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Chapter Text

Bucky and Natasha were sitting on the sofa watching “Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever” with his therapy cat Sébastien lovingly curled in his lap. The couple was expecting a leisurely day when suddenly Bucky’s cell phone buzzed as it rested on the end table to his right.

Glancing at the phone, he saw that it was an incoming call on a secure line from ‘Foxtrot’ – Nicky Fury’s codename. Reaching over, he pressed ‘Answer’ and then tapped ‘Speaker.’

“Yeah?” the assassin said.

“Got a job for you, kid,” the gruff commander said.

“When?” Bucky asked not taking his eyes off Natasha’s large plasma screen.

“Now,” Nick informed him.

“But I’m in the middle of something,” the assassin replied as he looked down at Natasha.

“You owe me, kid,” the commander responded as he always did when Bucky was reluctant to take an assignment.

“What’s the job?”

“I need you to do an extraction.”

“Why him? Why not send someone else?” Natasha asked becoming annoyed.

“Is that you, Widow?” Nick asked.

“Of course it is,” she replied.

“This job is strictly on a need-to-know basis. Soldier, take me off speaker phone,” Nick ordered.

Looking at the bristling Natasha for a moment, Bucky deselected the speaker function and held the phone to his right ear.

“Run it for me,” said the assassin.

“An Asset was sent on a mission to retrieve sensitive information at a secret A.I.M. warehouse outside of Manhattan. Said Asset has been captured, and I need you to perform an extraction.”

“Why me?” Bucky asked.

“You were asked for by name. You’re the best there is. It should be a walk in the park for you,” Nick replied.

Bucky sighed and said, “Give me two hours.”

“You have one. A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in an unmarked van will pick you up at ‘Tasha’s place and take you to a facility near the A.I.M. warehouse. It’ll be there when you return to take you and the Asset to safety,” instructed Nick.

“You know I can’t be seen working directly with S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“This is a special agent who, like you, does undercover work for me. No one will be any the wiser about it,” the commander said.

“How do you know the Asset is still alive? Have you been in communication recently?” asked the assassin.

“I have, and I’ve kept track via a GPS chip implanted in the back of the Asset’s left earlobe. While in transit, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent will give you any special equipment you need. You’re burning daylight, kid. Quit stalling and get a move on! Foxtrot out,” Nick said as he ended the call.

Putting his phone into sleep mode, Bucky looked at Natasha who was now staring at him with her arms folded.

“Why do you always say ‘yes’ to him? Why can’t you say ‘no’ for once?” she admonished.

“I have to say ‘yes.’ I owe him,” Bucky admitted.

“Owe him for what?” she questioned.

“When I regained my memories, I had nowhere to go and no means of supporting myself. I lived in homeless shelters and spent all my time thinking of revenge on Hydra. When I damaged my metal arm, I broke down and called Nick for help. He replaced it and gave me work, so I was able to get a small apartment to stay in. I owe him for that, Nat. I have to do what he asks,” Bucky explained.

“Well, I think he takes advantage of you,” she advised.

“Look, I gotta go. I need stuff from my place, and I don’t have much time. I’ll be back soon,” he said and then kissed her on the forehead.

Placing Sébastien in her lap, Bucky stood and walked to the front door. He put on his black motorcycle jacket and before opening the door to leave, he looked back at the sad spy sitting on the sofa hugging his cat.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Outside Natasha’s apartment, Bucky straddled his Harley and sped away. As soon as he arrived at his tiny, dark apartment a few miles away, he began to load knives and firearms into his duffle bag. Atop his tools of the trade, he laid his Winter Soldier togs. After switching from his biker boots to his uniform ones, the assassin locked his front door and rode back to Natasha’s apartment overlooking the East River.

When he entered, she was still pouting as she sat on the sofa with Sébastien.

“Look, I know you’re not happy about this, but neither am I,” the assassin confessed.

“Then don’t go,” she insisted.

