It Takes Seconds to Break

by Mooka333

They have their covers broken, betrayed from within, and are left to wonder who they can trust. When an old threat appears, Winnie and Bucky turn to an old ally for help in piecing together the scattered bits of the puzzle and it becomes clear just how fragile a thing trust really is. Part Three in a series of fics, following "Until the End" & "Remember, Remember". Bucky/OC

2. Chapter 2 - The Playground

Chapter Two – The Playground

Avengers Assemble, Winnie though wryly, glancing to her right, taking in the sight of Black Widow fussing with her belt, the Winter Soldier yawning behind his metal hand, and the Falcon joking with Steve. She pulled at the neck of her blue jacket, trying to adjust to the feel of it all over again. The five of them were standing outside of the dam, waiting for the agent Fury said he had called to come pick them up.

Everyone else had remained inside and only Steve stood waiting with them outside, dressed like a civilian. When they heard the loud noise of an approaching aircraft, Bucky took a small step towards her and she turned to look up at him, giving him a tight-lipped smile. She was very proud of him, for dressing as the Winter Soldier, even if the effect of him in the gear was rather unsettling at first. Steve and Natasha had each taken an unconscious step back from him when she and he had appeared in the open area, fully dressed in their gear.

"Jesus, man," Clint had said from the computers, climbing to his feet and walking over to Natasha's side, putting a hand to her arm, a small gesture of comfort that didn't go unnoticed by Winnie, "You look utterly terrifying."

"Don't mince words, or anything Clint," Winnie had mumbled. Bucky had only swallowed and then glowered at Clint. Sam, after casting wary looks at Bucky, had stepped towards Winnie, a grin growing on his face as he gestured at her own uniform. "That's pretty cool, Win," he said lightly, smiling with one side of his mouth. Winnie couldn't keep the small smile from her own face and nodded at him.

"Nomad," Sam added, eyeing her up and down, "Only saw this on TV until now." Winnie had glanced over to Steve, who was staring at her steadily. "Let's go outside," he'd told them all.

Now, as the obviously SHIELD-owned jet landed in the open gravelled space in front of the dam, Steve moved to stand in front of the four of them. "You're going to find out where the leak occurred, and that's it," he told them firmly, "Nothing more, nothing less: find the leak and fix it, then come back – you aren't SHIELD, not anymore." Bucky had cleared his throat and Steve had smirked, continuing with, "Not that all of you were before, but you get my point."

Winnie could feel her hair settle about her head when the jet finally shut down and they watched as the door opened and Agent May climbed out. Winnie took several involuntarily steps towards her former instructor, a grin forming on her face.

"Agent May!" She greeted the woman delightedly. For her part May shot her a firm-eyed smirk and nodded. "Nomad," she responded. Winnie rolled her eyes, the familiar ripple of her hated code name flowing through her. "You're our escort?" Natasha asked, stepping to Winnie's side, "Should've known you'd still be SHIELD."

One of Agent's Mays eyebrows cocked up slightly and she nodded, before her features flickered in mild shock at the sight of Bucky, who strode forward to stand next to Winnie. "It's true then," May deadpanned, her gaze dragging slowly from his heavily booted feet, up his legs and to the metal arm.

"Yeah, but he's on our side now," Sam commented easily, as he and Steve stepped forward. "Captain Rogers," May said stiffly, standing to attention. Steve nodded at her. "Agent May, glad to see you made it through," he told her. She nodded and waved a hand back at the jet. "We need to leave, immediately," she told them, "Can't stay on the ground for long and don't want to attract attention to this place."

Steve turned to them and eyed each of them in turn. "Remember, there and back," he ordered them. Sam nodded and moved up the stairs swiftly, Bucky following on his heels. Natasha eyed Steve critically. "Hold it together here," she said softly, as Agent May boarded the jet as well. Steve smirked. "Always do," he responded. Natasha glanced back at Winnie and then climbed aboard.

Winnie gave Steve a small smile as she made to board the plane and he stopped her, a hand grasping her upper arm. "Winnie," he said quietly, turning her around, "Hold it together out there." She glared at him and pulled her arm from his grip. "What's that mean?" She hissed in irritation. Steve rolled his eyes.

