A/N: I am conveniently bending the rules of where C-130 planes depart from and are stationed for my story. Just a small deviation.
"Where are we Steve?" Bucky's voice was a tightly controlled hiss. Rogers could feel his larynx tightly grasped in Barnes' left hand. His pulse beat strongly in the metallic grip.
"We are taking… you somewhere… safe. Let me go, Buck." Cap rasped out quietly not to panic his friend further and because he couldn't say it any louder.
The metal hand released.
"Thanks." Steve rubbed his neck in the dark and then checked his illuminated watch. They still had two hours of flying time. Exhaustion ground at his eyes like sand every time he blinked. "Sorry I had to do that do you. It was the only way for us to escape New York undetected by Tony."
James sat in the warm darkness they all occupied, and simply breathed as he beat down flashbacks in his mind. Steve was right. He was helping. So was Sam. Keep calm. Eventually Bucky replied, "Sorry I freaked out back there."
"It's ok, pal." Steve reached out where he thought Barnes was sitting in the darkness and patted his head instead of his shoulder.
"I'm not a dog." Barnes commented dryly.
"Oops." Cap chuckled.
"Sleeping beauty awakes?" Sam asked with an audible yawn in the pitch blackeness.
"Yes, but no better looking." Steve joked feeling a few bands of tension release from his neck. Maybe this would turn out ok in the end; he allowed himself a touch of optimism.
"And who got all the girls, punk?" James retorted softly.
Steve was about to answer when a metallic groaning sound was heard. They all froze in their tiny box, listening.
"That was a cargo hatch." Sam whispered, "The one that connects the crew area to the cargo."
"Do you think we're here?" Steve asked quietly.
His question was answered outside the box.
"Check all of these with the peep hole. Flashlights on high beam. Remember, they're dangerous." The voice from one of the crew instructed the other officer. There were no troops, only the flight crew and one other officer hopping a ride to Nebraska.
Heavy footsteps echoed in the belly of the airplane. They could hear the steps getting closer and closer as each cargo container was checked through the tiny peephole doors.
"Got a plan?" Rogers asked Sam. "These are your people."
"No. We'll improvise." Falcon replied, "And you- "he spoke to the general direction of Bucky, "Don't kill anyone. These guys are just doing their job."
"I'll try not to." James responded calmly.
The tiny door slid open and a blinding beam of light filled the space. The airman saw the container was mostly empty except for a shiny object. When she looked at it more closely, it looked like a hand; a shiny metallic hand. "Sir, I think we have something… someone… over here?"
"Coming." The second in command approached letting the pilot know that something had been found. Sam cussed in his head. Their secret was out. Time for evasive action.
The second officer looked through the hole as the communications airman held the light. With a silent nod, the second officer indicated they were going to open the container. The communications officer swallowed nervously, flashlight positioned under her pistol, arms locked at the wrist as the second in command gingerly slipped the latch holding the main door open.
Throwing it open with a bang, the second in command announced, "Come out with your hands up. You are under arrest!"
Bucky leapt from the container like a huge cat, knocking the stunned second commander to the floor with a thud. Cap tackled the communications officer like a football full back, knocking the breath out of her. She looked up at the face of Captain America, eyes wide in surprise but then kicked out from under him and scrambling to her feet. Rogers seemed just as surprised to have tackled a woman. The second officer was unconscious on the floor, punched out by Bucky. "Steve Rogers, you … all of you are under arrest!" she declared, her pistol upright trying to keep eyes on the three men, but particularly Barnes.
"Soldier. Put your weapon down. We're not going to hurt anyone." Sam said gently, palms up.
"You are under arrest according to the Sokovia Accords. Line up over there." She gestured to the vacant wall where troops would normally sit, their harnesses hanging empty.
The three men moved cautiously to the wall. "Steve, you were supposed to take her out." Bucky commented gruffly.
"Well…I … she's a girl!" Steve said shrugging, embarrassed. "I can't hit a woman."
"Peggy sure hit guys." Bucky reminded him crossly. Steve threw him a look.