“Nat, I had to get used to you always leaving on Avengers business. I’ll be back soon,” he said and then walked to the bedroom to change into his togs.

When he returned to the living room, he put on a black Kevlar jacket and walked toward Natasha.

Leaning over the back of the sofa he said, “Give me a kiss for luck.”

“You’re the ‘Assassin Supreme.’ You don’t need luck. You just need to learn to say ‘no,’" she snapped at him.

“Wow! A title…I like that. The ‘Assassin Supreme’ still wants a kiss,” he teased as he leaned closer to steal one.

At first she resisted but then gave in.

Bucky could hear the faint sound of the van pulling up outside. As he stood and walked to the door, he said, “This won’t take long. I promise.”

“It better not. Call me if you need anything,” she replied.

“I love you, too,” he said as he closed the door behind him.

Chapter Text

Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) had been on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s radar for quite some time. Most of the intelligence community suspected that the scientific research and development agency was an extension of Hydra but since it received U.S. government funding, the agency needed to be handled delicately.

Because S.H.I.E.L.D. was forced to tread lightly in its investigation of A.I.M., no overt force could be used in rescuing the Asset from the secret mission. The Winter Soldier’s skill set was tailor made for such an extraction.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Leaving through the rear of Natasha’s apartment building, Bucky took his usual care to not let anyone see him. He opened the back of the unmarked, black van parked in the alley and climbed inside.

“Hello, Winter Soldier,” the man in the black suit and dark sunglasses said smiling at the assassin in his rear view mirror as he shifted the van into drive.

“Agent Coulson...It’s a pleasure,” Bucky replied as he removed his jacket and began to slide various knives into the sheaths strapped to his muscular thighs and the small of his back. From his duffle bag, he retrieved two Smith & Wesson M&P15-22P semi-automatic pistols which he attached to the magnetized plate on his back. He then placed silencers on two Russian 1911A1 .45 automatics and holstered them.

As the assassin applied black grease paint to the area surrounding his eyes, he asked, “So, what do you know about this Asset? What’s the deal?”

“I don’t know any more than you do, soldier. You know Foxtrot. This is –”

“Got it – on a need-to-know basis. Yeah...that I do know,” Bucky snarled as he began to regret accepting an assignment grounded in such secrecy.

As he drove, Agent Phil Coulson handed Bucky a GPS wristband which bore a small LCD screen. When he pressed a button to activate it, two green dots appeared. One indicated the exact location of the captured Asset, and the other indicated his.

Inserting the communication earpiece into his right ear, he said, “Secure line 3?”

“Line 3 secure,” Nick replied. “Your GPS locator is active, soldier. Get in. Get out – fast and clean.”

“Couldn’t let me know what I’m walking into, could you?” the assassin asked.

“No unnecessary chatter, soldier,” the commander said.

‘Why didn’t I say no to this?’ Bucky wondered.

“I’ll drop you off at the end of the alley and wait for you there,” offered Agent Coulson.

“So, we’re not gonna to ring the doorbell? Suit yourself,” the assassin joked with the smiling agent.

When Coulson brought the van to a stop, Bucky looked at a screen mounted next to the steering wheel which offered four views of the immediate vicinity. The views showed no activity in the surrounding area, so he poked his head out of the back door and looked around. After surveying the area again, he stepped out.

“Keep the engine running,” he advised the agent as he moved past the driver’s side window and began to jog toward the warehouse.

*  *  *  *  *  *

From the outside, the warehouse appeared to be devoid of activity other than the assassin’s silent entry through a darkened, barred window which he jimmied. Slipping through the portal, the Winter Soldier found himself at the end of a long aisle of shelves on which rested wooden crates of varying sizes.

‘Getting in here was too easy. I can’t tell if these guys are careless or stupid,’ the assassin thought.

From nearby, he could hear the voices of A.I.M. technicians in their yellow and green uniforms which made them look more like beekeepers than underworld scientists. As they drew closer, the assassin ducked down behind the closest crate to his left.

