Summary: Annette escaped the camp, but where to go. Hurt, tired and being followed by the Hydra forces that imprisoned her, she's forced to make a literal leap of faith in the rapids to evade further imprisonment, torture and experimentation. What happens when she is pulled from the banks of the latest SSR camp and nursed back to health by none other than The Howling Commandos,and peeks the interest of two friends?

Chapter 3: She Did What Now?

Bucky's POV

He didn't need telling twice as Steve Rogers went into Captain America mode giving out orders as they ran with their precious cargo in his friend's arms. Even though he had just pulled a half dead and bleeding woman out of the river and sprinted back to camp soaked wet through, all he kept thinking was that this woman (and now possibly them as well now), might still be in danger. Stopping only to take some breaths and collect his arsenal, he took a brief glance at the injured party as his friend gently laid her on the ground as Jacques and Gabe prepared to give her medical care, then left with Dum-Dum and Falsworth to lead them to where he and the captain had first discovered the young woman.

"How the hell did a dame end up here of all places?" Tim Dugan muttered as they got to the section of river that Bucky and Steve found her. "What's further up river?"

Monty looked at his map of their initial area, brows furrowed as he concentrated. Then his eyes bulged and gasped. "You've got to be joking? That Hydra facility we sacked earlier is further up ahead!"

Dum-Dum looked over the Brit's shoulder to look at the map in disbelief. "You're shitting' me right?" Bucky took the map to double check that Falsworth was right, then looked back at the two soldiers.

"He's not wrong Dugan. It's about another forty minutes down that way one that side of the river." Bucky was sure of it, but that didn't make sense. 'Intel clearly said that it was just a factory. What else could have been going on that we didn't know about?' He was sniping up high during the raid, they rescued as many of the workers as they could, but he never saw any head for the forest during the raid. He did however; see a small group of about ten Hydra men emerge from them with dogs, he thought it had been odd at first but now he had a sudden clarity as to what their purpose had been now. They were a search party...and they had returned empty handed. Looking at the high ridge from where the woodland ended and the rapids in front of them began, he came to a heart stopping conclusion.

'She jumped!'

"WHAT? I'm sorry Barnes, she did what now?" Gabe Jones chocked out whilst Jacques Denier looked slightly nauseated at the thought of a jump from that height. Not realising that Bucky had voiced his suspicion out loud, or that there were two new additions to the patrol, he faced his friends and explained about what he had seen during the Hydra raid earlier that day. Falsworth rubbing his moustache as he thought about everything that had been relayed to him.

"It does seem to make sense rather a lot doesn't it chaps?"

"Not to mention it would explain all of her injuries to her head, arms and legs that we patched up just now." Jones contributed then pointing just further across from themselves. "See that rock that just peaks out of the water? I'd bet my Lucky Strikes that that's how she got that gash on the back of her head. It may even explain the gunshot wounds too."

"WHAT?!" Bucky paled at this new piece of information. Shot? Something was very wrong with this scenario, and he intended to find out everything. Shouldering his rifle, he looked up at the sun and then back to where they knew the factory to be. "How long before sunset?"

Dugan checked his watch. "We've got about an hour boss." When they all looked to Bucky, they could see that he was torn from whether to continue back to the factory for further investigation, or start making their way back the camp. They knew how frustrated he was, they were too, but right now they had to think about the team's safety especially with them exposed in the open with no cover. Taking a moment to refocus himself, Bucky was ready to give instruction.

"We'll mark the location of where we stopped looking, if we can we'll pick this up tomorrow when the cavalry arrives. We cant ignore the fact that where she jumped from here is about three miles from the Hydra base." Murmurs of agreement and heads bobbing to his course of action, their eyes travelled down the violent route in which the river carried the poor woman they found themselves to be caring for down. "It's time to head back, there's nothing more we can do right now."

They began the trek back to where they set up camp for the night, thinking amongst themselves whilst still being on alert for the enemy. So far they hadn't come across anything out of the ordinary, but better safe than sorry. Bucky's mind was on the girl he and Steve pulled from the river, the image of her standing at the edge of that plateau and having to jump to evade Hydra had him both applauding her for her courage and worrying about why it took a team of ten armed soldiers to try apprehend her, the fact that she had been shot at too concerned him to no end. As if just remembering, he slowed to keep pace with Jones and Denier.

"You said she'd been shot right?" Gabe sighed as he rolled his stiff shoulders before talking loud enough for everyone to hear him. He really didn't feel like repeating all of this considering he'd already through all this with Captain. Rogers and Morita back at camp.

"Yeah, twice. She had to have been shot from behind cause of where they are. The back of her shoulder exiting to her front and in the back of her thigh area. Her injuries fit the suspicions that she had escaped from the facility just before we hit it. The shoulder wound wasn't lethal, it was meant to slow her down." The men were furious listening to the list of injuries that the African-American was revealing. Bucky wanted to be sick.

"The cuts to her feet from running through the woods. The cuts and bruises all over her from being thrown around in the rapids and that gash to the back of her skull. When you two found her and pulled her out, she was the very early stages of Hypothermia. Cap got a fire going before we set out to join you on patrol." After Jones' report, nobody felt much like talking, only wanting to get back as quickly as possible and that the girl was strong enough to make it until they could get some real help from the doctors and surgeons on base.

Dugan, knowing that everyone was in a funk, felt the need to lighten the mood for everybody's sake. "Well, I've not seen or spoken to the gal yet...but I like her already. That kid's got balls!"

Bucky couldn't help the smirk appearing on his face as he thought of the girl from the river. "Yeah...she sure does."