"You are a false prophet, a forsaker
We don't believe in you
You have deceived
With every breath, you breathe."
Ruins of S.H.I.E.L.D. Triskelion. Washington, DC. April 2014
Sawyer was right, Bucky did not like her plan in the slightest. But he eventually agreed that more firepower would be a good idea considering all they had was one pistol. That night, Sawyer and Bucky rode the death trap of a bike to the bank of Potomac River and parked it among some felled trees and bushes, trying to conceal it as much as possible.
A Motel. Washington DC. Earlier that Day.
"I'll need to get my laptop and some other Cybersecurity essentials to hide our tracks," Sawyer said breaking a corner off a brown sugar cinnamon pop-tart. She had found a snack machine near the room and had used all her quarters to buy various snacks and drinks, unsure what Bucky liked. He was currently halfway through a bag of Lay's Potato Chips. "I stashed my laptop in my office, it has all the files I gathered as well as the analysis and decryption programs I need."
Agent Natasha Romanoff, also known as Black Widow, had dumped seemingly all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s and HYDRA's secrets onto the internet during the attack. When Sawyer went to access them for herself via her desktop, she noticed many of the files remained encrypted.
"We can also make a stop at the technology and equipment floor. It was near my department," Sawyer said.
Bucky nodded and took a sip from his water bottle, "Luckily the Helicarrier didn't completely destroy those floors. Getting in and out should be easy without too much rubble. No offense, doll, but you are due for a weapon upgrade."
Sawyer playfully flicked a crumb at him. "I like my gun," she defended, "I think I'll keep it."
"Your loss, doll." Bucky snickered.
Sawyer cocked her head. Like this, Bucky almost seemed like a normal well-functioning S.H.I.E.L.D. agent; someone who had an apartment, drinking buddies, and a cat or a girlfriend. He didn't appear at all to be the infamous HYDRA assassin, the Winter Soldier, who was ruthless, emotionless, and dark. "The loneliest people are the kindest. The saddest people smile the brightest. The most damaged people are the wisest. All because they do not wish to see anyone else suffer the way they do," as Hunter used to say.
"Oh Sarge, what in the world did they do to you?"
Bucky raised an eyebrow, "Your wheels are turnin'."
She shook her head and opened a pack of Oreos, "I was just thinking about how I always wanted to snoop around the Technology and Equipment floors and labs, to see if it was like Q's workspace in all the James Bond movies." Sawyer laughed offering him a cookie.
He smiled as he took a cookie from her. "What's a James Bond?"
"Don't worry. We will work on your pop culture education once we are out of DC."
Ruins of S.H.I.E.L.D. Triskelion. Washington, DC. April 2014
Sawyer and Bucky made sure to wait until well into the night before venturing to the Triskelion. They didn't want to risk being seen by some random driver or passerby. The rubble of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s former headquarters stood dark and still. "Doesn't seem to be heavily guarded," she remarked as they crossed the intact bridge on foot.
"There are probably some people here though," Bucky stated. "Too many things in that pile of concrete people want to get their hands on."
"Like us," she retorted.
"Exactly."
A chain-link fence encircled the site. Bucky made easy work prying it apart with his metal arm. Sawyer let him take the lead and gave him her gun. "You're a better shot than me," she said, "and we only have so much ammo." Bucky nodded checking over the gun before clicking the safety off.
With the power completely cut off to the site itself, they didn't need to worry about security cameras. And any locked doors were easily taken care of, again courtesy of Bucky's metal arm. They navigated the dark hallways with a small pin light Sawyer kept in her purse.
After traversing a somewhat sketchy staircase, they arrived at Sawyer's office floor. Her hand hesitated above the knob. She swallowed hard. Sawyer had no idea what awaited behind the door and in the hallway beyond. Was Rey's body still there? She had no idea if recovery efforts had been halted or even started. To be confronted with her death scene again would be too overwhelming.
"Is it locked?" Bucky whispered.
Sawyer jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. She shook her head. "I just...needed a minute."
"We don't have much time," he said softly.
Sawyer sucked in a deep breath and nodded. She opened the door letting Bucky go ahead of her, checking around corners. The hallway appeared as it normally did only a slight layer of dust covered the floor. Turning the final corner, Sawyer was relieved that there were no bodies in front of her old office door. All that remained, were the bloodstains. She stared at them, a lump formed in her throat.
"This it?" Bucky asked, turning to face her.
Sawyer blinked a few times, looking up at him. She cleared her throat, "It should still be locked."
Bucky nodded and handed her the gun before making quick work of the locked door.
Sawyer's and Rey's office had remained undisturbed.
"A small mercy."
Not wanting to waste any more time in the place where everything had fallen apart, Sawyer quickly retrieved her laptop bag and the stashed laptop. Her eyes ghosted over the desk making sure she gathered everything she needed when they fell upon a small framed picture of her and her sister. Sawyer quickly removed the picture from the frame and pocketed it. She threw the bag across her shoulder and met Bucky back in the hallway, actively avoiding the bloodstains with her gaze instead making eye contact with the soldier. "Okay, let's head to the Technology and Equipment level," she said flatly.
Bucky held her gaze for a moment then reached out and squeezed her shoulder tentatively. Sawyer smiled slightly and nodded in gratitude.
Getting to the S.H.I.E.L.D. equipment labs required a bit more careful maneuvering. Holes in the floor and the ceiling grew more frequent and at one point they were required to leap across a moderate gap in one of the stairwells. This area was closer to where the Helicarrier had collided.