"You know exactly what I mean," he chided her, "After yesterday… Winnie, SHIELD isn't our enemy, we don't play on the same team anymore, but we're all on the same side." She eyed him critically and tilted her head to one side. "What side is that, Steve?" She asked him sharply.

"The right one," he responded immediately, "The one that protects."

"And if that side can't protect us?" She asked him, her voice low. Steve took in a deep breath. "They aren't the enemy," he urged her, "An individual there might be, but SHIELD isn't, May isn't." Winnie grimaced and looked away. "I hear what you're saying, don't worry," she reassured him, before her voice hardened and she continued, "But don't think for a second that I won't do absolutely anything to get the four of us out safely, if needed."

Steve regarded her carefully and nodded. "This should be easy," he murmured and she put a gloved hand on his arm, squeezing slightly. "It should be, but I just can't trust SHIELD, Steve, they had their chance, and they blew it," she told him carefully.

"Winnie, the mission is –" Steve began, his voice growing heated before Winnie straightened her spine and glared at him. "This is no mission," she growled, "This is self-preservation." With that she spun away from him and boarded the jet, pressing the panel to close the door behind herself. She took a seat next to Bucky, strapping herself in. As the jet took off, Winnie glanced out the window and saw Steve still standing there, a hand shielding his eyes from the dust kicked up. He looked worried and slightly angry.

"Uspokoit'sya," Bucky told her softly in Russian, a phrase she recognized as 'calm down'. She smiled over at him and the corner of his mouth twitched up briefly in response. Natasha snorted across from them and Winnie rolled her eyes at the woman.

"What can we expect?" Winnie asked loudly, towards the cockpit area where May sat. "What do you mean?" May responded calmly, "You can expect the usual, on a smaller scale." Winnie took in a deep breath. "How much did Fury tell you?" Natasha said.

"How much did Fury tell you?" May shot back. Bucky shifted in irritation next to her. She put a hand on his knee and squeezed, urging him to calm himself down. She knew that despite his prior status as the Winter Soldier, as a Hydra asset, he had no patience for things like this – subterfuge, secrets, and lies; none of this sat well with his straight forward, often blunt nature.

"You betrayed us," Bucky responded, his voice hard. "I did nothing," May said to him, glancing over her shoulder and regarding him blankly. "Don't play dumb," Bucky growled, "You know what I mean – a breach occurred and it was through your people, your organization." May nodded briefly and pressed at a few buttons.

"I know," she answered simply and Natasha's gaze twitched across the aisle, her eyes narrowing. "You know it?" The Black Widow asked archly, "What have you done about it?"

"We're still working on that," May said in response, "It's an ongoing issue, among other things." Other things? Winnie thought, not liking the sound of that. She caught Sam's eye across the way and wondered if he felt as out of his depth as she did. "You will speak to the director when we arrive, he'll explain this all to you; it's not my place or my call," Agent May told them all, her tone flat.

Winnie settled back in her seat, reaching up to readjust her goggles where they sat on top of her head. Natasha was regarding her calmly, and then she turned to Bucky suddenly and began to speak to him in Russian, her tones instructive and firm. Winnie glanced over to Sam again and he just shrugged.

"Don't look at me, I took Spanish in high school," he told her. She smiled a little and then looked over to Bucky as he replied to Natasha, also in Russian. Their conversation carried on for a few more moments until he nodded and turned to Winnie, his features set.

She knew they were discussing something that they didn't want Agent May to know, and everyone on the jet was aware of that fact, including May. Bucky leaned towards her and put his mouth directly to her ear, speaking so quietly that she had to strain and focus hard over the rumbling of the aircraft to hear him.

"Natasha thinks we need a display of control, power," Bucky's breath was warm inside her ear and she repressed the urge to shiver, "We don't separate for any reason." Winnie nodded without looking over at him and he continued, "You can provide us with the show of force we need." Winnie turned then, his face very close to hers, and she regarded his eyes, looking back and forth. She nodded again and he leaned closer, speaking into her ear again.