“Continue unloading those crates and report to me when you’re done,” one technician said to the others before turning to leave the loading dock.

As a forklift carrying a crate wheeled toward Bucky’s hiding place, the assassin took advantage of its noise to pry the top from the crate in front of him and have a look inside.

Within the crate, he found circular containers that looked like thermoses. He did not need to open them to determine their contents. Holding one to his nose, he could smell that it contained gunpowder.

“Winter Soldier? Talk to me,” said Fury through the assassin’s earpiece.

“They’re unloading crates of gunpowder – lots of it like they’re planning something big, but if A.I.M. is about science and technology, why gunpowder? Seems a bit pedestrian for them,” the assassin quietly replied.

“Thanks for the intel, kid, but we’ll worry about that later. For now, find the Asset and get the hell out of there,” the commander urged.

“Right. I’m on it,” said Bucky.

Moving to the end of the aisle, the assassin knew he could not make it out of the warehouse’s loading dock without drawing attention to himself. The expanse to the interior doorway was too wide.

“I hoped things wouldn’t get too messy early on, but it looks like there’s gonna be a party, Foxtrot,” the assassin speculated as he surveyed his surroundings through his long hair which had fallen forward into his face.

“Do whatever you can to prevent that, kid,” Fury advised.

From his hiding place behind a crate, Bucky looked into the hallway to his right. Next to the door which led to the stairs, he saw an electrical box and decided to make a run for it.

Reaching into a pocket on his utility belt, Bucky pulled out a pair of compact night vision goggles and strapped them onto his head with the lenses resting on his eyebrows. Next, he removed two small capsules. Using the precision of his cybernetic arm, he threw one which landed in front of the forklift and the other just inside the interior doorway. On impact, the two capsules exploded into huge plumes of smoke.

As A.I.M. technicians began to yell and run blindly in the smoke, the assassin sprinted to the doorway and quickly looked to his left and right. He could not see any security in the hallway but knew that within seconds, they would be on their way.

Darting through the doorway, Bucky reached the electrical box in mere seconds. He opened its small door, laid the palm of his cybernetic hand against the switches and dials inside, and gave the circuitry an electromagnetic blast.  

The building’s electrical system gave a loud moan as it lost power and everything went dark. Pulling his night vision goggles down over his eyes, he opened the door to the stairwell and quickly shut it behind him. It was then that he heard an alarm sound which signaled that there was an intruder onsite.

“Well, now they know Elvis is in the building,” he said to Fury who was still on comms.

“Cut the chatter, kid, and check your GPS. It shows that the Asset it two floors above you.”

“On my way,” the assassin said as he began to climb the stairs taking them two at a time.

From above him, Bucky could hear the second floor door swing open and footsteps running toward him. He immediately pulled one of his Russian 1911A1 .45 automatics from his hip holster and shot the first two A.I.M. security guards that he saw. The three men behind them retreated for cover and called for backup.

Continuing up the stairs, the assassin stepped over the bodies of the two dead men and once again removed a smoke capsule from the compartment in his utility belt. As he passed the doorway on the landing, he tossed the capsule into the hallway and cautiously continued up the stairs.

As he reached the third floor landing, the door burst open and the Winter Soldier faced a half dozen guards with pistols drawn.

“Don’t shoot!” the assassin yelled as he raised his hands above his head.

“Drop your weapon!” one of the A.I.M. guards demanded barely able to see the assassin in the dim light.

Bucky bent slightly at the knees and dropped his Russian .45 on the floor in front of him.

“Kick it to me!” the guard instructed.

Without taking his eyes off the man, the Winter Soldier used his right foot to slowly slide his gun across the floor to the guard.

The man bent to pick up the firearm as his reinforcements kept their guns trained on the assassin.

As he slipped the Russian .45 into the front of his belt, the lead guard barked another order at the soldier.

“Put your hands behind your head!” he advised. He became confused when the assassin smiled broadly at him.

