Winter's Redemption [winter soldier//Bucky Barnes AU]

Chapter Twenty Eight

*Natasha's POV*

Me and Steve sat shoulder to shoulder, listening to the people above us sacrifice themselves for a horrible cause. The cellar shook with every blast, and I was worried the cellar door wouldn't hold for much longer. I looked behind us, trying to see how much further the cellar went, and what was down there, but it was too dark to tell.

"I don't like this." I murmured. Steve nodded beside me.

"Me neither. We're trapped." He whispered. "I don't like being trapped."

"We should investigate what's further down the cellar. Most cellars aren't this big, so I'm thinking it's a passage way. There might be a way out." I said, looking over my shoulder and into the darkness.

"It could also lead to Hydra." Steve told me quietly. I frowned.

"Yeah, you're right. Do you think it's worth trying to investigate it?" I asked him, and he thought.

"I'm not sure. Is there a flashlight around here somewhere?" He questioned.

I stood up and began rifling through the shelves that were in here, looking through various boxes, and located a flashlight. I turned towards Steve and grinned, holding up the flashlight. He smiled.

"You guys up for a little investigation?" I asked, smirking. Bucky shrugged and stood up, Sarah following suit. Tony stood, and waited for Sam to get up. When Sam was, as Tony put it, 'too slow for him,' Tony pushed him off the chair. He started cackling evilly and Sam stood up, muttering what I assumed were not-very-nice words at Tony.

I rolled my eyes and turned the flashlight on, shining it towards the darkness, and revealing a long passage way. It was carved from the bedrock, so it wasn't originally part of the cellar.

I walked forward and led the group down the hall. It was straight, dark, and damp. The ceiling dripped water, and the floor that was made of rock had several cracks and holes in it. Some of the holes on the walls looked suspiciously like bullet holes.

Tony tripped over something behind me, and gasped. I whipped around and shined my flashlight, revealing a skull. I bent down to look at it.

It was very old, and most of the tissue and skin has decomposed. It appeared as though his cause of death had been a gunshot wound to the head.

"Very old skull, probably died of a gunshot wound." I said, and looked at Sarah. She looked uncomfortable but she was okay.

I sighed and stood up again, and everyone was speechless as we continued down the hall. My flashlight shined on something red, and I aimed it at the wall, seeing a Hydra logo painted crudely on it as if it was done in a hurry.

"What is this place?" Bucky asked. I shrugged, staring at the painting. I turned and kept walking. When we got to the end of the hall, there was a large door, with a keypad next to it. I took my phone out from my pocket and scanned the keypad, determining the code.

73045 was the code, and I typed it in, getting immediate access. When we walked in, I was immediately confused. It was a very old room, with a thick layer of dust covering everything. Considering how new the door looked, this room was out of place. I walked to the nearest desk and looked down at the papers. They, unlike everything else in the room, looked very new. There were hastily scribbled notes, along with typed documents, and both appeared to be medical records of mutants they were keeping in their grasp.

I scanned the paper, reading up on some of the victims of a Hydra.

"Patient 7398, injected with gonrithium. Suffered large amount of pain after injection, but was fine again ten minutes after the injection. The subject was tested one hour later, and her hand was cut off. Subject was in severe pain for hours, and there was no sign of cell regeneration. Subject did not grow hand back, so she was...terminated." I read aloud, and everyone looked around uncomfortably. Steve was trying to control his rage at Hydra, as was Bucky.

Suddenly, Tony held up a giant piece of paper, and ran to the center table to spread it out. We all stood around it as he rolled it out, and I gasped.

He had found a complete map of the Hydra base. Both the warehouse and the nuclear plant were on it, and it showed everything. There were three levels to the warehouse, and each contained a special section for the mutants. There were several labs and research areas inside the building, along with training rooms, a gun range and weapons-development room. I scanned the map, trying desperately to take everything in.

"Woah." Sam said, stunned. His eyes were wide, and he examined the map for anything that might help us defeat Hydra.

"Ok, there's a road right here. It's the only road leading to the base. We need to take out and destroy all the vehicles that go down that road, cutting off their supplies and making them starve. It will also stop all testing once they no longer have things to inject into the victims, so they'll come looking for the problem. From there we can ambush them and take them out, and then it'll be simple to gain access to the building." Steve said, acting like the born Captain he is. We nodded and Tony rolled up the map, stuffing it in his shirt. It was definitely time to leave, so we quickly exited the strange room. I shut the door behind me and locked it, and we went back to the room we were in before.

Bucky stood next to the door, and listened closely for any explosions, or anything that might hint that people were out there. He heard none, and opened the door to peek outside. I tensed up, worried that we really were trapped down here and Hydra agents were standing outside. Bucky's eyes widened, and I thought for sure we were done for.

But instead, he waved his hand for us to climb out. He got out first, followed by Steve. They helped me, Sarah, Sam and Tony out.

I was mortified by the sight before me.

The neighborhood was completely obliterated. The smoldering ruins of the houses were everywhere, and I was shocked at the amount of destruction.

"Why would they do this?" Sarah asked, and I shook my head in utter disbelief.

"At least they think we are dead now." I replied. I walked through the ruins, looking around. Bucky started towards the woods, and glanced back at us.

"We need to get out of here. They'll probably send in helicopters to look for us." He said, and Tony nodded, following him. The rest of us looked at each other and shrugged. We all trusted Bucky now, and there wasn't a better alternative, so we followed him and Tony. We tried to stay low in the rubble and not draw any attention to ourselves. The last thing we needed was for Hydra to find us.

The helicopters came when we got to the woods, and we hid in the bushes at the edge of the forest, watching the copters circle around trying to find out non-existent dead bodies. The helicopters searched for a long time, and once they disappeared into the distance we got a move on and travelled further into the woods.

Looked like another night sleeping on the ground.

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