"If anything goes sideways, Natasha says she will signal us to leave and you will provide the exit if we are unable to access it," he told her, "No one is to touch you for any reason, she thinks they may attempt to stun or tranquilize you if things go badly, and she wants to ensure you stay alert and with us." Winnie swallowed, her eyes moving to Natasha. The Black Widow regarded her with hard eyes, and Winnie held the electrifying gaze for a long moment.

"I will," she said aloud. Natasha nodded and turned to Sam, grabbing his arm and yanking him towards herself, pressing her mouth to his ear. Sam looked startled and then uncomfortable before his features locked down and he started nodding.

"If you're all done sharing secrets, we're almost there," May said drily, the entire exchange not lost on her.

"Good," Bucky said flatly.

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It was an airplane hangar like anywhere else, but on their approach he'd noted that the facility itself was well concealed, well hidden – it looked like an aging metal structure barely clinging to use. Appropriate, Bucky thought, for an organization doing the same. He was concerned about their means of exit in such a facility, when they finally exited the jet. The outside looked dingy and falling apart, but the inside was reinforced, guarded, protected and shielded.

He glanced over at Winnie who was standing alert and erect at his side, her goggles obscuring his view of her eyes and the top half of her face. She was turning her head minutely back and forth, taking it all in, and he noticed her fists slowly clenching and unclenching, as she likely tested the durability and movability of the hangar around them. Natasha stood close to Winnie's other side, her eyes similarly cutting about the room, her stance casual. He knew better, he'd seen footage of her battling in New York, even battling himself in DC; she was lethal even at rest.

He noted Sam stepping in behind Winnie, with approval, the three of them trying not to make her stand out, but also preventing her from standing alone. They were each aware that if things went badly, Winnie would be their only way out, their only means of escape. Bucky watched as Agent May greeted a pair of men who approached them.

"This is Agent Antoine Triplett and…" Agent May introduced the stern looking black man, who nodded officially at them, and then held her hand out to the second man and paused, clearly uncertain how to introduce the man. The second took it upon himself, stepping forward and extending a hand to Natasha.

"Lance Hunter, call me Hunter" he said amiably, "Not an agent." Natasha stared down at his hand and then extended hers like she was royalty. This amused Bucky, even as Hunter's face twisted mildly at the lukewarm reception from Natasha. Agent May stood stone faced and gestured at the rest of them.

"This is –" She began, before Sam cut her off. "Black Widow," he said, gesturing at Natasha. "Nomad," he continued pointing at Winnie, and then he waved a hand at Bucky, his expression flickering briefly with hesitation. "And the uh…" Sam trailed off, clearly not certain if he should be speaking.

"The Winter Soldier," Winnie said sharply. She barely moved her head as she looked back and forth between the two new arrivals. Bucky noticed that she seemed repeatedly drawn to Agent Tripplet.

"Why do I know you Agent Triplett?" She finally asked after a tense moment of silence. The Agent blinked and straightened his spine, regarding her curiously. "I couldn't say," he responded firmly, even as his eyes glanced over to Bucky again and again. There was recognition there and it made Bucky uncomfortable because it wasn't the frightened tense recognition of someone seeing the Winter Soldier. Did he know Bucky Barnes? How is that possible?

Winnie stepped closer to Agent Tripplet and pulled her goggles up to rest on top of her head. Tripplet's eyes widened when he saw her face. "You," he said, his tone startled, "You're Winnie Johnson." She blinked at him and then stiffened. "I know why you look so familiar," she said softly, taking another step towards him, "You're related somehow, to Gabe Jones, aren't you?"

Bucky took a step forward, involuntarily, at the mention of the Howling Commando's name, a name he had heard Winnie and Steve say repeatedly as they watched old promos and looked at old pictures. Bucky clearly remembered the name from the Smithsonian. The resemblance was uncanny.

Tripplet nodded at Winnie's words. "He was my grandfather," he told her, before swinging his eyes to Bucky. "And you," the man continued on in a fairly disbelieving voice, "You're –" Bucky took another step forward, this one firm and commanding.