The Winter Soldier placed his hands behind his head and then with lightning speed pulled one of the Smith & Wesson semiautomatic pistols from the magnetized back plate of his shoulder harness.

He shot the lead guard in the neck and then threw himself against the wall before a volley of blasts from the other guards could hit him. Stepping away from the wall, he quickly opened fire spraying the rest of the guards with bullets.

When all the men were lying on the floor in a heap, the soldier returned the Smith & Wesson semiautomatic pistol to the magnetic plate on his back. He approached the lead guard, squatted next to him, and removed the Russian .45 from the man’s belt.

“That’s my gun,” the assassin sneered at the dying man and then walked away.

The third floor of the warehouse was quiet as the assassin stood at the end of a long hallway which ran the length of the huge facility. Wearing his night vision goggles, he could see that there was a large window with darkened glass at the far end of it.

Between the window and where he stood were several cell doors on the left side of the hallway. Each door featured a narrow pane of glass through which the cell’s captive could be observed.

The Winter Soldier noted that the doors bore no handles and were controlled by a small keypad on the wall outside each cell. He surmised that each must be connected to the main electrical system. Therefore, it was only a matter of time until a backup generator would kick in and restore full power to the facility.

Looking down at his wrist-mounted GPS, he saw that the other green dot indicated that the Asset was in the third cell. He walked to the door, peered through the glass and saw a tall, thin figure sitting motionless on the bunk at the back of the cell. In the dark, the Asset was staring back at him.

“You gotta be kidding me,” the soldier said aloud before placing his cybernetic hand on the keypad and sending a jolt of electromagnetic shock through it.

The door slid open, but before he entered the room, he reached into a pocket on his utility belt and retrieved a small yellow glow stick. He bent and shook it to activate the light, and then held it 12 inches from his face.

Stepping inside the room, the Winter Soldier slid his night vision goggles from his eyes to his forehead and asked, “Is this some kind of joke?”

“Well, it’s about time you got here,” Mockingbird replied ignoring his question as she stood and approached him.

“‘Bird, you could have gotten out of here yourself! You’ve got the strength of Captain America, or is the Super Serum suddenly failing you?” he snapped sarcastically.

“Calm down, soldier! I was outmanned and they took my stun batons. I couldn’t fry the electrical system without them,” Dr. Barbara Morse replied.

“Why me?” the assassin asked.

“Everyone needs a little help now and then,” she replied.

“But why me?” he demanded.

When the gaunt blonde simply smiled, the soldier became annoyed.

“Did you do this to make Black Widow jealous or to get even with Hawkeye for cheating on you?” he queried.

“I’m on an assignment. I told you – I needed help, and you’re the best there is.”

“‘Help’ with something you could have punched your way out of on your own? You know, I was watching a good movie when I got the call,” the assassin fumed.

“Shut up, both of you, and get the hell out of there!” yelled Nick into Bucky’s earpiece.

Just then, the warehouse lights came on, and the assassin and the scientist stared at one another in the newly lit cell.

Bucky knew that although she looked like a Victoria’s Secret model in her black and white catsuit, Mockingbird was as lethal as his best friend Steve was. With a Ph.D. in biology, she also made a useful captive for A.I.M.

Hearing a disturbance at the end of the hall, both the Winter Soldier and Mockingbird knew it was time to make their getaway.

As the door at the end of the hallway burst open, the assassin said, “Run! Head for the window. I’ll hold them off.”

Staring him in the eyes, Mockingbird clasped her hands on his hips and then slid them down to grab both Russian .45s from his hip holsters. Turning to her left, she darted down the long hallway with her waist-long, blonde tresses trailing behind her.

Grabbing one of the Smith & Wesson semiautomatics from his back, the assassin opened fire on the first few A.I.M. security men who entered the doorway. When he saw that Mockingbird had reached the window, he ceased fire and ran toward her.

Standing with her feet spread apart, Mockingbird faced the Winter Soldier as he sprinted toward her with armed security men firing shots at him.

