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A Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Fic - The Constant	By : TheConstant1944 Category: Marvel Verse Comics > Captain America Views: 2391 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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Chapter Fifty-One
The Winter Soldier & Hydra - Time

Caldwell is not sending the Winter Soldier to assassinate anyone this time. On the contrary - he needs these people brought back safe and sound. They had talked about using the STRIKE teams, but have decided to use the Winter Soldier mission team to see if it is possible.
He can kill, but can he protect?
His mission is encoded and it had taken a while as the instructions vary to the norm. He seems to have accepted it. Only time will tell. The first of these missions is due the next day, and he will travel to each place after that. It has to be done quickly, before his programming begins to fail; the last thing they want to do is recall him each time, re-wipe, re-programme.
They are on too tight a time frame. They just do not have the time.
*
You look at the time. You are expecting the Winter Soldier back from programming soon and you are fidgety, cannot settle to anything.
Marinov came to see you earlier to say goodbye. He will be leaving the camp in a couple of days, for good. You will miss him. You could not help but ask him how many years you have known each other and he hesitated to tell you. You and the Winter Soldier look no older than when you first arrived – unless someone looked into your eyes, but everyone else has aged.
“I was 35 when we met and now I'm 63, does that help?”
And to hear it spoken in that way was a shock. You tried to smile but you begin to realise that you may out live some people who were older than you when you first met them. It is not something you wanted to think about.
“I shall miss you,” you say to him in all honesty, and then surprise him by reaching out and hugging him. His arms hold you so gently as if you are a piece of china and he is afraid he might damage you.
“Who knows maybe we might see each other again,” he says and you nod, unshed tears in your eyes. When he left you tried to keep your mind busy, you didn't want to think.
There is a knock on the door and you open it. The guards have delivered the Soldier to you, and now it is your duty to take over his care. The Winter Soldier steps into the room. You know it has been a longer session than normal, but you do not know why. They never tell you about the missions.
You can see that he has been bleeding but they have at least made an effort to clean him up. You do not know the new staff and you do not want to know them; your last encounter with Elise has made you even more reluctant to associate with others. Her death shocked you more than you expected, and you have had trouble understanding what happened. She was someone whom you had disliked and the feeling had seemed mutual, but now a part of you wonders could you have helped her in some way, stopped what had happened. Deep down you know you cannot care for everyone and that it is easier not to get involved with people than to accept you may fail someone else in the future.
You can see how tired he is, but also you notice that his hands are shaking. He needs food, so you persuade him to eat some soup before he sleeps. He is impatient with you, and cold, doesn't want you touching him; you reflect that some things never change.
You see him run his hand over his ribs on the right hand side and he winces, and you ask him about it. On the last mission he came back with a broken rib and you wonder if it hasn't healed properly; sometimes Zola's serum can take a wrong turn. It has caused a few problems in the past.
“Are you hurt? Is it something I can help with?” you ask before seeing the sneer on his face. He looks at you coldly. His eyes clearly show why he thinks you are asking and you feel yourself blush and you turn away.
He gets up from the table and, still ignoring you, goes through for his shower. Within an hour he is in bed asleep and you decide to turn in yourself, the effects of the cryo are still in your system and you both spend a quiet night sleeping until your alarm goes off in the morning.
*
It is time to leave for the mission - or missions, plural. Adam has the timetable. They need to visit six different places within the next four days. It is one of the longest periods that they have had the Winter Soldier away from base. He has been programmed for each part of the mission and the programming has taken; they know it has. For the first time ever Adam seriously broached the subject of taking Freya along with them. The argument is an old one between him and Caldwell. He believes by her being there they will have a clearer indication if the programming is breaking down, but Caldwell does not want to add any new factors into the missions. Perhaps one day he will reconsider, but not this time.
Which is a bloody shame, thinks Adam as it is obvious the Winter Soldier seems fractious, moody - and that makes him mean. Difficult to handle sometimes. He could do with Freya along to babysit.
Their first stop will be Austria, then South Africa, then two cities in America, a flying stop in Japan and finally, England. He is not looking forward to any of this. They will use their own transport right throughout; they will sleep whilst travelling; eat on the road. He knows he will have to keep a clear eye on the Winter Soldier. The last thing he needs is anything to slip and one of the targets to die.
