Chapter 23. Uncovered
Avengers Compound
As Bucky's voice came through the speaker there was a swelling of suppressed excitement that spread throughout almost everyone assembled. Fury was one of two exceptions, keeping his usual stern demeanour. Winter, who was there, was also less than demonstrative about the accomplishment as it signalled the countdown to the end of his existence as it now was. Still, he had committed to bringing Barnes home and he wasn't about to stray from that purpose. It was bittersweet watching Noelle as she spoke with her husband for the first time in three months. Even though it was a brief conversation he could tell the effect it had on her, as she buried her face into Sam's shoulder when her time with Barnes was over. Silently, Winter left the command centre and went to an alcove that looked out over the lake. He was still there when Sam found him some time later.
"You, okay?" he asked.
"I am pleased that communication has been established with the vibranium universe," replied Winter, still looking out the window. "Is Noelle alright?"
"A little emotional but she'll have time every day with him. I guess time is different there. The individual that Bucky called Steve says they're in a perpetual state of awareness. They can impose a sleep function onto Bucky, which is why you haven't felt him in a while. They also developed a barrier that kept both of your thoughts to yourselves, wanting to spare both of you some of the more emotional outbursts."
That made sense. It had puzzled many when the visions and emotions stopped.
"I spoke to the therapist about my request. She said I am already grieving the change in my existence. In fact, she saw my wishing to be removed or regressed as a form of bargaining. I'm trying to spare myself the pain of being relegated to the background again by controlling my destiny. As if that was ever an option."
"Yeah." Sam breathed out then he placed his hand on Winter's shoulder. "I kind of thought that was part of it. Depression is supposed to be the next stage in the grief cycle, although I think you've been experiencing that at the same time, maybe even before you began bargaining, when you realized that Noelle wouldn't ever be for you what she is for Bucky."
A sad smile was Winter's answer as he resumed looking outside.
"Captain Wilson, Winter," said Friday, her voice coming from the speaker over them. "Director Fury wishes to see both of you in his office."
With a puzzled look at each other the two men went there, walking in on Fury's nod from where he sat at his desk. He turned his computer monitor towards both of them. On the screen was live coverage of an incident involving three hostages being held by a suicidal individual. He was threatening to blow himself up, killing the hostages, if anyone came near. The location, in the basement of an office building, was full of security cameras on a dedicated power line. The man had hacked into it and was able to see anyone coming for him. He had also placed explosives throughout the building and was threatening to blow it up as well.
"What does he want?" asked Sam.
"Hasn't said," replied Fury. "We've identified him as Greg Sheffield, a former employee of a tech company located in the office building. He was fired two weeks ago for just cause, although it has been redacted from his record. Sheffield didn't even work at that location. He was located in a satellite office. There's speculation this is payback as the three hostages are his former supervisor, a co-worker who was promoted, and the head of HR."
Fury informed them that Sheffield arrived at the building to turn in a company owned external hard drive in order to get his final paycheque. After going through the security checkpoint, he went to the men's room, then came out dressed in tactical gear, carrying an automatic rifle and began systematically clearing the building, creating a chaotic situation as panicking people raced outside. He then went straight to the office where the three people who became his hostages were found, tying them up and locking them in while he instructed the building's smart security system into a lockdown, preventing anyone from returning. From the security control room Sheffield entered a storage room, coming out with several packages which he set up in various spots in the building, places that if damaged, would trigger a catastrophic destruction of the building. It was as if he knew exactly where to place them to cause the most damage. Once that was done, he returned to where his three hostages were, and took each of them in turn down to a location in the basement.
They watched the footage of the man sitting there, his hostages tied up and gagged in front of him. The gun that he waved around was on a tabletop, open to anyone to take. The man, now wearing a vest that held explosives was calm as he sat on a chair beside the table, but there was something off about him. Every so often he would shake his head then say something inaudible to them as there was no sound in the video coverage. Winter studied the man on the screen intently then frowned.
