I'll still fight for you
2:59:37
The hardened expression that Bucky Barnes wore right now didn't look convincing enough because the fear and the sadness in his eyes betrayed him. He looked like he was scared and losing his grip on what little composure he still had by the second, no one could blame him for that. He took a deep breath in as he turned to Steve and Clint, he assessed both men carefully and he knew that he didn't trust them to be able to pull this off without stopping him in some manner or another but he had to put up with it he supposed, none of them were going to leave him to do it alone no matter how much he might've told them otherwise. Both of them were too stubborn for their own good.
"I do what I need to do in there and you two suck it up, I won't play nice just because you have a conscience. I don't. Not when it comes to her, they wanted war then fine, they'll get it. They brought this on their damn selves. Nat is what matters here not who walks out of this in one piece, what you see in there is gonna be a side to me you won't like but they don't want who I'm trying to become. They want the weapon they turned out," he informed both of them, the tone of his voice cool and emotionless. "They wanted to hurt her and they did, now they wanna hurt both of us and they know taking her away is gonna make me lose it completely."
Clint just nodded in understanding though he looked sorrowful and angry, Steve however looked apprehensive. Barton, Bucky guessed, knew how to get the job done and had crossed more than one moral line in his time but Steve was the good boy, he always had been. He wanted people to walk out of there. Still, after a moment Steve's expression shifted and Bucky looked curious. Steve nodded in agreement; he guessed that Steve didn't like it but he knew that he couldn't stop him either. Smart.
"You'll get no argument from me," Clint replied with an easy shrug. "They get what's coming to them, so long as we get answers I don't care how you have to do it. I'm an assassin, the hell do I care if some assholes walk out of this? I tried to be a good person and mostly I succeed in that but that right there is my best friend in danger. It's her life on the line and if anyone thinks there's a line there that I won't cross? You're wrong."
Bucky found himself admiring Clint at that moment. Steve however looked scornful, Clint narrowed his eyes.
"What? Do you think my wife doesn't know who I am? Yeah, if she came in with us she'd do exactly the same only she wouldn't have to break a sweat to do it-"
"Then it's a good job I'm gonna be keeping tabs on you isn't it," Bobbi remarked in the middle of Clint's sentence as she stepped through the door looking disheveled and tired but she tried to smile anyway. "Boys, I'm sure you're all very skilled but none of you know what I know and I need specific information so I'll run comms from here, I'll tell you what I need as best I can, I'll keep her stable. I won't let her die if I can help it, I have a few options I haven't tried yet to keep her going for now just-- Hurry. I don't wanna find out what happens if we don't hit that mark." She glanced around at each tired man and she breathed out a sigh.
They looked just as much like hell as she did but it wasn't like any of them could pause to catch their breath much less pause to get any sleep. There was a life on the line, a life that each of these men and her alike cared for. This was Natasha. She was Clint's best friend, she was one of Bobbi's closest friends, she was the woman Bucky loved, she was Steve's best friend.
She wasn't just some no one. She had a lot of people that gave a damn about her and she was laid in there dying in agony.
3 hours.
2:52:12
She briefed them as best as she could, she gave them as much information as she could manage without overwhelming them but she knew that she could add in whatever she needed over the comms unit. She offered the group a small nod. "Get out of here, go. I need that goddamn antidote boys. You don't wanna see her die? You need to get that to me as fast as you can."
That was all they needed to hear, within three minutes they were geared up and out; he was glad that the safe house was well stocked and Bobbi's jets had supplies they could use where their own supplies fell short. They had only the blueprints they were able to get from Bobbi's access to the satellite feeds and she'd wanted them that she couldn't risk accessing the computer systems until they were ready to go in because the moment she did she knew that it'd be minutes if that until she triggered an alert. She needed them inside first.
To say that Bucky was tense was an understatement, he fought with the urge to ask how Natasha was every sixty seconds but he knew if he did that he was going to stress himself out more and stress, Bobbi, out in the process. He needed to accept that the woman he loved's life was in her hands and that she was the only person who could throw this antidote together. She needed information they couldn't get without them going in for her.
None of them said a damn word to one another the whole ride to the facility, on the outskirts Bucky stood and watched the men patrol below them and he noted the patterns in his head, the strategist in him overtook the man and he watched carefully in case there was a shift in their behavior patterns, there wasn't. He looked toward the other two and he smirked just slightly as he noticed that Clint and Steve were both doing the same thing that he was.
He didn't need to tell any of them what they were going to do he knew that much. The fighting came easy to all three of them, stealth was something that they were used to though Steve was far less so than he or Clint was. Steve followed orders well enough just like a soldier should. It seemed as though some things just never left you.