"I am not who you think I am," Bucky told the man in a blank voice. Tripplet shook his head and looked back to Winnie. "I never thought I'd get to meet you," Tripplet finally said, "You're supposed to be dead."

"A lot of people are, that seems to be a running theme these days," Winnie replied, and Hunter suddenly started laughing. "You can say that again," the man said in a light tone, before grunting when Agent May smacked him in the side with casual violence.

"Well, this has all been very fascinating," Natasha said drily, "But unless either of you is the new director of SHIELD, it's time for us to go see him." Agent May seemed to remember herself and nodded at Agent Tripplet. "Take them to him," she said flatly, receiving a curt nod in return. Bucky, Natasha, and Sam closed rank around Winnie again as they followed Agent Tripplet and Hunter.

As they walked towards the first door, Winnie pulled down her goggles again and the door flew open in front of them on its own. Both of their escorts flinched hard at it, and Agent Tripplet cast a wary glance back at Winnie. She kept her face flat and Bucky again felt inner amusement. As they walked down the halls, any people they came across were firmly pulled flat against the walls by their clothing, most of them letting out worried squawks of dismay.

He was impressed with her, impressed with her control, and the subtle display of power and command she was letting ripple out around them. When they came to a stop outside an office door at the back of the facility, Agent Tripplet turned to look at them but Winnie stepped abruptly past him, throwing open the door swiftly and stepping into the office. Bucky shoved past their escorts to follow her and ran into her, knocking her a step forward when she suddenly stopped stock still.

"Hi, Winnie," the pleasant faced man behind the desk said, turning to see them. Bucky glanced down at Winnie's face and saw her slack-jawed and stunned, and even though the goggles covered her eyes, he knew she was seeing something she hadn't expected. Winnie's mouthed opened and closed as she tried to speak and Natasha barged into the room behind them, shoving Bucky out of the way and then jerking to a halt herself. She had no problem finding words.

"Coulson? You're supposed to be dead."

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"Does nobody die anymore?" Winnie said, her voice still disbelieving. Coulson smiled at her briefly, raising an eyebrow as he did. Winnie noticed he seemed perfectly calm, which she thought was out of place, considering the visitors he had right now.

"Please, all of you, take a seat," Coulson said, gesturing at the conference table and seats at one end of his large office. Winnie gingerly lowered herself into an office chair, noting Natasha and Bucky taking seats on either side of her, their postures so tense they hardly looked capable of the movement. Sam didn't sit, he leaned against the wall nearest to the door, casually lounging, though Winnie knew the decision to do so was anything but casual.

"I watched Loki stab you," Winnie said flatly when Coulson took a seat across the table from them.

"I heard Fury call it," Natasha added, her tone not letting on to what might be in her head.

"I did die," Coulson responded easily, "But Fury had me… well, he had me brought back with some extreme measures that we are still dealing with now." Winnie didn't know what to think so she just nodded. Bucky shifted next to her, raising his metal arm up to rest on the table. It landed heavily and proceeded to make a series of clicking and slight buzzing noises. Coulson's eyes were drawn to it and then up to the angry glare on Bucky's face.

"Hydra caught up to us, found us, because of you," Bucky said bluntly and tersely, his metal hand curling into a fist, "It's been almost a year since SHIELD fell, and we have hidden away with no problems, until somebody made the mistake of sharing intel with you and your shoddy organization." Winnie didn't turn to look at Bucky, even though she thought he was perhaps approaching this a little more aggressively than needed.

"We did have a breach," Coulson admitted firmly, "One of my own, Agent Grant Ward, someone I trusted, was Hydra – we had him in captivity here with us, and then we… traded him, to a member of the government, and he escaped in their hands. He killed a lot of people. Somehow he made his way back to Hydra."

"With information about myself and Bucky," Winnie murmured, and Coulson looked to her and nodded. "I had one conversation with Fury about the two of you, about the fact that Nomad was alive, and the Winter Soldier was with her, and was now an ally," Coulson explained, "My error was having this conversation on my line that saves conversations for use in the future. Somehow after Ward escaped, he got his hands on some files, some information, that recording including – we are still working to correct that breach, to determine how much more he knew."