"He didn't do this alone." He looked meaningfully at Fury. "Someone else has set this in motion, leaving him to appear to be the only individual involved. The hostages are there to point to the man. The real target is the building, or what's inside of it."
Fury gazed at Winter with interest. "What makes you say that?"
"You've said nothing about Sheffield's past, about whether he has experience in setting up explosive devices, or knows how to carry a gun. I can tell you right now, he doesn't. He's afraid of it. That's why he doesn't even look at it as he's sitting there. Even the way he wears the tactical gear shows he didn't know how to put it on properly as it wasn't fastened in the way an operative would do it. He's also wearing comms pieces in his ears, so someone is in communication with him. If this is him doing it alone, then why does he need tactical comms pieces? I think he's telling the person that he can't do it."
"You read lips?" asked Sam.
Winter nodded then looked at a layout of the security system that Friday was displaying to them. He pointed to two spots.
"The bathroom and storage facilities are the areas without video camera coverage meaning they are perfect places to store things that shouldn't be seen. He hasn't been in the building until today, yet there's tactical gear in the men's room and those packages in the storage room were likely C4 explosive devices. How did they get there? If he hasn't been in the building ..."
"He has," said Fury. "He shows up on the video footage from the weekend."
Quickly he brought it up and Winter studied it carefully then shook his head. "No, this has been faked. It's his face but the body is different and the way the man moves is different. I'm sure Friday, or Peter or Stark can go through this footage and will agree with me. Somebody created this footage to backstop this operation, and it is an operation. Someone wants this building destroyed because of what's inside and they're forcing Sheffield to do it."
"You've experienced a similar situation before, haven't you?" asked Sam. "Setting someone up to make it appear it was them, but it really wasn't."
"Yes, several times, when HYDRA didn't want the Winter Soldier to be implicated." He swallowed then looked Sam in the eye. "November 22, 1963, is the one that is the most famous."
There was no response from either Sam or Fury on that piece of information. Fury asked Friday to determine if the video footage on the weekend was faked. She confirmed it and he asked if she could tap into Sheffield's comm pieces to find out where the signal was coming from. It took some doing but Friday finally displayed an address in another town.
"Director Fury, that is the location of a former CIA safe house," she announced. "Its location was revealed to the public during a failed black ops mission over twenty years ago and it was shut down but never sold."
"Well, obviously, it's been opened up again." He looked at the two men. "Two teams; one to the safe house to find out who's behind this and take them into custody and the other to get into the office building and neutralize Sheffield."
"I'll go after Sheffield, alone," said Winter. "He is no longer watching the security system, so I think it's likely whoever is on the comms with him is watching, although Sheffield is the one who must complete the final part of the mission."
"You'll be seen," said Fury.
A flat smile creased Winter's face. "No, I won't. With Friday's help, I can evade the cameras. She can disable them as I get further inside." He looked at both men, who seemed dubious about his claim. "I've infiltrated secure installations before."
Fury didn't speak. He just nodded, then turned the monitor back towards himself as Sam and Winter left to prepare. While Sam assembled his team for the safe house part of the mission, Winter changed into his tactical suit, then headed for the armoury. Stealth and subtlety were integral to this task, and he decided to go light, a knife in the boot, the Sig Sauer, with extra magazines, just in case, and another knife in his thigh holster. With Sheffield's inexperience with firearms obvious to him anything more was overkill. Even though he never negotiated as the Winter Soldier, something told him that Greg Sheffield needed to tell his side of the story. Since Winter's emergence he found himself capable of being a sounding board.
Stopping in the operations centre for a holographic display wrist bracelet he watched as Tony adjusted it for him, then they tested the display. With a nod Winter went to the quinjet and waited quietly, until Yelena and Torres arrived to begin the checklist. As others gradually boarded, he nodded at them, keeping his thoughts to himself. Sam finally strode in with his suit box, stowing it in its spot. The Iron Man suit came in behind him, under Tony's control and stepped into his docking bay.
