Broken Remains || Bucky Barnes

I Never Said Pilot

Steve's POV

Nikita and I walked up to the side door of the house.

I knocked on the door and we waited for someone to answer.

Sam pulled open the blinds and opened the door. "Hey, man." He looked between the two of us covered in dust.

"I'm sorry about this. We need a place to lay low."

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us." Nik said.

"Not everyone." Sam stepped aside and let us in. He shut the door then closed the blinds again.

Nik and I went to the guest bedroom and used some wet towels to clean up.

I grabbed the towel next to the sink and noticed Nikita sitting there with the towel in her hand. She was looking at her forearm rubbing her thumb along what looked like a scar.

"You okay?"

She must have been in deep thought because she was surprised for a minute.

"Yeah." I threw the towel onto the counter in the bathroom and sat next to her on the bed.

"What's going on."

She moved her hand to cover the scar on her forearm but I could tell what it was. It was like someone had cut a layer of the skin off.

"What happened?"

"Before I got the name Atropos Hydra parked me with the number 568. After I escaped I decided that as long as I had that on my arm, I would never really be rid of them. So I got rid of it." She shrugged but I could tell it was a I don't really want to talk about this, shrug.

"I'm sorry that happened to you."

"I joined SHIELD because I thought it would be different. I guess I was wrong."

"There's a chance you might be in the wrong business."

"I owe you."

"It's okay."

"If it was the other way around, and it was down to me to save your life, now be honest with me, would you trust me to do it?"

"I would now."

She looked a little shocked at what I said.

"And I'm always honest."

"Well, you seem pretty chipper for someone who just found out they died for nothing." She had a smile that was truly genuine.

"Well, I guess I just like to know who I'm fighting."

Just then Sam was in the door way. "I made breakfast. If you guys eat that sort of thing."

We went to the kitchen to talk about this.

"So the question is, who at SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?" Nikita said. She refused to eat saying she wasn't hungry, but I think she just lost her appetite.

"Pierce."

"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world." She started to pace back and forth.

"But he's not working alone. Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star."

"So was Jasper Sitwell."

"So, the real question is, how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?"

I heard Sam drop something and walk off, he came back with a file.

"The answer is, you don't." He set it in front of me.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Call it a resume."

"Is this Bakhmala?" Nik asked picking up a picture. "The Khalid Khandil mission that was you? You didn't say he was a Pararescue." I grabbed the picture from her.

It was Sam and another guy. "Is this Riley?"

"Yeah."

"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use? A stealth chute?"

"No."

He pulled out another picture. "These."

"I thought you said you were a pilot?"

"I never said pilot."

"I can't ask you to do the Sam. You got out for a good reason."

"Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in."

"Where can we get our hands on one of these thing?" I asked.

"The last one is at Fort Meade. Behind three guarded gates and a 12-inch steel wall."

Me and Nikita looked at each other. "Shouldn't be a problem."

We waited in the van for Sam and Sitwell.

We pushed him onto the roof and he stubbed.

"Tell me about Zola's algorithm."

"Never heard of it." Sitwell said putting his glasses back on.

"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?" I kept asking questions.

"I was throwing up. I get seasick." He reached the edge of the roof and almost fell over before I caught him.

"Is this little display meant to insinuate that your gonna throw me off the roof? Because it's really not your style, Rogers."

"You're right, it's not." I let go off him and stepped out of the way. "It's hers."

Nikita's foot went up and made contact with Sitwell's chest knocking him off the roof.

As he was screaming we talked. "Oh, wait. what about that girl from Accounting, Laura...Lisa..."

"Lillian. Lip piercing right."

"Yeah, she's cute."

"Yeah, I'm not ready for that."

Just then Sam came flying up with Sitwell. He dropped him back on the roof.

"Zola's algorithm is a program for choosing Insight's targets." He decided to talk after his near death experience.

"What targets?" Nik asked.

"You! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Under Security of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City, Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to Hydra. Now, or in the future."

"In the future? How could it know?" I asked.

"How could it not? The 21 st century is a digital book. Zola taught Hydra how to read it. Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, emails, phone call, your damn SAT scores! Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future."

"And what then?"

"Oh my God. Pierce is going to kill me."

"What then?" I demanded the answer.

"Then the Insight helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time."