The Black Winter

Chapter 3

Bucky's pov
We have just landed in Russia. There is supposedly a girl that was there. Our mission was to save her. Steve was going over the mission, making sure that everything was perfect, just like he always did. As Steve is talking, I look over to Joan. She's just standing in the corner with her arms crossed.

It always looked like she had something on her mind. I had known Joan ever since I first came to Hydra. She was tough, strong willed, the best fighter I had ever seen. The best Hydra had. No one has ever been able to beat her. She hasn't had one failed mission. Not that I knew of anyway.

Although she was strong, and built like an ox, she was sad. I could see it. She was tired and hurt. When she first came, she was afraid that Natasha and I would tell everyone about who she really was. We were going to too. We both knew who she was and how dangerous she is. But then she told us how she had escaped and just needed a safe place. I've tried to talk to her about it, but she doesn't talk. And I think I can guess why. I was the same way too.

Steve had just gotten done talking about how the Hydra agents could be a threat, that was until she spoke up. It was the first time I have heard her talk in about four weeks. So to say we were all surprised, is an understatement.

  "What was that Joan?" Steve asks.

  I could tell that he didn't trust her. No one did. She never talked and we all knew that she holds back when it comes to sparing

"Nothing," she replies sharply.

"No, what did you say there silent but deadly?" Tony asks.

  He always had some mean name for her. It annoyed the hell out of me.

"These men aren't the real threat. These are the men that barley got through training. This Hydra base isn't a big corporate one, meaning all the soldiers here are a lower level. So they'll be easy to beat," she explains.

"How do you know this?" Tony asks.

"You know I was apart of Hydra, James and Natasha both know this."

  She was right, these soldiers were a low level threat. To be honest, I had no clue on why they would send a girl to this base. Especially from what we read.

"Even if that's true, we can't be too cautious. We do't know the extent of their training," Steve says.

  I felt bad for her. I get that Steve didn't trust her. I don't know if I fully do either, but she was right about this.

  The moment the plane lands, we all immediately go into battle. Wanda creates a shield that we all hide behind. That is, until Joan pops out and rushes into the battle field.

  "Joan! Wait!" Steve yells. But she keeps on going.

  "What the hell is she thinking? She could get shot," Steve says in an annoyed tone.

Soon though, we created enough space for us to safely get to the base. Joan was already in and covering our backs. This is when she looked most lively. This is where she didn't hold back. That was the thing too that separated us from her. She killed. She didn't hold back.

Once we're all safely in, Steve yells at her. "You need to follow the plan!" Steve scolds.

She doesn't even respond. Instead she gets up and starts to make her way down the hall. The four of us nod at each other, telling one another to go and do their job. So Steve and I part from Natasha and Clint.

  As we're running through the halls, we end up coming to a two way split, meaning that we were going to have to split up.

  "We need to split up. I'll go down here. You two go down that one," Joan commands.

  And once more, she takes off without further instructions. Steve looks at me with a look of anger and annoyance. I shrug my shoulders and we make our way down the long corner of halls. I always hated these missions. They brought back too many unwanted memories.

  We end up getting to the end, with no signs of the girl. 

  "Joan, Joan, do you copy?" Steve says over coms.

  There's a silence that fills the air.

"Joan, do you copy?" He says once more.

"Yeah, yeah I copy."

  Something was wrong. Her voice sounds shaky and intimidated.

"Our side is clear. Did you find the girl yet?" I ask.

  Then there's a long silence. Steve and I start to make our way back to the front of the building.

  "Joan? Did you find the girl yet?" I vertebrate.

"Uhh, yeah. Heading out now," she says.

  Steve and I exchange a look to carry on. So we rush out of the base and help to clear a path. Once all the soldiers are down, we're now waiting on Joan. Then finally she comes running out with a girl in her hands. She has blond hair and seems small. Not much older than twenty I'd say. Then suddenly, she stops.

"Joan! Come on! The place is going to blow any moment!" Tony yells.

She turns around and stares off in the distance. Something's wrong.

  "We need to go! The place is going to blow in twenty seconds!" Natasha yells from the cock pit.

  I dart out of the jet and rush out to meet Joan. I place my hand on her. Her eyes though, they were fixated on something in the tree lines.

  "We need to go now!" I command.

  Then it's like something inside her switched and she just started working again. So with her holding the girl, we dart towards the jet. Once we're on, the doors close and we take off. Just like a movie, the building was exploding behind us. Joan walks over to the table in the middle of the room and places the girl on the table. Suddenly, she drops to the ground, clenching the sides of her head.

We all look at one another for a moment. Something is going on. I rush to her side and place my hands on her shoulders. But right away, she swats my hand away. Then her eyes dart open, wide with fear. She grabs the intercom from her ear and throws it across the jet. She stays in that crouched position, no one daring to move.

"Joan? Are you ok? What happened?" I finally ask.

She stands up, I could see her legs shaking. She grabs onto the wall for support with her left hand, and with her right she grabs a handful of her hair. I walk up behind her and place my hand on her right shoulder.

"Hey, your ok. Your ok, just breathe," I say in as calm of a voice as I can.

We both slide down to the floor. Her eyes were rapidly scanning the room. I could tell that her mind was going all over the place.

"Joan, just calm down," I say in a gentle voice.

A single tear trickles down the left side of her face. So with my human hand, I wipe it away. For a moment, her eyes were screaming for help, but the next, they were back to their dull, cold ones. She swats my arm away, stands up and goes to the cock pit. We all just stand there, watching as she left the still room.

"What the hell was that?" Tony asks.

"Should we go check on her?" Clint asks.

"No, we need to give her space," I tell them. Times like this, I just think about what I needed. And right now, I would have needed space.