Summary: Bucky is recaptured by Hydra where their scientists conduct more experiments on him. There he meets an unlikely ally, an innocent looking young woman who is hiding a much darker side. Meanwhile Steve has tracked his best friend and discovered his location and is preparing to mount a rescue mission with the help of some of his fellow Avengers. Can they save Bucky before it's too late? And who is this mystery woman? Co – Written with Dixon – Vixen 13. Bucky/OC, Steve/Sharon, Clint/Natasha, Tony/Pepper. Rated M for graphic violence, language and eventual sexual scenes.
Soldiers And Spies
Chapter 18
"Love...love you...promise me something?" Eva said weakly, her face had turned white and her suit was soaked in blood. Bucky gripped her hand tightly in worry.
"Anything doll, anything." Bucky said quickly as Eva held on to him tightly.
"This isn't your fault, I love you and I want you… to look after...Nat. If I die...I don't want her thinking that it was her fault." Eva said strongly, gripping onto his hand.
"I promise I will but you aren't dying doll, you're gonna be fine." Bucky insisted and kissed her forehead as they reached the ranch and carried her off the quinjet and quickly inside.
Luckily the others had just pulled up as Bucky tried to keep her awake and stop the bleeding as much as he could with help from Clint and Natasha. Sharon barked out orders as she surveyed the damage to Eva's wound, it was right above the tissue which was her womb and they needed to get it out.
"We need an IV sedation and we need to get this out of her, Eva keep on talking to me." Sharon encouraged and Eva nodded.
"Did you find the bombs?" She asked weakly, her hand gripping onto Bucky tightly as Sharon inserted an IV drip. When they escaped from the Avengers tower she made sure to grab some medical supplies from the labs, knowing full well they were in for a fight over the next few weeks, maybe even months.
"We found the one that was in the building but no luck on finding the others, what's your blood type?" Sharon asked gently and Eva swallowed then.
"O positive." She said weakly.
"I need people who are O positive!"'
"I'm O positive. Take mine." Natasha said quickly as she desperately unzipped her uniform and pulled an arm free for Sharon to put a needle in.
With the help of Pepper, Bucky and Steve, Sharon did her best to stabilize Eva as much as possible and set up a blood transfusion from Natasha. Once that was done she began to inspect the wound, mopping away as much blood as she could with gauze she opened up the wound for a better look.
"I see where the blood is coming from. The debris has pierced the inferior mesenteric artery, we need to stop the bleeding and fast. Luckily the debris has slowed the flow of blood, but once we remove it we have to work very quickly. I'm going to need an extra pair of hands... Pepper can I have you here please?" Sharon said as Bucky held onto one hand and Natasha held Eva's other hand. Steve was down the other end, gently holding her legs, making sure she didn't move around. Sharon had drugged her so she couldn't feel any pain, but she didn't want to knock her out during the surgery so she could better monitor her situation. So she had just been lightly sedated so that she wasn't aware what was going on, but still responsive and able to move.
"Ok Pepper, when I say… gently pull out the piece of the debris. On three..." Sharon instructed.
"Are you sure about this?" Pepper asked worriedly.
"Positive." Sharon told her. "One, two... three." She counted and Pepper gently removed the debris from Eva's stomach as Sharon clamped the artery.
"Great work Pepper. You're doing fine." Sharon reassured her, noticing her friend was looking a little sick and scared. "Now I need you to hold this clamp for me okay? I need to stitch up this artery as quickly as possible."
"Ok... I got it." Pepper replied as she took the clamp from Sharon, her hands a little shaky.
"How are you doing over there Natasha?" Sharon asked looking towards the red head who looked very worried about her cousin. Clint was by her side, holding her close and reassuring her that everything was going to be ok.
"I'm ok, just please... please don't let her die." Natasha begged.
"No one is dying today." Sharon said determinedly.
"Ok Pepper, hold that tight and steady okay. I'm going to begin stitching." She said as she mopped away more of the blood with some gauze. After a few tense minutes Sharon breathed a sigh of relief and announced that the artery had been repaired. She instructed Pepper to carefully release the clamps and kept an eye on it for a few minutes to ensure the stitches held.
"Right, everything is looking good. We need to stitch up this wound. How are you holding up Pepper?" She asked.
"I'm good. I can do this." She replied confidently.
"Great I need you to hold this and keep the skin pulled close together." Sharon told her handing her another surgical tool, and then she began to stitch up the wound. Once she was done she administered an antibiotic to prevent any infections, and stopped the IV sedation so that Eva would slowly return to normal.
