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 19
Fury and Hill arrived with grim news for the team, but on the up side they now knew what their next mission was.
"We have received word that Rumlow is in China." Fury spoke up.
"Our sources suggest that Ross may be with him, but at this stage we cannot confirm that." Hill added in.
"What the hell is he doing in China?" Clint asked puzzled.
"V-Day." Natasha said grimly as she realized HYDRA's plan.
"Valentine's Day was months ago babe." Clint chuckled.
"Victory Day Military Parade..." Steve said shocked.
"HYDRA are going to set off a bomb during the parade?" Eva asked worriedly. "They would kill thousands and thousands of people."
"That is what our Intel suggests." Fury told them. "HYDRA wants to take over the world, and what better way to do it by taking out the world's largest militaries. With them out of the way, there won't be a lot of people left to oppose them let alone stop them."
"We have to stop this." Steve said determinedly. "Do we have a time frame?"
"The parade is in a few days" Fury stated.
"Right team, we better get to work on a plan, Hill we are going to need all the Intel you have. Tony, can you find out all there is to know about the parade? Important people attending, where it's being held… all of that."
"On it." Tony replied as he started tapping away on his IPad.
Fury and Hill left as the team began to work on their plan to stop the bombing and take down Rumlow and Ross.
"The parade is going to be in Beijing, and its celebrating the anniversary of the end of the Second World War and its friendships with the rest of the UN countries." Tony informed them.
"If Ross and Rumlow set off a nuke right in the heart of China, taking out the majority of their military, the country won't recover from that." Eva said worriedly.
"Fury and Maria left to inform the prime minister and the China Secret Service. Do we know of any other countries that Ross and Rumlow plan to target?" Steve asked concerned.
"The intel Maria sent suggests that Japan, England, Russia, Germany, Romania, Switzerland and Finland, Poland, France, Britain, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark and any countries that stood up to the Nazis and HYDRA are targets. And of course the U.S." Sharon said grimly.
"Suit up." Steve told the team. "Clint and Natasha ready the quinjet. I want wheels up in thirty minutes. Stark… talk to me about what tech you have than can disable or contain a nuclear bomb."
"Right this way Cap." Tony gestured as he lead him to his make shift lab where he kept all the tech he managed to take from The Avenger's Tower before they went into hiding.
Flying to China, specifically the capital, Beijing was a new experience for Eva and Sharon as neither of them had been to the famous country before. The team landed and exited the jet and began to survey the area. Sam used his Redwing drone to fly over the city using facial recognition software to try and track down Rumlow and Ross.
But they were quickly interrupted when they saw HYDRA soldiers up ahead who were coming their way and began firing at them. Eva threw up her energy shield which deflected the bullets, before using her powers to blast at them. Sam pulled up one into the air and threw him against a car, while Tony and Pepper flew overhead shooting down the HYDRA soldiers with their pulsors.
Steve and Sharon where fighting some of the soldiers on the ground along with Clint, Bucky and Natasha as they saw Rhodey arrive in his suit then.
"Rhodey?" Steve questioned.
"I was already in the neighbourhood talking to the president, he's ok with us being here but he wants no civilians to be caught in the crossfire. He wants us to do all we can to end this threat and keep the people of China safe." Rhodey explained seriously.
"Well it looks like HYDRA already know we are here" Natasha said stating the obvious. "Gonna be a little hard to keep a low profile now."
"How did they get onto us so fast?" Clint wondered aloud.
"If I've learnt one thing over the years with HYDRA, it's that they have eyes and ears everywhere." Steve replied as he fought off another HYDRA agent.
Tony, Pepper and Rhodey all used their suits to take down more of the army, destroying their vehicles and heavy weaponry in the process as they flew overhead, looking out for their team mates below. Eva used her powers to lift both Clint and Bucky to higher ground where they took out more incoming soldiers, Bucky with his sniper rifle and Clint with his bow. The rest of the team stayed on the ground, fighting hand to hand until all the HYDRA personnel were taken care of.
