Avengers: Search for the Winter Soldier
Chapter 30
Title: Solitary Soldier
Summary: Nick Fury's visit at the Avengers Compound has been full of interesting information in regard to the stealth tech used to make the Soldier a ghost story for over 50 years. The Winter Soldier, meanwhile, wakes up and walks out of his room unsupervised, without an escort and his disappearance is soon discovered.
He wandered down the corridor glancing in the open doorways, not seeing or hearing anyone. There were corridors branching off the one he was in but he didn't feel comfortable at all venturing down any of them.
It was confusing to him to wake up alone, unrestrained and not under armed guard. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he felt the need to find his handler. The new one was kind to him and didn't force him to do things or impose any kind of punishment on him. He liked the new handler and the red haired female; he felt a familiarity with her, but he wasn't sure if he knew her from before or not. His memories were always confusing and fragmented so he never knew for certain if the things he thought he remembered were actual memories or illusions the techs created.
As he walked down the corridor he came to the slight indentation in the wall panel where he'd waited with his handler for an elevator to appear. He studied the wall but couldn't see how to activate it. He hadn't paid close enough attention the last few times, but he'll try to remember to watch next time… if there was a next time.
Giving up on the elevator he continued down the corridor toward bright sunlight. When he stepped into the sunlit part of the corridor he could feel the heat of the sun through the large windows. The windows were floor to ceiling and went the entire length of the wall to the exit door.
He stood in the warmth of the solar heat for a moment, letting his skin soak it up. He put his right hand on the glass and closed his eyes, focusing on the sensation of the warmth on his face, and his arms, legs and chest. He opened his eyes and looked down at himself, realizing only now that he was wearing just shorts. He had no clothes, no boots or gloves… and no mask. He looked back up the corridor from where he came. There were still no alarms or shouts of surprise at his disappearance and no wranglers coming to collect him.
Soldat turned and walked toward the double glass door at the end of the corridor that had an Exit sign lit up above it. He pushed on the door but it didn't open. He pushed against it again with more force but it still wouldn't budge. He took a step back and let his eyes roam over the entire frame of the two doors. Pulling back his left arm he stared at the center of the glass trying to gauge the force he'd need to break it. He threw a punch, but the glass didn't break. It didn't even crack… but the sound his metal fist made against the thick barrier reverberated down the length of the corridor.
He cocked his left arm again, balling up his fist he wound up like a pitcher and slammed his fist into the center of the door. Nothing happened. Soldat wiped his right hand down his face and looked around. The doors were locked, which meant they didn't want him exiting the building. If he was locked in then that meant he wasn't supposed to be walking around by himself. He looked around and noticed two glass doors and a wall of windows behind his right shoulder about twenty feet away on the other side of a small vestibule. He walked over to the windows and looked inside. It was a gym.
He reached out and pulled on the door handle and it opened. He scanned the corridor again, still seeing nobody coming for him so he stepped inside the gym. The door closed silently behind him as he stood there perusing all the equipment in the large room. Some of the machines he recognized, others were completely foreign to him and he didn't have the slightest clue what they did. He walked through the different machines letting his eyes rove over as much of it as he could take in.
As he made his way to the center of the large room he noticed the fighting ring. This he knew. This is where they make him fight other soldiers to the death. Soldat sighed and chewed the inside of his bottom lip as images flashed in his mind's eye of all those he'd dispatched without a care over the years. Then, the only thing he was ever concerned with was his own victory… and surviving the next trial.
In the lab, Nick and Maria were catching up with the Avenger team and taking their time studying the Winter Soldier's uniform; asking Tony questions and getting in depth answers with holographic images to help them better understand his explanations. As Tony switched off the last image, Nick turned to Steve.
"So, how is Barnes doing?" he asked.
Steve took in a deep breath as he thought about the question and then gave a little shrug. "He's going through a lot right now. Dr. Banner is weaning him off the drugs Hydra's got him hooked on. His whole routine has changed and he's confused, but… little by little."
"Does he remember you at all?" Nick asked.
"Not that I'm aware," Steve told him.
"Has he said anything of importance?"
"Not really," Steve told him.
"He did say "Fuck Hydra"," Natasha reminded him with a smile. Nick and Agent Hill both raised eyebrows in surprise.
"Did he now?" Nick replied with interest.
