She was breathing heavily as she tried to push herself up, placing one hand on his chest as did. It was tender and he hissed from the pain, catching her attention.
When she looked up at him, he saw that she had a cut lip and a few minor scratches on her face, but was relieved when she smiled coyly at him.
'Sorry,' she said, rolling off of him, and pushing herself up into a sitting position. She touched at her lip, pulling a face when she realised it was bleeding, while he forced himself to sit up. He'd landed heavily on his back at some point and it smarted a little.
'Are you okay?' he asked. While he hadn't exactly held back while they fought, he still didn't feel good for smashing her as hard as he had.
She sat up a little straighter, seeming to test out her body, grimacing slightly, and he inwardly cringed. To his astonishment, she smiled.
'Never felt better.'
She jumped to her feet, before offering him a hand up. He couldn't help but be impressed, as he took her hand and stood. He winced slightly, his chest letting him know that it wasn't so impressed. He bent down slightly, giving himself a moment to adjust to the pain.
She put a hand on his shoulder, concern written all over her face. 'Are you okay?'
'What is it with you and pummelling my chest?' he asked, standing up straight again and looking at her in amusement.
Her cheeks went slightly pink and she shrugged. 'It's a big target?' she offered innocently with a shrug of her shoulders.
He rolled his eyes and made his way to the training room door, opening it and standing back to let her through. 'Thank you,' she murmured.
Once outside, they found the rest of the team had gathered, and a medic. T'Challa nodded to the medic to check them over.
'This really isn't necessary,' Vielka moaned, her words distorted as the medic checked over her lips and teeth. She glanced sideways at Bucky. 'At least not for me, anyway.'
Bucky narrowed his eyes at her and looked towards Steve, Sam and Scott. Steve was handing $10 to Scott as was Sam. 'Really? You bet against me?'
Steve shrugged, looking ashamed, if not slightly amused.
Vielka was feeling slightly worse for wear from the fight with Bucky. There was no way she was calling that a sparring match. She was going to have bruises on top of bruises from that one.
He surprised her. He hadn't held back as much in that match, although she sensed that there was no way he would ever put his all into a fight against any of them, unless he was triggered.
'I am glad to see you are back in good form, Vielka.' T'Challa approached her and she noted he appeared quite grim. 'You're going to need it.'
'You've found them?' Steve asked, moving to stand beside Vielka.
'And more, I'll meet you all in the mission room in an hour.' He turned to Vielka. 'Go and get cleaned up, both of you.'
She hurriedly did so, showering and changing into sweats, thinking about what she would soon be facing.
As she stood in front of her mirror, brushing out her hair and checking over her wounds, she began to contemplate the impending events. She wasn't sure who she wanted to take out more, Red or Crossbones.
Whatever the case, she would make sure one or both would pay.
Within an hour they were all standing and waiting anxiously inside the mission room, awaiting T'Challa. Vielka stood a short distance away from the others, deep in thought.
She stared off into space, thinking of what may soon happen. She never thought the day would come that she would be able to face up to Red. He was a twisted individual and strong, he had always been stronger than her, often beating her to within an inch of her life during the early days of being under the 'doctors' control.
She clenched her jaw slightly, feeling the rage build within her as she remembered those many beatings she endured at his hands.
'Hey.' She jerked her head up in alarm, having been so lost in her own thoughts and memories she hadn't noticed Bucky move to stand next to her. He peered down at her with raised eyebrows and she calmed herself, exhaling a deep breath. 'You alright? You sure I didn't hit you too hard earlier?'
It seemed he mistook her anxiousness for pain. She gave a little laugh. 'Oh, please, just because you're built like a brick shit house, don't think you can hurt me that easily.'
He looked at her with a puzzled expression and she realised her Australian colloquialisms may have just gone straight over his head. 'I'm fine,' she said with a sigh and shaking her head.
T'Challa strode in, immediately activating the screen at the front of the room. A map appeared, with several red dots that pinged at different intervals. 'What is that?' Vielka asked, as they all began to move closer.
'That, is all the controlled soldiers.'
There had to be at least 30 of them. She frowned, she didn't remember there ever being that many of them in Afghanistan. And if she wasn't mistaken, Bucky and the others had already dispatched of several others.
'The Viscount had also reverse engineered the device and made more. The problem now, is that Crossbones has the ability to create more as well,' T'Challa explained, apparently having read the confused look on Vielka's face. 'By the time we get to him, this number may have doubled.'
'This doesn't make sense though, Crossbones isn't about armies or wars, he's about money,' Clint said, looking from T'Challa to Natasha.
'There's got to be another reason behind this,' Natasha agreed.
'Whatever the case,' Vielka interjected. 'We need to stop him, and Red.'
Bucky looked sideways at Vielka. He could see she was tense, her jaw pulled tightly and her eyes were dull.
