So this will be the longest chapter so far. As requested there will be some James, Sarah interaction. You will have to read to see if I spilled the beans about Natasha being pregnant.
"What did she say?" asked Steve with a look of anticipations.
Natasha turned to look at him with a neutral face that he couldn't read. "She told me..."
S/N
James and Sarah were on their morning run. They had been in Wakanda for a week. They missed their parents but they were kept busy and were having fun.
They had worked with Okoye and the Dora Milaje in the morning and working with Shuri in the labs in the afternoon. The Dora Milaji help with the training the two teens needed. They had done some training with them before coming back in time but this was the first time they trained with them full time. Shuri worked to help in their learning of science. She also looked at the suits her future self made them and looked at the gauntlets and Widow Bites Tony made them to see if they could be improved.
They asked Tony about Peter when they were in New York but all he would say was their mother was taking care of him. They just hoped there was still a Peter when they got home. When they talked with their parents the first night in Wakanda they asked about Peter but their parents would only say he was OK.
When the two finished their run they slowed to walk for a half mile to cool down. James took his water bottle out for a drink before turning to his sister.
"What do you think about this week we spent here so far?" asked James.
Sarah took a swig of her water bottle before answering. "I'm enjoying it. I miss Mom and Dad. This is the longest we have been away from them in either time line."
James knew that. The longest they had been separated from their parents before had been 3 days. "Yea I know. At lease we get to talk with them every day and we do have Tony here with us."
"Yea, I think he was happy to take us because he was hoping Pepper would want kids." a smiling Sarah pointed out.
"Yea trying to show he would make a good father." laughed James.
Sarah smirked "Yea and Pepper was already aware of his motives for us being at the Tower for two days before the trip."
"Really. Did she say she was leaning towards wanting to marry Tony and have a kid?" asked James.
"If she did I wouldn't tell you." Sarah said before running off to get a shower and changed.
S/N
Tony and Shuri were going over the new program they had been working on for the last week. They hope that it would be able to search out any remaining pieces of Ultron and destroy them.
"Looks good Shuri. We are ready to release it. Now we just need to meet with Cap, Coulson and Fury." said Tony.
"Yes it looks good. There is no guarantee it will find all of him or if it finds a large enough piece it will destroy him." explained Shuri.
"Yea I know but this is the best chance we have. Even if it doesn't destroy him it will alert the Avengers." said a worried Tony. "I'll contact Steve and set the meeting up through video for tomorrow."
"Good, now that that is done lets see what we can do about sits for all the Avengers and improving their equipment that they use." Shuri said.
S/N
Steve was in the Command Center talking with Tony about the program he and Shuri developed. Coulson and Fury were standing next to him as Tony explained it.
When Tony finished Fury spoke up. "Stark sounds like you have a good chance of this working. Is there any chance this will mess with any other programs out there?"
Shuri answered "There are no guarantees but unless some one has a program that is designed to be like Ultron the chances are slim."
"OK, yu two if you could run some test on a limited network I will take this up with the World Council. If we are going to release it world wide I want to cover our butts in case something goes wrong." Fury informed them.
Tony was about to reply when one of the security techs monitoring things called out. "We have another sighting of SGT Barnes. Same location as last week. We have him on two separate cameras. Face recognition 87%."
Steve ordered "Pull it up on the main monitor."
The tech put both pictures up on the main screen in the room. Steve and the others were looking at two pictures the were from security cameras in Hallein Austria. One was a clear picture of Bucky's face another was a partial. Both taken in the last half hour.
Fury knew this was their best chance "Captain who do you want to send?"
"Natasha, Sam, Rhodes and me. This is near an old Hydra base and the Eagles Nest. Phil can you loan us a couple STRIKE teams?" asked Steve.
"Can do better than that. I'll give you the Bus and my old team. How do you want to do this?" asked Phil. "Are you expecting trouble Cap?"
"There was not one of the major bases there but a couple smaller ones. I don't want to take any chances. We will take the Bus to Salzburg arriving at night. Nat and I will take a car to Hallein. We will go in and try to locate Bucky and extract him quietly. When we locate him we will radio May and she will fly over the town and wait. If we run into trouble Rhodes and Sam can fly out and join up with us quickly. Strike can either parachute or May can fly low enough for them to rappel. It will be May's call." explained Steve.
