1 | SURVIVE • BUCKY BARNES [COMPLETED]

XXII.

You could say Gideon's greatest quality was that she never gave up. It was one both her and Steve shared, She wouldn't let something as fleeting as her fear of heights stop her from diving into the air to land in a HYDRA base where it was suspected that they kept the Allied soldiers, where they kept Bucky.    

Moments before jumping with Steve at her side, they were discussing tactics with Agent Carter and Howard Stark within the confidence of a Stark Industry plane. That is until HYDRA bullets began to rain down on the plane, more or less commencing the rescue mission. Her and Steve moved to crouch by the open door, the dark sky being illuminated by gunshots and filled with the sounds of dozens of planes.

Parachutes were strapped to their backs, and they ready, ready as they could ever be. Only Agent Carter wasn't quite so on board with the plan. The chances of them returning were unknown, and Peggy and Steve were still fumbling in the unknown of their relationship from what Gideon could read. But this was to save lives, and Steve couldn't give up on that.

Then, they fell. The height from the plane made her stomach turn, but with the air rushing past and her heart rate accelerating, the feeling left her as the hidden building loomed in near sight. Upon reaching a safe distance, they deployed the parachutes.

They landed within the woods closest to the factory, the dried leaves and branches crunching beneath their footsteps. Neither uttered a word as trucks drove by them through the thinning trees, but it wasn't until the last of the line came by before they began to run. They caught the truck within seconds and hopping past the canvas border, only to be caught by surprise when they were met with two masked soldiers staring back at them.

"Fellas," Steve greeted before they lunged, yet they didn't fair well against the enhanced soldier and doctor. With the sound of their bodies hitting the unpaved road behind them, Gideon turned to Steve.

"I've got your back Steve. I'm your eyes, and they won't see me coming."

"Roger that," he nodded at the brunette.

As the truck slowed to a stop, Gideon knew it was her cue. It only took a few seconds for her to disappear entirely to the untrained eye, but Steve could see the slight outline of her form when the dim light caught it just right. She stood in front as Steve lowered himself with his shield out in front, prepared.

A light breeze caught the corner of the canvas opening followed by a guard peering inside the bed. He caught Gideon with her eyes wide, yet looked past her.

This new ability was still strange for her to comprehend. From the moment she stepped out of the machine, everything was different, but she didn't regret it. Howard, from a scientific approach, would called her a 'particle masker.' She had the ability to hide every molecule of her being and those that she touched within thin air.  At first, she didn't understand why her father have intended this for her, but now, as Steve knocked out the rather intruding guard and they slipped into the building, she knew.

She knew that this meant for more than her, but for the ending fate of HYDRA, the organization her and her father both desperately wanted to finish.

Her and Steve both sauntered down the winding hallways of the factory, often encountering the occasional guard in which Gideon forewarned to Steve and the two tackled them without suspicion of others. Eventually, they found the soldiers of the 107th regiment to much relief.

As Gideon reappeared, they worked together to free them from crowded cells, and while they pulled open the locks, she recognized most of them from when she treated them back at the base, but she had yet to find him.

Gideon searched the sea of men for Bucky's face, yet he wasn't in sight. He wasn't there, and her heart began to sink.

She continued to look though, near frantically searching the crowd as the now liberated soldiers, with the exact orders to give HYDRA hell on their escape from the Captain, rushed outside.

Catching Steve's eye from across the room, he knew her anxious look easily and pointed with his head to another corridor behind them. Gideon caught up to him with fast strides and quickly hid herself. The halls were quiet, void of any sound life, but that didn't stop them from checking every door they passed.

But it wasn't until they reached a darkened room with only a sliver of artificial light shining in from a window did they see someone. He lied strapped to the only table within the room, un-moving. At first glance, Gideon feared he was dead, yet rushing to his side, she recognized that shade of ocean blue from anywhere. His eyes were open slightly, dazed and staring blankly at the ceiling until he noticed their two figures hover over him.

Gideon's breath hitched when she saw him, when their eyes met. He's here. He's alive.

There was recognition in his gaze yet the liquids pumping through him from the connecting IV drip clouded his thoughts.

"Hey Bucky," the woman smiled down at him, her eyes watering slightly before she blinked them away as she unhooked his IV, and Steve began to free him from the table.

"It's me. It's Steve," the man said to his best friend.

"Steve," a smile grew on his face as his voice rose with awe, "and Gideon."

The soldier and doctor both stared at each other for a moment, the joy in their eyes evident. They didn't need words to show how relieved they were to be back in each other's hold.

"Come on," Steve directed, lifting Bucky from the table with Gideon coming up from behind to support him on the other side.

Despite the long road ahead of them, including their need to escape the HYDRA factory, Bucky was safe and back with them.

And in that moment, that was all that mattered.

[10/6/16]