Chapter 10
July 4th, 2013 0800 Hours
The Avengers sat in the communal living room, about to put on one of Steve's favorite movies to kick off his birthday. Bucky was with them. He was making really good progress over the last couple of months. At first all he remembered was his time at Hydra, but now he remembered so much more. He remembered his past in Brooklyn. Not everything, but he remembered Steve, so there's that. Bucky was also brought up to date on what had been going on over the past year. Needless to say, he was impressed. This Patriot person could handle themselves rather well. And with their faithful companion by their side, Patriot could very well take down Hydra all by themselves.
"Sir, another one of those videos has been put on YouTube." Jarvis said.
"Put it up." Tony said.
!
"What's up Freedom Fighters, I'm Patriot and this is Char, and welcome back to another unboxing video.
"Now here we have this box in upstate New York. They think that freedom isn't coming. They're wrong."
"Let's show them just how wrong they are." You could hear the smile in Patriot's voice.
"By the way. Happy Birthday Captain Rogers." Patriot said cheerfully.
!
Steve smiled at the celebratory saying. Thinking that, with another base destroyed, this was shaping up to be a very good birthday.
!
Patriot and Char made their way through the forest, slowly heading towards the base.
As the two of them have shown in the past, getting into the base was no problem for them. They got all the way down to the lowest level, with minimal problems. They should have known that it wasn't going to be that easy.
In the Boiler Room, Patriot placed the last charge, and was in the process of programming all of the explosives with the patriotic song of the day, when they heard footsteps in the hallway leading to the room they were in. A lot of footsteps.
It would take too much time to upload the song that was chosen, into both the bombs and into hydra's systems.
"This isn't going to work. At least not like the last times. I'm gonna have to go with plan B." Patriot said.
With that done, Patriot and Char went to the only door out of the room. They listened for any more footsteps. When it sounded like they were headed away, the two of them cautiously stepped out into the hallway.
They got maybe halfway down the hall, when it happened.
The hallway became swarmed with Hydra agents.
Patriot and Char did their best to fight against the onslaught of agents. They took down six of them, before they were overpowered.
"Char!" Patriot called out, "Plan Omega!"
Char looked at Patriot, almost pleading with Patriot. But Patriot wasn't taking no for an answer, and nodded their head. Char then ducked underneath the arms of one Hydra agent, and ran.
!
4 months earlier
"Charlie, we need to talk." Lexi said.
Charlie walked over to Lexi, sat down, and gave Lexi his full attention.
"We need to talk about, 'What if we get overpowered and there is no feasible way out?'." Lexi said mournfully but realistically.
"If that were to happen, I want you, I need you, to run." Lexi said. "I need you to protect our family."
Charlie recoiled back, as though burned by the very thought of this idea. He then growled at Lexi, as though to say, "That is a stupid ass idea, and i hate it."
"I know boy. I know. But I need you to do this," Lexi pleaded, as she looked Charlie in the eyes, "for me."
Charlie looked away.
"Please?"
Charlie looked at Lexi, and caved. After all, he could never say no to his girl.
!
Patriot got hit twice with a stun gun. It wasn't enough to knock Patriot unconscious, but it was enough to disoriant them.
Patriot was dragged into a room on the fifth level, then was tied to a chair in the middle of the room.
When Patriot was properly secured to the chair, the door was locked from the outside. Twelve agents stood guard in the room, with one more agent to interrogate their prisoner.
"Finally." The Interrogator said with a Russian accent, "Now, let's see who is behind the mask."
He reached forward and pulled the helmet off of Patriot, to reveal wine red hair pulled up into a french braid with the end of the braid not up against her head rolled up and tucked underneath the rest of the braid. Tanned skin, and summer green eyes were also revealed.
"You're a girl." The agent said, in insulted disbelief.
"And you're a pussy. Now that we have that cleared up," Lexi said sarcastically, "mind untying me? I've got a job to do."
!
"Is it just me, or does that girl look a lot like you Nat?" Clint asked.
Natasha didn't answer. She stared at the screen in silence. If one were to look closely and you knew her well enough, you would see a multitude of emotions playing across her face.
!
"Not just yet." he said, "We've got some questions that you are going to answer."
"I'm all ears." Lexi said. She sat back mockingly giving him her attention.
"First of all, I want you to understand." He said, "It is over. We have found all three of your bombs. You've lost."
Lexi didn't say anything, just glared up at him and ground her teeth.
"Now, where is the Asset?" the Interrogator asked.
