Felicity landed hard on her back, knocking the air out of her lungs. She laid there, struggling to breathe while spots danced over her vision. Then all at once, air rushed back in, and Felicity gasped as her vision slowly cleared. Her limbs felt heavy, her fingers stiff and almost numb as she curled them, and her stomach gnawed at her spine like she hadn't eaten in days.
Definitely should not teleport again. Not that she'd intended to teleport this time, but she'd panicked, and her powers had reacted automatically.
She could hear gunshots still, though somewhat more distant than before. She needed to move. Taking a deep breath, Felicity rolled over to her stomach and pushed herself up to her hands and knees. Her muscles trembled with the effort, and it was all she could do to tumble over into a seated position against the wall.
She'd teleported to another hallway in the Hydra bunker, the gray cement walls doing nothing to tell her where exactly she was. I have to get up. I need to find Steve. Her legs were uncooperative, and all Felicity managed to do was sit there and breathe.
The sound of the gunshots was getting closer. Not a good sign. I need to go! If she stayed where she was, she'd be found by Hydra agents, and Felicity understood how that would end.
There'd been blood and brains and Bucky had done it so fast –
Don't think. Just move.
She grit her teeth and pushed up to her feet, leaning heavily against the wall for support. She managed to stand that time, but had to pause as a wave of dizziness washed over her. What was even the point of being able to teleport if it wore her out this much?
There was shouting now, and three figures rounded the corner. Felicity saw the uniforms, the guns, and she knew she was screwed.
One of the men noticed her, doing a doubletake as he registered she didn't really belong, but before he could point his rifle her way, a hammer followed them around the corner and slammed into them, knocking all three of them to the ground like something out of a cartoon. Felicity blinked and stared, and before it sank in that she should probably use this moment to try and run away, Thor, Steve, and Tony came swooping around the corner, only to stumble to a halt of their own when they saw Felicity.
"New kid?" Tony exclaimed, his voice metallic through the mask of his Iron Man suit. "What in the world are you doing here?"
Relief flooded her at the sight of them, making Felicity's knees go weak, and she sank back to the ground. Thor leapt towards her, catching hold of her arms and keeping her from landing too hard. "Are you injured?" he asked, eyes scanning over her.
"Not exactly," Felicity said, grimacing. "Teleported three times now. Apparently, that's a bad idea."
"Why –?" Thor started to ask, then cut himself off with a scowl. "Loki."
"No time for that now," Steve said, and Felicity couldn't help the vague thought that his costume looked even more ridiculous than Tony's armor. "We have to keep moving; can you walk?"
"I don't think so." It galled Felicity to admit it, but she wouldn't be helping anything by pretending to be okay when she wasn't.
Thor scooped her up, and Felicity clung to him. "We should go quickly," Thor said. "We need to get Lady Felicity out of here."
Steve nodded, leading the way down the hall. "As soon as we find Bucky."
And this was the moment when she should tell them she'd already found him. That he was awake, and somewhere in the base. But she remembered the speed and ease with which he'd killed those Hydra agents, and she almost wished they wouldn't find him.
He's brainwashed. It's not his fault.
He didn't seem very brainwashed, apart from not remembering his name. Wasn't he supposed to be loyal to Hydra? If he was so brainwashed, why would he turn on them?
"They were a threat."
But they hadn't been, not to him, it was Felicity they'd planned to shoot.
A chill crawled up her spine.
Wait. Did he kill them…to protect me?
Why would he do that? She was nothing more than a stranger, they were part of the organization he was supposed to work for, it didn't make sense.
"What's my mission?"
The chill spread, and Felicity suddenly had a terrible feeling that they'd completely misunderstood the way Bucky's brainwashing actually worked.
"I found Bucky," she said. She wasn't loud, but apparently Steve's hearing was really good, because he came to a halt and spun around all in one motion.
"You what?"
His tone was sharp enough to make Felicity want to flinch away, but she managed not to. "I found Bucky. And I woke him up. We were trying to find our way out of here, but Hydra agents showed up, and I teleported here, so…I'm not sure where he is now."
"He was helping you?" Tony asked. "Is he in his right mind then?"
Felicity shook her head. "I don't think so. He doesn't remember his name. I'm not sure why he was helping me." Though she was starting to have suspicions.
She hoped they were wrong.
"Any idea where you were?" Steve asked.
"A stairwell." It wasn't a helpful answer, Felicity knew that, but it wasn't her fault if this place didn't have any signs or anything to make one area distinct from another. "Probably a lower level? We were trying to go up."
"Right," Tony said, "then let's try to head down and hope we run into him."
Felicity wasn't sure she shared that hope. It's not his fault. They brainwashed him.
It didn't make him any less terrifying.
Mission: protect the Handler.
Update: Handler is missing.
Mission status: critical.