"Ok Natasha, I'm going to take this out now." Sharon told her as she gently took her arm.
"Wait, are you sure she's got enough? She lost a lot of blood." Natasha said worriedly.
"Time will tell. But we can't take too much from you. Give it some time, if she needs some more you can give her some more later ok." Sharon promised as she took the needle out of her arm. "You should get some rest."
"C'mon babe, I'll take you to the bedroom." Clint urged.
"No... I want to stay with Eva." Natasha said firmly.
"Ok. I'll wait with you." He told her as he held her close and they looked over at Bucky who was gently stroking Eva's hair as he held her hand tightly, the worry evident in his face. Natasha studied Eva's face, it was peaceful and completely at ease even though there was dust and dirt on her from where the explosion had gone off. Her eyes were open but it seemed like she was in a trance, unaware of all that was going on around her. Eva had willingly risked her life to save her and the others, Natasha took her hand again gently. A light squeeze was felt and Bucky looked down at the hand he was holding, he felt a gentle squeeze and he held it back tightly, kissing the side of her forehead tenderly. The sedative was beginning to wear off.
The three of them sat in silent vigil for Eva, waiting for her to wake up as they heard Tony and Sam arriving, they had brought back Bucky's motorcycle.
"You're gonna be alright, Eva." Bucky whispered firmly, he held her tightly and fought back tears. He couldn't handle the thought of Eva dying like this.
"I may not know Eva as well you two but she's a fighter and she'll be just fine." Clint said confidently and Natasha nodded as did Bucky.
"I'm so sorry Eva, I'm sorry that I didn't protect you when you were in the Red Room. I wish I had have known you in there, more so I wish I had have known you were my cousin. I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you when you lost Malia to Yelena, I'm so sorry that I didn't help you when the Red Room severed ties with you when you killed that HYDRA scientist. Most of all, I'm sorry that I didn't save you when you got left behind and when...when you got hit by that piece of wood. But I'm going to look after you, I might not be perfect but I'm going to make sure that I'm the cousin you deserve Eva." Natasha promised firmly, uncaring that tears were streaming down her cheeks while Clint and Bucky listened in silence
At that moment, Eva groaned slightly and turned her head to look at Natasha, her eyes still a little unfocussed. She then turned to look at Bucky, and as the sedation wore of and she realised where she was and who she was looking at, she smiled.
"Hey guys." She whispered softly, causing the three to stare in shock and relief. Clint went to get the others and Tony, Pepper, Sam, Steve and Sharon all came in to see how their team mate was doing.
"Well Christ, Eva you've been through the wars along with Natasha, you two should be called the Walking Wounded." Tony joked, causing Eva to laugh along with the others but she grimaced when she felt her left side sting.
"What happened?" She asked confused, unable to remember the events of the day.
"Yelena played dirty, but we managed to stop one of the bombs but we're missing six more. So we have an enhanced army with vibranium androids, along with Russian and German spies working with HYDRA who wanna create World War III." Tony said dramatically.
Silence followed.
"You should be on the ten PM news, they'd love you." Sam chuckled.
Eva began giggling, Natasha snorted and started laughing before Bucky and Clint joined in. Everyone began laughing then.
"We needed that." Steve said finally.
Later that night the team were all resting up, but Steve couldn't stop his mind from wandering to HYDRA and their plan for the world. Sure he had gone up against them once before, and won... mostly. But this time it was different. This time the threat of taking over the whole world seemed so much more real. It wasn't often that Steve felt scared, but now, he was pretty terrified.
He and Sharon had just began to build a relationship, and the thought that it could be all torn away in a single moment by HYDRA worried him. He had lost his chance with Peggy all those years ago, he didn't want to make the same mistakes now with Sharon.
Steve stood quietly at the window staring off into the distance, the moon shining down on him, it's cool blue light showing the definition in his muscular chest. Sharon admired him from the doorway, who ever thought she would be dating Captain America? She quietly walked over to him and placed a hand on his forearm, bringing him out of his daze. "Everything okay Steve?" she asked softly.
"Yeah... yeah, just got a lot on my mind I guess"
"You wanna talk about it?"
"I dunno... I'm just worried. I've faced HYDRA before, but this time it seems so much more real, so much scarier." He confessed.
"Well we know that they have multiple nuclear weapons, which is terrifying. It's okay to be scared Steve."