"Alright, let's get this show on the road," Sam said to Yelena. "We drop Winter off, then we're on to the next target." He sat next to the super soldier then leaned close to him. "You're sure you want to do this alone?"
"Yes, if there are too many of us it will alert whoever is behind this. I can evade detection better if I am alone." A glance at Sam showed concern on the other man's face. "I'm not going to hurt Sheffield. A man with no previous experience as an operative doesn't suddenly start acting like one unless he's being manipulated like a puppet on a string. I have experience with that and hope to use it to gain his trust."
"Negotiator, huh?" Sam smiled. "Is that something you learned from Bucky?"
"Not just him." Winter turned to face the man next to him. "I've learned from you as well. You have many fine qualities, Samuel Wilson, and your ability to talk to people is one that I admire."
There were times in Sam's life when he would have responded to something like that with a joke, deflecting the praise as he was actually a humble man, finding such sayings uncomfortable at times. But this compliment, from someone who had more than once looked coldly at him while trying to kill him, was unexpected. This time, he smiled at Winter, then offered him his hand to shake.
"You be careful. Don't take any unnecessary chances. We need you back unharmed, you hear?"
"I hear."
Yelena motioned Winter to the cockpit to take his farewell to Winnie and Noelle who waved at him. He waved back then took his seat again while she flew the first leg of the trip to the building that was locked down. Only ten minutes later, she announced their approach to a landing site in a park, two blocks away from the office building. Below the quinjet, a host of police vehicles, news vans, and onlookers watched as the aircraft landed. Sam came out with Winter as both men were approached by the police officer in charge of the scene. He looked dubiously at the super soldier before speaking to Sam.
"You're sure you only want one person on this? My superiors were surprised to hear the rest of you are going somewhere else."
"We're sure," said Sam. "Our assessment is that Sheffield is doing this unwillingly. The rest of us are going to find who is behind it and stop them from there. Barnes here will infiltrate the building. He has the skills to do it unseen. You keep your people out until you hear from me."
Shrugging and raising his hands as if he had no choice the officer nodded and Winter approached the security perimeter, ducking under the police tape. He looked back at Sam, then turned back and began to run towards the office building. He could hear the sound of the quinjet rising behind but put it out of his mind as he took in all the surroundings. Automatically, he found his eyes going to the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, picking out the police snipers that were already in position, hoping that one of them wouldn't break protocol by shooting before he found Sheffield himself. No doubt, they had the latest in scopes that would allow them to see inside and target the man that way. Soon, he found himself at a utility door into the tall building.
"Friday, I'm at the location," he said, into his comms. "Can you let me in and lock it behind me?"
A click and the door popping open minutely indicated her success and he opened it, stepping inside to a utility stairwell. A light came on for him and he looked up, then activated his bracelet. The layout of the building showed up, including where the explosives were located and where Sheffield and the hostages were in the basement.
"There are no cameras in this stairwell," said Friday. "I find that convenient."
"Me too," agreed Winter. "Do you think the person who dropped off the charges did it through this access point?"
The AI was silent for a moment. "Confirmed." A holographic video of a security camera outside dated on the weekend showed the person arriving at the same door he did, then placing a cell phone call to be let in. Someone opened the door from inside as there was a greeting exchanged between them, although he couldn't read the man's lips to know exactly what was said. The person who opened the door was shielded by it and not visible.
"So, someone on the inside on the weekend let him in," said Winter. "Do you have access to the logs of which staff and visitors were inside the building at that time?"
"Yes," answered Friday. A face was displayed. "The former co-worker of Gary Sheffield who is now a hostage was signed in. According to the log he was there to set up his new office. Another hostage, the supervisor was also in for about 15 minutes, picking up a personal item he forgot."
Three more faces were shown, of security staff on duty. Friday began running checks on all the men. Looking up at the stairs above him, Winter started running up the flights to the sixth floor, where the first explosive was located.
"Winter."
Pausing at the third floor he answered his comms.
"No one called you," said Tony.
"I heard my name," he replied.