Rodion pats him on the shoulder and grins. “You worry too much, my friend!” he says and Adam guesses he might be right.
*
The timetable goes well. Each time they were able to snatch the person they came for with very little collateral damage. They now have just one more mission to go. They are on the homeward stretch.
Adam is glad. The Winter Soldier has been hard to work out this time, quick-tempered and irritable. He has barely spoken, eaten little, and when Adam tried to find out what was wrong he was snappy, cold. He fulfilled each mission but the team could see he was faster to hit out when people did not do what they were supposed to. And the people themselves were not just frightened of him - they were terrified.
Adam looks at his watch as they arrive at their destination. Not too much longer to go. He looks over at where the Winter Soldier is watching Rodion set up the tech that would override the train's controls. The Winter Soldier senses he is being watched, and turns. Adam does not want to admit it but when the Winter Soldier looks at him he wants to looks away but doesn't. He holds his gaze. The look he is given is calculating and then he is dismissed and the Soldier looks back to Rodion. Adam realises a cold sweat has broken out on his brow and he wipes it away with his gloved hand.
Time to get to work.
*
“The 7.15 to Bristol boarding at Platform 2,” the announcer's voice notes over the tanoy. “No delays currently expected.”
The man turns, watching the remaining passengers board. His target boarded the train five minutes ago. He is now just waiting to ensure that the train pulls away with no problems. He hears the whine of the engine and watches as the bullet nose of the blue, white and yellow train softly chugs forward and then it heads down the track picking up speed.
Once it has departed, he heads to the telephone box and makes the call.
The train enters the two and a half mile long Chipping Sodbury Tunnel at 8.08am. It should have left it the other end about two minutes later...but it doesn't.
As the train enters the dark, its lights bouncing off the tunnel walls, the driver senses something is amiss. The tunnel itself seems to have a blue glow to it when all he should see is the lights of his own train. And then, impossibly, the train is slowing. He has not adjusted the speed at all.
By the time they have reached the midway point, the train has come to a standstill. He tries to radio through but the unit is dead and he is left looking helplessly at the controls until he can see a brighter light shining ahead on the track. It moves closer.
The lights on the train are still working somehow, and he can see several figures walking towards him. Thinking it is help he unlatches the door so that when the figures get closer they can get in, but as they approach he sees something that makes him re-latch it.
They are armed.
“Oh damn, damn!” he panics. This isn't a mail train, it's a passenger train - surely they are mistaken if this is some kind of heist.
The blue light in the tunnel belongs to a Hydra device which is hampering some of the operations on the train. The train has been brought to a standstill, the control to the passenger doors and the drivers communication to the station are dead but the lights still work.
One man stops in front of the train and holds up a machine gun. If he chose to, he could blow away the whole of the front glass and the driver. Instead he just stands there, cradling the gun. He is an imposing figure, dressed all in black except for his left arm which glints silver in the lights. His face is partially covered and as the driver looks at him the man returns his gaze and he shivers.
Someone knocks on the glass panel of the door which makes the driver jump and pulls his attention away. A second man is now stood, aiming a gun, indicating that he is to open the door. He is also aware of the noise in the cabin as passengers start to hit the alarms in the carriages of the train. They want to know what is going on, each set of carriage doors is locked. They cannot get out.
*
Rodion taps on the door a second time and realises the driver is frozen; he cannot make the decision so Rodion makes it for him. He nods to Viktor, who is carrying a mallet and the driver watches in horror as he swings the mallet at the glass panel of the door. It breaks the glass and the driver can only watch, transfixed, as the man reaches in and unlocks the door. Then the door is swinging open.
“Who are you? What do you want? This is a passenger train, there's no mon...”
There is no time for pleasantries. Rodion steps up into the cab as the driver tries to back away, lifts the butt of his gun and strikes the man's head, rendering him unconscious. He ties the drivers arms behind him and positions him in the corner. He will be down for at least two hours and will have a massive headache when he finally comes around.
“Okay!” Rodion shouts, leaving the cabin.
