Chapter 7
Harlow entered the new American Hydra Headquarters with haste gripping a large metal suitcase. She felt as if her nerves would get the better of her but she needed to keep a level head. She made her way up elevators and down halls until she faced the door of Mr. Fastner's office. She held her breath as she raised her closed fist to knock, he called out for her to come in.
"Miss Zakhaev, what a surprise?" he said looking up from his work.
"Good morning, Sir. I am pleased to announce that my mission has been a success" she said with a smile,
"Is that so, well that certainly comes as a shock" he said curiously.
"If I may, I have brought you a souvenir and proof of my efforts," she said signaling him to take his hands off of his desk.
Harlow placed the suitcase on the desk, undid the latches, and opened it, she turned the case around to face Mr. Fastner. His eyes lit up at the sight of its contents.
Sitting in the case was the metal arm of the Winter Soldier, the Hydra symbol placed proudly on the shoulder.
"Miss Zakhaev I can't believe…" he started to say,
"It was Hydra's property, after all. I have also disposed of the rest of the body so that no one will ever find him," she said almost giggly.
"If I am honest I did not think you were going to be able to pull it off but here you are, you have done a fine job Miss Zakhaev. You are most definitely nothing like your traitor parents and I believe you have completely restored pride to your name" he smiled sickeningly.
"Thank you, Sir, that makes me very happy," she nodded as she went to take her leave.
He smiled, "Well in light of this, there is to be a celebration tomorrow night here at Headquarters, I do hope you'll be joining us?" Mr. Fastner asked,
Harlow turned to look at him, she could tell that she had no choice but to accept, even feigning fatigue from her mission wouldn't be a good enough excuse to say no.
"I wouldn't miss it, Sir" she nodded.
Harlow proceeded to spend a few hours in one of the training rooms to give the illusion of normalcy. It was hard to fly under the radar after the rest of Hydra found out about the Winter Soldier's assassination. Harlow was praised everywhere she went in the building, especially when she ran into Eric Meyer.
"I taught you well, how about it then, jump in the ring with me and 1v1?" he asked,
"I'll have to raincheck I need to run a few errands" she replied,
"I'll hold you to it" he laughed as she left the building.
Harlow got into the 'private car' she had promised Bucky and Sam she would call if she needed to talk to them.
Were you followed?" Sam asked from the driver's seat while Bucky sat shotgun.
"After that display, I doubt it. There is going to be a celebration tomorrow night at HQ I thought you would like to know" she said, settling into her seat,
"A celebration? So then would be a good time to strike?" Sam asked,
"It will still be heavily guarded but it may be a perfect opportunity to get inside," Bucky said looking between the two of them.
"How?" Harlow asked with concern,
"They need to hire help don't they?" Bucky suggested.
"Well, you know what that means?" Sam asked,
Harlow looked confused, "What?" she asked,
"We gotta find you something pretty to wear" he joked, making eye contact in the rearview mirror.
"You could have given me a dress with more fabric you know?" she whispered, looking down at the dark blue dressed that was wrapped tightly around the curves of her body.
The party was extravagant, to say the least, Hydra showed off their wealth with an abundance of food, drinks, and entertainment. The celebration was to celebrate both the death of the Winter Soldier and the successful infiltration of the American government via the Nationwide Summit that happened in Seattle. After having a lot of their weeds cut, Hydra had slowly worked their way back in, only this time Nick Fury and the rest of them knew about it.
"Aw but Bucky was the one that picked it" Sam chuckled on the other end of Harlow earpiece,
Sam sat two blocks away from HQ undercover in a white van, which lead Harlow to make a series of jokes about men and white vans, Bucky had learned to drown out the now common back and forth between Sam and Harlow.
"This is not the time for this" Bucky's voice suddenly came through interrupting their conversation, "We can't draw attention to ourselves".
Harlow plucked a red wine glass from a passing server and sipped it graciously even though she wanted to down an entire bottle to calm her nerves.
Before she even had time to gather her thoughts a voice called to her from behind.
"Ah Miss Zakhaev, there you are" she turned to see Mr. Fastner's smug grin, "Well don't you look lovely tonight?"
"Good evening and thank you" she smiled as she took another sip.
"I wondered if you would join me upstairs on the balcony as I have something to discuss with you, away from all the noise?" he asked politely,
She hesitated, "Surely you don't want to leave your guests, Sir?" she asked.
"I'm afraid it cannot wait," he said bluntly.
Harlow put on a smile as she took his arm, he led her out of the room from the rest of the guests. Harlow couldn't help but look around to hopefully catch a glimpse of Bucky who was under the disguise as a waiter but to her dismay, she couldn't find him.
Her job was to keep Mr. Fastner distracted so Bucky could infiltrate his office to find out more of what they were up to, she had only agreed because they would have been surrounded by guests but now she was going to be alone with him.
It was hard to ignore the unease that had settled in her stomach as the elevator door closed.
As soon as the elevator doors opened she broke away from his arm and walked towards the balcony.
Harlow's chest tightened, she felt safer being closer to the railing than she was next to him and they were very far from the ground.
Mr. Fastner settled beside her at the rail,
"Hydra is very happy with your success. The Winter Soldier would have become a thorn in our side if he hadn't been eliminated" he said, leaning on the railing clutching his glass close to his chest.
"Of course Mr. Fastner, it was an honor to have been chosen for the mission" Harlow smiled coyly, taking a sip from her wine glass,
"Tell me Miss Zakhaev, what did it feel like? What did it feel like when the bullet pierced his skull? What did it feel like to take a man's life for the first time?" he asked turning towards her, moving closer.