"But I'm supposed to be Captain America... the fearless leader" he laughed dryly.
"We all look up to you Steve, but we all understand that you are human, just like the rest of us. A little different... but still human" she smiled.
"Different?" he questioned with a smile.
"A good kind of different." She reassured him as she placed her hand on his chest. She could feel the rapid beat of his heart beneath his skin. Steve leaned in a kissed her lips softly before giving her a warm smile.
"Thank you."
"No thanks needed." She smiled in return. "But I would gladly accept another kiss..."
"Yes Ma'am." Steve chuckled as he leaned in once more and pressed his lips against hers.
Sharon smiled at him brightly as Steve held her tight and kissed her again.
They would be alright.
Bucky woke up to see Eva trying to sit up and look at her wound, he quietly came over and helped her sit up as he pulled her t - shirt up and they saw the wound was healing up nicely.
If it had gone any deeper, or torn right through the artery...Eva would have bled out before they could have saved her. He rested his forehead against hers and she leaned into him, knowing he needed to feel her against him.
"I'm right here James, I'm not leaving you." Eva said comfortingly and Bucky buried his face into her neck then, breathing in the scent of her floral shampoo and conditioner.
"I thought I lost you, I thought you would go and I was wondering what I'd do...but I know what I would have done." Bucky said darkly and held her tightly.
"What would you have done, James?" Eva asked quietly but there isn't any judgement in her voice though, only understanding.
"I would have gone after Ross, Yelena, Karpov and anyone else who was HYDRA and put bullets in their bodies or used my knife...The Winter Soldier was angry. I just couldn't see living without you, Eva." Bucky admitted.
Eva hugged him and kissed him.
"We will beat HYDRA James... I know it. And when we do, you and I can have a normal life. We can put all of this behind us and be truly happy." She told him.
"I want that more than anything in this world Eva." He smiled. "Get some rest sweetheart, you've been through a lot." He whispered as he stroked her cheek affectionately. Eva laid back down and looked at her lover intently before closing her eyes and slowly drifting back off to sleep.
"You scared the hell out of me Eva. I love you so much and I would so anything to protect you." Bucky whispered quietly as he held onto her hand, too afraid to let go. He had almost lost her, he had felt so helpless and empty at the thought of being without her, and he never wanted to feel that again.
"You okay?" Clint asked as he rubbed Natasha's shoulders, the spray of hot water from the shower raining down on them.
"Yeah... I'm good." She replied. "Just worried about Eva. She almost died today. I only just found out that she is my family and HYDRA nearly took her from me... again." She said, sounding a little defeated.
"But she's okay. She's a fighter, just like you. She's gonna be just fine." Clint reassured her.
"She is" Natasha agreed. "Clint..." She began as she turned her head to look at him.
"Yeah babe?"
"I love you." She smiled.
"I love you more." He grinned in happiness.
"Not possible." She chuckled as she pressed her lips against his for a sweet kiss. "You're my rock. I couldn't have made it through everything without you."
"And you are mine. The thought of you is what gets me through every fight. You are what keeps me going. You are my light in the darkness that is this war with HYDRA." He said as he held her tight, letting the warm water wash away the events of the day.
"You did amazing today Pep." Tony smiled as he gave his girlfriend a peck on the cheek. "I'm so proud of you. You were so brave, being out there with us in the fight. Not to mention you helped Sharon save Eva's life."
"I'm proud of you too, Tony. I guess we have both come a long way." Pepper said lovingly and hugged him tightly. They worked to fix up their suits for the upcoming battle, Tony's was slightly damaged when the building collapsed and they were still modifying Pepper's to find the ways in which it best worked for her.
The next few days were spent keeping a low profile, while trying to figure out where the rest of the nuclear bombs were as Eva recovered and her wound healed up nicely.
The stitches had been taken out and she could now fight, but she was careful as she sat beside Bucky and Natasha while looking through the files that they had found at the building.
So far, they had only one lead and that was a Russian arms dealer by the name of Olaf Hesse and he seemed to have stolen vibranium from the warehouse in Wakanda. The man was on the top of Interpol's red notice list along with another man they recognised.
Brock Rumlow… AKA Crossbones. The former S.H.E.I.L.D agent was now a feared and lethal arms dealer. He had been spotted in Russia, Stalingrad and Kiev. No one knew what exactly he had done but he had killed three police officers and even a poor young woman who had three children and her husband was in the Russian Armed Forces.
