Hello Sergeant (Bucky Barnes)

Freedom

Steve's POV

"We're all clear here. Ready for cleanup team, Maria," I said into the phone, my com muted so I could talk to her privately.

"They're already on the way, Steve." I could hear the relief in her voice. She'd been worried about sending me here, knowing how the hostiles around here targeted me. "The pilot says he's about twenty minutes out from you."

"Good to know. How'd the other teams do?"

There was a slight hesitation while she checked her notes, I heard her shuffling her papers as she talked to me. "Looks like everyone is done except Rumlow's team."

"What's taking him so long?"

"Don't know yet. He's the only one who hasn't reported in yet."

"Do they need backup?" I asked, knowing she wasn't going to ask my team to jump back in if things were under control. We both knew we couldn't afford to let a single base hold out against Shield in this part of the world.

"If you wouldn't mind, Steve. I'll let you know if they finish before you get there."

"I don't mind; I'll tell the guys in a little bit. How'd Bucky do today?"

"Nat said he was a great partner," Maria said, and I tell she was smiling. "They had a little bit of a hiccup, but it didn't slow them down. I'm sure he'll tell you about it when you see him."

"All right. See you tonight, Maria." I hung up and put my phone back in my pocket before unmuting my com. "Our ride will be here in 20 minutes, team, so let's get this contained for the cleanup crew."

A chorus of 'copy that' came over the coms and I started picking up unconscious hostiles and tossing them in the convoys for my guys to pat down and ziptie to the railing. It didn't take long for me to do my part, the weapons checks taking the longest.

*        *

The pilot landed near the Hydra base Rumlow's team was supposed to be taking and we disembarked. The first thing I noticed was the silence. Dread snaked through my veins and I hoped that I would be able to at least find the rest of my men in there.

The gates had been blown open and hung askew. My normally joking, rambunctious team was quiet, taking in the scene before us. There were bodies everywhere – not unconscious ones like we'd left behind for the cleanup crew – lifeless ones. They weren't fresh kills, either; after serving in the war, I'd seen enough bodies to know the difference.

"Masks on guys and keep your eyes peeled. I don't know who did this, but chances are the rest of our team is here somewhere."

"Are we on the right com channel, Cap?"

 "We're on the one they're supposed to be on," I said grimly, knowing we should have heard from them by now. "Agent Hill didn't get any response from them either. Move out, let's clear this place first, make sure we aren't walking into a trap."

 We cleared each building one by one, not finding a single trace of life in the whole base. We didn't find any evidence of our missing team, either. I switched over to the Avengers com line as our team left the stinking, fly infested massacre behind us. No need to watch over dead men.

"Hill, come in."

"Yes, Rogers? Did you find them?"

"Negative. Someone beat Rumlow's team here and took out every person on this base a couple days ago, judging from the decomposition. It's not a promising start, Hill."

"Any idea who?"

"No, sorry. No writing, nothing to point to any particular organization." I huffed out a breath. "Can you trace them with their coms or phones?"