Dancing with Embers - Book Two (Winter Soldier)

10. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie

Chapter ten:

*You never have to say sorry to me because I will go out of my way to make sure you are.*

~~~~~~

Once I had pulled my suit on and loaded my two handguns, I walked out of the secret facility we had been in to find Steve and Sam conversing softly. Steve was leaning against the rails of a concrete bridge around the back of the facility, Sam standing next to him. They were talking in low voices and neither of them had their suits on yet. I slowly walked up to the other side of Steve and leaned on the rails like he was. There was a somewhat peaceful moment of silence before I spoke.

"You're thinking about him." It was an observation, not a question. Steve didn't meet my eyes.
"He's going to be there, you know. Pierce probably assigned him to track you, he'll be at your carrier." I said.
"I know."
"And whoever he used to be and the guy he is now are...two totally different people. I don't think he's the kind you save, Steve. He's the kind you stop." I spoke quietly and as softly as I could, not wanting to upset Steve with what I said, but I knew that he had to hear it. Steve stood up from the rails and shoved his hands in his pockets. He turned to me with an unreadable look on his face.
"I don't think I can do that."
"He might not give you a choice. He doesn't know you, he probably won't even remember you from the highway."
"He will." Steve sounded oddly confident and I wondered if he already had a plan in mind on how to get his friend to remember him. It wouldn't surprise me if he did.

Then Steve's face cleared slightly as he turned to Sam.
"Gear up. It's time." He said.
"You're going to wear that?" Sam gestured to Steve's civilian clothing.
"No." Steve turned from us and began walking down the bridge. "If you're going to fight a war, you have to wear a uniform."

<><>

It took Steve the better part of twenty minutes to drive to the Smithsonian, break in without being noticed, steal his World War Two uniform, and make it out without anyone noticing.
He changed quickly and met Sam and I back in the SHIELD car with Hill. Sam had changed also, pulling his Falcon suit on over his tee shirt and jeans.

When Steve joined us again, Hill took the wheel and drove around the back of the Triskelion. We parked about two miles away from where the Helicarriers would be launching in order to stay hidden as long as possible. We also needed a good way to sneak into the Triskelion without anyone noticing.
So a trek through the thin woods was necessary.
Natasha had already been snuck in as Councilman Hawley and I figured that Fury was somewhere nearby waiting on her call to come in.

"Alright, we need to get to the control room." Steve muttered once we were closer to the building. "Kindle, can you find a way to block their signal for a while to cause a distraction?"
I mulled it over and decided that I could. Hill still had her mobile device on her in order to communicate with Fury so I could use that to intercept their signals and throw the dish off. It wouldn't work for too long but we only needed it to work for a few minutes.
"Yes, but it might take a minute or two. And once I have it working you'll need to move quickly."
"Understood."

Hill handed me her mobile and I quickly set to work on breaking the Triskelion's security wall around the control room. Using a few tricks I had learned from Tony, I was able to gain access to their signals in under five minutes. I whistled under my breath as I showed the screen to Steve.
"Four minutes and twelve seconds. That must be some kind of record." I shot my friend a quick smile.
Now that I was able to throw the dish off, Steve led the four of us into the Triskelion. The closer we got to the building, I found, the harder it was to remain in control over the control room's signals. But I managed to hold off the security codes until the door of the control room was opened by a innocent-looking SHIELD worker who had come out to see what was causing the distribution in the dish. Sam raised his gun and pointed it the man, making his hands go flying into the air.