Their facility entrance was done with quietness and efficiency that was almost cold and callous, at least on his behalf. He didn't spare anyone that wasn't essential. Bobbi had taken out the security systems the moment that they took the outside guards out. They were running out of time as the seconds ticked by. Everything around them erupted loudly with noise. Alarms blared. He knew well enough the sounds because it wasn't the first time that he'd heard them. He'd defended these facilities a few times over the years.
Or at least ones like this.
Clint wasn't shaken at all by it, he took people out with the same cold efficiency that Bucky did but Steve only aimed for a knockout, he had no intentions of killing anyone because that wasn't who he was, Bucky admired that even if he thought at this point it was foolish. These weren't people, these bastards were wolves in sheep clothing. They were monsters masquerading as humans but they weren't.
1:59:07
"Boys, we're down to two hours please tell me you have something for me. I need to get to the lab and synthesize something before I lose any more time than I already have. Please. She's dying," Bobbi pleaded over the comms unit. She knew by now that they'd be lucky if they got the actual antidote from the facility, the moment they'd set off the outer alarms she had no doubt that they'd have destroyed it and they were wiping the systems as she spoke.
Bucky growled, she heard another shot ring out and she winced. She never did like to hear that sound especially when she knew that someone was dead because of it but she knew he'd do whatever he felt he had to do to get the job done, so would Clint. She wouldn't think any less of them for it.
"Soon," Steve promised as Clint and Bucky took out the remaining stragglers and forced a guard to enter the code to the lab; they were scrambling to erase everything and he knew that they were running out of time. He grabbed a scientist by his throat and pinned him to the wall, his eyes moved to the computer.
"Shut down the wipe and give me what I need and you might walk out of this," he hissed as he studied the man, the man put on his bravado but his body shook. He was afraid, he was right to be.
The metal hand closed just that little bit tighter.
"The woman I love is dying and I swear if she does I'll burn this whole damn thing down and you'll regret ever existing," Bucky wasn't speaking now to the scientist but rather the camera that flickered back to life with a flashing red light to show its activity. "If she dies, you all die." It was a promise he'd damn well keep and it'd end bloody.
The man he'd gripped by the throat struggled against his grip, he reluctantly nodded and Bucky released him; Clint kept an arrow trained on his heart even as the man entered the codes to shut down the system wipe. Clint fired and the man fell face down into the desk.
Bucky moved to the computer and he scoured through it, every piece of information he found was uploaded to Bobbi's computer remotely and he found himself hoping there was no tracking, he wasn't exactly brilliant with this whole tech thing. It was all new to him. Still, he knew enough to access these systems and he knew enough to send it where it needed to be and hope like hell that what they got was what they needed.
"Downloading it all now," Bobbi spoke with a forced calm in her voice. She was so far from calm. She was so very far from calm but there was little she could do about it. She sifted through the information, the chemical formulas that would make absolutely no sense to anyone else, she needed to pinpoint the formula for the poison before she could pinpoint the formula for the antidote.
This would take any regular person weeks to sort out and they'd have to sort through it all by reading a mountain of books but Bobbi was no ordinary person, she read through it all as fast as she possibly could, as fast as her brain would process the information. Come on, Morse. Come on. You can do this.
1:24:44
They were low on time and they still had to get the hell out of here, the cavalry had been called in and until they got out and got back to the safehouse there was no way Bobbi could make it back to the lab, no one could risk leaving Natasha alone. She might deteriorate and if there was no one there to help her she'd--
Bucky couldn't even begin to comprehend the thought of it.
"Please tell me you're making progress Morse," he muttered through gritted teeth as he avoided a shot and fired back. Steve's shield took a bullet with a loud ting sound that rang out and bounced off of the walls.
"I am but I need to get to a lab and throw this together and do a test first and we're running out of time. You need to get back here now because otherwise I'm not gonna be able to get what I need to do done in time. Time to move your asses boys, I need you back here." And fast. She didn't need to add that, she knew that they'd understand the urgency. Natasha had less than 90 minutes left on the clock.
Getting out wasn't as easy as getting in, he found himself wishing that he had her here with him to fight because he fought better at her side than he did anything else in the world. He knew her moves and she knew his, it would've been fluid but instead of fighting alongside her, he was fighting for her and quite literally. He knew that her life was in the balance and if they didn't get back in time all of this would've been for nothing. There'd be no force on this earth that could stop him from taking his revenge if she died.
