Frozen in time
As the night faded away giving space to the morning light, Steve, Bucky, Iris, and Sam moved with a quiet urgency as they started to pack, a loud silence hovering over the cabin.
Steve received a crypted message from Tony during the night letting him know they left for Siberia and a jet was waiting for them at the base to join them.
"Are you sure you want to come?" Steve's question was directed to Bucky as he scrutinized him from the rear mirror, his face impassible as he just nodded.
Bucky gave a curt nod, his jaw clenched tight. Steve glanced at Iris, who sat beside him. "You don't have to come," he continued. "You can stay at the base. Bruce and Clint will still be there. Or Iris could—"
"I'm coming," Iris cut in, her voice firm. Her gaze burned with a fierce determination. "I want them to see my face when we shut down the Winter Soldier program once and for all."
"So do I," Bucky murmured, his voice barely audible over the hum of the engine.
Sam piped up from the backseat. "I'll volunteer to stay behind." Steve shot him a wry look. "No, you're coming too. Wouldn't want you to miss out on getting your butt frozen."
With a final check of their gear, they piled out of the SUV and onto the waiting jet. Tony had arranged for a cargo plane to keep a low profile, but it was still equipped with everything they'd need. The automatic pilot would give them a chance to rest and prepare for what lay ahead.
As the jet soared through the skies, the tension inside the cabin grew thicker. Iris sat on top of a crate, her fingers moving nimbly as she sewed up the tears in her shirt. Souvenirs from her run-in with the Winter Soldier. Sam crouched beside her, Redwing disassembled in his hands. "How's the shoulder?" he asked, his brow furrowed in concern.
"It could be worse," she replied, her voice tight.
Sam glanced over at Steve and Bucky. They sat across from them, their voices hushed as they talked. Or, at least, Steve talked. Bucky just listened, his eyes fixed intently on Iris. He then turned back to her "Do you think it's a good idea for him to be here, so soon?" he asked quietly.
Iris didn't hesitate. "Yes. He needs this. But he needs to be angry if he's going to be any use to us." With a swift movement, she yanked off her tank top, leaving her in just her bra. The scars on her abdomen were a brutal reminder of what they were up against. Sam's eyes darted down to her chest, then quickly away, his cheeks flushing. His gaze then followed the direction of four piercing blu eyes shooting daggers at him. "Well, I think you're on the right track for that," he muttered.
Steve's gaze flicked between them, his eyes narrowing. Bucky, couldn't tear his eyes away from Iris, knowing that that was the picture of the damage he'd inflicted. "None of this is your fault," Steve whispered, his voice full of sincerity.
Bucky's gaze never wavered. "She told me about...about your time together," he murmured "She doesn't blame you for what happened, now or ever"
A harsh laugh tore from Bucky's throat"I stabbed her, Steve. Me. The Winter Soldier. I'd do it again in a heartbeat if someone decided to say ten words" His eyes, haunted, anguished eyes, finally met Steve's. "Am I supposed to be grateful I survived?"
"Don't say that Buck" Steve's heart nearly shattered hearing his best friend talking like that.
Before he could continue, with a surgeon's precision bucky metal arm reached in front of Steve blocking a knife.
His eyes locked with Iris's as he stood up meeting her in the centre of the jet.
"Iris, what the hell?" Steve's voice sliced through the tense air behind his friend's back, his tone a mixture of surprise and concern.
"You needed a knife. I threw away yours; Hydra marked it. Made me vomit," Iris retorted sharply, her gaze unwavering as she reached for another knife strapped to her torso, swiftly handing it to Bucky.
"You are fucking both," she spat, her hand lingering momentarily on his chest where his necklace lay, her touch both accusatory and pleading. "I need the Winter Soldier's anger and James's mind. Can you do that?" she challenged, her eyes drilling into his, desperate for assurance amidst the chaos.
He nodded, a grim determination settling over his features.
"Fucking say it, James."
"Yes, I can do that," he growled.
She turned around going back to her crate, as she started to dress up Steve approached her.
"What the hell was that, Iris?" His concern was palpable, his brow furrowed with worry rather than anger.
"Don't worry. I knew he would take it. I'd never voluntarily ruin that pretty face of yours," she reassured him with a faint smile, a glimmer of mischief dancing in her eyes.
"You'll be the death of me," he chuckled softly, a mixture of fondness and exasperation evident in his voice as he assisted her in putting up her suit. "Be careful not to rip the stitches," he reminded her gently, his touch lingering as he placed a tender kiss on her lips, his embrace enveloping her in a comforting warmth. "Don't do anything stupid," he whispered into her ear.
The jet landed next to Tony's, the tailgate opening to the frozen air of the Siberian landscape pressing upon them. The door of the base was open, yet no sound emanated from within. Iris sensed the palpable worry radiating from both Steve and Sam as their minds raced through various scenarios. "Boys, most of the base is underground. The first floor only houses the gym and the infirmary," she offered in an attempt to ease their fears. "-1 contains the IT, mechanical, and living quarters. -2 are the cells."
The two Avengers vanished into the building, their boots crunching the frozen snow before meeting the cemented floor of the corridor. "We can do this," Bucky whispered, more to himself than anyone else, though perhaps he hoped Iris would hear, recognizing the fragility in his voice, the need for reassurance, for her to be the rock she had been years ago in the same place. "Yes, we can," she confirmed.