When they made it to the lab, Sawyer noticed the doors were already open and the lab was in disarray. Bloodstains were smeared on the walls while bullet casings and glass littered the floor. She could hear the wind whistle through the shattered windows. Agents on both sides probably raided this lab to grab whatever weapons they could find. After making sure the area was secure, she and Bucky split up to find things they may need.
"We need to travel as light as possible so don't grab anything too heavy or specialized," Bucky cautioned picking up a gun and examining it.
"Copy that, Sarge" she affirmed scanning her surroundings. Sawyer spied a large black backpack, which appeared to match the description of what her grandfather would have called a "bug out" bag. She walked over to the nearest case glancing over the contents, stacks of currencies from all over the world were lined up in neat rows.
"Welp, this solves the money problem for now."
Sawyer grabbed several of the biggest stacks of US, UK, and European Union currency and stuffed them in the deepest parts of the bag. They could always exchange it if they went anywhere else.
Sawyer continued to walk the edge of the room picking up various items and placing them in the bag: extra ammunition for her pistol; a nano mask and case; taser disks similar to those used by Black Widow; an field agent Tactical suit; and several compact med kits. She met Bucky toward the back of the room and gave him the bag. He had grabbed mostly weapons: a few SIGs, more ammo, and a sniper rifle.
As he broke down the sniper rifle and placed it in the bag. Sawyer examined the contents of the case in front of her picking up a small metal disk that imitated a bolt. "That's a tracking disk," Bucky noted, zipping up the pack. He placed it on his back.
Sawyer nodded, "Don't think we will have much use for it though."
Bucky made a move to say something else but quickly turned around. "Great," he mumbled.
She furrowed her brow. "What is it? What-"
Bucky motioned for her to be quiet. The lab was silent aside from the intermittent creaking of steel and concrete. Then Sawyer heard a small pop. Without warning, Bucky forced her down behind the center weapons case and covered her, using his body to shield her from the explosion of a flash bang grenade.
"Shit. Shit. Shit."
Sawyer's ears rang but her sight remained as they had taken cover before the grenade went off. She shook her head a few times to try and get rid of it. Bucky stood and fired at the entrance of the lab.
"Fucking HYDRA," she heard Bucky snap between shots, "They must have been tracking us since the museum, probably with one of those tracking disks."
"We have to get out of here," Sawyer panted, ducking every so often and more shots came her way.
"They're blocking the only way in or out."
Sawyer quickly looked around and noticed the shattered window that looked out onto the atrium below. She remembered seeing a grappling hook attached to a wristband in the center case, she blindly reached up and grabbed one. "No, they're not," she said looking at the window.
Bucky snatched the grappling hook from her and placed it around his metal arm. He locked eyes with Sawyer. "You trust me?"
"Yes," she breathed, noticing the dark blue ring around the ice blue of his iris for the first time.
"Hang on," he said, suddenly lifting her in his arms. Before Sawyer could react, he sprinted toward the open window and jumped out.
Sawyer's scream was cut short by her heart rising to her throat as they fell. She tightened her arms around Bucky's neck and wrapped her legs around his waist burying her head in his shoulder. With a ping of metal striking metal and a grunt from Bucky, their few seconds of free fall ended with a harsh jerk. Sawyer nearly lost her grip but Bucky's hold around her tightened, bruising her lower back and right hip. Sawyer glanced down. The atrium floor was coming up fast but their descent was somewhat controlled by the grappling line.
"Get ready to run," Bucky strained. Sawyer uncurled her legs from around his waist keeping her knees loose. She hit the floor tucking and rolling; the wind was slightly knocked out of her. Bucky deftly detached the cable and helped her up. Sawyer's heart pounded in her ears as they sprinted for the exit.
"We can't take the bike," Bucky said.
"We can try to take a car from the visitor parking lot," Sawyer said, slamming open the glass doors to the outside.
Out in visitor's lot in front of the main lobby few cars were left undamaged. They ran for an older dark sedan. Bucky smashed the driver's side window and unlocked the doors tossing the go bag in the back seat. He then dove under the steering column and begin to hot-wire the car. Sawyer threw the laptop bag on floorboard. Then noticed keys the sitting in the cup holder.
"Who still leaves their keys in the car these days?"
"Bucky!" she shouted. He looked up wires in his hands. Sawyer jingled the keys. He sighed shoving the wires aside, jumped up, and took the keys.
Sawyer slammed the passenger door, looking around as she buckled her seat-belt. No sign of any HYDRA goons so far. They must have been busy picking their way through rubble. Tires screeched as Sawyer and Bucky pealed out of the parking lot and over the bridge.
After they were a few miles away and on the I-95, Sawyer's heart rate slowed, her breathing evened out, and her mind caught up to the events that transpired. She began to laugh and laughed hard.
"Holy shit. What the fuck did I get myself into?"
Sawyer continued to laugh uncontrollably. Bucky glanced her way concerned. His hair blew around from the smashed window. Sawyer stared at him slightly mesmerized as she continued to giggle. "We flew out a fucking window!" she laughed even harder, tears rolling down her face. She took deep breaths to get control of herself. "I'm sorry," she gasped. "I just did not expect my day to go at all like it did today." Sawyer wipe tears from her eyes and turned back to look at Bucky. She noticed he was laughing too.
"Me either, doll," he chuckled shaking his head. "Are you okay?"
"I'll be bruised and sore, but I'll live."
"Yeah, sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it."
"You can still back out, ya know, Sawyer."
"Oh no, Sarge, you are not getting rid of me that easy. Pretty sure flying out of a window, stealing cars, and getting shot at bonds people in some way."
"If you say so," Bucky shrugged. "Where to?"
"New York City," she said with a smile.