"It was in Russian, but that's what he said," Nat confirmed.
"He's speaking Russian?" Fury asked.
"If I remember correctly," Natasha remarked, "he speaks about thirty languages, so yeah. Russian is his primary language… the one he remembers as his first language."
"So I take it you haven't spoken to Sgt. Barnes yet?" Nick asked.
"You mean like actually talking to the Bucky ? – the one with whom I grew up?" Steve asked for clarification and Nick nodded. "No. Not even close. Dr. Golden believes he's in there though and trying to break free. We can easily see the personality differences between the Winter Soldier and a more submissive version of the Soldier whom we've been calling Soldat. He seems to display aspects that are beyond Bucky but not yet the Winter Soldier."
"Like an in-between personality?" Nick asked. Steve nodded
"Yeah," Steve nodded again and gave a sad grin. "It gives me hope that the shifts are caused by Bucky trying to come to the surface."
"Can we see him?" Nick asked.
Steve looked around the room at each of his teammates as if waiting for an objection. He lingered on Stark who just shrugged, letting him know that it's his call.
"Doctor?" Steve asked for Bruce's input.
"Ummm… I don't… I don't see a problem with it," Bruce replied.
"Do you think he'll remember me?" Nick asked. Having nearly lost his life to the Winter Soldier two years prior, he wanted to be relatively certain that simply stepping into view of the Soldier wouldn't set him off.
"It's really hard to say," Steve told him truthfully. "They've wiped his memories between missions and before and after each cryo sleep."
Nick nodded. "I read the file."
"If he remembers you at all- I don't know if that would be a bad thing, to be honest."
"I'm concerned with his reaction if he does remember me," Nick told him.
"Well… that is a separate issue," Tony interjected. "Remembering he tried to kill you because he was ordered to would be a step forward in memory recall. Responding to that memory by trying to complete the mission in which he previously failed, that would not be."
"Well, that's my concern."
"Don't worry," Sam told him with a grin. "We got your back."
"And who has your back?" Nick asked sarcastically. "If I recall correctly, he single-handedly took you all out of the fight and killed over a hundred S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that day over the Potomac."
"Yeah, well," Sam sighed heavily with that memory. "He does seem to remember me if the looks he gives me are any indication, but he hasn't made a move yet, so… we're all aware that anything can happen at any given time. Just don't drop your guard around him."
"I don't intend to," Nick assured him. "How is Dr. Golden working out?"
"She's great," Steve told him with a small but sincere grin. "She's been extremely helpful through this whole process."
"Good, I'm glad to hear that."
"Thanks for allowing this," Steve said with sincere gratitude. "I know you could have taken him into custody and locked him away…" Steve paused as those thoughts were a hard reality for him to consider after all that had been forced on Barnes. He knew that the world at large believed Bucky deserved to be locked up or even executed for all his crimes against the world's governments and humanity at large. It was difficult for Steve, and the rest of the Avengers at this point, to see Barnes as anything other than a victim who needed their help, not their condemnation.
Nick gave him a light slap on his shoulder. "We're doing what we can. Regardless of what's happened to him and what he's become, he is an American citizen… a war veteran who got a really nasty hand dealt to him. He deserves all the chances we can give him. I know it's old fashioned and cliché to many nowadays, but the law still states 'innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt'… and a guilty verdict would need to prove that no mental defect existed at the time he carried out the crimes he'd be charged with… I don't see that happening."
Steve considered that last comment and nodded. Having to ever consider James Barnes as having a mental defect made his stomach turn over, but there was no denying that his mental state was currently in disrepair.
"Follow me," Steve invited Nick. Natasha walked with Agent Hill as they followed the men down the long corridor. Cap used his access card when they got to the security door at the end of the hall that housed most of the technical laboratories and turned left, passing the hidden elevator on the way to the Soldier's room.
Soldat climbed up onto the ring platform and sat down just inside the ropes; one leg bent in front of him and the other hanging over the edge. He sat there trying to focus on images as they flashed in his head. His eyes stared unfocused at the mat directly in front of him as his mind dissociated from the present.
