If I Could Love || Bucky Barnes

003

I WAIT for Pierce to leave the room. Sure, he said "dismissed" but I know it's better to wait for him to leave. Besides, the Wondrous Winter Soldier looks like he's ready to hash out instructions. Wonderful.

It doesn't take Pierce and his bodyguard long to exit the room. Other soldier's and agents leave with Pierce as well, and soon it's just me and the Winter Soldier. I glance at him, waiting for him to speak first. He's staring straight ahead, not at anything in particular, and to me it looks like he's zoned out. I should have known better. As soon as I clear my throat, he speaks, still staring at the wall.

"Get your stuff," he commands. "We're leaving within the hour." I blink in surprise. My eyebrows shooting up, a look of utter disbelief coming across my features. An hour? It's not me that I'm worried about. It's all the other various soldiers and agents that will be coming with us, though the fact that they are HYDRA agents might make them hurry up. They should know the consequences, but you never know with common soldiers.

I give him a long, measuring glance, but he doesn't so much as look my way. I roll my eyes and stalk out of the Winter Soldier area. I head across the ground back to my own cell. In the corner of the room-- near the door to my room-- is a filing cabinet. I take a key out of my picket, shove it into the lock, turn the key, and take out the appropriate weapons I need for this mission: a handgun, five daggers, and some other necessities. Soon I'm already to go, and I decide to go looking for his Royal Coldness.

It doesn't take me long, due to the fact that he's looking for me as well. I see him coming toward me through one of the barely lit corridors inside the HYDRA compound halfway between the Scepter testing area and the Winter Soldier room. We stop in unison, looking at each other without saying anything.

"I assume you're ready" I ask him tightly.

"Don't assume," he tells me before turning and leading the way down a right corridor. Who is he, my mother? I suck in my breath and follow after him. I have to trot to keep up with his long legs. We walk along in silence, not really having anything to say.

We reach the large garage where all the trucks, heavy equipment, helicopters, and private planes are kept. I follow the Winter Soldier over to the side of the massive room. He stops in front of a tank. A man is already standing there, observing us silently.

"Everything is ready, sir," the man says. The Winter Soldier gives a short nod before jerking his head at me. He heads off, toward one of the helicopters. I see eight of them, all in a row, waiting to be boarded. I can see agents inside them already, waiting for us to give word that we're ready. There doesn't seem to be many, but I assume there will be more at our destination,

Without a word to each other, the Winter Soldier and I board the helicopter on the far right. We buckle in and wait for liftoff.

It's a rough flight. We had to fly across the country, and eventually stop at an airport where we boarded a private plane. When we arrived at that airport, several more agents joined us, making the plane quite packed; and stuffy, to be perfectly honest.

Our plane lands some five or so hours later. I gather my bags from the overhead compartment, and after making sure I have everything, I head off the plane. I can hear the Soldier following after me. He seems annoyed about something as he speaks in German to one of the agents. I ignore what they're saying, hoping we don't get noticed by anyone.

The interior of the airport is quite nice, to be honest. There are open windows overlooking the runways, plenty of sitting room with comfortable, padded chairs. Over to the sides are various shops with places to eat or buy things. The place is quite spacious, and clean. I can see lots of people in the area, but they don't give us any mind.

The Soldier gets some of the agents to lug the giant boxes he's brought with him out of the terminal. I hope no one takes notice of that, because it's actually quite obvious. I glance at the Soldier. He doesn't even look my way. He's wearing a long sleeved jacket, though I can see the underlines of a bulletproof vest underneath his shirt and black leather jacket. His long hair is tied back, and he looks quite determined. Well, I am too, but it shows on his face, not mine. If anything could show on his face, I assumed it would be determination.

"This way," he says simply. Turning to the right. We take a side passage out of the airport, heading down an alley and to the street. Waiting for us at the end of the alley is a huge, black van. I give it one glance, and know that it's HYDRA. The Soldier and I walk over to it, and agents come pouring out, opening doors for us and putting our luggage into the back of the van. To be honest, sometimes it's nice to be HYDRAs top agents. We get perks like that, though we do have a higher pressure from our superiors.

The Soldier and I get settled into the hard seats, and wait for the driver to start the car down the road. As I sit there in silence, staring out the window, I can feel a set of eyes on me. Without turning, I know it's the Winter Soldier. I get the feeling that he hates me; probably because he's under threat of not being HYDRAs most used agent. Most used killer. Well, he should feel threatened. I'm more than capable than handling any mission-- especially this one-- on my own.

Our destination is the city version of our previous fortress. It's tall, and it blends into the city, like any other building. The windows are dark, and I get the feeling that they are fake anyways. The Soldier and I get out, followed by our agents. We enter this new building, and look for our superiors.

It's not hard to find him. He's standing to the side of the doorway, waiting for us to come in. He is tall, he has dark hair and his very presence declares that he's HYDRA. I get the feeling that he shouldn't be our superior and that the only one we should answer to is Pierce, but here he is.

"Brock Rumlow," the man says, looking at us. "I'm here to run you through what you're going to be doing on your mission. Where we're gonna have you pin him. Where everyone lives. That kind of thing." He studies us, and I can feel his eyes going up and down my body. My hand forms into a fist as his eyes linger on my face. A smirk forms on his face, but he says nothing. "This way," he sneers, and he leads us deeper into the building. I get the feeling that I'm not gonna get along with this man. Maybe even less than I do with the Winter Soldier himself.