Remembering Freedom

Lock Up

Hearing the single gunshot ring out, everyone ran to the doorway of the lab, eyes wide in horror and shock at the sight before them.

Melinda May had seen some horrible things in her life and there were only two other events that affected her as much as seeing the Winter Soldier cradling Jemma's lifeless body to his chest. This man, less than an hour earlier, had been like a blank slate, those icy eyes showing little if none emotion as he relayed every horrible thing HYDRA had ever done to him and to S.H.I.E.L.D over the last few decades (what he remembered anyways). Now he was broken, tears streaming from vacant eyes, his voice cracking as he muttered something in Russian. Blood was smeared along his jaw in an all too familiar shape. No one dared approach him in this state.

Natasha Romanov limped in, cradling an obviously broken arm against her chest. She looked beaten to hell, but she forced herself to kneel next to Barnes. Her green eyes filled with genuine sadness for her friend and for Jemma. Without startling him, she felt for Jemma's pulse and looked up at Melinda. "It's there, but fading fast."

"Give her to me."

Captain America spoke from the doorway and it took Melinda a moment to realize that he had had the others leave the room. His suit was covered in dirt and grime, his shield a little worse for wear. His clear blue eyes were pained and by the way he had set his jaw, May could see him holding his emotions at bay, like the true soldier he was.

"He's not letting anyone else near her."

He ignored Natasha's clipped warning and crouched a few feet away from him. "Bucky it's me Steve." He wasn't perturbed by a lack of reaction. "You need to let me help her. Come on pal."

Barnes finally looked up and Melinda was floored by the familiar vacant expression that she herself had worn at one time. The tears had finally stopped and when he opened his mouth, all that came out was "Steve?"

"Hey Buck..." Rogers' voice cracked and he gave him a watery smile. "Let me take Jemma. I can help her."

"My fault..." Barnes was shaking his head as he tightened his hold on her. "I did this..."

Rogers swallowed. "Listen Bucky. Her heart's still beatin'. You can make this right. Give her to me and I'll make sure she gets the best care." He laid a hand on Barnes' shoulder and squeezed. "Let me help."

Barnes looked down at Jemma, metal hand brushing a strand from her face and May saw the hesitation as he handed her to Rogers. She noticed the slight tremor in both his hands before he gained control of himself. He turned to Romanov and spoke in Russian, and May tried to read the woman's expression when she responded. Looking away she caught Rogers on the way out. "Nearest hospital is seven miles away."

He steeled his jaw, adjusted Jemma's limp form in his arms before taking off at a dead sprint that was the stuff of legend. She read his file and May knew he could run to the hospital faster than almost any mode of transportation they had on hand, except maybe the jet. But the jet had taken some serious hits from the HYDRA agents.

"What's your most secure cell?" Natasha was still kneeling next to Barnes, who had once again returned to his unresponsive state.

"The Cage on the Bus...walls are made of a silicon-carbide Vibranium alloy. He'll be secure."

The redhead nodded, pulling Barnes to his feet and guiding him towards the Bus.

..................................................................

"He asked for what?" Phil's usually calm voice rose.

Natasha didn't seem phased. "He wants me to trigger the Soldier."

May's eyebrows rose, not even wanting to know how she obtained that information. She looked at the screen, watching Barnes sit on the floor with his head is his hands. He still wore the blood saturated clothes and Melinda could the see the bullet wounds oozing. She knew he had refused treatment or at least that's all she got before he switched to Russian. The only person he had talked to after that was Natasha and even then it would be short clipped responses.

She understood all too well what it was like to want to retreat inward, to shut off the emotions because it hurt too much...the Soldier was his way of doing that. Rogers could only say that Simmons was still in surgery and since Barnes refused to talk or listen to anyone, telling him that was going to be difficult. Natasha knew better than to get his hopes up though and May respected that.

"Has Captain Rogers been notified of this plan?"

"He doesn't want Steve to know." Was Natasha's clipped response.

May had put together that the two assassins had had a history and it was evident in her tone why Barnes didn't want his old friend to know. Rogers wouldn't understand. He was a soldier, not an assassin. He took lives to protect others, but the Black Widow and the Winter Soldier took lives to satisfy their handlers. They took innocent lives along with their targets, women and children included. They had a darkness that had seeped into them so long ago that they had been transformed in weapons. Rogers was and still is the epitome of honor and valor, of light...the opposite of them.

Phil seemed to put this together as well because he sighed, running a hand down his face as he sat back down at his desk. "Any word on Jemma?"

"Still in surgery."

He looked at the monitor and took a breath. "Can he break his...programming?"

"Only if we use another trigger."

Phil met Natasha's eyes. "I'm assuming you know that one as well."

"Of course." She adjusted the sling for her arm, motioning toward the monitor. "May I?"

May watched Natasha speak a single word. The transformation was instantaneous and May felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as he slowly stood and stared with dead pale blue eyes at the camera. This was the Winter Soldier... She looked over at Phil's disturbed expression that probably mirrored her own.

"None of your team may enter. Once he sees them he will kill them, even if it means harming himself and he won't stop until his mission is complete or he's dead...Now go to Jemma. I will watch him."

May could've sworn she saw sadness in the woman's eyes before they returned to the cool detachment she was famous for. With a parting glance at the Soldier and the Widow, she prepped an SUV to leave.