"Huh?" Lexi asked, genuinely confused.
"The Asset. Hydra's greatest weapon. Where is it?" he demanded.
"Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down?" Lexi said. "I mean, anything and anyone could be an asset. When you are at school and taking a test, a pen is an asset. Air. Air is a wonderful asset to have."
The Interrogator got frustrated, "The Winter Soldier! Where is the Winter Soldier?!"
"Winter Soldier. Winter Soldier. Winter Soldier." Lexi said, putting on a show of thinking on the question, as if she was trying to remember who or what the Winter Soldier was.
"Tall guy? Brown hair? Jawline that could cut diamonds?" Lexi asked, "Him?"
!
Bucky blushed lightly, and subtly rubbed at his jaw.
!
"Yes." the agent said, grinding his teeth.
"Ah. Sergeant Barnes." Lexi said, as if she just remembered.
"It is the Asset." he growled.
"HE! His name is Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, of the Howling Commandos! An AMERICAN WAR HERO!" Lexi shouted back.
Insulted on behalf of the war hero.
!
Bucky felt this warm feeling come about him. He was truly touched that this complete stranger would so adamantly defend him, without even knowing him. Steve looked at him, smiled and whispered to him, "See. You are not what they made you. And you are, in fact, worth it."
!
"Where is he?!" he demanded.
"He's somewhere safe. Somewhere where you and your cronies," Lexi jabbed her chin at the agents around her, "can't get your meat hooks into him. Ever again."
The man screamed and struck Lexi across the face with the back of his hand.
Lexi chuckled, "Is that all you got? My dead grandmother can hit harder than you."
"You Americans, and your weak insults." the agent spat.
!
In a retirement home in Alabama, Gabe Jones of the Howling Commandos sat watching all of this happen.
"Oh, you did not just say that to her! Give them the what for, Ginger Bread!" Gabe shouted at the screen, shaking his cane the whole time.
!
"Oh. Really? Okay." Lexi said. She took a deep breath, "Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelled of Elderberries!"
An agent to Lexi's right snorted. The Interrogator pulled out his gun and shot the agent in the head.
He then turned back to Lexi, "How did you know!"
"He loves you!" Lexi sang.
An agent on the left tried to suppress a chuckle, but couldn't keep it in. He got killed as well.
Lexi turned to the agents on her right, "Did you know, his father's name is Biggus Dickus?"
One agent snorted, and another made a noise like an elephant. They were killed as well.
Lexi then turned to the agents on her left, "He's got a wife you know. Would you like to know what she called?" Those agents that she was looking at shook their heads vigorously at her.
"She's called Incontinentia Buttocks." Lexi said.
Another two agents were killed by the Interrogator.
!
All of the avengers laughed.
"I like her!" Tony laughed.
Tony then looked at Fury, "Dibs."
"What?!"
"Tony!?"
"You've already got a girlfriend!"
"She's a teenager!"
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Hold on!" Tony held up his hands trying to calm down everyone, "I don't mean it like that! I'm very happy with Pepper!"
"Well what do you mean?" Fury asked.
Tony turned and looked Fury in the eye, "If I find her first, then the Avengers get a new member."
"Now wait just a minute," Fury said.
"Sorry Fury, but I called dibs. I get her in the Avengers." Tony said.
Fury eye twitch, "That's, if, you find her first."
"Deal." Tony then sat back, pleased with himself.
Tony's team mates just sat there, and shook their heads. Amused despite themselves. Used to Tony's Tonyness.
!
"Enough!" He yelled. "I have another question. Why -"
"M, C, A!" Lexi said cheerfully.
Two more agents joined their dead brothers.
"Why, EH!" he started his question but then yelled and pointed his gun into Lexi's face when she opened her mouth to interrupt him. "Why, in all of your videos, do you call them 'Unboxing videos'?"
"Because," Lexi said, looking at him as if he was an idiot. Then began to explain it as if she was talking to a very particularly slow five year old. "That's what it is.
"I take a box. Like this." Lexi said, using her tied up hands to gesture at the room that they were in. "And then I, unbox it."
One of the agents behind him sucked in air a bit too loudly, and with the Interrogator as unhinged as he was, he pulled out a long knife that almost qualified as a sword, and swung it around himself, screaming as he did so. Lexi ducked just in time to avoid the blade, and then looked at him if he was crazy. The last two agents behind him weren't so lucky.
When he stopped swinging, he and Lexi were the only ones left alive in the room.