“Spread out. We don't know which carriage he is in. Find him!” The Winter Soldier's voice is harsh, loud despite the mask, and they split into two parties and take a side each. Rodion and Adam on the left, Viktor and the Winter Soldier on the right. Each man knows who their victim is. What he looks like.
By now the passengers on the train are crowded at the doors at each end of the carriage and they are trying to get them open but as each group see the men with the guns walking along the side of the train they back away. There are two first class carriages with seating arranged front to front, followed by four second class where the seating is arranged front-to-back.
Adam shakes his head. This is going to take too long. They cannot see anyone properly due to the passengers being grouped together in a panic.
“Go back to the cabin and tell them if they do not sit down then we will shoot them,” Adam says to Rodion. He then radios into the Winter Soldier to say what he is getting Rodion to do.
They know when the message has been received. The passengers look at each other and then the majority do what they are told. Rodion has told them they will not be harmed whilst they are sat in their seats. Anyone found not to be in their seat when they board will be shot where they stand. Some remaining passengers are indecisive.
The men come together and now enter the first coach through the entrance on the front of the carriage, unlocking it from the front. Rodion and Viktor enter first and a single shot is heard: one passenger who defied them and was standing – but now is no longer standing. His body lies in a pool of blood. They can feel the panic in the air; they know though that these people have got the message. They can hear one woman weeping.
As they walk down the length of the carriage, the passengers lean away from them...especially the tall one whose face is partially covered. One young boy points to the red star on the man's arm and his mother hushes him. She has put her own body between that of her sons and the men and as the soldier turns to look at the boy she shakes her head but she can rest easy, he is not interested in the boy or what he said.
Adam looks at the others and shakes his head.
Rodion turns to the passengers before they leave the carriage to move on.
“Stay in your seats and you will be safe,” is all he needs to say and he knows they will not move. But they will hear more shots fired and will close their eyes to pray.
There is always one person who believes themselves to be a hero, and that person is in the fourth carriage. He flattens himself against the side of the carriage by the door where the men will be coming through. Some of the other passengers beg him to sit down but he ignores them, sweat breaking out on his forehead but he can do this. He has a knife and his plan is to incapacitate the first man, grab his gun and turn it on the others.
He doesn't know how far he is out of his depth.
The Winter Soldier is the first one through, and he sees the movement on his left as the man raises the knife to stab him. Turning quickly his left arm deflects the blade and the man is on his knees before he knows it, bent double. The soldier pulls the man's right arm up and they can hear the bone crack from the other end of the carriage. The man cries out, the blade dropping to the floor. The man can now feel the coldness of a hand gun barrel on the back of his neck.
One of the other passengers stands up, holds both his arms out non threatening.
“Please let him go. He cannot harm you now!” his English is heavily accented. He is Dutch, an older man, and he doesn't want the man to suffer any more.
The soldier looks at him and the man sees those cold eyes appraise him but then he sees something else come into them; recognition. The soldier looks down once more at the man kneeling and pulls the trigger. The man is definitely not a threat now. He allows the corpse to slip to the floor whilst he steps over it, towards the older man. There is soft crying and he can hear people praying but none of that is of concern to him. He is now totally focused on the man in front of him.
He is the Winter Soldier's mission. He is the last one they are after.
“Get down on your knees,” the Winter Soldier's growl leaves nothing to the imagination and the man shakily does as he is told. He cannot believe what is happening. He is on a visit to England from his native Netherlands to see an old school friend and had caught the train less than an hour ago. All he can think of is his wife and children.
The gun barrel is a foot away from him and he looks down. He doesn't want to see the bullet that will take his life. He doesn't realise he is why the train has been stopped, doesn't yet realise his importance. He is one of a small group of people who will suddenly disappear from the known world, who will never be seen again.
He closes his eyes and begins praying.
*
The man is still struggling to realise that he has not been killed, but kidnapped.
Back in the train he thought the creature with the metal arm was going to kill him. Instead, his hands were bound behind him and a hood placed over his head.
None of the other passengers said a word. None of them would even look at the men. And, later, when they were asked for descriptions a few gave the best they could but the thing that had scared them the most was the one with the inhuman eyes and the metal arm.
