The Triskelion was a building in the middle of Corewyn, surrounded by a moat of water and only accessible by one of several bridges or the air. In general it seemed nondescript; made up of several white buildings close together that from the air formed a sort of circle around a central tower (Fury had shown them all the blueprints). It was already tricky to get inside and they had no way of knowing what adjustments Red Skull had made to further protect it.
Steve and Sam were perched on a building nearby, watching. Looking for any chinks in the armor or weakness they might be able to use. There weren't even any guards patrolling, but then again the building didn't need them. There could be any of a dozen spells or in game items constantly monitoring, not to mention any security coded directly into the game itself. They were just going to have to go in headfirst with guns blazing at this rate.
"Come on. We could sit here for a year and never learn anything. No point in wasting time." Steve encouraged and Sam followed him down the fire escape. Natasha was waiting for them on the street level, but they didn't speak as they join her. The risk was too high that Red Skull was keeping an eye on them and everything they said outside of a secure area. The trio just started walking together towards their meeting place with Fury.
The atmosphere hadn't changed since the Winter Soldier's appearance. The sky remained stormy and dark. The players were subdued, because at Steve's insistence a universal message had been sent stating that something had gone wrong, settings had been changed, and that dying in the game could cause damage to the players real body so fighting, quests, etc were all heavily discouraged until further notice.
Steve felt a little guilty, like it was somehow his fault that the lighthearted atmosphere that had been so pervasive for the last several months had ended. Sam seemed to notice his melancholy and set a hand on his shoulder before giving it a squeeze. Steve offered him a small smile back. "It'll be okay, man." Sam promised and he nodded.
"I hope so." He replied. Thankfully Sam seemed to get he wasn't in the mood to be encouraged right now and said nothing more. Steve promised himself he would get it together before they started the real fight. Fury was waiting for them just outside the Avengers' Tower entrance and Steve subtly shook his head when their eyes met, or rather when Fury's eye met his eyes. Even from here he could see the man's expression frown.
For a brief moment Steve saw something in the air heading towards Fury and then the ground next to the man exploded. Everyone nearby shrieked and ducked for cover or ran. A few were hurt, struggling to get up because of the changed settings. But Steve couldn't see Fury through the dirt in the air. He ran forward, moving his shield to his arm, with Sam and Natasha close on his heels. Steve helped the nearby injured players as he searched for Fury.
It was the glint of silver out of the corner of his eye that alerted him that there was someone with them. He had just barely started towards the Winter Soldier when the assassin started firing. Steve had to duck for cover behind his shield as the spray bullets created a swatch of destruction around him. The Winter Soldier hadn't stopped walking towards Fury, who was struggling to get to his feet.
As soon as the bullets stopped Steve did the first thing he could think of and charged. He slammed into the Winter Soldier shield first and the both of them went down. The Winter Soldier easily rolled up to a crouch, his gun now out of reach, while Steve did the same with his shield held up defensively. They paused just like that, staring each other down, and Steve immediately noticed the goggles on the Winter Soldier's face that hadn't been there before.
Several gunshots rang out and Steve dodged to the side, but the bullets were aimed at the Winter Soldier. He dodged most of them and blocked the rest with his arm, but one ricocheted and hit his goggles. He didn't even really recoil, and definitely didn't flinch. While he pulled them off Steve ran at him again.
This time the Winter Soldier noticed him before Steve could hit him and threw a punch with his metal arm. Steve got his shield up in time to block it but the collision rang out like cymbals had been clanged hard right next to his head and Steve actually had to use most of his strength to keep his shield in place. Then the Winter Soldier grabbed the edge of it, kicked him backward, and with a twist had pulled the shield away almost in one movement.
Steve had just barely found his balance before the shield was thrown at him. He didn't risk trying to catch it, just dodged and started throwing punches. The Winter Soldier matched him blow for blow, and had some additional melee weapons that he used with an alarming amount of skill. Steve swore he had a respawning knife or something because it seemed like every time he got one out of the assassin's hands there was another to replace it. It was unlike any kind of fight Steve had ever been in. The Winter Soldier was just as fast and just as strong as he was, and he felt every blow like it was real. He barely had any chance to go on the offensive; it was all he could do just to keep up.
The Winter Soldier was moments from hitting Steve in the face with his metal hand, and Steve knew he wouldn't be able to block it in time. Tony's laser blast came out of nowhere and it sent the Winter Soldier flying back several feet. Steve took a moment to catch his breath as Tony landed next to him in his full metal suit (he was the only one in the game to have anything like it because he'd programmed it himself), maintaining the laser aimed at the Winter Soldier, who was blocking it with his metal arm.
"How you doing, Cap?" Tony asked.
"He's tough." Steve answered. His health was orange, edging towards red, but he knew they weren't done yet.
"Here." Sam landed on his other side and gave Steve his shield, which Steve accepted gratefully.
They didn't get to converse further. The Winter Soldier had rushed them, still using his metal hand to block the laser despite the metal of his palm beginning to turn red hot. Tony launched himself upwards because the Winter Soldier was obviously gunning for him, and the moment Tony was out of the way the Winter Soldier twisted and threw a punch at Steve instead. With his red hot metal hand.
