Chapter 24

I woke up slowly some indeterminable time later. My every nerve tingled with an icy cold that reached to my bones, but the air I inhaled was damp and warm.

I knew this feeling well from my years serving HYDRA, though this was the first time I'd been in full control of my mind during defrosting from cryostasis.

I reached up awkwardly in the pitch-black confines of the cryostasis chamber, breaking the strap that had held my right arm at my side, and pulled the oxygen mask off my face. Then I detached the vital signs sensors that had been stuck to my chest under my damp shirt and freed my cybernetic arm. The metal arm responded better than the flesh-and-blood one, free from the sharp ache of stiff muscles.

A shout rang out from beyond the walls of the chamber, followed by gunfire.

I moved faster, tearing the straps away from my body. I didn't have a clue what was going on out there, or why I'd been awoken, but I knew I wanted out.

Before I could punch my way out of the semi-vertical chamber however, its front panels began to slide open. I got my hands into the slowly widening gap and pried it open faster as the mechanisms whined in protest.

The bright light of the room beyond dazzled me as I forced my way out of the cryostasis chamber and, half blinded, I stumbled as my feet hit the floor.

A strong pair of hands caught me before I could fall and a familiar voice said, "Man, you're heavy."

I blinked. "Clint?"

"Yeah." His serious face came into focus as my eyes adjusted to the light. "You on our team again?" he asked.

I nodded. "That's why they put me in cryo."

"We figured it was either that or they wanted a break from your surliness," said Natasha.

I turned to see her standing by the closed door of the cryostasis lab we were in, gun in hand and a smile on her face.

"What's happening," I asked.

"Me and a bunch of ISID boys broke in to get you two out and take over, and so here we all are," Clint said, nocking an arrow. "Door, Nat," he added.

Natasha opened the door and stepped swiftly to the side as Clint fired at a soldier who had been sneaking down the hall towards the lab. The guy let out a yelp and collapsed as Clint's taser arrow hit him.

"So what's the plan now?" I asked.

"Well, we've pretty much got this place under control," Clint replied, ""There's only a few of Rogan's men left, and some Molniya."

"What about Rogan himself?" I asked. "Where's he?"

"He left with one of his men a while before we arrived," Clint said. "ISID's got a guy tracking them."

That was bad. I was willing to bet my clone was the person who'd gone with Rogan, and that meant serious trouble.

But we couldn't focus on that at the moment.

A stun grenade sailed through the open doorway and landed on the floor beside the cryostasis chamber.

I picked it up and lobbed it back down the hall. The explosion a couple of seconds later rattled the windowpane in the lab door. "I thought you said this place was almost under control," I said to Clint.

"I did." Clint nocked another arrow and set off down the hall, Natasha at his heels. I brought up the rear. Natasha passed me one of her guns as we navigated the rubble left by earlier fighting at the end of the hallway.

A soldier stepped out of an open doorway and Natasha fired her Widow's Bite at him before he could shoot.

"What's the date?" I asked.

"January 19th," Natasha replied over her shoulder.

I was used to waking up from cryostasis to find years of my life gone, so a few hours made a nice change. My body had used the time of inactivity well though. The wounds from both my failed escape and my clone's beating had completely healed.

Rogan might have done me an unintentional favor.

Clint seemed to know where he was going as we navigated the complex's hallways and corridors. After a couple of minutes, we rounded a corner and came face to face with four men in combat gear. I'd already taken aim at their leader before I saw the ISID badge on his bulletproof vest.

He held up his hands to show he wasn't a threat, then addressed Clint in English as I lowered my gun. "The base is secured. My men are making a sweep to check for any remaining hostiles." He and his men fell in with us as we continued down the hall.

"Are the communications lines safe?" Clint asked.

"Heavily guarded," the ISID agent replied. "Rogan won't know anything about this."

"What about his files?" Natasha asked. "I want to get my hands on as much intel about this place as I can."

"That can probably be arranged, Agent Romanoff, but for now it would be better if you and Sergeant Barnes return to base for debriefing and rest."

Natasha frowned. "Worried we might turn on you, Agent?"

"More worried that there are still potentially hostiles capable of causing you to do so here," the agent replied.

I didn't think that would be a problem for Natasha. Her brainwashing didn't rely on trigger words to activate it like mine did, but she didn't argue that point. Instead she remained silent as we passed through a doorway into a garage.

Two Urals were parked inside and the garage's large doors were open to the darkness outside. I wasn't sure if it was early morning or night.

Natasha and I climbed into the back of one of the trucks and Clint joined us after exchanging a few more words with the ISID agents. There was another agent sitting in the corner of the Ural, a bloodied bandage knotted around his hand. He nodded a greeting, and then the truck was moving and it was too loud for conversation.

A few bullets struck the side of the truck as we roared out into the snowy complex, but the shots were wild, a halfhearted attempt to stop us by a losing adversary. The broken complex gates flashed by in a glow of taillights and then we were bumping along the potholed road through the trees. I breathed a silent sigh of relief as the base disappeared from view.

I was finally leaving.