With a Russian .45 in each hand, the tall blonde returned fire. She squeezed off a shot from the pistol in her right hand that barely missed hitting Bucky in the left cheek. It found its intended target and hit an A.I.M. technician between the eyes. The shot from the pistol in her left hand sliced through the assassin’s flowing brown hair just above his right ear and struck another man in the neck.

Bucky felt a third shot whiz past the right side of his neck. He knew that Bobbi graduated at the top of her class at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, was an expert combatant and an elite marksman. He never feared that she might shoot him accidentally.

Mockingbird was aware that the assassin’s togs were lined with Kevlar so if he were hit by bullets from behind, it would hurt but he would survive. Her intent was to prevent the shooters from getting a clear shot at the soldier’s unprotected head.

When the Winter Soldier reached Mockingbird, he tackled her into the window which gave way against their combined weight.

As the two fell from the third floor surrounded by shards of black glass, she wrapped her legs tightly around his hips before crashing onto the roof of the unmarked S.H.I.E.L.D. van which waited for them below.

Breaking the assassin’s fall, the scientist did not wince as the force of their landing dented the vehicle.

Upon impact, Agent Coulson jammed his foot on the accelerator and sped down the nearest alley with the assassin and the Asset clinging to the van’s roof.

Lying on her back with Winter Soldier between her legs, Mockingbird maintained her thigh lock around the soldier.

Looking down with his nose almost touching hers, he said, “You can let go now, Bobbi.”

She wanted to steal a kiss but resisted the temptation. Smiling up at him, she replied, “Hang on, soldier, or you’ll fall off – the roof, I mean.”

Her blue eyes gazed into his as she tightened her hold on him.

For a moment, he struggled to dismount the gorgeous blonde but then relaxed. She was as strong as Captain America, so he knew there was no use in fighting it. Besides, he realized that she was the only thing anchoring him to the speeding vehicle.

They stared at each other for a long time, and then for some reason unbeknownst to him, Bucky thrusted his hips once into her.

‘There’s something soft and childlike about him – something almost gentle,’ the scientist thought as she studied the assassin’s face while he lay atop her on the van’s roof.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Several blocks from the A.I.M. warehouse, Agent Coulson drove the van into the garage of an auto repair shop. He steered it into the bay and turned off the engine as the automatic door rolled shut.

When the Winter Soldier tried to dismount Mockingbird, she once again tightened her grip on him.

“Really, Bobbi?” he remarked.

“I’m just playing with you. Where’s your sense of humor, Bucky?” she asked as she released him.

“I left it on the sofa with that movie I was watching,” he snapped as he rolled off of her.

Jumping to the floor of the repair shop, Bucky held his arms up to catch Bobbi as she leapt from the van’s roof.

“See, you love me!” she teased.

He knew that she did not need his assistance, but he really did like her and wanted to be helpful.

Exiting the van with Bucky’s duffle bag in hand, Agent Coulson said, “Follow me.”

“What is this place?” Bucky asked as they walked.

“One of Nick’s secret facilities,” the agent advised.

The three entered a short hallway and approached a door with the word “Electrical” painted on it at eye level. Inside, it appeared to be merely a room with circuit boxes to control the equipment in the repair shop outside. However, when Agent Coulson pushed open the back wall of the room, it opened onto a set of stairs which led down to a long hallway with rooms on either side.

“You’re here for debriefing,” the agent informed them.

As soon as Bucky saw a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent walking in his direction, he froze.

“I can’t be seen working for S.H.I.E.L.D. It has government oversight, and I’m persona non grata. Nick knows that!” he reminded Agent Coulson.

“Relax, Soldier. This isn’t Nick’s first rodeo. Each of these agents secretly answers directly to him. Please wait here while I get your room assignments,” he said as they stood in the hallway.

“Those idiots still have my batons,” Bobbi lamented.

“Well, I’m not going back for them,” he warned her.

“Luckily, there’s not much they can do with them at this point. The electromagnetic feature is fingerprint activated.”