"Sorry, it wasn't us or Friday."
He started back up then heard it again and this time he stopped.
"Winter, it's me. You can think your response back to me, I think."
"Barnes?" Winter responded in his head. "You can communicate directly with me?"
"Yes, Steve, the emissary of The One said he did it so I asked if he would allow me to speak to you directly. Is this a bad time?"
"I'm on a mission at the moment," thought Winter as he continued up the stairwell. "Your timing could be better."
"But you are alone."
"Yes."
There was silence and Winter approached the sixth floor. He pressed his comms. "Friday, I'm at the door to the sixth floor. Is the security camera disabled?"
"Yes. It is safe to continue."
Pulling his pistol out he opened the door and carefully poked his head inside the hallway. Entering it fully he walked silently towards where the explosive package had been placed, seeing it as he came closer. He holstered his gun, then kneeled in front of the package, recognizing the shape of C4. Pressing the right button, he activated his bracelet again, scanning the package once he was close to it. Tony, who was seeing it at that moment in the operations centre began a search of the composition of the device.
"Can it be disabled?" asked the super soldier.
"Not by you," said Tony. "Whoever built this knew exactly what they were doing. This is sophisticated stuff, something a demolitions expert would do. I don't even want you touching it, so back away."
"Understood." He backed away to return to the stairwell and waited for further instructions.
"Fury here," said the man's voice. "We're going to assume the other packages are set up in exactly the same way. They're all connected via a burner cell phone, so that they could be activated by a single phone call. You need to get down to the basement and confirm if Sheffield is the individual with the phone."
"I'm on my way down."
He re-entered the stairwell and began the journey down.
"Looks like a setup." Barnes voice was in his head again.
"That was my assessment. You could see that?"
"I'm able to see some things. They're able to access the bracelet." Barnes hesitated. "There's something you need to know."
"I'm listening."
"I can't be returned to my body if you're still in it."
Winter stopped, feeling his heartbeat in his ears at the chilling words just shared with him.
"Winter, are you alright?" asked Friday. "My monitoring of your systems shows that you have stopped in the stairwell."
"A bootlace has come untied," he replied, coming up with the easiest thing to explain him stopping. "Give me a moment to retie it."
"What do you mean?"
"I think you already know. You've grown, emotionally, psychologically, and you can't just fade into the background again." There was a sound of regret in the voice in his head. "You've already asked to be reduced to what you were or removed but they won't do it, will they?"
"No, they won't. They believe we'll be able to function together again."
"Do you believe that?"
He started down the stairwell again, remembering everything that had been discussed in the previous few weeks. Despite everyone's assurances that they believed he could handle sharing a body with Barnes again, he knew in his heart that it wasn't possible.
"No, I don't."
He arrived at the door to the basement level where Sheffield was and stopped, bringing up the holographic display of where Sheffield and the hostages were.
"Friday, will he see me if I open this door?"
"No, it is not visible to him, but I am having trouble accessing the security cameras on this level. I suspect the real perpetrator has realized someone is here and has scrambled the access to that network. I am working on regaining access. Stand by."
He waited, not just for the AI but for Barnes to say something.
"Keep this to yourself." Barnes voice sounded in his head. "Steve and The One believe they can create a body for you, that will allow you to live as an individual. There's one problem with their solution." The long pause made the sound of his own heartbeat seem loud. "You'll have to live here with them. A portion of The One are forming themselves into individuals so that you won't be alone. They want to learn how to be individuals from someone who is going through the process already."
"Would you do it?"
It was an impulsive thought and Winter regretted thinking it. He sat on the third step up from the bottom, his long legs planted on the floor as he waited for both Friday to advise him of her efforts and Barnes to elaborate further.
"If you don't, I have no choice but to stay here forever. I will never be with Noelle or Winnie again. I will not be an Avenger. As much as they are trying to create an environment that will mimic what there is on Earth, it won't be the same. Not for me. You have all the power, Winter. They didn't want you to know, because of the possibility that you would refuse to come here. But I couldn't live with myself if I didn't make you aware of what will happen. I may have just destroyed my chances of getting home but I hope you consider that I was truthful with you. I'll leave you to your mission. Good luck."