T'Challa looked at her carefully, before switching the display on the screen. 'I dug up as much information about these super soldiers as possible. If I'm not mistaken we can temporarily disable them by EMP, allowing us to slip in more easily.'
'Could come in handy when we come up against Red too,' Scott commented as he rubbed his hands together.
Vielka stood up suddenly, walking to T'Challa and putting her hand out. He looked perturbed for a moment but handed her the tablet. Bucky watched as she expertly tapped at the screen on the tablet a few times. She brought up a website, before tapping the screen a few more times and after it rebuked her efforts to enter a few times, it finally let her in.
On the screen was Red's old military personnel file, he was dressed in ceremonial attire in his picture, a serious look on his face. Bucky instantly bristled seeing his face.
'Red, formerly known as George Redman, Navy Seal, specialising in hand to hand, covert insertion and infiltration.' She swiped at the screen a few times before bringing up what appeared to be a conduct record. Bucky tried to read it as she swiped through it and he noticed there seemed to be a few reports of misconduct. 'He was tried several times for disobeying direct orders or operating outside orders as well as being renowned for threatening civilians while on OPS.'
Everyone looked at her in confusion, unsure of the relevance of her point. She returned the screen to his picture. 'Red is not operating under Crossbones control. The Major has always been a willing participant. He believed in the 'doctor's' ideology of the perfect world and perfect army.' She handed the tablet back to T'Challa. 'He now works for money, but I'm sure if the opportunity ever arose and he found someone who had the same belief on how to solve the world's problem, he would be quick to pledge his allegiance.'
'So he's just a demented bastard then?' Scott asked blatantly.
Vielka didn't look at him as she answered, looking up at Red's picture instead. 'More or less. EMP won't disable him though. His device has long been inactive.'
Bucky recalled when he had first come face to face with Red at the pool party, when he captured Vielka. She had triggered her EMP, but he had been able to move about as if nothing had happened. She was right. There would be no slowing him down.
'There is one other person who can help us plan how best to attack,' T'Challa said, he motioned to the door
as it opened from the outside.
Bucky smiled when he saw a short, familiar woman step inside.
'Gaia!' Vielka exclaimed, running to quickly gather the older woman in a quick hug. Bucky found that odd, he had never seen Vielka show any real bond of that extreme with anyone yet. It was nice. 'What are you doing here?'
'You should thank Bucky,' T'Challa answered for Gaia, who seemed a little overwhelmed with emotion. 'He remembered Gaia seemed to know a lot about your situation and suggested we get her in to help us reverse engineer the device.'
Vielka looked to Bucky, giving him a grateful smile. He felt as if his chest tightened strangely, at the smile she gave him, and he faltered slightly before returning it.
T'Challa turned to the others. 'Gaia was at one time, a tech at SHIELD. She was taken into custody by Hydra when they infiltrated, using her to make them many of their advanced technology. If it weren't for Vielka, who happened to slip out of their control when they ordered her to dispose of Gaia, she may well not be here today.'
'My girl, you're free!' Gaia said, hugging her again.
Bucky looked to the pair again, it was heart warming to see them happily hugging, both of them free women.
'So what's the plan?' Steve asked, looking around. They all set forward, beginning to offer up ideas as to how to take out the soldiers and reach Crossbones.
It was long after dark when they finally finished for the day. Vielka didn't love the plan, they were vastly outnumbered but she knew they needed to do something. She trailed behind the others as they headed to the living area, murmuring quietly amongst each other.
She stopped, thoughtful for a moment, before she turned and headed in a different direction. She headed towards the gym, but continued through once she reached it, heading outside. Once outside, she turned to the right, heading to the helipad, where the Quinjet was parked, walking past and standing on the edge of the cliff.
She looked out over the Wakandan rainforest, it was still with only the faint roars of a tiger somewhere down in the undergrowth.
She sat down and sighed, enjoying the cool breeze on her face. Loose hairs draped across her face, but she ignored them. She contemplated where she was, where she had been and what they were about to undertake. Never before had she been so close to being completely free of her torment. If they could just rid the world of Red, perhaps she could move on.
She bit her lip. No, she could never really truly move on. She wasn't the same girl who joined the military, fresh faced and keen to learn. She was now a living, breathing, killing machine, everything about her was created to subdue others.
She scowled. 'Got to be kidding yourself,' she sneered under her breath.
'I never took you as much of a joker, personally,' came a voice. She jumped and turned her head to see Bucky walking across the helipad, the wind blowing his hair across his face and blowing his casual shirt tight against his front, showing the definition in his chest.
She cringed slightly, annoyed that her moment alone had been interrupted, turning back to face the forest and sighing. 'Bucky, I'm starting to think you've got a tracking device on me or something.'
