Nothing But Ash

If the bed was cramped the truck was ten times worse. Ren and Barnes sat facing each other, their legs were pressed together. The little nook the driver had created for them was barely enough space for one person, let alone two. Especially when the second was a massive supersoldier. 

The truck hit another bump, and Barnes knocked his head on one of the boxes above them. Another smaller, box shook loose a wacked into Ren's arm. Right where her suit didn’t cover. At least she had a suit. She couldn’t help feeling worried for Barnes in his T-shirt and cargo pants. Yeah, he’d done pretty well in the warehouse without gear. But this compound was going to be much worse. 

“What did that box say?” He asked.

She looked down at the container now half on her lap. “Brudshcat Industries, it's… it's not food. It's something called a Lentivirus,” Barnes was frozen and the look on his face was making her nervous, “What is it?” She asked.

“I’m not sure,” For someone who wasn’t sure he looked pretty damn upset.

“Barnes,”

He met her eyes, “When Hydra was experimenting with the serum… they used viruses. It was the best way to alter human genes,”

Dear god. “Do you think…”

“I don’t know,”

…

Ren could feel the moment they entered the compound. Not just when the truck stopped as the guards checked out the driver's ID and examined the cargo, there was something else. She couldn’t explain it. It was that coiling in her chest, that feeling of her power rising. Like something was calling to it. Whatever it was, Ren wasn’t sure if she liked it. The power in her was singing to it, the feeling was heady. But it made her uneasy. The feeling was similar to how it had been when she woke up in the hospital. Just on the edge of being out of control.  

But she said nothing. There were already too many things to worry about. 

The driver pulled out the boxes blocking them in and she and Barnes crawled out. As fast as they could they ducked in through the open back door. Through the kitchens, they entered a long stone hallway. Before it had been a Hydra base, this place must have been a palace or a fortress or something. 

Keeping to the shadows she followed Barnes’ lead. He led them through the twisting hallway despite never having been in the base before. She knew his work as The Winter Soldier had required more than just fighting, assassinations often required stealth, but she was a mixture of impressed and jealous of his confidence in this situation. Eventually, they reached the top floor with minimal altercations.

The room they ended up in held a gathering of desks and Hydra agents. The pair was able to dispatch the agents quickly, but not before one alerted the rest of the base to their presence. Now in a rush, they sifted through the files as fast as they could. Barnes took the computers and Ren flipped through the paper copies. Another thing on the list of things I need to learn she thought, as he hacked into another one of their desktops. 

Something caught her eye in the paperwork and she took a closer look. The file detailed a series of experiments regarding the super soldier serum. At first, she assumed it was about Barnes before she looked closer. It was Steve. The papers detailed them taking his blood and using it to try and understand the serum. They also described the ways they were… testing its effects.

“Barnes,” She said, “We gotta get to Steve,”

He was still typing, “Almost got it,”

“Got what?”

She walked over to Barnes and looked over his shoulder, the screen showed a schematic of the upper layers of the building. A blinding red dot labeled Wilson was only a floor below them. “Good, we grab him first,” Before they turned she noticed something, “What's that?” She asked pointing to it.

Barnes clicked on the tab labeled ‘Avengers Comms’. Her stomach dropped and she heard the man beside her curse. Her gut had been right, from what she could understand Hydra had been using a backdoor into their communication network since the events in D.C.. Even though Stark had beefed up their security the encryption still used the same base code as the S.H.I.E.LD. secure lines. “Guess it’s a good thing we didn’t call for backup,”

They were leaving just in time and met a team of Hydra agents in the hallway. She’d meant to punch one of them in the face, instead she might’ve burned off. Something was definitely throwing off her powers. But why not take advantage of it? While Barnes was going to hand to hand with his second guy she lit the other six on fire. He looked at her in shock, “Why not lead with that?”

Once they made it down to Wilson's floor they found the door unlocked, Barnes’ handiwork. She entered first with him watching her back. Two guards were in the room, one was dispatched with a knife the other received a kick to the chest. He flew back into the desk before another blow to the head knocked him out. On the askew desktop sat Sam’s wingsuit. In the cell in the back of the room sat Sam, looking impressed.

“Guess this makes me the damsel in distress,” 

“Well, I think I make a dashing knight,”

Sam's reaction told her when Barnes entered the room. Apprehension and well-disguised fear.

“Don’t worry,” Ren said, “He’s on our side,”

“When did you get the Terminator as a guard dog?” He asked. 

Grabbing the keys off one of the fallen guards she walked over to his cell, “Well he’s a pretty good partner,” She told him, “I couldn’t have found you without him,”

Out of the cell, Wilson eyed the former Winter Soldier, Barnes seemed to be appraising him too. The tension made her itch. She pulled Sam’s gear - repaired by Stark -  off the table and pushed it into his chest. “Put this on, we gotta go get Cap,”

Another two levels and Ren was pretty sure they were on the right floor. A third man made their progress through the Hydra agents even faster. They split up down the hall, checking each room. “Got him!” Barnes yelled, three doors down. 

They raced into the room after him. The floor was clear of agents, for now, but who knows how long their luck would last. Steve was hard to miss. He was strapped to a table in the middle of the room, his eyes were unfocused and one of his sleeves had been cut above elbow. Alive, but he looked pretty rough. 