"Well, that was one hell of a welcome party." Tony joked.
"No sign of Rumlow or Ross though." Bucky spoke up.
At that moment they heard the crackle of a radio and Rumlow's voice came over a walkie that was clipped onto one of the dead HYDRA agent's tactical vest. "Alpha team, Report" he said. The team all looked at one another in surprise.
"What do we do?" Eva asked as she looked to Steve.
He picked up the walkie and waited a moment to see if Rumlow would speak again and after a few moments he did. "Come in Alpha Team... are the Avengers dead?" He asked coldly.
"Sorry Rumlow, you'll have to try a little harder than that." Steve replied calmly.
"Rogers... don't you worry. There's plenty more where that came from. Next time you won't be so lucky." Rumlow growled before the radio crackled and they were met with nothing but silence.
"Right team, let's get to the safe house Fury set up and begin mission prep." Steve told the team.
The mission preparation was spent with looking over blueprints of the building where Rumlow and Ross were hiding out along with two of the missing nuclear bombs. Sam had scouted the building with Redwing and confirmed it was the correct location.
"Alright here's the plan, we're all gonna have to go in by ourselves as going in pairs will direct too much attention." Steve said reluctantly, he wasn't happy about this as it would mean the team wouldn't have a partner to watch their back but they all nodded in agreement. "I want Tony, Pepper and Rhodey to secure the outside once the rest of us have gone in. Once HYDRA are on to us, Ross and Rumlow will probably try to escape. We can't let the happen."
"Knowing Rumlow, he's probably rigged the building with explosives and booby trapped the place." Clint said grimly as he looked over the blueprints. There were two ways in and out, one round the back and one at the front. There was also a staircase to the second floor and one to the rooftop and an engine room on the basement floor.
"I'll send Redwing to help out." Sam said as he referred to the red drone bird-like robot. He was a little like Jarvis, only a smaller robot version in falcon form. Tony had helped him build it, and it had proven very useful on all of their missions.
"Alright let's go." Natasha said as she secured her guns into their holsters. Sharon picked up her two fighting electronic staves that Tony had built for her and secured them in the holders on her belt. The rest of the team finished putting on their uniforms and grabbing their weapons before heading to the quinjet.
Eva had never thought she'd say it, but she was actually grateful for the constant stealthy lessons that the Red Room had drilled into her since she was eleven years old. She snuck up behind two engineers in the basement, but one turned around and spotted her.
"Hi boys." She greeted innocently and the men looked at her questioningly, before she fired at them with her psionic energy blasts before using her grappling hook to strangle another HYDRA soldier that had heard the commotion.
She leapt over a rail and landed on the next level of the engine room then and saw two more men bursting into the room. She blasted at one of them by using a hex bolt, causing him to stumble backwards and she kicked him in the face before slamming her low heeled boot clad feet into the other man's stomach, causing him to crumple into a heap on the ground before knocking him out cold.
"Eva?" Bucky asked quietly, a little worried after hearing the sounds of her fighting over the comms.
"Engine room secured and no sign of the nukes here." Eva said grimly just as two more men appeared before her and she pulled out her two Colt Pythons and shot them both in the head.
Natasha made her way through a window undetected and began to search through the building. She came to a room guarded by a HYDRA soldier and she used her stealth training to sneak up on him, snapping his neck before dragging his body out of sight. She opened the door a crack and peered inside. It was empty, but there were a lot of blueprints all over the walls. She crept in quietly and began to take pictures of all the blueprints with her phone, sending them straight to Hill and Fury. No doubt these were HYDRA's targets for the rest of the nuclear bombs.
She heard voices outside the door and quickly hid inside a large upright weapons locker, leaving the door open enough to see out. As the voice grew closer and the door opened a little she saw it was Rumlow. "I got eyes on Rumlow, south side of the building, far room." She whispered into her comms, hoping that her team mates would hear her.