"I will contact the Austria government and let them know that we are running a mission in the Salzburg area. All I will tell them is we are trying to extract a friendly and don't expect any trouble but do the history of Hydra operating in the area there is always a chance." Fury explained.
Tony who was still on the monitor and was listening. "Steve call Bruce and tell him to fly you out the gauntlet I made for you. It's like the ones James and Sarah have. Also I made you a Widow bite like theirs for your other arm. I made these for when you wouldn't be able to take your shield with you."
"Thanks Tony. That will come in handy if we don't want anyone to know we are there." Steve said.
S/N
Steve and Natasha were driving a car provided by SHIELD. They had left the Compound a couple hours after the report on Bucky came in. May met them at the Bus and let them know the flight plan had been filed and approved and they had permission to land at the Salzburg airport. The two STRIKE teams were also on board and ready. The flight was smooth and Steve went over the plan with the STRIKE teams.
"Relax Steve things will work out." said Natasha.
"I know but this is the closes we have gotten and I don't want to miss him again. Nat he was always there for me in the old days and I failed him when I never went looking for him." explained a pained Steve.
"Steve it was not your fault. Even if you were able to return to retrieve the body in all likelihood the Russians would have already found him. You had a mission and that had to come first. Bucky would understand that and don't say it's your fault he fell. In war people die and there not anything you can do. Bucky, you all the others knew that." Natasha told him.
"I know. I love you Nat. What ever happens I won't do what I did in the other time line. You and the kids are my top priority. You, James, Sarah and little Bean." said Steve.
Natasha squeezed his hand. "This will be my last mission till after little Bean is born. I can concentrate on training and running missions from command."
They arrived in Hallein a half an hour later. Natasha headed for the motel they were staying in. Once they were checked in their room Steve contacted May on the Bus and Hill in Command.
"We just arrived. It is still dark so we are going to get a few hours sleep before walking around town." Steve informed them.
May told Hill and Steve. "We got the Bus in one of the largest hangers so no one sees it. That should help keep any spies from Hydra, if they are still in the area, from looking to closely for SHIELD agents or Avengers."
"OK, you all get some sleep. Contact us before you head out Cap. We will have STRIKE launch a drone and keep a close watch on you in case there is trouble." ordered Hill.
S/N
A few hours later Steve and Natasha were eating breakfast in a small little cafe. It was nice outside so they were sitting outside watching the people walk by.
"This is nice. We need to take a trip across Europe one day." Steve said.
"Well, we will have to wait a while. You kind of got me in a certain condition." said a smirking Natasha.
Steve gave a small laugh. "I kind of love you in that condition."
"Well if you think I'm going to stay home all the time bare foot and pregnant you got another thing coming old man." They both heard laughing over their ear coms."
After every stopped laughing they congratulated the couple. Steve and Natasha got so caught up in the conversation they forgot others were listening in.
"When were you panning on telling us Mom?" asked a happy Sarah over the communications channel.
"Well I hope it's another boy. We got too many girls already. OUCH." James said.
Everyone laughed at what appeared to be Sarah hitting her brother. Steve and Natasha were trying to hold their laughter in at their kids antics.
Steve whispered to Natasha "Who all is monitoring this mission?"
Natasha just shrugged. "Tony probably hacked in. He knew about the mission before we left."
"Sorry Red, we have permission to listen in." said Tony over the communications channel.
Steve and Natasha finished breakfast and started walking around. They made it look like they were window shopping as they used the reflection in the windows to watch people. They spent the morning in the shopping district.
While they did that STRIKE used the Drone to look for places Bucky might be staying. By afternoon they had a couple locations they thought Bucky might be hanging out in. It was in places tourist wouldn't be seen in so Steve and Natasha kept walking around to make sure there was nobody watching them.
S/N
Late that night Steve and Natasha snuck out in dark clothes and headed for the first of the two locations STRIKE pin pointed. They reached the first area 30 minutes after leaving their room.
After walking around the first area they headed for the second. When they were sure they covered the whole area they headed back to their room.
When they got there they contacted everyone. '
"There were a few shade buildings that he could be hiding in. We didn't want to go in at night with out the proper gear. It might be to dangerous anyway. We don't want to spoke him." briefed Natasha.