The Soldier didn't know how the Handler had vanished like she did; was it under her own power, or someone else's? Was she even still in the base?
The security room would be the quickest way to figure out if she was still there. He was able to move quicker without the Handler trailing after him, making his way through the concrete halls until he got to the security room a floor above. The door was locked, and the Soldier had no patience to try picking the lock or knocking, not when one kicked could knock the whole thing off its hinges. Before the two security men could get out of their chairs, the Soldier shot them, once in the head each. A quick scan confirmed they were the only ones in the room, so he made his way to the monitors, searching.
There.
He spotted the Handler on one of the screens, along with three men. Or two men and a robot; hard to tell. One of the men was carrying the Handler, and it wasn't clear if she was injured, or if he was carrying her to keep her captive. What was apparent was that none of the men were Hydra; they were in the wrong uniforms.
No easy way to get her away from them.
He had his mission. Failure wasn't an option.
They were coming down a stairwell that led to the floor the Soldier was on. He left the security room, running down the halls to make it to the door before them, a hand reaching into a pocket as he moved. He'd only get one shot at this.
He barely got into place to the side of the door before it opened, the armored man stepping through. The Soldier tossed the explosive he'd gotten out of his pocket at him; the moment it connected with the armor it blew, tossing the armor to the side. The Soldier dove through the doorway; the second man had his shield up already, the Soldier caught the edges with both hands, twisting and yanking. The shield was strapped to his arm, so the man came with it, and the Soldier threw both into the far wall.
He pivoted back to face the third man, the one who had the Handler, and – "Stop!"
The Soldier froze, every muscle going rigid at the command, the command that didn't make sense, his mission was to keep the Handler safe, and this wasn't –
"They're allies, you don't need to fight them!" the Handler said.
Allies; not a threat to the Handler. Some of the tension eased, at least enough to let the Soldier move again.
How much damage did I do to the other two?
If he'd injured them bad enough, it would make getting out of the base even more inconvenient than it already was. But when he looked, the armored man was already back on his feet, only minor marks on the armor to show for the explosive the Soldier had used. Tougher than I thought.
The man with the shield was also on his feet, staring at the Soldier with an intensity that didn't make sense and raised the Soldier's guard.
"I take it this is Bucky," the armored man said.
Bucky. It was the same name the Handler had used for him earlier.
"Who the hell is Bucky?" the Soldier asked.
The man with the shield flinched back at the question, indicating the name meant something to him at least, but what the Soldier couldn't guess.
"Guys," the Handler said, "now is not the time. Sirens? Hydra? Maybe we should go?"
Right, he still needed to get the Handler out. "This way," he said, brushing past the man carrying the Handler and up the stairs they'd just come down. He glanced back at the Handler as he did, trying to quickly assess if she was actually injured.
There were no obvious injuries he could spot, but her skin was noticeably paler than it had been before, and dark circles colored under her eyes. She looked exhausted, even though they'd only been separated a matter of minutes, and the Soldier put together the clues he had.
She teleported herself; involuntary, probably triggered by fear. Tires her out.
A complication the Soldier didn't need. One he'd figure out how to deal with once they were out of the base.
They didn't run into any more resistance on the way out; it seemed the three men had done enough damage on their way in that any Hydra agents left weren't willing to confront them if they didn't have the Soldier on their side.
"Where exactly are we going?" the armored man asked.
"The hanger," the Soldier answered shortly, still keeping a lookout for potential threats as they moved.
"We've got a plane already," the armored man said. "A mile due west of here. We just need to get back to it."
The Soldier took a quick turn, adjusting their route with the new information. They soon made it to the exit; the Soldier opened the door, and he heard the Handler suck in a breath as the cold air from outside washed over them.
She's not dressed warm enough for this weather.
Didn't even have gloves or a jacket; it wouldn't matter for him, not if they were just going a mile, but it would make a difference for the Handler, and he should have had the forethought to make sure she was supplied.
"I'll fly Lady Felicity to the plane," the man carrying her said, unhooking the large hammer he had hanging on his belt. "She should not walk through this cold."
Fly? What?
Before the Soldier could ask anything, the man spun his hammer, and then they were off through the air, his Handler whisked out of his reach for the second time. The Soldier grit his teeth. This was starting to be an irritating pattern.
"Any chance you could fly us?"
The Soldier looked over at the other two; that armor could fly too?
"Uh, both of you at once?" the armored man responded. "Technically, yes, but you'd hate it."
"Speed it important," the man replied.
"Okay then." The armor turned towards the Soldier. "You going to throw another explosive at me if I touch you?"
"No," the Soldier said. Not if it got him back to the Handler quickly.
"Then let's go."
At least the plane is in one piece, Felicity thought as Thor landed beside it. That's got to be a good sign.
