Prompts: Mind Control/Paralytic Drugs/"No one's coming"
Clint/Bucky
This SHOULD be the last of the HYDRA chapters! I hope you enjoyed my unexpected take on the first two Captain America movies.
"We're sending the two of you out on your most important mission." Alexander Pierce slid a folder across to Winter and Ronin and gave them a few moments to review the details. "These two have fought us for too long. They are a level 7 threat and need to be eliminated."
"Who are they?" Winter asked.
"Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff aliases Captain America and Black Widow. They are scheduled to be in the city tomorrow for a meeting with their supervisor, Nicholas Fury. Winter, you are being sent in early this evening to take him out while Ronin will rest until the assignment tomorrow. Collateral damage is not preferred, but if it happens, it happens." Pierce leaned forward in his chair. "After completing your mission, you'll return to the Triskelion and watch as Project Insight is implemented." Pierce stood. "You're dismissed. Agents Rumlow and Rollins will escort you back to your rooms." The two enhanced HYDRA soldiers nodded, stood, and dutifully followed their handlers back to their shared rooms. Winter and Ronin spent the rest of the morning going over tactics.
After taking care of Fury, Winter returned to the basement of the Triskelion and handed over his rifle to Rollins. "Where is Ronin?" Winter asked.
"He's on ice until tomorrow," Rumlow gruffly answered, sporting a bruise across his cheek and a bandage over his nose. "Ronin didn't react appropriately to an incident while sparring, so he was punished." Winter nodded, understanding Ronin had to spend time in the chair and then be placed in the cryo chamber to recover.
"May I see him?"
"Don't see why not? Not like he can do anything." Rumlow led Winter to the cryo room. "I'll be back after grabbing a bite to eat."
After his handler left, Winter stood in front of the chamber and looked through the window. Ronin looked so peaceful, but Winter knew what had happened to him along the way. He knew Ronin sometimes would rebel when it came to the chair. There was a part of his spirit that they couldn't break over the decades they'd been with HYDRA. Winter would check the dates on each mission by obtaining a newspaper or glancing at a date on one, which was how he knew he'd been working for HYDRA for at least 70 years. He assumed Ronin had been there as long since he'd never known a day that Ronin wasn't with him. They'd grown fond of each other. Whether it was love or not, Winter didn't know. He didn't want to put a label on it. The two always worked well together; something felt off when one of them was sent on a mission without the other. There were times when the soldier had wondered what their relationship had been before HYDRA. Had they known each other before? How did they end up with HYDRA? Had they always been with HYDRA? Winter knew better than to voice those questions and concerns. HYDRA didn't take kindly to anyone questioning their decisions, hence why Ronin was in the chamber.
"Soldier." Winter stood and looked at Rumlow. "As a reward for your successful mission, Pierce has allowed Ronin to be released from the chamber into your care. See that you don't make him regret the decision." Winter nodded and then stepped away from the chamber. "He hasn't been in there very long, so he should quickly wake up." Rumlow unlocked the chamber door and allowed Winter to catch Ronin as he fell out of the chamber.
When Winter caught Ronin, he carried him bridal style back to their rooms. Before Rumlow left, he reminded Winter about their joint mission in the morning and then shut and locked the door behind him as he left. Winter took Ronin to their bedroom, laid him on the bed, then went to get a glass of water from the kitchen to place on the nightstand. He knew he would have enough time to get undressed and put up the rest of his weapons before Ronin awoke. While in the kitchen, he also fixed plates of food for the two of them, put the plates and glasses on a tray, and then returned to the bedroom. Winter stretched out next to Ronin, brought his head to his lap, and carded his fingers through Ronin's hair. They always enjoyed their quiet time together. Those times allowed them to feel almost human. Slowly, Ronin began waking up, letting out a contented moan. "You're back."
Winter smiled. "I am. They're leaving us alone until the morning. Are you hurt?"
Ronin shook his head. "I'm fine."
"Don't lie to me."
"The serum healed the injuries."
"Ronin? What injuries? Show me."
Ronin sighed, sat up, and lifted his shirt. Winter noticed fading bruises in the shape of boot prints on Ronin's chest and abdomen. "Who did this to you? Tell me, Ronin."
"Doesn't matter, Winter."
Winter clasped Ronin's face in his hands. "It matters to me, Ronin."
Ronin placed his hands over Winter's and drew their foreheads together. "Rumlow and Rollins," he said, whispering it where only the two of them could make it out with their enhanced hearing.
"We're done with them," Winter said in the same tone. "After the mission tomorrow, we take them out. Once we eliminate Rogers and Romanoff, we do the same to Rumlow and Rollins."
"Really? Why stop there? Why not take HYDRA down, too? Then we can do whatever we want." Ronin smiled.
