Strings - A Winter Story

-9-

"The monster always dies at the end of the story, why am I still alive?"

"You in position?" Autumn hears Bucky's husky voice down the earpiece. She instantly gets a blast from the past as she remembers communicating with various teams through earpieces. Nonetheless, she returns her focus to events unfolding below.

"Yes" she replies unemotionally. Her body lays as flat as a pancake on the rusty scaffolding, her m16 rifle in tight to her body, her eyes on her prey below.

"OK, you make the first move" Bucky gives Autumn free reign to start off the chaos. Unusual she imagines coming from someone who works alone, control is what drives people like Autumn and Bucky she presumed. She dismisses it as just a professional curtesy. The pair had snuck into the building and found a group of ten HYDRA agents carrying boxes, weapons presumably. Despite them being in casual civilian clothing, Autumn could practically smell HYDRA off them. Her being nimble and small, she had scaled the outside of the building and snuck in through an open window. Bucky is now on the ground, poised and ready to attack on her go. Autumn inhales oxygen, releasing it slowly as she whispers her words.

"I had strings but now I'm free. There are no strings on me"

She light presses the trigger sending one lone bullet into the back of an unsuspecting agent. He topples over, alerting the others of an attack. The others scramble for cover as Bucky breaks his. Autumn watches from her vantage point as he charges at the two closest too him and sends them flying with minimal effort. Autumn takes out another four agents, moving into a kneeling position to be able to track them with her scope.

"Can you keep them occupied while I go to the crates?" Autumn calls down the ear piece as she can no longer do damage from where she is stationed.

"Yeah, go now" she hears him reply and acts immediately. She drops the rifle and pulls out her 9mm, the rifle being to awkward to carry down of the scaffolding. Before she drops down, she checks the ammo and puts it in her waistline whilst she turns to head down the ladder. She briskly and silently descends from her original position and lands with both feet on the ground solidly. She spins her head to look in Bucky's direction who is occupied with dealing with the agents, she turns and aims for the crates of weapons.

Autumn only has minutes to execute her plan.

She approaches the crates and peers into an open one and it's as she expects, weapons. Chancing a stray look in Bucky's direction, she lowers herself to the ground and swiftly removes her diamond earring, well an earring is what she likes everyone to think. Carefully placing it in the middle of the crates, she replaces the clasp back on, arming it. She mentally sets a timer of two minutes. Autumn stands back up and walks away not only from the crates but from Bucky also. He on the other hand has successfully knocked out and killed five agents with his bare hands. He stands amongst the bodies, his chest rising and falling as he recovers. He looks up and searches the open space for his work companion, but she is nowhere to be seen.

"Autumn, are you there?" He calls out loudly, his voice filling all the dark corners. Even his enhanced senses can not locate the rogue assassin.

No reply.

"Autumn can you hear me?" He repeats as he places a finger over the ear piece instead. A voice responds to him, but it sends shivers down his spine.

"I've no strings so I have fun. I'm not tied up to anyone" Bucky tenses up as Autumn's reply rings out in his ear. He is quick to put two and two together with his head snapping in the direction of the crates. With that being Autumns last known location, he commences a sprint towards it.

Three. Two. One.

He doesn't get very far before a shock wave sends him flying back in the direction he came from, landing on his rear end. The explosion rattles the old building, destroying everything within a fifteen metre radius. Thankfully Bucky is not in that range but it did knock him over. He rapidly pulls himself to his feet and stares in shock at the angry flames which are engulfing the building. He is confused as to what had just occurred but he hopes Autumn has answers.

"Autumn? What the hell?" He screams down the earpiece furiously, he brushed with death and desperately wants to know what caused woman to bolt.

"Nice try soldier but like I said, I'm not tied up to anyone" Autumns voice rings in his ears smugly before a static noise echoes down the earpiece indicating it has been destroyed.

By time Bucky has realised what was going on, Autumn is long gone. She had sprinted into the nearby train yard and jumped into a carriage carrying boxes of fruit, it's destination didn't matter as long as it was moving away from the building. With so many trains coming and going it would be impossible for SHIELD to get a location on her.

They had thought she was a fool.

Autumn could spot SHIELD or HYDRA anywhere, she has worked for both. The earpiece from Bucky was the final nail in the coffin for her, she had time to examine it before the first shot was fired by her. Engraved on the bottom was a tiny SHIELD symbol, the outline of the bird was so small yet so obvious if you were looking for it which Autumn was. She had her suspicions, little and subtle things that allowed her to see through the smoke and mirrors. This is the Winter Soldier for crying out loud. If he is with HYDRA, she would be dead. Autumn knows she is wanted by both groups and she knows of Buckys little fiasco with the Avengers. His little story about trying to find himself was just to convince Autumn. Bucky is working with SHIELD and the quin-jet which quickly arrives at the burning warehouse after her show is proof.

She doesn't want to be associated with a group. She doesn't want a label or a tag. She wants to be left alone. It is better this way. For herself and for everyone else.

                          -------------------

"Give a man a mask and he will become his true self"