Astrild; Goddess of Love

Chapter 26 - Stealth and Strength

Author's Note; Sorry I haven't updated this week, been catching up on some reading of my own. As always remember to comment and vote would love to hear your feedback. Thanks for being patient, FanGirl8ygc3804

"Coulson to Taskforce Epsilon, report?" He spoke from the quinjet console. I picked up a headset and radio back.

"We're an hour out, switching to manual control."

"OK, I'll send you the schematics of the base."

"Alright but send it to Ste--The Captain, thanks for all your help. Taskforce Epsilon out." I smiled and looked at Steve, before slipping into the pilot's seat and flipping the switch.

"You're full of surprises, you know that." He said planting a kiss in my hair. The quinjet was easy to fly compared to the Blackbird. Steve sat next to me "you mentioned not everyone was like John, what did you mean?"

"Steve, we--I can't talk about this now. We need to concentrate on getting to Fern, can you form a plan based on Bucky's intel and the schematics?" I asked changing the subject.

"Sure. Just tell me, he didn't hurt you, did he?" He asked as he got up, I looked straight ahead to avoid his gaze.

"No, not physically anyway, but this... this isn't the time. We'll talk about it later, I promise." That ended the topic for now as he kissed my hair again and walked away to plan. Half an hour later they had their thoughts together,

"Where do you want me to land this hunk of junk?" I asked, it may be state of the art for SHIELD but it didn't have either Hank or Stark's brains behind it making it an antique.

"We'll land out of sight so at these coordinates." Bucky said as he placed a piece of paper with them on the console.

"You got it; you can tell me the plan when we get there in about 15 minutes."

"Liz?" He said taking the seat beside me.

"Yes, Bucky?" I replied sneaking a sideways glance at him, his rigged features seemed softened by emotion.

"He only wants to know so he can protect you." He whispered.

"I know, but he can't. Not from this, he can't protect me from my past, my powers, my own demons. You know that better than anyone." I replied.

"OK, but Liz you can't keep everything to yourself, it hurts too much. I know I tried before I came to Steve, that's why I was such a wreck. Sharing this with him'll help I promise." He stated ruffling my hair and returning to Nora's side.

"Buckle in guys we're on final approach." I engaged the reflector panels and landed safely. Nora had put the schematics in a projection device allow us all to pour over them at once.

"We've landed here and they keep the prisoners in this building." Bucky said first pointing to a field away from the base and then to a relatively large building in the middle of the compound. "Nora?"

"They have guards posted at every door, which is on the north side of the building, there is also a sweeping guard, with a course of 18 minutes in length. They all change shift every 8 hours but we'd have to wait a good 16 hours to be sure when it is though. Our best bet is to get past the sweeping guard and infiltrate in the time it takes them to do a return run." She explained their routines as she traced their route on the map.

"We'd have to make sure those on the door don't raise the alarm then." Steve noted.

"And we have to get there without being spotted." I added.

"I like a challenge," Bucky said as he stretched his arms in front of him clicking his interlaced fingers.

"If we break in from the west, there isn't a clear line of sight between the building and the fence, we'll be undetected."