"How much damage would those nuclear bombs do...if they went off in a populated area?" Sam asked wearily.
Tony pulled up a worst case scenario on his laptop.
"If one of those bombs go off in Fifth Avenue, the area would be badly hit. Anyone who was in direct contact with the blast would die instantly while the lower half of New York would be intoxicated by the pollution. A whole lot of people would die and that's not saying how many people would become sick with radiation sickness, cancer and the unborn children who would be deformed as a result of the radiation blast." Tony said grimly.
Sam swallowed.
"After effects?" Steve asked quietly and Tony swallowed.
"We'd be looking at something similar to the Hiroshima bombing. If they set off a Nuke at precisely the right location, America might not recover..." Tony said gravely.
"That's exactly why we need to put an end to HYDRA and their plans." Steve said. "Have we heard from Fury?" He asked as he looked towards Sharon.
"He called this morning, he and Hill are coming later this afternoon with some fresh intel on the whereabouts of Ross and Rumlow." Sharon informed him.
"Great, once we have that information, we begin planning our next mission. We don't want to give these guys a chance to set off a Nuke or gather any more supplies for their 'world domination' scheme."
"Right, so what are our priorities?" Tony asked concerned.
"Priority one is locate and secure the nuclear weapons. This comes above anything else, if you have to choose between securing the Nukes and pursuing one of our targets, the nukes come first." Steve stressed. "Priority two is capture Ross. He needs to be brought back to the states and answer for his crimes." He continued. "Priority three, is capture Rumlow. He is a danger, and he is only enabling HYDRA to fulfil their plan. Is everyone clear on that?" He asked as he looked around at the team.
"Crystal." Clint replied calmly.
"Got it." Sam said and the rest of the team nodded in agreement.
"What if we can't capture them?" Bucky asked quietly.
"We need to do our best to take them alive, but if that's not possible, then the threat must be eliminated." Steve said, not happy with the idea. But he knew too well that these people had to either be captured or killed. They couldn't be left to run rampant and cause destruction to the world. He was never okay with taking a life, but if it meant saving countless others, then he knew there was no choice to be made. Steve was never alright with taking lives while on a mission. He knew the others weren't but it was something that had to be done.
Eva and Natasha sat down next to each other and they talked for a while. Eva knew Natasha had been worried about her, but thanks to her enhancements her side had healed up nicely and quite quickly.
"You know, I'm glad we're family even though neither of us knew about it until three days ago." Eva said with a smile which Natasha returned. They were interrupted by the television as they saw something on the news that caught their attention.
"It is the first time in fifty years, since there has been a United Nations Week like this with foreign dignitary officials and prime ministers arriving from all over the world. But concerns are still evident after a bomb was detonated at the Royal Palace Hotel where the American president, Matthew Ellis and Russian President, Vladimir Putin had been discussing a peace talk with Israel and Palestine."
"Hey, you two have gotta come and see this, Tony hacked the code of that USB stick." Sharon said breathlessly and they hurried over to where the rest of the team was and Fury and Hill had joined them.
"Ok, whoever owned this memory stick coded it in Russian but I broke the code and now let's see what we have." Tony said and clicked on it as a familiar Russian voice spoke.
"We meet again, Avengers and I see that you survived your encounter with HYDRA super soldier Yelena. Did it bring back memories for you Miss Nikolayev?" The voice asked amused.
"Hardly and I'd rather not talk about Yelena, why are you doing this?" Eva asked calmly.
"HYDRA realised that in order to take over, we needed more super soldiers like the Winter Soldier. So when we learnt that Howard Stark and Dr. Erskine had perfected a serum, the one they used on Captain Rogers, we had to have it. However that plan failed. But we had Yuri and Mikhail Nikolayev recreate that formula for us, however it was a little… different. When we got the serum, we began giving it to young Red Room recruits who showed promise and great techniques. It wasn't until later on when Natalia and Evangeline came to our attention that we realised the serums true potential." The man continued as he showed footage of Natasha and Eva in the Red Room.
"We decided that Natalia and Evangeline would be the ultimate super soldiers, and that is when project Psyche was born. But thanks to Mr Barton and SHIELD, we lost one of our prime candidates when he turned Miss Romanova, so we were left with only Miss Nikolayev to work with. Of course we still have Miss Belkova and all the other girls. But you see they did not show the same promise that you two did. Our plan has been in motion for many, many years. There is nothing you can do to stop it now. Everything you have done, it all amounts to nothing."
AN: Enjoy and review.