The Winter Witch (A Hawkeye/Avengers fanfic)

Chapter 1

It was supposed to be like any other mission. Clear out all Hydra agents, gather any intel that was stored there, clear the area of any hostages, and destroy the facility. None of the other Hydra facilities the Avengers had infiltrated were this heavily guarded. The entire team knew something was off, but they just couldn't place their finger on it. Clint was the first to notice the one of many red flags of their current mission. As he was perched in a tree, taking out Hydra agents, he noticed that the east wing of the facility was getting reinforcements.

"Uh guys," he said through his coms, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think we have a situation on the east side." He jumped from the tree and began running towards where he saw the reinforcements. He heard a noise behind him and saw the Iron Man suit fly over him.

"What the hell are they doing?" Tony sighed. He made his way to the east wing of the building. "JARVIS, can you do a thermal sweep for me. Let's find out what these idiots are up to."

"It appears that they are protecting some type of weapon in the east wing. I am picking up a warmer heat signature than those who are standing guard," replied the AI.

"Well, that can't be good," Tony heard Natasha say through their coms.

"Alright guys, change of plans," Tony said to the team. "Widow and Birdbrain, I want you to continue working on getting the intel from the facility and meet us back at the jet. Captain Spangles, Tin Soldier, and I will work on getting whatever is being guarded." Before Tony could finish the orders, he was interrupted.

"Which birdbrain are you talking to?" Clint asked through the coms.

"Ugh, he means me." He heard Sam reply through a grunt while he made his way into the facility.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, Legolas, I want you and the jolly green giant to finish up out here and clear us a path back to the jet." Tony proceeded to blast a way through the heavily guarded side of the building. "Ok team, let's finish this."

With the orders given out, the team proceeded to do what they did best. Once inside the facility, Natasha and Sam had no issue finding the intel they were after, but unbeknownst to them, they were getting more intel than they had planned on. Once the hard drive had finished downloading, Natasha set a detonator under the desk. Meanwhile, Clint and the Hulk were busy finishing their sweep of the grounds when they heard static over the coms.

"Guys, we have a bigger situation here than we anticipated." Steve said.

"I don't like how you just said that" replied Sam as he picked up Natasha to fly them both back to the jet.

Sam, Natasha, Clint, and a disheveled Bruce were sitting on the jet when they finally saw the others running through the smoke of the battlefield; the facility crumbling behind them. Tony came running on board shouting for them to start the jet and get them the hell out of there. Natasha quickly moved to the pilot seat to fire up the engines. Clint noticed that Tony was quickly clearing off the medical table that was situated in the middle of the jet. He looked back over to where Steve and Bucky were and noticed that Bucky was carrying something, it had to be the weapon that Hydra had been protecting.

But as they got closer to the jet and ran up the ramp, he quickly saw that it wasn't a something but a someone. A young woman, looking to be in her late twenties, was cradled in Bucky's arms. She had bruises and puncture marks all over her arms and one of her eyes looked swollen. She was in a black Hydra jumpsuit and her long brown hair was stringy and matted. Bucky gently laid her on the table and as soon as he had, Natasha closed the hatch and had the jet in the air.

"Bruce," Tony directed his attention to his friend, "I know now isn't the greatest time, but I could really use your help right now."

Bruce looked up and saw what was going on around him. He took a deep breath and nodded his head. "Let's get her hooked up to an I.V. JARVIS, can you do a scan and tell us what we are working with here?"

"Yes sir," JARVIS replied as a blue light began scanning the girl on the table. "Female; age twenty-seven; minor bruises, broken ribs, broken left arm, lacerations on her back, concussion, and extreme malnourishment."

"Shit, that sounds serious." Sam said under his breath.

JARVIS continued, "Facial recognition complete." A screen popped up with the girl's face, this time without the bruising and swelling. Clint was taken aback. Even with the mischievous look in her brown eyes, she was beautiful. Clint was pulled from his thoughts as JARVIS continued. "Hydra alias, the Winter Witch. Kills completed, 178. Accomplice...." JARVIS hesitated, "the Winter Soldier."

Everyone's heads turned to Bucky who was backed up against the wall of the jet and breathing heavily. Fear, anger, and sadness sweeping across his face.

"Bucky?" Steve asked.

Bucky didn't reply. He slowly slid to the ground and laid his head in his hands

"Shit, this is serious," said Sam.

********

As soon as the jet landed at the Avengers Tower, Steve headed towards the girl to pick her up but felt a cold metal hand on his arm. He looked over and saw Bucky standing there. Bucky gave Steve a look and Steve just nodded his head. Bucky picked her up and began carrying her off the jet while Natasha carried the I.V. bag behind them.

"We need to get her to the medical lab," shouted Tony over the sound of the jet engines. The rest of the team quickly followed Bucky and Natasha as they went straight to the infirmary floor.

"Put her over there," Bruce said as he walked into the lab.

Bucky gently laid her down but didn't move from her bedside. Natasha quickly hooked up the I.V. next to the bed and stepped out of the way so Tony and Bruce could do what they did best. Bucky, however, still hadn't moved. His eyes glanced down to the unconscious girl, his heart breaking as her shallow breathing continued. He couldn't help but blame the state that she was in on himself. He knew it was his fault.

"Bucky," he heard a gentle voice say next to him as an arm reached out and touched his shoulder. Bucky finally looked away from the girl and saw Steve standing next to him. "We need to let Tony and Bruce help her." Bucky took a deep breath, took one more look at the girl, and turned and walked out of the lab.

"Is anyone else extremely confused right now or is it just me?" asked Sam as they watched Bucky leave.

"Nope," replied Clint, "it's not just you."