The little boy was the only one to tell the investigators that the man had a red star atop his metal arm. The others are too afraid to say or back up what he says, as if by admitting it they would bring the soldier's wrath back into their lives.
The Dutch Mathematician is never seen again.
This was the Winter Soldier's last target, and now he and his team can travel home. Adam is pleased. The Winter Soldier has grown quieter, but he can still see an anger bubbling up behind the exterior. And as the time has gone on Adam admits to himself that the soldier looks pale, almost as though he is ill. He puts it down to migraines where his memories are trying to resurface. They need to get him back to base.
*
He comes back from mission report and you take his bag from him. Adam has already been to see you to say he thinks the Winter Soldier is unwell, that maybe it is his head, and you have to agree. The soldier is pale with dark circles under his eyes but there is something else. You can feel heat radiating from him. You hate to admit it but he smells: sweat and body odour. His hair is lank and greasy. You have seen this before and you know you will see it again - it usually means Zola's serum is causing problems. When you look at him you cannot see anything; his hand is all right and his face does not seem swollen, so it cannot be nails or teeth.
He is tetchy but you know you need to find out what is wrong. When you ask he is surly, tells you to leave him alone.
You stand in front of him and notice for the first time he is leaning to the side slightly. A sure sign he is in trouble. “Whether you like it or not I am here to help you. I don't care what you think about me, what you think I have done, but something is not right. Something is bothering you. I can see it in your face, in your eyes...and you smell disgusting! Either you tell me, or we go to see Doctor Jakobs right now and he can sort you out.”
Neither of you move. Finally, he looks at you and you can see he is in pain. Serious pain. He sees the change in your face from belligerent to caring and something in him seems to break.
“My side,” he says quietly.
“Okay.” You start to unbuckle his jacket. He tries to help and several times you see him catch his breath. As the jacket comes undone you can smell blood, you would recognise that scent anywhere and you realise the tee-shirt underneath is soaked through on the right hand side.
You slow down and start to be more careful.
“Were you shot, knifed, anything like that?” you ask and he shakes his head. If he had been, you know Adam would have known too, would have acted on it straight away.
You put the jacket down and see that the blood has soaked into the top of his trousers as well. Gently you pull the fabric of the tee shirt away from his skin, but it sticks in some places. The heat coming from the area is immense. You place your hand over the material and feel a solid lump, and your hand comes away red. He shifts from foot to foot as if trying to get comfortable but you cannot tell him to sit; you need to look at what the problem is first.
“I need to cut this off and see the damage underneath. Tell me what happened.”
“Nothing happened,” he says between gritted teeth. He can barely stand and you can see it is causing him balance problems. Now that he has admitted he is injured it is as if the wound has got worse and hit him full force.
You use a pair of scissors to remove the tee shirt and what you find shocks you. On the right hand side towards the bottom of his rib cage, part of a rib has burst through his skin. No - more like grown through his skin.
“Christ,” you swear. You prod and feel gently around the area, apologising as he groans. You can see this is not a new injury. Some of the blood is dried, clotted, and the skin itself is under immense pressure. Thinking on your feet you realise that this is the rib that was broken on the last mission. But it was not this bad; it had been left to mend itself, it just needed the bone to knit together. He has had broken ribs before which have mended with no trouble. This one makes no sense. The skin is slippery around the area, the hole about an inch and a half across. An infection has started.
“How long has it been like this?” you ask. You fetch some clean gauze from your medical bag, wet it and get him to hold it against the area, then you encourage him to sit down.
He shrugs at first, but when he sees you going for the telephone he puts a hand out as if to stop you. Your own hand hovers above the receiver. “Can't you just...sew it up?” he asks.
“Part of your rib has broken through your skin. I need to get Doctor Jakobs to have a look. We need to x-ray the area to see what is happening under the skin. We don't have any other option,” you reply.
You wait for him to nod and he does. You speak to Doctor Jakobs and tell him you will meet him in the surgery with the Winter Soldier. Before you both leave your quarters, the Winter Soldier stops you and you know what he is going to ask and you pre-empt him so he doesn't have to.
“I wont leave,” you say. You know how much he hates any type of attention from the doctors, any visit to the surgery or operating room. It is like a nightmare for him. He may not know why, but you do.