"Stop the chatter. Sit down. Buckle up." The communications officer barked.
"In fact, she reminds me a lot of Peggy." Barnes whispered to Cap.
Sam caught their eyes and looked up above their heads where parachutes were stored.
"Sir, they are here. All three of them. Paulson is down. Awaiting orders." The communications officer spoke into a chest radio keeping her eye on the three men, gun at the ready and standing just outside of reach.
"Ma'am, you are making a terrible mistake. And sorry if I hurt you just then." Steve said.
"You know, now I can see why Peggy was recruited but you couldn't get in." James quipped.
"Barnes. Sometimes you just make me want to-" Cap began before Falcon cut him off.
"They're putting us down. We only have a a few seconds before we get an F-16 escort." Sam hissed at the two friends.
"Be quiet." she ordered firmly. She then appeared to hear something in her ear bud as the plane began to tilt violently.
Taking that moment of distraction, Sam leaped up and kicked the gun out of her hand and then wrestling her to the ground. "Sorry, soldier. But you have the wrong guys."
"Traitor!" she spat as he tied her hands with cargo rope.
"I've been called worse." he smiled and then put her in the troop seats, buckling her in and putting an oxygen mask on her face as the plan tipped and yawed.
Steve had grabbed the second officer and put him in the seat restraints and oxygen mask as well. Fighting the violent movements of the plane as it descended, they grabbed the parachutes and strapped them on trying not to stumble into each other.
Wilson checked a gauge on the cargo door control panel noting the altitude: 18,000 ft and rapidly descending. "On my mark, jump. Ok? Pull the cord in 60 seconds."
Flipping a switch with a few buttons, the cargo hatch began to open like a giant gaping mouth. Wind filled the space with roaring sound as the early morning sun poured in like liquid gold. Suddenly the plane began to climb precipitously. Sam knew what they were doing- trying to reach an unsafe altitude to skydive from to keep them in the plane.
"GO! GO! GO!" Sam yelled into the wind. He estimated with the climb they were hovering in the 20K range. Air was too thin… but what did they have to lose?
The three men practically fell out of the plane as it banked upward.
Searingly cold wind hit their faces at the altitude. Steve looked around through squinted eyes to locate Bucky and Sam. Barnes was fine but Sam hung loose in his harness. The thin air must have made him lose consciousness since he was not imbued with Super Soldier Serum.
"I do what he does, just slower." Cap recalled the comment Wilson had made.
Diving head first, Rogers rocketed down and across the sky to the unconscious Wilson and grabbed onto his harness. Bucky deployed his chute and shot upward with the resistance. Steve oriented Falcon in his grip and then pulled his chute, the canopy struggling to stop the two men instead of the one it was designed for. The cords broke. They began free fall again.
Trying not to panic, Rogers turned Wilson around into a hug position as the earth streaked towards them and pulled the cord on Sam's chute. The stop force was neck snapping and their fall brief.
Crashing into the ground the two men tumbled for a short distance in the corn field as the canopy gently blanketed them in light grey nylon.
Barnes alighted a few yards away, stripping his pack, he sprinted to his companions, worried what he'd find.
Sam's eyes opened to see himself laid out at Steve's side, feeling like he had been hit by a truck. Rogers stirred about the same time, "Watch out, Bucky will get jealous."
"Ha ha, Cap." Wilson sat up gingerly pushing the parachute away from his face, trying to find the edge without being tangled up in the cords. "Thanks."
"What are friends for?" Steve replied also sitting up, pushing the soft grey material away.
Barnes stripped the last of the parachute away from the two men and frowned at both of them, "Who the hell makes these things these days?"
"The lowest bidder." Sam grimaced as he stood up gingerly from the ground pleased to find only bumps and bruises.
"And two, where the hell are we?" James growled looking around in the corn field.
"Not in Kansas any more, Toto." Wilson commented also looking around.
"I understood that reference." Cap said. The other two men gave him a look, "What?"
"Let's find out our next move." Wilson said and began to wrap up the chutes as not to attract attention from the air. The other two men joined in.