They followed in their friends' footsteps, finding Steve attempting to synchronize their earpieces with the other team. "Tony, we are here. What's your position?" he inquired.
"-1, Rogers. No one is in the building. All clear," Tony responded.
"Okay, let's go," Steve declared, securing his shield on his back as Sam followed. However, Bucky's feet seemed unable to follow the path, his gaze fixed on the rusted door at the end of the corridor, oblivious to the others as his steps directed him there.
Steve's concern was evident, his eyebrows raised as he turned to follow his best friend. Yet, Iris's hand found his chest, halting him. "It's okay, you go. We'll be down in a moment," her gaze a silent command.
Bucky's metal hand reached for the horizontal bar blocking the door as Iris pushed it open. In what felt like a thousand years their steps traced a long-lost track, one they did at least twice a day, together or alone, but always finding each other in the middle of the now deserted ring. The weights covert in dust marked where their hands lifted them every day, stealing glances every now and then. Traces of dried blood sat on the now yellow mat of the fighting ring, a picture of their body touching, a rough touch that made her scream and beg, but one who built a somewhat home for the Winter Soldier. She was his somewhat home.
"James..." she murmured beside him, not daring to meet his eyes, not wanting to know where his mind went off, not having enough courage to let hers wander to the feelings of that time "We need to join the others".
Their bodies moved in silence, enveloped by the weight of the silence that made it hard to breathe. As the others noticed them descending the stairs, their eyes darted in their direction. They knew Bucky was safe, but seeing him was another matter entirely.
James stopped a few meters from the others, signalling that their relief had to be expressed from a distance, not yet ready for physical contact.
"Did you find something?" Iris interrupted the uncomfortable silence.
"Yeah, I did," Tony gestured for them to approach the only working computer. "I was able to access files labelled 'SERUM.' Do you know anyone named Johann Schmidt?"
At the mention of that name, both super soldiers stood motionless, their hearts pounding as the shocking revelation washed over them. All eyes turned to them, but receiving no response, Tony turned to Iris, his eyebrows raised. She shook her head. "I know nothing."
Steve, attempting to find the strength to confront a past long buried, began, "He was the former head of Hydra. HYDRA originated as the special weapons division of the Nazis. His goal was to create the superior man, using the first prototype of Erskine's serum on himself. That's what disfigured him, earning him the name Red Skull."
"I thought Erskine worked for SHIELD," Tony interjected.
"He did, later on. But while Red Skull led HYDRA, he came in possession of the Tesseract. When my team and I destroyed HYDRA facilities, he touched the Tesseract and died."
"Why is this man important now?" Natasha inquired, seated nearby.
"Because he supposedly stored a vial of the first serum sample. And it appears that either they got their hands on Erksin's journal or someone was able to fix it."
"That's impossible; we destroyed everything," Steve's eyes darted around as if searching for something, anything, that could prove the news wrong. In that moment, his voice carried all the weight of his denial.
Bucky who hadn't said a word or moved a muscle this whole time turned his head to Iris next to him, his eyes seeking hers, his eyes holding a question that already held an answer.Her face intended to decipher whatever he was trying to communicate to her as the others watched this unspoken conversation.
"No," she finally uttered, her disbelief evident. Recoiling slightly, she retreated towards the stairs, her mouth parting as another "No" escaped.
The two of them sprinted down to the stairs as Tony and Steve followed gesturing the others to stay there and keep searching for anything useful.
They entered the door at the last floor underground, as they travelled through a narrow corridor, walls and floors covered in dust and mold, they merged into an atrium with twelve doors—six on each side—made of reinforced steel, each bearing a number and secured with heavy bolts and a security bar.
Bucky gestured for Tony to blast open two adjacent doors, numbered 1245 and 1246. Iris entered room 1245, closely followed by Steve, while Bucky entered the other, tagged by Tony.
The rooms mirrored each other, with blank walls adorned with chipping paint, webs, and scratches. A mattress lay against the wall, and a cabinet stood at the end of each space. Steve's eyes fell upon a crumpled pile of papers next to what he now recognized as Iris's chamber during her captivity. Stooping down, he sifted through the pages, drawings, and letters, some torn, some stained with what seemed like tears. In some of them, the writing was neat, precise, and romantic, in some of them it was chaotic, the letters were missing, and the words were not straight. The letters were from two different writers.
Iris crouched beside him, pushing the dusty mattress aside to reveal a small opening connecting the two cells. Through it, they could see Tony's legs and the adjacent mattress. Bucky's mattress.
"Step back," Bucky ordered, and as they complied, he began to smash the wall until a small box fell to the ground.
Now facing each other, all eyes were on the little green box. "What better place to hide it than between your two greatest weapons," Tony remarked bitterly.
"That's why the wall was empty," Iris sighed.
"Yeah, that's why Romeo and Juliet were able to pass love letters through the hole,"
"Tony" Steve's eyes darted to him as he shot daggers, he understood his frustration but that was out of line and that's a thing Steve was not yet used to.
Iris's gaze remained fixed on the now crumbled walls as Steve approached her, his hand finding her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, let's go. I might know who's fabricating the serum."
"Who?" Steve inquired as they made their way back to the others.
"Call Zemo in," she said, locking eyes with Tony before turning to Bucky, his face once again unreadable.