Winter's Sunshine

7. The Winter soldier

"Hey, what happened? You sounded so scared on the phone" Sam barged into the control room where he found Jen looking terrified.

Poor girl Sam thought.

"Sam the mission has gone downhill. Bucky and three other soldiers are locked inside this hydra facility and I failed to get them out."

"Jen?" , Bucky called out through the earpiece. "What's going on? Get us out of here!!"

"Bucky I am so sorry but I have lost control over the system.", Jen replied hurriedly.

"What-you- mean? Are- trapped- help us", Jen tried making sense of Bucky's broken words as she glanced at the screen which had gone static.

"It seems that the communications are failing", Sam announced looking at Jen who was now on the verge of crying.

"Hey don't worry Jen", Sam reassured Jen. "We can save them. Let's go the base and get them out. You can hack in the system on-site because gaining remote access seems impossible now"

Jen, determined to finish her mission, agreed with Sam and left for the Hydra base.

----

"Any intel on number of Hydra soldiers?", Sam said while unlocking the safety lock of his weapon and getting out of the van.

"Most of them are down.", Jen responded running after him.

"Good. Stay behind me. Try not to die", Sam said getting a nervous nod from Jen.

Sam barged in the facility biting his cheek trying to contain his laughter after seeing Jen's worried face. He pulled over a serious face and gestured to Jen to follow him as he took the stairs.

Jen rushed upstairs moving past Sam, knowing the route as she had already seen it and made her way straight to the security room.

She found a code lock switch on the side of the door and started opening it using her tools.

She succeeded in unlocking the door within two minutes, 1 minute and 40 seconds to be exact. Sam mentally made a note of it so he could add it in the report later.

Jen gathered her tools and stuffed them in her backpack as Sam let the trapped soldiers out.

"GO GO GO", Sam urged them to run out.

She then rushed towards the screen and saw Bucky and the other soldier in the basement. A wave of relief washed over her but it was soon replaced by horror when she noticed the other soldier attacking Bucky who had his back faced to him.

"What the hell", Jen whispered at first and then shouted grabbing Sam's attention.

Sam watched the screen which showed the two soldiers fighting each other brutally. Equally confused, Sam just stared at the screen.

"Why are they fighting?", Jen asked Sam

"I don't know. This was not in the plan."

Jen stared at Sam registering what he had just said.

"Plan? What do you mean by plan?", Jen questioned him, still trying to make sense of it.

Sam gulped as he realized what he had just said and opted to change the topic.

"We need to get them out of there."

"Yes. Of course. Let me try", Jen tried unlocking the basement door by overwriting the codes in the system. She slammed the keyboard when the codes didn't work.

"I think it has to be done manually."

Sam nodded to Jen and they both made their way to the basement.

They were stopped by the same two soldiers who they had rescued minutes ago. The soldiers had their guns pointed towards Jen and Sam, ready to shoot them any second now.

"What the hell?", Sam whispered more to himself, taking a few steps back. He was confused, not knowing whether he had to shoot at them or not. This was not going as planned and it was making him worried. Agent Hill had briefed him that Jen would unlock the doors and get them out safely. That was all. But this was all confusing him. He checked on Jen who was trying to hide behind him.

In the very next moment, both the soldiers started shooting with their guns. Sam covered himself with his wings and ran towards them holding his stance and pushed them on the ground.

This disarmed the soldiers which let Jen sneak into the basement. Sam noticed her leaving and secretly sent his redwing to follow her so that he could track her.

Jen ran, retracing the way to the basement, finally reaching a familiar entrance on her right. Bucky, she sighed in relief. She heard the sound of punches and loud thuds coming from inside as she started unpacking her tools.

She searched for the lock switch and started doing what she did the best, hacking in. She tried listening to what was happening inside but all had suddenly gone still. Nothing could be heard. A few twitches in the switch and the door suddenly clicked open. She took a few steps back as the large door slid open slowly.

A figure walked out a few seconds later silent as a lamb. Jen moved inside to take a closer look at him.

"Bucky?", Jen called out hoping it was him.

Jen was startled on seeing the man standing tall in front of her. He felt foreign, completely unfamiliar. She cautiously moved back till her back hit the wall behind her, making sure she had her eyes on that figure.

It was Bucky, but not her Bucky. He looked still and different, he felt different. He felt danger.

Jen looked at his eyes which were cold, they lacked emotions, his usual warmth. Jen gulped as she realized that he was not Bucky. He was the infamous, the most feared. He was now The Winter Soldier.