He is fighting… fighting, always fighting… so many opponents, so many punches, so many knives… fighting… always fighting. Pain… so much pain…always pain. Images of a beach he felt he should know. Two boys running on that beach, chasing each other or running into the surf. They were light and the dark, he noticed. He'd seen them before in other images in his head… who were they? The boys running on a beach… war; explosions and gunfire and bodies falling all around him. He was a soldier… a soldier on a beach, but the light boy wasn't there. Red walls surround him… he stands in a red room surrounded by spiders. No, not spiders… black widows, but they were girls. Young girls training… learning to fight… from him. The shower… no not the shower… more pain… humiliation and… pain… it was cold, in every way, surrounded by cold… cold people, cold air, cold water…
More pain… the lightning… his head, his eye, his shoulder… his throat, pain all around, inside and out... always pain. Fear… so much fear. Terror. There are books… on the walls… all around him. He reaches out to take one… his hand is small and clean. Young, he's so young. Was he ever that young?
Karpov. The pain. The lightning. The words. Seven words. He forgets. Everything except Karpov… his voice. His mission. His orders. More training… fighting… pain… fear… more training… the lightning… a boy. An alley… fighting… more fighting… always fighting… no fear. He can do this all day. He does.
Diving… from a rock. Two boys. Waves slamming against rocks. Boys laugh. Light pushes dark. Dark pushes light. They laugh. They jump. Into the surf. Into the turmoil. Explosions… falling… a train… the light… and the dark… screaming…. falling… so cold. Always cold.
The images became overwhelming and he closed his eyes. They were confusing and a sound escaped his throat. His breath caught and his eyes opened wide. He felt panic rising inside him as he tried to force another sound from his throat. All that came out was the sound of air being pushed from his lungs. He looked around as panic set in. What happened to his voice? He wrapped his hand around his throat, took a deep breath and tried to shout. All the air expelled from his lungs and only at the very last of it did a small sound, like a squeak, escape his vocal cords. His mind began to reel, not understanding what was happening. What had they done to him?
Steve slowed the group as they neared the Soldier's door. There were new faces he hadn't seen before so he didn't want to just storm into the room and startle him. He put his hand up to halt the group and then stepped through the door to see if the Soldier was awake and ready for visitors.
He was surprised to see the Soldier wasn't on the bed. Steve figured perhaps he was using the bathroom so he walked over to the bed and looked inside the bathroom carefully; not wanting to take away any privacy the Soldier was extended, but wanting to check to be sure he was okay. When Steve couldn't see the Soldier inside the bathroom he stepped up to the door to get a good look inside the smaller room. His eyes widened when he realized the Soldier wasn't in the room at all. He came back around the bed and looked at the IV pole. The bag still had liquid in it and the tubing was dangling off the pole as though it had been yanked out of his arm and left to drip slowly onto the floor.
"Everything all right, Captain?" Fury asked from the hall. The three people waiting for his cue to enter were startled when he re-appeared at the door looking slightly panicked.
"He's gone," Steve told them.
"What?" Natasha responded in surprise.
"He's gone. He's not in the room," Steve told her.
"He has to be," she replied, pushing past him to see for herself. "Vision is on watch duty. He would have alerted us if he got out of the bed." She could clearly see he wasn't in the bed or the room at large. "Where would he go?" she asked, mostly to herself.
Steve ran down the hall with the others close behind. He turned a corner and continued down the hall to the second door on the right. The door was standing open and he slid into the opening, clutching the frame of the door. Vision, having been involved in a conversation with Wanda, looked up at him.
"Captain Rogers," he said in greeting. Wanda, still sitting on the corner of the desk, turned to look over her shoulder.
"Where is he?" Steve asked them, breathless, as fear rose up inside him.
"I beg your pardon?" Vision replied.
"You were watching him," Steve said, pointing at the monitor. "You were watching him, right? Where is he? He's not in the room."
"Oh my," Vision exclaimed softly as he realized his mistake. "I'm sorry, Captain. I became distracted."
"Oh no," Wanda added as she slid off the desk to stand beside Vision. "It's my fault. I distracted him. I'm so sorry."
"We need to find him," Steve told them. He tapped his earwig to alert the others. "Sam, the Soldier's missing. We need you guys for a search."
"On our way," Sam's voice came back to him. A few seconds later he, Clint and Tony joined them in the corridor.
"He can't access the elevators or the stairwells, so he has to be on this floor," Tony reminded them. "He has to be in the main corridor or a room with direct, open access from the main corridor. That's maybe ten rooms total down three different corridors branching off this one."