"Nat's right we need to hope he is still in the area and he come back out during the day. Lets keep the drones watching the areas. If they spot a lone man entering or leaving one of these buildings we can check them out in the day time. Less likely to spook him." ordered Steve.
"OK Captain Rogers. I'll have STRIKE pulling shifts watching both areas. We have enough mini drones to cover both areas around the clock. If we see anyone alone entering a building we will tag it. If someone leaves we will try to follow and see where they go. We can always put up another drone if they leave the area." May informed everyone.
Phil who was in Command for the mission spoke up. "We have satellite over the area also. So if you do have to pull a drone to follow someone we can cover the area till you get another up and on station. Cap I can send Hunter and Morse in also. That will give you another pair of eyes and some backup if we find a building to be searched during the day."
"OK Phil get them here as soon as possible. We are in the Gasthof Hohlwegwirt. If they can get this hotel so we can run into them and start talking. That way it won't seem weird if we are with each other around town." ordered Steve.
"They are preparing now and should be on their way in an hour. I am booking a room for them now at the same hotel." informed May.
Once everything was set for the night Steve and Natasha turned in for the night. It was about 4 AM when STRIKE got a hit. They saw a man enter a building at the second area. He looked around to make sure no one was around before entering. They marked it and sent Steve the GPS coordinates.
S/N
Steve and Natasha were approaching the building from the front while Hunter and Morse watched the back. All 4 had tranq guns with darts that could take Steve down for a couple minutes. So they hope it would keep Bucky down longer so they could get him out of the area if they had to use them.
Steve watched while Natasha looked for traps. They were in 2 minutes later. They checked the first floor finding a couple booby traps that would alert who ever was hiding that some one had entered the building. It took an hour to clear the first floor. They took their time going up the stairs. Natasha checked each step before they walked on it. They found two that was set up as traps.
They both were wearing cameras so everyone not on the mission could watch. The Bus was circling the area in case back up was needed.
S/N
Back at the Avenger/SHIELD Command Center Fury, Coulson and Hill were all there. The Secretary of Defense and State both were watching along with the AG. They were invited to see how SHIELD and the Avengers worked together and tried to keep anyone from knowing an operation was even taking place. The AG was also there because Barnes was a victim that the President wanted helped.
"Damn she is good. I might need to send some of my Special op guys here for training. I would have never thought to check the steps and don't think I ever seen our guys check them." Commented the Secretary of Defense.
Ross the Secretary of State was not as impressed to him she could not be trusted and would betray them when it suited her. He would love to lock her up on the Raft along with the rest of the Avengers.
The AG never served in the military so this was the first time to watch on operation live. He was impressed on how they carried the mission out from the beginning.
S/N
In Wakanda Tony, James, Sarah and the royal family watched the operation from a secure room.
"Mom sure knows what she is doing. She need to give us a class on this." said Sarah.
"You do know that we will never be able to keep her from finding things out because she will always figure out how to get passed anything we do to try to keep her and Dad out." pointed out James.
The adults watching them laughed at that. Sarah thought about what her brother said and groaned.
S/N
"We have cleared the second floor. Moving to the third floor." called Steve.
They were half way up the stairs to the third floor when they heard movement. Natasha froze to see if they had been discovered. She waited 10 minutes not moving. Steve also froze. When Natasha was sure they had not been discovered she started moving again but a lot slower.
They finally reached the third floor and saw light coming from under a door. It had taken them over 3 hours to find any sign of life. Natasha and Steve checked the area before they moved towards the door. When they reached it Natasha checked it out while Steve kept watch. Both had their tranq guns out and ready.
When Natasha was satisfied the door was safe she slowly opened it while looking for any wires. When it was fully open they saw a man with a metal arm facing away from them. Natasha moved in and to the side to give Steve room to enter.
When they both had entered Steve called Bucky's name. "Bucky."
Bucky turned around with a gun in his hand. Natasha fired the tranq gun as soon as she noticed a gun. Bucky went down after a few seconds. Steve also fired to make sure he went down. It had been agreed on they were taking no chances so neither them or Bucky would get hurt. Steve was being extra protective of Natasha because she was pregnant.
Natasha called over the radio. "Target is down. Repeat we have Barnes he is down with two tranqs."
