Sergeant Barnes: The Last Mission (COMPLETE)

Chapter 15: Bucky

I had just changed into the new gear SHIELD had given me when Agent Hill walked up behind me with a tablet of some sort.

"They traced the GPS, and found the coordinates for the base you'll be taking." She showed me a map of Germany, with the Berlin Airport and and another building flashing red, with a route connecting them. "It's about an hour out of Berlin if you use the main road. There are back roads that would probably be quicker, but apparently there are multiple reports of unfortunate endings to the people who try to take them." She tilted the screen back towards herself. "Probably best if you avoid those."

I nodded. "They're HYDRA routes only. That base was used during World War II. I remember how it used to be. If anyone uses those roads without the green light from HYDRA, they send an extraction team to find out why they're there." I put the strap of the new gun SHIELD had given me around my shoulder. "If we want to catch them off guard, we need to use the main road."

"I'm assuming that you don't need coordinates, then. If you know where it is."

"No. I know how to get there."

She powered down the tablet. "Good luck, Sergeant."

Sergeant. No one had really called me that recently. It was unsettling to hear it again, but before I could respond, Hill walked back the way she had came and was gone.

I made my way down to the landing platform, where we were supposed to take off in ten minutes. Natasha was already there, talking with Fury. I didn't bother them, but looked out to the left of them at the plane we were taking.

It was decently sized, but still probably small enough to be considered a combat jet if necessary. One pilot seat, and probably several passenger seats, plenty of storage space inside, at least from what I could tell from the outside. I had a vague memory of when Steve and I stole a different plane from Berlin to get to Siberia, but I pushed it out of my head for now. There would be time for recollections later.

The same door I had come through opened behind me. I turned and looked at a young girl, probably in her mid-teens, walked through and towards Natasha and Fury. Natasha turned to speak with her, while Fury came over towards me.

I guess she was the agent Natasha was training. She had brown hair, in two braids down her back. She was wearing a full-body combat suit, similar to Natasha's with a knife on her hip and a full quiver strapped to her back. I think a bow was attached too, but I couldn't tell from the front.

Fury walked up to my side and looked at the jet, and I turned to face the same direction. As we both looked out of the garage (if you could call something as big as this a garage), Fury said to me, "What do you think?"

"I think," I retorted, "that you need to stop dragging kids into battle."

"This kid in particular had already seen enough battle." He glanced back over his shoulder. "Don't bother asking, but she knows the risks of being an agent here, and she has known since she was much younger." He looked down at his feet. "Normally, I wouldn't pull a stunt like this, but she's not like most kids."

"Shouldn't she still try to be normal for a while?"

"'Normal' is the last word I would use to describe her life this far. I don't think she could be normal, not really."

I looked back at her. She looked normal enough to me. If you took off the suit and the gear.

"Look, she's not going to be in the heat of the fight. Just let her cover the exit and see how she does. She won't be a problem."

I shifted my gaze to Fury, who had looked back out in front of him. I knew there was a bigger story behind that girl, but I knew I wasn't going to get anything right now, so I let it drop.

Stark and the spider kid walked in just then, and Fury turned and walked towards the majority of the group. I followed in his wake, not really wanting to engage in conversation, but not wanting to miss anything important.

"We got the coordinates. The five of you are headed to Berlin. Barnes knows the rest of the way, and he'll get you going in the right direction. Remember," he eyed Stark, which I secretly thanked him for. "You're mission is to find where they're keeping more of these things, and destroy them before they get out. Any damage you do to the base is an added bonus. Questions?"

"Uh, yeah, I have one." Stark raised a hand. "How did you manage to get clearance from the UN in less than 24 hours? Last I checked, they don't work that efficiently."

"This isn't an Avengers mission," Natasha told him. "This was assigned to us two (she motioned to herself and Raven) and you are considered allies of SHIELD. Since SHIELD gave us this mission, and not the UN, the Sokovia Accords don't apply."

Stark lowered his finger. "That would have been nice to know, like, eight years ago."

"And that's why I didn't tell you." Fury eyed the kids before continuing, "By the way, for those of you who don't know, this," pointing at the spider, "is Peter Parker, and this," pointing to the girl, "is Agent Raven." He lowered his hand before walking towards the door. "It's eight. Get your butts on that jet and get out of here."

I didn't wait for the others, I just turned towards the plane and boarded without questioning anything. I was ready to get this over with, one way or another.

Natasha took the pilot's seat, and Stark, Parker, and Raven all sat down in the seats that lined the walls of the jet. I stashed my weapon in the storage compartments above the seats before sitting a seat away from the girl, while Stark and his protege sat on the other side. As Natasha completed the takeoff sequences, I sat back and tried to relax. Being in this type of plane brought back memories of missions I had done for HYDRA over the last fifty years or so, instead of against it. Instead of recalling what I had done, I took a look at the rest of the team.

Stark wasn't looking at any of us, but instead focused his gaze out the front of the cockpit. Parker looked like he wanted to say something, to break the silent tension, but the roar of the engines starting filled the air, so he just sat tense in his seat, and fidgeted with his hands. Raven had also focused her gaze towards the cockpit, but I decided now was as good a time as ever to get a read on the agent.

She sat alert, despite being on a jet. She wasn't necessarily tense, like Parker, but she looked ready, like she understood that she was diving into something that was unfamiliar to her. Her focus was that of a fighter, which made sense if Natasha had been the one to train her. As I analysed her body language, I realized that Fury was right. She could handle herself, or at least she was ready to. Maybe she should be here.

Natasha lifted the plane off the ground, and shifted the gear from hover to power, and just like that, we were in the fight for good. No turning back. I looked at the floor between my feet, and for some reason, I found myself hoping she would make it out okay. There was something about her that I respected, even from only having met her a few minutes ago.

Maybe bringing along kids wasn't always a bad plan.