He sat beside her, wincing slightly as he did so, causing her to look at him in mild amusement. It was nearly six hours later and he was still paining from their fight. 'Hardly. There's not exactly a lot places to hide in this joint.' She scoffed, pressing her lips into a line, doubting his reasoning. 'Actually, Wanda asked me to come and find you to see what you wanted for dinner.'
'What are the options?'
'I think the guys said the options were pizza, pizza and more pizza. They're ordering right now, I imagine.'
She furrowed her brow and looked at him, before shaking her head. 'Right.'
'What are you doing out here anyway?' he asked after a moment of silence drifted between them.
'I was contemplating,' she answered, still staring into the distance.
'What?'
She glanced sideways. Bucky was looking straight at her with a small smile on his face, leaning back on his arms, his legs crossed slightly in front of him, his jeans appearing to strain at the angles his legs made. She bet his roguish smile and mischievous eyes had got him all the girls when he was younger. She wondered what he had been like when he was younger and joining the military. She had often listened to Steve telling stories of the Bucky he knew as a youngster in the 1940s when they were trying to track him down, fascinated by the difference in time and lifestyle.
She found it hard to believe that the sometimes broody and quiet man that sat next to her was the same boy as back then.
'Well,' she began slowly, quickly looking back out over the forest as she felt her cheeks heat slightly and heart quicken in her chest. 'I guess, it all comes down to the fact that if we, by some miracle, pull this off, I'll finally be free of torment.' She watched as a flock of parrots took flight from a group of trees as chimpanzees swung through the branches.
'That's a good thing, isn't it?' he asked after a moment of silence had passed between them, leaning forwards and peering into her face.
She bit her lip. It was, in a way. But would it change anything? 'I guess so.'
'You don't sound too confident,' he replied, and she sensed him edging closer to her. 'What's bothering you?'
She looked down at her hands in her lap, picking at her nails. 'Well, while I guess I'll be free from ever worrying about them again, it doesn't change anything, does it?' she answered, looking at Bucky. 'I'm still going to be forced to hide in the shadows, I can't go home, I won't have a normal life.' She sighed, slightly relieved to get it off her chest, but uneasy having said it all out loud to Bucky.
He wouldn't have the kind of freedom she had, until T'Challa and his scientists and doctors could figure out how to reverse the brainwashing. He was always going to live in fear of turning into the Winter Soldier, and she felt bad having spoke her silly feelings towards her situation knowing he wasn't so lucky. 'Sorry.'
He looked at her incredulously and frowned. 'What are you apologising for?'
'Well, I'm here worrying about trivial things like this and you're... well... you know...'
'Still harbouring homicidal tendencies at the mention of a few words?' She cringed and looked apologetic, but nodded, causing him to laugh lightly. 'I don't know what you're feeling right now, Vielka, but don't apologise for feeling that way on my behalf. I'm glad you're going to be finally free, and although I'm a little jealous, I don't think you need to worry about my feelings. I've been through a bit, I'm pretty tough.'
She scoffed and withheld a laugh and snide comment, to which he raised an eyebrow pointedly at her. She pursed her lips together and simply gave him a small nod, thinking it best to keep her wit subdued at that moment.
'Oh, if you're going to say something, Vielka, you best be saying it,' Bucky said warningly, waving his finger in the air towards her.
She shook her head, looking away from Bucky. 'Nope, you were nice to me right now, so I'm going to be nice and keep my thoughts to myself.'
He poked her in the ribs, making her jump. 'We both know you're not nice.' She looked at him, mouth agape, while he grinned back mischievously. 'Don't act coy.'
'Take that back,' she said, as he stood up and began to walk away. 'I'm the nicest person you know!'
'As nice as a wolf amongst a flock of sheep, maybe,' he called back, backing away with a challenging look.
'You're dead.' She jumped to her feet and ran after him, making him turn and sprint away.
'See!'It was finally time, Bucky sat impatiently in the back of the Quinjet, fidgeting with his rifle handgrip, going through their mission plan in his head, T'Challa and Clint were flying the jet, while Natasha manned the tracking device, sitting just behind the cockpit. This seemed almost normal to him, vaguely reminding him of the missions he and Steve used to run with their team, back in the day.
'We're about 15 minutes out, guys,' she called out.
&nbs
p; Bucky looked around the back of the aircraft. Everyone looked anxious, everyone except Vielka. She looked resolute, staring into the distance. He wondered what was going through her mind, perhaps she was thinking about how she would react when she ran into Red again.
He stood up and moved to stand beside her, earning him a grin from Steve.
Vielka glanced sideways at him, acknowledging he was there but saying nothing.
The Quinjet began to descend and they heard T'Challa bark an order. 'Activate the EMP!'
There was a rumbling as the EMP was activated and the jets shield bore the brunt of the pulse. The ramp lowered and they could see the large compound below.
Crossbones had taken up residence in an old WWII bunker in southern Germany. Gaia had managed to track the exact location and then sourced the old plans for the compound.
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