On the refrigerator lining one wall there were rows and rows of vials. Serum, or attempts at recreating it. Ren didn’t have much time to admire them before Barnes grabbed the Captain's shield from where it lay and set to work destroying the vials. Good for him she thought. Sam was busy unstrapping Steve from the table. Once his work was finished Barnes came to his friend's side.

Steve’s eyes focused on him, “Buck” His voice was rough and strained, but he smiled at his old friend, “I thought you were dead,”

Bucky helped him into a standing position, “I thought you were smarter” He was practically carrying Steve, “Thought I told you not to do anything stupid,”

Steve laughed weakly. Those words clearly meant something to him that she couldn’t understand. As they exited the room she saw the collection of papers littering a countertop. She lit them up on her way out. 

“They’ve probably got more of those samples,” Sam said to her, “and they’ve definitely got that research backed up,”

They followed Steve and Bucky into the elevator, “I know, but we don’t have time right now,”

“Then we come back,” Steve wheezed, “With the rest of the team,”

Nobody argued. The doors opened to the lower level she and Barnes had come in from. Steve pushed himself up and Barnes let him go. More agents were waiting for them. There wasn’t much room for Wilson to fly but he still took on three agents. Steve and Barnes fought back to back, Ren wasn’t sure if they even realized how in sync they were. Meanwhile, she had her own cluster of Hydra agents. She pulled two more knives from the straps on her suit and made use of what Barnes had shown her. 

They fought their way through and had a clear shot to the exit. But the agents were still coming, turning their backs almost guaranteed a bullet in them. Desperate to get out before they ran out of steam she threw out a wave of flame. It was more than enough to hold the enemy agents back. But whatever was messing with her amplified it too much. She hadn’t created anything hot enough to burn concrete since the hospital, until now. The entire corridor was ablaze. 

Their exit cleared the four of them ran toward the kitchen, Ren in the lead. She and Steve were halfway through when they heard Sam shout. Somehow an agent had gotten through and had his arms around Wilson's neck. But there was Barnes, who hauled the agent off like he weighed nothing. A hit from his metal arm had the man crumpled to the floor. 

A beam dropped from the ceiling along with a pile of flaming rubble, blocking him in. The fire was eating at the walls around them too. Ren was cursing herself for her lack of control, they needed to get out now. “Just go!” Barnes yelled to them.

Rogers walked to the edge of the flames, “I’m not leaving you, Buck,”

This was her mess and she needed to clean it up. Calling upon her training with Bruce she steadied her breathing and focused. Slowly, the fire around him shrank, enough that he was able to climb through the rubble to them. 

Choking on smoke the four hurried through the kitchen. Ren was really missing that mask Tony had given her. The second they reached the open air Sam took off into the sky. A small mercy had a set of bikes by the gate, abandoned by the guardsman. Steve hopped on one and Barnes followed suit. Right behind them, Ren hesitated, she’d never driven a motorcycle. I really need to work on my training she thought.

“Get on!” Barnes yelled. 

Wasting no time she jumped onto the seat behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Then they were out, driving at a breakneck speed through the forest. But Hydra wouldn’t let them go that easy. A tank and another group of agents on bikes were gaining on them. As the Hydra goons flaked them Steve threw his shield. Their bike hit a rock and Barnes was occupied trying to stabilize it. One of the agents was getting a little too close for comfort and drew a gun with a strange blue light. Ren reached her right arm around Barnes and pulled the pistol holstered on his left side. Aiming it under his arm she pulled the trigger. 

One-handed shooting was a lot harder than two, but she managed to keep the gun in her hand. The bullet caught the agent in the shoulder and knocked him off his bike. That only left the rest of the small army chasing them. Captain America was bouncing his shield around the trees and taking agents out like it was nothing. Ren was more than a little awestruck. 

He peeled ahead of them and the tank barreled through the trees cutting them off. Barnes tried to stop the bike with a sharp left turn. Instead, the wheels slipped out from beneath them and they went sliding. She caught herself on her forearm, the metal cuff took the brunt of the impact. “Barnes!” She screamed, searching for him. 

He was fine and had taken the landing better than she had. A charging-up noise came from behind her. She looked back to see a blue light, like that from the agent's gun, building at the mouth of the tank. Diving to opposite sides they both managed to avoid the blast. What the hell kind of weapons did these guys have?

No time to contemplate that, when another Hydra agent lept from his motorcycle and landed between them. A glowing grenade was in his hand, pin missing. There wasn’t enough time to get away. 

A red blur touched down next to Barnes, Wilson. His wingsuit made a shield in front of the two of them. A heartbeat before the grenade went off a blue figure appeared next to Ren and pulled her to the ground. He placed his shield between them and the blast just in time. 

It knocked all of them backward but decimated the tank. She hopped back up and helped Steve to his feet. They made their way over to their friends.

“Just like old times,” Steve remarked to Bucky.

He snorted, “At least you didn’t jump on this one,”

…

…

…

Nearly half of the Hydra research base was destroyed. But the most important parts remained. The Avengers hadn’t even noticed that Loki’s scepter was in the building, and hadn’t guessed that the research hadn’t all been about Captain America. 

Baron Wolfgang von Strucker watched as the remaining agents went about assessing the damage. “Do you think we will be able to salvage it, sir?” One asked him.

“Certainly,” He replied, “And next time the Avengers come calling, we will be ready. The twins will be ready,”