"Winter, I have reestablished control over the security system," said Friday, her voice in his comms piece. "It is safe for you to enter the hallway. There is something puzzling me." The AI took several moments. "There is a room in the basement that is on the building plans, but it is inaccessible to me. The infrastructure and placement of cooling systems indicates it is the location of a supercomputer, yet there is no record of such a device being installed in the building. There is something else."
His holographic display opened. It showed security video of a man, whose body shape matched that of the man who entered the building through the side door on the weekend, entering the computer room. He did so before Sheffield ever entered the building.
"Where did he come from?" asked Winter.
"Going through security video," said Friday. "The same stairwell you are in. Someone let him in again."
"Fury? Do you still want me to go for Sheffield?"
"Yes, free the hostages and take Sheffield into custody. Friday can monitor the computer room. They won't blow it up while their operative is in there. He's obviously accessing and stealing secret information. Sheffield was a cover for the real operation. I don't want you in that building if they decide to blow it up. You understand?"
"Confirmed," said Winter, standing up and pulling his pistol out. "On my way."
Carefully, he entered the hallway and found the room where Sheffield was with the hostages. Visually, he scanned the frame of the door, satisfying himself that it was a standard commercial installation that would easily give in to a well-placed kick. From where Sheffield was sitting, he would have enough room to enter and subdue the man easily. Without hesitation he kicked the door open and leaped towards the table, pushing Sheffield down onto the floor, aiming the pistol at his head. The man, obviously not an operative, never even had a chance to react defensively as the look on his face was pure terror. He screamed, then raised his hands.
"Don't hurt me! I didn't want to do it, but they said they would kill my ex and my kids if I didn't do as they said!"
Winter pulled his gun away and leaned back, then holstered it. He looked carefully at the explosives vest that Sheffield was wearing, then reached towards a portion of it and removed a small antenna. Satisfied he had disabled it, he removed the vest from Sheffield, then stood up, placing the vest on the table next to the automatic rifle that sat there. He picked up the chair and motioned to Sheffield to sit in it. Then he turned around and removed the gags from the three hostages. All three were effusive in their praise for his rescue but Winter put his hand up.
"Winter, get them out of there," said Fury's voice, sounding irritated.
"One of you is part of this," he said. "I'm not letting anyone go until we find out who. The only thing I do know for sure is that Greg Sheffield was set up to take the fall for this."
The middle-aged man's mouth trembled when he heard those words. "You believe me?"
"I do," said Winter, "but I need you to tell me everything starting from when you were fired."
Sheffield received a text from an unknown number that said his family were in danger unless he did one small thing to keep them safe. That small thing became several increasingly more complex things, as he created access to the supercomputer in the basement for an unknown individual, including creating an access card and leaving it at a drop point. When that activity was uncovered by his co-worker, who reported it, he was summarily fired. Ordered to bring in the external hard drive for his final paycheque he made arrangements to check in. That morning, a courier dropped off a package containing two comms pieces with the note: Put these in your ears. The voice in his ears told him he had to go into a specific washroom, open a storage cabinet and put on the tactical vest, take the gun, and begin firing it to make people leave.
"I didn't even know how to fire it," said Sheffield. "He called me stupid, said I had to turn the safety off."
"Who chose the hostages?" asked Winter. "You?"
"No, the voice chose them," he replied, looking at the other three. "Yeah, I was mad at Jason for turning me in but that was what any of us should have done if we found someone making an illegal access card. I haven't even seen the HR person before as it was someone else who hired me. I wouldn't have known him from anyone else."
Winter looked at the third person, the supervisor. "You were here on the weekend, picking up a personal item you left behind." The man looked blankly at him, but his face also displayed signs of tenseness. "If the authorities were to check into your financials, would we find anything of interest?"