The man looked around at all of the corpses, then at his prisoner, "Look at what you've done." He said, gesturing at all of the bodies, "Do you have anything to say for yourself?!"
Lexi looked at the carnage, looked at him and said, "Thanks."
"Huh?"
"You just saved me, what? Five, ten minutes? You just made my job that much easier. So, thank you." Lexi said. You could feel the sarcasm coming off of her.
He snarled, and raised the blade above his head, and made to bring it down on Lexi's wine red hair, when the door opened. In walked a man in his fifties, with five agents obviously acting as his bodyguards. The older man and the previously lone agent had a quick and whispered conversation.
Then the older man turned to Lexi and said in Russian, "У тебя есть-" (Do you have any-)
"I'm sorry." Lexi said, "I don't speak communist."
The older agent looked at Lexi for a moment and then tried again, this time in Chinese, "你有没有-" (Do you have-)
"For the love, of Lady Liberty," Lexi shouted, clearly frustrated and annoyed, "Speak Freedom!"
The older agent worked his jaw, then gave up and nodded at the agent with the blade still in his hand.
He stepped forward and translated for the older man, "The Commander would like to know, if you have any last words?"
"Yes! Finally! I do have some last words!" Lexi sat up straighter and cleared her throat, then took in a big slow breath. Filling up her lungs to capacity before she belted out, "AMERICA!"
They all looked at each other confused, while Lexi sat there smirking.
BOOM!
They all looked around as that explosion was followed by another, then another.
Their eyes went back to Lexi when she said, "Fuck yeah."
Then the room that they were in exploded, and the screen went black.
!
Everyone sat, shocked.
Tony then mournfully said, "Jarvis, turn it off."
"But sir, there are still five minutes left." Jarvis said.
Everyone perked up, and looked at the screen. All hoping against all hope, that she was still alive.
!
The screen slowly faded out of black, to show Patriot and Char, without the helmet on Patriot and the temporary hair dye on Char.
Patriot was sitting on a boulder in the forest.
"If you're watching this, it means that I didn't make it. I died, fighting against Hydra.
"To my friends and family, I'm sorry."
!
Lexi's parents and brother sat in their living room, watching the video, in stunned silence. Tears running down their faces.
Lexi's Grandfather, Gabe Jones, put his head in his hands. To hide his tears.
!
"Please understand that I did this because I love you. Because, I love America, and all she stands for.
"Mom, Dad," Lexi paused for a moment to take a breath and to gather her thoughts.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise. I had promised you, I'd be safe while I was gone. I'm sorry I couldn't keep it."
Lexi shifted on the boulder.
"Please don't be mad. I was only trying to make you proud. To do as you taught me. To practice what I preach…"
!
Thomas and Marie sobbed even harder. While Andy silently cried. Tears slowly and silently running down his face.
!
"You taught me to protect the innocent. To fight for what was right. That what is right, isn't always easy. That more often than not, what is right is very difficult. And hard. But it's worth it.
"Please understand that after hearing all the stories Pops told us about his time in the army, and as a Howling Commando. Of Hydra, and everything I learned about them in school. That when I came across one of their bases, and learned that not only is Hydra alive and kicking, but that there was a base not too far from home. I had to do something."
Lexi took a breath.
"Hey Andy?"
!
Andy jumped a little when Lexi addressed him. Then leaned forward, as though that would help him to hear everything that his sister had to say to him.
!
"Could you do me a favor? Take care of my car? I know how much you love that car."
!
Andy flinched back slightly, and looked away guiltily.
!
"Don't think I didn't see you get behind the wheel, and pretend to drive it."
!
Andy flushed in embarrassment, and looked down as though he had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
!
Lexi sat up straighter, becoming more serious.
"To my fellow Freedom Fighters. Keep fighting. Never let freedom die.
"Never give up.
"Never surrender."
And then the screen faded to black for the last time.
!
Two weeks later
Shield was in chaos.
At 0800 hours on July 4th, 2013, all of Shield's and Hydra's files were put online. Everything.
All across the world Hydra agents were either being arrested, or hunted down and killed. Whether by the military or law enforcement, or by the citizens that they had wronged in one way or another.
Senators Stern and Ross were being led away in handcuffs. While Ross wasn't a member of Hydra, they did however have files on him of everything he had done. Every illegal act he committed. Abomination, his unsanctioned arrest and illegal experiments on Dr. Bruce Banner. He would be lucky if he even saw next week with the amount of war crimes he had committed. The police were there to contain the mob of people who all wanted them dead. Many of them were carrying signs all saying various things like "TAKE DOWN HYDRA", "Never Surrender", "Freedom Forever", "Never Give Up". Some even just simply had a picture of Patriot/Lexi on it.