Pushing Bobbi’s back against a wall, Bucky pressed his forehead against hers. He heard her take a sharp breath as he stared into her eyes.

“Is this a game to you, Bob? You could have been killed!”

“Technically, no,” she replied. “Like Steve Rogers, I was given a version of the Super Serum, and like you, I was also given the Infinity Formula. So no, it’s likely that I wouldn’t have been killed,” she replied as she began to lose her train of thought as she stared into his intense blue eyes.

“I’m asking you again. Why ask for me?” he demanded.

“You don’t call. You don’t write. Ever since Hawaii, it seems like we’re not friends anymore,” she joked.

“But we are still friends!” Bucky insisted. “It’s just...” he trailed off.

“Her?” Bobbi asked sensing the rest of his response.

Bucky stared back but did not reply.

“Are you with her because you love her or because you feel that you owe her something?”

Bucky took a step back from her, stared at the wall, and bit his bottom lip.

When he still did not respond, she replied, “Well, I think I got my answer.”

“You don’t understand. She gets me. She knows what I’ve been through, and I don’t have to explain myself to her,” he finally replied.

“She’s not the only one who understands, Bucky. If you weren’t wearing blinders, you’d realize that,” the scientist advised.

“Your line is still hot, and apparently so are you, soldier,” Nick said into Bucky’s earpiece.

“Damn it, Nick!” he snapped as he yanked the device out.

Just then, Agent Coulson returned.

“Mockingbird, you’ll be in debriefing Room 2 and Winter Soldier, you’re in Room 5.”

As they walked to their respective rooms, Bucky and Bobbi turned to take a lingering look at one another.

Bobbi gave the soldier a half smile as she entered her room.

He gazed back with a sad expression on his face.

Why was he with Natasha? Gambit had asked him that very question, and Hawkeye used it as a means of agitating him. He knew that sooner or later, someday he would have to answer that question for himself.

*  *  *  *  *  *

After his debriefing, Bucky sat in the passenger seat of a black car with tinted windows. He had washed his face after giving Nick his statement at the auto shop, and he was anxious to get back to Natasha’s apartment.

“You’re very quiet, Sergeant,” Agent Coulson observed as he drove.

“I’ve got a lot on my mind,” the glum soldier replied.

“Anything I can help with?” the friendly agent asked.

Bucky stared through the side window but did not respond.

When Agent Coulson stopped the car in the alley behind Natasha’s apartment, he shifted the engine into idle.

He and Bucky studied the small screen on the dashboard and then looked around to make sure that no one was watching.

Extending his right hand, the soldier said, “Agent Coulson, thanks for the assist.”

“It was my pleasure,” the agent replied as the two shook hands.

Bucky knew how fond the agent was of his pal Steve, but given his misdeeds as the brainwashed Winter Soldier, he was surprised to be treated with the same respect.

Opening his door, the soldier stepped from the car and disappeared into the rear of the building. He could hear the car drive off as he climbed the stairs toward Natasha’s apartment.

*  *  *  *  *  *

As usual, no one saw Bucky open Natasha’s front door and close it behind him. Not even she realized he was back until Sébastien suddenly bolted toward him from his cat tree to welcome him home.

“Oh! You’re back! How did it go?” she asked as she sat on the sofa sipping a glass of Shiraz while she flipped through a fashion magazine.

“It was pretty cut-and-dry. The debriefing actually took longer than the mission,” he said as he sat next to her on the sofa and kissed her left cheek.

“Details?” she asked smiling at him.

“You know better than that,” he reminded her.

As a spy, she knew that the mission always came before personal relationships. She knew that the assassin could not tell her who the Asset was or the nature of his assignment. He was at home now, and that is all that really mattered.

She threw the magazine on the coffee table and placed the glass of wine next to it. Pushing him backwards onto the sofa cushions, she straddled him and began kissing him with her eyes shut tightly.

He kissed her back as he thought about what Bobbi said and stared at nothing in particular.