As Rumlow entered he was talking on his phone, it sounded as though he was co-ordinating one of the attacks. Natasha listened in, gathering as much Intel as she could. A reply came through her comms from Steve saying he was making his way to her, but it must have been loud enough that Rumlow heard as he immediately spun around to face the locker where she was hidden. He started to walk towards her and rather than be trapped in the locker she pushed the door open, smacking it into his head before following up with a kick to his chest making him stumble backwards.
"Romanoff." He growled as he looked her over.
"Rumlow... always a pleasure." She smiled sarcastically as she rushed towards him with a flying punch, but he quickly blocked it and picked her up throwing her across the room and into a wall. Just then Steve came bursting through the door followed by Bucky and the three men began to fight.
As Natasha was getting back to her feet she heard Clint's voice come over the comms. "I got eyes on Ross, Rumlow must have tipped him off, he heading for the front exit." He said. "Anyone copy?"
"I copy." came Eva's voice, followed by Sharon who announced she was on her way to his location.
"We have the exit covered outside." Pepper spoke up as she stood guard in her suit with Tony by her side.
"Ross isn't getting away this time." Tony added.
Clint took out two mercenaries with his bow while Sam flew nearby and took out two more. Redwing shot the last two just as they saw another team of mercenaries storming towards them.
That was until Eva turned up and got the drop on them and ended up breaking one of the guy's necks while kicking another one in the face. Sharon appeared too and began fighting off the HYDRA soldiers with her electronic fighting staves. Eva then blasted another one into a brick wall.
"Ow." Clint heard her say with a grimace as she rubbed at her left side. The wound had healed nicely but was still sensitive.
Just then Bucky, Steve and Natasha arrived to where the rest of the team was. "Any idea where Tony, Pepper and Rhodey are?" Natasha asked concerned.
"Pepper and I are rounding up some stragglers trying to escape out of the building. Rhodey has the rooftop secured." Came Tony's voice through the comms as more mercenaries converged on the rest of the team and began firing at them.
Eva threw up an energy shield to protect her team mates from the wave of bullets coming at them and the team began to fire back at the soldiers. That was when Eva got knocked on the floor by Yelena then who was glaring at her murderously.
"I knew you weren't loyal from the moment you arrived at the Red Room, mind you Natalia was the same." Yelena spat angrily as she began to throw punches at Eva.
"Yeah well, at least we don't follow a psychotic organisation that's linked to a political party that murdered innocent people simply for being born different." Eva said defiantly as she kicked her in the stomach.
"I forgot you and Natalia are half Jewish freaks! How do you think your mother would feel knowing that you worked for the organisation that murdered half of her family while your father's watched their three uncles and father being shot? I'd say disappointed in you both, poor Malia would be curling in her grave if she knew what her best friend had become." Yelena taunted cruelly and something in Eva snapped then.
"You don't get to say our family and friends names!" Eva shouted enraged at her insulting her family.
"Oh I do and here's why!" Yelena taunted amused and revealed a suicide bomb vest. "If I'm going down Evangeline, then I'm taking you with me! And all your little friends!" Yelena declared triumphantly and she swallowed before hearing the others shouting and screaming for her to get away but she couldn't, there were still people being evacuated. So she did the one thing she could do.
Eva wrapped her purple psionic shield around Yelena and lifted her as far away from the team as she could while using all of her energy to contain the blast as Yelena pressed the switch. Sweat began to show on her brow as she tried to control it, the blast was becoming too big though for her to control.
'I can do this, I can sacrifice myself to save my family. Saving you, Steve, Sharon, Natasha, Rhodey, Clint, Sam, Pepper and Tony. It's worth it.' Eva said mentally to Bucky who was running over towards her then.
"Eva! Eva, don't do this!" Bucky begged out loud.
"I have too! If I move it any further, it's going to blow up the whole building with civilians still trapped here! Get out of here now! Get everyone out of here!" Eva yelled as she struggled to contain the blast.