"I like that plan." Winter reluctantly pulled away from Ronin and grabbed the plates from the nightstand. "We need to eat." Ronin nodded and accepted the food and water. The two sat in silence until they finished the food. Winter then helped Ronin undress, and the two lay down, turned off the lights, and fell asleep.
Early the next morning, Rumlow came and got the two men to head out for the mission. Rumlow had discovered that Rogers and Romanoff had found information on Project Insight, so Winter and Ronin were assigned to tail them. They reported back that the two were at Camp Lehigh. A ballistic missile was sent to destroy the base. Unfortunately, Rogers and Romanoff somehow escaped. Rumlow soon discovered they were driving with a third man to an unknown location in Washington. Winter and Ronin were sent to take them out.
After a battle on the streets of Washington, Winter and Ronin were taken back to headquarters to treat Winter in the chair. Ronin refused to leave, watching from behind the glass as Pierce ordered Winter to be wiped. Winter thought he'd recognized Rogers, so Pierce wanted to make sure any memory of him was gone. Unfortunately, he was not given any time to recover. HYDRA had received intel that Rogers had a plan to stop Project Insight before it started. Winter and Ronin were immediately taken to the Triskelion to ensure that didn't happen.
"You know me, Bucky!" Rogers, in his Captain America uniform, shouted at Winter.
"No, I don't!" Winter yelled and took a swing at Rogers.
Ronin was watching from overhead and took the opportunity to try and take out Rogers. The helicarrier lurched, causing the shot to miss. Over the years, Ronin had trained using various weapons. While Winter mainly used guns, rifles, and knives, HYDRA had discovered Ronin showed exceptional prowess with multiple blades and, strangely enough, a bow and arrow. When the shot with the gun missed, Ronin unsnapped his compact bow, aimed, and released an arrow. Cap was able to toss his shield, knocking the arrow to the ground. The shield ricocheted off a beam and struck Winter in the head, knocking him to the ground. The helicarrier lurched again, and Ronin fell. When he fell, he landed on the ground and was pinned by another falling beam. Ronin attempted to lift the beam off him, but he only had one arm free. As he struggled, a red-haired woman appeared and stood over him. "That's enough, Ronin. You're done." He blinked and noticed she was pointing a gun at him, but everything else was growing fuzzy. By this time, Steve had also been able to knock out Winter (who he kept calling Bucky) and had shown up dragging Winter behind him. "So?" The woman asked. "If that's Bucky, then who's this?" She pointed to Ronin, who was now unconscious.
"I think it may be Clint, Bucky's friend from flying school. I never met him, but Bucky always talked about him in his letters. According to the research I did, they were supposed to be on the same bombing run." Steve released Bucky and easily lifted the beam off Clint. "Wilson around here somewhere?"
"On your left, Steve." Sam came flying in and landed next to Steve. "We better get out. This carrier is about to fall apart, and I'd prefer not to take a permanent bath in the Potomac."
"I agree. Let's get them out of here. Any other casualties we need to take care of?"
Natasha shook her head. "Pierce, Rumlow, and Rollins are all confirmed dead. Each had a bullet to the head."
"Good riddance. Can't stand traitors." Steve had picked up Bucky, with Sam and Natasha carrying Clint, taking them to a hospital.
Several hours later, Winter woke up in a hospital he didn't recognize as one of HYDRA'S. He turned his head and saw a blond-haired man wearing a blue shirt and pants sitting in a chair beside the bed. "Where am I?"
Steve placed a bookmark in the book he was reading and laid it on his lap. "You're in a hospital, getting checked out. Do you know who you are?"
Winter squinted, thinking about the answer to that question. "Winter? But you called me Bucky. That sounds…familiar for some reason."
Steve smiled. "Your real name is James Buchanan Barnes. I called you Bucky when we were growing up. Does that help?"
"It's all scrambled." He looked around. "Ronin?"
"He's in the next room with Nat. We think he's Clint Barton. The two of you were in flight school together." Bucky nodded, then fell back asleep.
In Ronin's room, Natasha watched as Ronin slept. She recognized him and Winter as two of her trainers in the Red Room, causing her to wonder how many people with the serum flowing through them were out in the world. She looked down at her tablet and pulled up files on Clint Barton and James Barnes. After reviewing the information, Nat put the tablet on the nightstand and looked over at the sleeping Ronin/Clint Barton. He looked younger than she thought, but she attributed it to the serum and the decades of being preserved in the cryo chamber. She'd never had a lot of reason to have any hope, but after knowing how Fury and Hill treated her after rescuing her from the Red Room, she knew they'd be able to help Clint and Bucky, too. She leaned in and carded her fingers through his hair. "Get some rest, Clint. No one will be coming for you."
