Red, White & Blue | Bucky x Reader

Chapter Twelve

Steve parks outside an abandoned military base in Wheaton, NJ, and we climb out of the truck to approach the chain-link fence.

"This is it," Steve says, looking at the rundown buildings looming just beyond the front gate.

"The file came from these coordinates," Natasha confirms, double checking her phone.

Steve glances at the familiar sign on the fence. "So did I, this camp is where I was trained."

"So did SHIELD," I state.

"Really?" Natasha asks as she and Steve turn to me.

I nod, stepping up to the gate and breaking the lock with my powers. "Come on."

I lead us through the base and down the familiar roads, it's been a few decades since I've been here. In the 1970s, my cryogenic chamber was moved from this facility to the SHIELD office in New York.

"This place change much?" Natasha asks.

"A little," Steve replies.

Finally, I see the familiar flagpole, and Steve stops for a moment to look at it, being back here must be triggering memories for him too.

"This is a dead end," Natasha claims, looking at her phone. "Zero heat signatures, zero waves, not even radio. It doesn't look like anyone has been here since they closed this place down. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off."

"We should check that building anyway," I state, nodding toward the nearby structure.

Steve follows my gesture, and I see the curiosity on his face turn into comprehension.

Natasha looks at the building as well, but puzzlement mingles on her face instead. "What is it?"

Steve leads us toward the concreate structure. "Army regulations forbid storing munitions within five hundred yards of the barracks. This building is in the wrong place."

Steve uses his shield to break the padlock on the door, and we enter, taking the old elevator down into the depths of the building, where we find a large room filled with desks, and the original SHIELD logo painted on the far wall.

Slowly, we make our way toward the other end of the room, and Steve opens a door to the right, leading us into the old records room. On the wall directly ahead of us, covered in a thick layer of dust, are framed photographs of the SHIELD founders, Howard Stark, Peggy Carter, Colonel Chester Phillips, and me.

"There's Stark's father," Natasha states, gesturing to the portrait with her chin. "But who's the other girl?"

Steve hovers for a moment, gazing at the portrait of Peggy, but he doesn't answer. Instead, he turns away, walking along the massive, empty bookshelves.

"That's Peggy Carter," I whisper, offering Natasha a small shrug before following Steve.

The soft sound of a draft flowing through a passage fills my ears, and I glance around, trying to find the source of the noise.

"If you're already working in a secret office..." Steve ponders as he pulls on one of the bookshelves. It slides open, revealing a secret elevator behind it. "Why do you need to hide the elevator?"

"Don't ask me," I reply, raising my hands as my friends turn to me for an answer. "If this was here when I was, I never saw it. I was too busy getting in and out of the freezer."

Natasha smirks at my joke, taking out her phone to scan the thumbpad of the electronic lock and punching in the deciphered passcode. A second later, the elevator doors slide open with a ding, and we step inside, descending deeper into the facility.