It also seemed like a good sign when the stairs started lowering right away; Loki probably wouldn't be that considerate. But she didn't actually relax until Bruce appeared at the top of the stairs, looking down at them with concern.
"Are you alright?" Bruce asked at the same time Felicity said, "What happened with Loki?"
"You first," Bruce insisted, as Thor carried her up the steps.
"I'm fine," Felicity said. "I think. I'm just tired. And hungry. Pretty sure its side effects from teleporting. I just need rest and food and I'll be fine."
Thor settled her in one of the chairs, and Felicity was grateful that Tony had the large, reclining type. "Now, Dr. Banner, what happened with my brother?"
Bruce sighed. "He got away. Steve had the Tesseract in his bag, and somehow Loki figured that out, and he used it to teleport out of here. Who knows where; could be off planet for all I know."
Thor frowned. "You tracked the Tesseract once before. Could you do it again?"
"Sure, if I had the resources," Bruce said, "but we kind of can't go back to a SHIELD lab."
There was a whir of repulsors from outside, and a moment later Steve, Tony, and Bucky came up the stairs. Felicity focused in on Bucky, watching him as glanced over the plane, his gaze pausing on Bruce for a moment before shifting to her. Her stomach sank when he moved her way, but she wasn't exactly surprised.
The moment in the base had kind of confirmed her fears.
"Are you injured?" he asked, and it was weird hearing that question from him, because he didn't say it like he was actually concerned. There was no emotion or inflection to the question. He asked as though he had to ask.
Which was, Felicity was pretty sure, actually the case.
"No," Felicity said. "Just worn out from teleporting."
His expression didn't show any sort of reaction. He just moved to stand slightly behind her seat, where he could keep an eye on everyone else. It made her uneasy, knowing he was there where she couldn't see him, and all she could think of was how fast he'd been, killing those Hydra agents.
Don't be stupid; if he decided to kill me, being able to see him wouldn't make a difference.
The plane rumbled to life, Tony in the cockpit as Steve asked Bruce about what happened with Loki. "He got away with the Tesseract," Bruce updated him. "Thanks for telling me we had that, by the way."
Steve grimaced, running a hand through his hair. "We're going to have to do something about that."
"We're going to track down Loki and the Tesseract while running from Hydra and SHIELD?" Bruce asked.
"I'll figure it out," Steve snapped. Then he winced. "Sorry."
There was a moment of silence, then Bruce shrugged. "It's been a long day. But," he turned and pointed a finger towards Bucky, "what's going on with him?"
Steve stiffened, then slowly turned his head to look at Bucky. There was a long, pregnant pause, and Felicity hardly dared to breathe. She couldn't imagine what was going through Steve's head; they'd found Bucky, gotten him away from Hydra…but Bucky didn't even remember himself, much less Steve.
"Do you know me?" Steve finally asked.
Another pause, and Felicity had to resist the urge to turn and look at Bucky.
"No."
Steve's jaw ticked, but he didn't show any other reaction. He had to swallow before he could get the next question out. "Why are you helping her?" He nodded towards Felicity.
Felicity couldn't stop herself from glancing up at Bucky, only to find he had cut his eyes down towards her. The lead weight in her stomach got heavier. She was pretty sure she knew the answer, but she didn't want to voice it, because there was a part of her that was still hoping she was wrong.
Bucky's gaze moved back to Steve. "She's my Handler."
Ah. Not wrong.
"Handler?" Thor asked, brows creasing. "What does that mean?"
"I woke him up," Felicity said, her mouth suddenly dry. "So, he listens to me now."
It made a sort of sense, when she stopped to think about it. Brainwashing was probably a complicated business, and brainwashing someone to be loyal to an ideal, to some amorphous organization, probably wasn't all that doable. Loyalty and obedience to a singular person was probably simpler. And given that he was frozen for years at a time between missions, that singular person would need to be changeable. So they programmed him to be loyal to whoever woke him up.
This time it just happened to have been Felicity.
It made her sick to her stomach to think about it. To remember how she'd said stop and he'd frozen. To know she could order him to kill, and he wouldn't even hesitate.
"I don't know how to fix it," she said, her voice little more than a whisper. There had to be some way to fix him, to fix this mess. But Felicity didn't know what it was; she'd never paid close enough attention to the movies to notice how Bucky got out from under Hydra's control.
A weight settled over the group, and Felicity tried not to wilt under Steve's stare. Abruptly, he spun around on one heel, walking away. A lump formed in Felicity's throat, from stress or exhaustion she wasn't sure, but she tried to swallow it back down.
Bruce let out a long sigh. "We'll figure it out."
AN: They all need a break, I, the writer, say as I make everything more difficult for them. Luckily, they have a long flight ahead of them! Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter, and a huge thank you to everyone who left reviews! I know it's been a while since I updated, so getting that nudge that people are still interested helps a lot!