"You knew he had sensitive information about an Avenger and did nothing to warn any of us?" Natasha asked in dry disbelief, as if his stupidity was too much for her, "SHIELD is nothing, Coulson, what little you have running underground here is nothing more than a death rattle – the Avengers are real, very real, and you of all people should have known to warn us."

Coulson shook his head, even as Winnie was nodding hers; every word out of Natasha's mouth was true. "Do you realize the magnitude of what would happen if Hydra were to get their hands on her?" Bucky asked harshly, "We still don't know the extent of her abilities, but Hydra was fairly certain about all that she could be capable of, and none of it is anything that we want twisted and turned around back onto us."

Winnie shifted uncomfortably, not enjoying the discussion about what an utter nightmare she would be on the enemy's side. Coulson nodded. "I do understand, but I couldn't just pick up a phone and give Stark a call, or shoot Captain Rogers an email," Coulson replied, "I'm still dead, the majority of the world thinks I'm dead, and that is how it remains for now – I informed Fury that we had a potential breach, and that was the end of it – we are still working on retrieving Ward, bringing him back into custody, as well as bringing down the branch of Hydra he is working with."

"Who?" Natasha asked sharply, and Coulson got up, walked to his desk, and grabbed a thick file, dropping it down on the table. Winnie got to her feet and tore the goggles from her head, thumping them down to the table as she saw the thick, aged file.

"SSR," she breathed, running a hand over the emblem on the outside of the file. She pulled the file closer to herself and remained standing. There was a slip of paper clipped to the outside of the file that read: "Whitehall – modern alias?" Her fingers clasped around the edge of the front cover of the file, and she glanced up to Coulson.

"He's a sick bastard," Coulson said simply, "Somehow, Whitehall has managed to defy aging, and we don't know how. And he needs to be stopped." His eyes evaluated her before shooting over to Bucky briefly. Winnie nodded and flipped open the cover of the file. The picture of the man inside brought the defensive barriers in her mind down into a rubbled ruin. All her work to bury the memories, the horrors of the things that happened to her when Hydra first got their hands on her, over 70 years prior, was turned to ash in a second when she saw his cold face looking back at her.

Winnie dropped the edge of the file folder and backed up, her face feeling cold and her lips gone numb. She began to shake her head in denial, and backed up further, nearly tripping over her chair as she made to get away from his face. Reinhardt, Reinhardt, Reinhardt. Memories of pain and fear came back to her. Helpless entrapment. A craving for death. The man who destroyed her, and turned her into something inhuman, the man who ruined her. The man who haunted her worst nightmares with his sick smile, even now.

"Discovery requires experimentation," she whispered in a rasp, hardly even aware she had done so, jerking away when Bucky reached for her, his face twisted in sudden worried concern.

"You knew him?" Coulson asked in worry, climbing to his feet and glancing around as the room began to shake. Winnie felt a part of her mind, the rational part that was screaming at her to sit down and get control of herself, being shoved further and further back, while the dark part of her mind, where her nightmares and horrible memories lived, lit up and washed over everything else.

"Reinhardt," she managed to say out loud, causing Natasha to jerk around in her seat to face her in complete horror. "Winnie, you need to be calm, immediately," Natasha said in heavy warning, climbing to her feet and approaching Winnie, "Steve told me, I know, I understand; but you must be calm." Things began to crack around them and Winnie could feel the dizzy loss of control inside her. She glanced to Bucky's eyes and saw the torment for her in them; Steve had obviously told him about what Reinhardt had done to her too.

They don't know it all, they can't, I couldn't say it, couldn't tell them everything. That hadn't stopped doctors, Tony, and even her sleeping self to divulge enough information to help Steve put together a lot of it. Her scars told a story, her mumbles and screams in the night, her reactions to certain words or objects. If Natasha and Bucky were both reacting this way now, Winnie knew that Steve had put together a fairly good picture of it, of her time with Hydra, and he had told them. They should be worried.