Harlow wrapped her arms around her stomach, suddenly feeling more exposed than she already was.
She swallowed hard, "I will not lie to you, Sir." She looked up into his eyes, "It was difficult but I'm sure once I take a few more, it will come easy" she smiled at him,
He laughed,
"You sound like a true-born killer, Miss Zakhaev" he smiled, "But if only that was the truth" he whispered low,
"What?" she asked, barely taking a breath.
He suddenly lunged towards her grabbing her jaw in his clawed hand, she let out a squeak at both the pain and the shock, dropping her glass in the process. The contents splattered below.
Mr. Fastner threw his scotch glass over the balcony, reminding Harlow just how high they were. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his gun, raising it to Harlow's head.
"You really thought we would have let a traitor's daughter go on an assignment without being followed?" he laughed, "Hydra sees all and we saw your failure, what a waste of potential you have Harlow, I had plans for you" he whispered, the smell of scotch on his breath made Harlow's stomach turn.
"I.. I…" she stuttered,
"Now tell me where is Barnes? If you tell me I'm make your death less.. traumatic" he laughed in her ear.
I am going to die tonight, hopefully, Bucky got what he needed and my sacrifice is good for something, she thought as her mind went blank.
The elevator dinged as the doors opened, Bucky slowly walked out of it holding his gun aimed at them.
"Now that's no way to treat a lady" Bucky called out,
Mr. Fastner quickly turned around, still holding his gun to Harlow's head while his other hand wrapped around her throat.
"Ah Mr. Barnes, I see you have a new arm" he chuckled,
"It's much better than the last one," Bucky stated, "I think you should let her go? he asked,
"You of all people know what happens when you don't follow the rules here, seeing how you're still alive Miss Zakhaev betrayed Hydra and after I've killed her, I'll finish you off myself" Mr. Fastner threatened,
"Many have tried, but I don't think a man like you will be the one to take me out" Bucky laughed, hiding his worry.
Bucky looked to Harlow as they both knew he didn't have a clear shot, not if Harlow wanted to keep her brain on the inside of her skull.
"I'll make a deal with you, you let her go and I'll go with you quietly, I'm more of a threat than she'll ever be and you know it" Bucky suggested,
Harlow shook her head, What the hell was he doing?
Mr. Fastner took a minute to think about his offer.
Bucky looked to Harlow again, only this time she was mouthing something to him,
Shoot me.
Harlow could tell he was mentally refusing her as he would have thought she was crazy and it was a crazy plan but it was all that she had.
Trust me Bucky, she mouthed and then moved the hand cradling Mr. Fastner's to point at her shoulder.
"I've considered your offer Mr. Barnes…" Mr. Fastner started to say before Bucky fired one shot into Harlow's shoulder, which went through Mr. Fastner's as well, given how close he was to her. At that very same moment Harlow pushed up on the gun pointed at her head and aimed it towards the sky, it went off with a bang.
Bucky ran over to Harlow pulling her away and in his disoriented state, Mr. Fastner had no chance to fight back before Bucky sent his covered, metal fist into his face, forcing him down onto the floor unconscious.
Harlow fell to the floor cradling her wounded shoulder, it stung and burned at the same time causing her to wince in pain. Blood rushed down her arm coating the top of her dress. Bucky grabbed the gun near Mr. Fastner's hand and kneeled at Harlow's side.
"Well, that worked better than I hoped," Harlow said,
"You're insane you know that" he stated with a mixture of anger and disbelief, grabbing a hand towel from his pocket,
"And you look like a dork in that waiter outfit" she laughed and then hiss as he placed the cloth on her wound.
"Can you keep moving?" he asked, handing her Mr. Fastner's gun,
She nodded.
"Good, we need to get out of here before they realize you're still alive," he said helping her up by her other arm.
Harlow got up with a huff, her arm burning as they walked over to the elevator. Bucky suddenly paused pulling her back. The elevator number counter showed someone was coming right for them and with no stairs, they were trapped on the top floor of the building.
Bucky swallowed hard and turned to Harlow, "Do you trust me?"
"No! When people say that that means they're about to do something crazy, obviously!" she said pointing to her shoulder,
"Well you've got no choice," he said, "Sam! Change of plan we need your help, right now top floor!" Bucky yelled into his earpiece.
"Rodger that!" Sam replied in both of their earpieces.
Bucky suddenly picked up Harlow off the ground with her clear hesitation.
"Bucky! What are you doing?" she screamed, struggling against him.
Without another word, Bucky jumped up onto the railing and leap over with Harlow screaming in his arms just as the elevator doors opened. The free fall itself was terrifying let alone the fact that Harlow knew they were now falling hundreds of feet with no way of surviving. She would have rathered been shot in the head than go out like a pancake on the sidewalk.
She tried to look up at Bucky to see what exactly was his plan, to see if his face showed any emotion but the wind made it impossible to see through her hair.
Harlow's stomach suddenly lurched forward as they were pulled up by a force, she looked up to see Sam in his Falcon gear. He had caught them before they had hit the ground.
"I see you've never jumped out of a building before" he called out laughing,
"No Stars and Stripes on the wings? And you call yourself Captain America" she called up to him mockingly.
Harlow suddenly felt dizzy as she struggled to keep her eyes open, her breathing became slow and less frequent. She was in shock and was losing a lot of blood out of her shoulder. Sleep slowly crept over her as she drowned out both Bucky's and Sam's voices trying to get her to keep her eyes open.