"Already on it, Winter," said Friday's voice in his comms piece. It didn't take long. "An offshore account in the Cayman Islands under the name Martin Weathers was opened with a deposit of 500,000 two weeks ago. He has a one-way ticket to Florida tonight, with another one-way ticket to Georgetown tomorrow morning. I think he is the man who opened the door into the stairwell."
Winter faced Weathers. "Tell me about the man in the supercomputer room."
"There's a supercomputer room?"
Sheffield's question made both his former co-worker and the HR head look at Weathers. Obviously, it was news to them.
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Weathers. "I'm a victim here, of this asshole."
"Then explain the account in the Cayman Islands with half a million dollars in it, and the one-way tickets that take you there," said Winter.
Weathers fumed then looked at Sheffield. "It was nothing personal. You're such a loser that it was easy to find a way to manipulate you. We needed someone to take the fall."
"Winter," Friday's voice sounded in his ear. "The man is out of the supercomputer room and is on his way there."
Quickly, he stuffed the gag back into Weather's mouth and motioned to the others to stay quiet while he closed the door and waited. Friday gave him an account of the man's actions as he approached, noticing the door didn't look quite right. He pulled a gun out of his jacket and pushed the door open slowly, taking in the sight of Sheffield and the hostages looking at him in fear, except for Weathers who was screaming behind his gag. With all the years of his training Winter didn't hesitate to grab the man's wrist, hard enough to make him drop the gun, then pulled him in with enough force to throw him against the opposite wall. As he lay dazed on the ground, Winter went through the man's jacket pulling out a small portable hard drive. He showed it to Sheffield who nodded his head in recognition. It was the one he brought in that morning. Winter smiled at him.
"Untie the others but leave Weathers for me to escort. I'm going to tell them that we're coming out. The police are going to take you into custody so don't resist. We have the truth now and the two who are really behind this so you should be freed soon. Friday? What about the safe house?"
"Sam here, already taken care of," said his voice. "We found two more there. The supercomputer room is a backup facility for the CIA. One of the women there helped set it up. They were loading up on all sorts of information planning to sell it on the dark web. Then they were going to blow up the building to hide their tracks but keep the focus on Sheffield as the only subject. I think the authorities ready to unravel the rest of the truth. Come on out. The bomb squad will take care of the explosives. Good work."
A few minutes later they came out the door, Winter firmly holding Weathers and the other man, while the other two hostages and Sheffield came out with their hands held up. Sam had already spoken to the police as they didn't arrest Sheffield but did ask him to come in for questioning on what he had been forced to do. The CIA were also there, taking the other two into custody. As the bomb squad entered the building the other Avengers stood with Winter while Sam was in conversation with the other authorities. Yelena said something in Russian that made him smile then he looked at all of them.
"Are we still needed here?"
They all looked towards Sam who finished talking, then shook hands with the ranking police officer. He strode over to them.
"Okay, we're good. No loss of life, no injuries, no damage other than a broken door. That's an unusual day for us." There were chuckles from everyone. "Good work everyone. It's operations like this that give us some good PR. Let's go home."
As they walked towards the quinjet he glanced at Winter, noticing he appeared even quieter than he usually was. It seemed that he was seriously contemplating something.
"You okay? You did really good work there. Fury was impressed. I could tell."
"I'm fine, Sam," smiled Winter. "It was a satisfying mission to uncover the truth and stop a crime in progress. Although I drew my weapon, I never had to fire it. This was just ... different."
Accepting that he likely wouldn't get any more from the stoic man they boarded the quinjet without speaking. After changing out of his flying suit, he took his spot next to Winter for the short trip back to the compound. There weren't many missions they came back on where they were all in the same condition as when they left. Winter was right, it was a different mission. Winter was the first one off, heading straight to the armoury to drop off his weapons. Then he went to the locker room, showered, and changed and was gone before Sam even arrived there. There was something bothering the super soldier but until he chose to share it, Sam knew there wasn't much he could do. Hopefully, it was still part of the stages of grief the man was going through. Those would take time.