What If...? Rumlow Turned Against Hydra: Book One

31

"Sir? Do you want to try and sleep?" Rumlow asked, unsure if it would be received well or not.

Barnes looked up from the one laptop he still had on the coffee table in front of him. He must have put the other away when Rumlow and the others were busy. "I don't need to."

"You will eventually, or you may not be at your full strength. I was around Steve enough to know even a super soldier needs to eat and sleep."

"I'm not just a super soldier," was the somewhat caustic response.

"Huh?'

"The metal arm is controlled by cybernetic implants in my brain. Those implants also increase my ability to learn at an accelerated rate, and there is a considerable amount of metal to allow me to control the arm. Being a super soldier also allows my body to carry that much extra weight."

Rumlow wasn't sure how to respond to that. It was not a pleasant idea. "Super soldier and part cyborg?"

"If you want to call it that, then yes."
"You're still mostly human, and you need to eat and rest."

"I want to eat and sleep." It was a bleak acknowledgement, made worse by how matter of fact the words were. "But I don't need to. Hydra made sure I could function for long periods with, as they put it, minimal maintenance."

"I guess they didn't want their best weapon to have to stop and do anything like rest," Rumlow muttered, almost to himself.

"Exactly."

"Anything you need me to do?"

"Not at the moment...." Barnes stopped in mid-sentence, staring at the laptop's screen. He picked up one of the cell phones he carried as it indicated a call was coming in. He listened intently said only: "do it." Then put the phone down. Rumlow saw only the Winter Soldier as he stood.

"Get Wilson and Romanov. It's time."

Within minutes, even though both Romanov and Wilson were operating on little sleep, and a lot of stress, they were gathered in the living room, as clear eyed and ready for action as anyone he'd ever seen. It was the way of those who had been soldiers, or had fought in battles, the instant alertness, the adrenaline cresting to chase away fatigue and anything that could slow them down.

"Paine and Creigh confirmed they have access to SHIELD's weapons," Barnes announced. "They can control them from anywhere but will remain at the Triskelion for the time being."

"They got past the Zola program?" Romanov seemed both stunned and eager.

"Easily now. It's starting to disintegrate, but not enough for us to do anything until we have its location." He looked again at the laptop. "Which is right now."

"Now? We know where it is?" Wilson leaned forward trying to see.

Barnes showed them the location; all of them were surprised to see it was a place in New Jersey, away from any major city. The location was named Camp Lehigh which meant nothing to Rumlow. Barnes however knew the significance. "This was where SHIELD was headquartered before the Triskelion was built. And it's where Steve was trained before he got the serum."

"No coincidences there," Wilson stated. "What now?"

"The location is below ground, by a lot," Romanov pointed out as she studied the information on the laptop. "Unless we're going to dig down, we'd need a missile strike."