!
"On July 4th, Patriot's identity was revealed to be Alexandria "Lexi" Jones. The daughter of Marine Colonel Thomas Jones the son of the Howling Commando Gabe Jones. Her mother is Doctor Marie Jones, a surgeon at the Park City Hospital."
^channel change^
"More than ten million people have marched on the capital. One of the largest marches ever recorded."
^channel change^
"Hydra agents all across the globe are being arrested as we speak."
^channel change^
"Lexi Jones to receive the The Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously. The highest medals a civilian can get."
^channel change^
"Lexi Jones, a true patriot."
^channel change^
"Lexi Jones, a beacon of hope."
^Channel change^
"Lexi Jones, the new face of freedom."
Clint turned off the tv, and everyone sat in silence for a moment.
Tony snorted, "Cap. She stole your thunder."
"You have thunder friend Steve?!" Thor asked, in his normal booming tone, "Why did you not tell me of this?! We could have used it in battle!"
"Whoa, Thor, wait!" Tony explained to the big guy, "It's a metaphor. An expression. A figure of speech. You remember, we talked about this?"
"Oh," Thor said quietly, "Right. I knew that."
!
2 months later
"Steve." Nat said as he came into the conference room.
"What is it?" Steve asked.
"We found another one." Clint informed him.
They spent the next four days planning on how they wanted to take this base.
As they were all climbing into the Quinjet Steve said, "I hope we actually catch up with him this time."
!
Steve and Bucky were in charge of placing the bomb, while Nat was in the base's control room giving them directions. Everyone else was outside, providing them with a distraction.
"Take the next right." Nat told them in their ear pieces.
They got to the center of the base, when an attack came from behind. However before they could open fire on Steve and Bucky, a very large mass of fur came at the agents from the side.
They whipped around so fast, they would have gotten whiplash if they were normal men.
Charlie tore into the Hydra agents, with all of the anger and grief that he possessed. Steve jumped in to help, and together, he and Charlie killed all of the agents.
While they were busy doing that, Bucky took the bomb and placed it in the correct spot. He then turned around to help Steve, only to find that he didn't need it. Steve and the dog Charlie took care of the agents no problem.
"Bomb placed and set." Buck said into the communicator.
"Roger that. Heading to the evac now." Natasha's voice sounded into their ears.
Charlie followed them out of the base, and out into the open. They killed as many of the agents as they could find. And when they were confident that they had gotten them all, they climbed into the Quinjet once again. Charlie right behind them.
As the jet flew away, and got a good amount of distance from the base, Bucky pressed the detonator button. And watched the base explode in a ball of flame, with great satisfaction.
It wasn't until they had gotten back to the tower, and they were being debriefed, that they remembered that Charlie had followed them into the jet.
They turned to look at Charlie, as Steve told them about him. Charlie walked over to where Steve and Bucky were standing, sat down in front of them, and then gave them a long, hard, penetrating stare. A stare that a dog should not be able to give.
"I like you." Steve said after a beat of silence.
Bucky knelt down, and slowly extended his right hand to the large German Shepherd. Charlie took a curious sniff of the hand offered to him, before moving closer. Bucky happily began to pet him. Giving him all of the head scratches and belly rubs Charlie could want.
!
A few days later, Bruce and Tony approached Charlie, wanting to run some tests on him.
Charlie jumped up and snapped at them, growling, when he realized what it was in Bruce's hand.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Steve questioned.
"We just want to run some tests." Tony said.
"We want to make sure that he is completely healthy," said Bruce.
Charlie growled and bit at the air in between them. Giving them an emphatic 'NO'.
"You understand us." Tony said, "That is one of the things that I have noticed these past few days."
Charlie gave him a look that screamed, 'No shit Sherlock.'
"I knew it." Tony said smugly.
"Well, in that case." Bucky looked at Charlie, "Would you like to stay?"
Charlie turned around, and used the remote to turn on the tv. Then he pressed the buttons, to change the channel to the news. Where a piece on Lexi and her family was being shown.
Charlie looked at the screen and then at the men in the room, then back at the screen.
"You need to go back home." Bucky said understandingly.
Charlie looked at him and nodded his head.
"Okay. We'll take you home." Steve said.