There was a hell of a lot more people than he'd thought. His mind was racing as he tried to find a strategy to get out of here without dying and without Clint or Steve dying, he barked orders without even thinking about it, each of them followed however a time or two he'd had to stop one of them making a clumsy mistake, mostly Steve because he was far more insistent on no one in here dying, Bucky and Clint didn't share that sentiment if it was necessary it was necessary.
He found himself wishing that he'd come in alone the way that he wanted to begin with because it meant that he was responsible for less but here he was trying to keep two other people alive while trying to save the love of his life.
Nothing ever made life easy for him.
Duck, dip, dive, dodge... Shoot where necessary, try to stay out of the sights of the cameras because Bobbi couldn't help them with that anymore, she'd lost her access to the systems, or more she'd shut it down before she got traced. Don't draw too much attention to yourselves because that'd just draw more trouble than they needed at this point, it wasn't like getting in was easy, and getting out again sure as hell wasn't.
We need to get out of here. He repeated that mantra over and over and over in his mind. They needed to get back. He heard the buzz in his ears... He didn't need to hear her speak to know she was saying they were almost out of time.
1:11:02
They fell out into the open night's air, it should've been a relief for them but his boots and his vest were splattered with blood, he could feel the gun in his hands warm from firing, and instead of looking relieved at all his expression was grim. The three of them needed to get back and fast, they all knew the price if they were going to fail and so failure wasn't an option, all he could do was pray, pray that they'd get there in time and pray that Bobbi had enough to do what she needed to do and that her antidote would work.
Racing back to the jet, they sped through the skies, Bucky's mind was on nothing but getting back to Natasha so that Bobbi could get back to the lab and do her job. It would've scared the hell out of Clint and Steve had they not fully understood the urgency of the situation; he took a few detours but they were necessary, they had to make sure that they weren't being followed because otherwise, they'd take someone back to the safe house that'd probably shoot them all dead.
They got back to the safe house in time to see Bobbi throw on her jacket, giving Clint a quick kiss as she moved past him and slipped out the door. Immediately, Bucky moved to Natasha's side, he knelt down beside her bed and held her hands in his, and brought it to his lips. He placed a kiss against the clammy skin and immediately breathed out a deep sigh.
"Please hold on, it's just a little while longer okay? We're gonna figure this out. You gotta hold on Nat, you can't let them beat you. Don't die on me. Please, don't die on me," he was pleading in a quiet whisper as he watched her, for now at least she'd stopped writhing in agony so he was taking that as a good thing. "You need to hold on. We're gonna fix this."
We're gonna fix this.
He hoped like hell that was true. He hoped like hell they could because if this was it, if he had to sit here and watch her slip away when he was so close to getting her back he'd lose it for good and he knew it, he knew that whatever little remained in him that was still good would die along with her and he couldn't stand the thought of it. She wasn't going to die. He couldn't lose her.
His eyes moved to Clint as he came to stand next to him, standing up Bucky gave him a single nod before he walked over to Steve and left Clint to talk to his best friend. None of them had any idea if she could hear them.
"C'mon Tasha, we need you to keep on fighting okay? Ben, he's too little to lose someone he loves. You know he'd never get over losing you and me? You know I'm too dumb to keep myself alive without you. You gotta come outta this, just hold on. Nat, please hold on. I need you, Romeo there needs you. We're in it together right? You and me? We're in it together and you ain't allowed to die on me now," he spoke resolutely to her and closed his eyes. "Just hold on, Nat. Please hold on."
00:33:01
Everything in the house was silent bar the sounds of the machines that monitored Natasha's vital signs; she'd started to writhe and whimper in pain again about fifteen minutes ago and all three of them felt utterly helpless. They were aware of the fact that the clock was ticking down, each of them staring anxiously at Clint's unmoving, inactive phone on the desk. There had been no news at all and while Clint had sent dozens of texts to Bobbi, he'd gotten no reply at all.
It was driving them all crazy but there was nothing he could do. He knew that if Clint sat there the whole time calling Morse over and over again they'd just delay the only person they could count on to fix all of this, still, it didn't stop him from wanting to ask Clint to call his wife over and over again but he fought against it and refrained. Morse had to hurry her damn ass up though. The clock was ticking down second by second and he knew now that they were in the final stretch.
Live or die, life or death...
Thirty minutes to find out, just thirty.
00:12:29
Bobbi Morse walked back through the door and with a small hopeful expression, she turned to look at all 3 men before she walked over and injected Natasha with the antidote that they'd made in the lab. She squeezed her eyes tightly closed as her hand moved to Natasha's and she squeezed it. "C'mon Romanov, wake your ass up..." she whispered quietly as Natasha's hand began to tremble beneath her grip.
It's now or never Natasha, wake up...
Please wake up.