"Roger that Widow we are on our way in." called Hunter.
While Natasha took care of notifying everyone Steve moved to check on his friend. He held his tranq gun out just to make sure Bucky was not faking. They still didn't know who they were dealing with Bucky or the Winter Soldier.
Natasha came up to Steve "Hunter and Morse are on their way up. Rhodes is on his way down and going to land on the roof so he can extract Bucky to the Bus."
"OK, as soon as Hunter gets up here we will put the restraints that were made to hold him, then I will carry him up." said Steve. "We did it Nat we finally found him. Now we just need to help him."
Hunter and Morse arrived 15 minutes later. Steve put the restraints on him while the others watched for movement. Steve picked up Bucky and he and Hunter carried him two more flights of stairs to the roof. Rhodes was waiting for them. He gave Natasha a syringe with a sedative to help keep Bucky asleep for the flight to the Bus. Nobody wanted him awake till he was secured in a holding cell on the bus.
"Cap there is a clearing about 10 miles outside of town big enough to land the Bus. Meet us there and we will load up your cars and get out of here. Here is a GPS with the coordinates." Rhodes explained.
"Thanks, get him secured and we will call when we arrive." Steve told Rhodes.
With that Rhodes grabbed Bucky and took off. Once Rhodes was gone the 4 still on the roof headed down stairs to get to their cars that were parked down the street. When they arrived they found them selves facing Rollins a guy in a mask with a white x on his chest. behind them were 20 guys in Hydra uniforms.
S/N
Back at the Command Center Fury was on the radio with May. Letting her know that Hydra was waiting for Steve and the others. He told her to get Falcon and War Machine down there as fast as possible.
Coulson was on the phone with the Austria government letting them know they manage to extract the friendly but the extraction team had run into several Hydra soldiers including two ex shield STRIKE team members. He was advising them to contact the police in Hallein and let them know that they had a Hydra team in the town. He also told them that they were sending in two Avengers to help clear the area so the extraction team could escape.
The guest in the Command Center watched as a fire fight brake out. While the SHIELD, Avenger team members tried to be careful where they shot the Hydra soldiers did not and started causing a lot of damage. The next thing they knew War Machine landed in the middle of the Hdra soldiers. With Falcon attacking from the Air.
S/N
When Rhodes and Sam started their attack, Steve charged Rumlow while Natasha went after Rollins. Morse and Hunter helped take the Hydra soldiers out. They could all hear police sirens getting closer.
The only good thing Steve could see was Bucky was already on the Bus and the area the fighting was going on was not that populated.
Steve hit Rumlow in the face with his shield snapping his neck back. Rumlow started to come around when Steve hit him with an uppercut that lifted Rumlow off his feet. He was out cold after that. Steve turned to help Natasha.
Natasha was hitting Rollins with everything she had. Rollins was getting beat black and blue by the short redhead but refused to go down. When he saw Crossbones go down he took a smoke gernade off his belt and threw it. When everthing was obscured he ran and crabbed Rumlow. He mange to get both of them out of there and to their vehicle.
When the smoke cleared all the hydra soldiers were dead or out cold. Then Steve notice both Rumlow and Rollins escaped. He was pissed but he had more pressing things to worry about. He checked on Natasha and made sure she was OK. Once he was sure she was fine he radioed into Command.
"Command we have 20 either dead or injured Hydra soldiers but both Rollins and Rumlow escaped." reported Steve.
S/N
Back at Command Fury responded "We copy Captain, Hallein police are in pursuit of a vehicle that fled the area. We are on the phone with the Hallein police Chief. You all can stand down. The police will want to speak with you then you will be free to leave."
S/N
Steve acknowledged the order and told the others to secure the ones alive. Since the closes police took off after Rumlow and Rollins it was another 10 minutes till the first police showed up.
The police Chief himself arrived 20 minutes later and talked with Steve. Once Steve identified himself and informed the police chief of what happen they were free to go. The police took the alive Hydra soldiers in to custody till a SHIELD team could come and get them.
It was over an hour after Bucky was locked in a holding cell before Steve could see him again. By that time he had woke up.
"Hello Buck. How are you doing?" asked Steve.
"Steve, where am I?" asked Bucky.
"Your home Bucky, your home." answered Steve.