble mission that gives him the opportunity to save the day."
"I mean how in the hell do you not accept a Nobel Peace Prize?" Fury said, slapping down a picture of Pierce on the table we were all sitting at. "This is why I have trust issues."
"Those Helicarriers can't go up," I whispered, shaking my head. "If they do, Hydra will destroy half the planet if they think that helps their agenda."
"Well," Fury opened a box next to him, "since no one's accepting my calls anymore, we'll just have to use these."
Inside the metal box was what looked like three large SD cards.
"What are they?" Sam asked, hovering over them to get a better look.
"At 3,000 feet," Maria began, turning a laptop to show us a diagram, "the carriers become fully weaponized and Insight can begin taking out targets."
The diagram moved, showing an intricate blueprint of the inside of one of the Helicarriers. Everything was outlined—how to get in, where the control panels were, the works.
"We'll replace their targeting mechanisms with our own," Fury said, indicating to the cards.
"We have to get all three," Maria said. "Not a single one can be left operational. Otherwise, lots of people are going to die."
"We have to go in there thinking everyone is Hydra until proven innocent, especially on the carriers. We get past them, override their systems, and salvage what we can."
"Absolutely not." Steve had been disturbingly quiet since we'd sat down. "Nothing is being salvaged." He paused, eyeing all of us seriously. "We're taking down those carriers and, along with them, S.H.I.E.L.D."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. has no stakes in this—"
"This is the mission we got, and this is how the mission will end. I know you helped grow S.H.I.E.L.D. but it's been compromised. You admitted so yourself. We can't assume it can go on without continuing to be corrupted." He left us all in silence when he stopped talking.
"He's right," I broke the quiet. "I'm new here but from what I've learned... Hydra has poisoned S.H.I.E.L.D., and we have no way of eliminating them without ripping up the organization root and stem. And I'm not sure if I'm valuable enough to give the ultimatum but," I hesitated as I peeked at Steve, "I'm not going into this unless the goal of the mission is to end Hydra. Whatever it takes."
Steve looked at me thoughtfully for a moment. I turned away from him as he refocused on Fury. "They grew under your nose without anyone noticing and they can do it again."
"Given that we are meeting in a cave," Fury's tone turned stern, "I think it's fair to say I noticed."
"Full offense, there were a lot of people that had to pay the price before you did."
Nat and I locked eyes, uncomfortable with the tension. None of us could make this work if we didn't act together. So, it didn't help when Fury pulled out his trump card.
"I didn't know about Barnes," he sounded sincere, but I couldn't quite tell if it was an act or not.
I swallowed hard. Sam cleared his throat while Nat dipped her head. Apparently, the conversation from the hallway was still too fresh for all of us. I ignored Steve's gaze as I felt it on the side of my face.
"Would you have even told me?" he directed towards Fury. He was met with silence. "It all goes. All of it."
In a desperate last attempt, Fury looked around the table. It was already clear that I was on Steve's side, given my last contribution to the conversation. Nat looked at him in clear indication that she would do the same, while Sam shrugged.
"I might not be able to keep up," he said, "but I'm following him."
Finally, Fury turned to Maria.
"They're right," she said simply, nodding.
Outnumbered, he gave in. "Fine." He sat back and sighed, upset but resigned. "What's the plan, Captain?"
Steve nodded, immediately in attack mode even though we all remained sitting around the table. He reached for Maria's laptop.
"Beyond the carriers," Fury continued, "if you want to do this, we'll need to expose the organization for what it is." He looked around at us meaningfully. "Release all the secrets we have. It's the only way to make sure that everything goes up in flames, that everyone is held accountable."
"So we break into the database," Nat said like it was no big deal. "Post everything we've got."
"To do that, you'd have to be pretty deep in the building," Sam said.
"Pierce is holding an in-person council meeting during launch," Fury leaned back as he spoke. "Nat can sneak in as Hawley. I'll drop by to secure the two Alpha level members needed to completely disable the security protocols."
"Can't wait to see the look on Pierce's face at that," Nat mused through a bright smile.
Steve nodded. "So, that's taken care of," he said, looking back at the laptop.
"And the carriers?" Sam asked with a determined look at the man giving the orders.
"There's three of them—let's call them Alpha, Bravo, Charlie." He pointed to each of them in turn as he spoke to us. "Our best bet is to split up, mess them up as efficiently and as quickly as we can." He turned to Maria. "We'll get you into the control room at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. As soon as all three are locked, you take them down."
"All over it," she replied without hesitation.
"I'll take Alpha, Sam can take Bravo." He held a pregnant pause. I knew why he was hesitating without him having to say anything. But then, he turned to me with an earnest look. "And Ilana will handle Charlie."
Along with the sudden pressure to succeed, I felt a lot of eyes on me. My mind was reeling—fear from the thought of failure mixed with the unexpected mirth of him trusting me enough to do this.
I gave him a slight smile. "Aye, aye, Captain."
"I heard you, you know," Nat said as she approached me.
After we'd set the plan, it was time to ready up. We were moving first thing in the morning, just a few hours out. So, I'd taken what might have been my last shower and put on my all-black stealth suit. It fit me too well, as if I was expected to be here. She walked up as I began braiding my hair, reaching me as I threw it over my shoulder to rest on my back.
"In the hallway before you got there?" I asked, thinking she meant everything before she found Steve pushing me against a wall. "I think everyone within a mile radius heard that."
"No," she sat on a chair positioned at a table next to me. Her hand went up to rub her injured shoulder. "I heard you call him James."
I froze, my hand on one of the buckles I was adjusting across my chest. With a heave, I plopped in the chair opposite her.
"I didn't know it was him. His James, I mean," I whispered, the corners of my eyes stinging with what I thought might have been tears. "Finding out his name was a fluke. In fact, I wasn't even one hundred percent sure it was his name until today. It was just a guess, more than anything."
"But how did it even become a guess?" Her stare wasn't judgemental, just genuinely curious.
"There were times where he wasn't a heartless machine." I rubbed my eyes as an excuse to wipe away any evidence of sadness. "We became... closer, I guess you could say. He'd sometimes be able to break through the void that was his mind, remember very minuscule details. One was the letter of his possible first name. He seemed to react to James, so I ran with it."
She considered me for a moment. "If it came down to it," she tilted her head as she spoke, "would you be able to kill him?"
Images of a metal arm flashed across my memory. Some were as it landed punches to my broken body, others of when it reached out to help me up when I had fallen.
"I'm not sure," I admitted. "I went through hell by his own hand, but... I also kind of owe him everything."
"He helped you didn't he?" She didn't even wait for a beat to ask. "He got you out of there."
I tapped my fingers on the table, talons poking out to touch the metal with tiny clinks.
"Yeah." And then I told her everything.