"Tony and Bruce, you take the north corridor. Sam and Clint, you take the east. Natasha, you're with me. Fury and Hill, stay close," Steve directed and the team split up.
It took a few minutes for each team to search their areas, taking special care when entering any rooms to search. Steve's team entered the sunlit portion of the south corridor just as the reports came in from the other two teams that they'd found nothing.
Steve moved quickly to the double doors that opened to the south lawn. He grabbed onto the handles and pushed, but the doors were locked and secure. Just as he stepped back from them his eyes caught a glimpse of something odd. He stepped back up to the doors and noticed that the metal frame of the door on the left was slightly buckled as if something massive had struck the glass. The glass is shatterproof but the metal frame would show evidence of a breach attempt… and it did. The Soldier definitely had tried to exit the building but couldn't get through the doors in his weakened state. Thank God, he thought silently.
As Steve moved to the exit doors to check them, Natasha glanced around the area. The only other place the Soldier could have accessed easily was the gym. She stepped over to the windows to look inside. She slowly scanned the room, making sure to focus behind the machines in case he was at the back of the room looking for an exit. As she scanned the left side of the room, she straightened to see that he was sitting inside the sparring ring.
"Steve," she called to him. When Rogers turned to her, she simply nodded in that direction.
Steve stepped up beside her and let out a breath. His whole body relaxed for a moment as they'd found Soldat safe and sound. "Thank God," he said out loud this time. Fury and Hill joined them at the windows to get their first look at the legend. He didn't look as dangerous as they'd expected; nearly naked and his head hanging forward, long hair shielding his face from view.
"Don't make any quick moves," Rogers instructed and then opened the door slowly.
All four members of the search team entered the gym and the Soldier still hadn't moved. They maneuvered around the gym equipment being as quiet as possible. When Steve reached the corner of the ring platform he raised his hand to signal the team to halt.
Steve took a moment to look over his charge. He didn't appear injured so that was good. He also hadn't made any indication that he knew the group was there with him. So Steve decided to try to get his attention, although he wasn't sure if the man was asleep as he had his head down again.
"Hey," Steve said, keeping his voice soft, trying not to startle the Soldier. The Soldier's head moved slightly at the sound of Steve's voice, as if he was stirring from a deep sleep. "Hey," Steve said again, keeping his volume low. "Can you hear me?"
The Soldier lifted his head slowly; and, of course, the long hair was draped across his face. He opened his eyes and looked at Steve. He blinked at him and Steve wondered if he was even registering his presence. The Soldier blinked at him slowly as if his brain was working in slow motion and then his eyes opened wide and stayed open. He looked at Steve as if surprised and then his eyes shifted to the other members of the team.
Wranglers! his brain panicked. He caught Steve completely by surprise when he went from sluggish to full on high speed without warning. The Soldier ducked under the rope and spun as he dropped off the platform. He wasn't in top form and lost his balance as he landed and fell backward into a machine. Steve moved forward quickly with the intention of helping him so he didn't injure himself but the sudden movement alarmed Soldat and he scrambled up off the machine and zigzagged between the other equipment.
The team spread out to try to keep him corralled in that corner of the room and to keep him in view. He finally did corner himself behind the equipment in the far corner of the room. He slammed his back into the wall, and slid down to the floor, making himself as small a target as he possibly could; pulling his knees up in front of him, he put his forehead down on them and covered his head with his arms. He tried to ask for mercy but the only sounds that came out sounded like whimpers. Steve stopped about five feet away from him and crouched on the floor to make himself less of a threat. He held his hands out in front of him to show Soldat that he had nothing in his hands.
"It's okay," Steve told him. "You're okay."
Soldat tried to say something again in his own defense and nothing came out. He lifted his head, still covering his head as he waited for the wranglers with stun sticks to attack him. He looked at the others then back to his handler and the expression of terror on Soldat's face broke Steve's heart.
"It's okay," Steve told him again, his voice cracking with emotion. He could tell the Soldier had no idea what was going on and was expecting a lot of pain as punishment for trying to escape.
Natasha remained in the center of the room with Nick and Maria and took the time to alert the other teams that the Soldier had been found in the gym.
"When you get here, just enter slow and quiet," she instructed the rest of the Soldier's team. She looked at Fury and Hill to see both of them were quite clearly taken aback at the condition the Soldier was in. This was not at all what they were expecting.