"Eva no!... I can't lose you!" Bucky said pained as he looked at her with sadness.
"I'll be ok James, please get everyone to safety... please." She begged him.
"Ok." Bucky finally caved. "I'll help clear the building, but then I'm coming right back for you." He told her.
The rest of the team began to clear the building as well as the surrounding area, making sure there were no civilians left in the blast radius if things went south and the bomb went off.
Eva struggled to hold Yelena within her protective shield and she began to think of all the lives that would be lost if she couldn't contain the blast. Steve... Sharon... Sam... Tony... Pepper... Rhodey... Clint... Natasha... James, the faces of her friends, her family flashed before her eyes as she did her best to hold on.
"Give up Evangeline... you and your friends are as good as dead." Yelena voice said inside her head. Eva screamed out as the blast threatened to break through her shield, it was so intense and it was taking everything she had to keep it within her shield.
"Eva!" She heard Bucky yell, she was focused so hard on containing the blast that he sounded like he was miles away. But then he appeared at her side, whispering encouragement in her ear as she battled on. "You can do this Eva... I know you can. We all know you can." Bucky told her. At his words she looked confused, until she turned her head to see the whole Avengers team behind her.
"We're a team, we're family. We've got your back no matter what." Natasha smiled at her as she held tightly onto Clint's hand.
"You can do this Eva, we believe in you." Steve told her.
Eva knew in that moment she had to use every ounce of strength she had left to contain the blast. Her arms were becoming heavy and starting to drop, she didn't know how much longer she could hold it. "Bucky... the serum..." She managed to get out through gritted teeth. Referring to the serum Tony had created to help maintain her energy levels in a fight when her powers were drained. Bucky quickly grabbed a syringe from her utility belt and jabbed it into her leg, injecting the serum into her body.
Her eyes began to glow purple and her powers grew stronger. She straightened her arms out and with one last almighty scream she began to draw her hands together and the team watched on as the ball of flames before them began to shrink. With one last push Eva clapped her hands together before throwing them apart and what was a huge ball off flame disappeared into a cloud of purple energy before Eva began to collapse to the ground in exhaustion.
"Eva!" Bucky yelled as he caught her limp body. Lowering her down, he checked her pulse. It was still very strong.
"Let's get out of here before reinforcements arrive." Tony spoke up.
"I'm right with you on that one." Sam said quickly as the team made their way out of the building. He kept watch over them in the air as they headed to the quinjet where Eva was laid down.
"Nobody gets any ideas about sacrificing themselves, after this." Steve ordered sternly and they all nodded. They knew Eva hadn't had a choice when Yelena detonated the bomb. If Eva had let go of Yelena so close to the medical building, then countless innocent people could have died as a result. But watching a friend, a team mate, and a loved one sacrifice themselves was a difficult thing to do.
"And Eva thinks she isn't a hero or worthy to be an Avenger… that's bullshit. She's worthier than me to be on this team." Bucky said quietly as he brushed Eva's hair away from her face.
"Why didn't she let us help?" Rhodey asked alarmed, Eva had been adamant that they all leave her to handle the explosion on her own and it confused him.
"Because we would have been seriously hurt or even killed, that bomb was made out of nails, shrapnel and pieces of metal. We would have bled to death or lost limbs. So Eva tried to contain it as best she could. It was dangerous, but she knew the risk and she was willing to lay down her life to save all of us and countless civilians. Eva is a real hero." Tony said quietly.
Natasha shook her head but there was a proud look in her eyes at what her cousin had done, she had saved them and many other innocent lives who would have died in that building if Eva hadn't used her shield to contain it.
"What happened to Rumlow?" Clint asked concerned.
"He got electrocuted by one of Natasha's toys and is now in S.H.I.E.L.D custody." Steve informed him as they reached the ranch and landed just as Eva stirred and rubbed her head gingerly then.
"What happened?" She asked looking around at her team mates.
AN: Review and enjoy :)