The memories, the fear, were overwhelming, and just before she fully submitted what was left of her rational mind to them, Natasha lunged at her, wrapping an arm around Winnie's neck as if to hug her. Natasha's face was right next to hers and she whispered, "Sorry," in Winnie's ear, before Winnie felt something small pierce the skin at the base of her throat and a warm sensation flowed heavily through her.

Distantly she heard Bucky yelling, and then she was sinking, Natasha's arms around her as she was lowered gently to the floor, and then Winnie was greeted with a wall of darkness which pushed her fear away and left her with nothing.

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She was lucky to be alive. Bucky glared again at the Black Widow, straining to keep from killing her. Coulson and Sam had each held guns to him after Natasha stuck Winnie with a powerful sedative and he'd lunged at the redhead, grabbing her neck and throwing her off Winnie, halfway across the room.

He'd pinned her by her slender neck to the wall and her hard eyes had moved back and forth between his own. "Barnes," the woman had said in a flat, through slightly strained voice, "I had to, you know I did." He'd clenched his teeth harder together, and fought every instinct that said to kill her.

"Had to?" He'd snarled in Russian. She didn't make a move against him, and even though he could feel a gun pressed into the back of his head, he didn't release her.

"She was going to lose control," Natasha responded in the same language, "We aren't among friends here, that kind of reaction from her would have endangered us all." Bucky had strained against the urge to snap her neck, and took a deep breath, allowing her words to filter through his mind.

"Steve told me to bring the sedative, in case we needed it," the Widow continued, and Bucky released her abruptly. "You lie," he growled in a low voice, "He would never suggest this." She shook her head and glanced over his shoulder to the men behind him, shaking her head minutely. The gun left the back of his head and she looked back to his eyes.

"To save her life? He would, and you know it," she shot back, "If we let her break down and destroy this place around us, they would have no choice but to put her down, and we would all suffer in the attempt to prevent that."

Bucky took several deep breaths and turned from her, moving back to Winnie and bending to scoop her up off the ground. Her head lolled back on his arm when he lifted her and he saw the small red mark on her neck from where Natasha had stuck her with the sedative. He turned back to a now wary Coulson, and watched Sam move to Natasha's side, putting a hand on her arm and asking if she was fine.

"Does someone care to explain what that was all about?" Coulson asked, and Bucky clenched his teeth, feeling his lips pull together angrily. "She needs to recover, it will only last for a little while," Natasha said instead, "Take us somewhere she can rest and I will explain some of this." Coulson seemed to detect the order beneath her words and nodded. They left the room, pushing past the startled people gathered outside and Bucky tried to ignore the stares he was getting walking down the hall with an unconscious Nomad in his arms.

Coulson led them into what looked like a lounge and the people who were sitting around inside it left after Coulson waved a hand at them. Bucky carried her over to a couch and lay her down on it, crouching on the floor next to her, resting his metal hand on her brow, knowing the cool feeling of it might be better than the warmth of his hand. Behind him, he could hear Natasha briefly and succinctly explaining Reinhardt.

Coulson apparently knew all about Winnie being snatched from SSR protection, about being experimented on with the serum by Zola and Schmidt, but it was clear he had no idea about what came afterwards; the endless months of tests, then moving to a new facility when the war was over and being experimented on. Reinhardt's belief that 'discovery requires experimentation', the scars that Winnie bore as evidence of the things he did, the mental trauma that they all knew she suffered as a result of it, but that Winnie kept hidden and unspoken of most of the time.

"You plan to kill this Whitehall," Bucky finally spoke up, breaking into Coulson's worried response. The director looked over at his and raised one eyebrow. "We plan to stop him, and his people, in everything that they are doing," Coulson answered. Bucky climbed to his feet and stalked over to Coulson slowly, letting his anger show in every movement. The man didn't respond, though Bucky knew the sight of the Winter Soldier striding angrily towards you would normally be enough to make almost anyone cower.

This man does not scare easily, Bucky noted, feeling something like respect for him. "He must die," Bucky said flatly, "He has the information from this Ward, he clearly intends to take her back into his custody; his work with her is not done." Bucky took a step closer and narrowed his eyes.