What you find when the x-rays come back is frightening. Instead of Zola's serum repairing the broken rib and knitting it back together, it has miscalculated and treated it as if each broken end is a separate rib. It has grown the bone to extend both ends of the break to the lengths of the other ribs.
If the broken rib hadn't grown outwards through the skin, it would have instead grown inwards and punctured his liver. The other 'new' rib is about to break through the rib cage at the back. The Winter Soldier needs to be operated on.
You have explained to Caldwell in the past that Zola's serum is not perfect, that these errors in its make-up seem to occur every so often.
They are just one more fucked-up thing the Winter Soldier has learnt to live with.
*
Hydra Unit Five: Western Hemisphere
The five men and two women are taken into a large conference room. Whilst they are prisoners - there is no doubt in their minds about that - they have been treated in the main with courtesy by their jailers. Although none of them have had their questions answered, none of them know why they have been kidnapped and brought here.
They are asked to sit around the table and coffee is given out. They look at each other; some even seem to recognise each other.
A man sits at the top of the table. He is small, inconspicuous, balding. He watches as they come in, mentally ticking of their names in his mind. When they are all seated they take in the guards in each corner, each one armed, each one in black with a red logo on his uniform.
The man at the top of the table stands and coughs to get their attention. His voice is quiet and he apologises for the way in which they have been recruited. There is some muttering around the table and the man holds up his hand but it is not until one of the guards steps forward, gun in hand, that the muttering stops.
“My name is Armin Zola, and you have been brought here to assist me with a problem,” he says. “You are all from the field of computing and mathematics. I can see some of you even know each other.”
He goes on to explain why they are here and they watch him incredulously. When he is finished he looks at them expectantly and they all try to speak at once. One man stands up, calls Zola an idiot - but when the guards close in on the table he sits back down, still angry.
Zola shakes his head as if his audience are truculent school children. He feels unwell. He feels they are not taking him seriously. But they will. His tone of voice begins to reflects his impatience with them.
“Let me make one thing absolutely clear to you,” he says. He turns to a screen behind him and clicks a remote in his hand. One by one photographs are shown of people, wives, children. He recites a name each time a photograph is shown.
The people around the table go deadly quiet. The photographs are of their loved ones.
Zola turns back to them.
“I see I have your attention now. You will help me. You have no other option, you see I am out of time. I am not going to promise any of you your lives at the end of this project, but I will promise you the lives of your husbands, your wives, children, and families. Each of you have met the one we call the Winter Soldier...” And they know who he is talking about even if they didn't know his name. He is the person who brought violence into their lives. “Should you fail, should you attempt escape, sabotage, or do anything that otherwise undermines this project in any way he will be sent out to kill your loved ones. And they will be killed. Make no mistake on that.”
Zola looks at them.
“As I have just told you, I have been given less than a year to live. My own people are working on this project to transfer my mind, my consciousness, to the computer banks but you are the missing links. You will ensure this project is brought to fruition. If not, and I die then...your families will die. Do I make myself clear?”
No one actually speaks but they do not have to, their fear for their loved ones is in their faces, in their wide eyes.
Zola has warned them. They are not working just to keep his mind alive, to give him a future, they are working to keep their families alive. To give them a future.
*
Hydra Camp
Not everyone knows what their future will hold.
Marinov looks back at the camp where he has spent the last twenty years of his life. He had done as much as he believes he can, was beginning to feel his age and the toll of life in the camp was lowering his defences. He requested that Caldwell relieve him of his command. Caldwell had agreed that he needs to hand over his responsibility and has found a post for him to fill in his home town's local Police Station. A chance to infiltrate everywhere they can.
Hydra never lets you go but he is lucky and Caldwell has a lot of respect for him.
He has handed over to Zolnerowich who has now become the first in command and Marinov is heading home to his wife. Part of him feels sadness, and he is not sure why. He is leaving behind friends...but he is also leaving behind bad memories and it makes him feel lighter than he has done in years. He is still tied to Hydra - you never escape them but he is just grateful they have allowed him to remain alive. He is grateful they never found out about him.
The gate closes behind him for the last time and as he left the guards saluted him.
He returns the salute and then turns and walks away.
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A Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Fic - The Constant