Steve did not want to find out what it felt like to be touched or grabbed or punched by that and leapt out of the way. Sam took to the air and they, along with Natasha, worked together to fight him. They were winning, barely, but the Winter Soldier was still holding his own to a terrifying degree against the four of them. It wasn't until Natasha managed to get a shot to land in the Winter Soldier's knee that Steve was able to get him to the ground.
They wrestled, but finally Steve got him pinned in a headlock. The Winter Soldier struggled in his grip and it was taking every ounce of his strength to keep the assassin held down. The Winter Soldier only stilled when Natasha put a gun to his head from one side while Tony kept one of his blasters aimed at his head from the other. But he was still tense and Steve still didn't dare let the Winter Soldier go.
"Okay, now what?" Tony asked.
"I don't know. There's no quest notifications, not that I expected any." Steve ground out.
"Hey, you, Winter Soldier." Natasha basically demnanded. The man growled at her, a sound muffled by the mask but still audible. Natasha didn't say anything for a moment before she nodded. "He's an AI. I can see the silver." She confirmed.
"I don't know if that's comforting or worrying. In that case, I guess we can just kill him. We won't be hurting anyone." Tony suggested. The Winter Soldier thrashed when Tony said that and Steve had to adjust his grip to keep the man from getting free.
"He might still be useful." Natasha countered before Tony could do anything, though her grip had tightened back up on the gun in her hands. She looked around, at the crowd Steve could see gathering. "We need to get him somewhere secure."
"And how do you suggest we do that? I'm barely holding him." Steve ground out.
Natasha paused but after a moment Tony opened his mask and crouched near them. "повинуйся мне. вольно." He said and like magic the Winter Soldier went limp. Steve cautiously released him, but the man didn't so much as twitch.
"What was that?" Steve asked.
"Trigger words. A precaution Red Skull and I agreed on that all the AI would have. They're self learning and we wanted to be sure if one went rogue we'd have a surefire way to shut them down so nobody could get hurt. Wasn't sure it would work, but…" He waved at the Winter Soldier's limp body as if to say 'well, see, it works'.
"And you couldn't have done that before?" Sam demanded and Tony smiled like he was embarrassed and even went so far as to rub the back of his neck.
"I forgot about it." He admitted.
Natasha rolled her eyes and put away her gun. "Okay, now what?" She asked.
"Now…" Tony took a breath before he spoke. "Стоять. Следовать." Whatever Tony had said made the Winter Soldier move. Like a puppet, he got to his feet and mindlessly he followed Tony into the Avengers Tower. Steve paused only long enough to pick up his shield before he hurried after them. He didn't trust the Winter Soldier would remain under Tony's control for long.
They teleported up to the Avengers' main lounge area, startling the others that had remained behind for Steve and Sam's reconnaissance mission. The Winter Soldier followed Tony for a few steps until Tony frowned and said "стоп. не двигайся."
"I didn't know you knew Russian." Bruce commented as he eyed the Winter Soldier, who had frozen in place like a statue the moment Tony had spoken.
Tony shrugged as he claimed a seat nearby. "It was Red Skull's idea. To put the trigger words and commands in another language so they weren't as obvious and so there was less chance of players discovering them. I mean, you still need admin permissions to use them, but better safe than sorry." He dismissed.
Natasha, Fury, and Sam all appeared together. Fury looked worse for wear, but Steve could see a steel-like determination in his eyes. Hill, Fury's female companion, rushed to his side and they conversed softly while Steve took the time to look over the Winter Soldier in more detail. His brown hair hung loose, just brushing his shoulders as it bracketed his face. His blue eyes looked dull, almost glazed, but still held that reflective silver ring all the NPC's had. He wore the same black outfit as before, with the addition of a mask.
It covered the lower part of his face, from his cheekbones and nose down. It was hard plastic, with only tiny slits near the nose to breathe through, and as Steve looked he realized the mask dug into the Winter Soldier's skin in a way that couldn't be comfortable. He couldn't say why, but some instinct told him to take the mask off. The Winter Soldier didn't flinch, didn't move, didn't even look at him as he reached forward and undid the mask's hook.
He noticed that the room had gone utterly silent around him as he pulled the mask away slowly, but he didn't take his eyes off of the Winter Soldier's face. When the mask was free it tumbled from his fingers and he couldn't stop it. Because he knew the face under the mask. Had spent months with the person to whom the face belonged. He had known that they probably shared the same AI coding, but he did not expect them to share a face.
"Bucky?" He whispered and for the first time since Tony's command the Winter Soldier moved on his own. His eyes came upward to meet Steve's. His expression furrowed when they met, like he was slightly confused.
"Who the hell is Bucky?"
Translations (according to Google, feel free to correct me if they're wrong):
повинуйся мне. вольно. - Obey me. At ease.
Стоять. Следовать - Stand. Follow.
стоп. не двигайся. - Stop. Don't move.