"He needs to die," Bucky growled, "There is no saving Hydra, there is no reforming them – they must die." Coulson narrowed his eyes and glanced over to Natasha and then Sam. Bucky was distantly pleased, that neither of them looked in disagreement with him.

"Coulson, you know he's right," Natasha added in a flat, almost soothing voice, "We can't keep letting Hydra get away. The time has come for SHIELD to end them – they can't be saved."

"Only stopped," Sam said faintly from behind them, Bucky turned back to look at him for a moment and caught the strained smile Sam threw his way.

"Are you planning on going after them?" Bucky asked and Coulson glared at him. "I'm sending a team after them because they have something they shouldn't and we have to get it back into SHIELDs custody," the director explained.

"He takes suggestion from you better than from me," Bucky said shortly to Natasha in Russian, without looking over at her, before he abruptly turned and strode back over to Winnie, crouching by her head once again. "I think you could use our help with this," Natasha said in her typical smooth way, speaking to Coulson, "I think we have as much right to end the Hydra threat that Whitehall, or Reinhardt, represents as you do, seeing how he is targeting an Avenger."

"We don't need your help," he said shortly. Bucky turned and saw Natasha square her shoulders, her brow tightening in a way that gave Coulson definite pause. "Like I said, he's targeted an Avenger; the call is no longer yours to make, don't make me call the rest of them in," Natasha delivered blankly.

"You're really going to threaten me with the Avenger's?" Coulson asked her in disbelief, and Natasha raised an eyebrow, and didn't reply, just regarded him seriously. There was a long tense moment and then Coulson waved a hand at Winnie. "How long until she's awake, and how do we know she won't fall apart again?" Coulson asked quickly.

Bucky climbed to his feet and took a step towards the man. "Her heart rate and breathing are already picking back up, she will be awake in a matter of minutes," Bucky explained shortly, "Anything more is not your concern." Glaring, Bucky took another step towards the man.

"You need to go assemble your team, and we'll be out to the hangar shortly to meet you," Bucky told Coulson in an even voice. Coulson stared at him for a long moment and finally shook his head minutely. "You really are him, aren't you?" Coulson said, slight wonderment in his voice, "It's not always easy to tell, especially from a distance, but you really are him." Coulson glanced back at Winnie and then met Bucky's eyes again.

"All of it was true, wasn't it? Back in the 40s? None of it was staged? You and she?" Coulson asked, his eyes narrowed, "It was, and memory lapse or not, it's clear there is something still between the two of you. You need to be clear on what it is we are trying to accomplish here, not revenge for her, but putting an end to a real threat."

Natasha stepped forward then. "Director Coulson," she said in a flat, official voice, "I can assure you that there is nothing between Nomad and myself, or Nomad and the Falcon." She took another step towards him. "I can assure you that the threat we want to end is a very real one, and no amount of emotion would get in the way of that."

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Winnie blinked awake and felt remarkably calm. Her eyes focused on Bucky, crouched next to her head, before turning her gaze to Natasha, who was sitting on the arm of the couch by her feet. Natasha was filing her nails. This struck Winnie as incredibly odd and she tried to sit up in a hurry. Bucky put his arm to her shoulder to stop her and Winnie looked over at him.

"How bad is it?" She asked, and Bucky shook his head, helping her sit up. "Not at all," he told her. A cup of water was suddenly in front of her, and she turned to see Sam offering it. "Thanks," she said quietly and Sam nodded, perching on the back of the couch.

"You didn't really break anything," Sam told her, "Just rattled the walls, you know? Think you scared the shit outta some of these people, which isn't really a bad thing." Winnie stared at him and then moved her eyes to Natasha. "You tranquilized me," she told the red head flatly, "After all the talk on the plane about you being worried these people would try to, you were the one who tranq'd me."

One of Natasha's eyebrows flickered up for a moment while she nodded, not looking away from her nail file. "Yes I did," she replied calmly. Bucky made a noise of irritation in his throat and climbed to his feet. He extended a hand to Winnie and she took it, standing up a little wobbly. "Why?" Winnie asked, before draining the rest of the water in her cup and putting the cup down on a table.

"You know why," Natasha replied, "You were snapping Winnie, not losing your temper, but about to lose your mind." Winnie opened her mouth to reply, but stopped herself, thinking about it. She felt a lot clearer headed now, thinking about Reinhardt. She knew that seeing his face again, having the memories crash down around her like a tidal wave had done something bad to her, made her lose her grip on reality.

What did Tony call it that time? PTSD? Winnie remembered Tony saying she and Steve likely suffered from varying degrees of post-traumatic stress, Winnie especially, given the things that had been done to her while she was a Hydra prisoner. Winnie straightened her shoulders a little, and lifted her chin, looking towards Natasha and holding the woman's bright gaze.

"Thank you," Winnie finally said, "Thanks for keeping me from doing something I'd regret." Natasha tried not to look surprised and simply nodded in return. Winnie felt a hand on her arm and turned to Bucky, who was watching her carefully. "We are going with them, going after Reinhardt, going after Hydra," Bucky told her firmly, squeezing her arm lightly in his hand, "You don't have to do this if you don't want to, if you don't think you can handle it."

Winnie pulled away from him and shook her head. "Of course I'm going," she replied simply, her mind's eye floating to a dark image of herself slowly strangling Reinhardt to death, "I have a debt to repay."

"Then we need to go," Natasha ordered them, marching them towards the door. She pulled it open and glared at the agents waiting outside of it for them. Sam and Winnie followed her and Bucky took up the rear. Natasha led them through the halls, following the agents, and Sam handed Winnie her goggles.

"I grabbed these for you," he told her in a low voice. Winnie smiled at him and pulled them on, ensuring that they were flickered on above her face. "Thanks," she murmured. In the hangar, Natasha spoke briefly with Agent May, before turning to back to them.

"Coulson and some of his team took the jet, to go after something," Natasha delivered this news in a low voice. Winnie felt her brow tighten and took a step towards them. "What? How are we supposed to -?" Winnie began heatedly, but Natasha jerked a thumb at the huge plane on the other side of the hangar. "They call it the Bus, we'll be going with May and a few others in that, to locate someone who knows exactly where Reinhardt is," Natasha said. Winnie raised an eyebrow at the giant aircraft.

"Not real discreet, is it?" Sam said in a low voice. Bucky grunted what may have been a laugh and Winnie glanced over at him. "Let's go," he told her, "How we get there doesn't matter." She held his gaze for a moment longer and realized that he was eager to go. As they marched aboard the plane, and took their seats, buckling in for takeoff, Winnie thought about his eagerness.

She thought a large part of it was for herself, that Bucky wanted Reinhardt to pay for the things he'd done to Winnie. But what about the things Hydra did to Bucky? She knew revenge was on a constant simmering boil in the back of his mind. If he could, Bucky would have slaughtered every last member of Hydra, but he hadn't gone off on a half-cocked revenge-mission. She knew he was too smart for that, that there was too much soldier, too much of the Soldier, left inside of him to let him do anything so reckless.

No, she knew he would prefer to bide his time, take the opportunities as they presented themselves and see Hydra fall. There was no point in seeking revenge if you were to die in the process; at least that's what Winnie felt. She had too much to live for, he had too much to live for now – it wasn't an option to just race off and take down Hydra alone.

Winnie examined his face next to her, through her goggles. She could read his heat signature, his vital signs; his heart rate was accelerated, he was mildly flushed, and his brain was going a mile a minute – Bucky was excited. She wanted to be worried, but she felt her own excitement zipping through her veins. She wanted to catch Hydra, she wanted to confront them, to be surrounded by them. She even wanted them to think that they'd won, only to make their fall sweeter.

A glance over at Natasha, at the smug, cat-like satisfaction on her face, and over at Sam's hard-faced determination, told Winnie all she needed to know about this mission. Their little four man team wanted this. All four of them had a score to settle with Hydra, and now, fate and time seemed to be providing them the perfect opportunity to do it.