CRUEL INTENTIONS, bucky barnes

eight

July 4, 2014

Brooklyn, New York

Savannah jumped in the back of the van and settled in beside the few colleagues she had wrangled together in the past few weeks. They all looked at her as if she held every answer to any question. With a smirk, she laid out a map between them and silently, she pointed a finger to a seemingly empty space along the East River.

"Okay, and?"

She looked up at the man who had spoken. His rifle lay across his lap, twinkling in the fading light. She smiled wider and settled back against the wall of the vehicle.

"That's where we'll find him," she said, which brought raised eyebrows all around. "I've been scouring, searching, and doing a hell of a lot of thinking and analyzing. It's an obvious pick. Removed, quiet, and more importantly, abandoned."

"How do you know that?" The woman sitting beside her asked. "I mean, really. How can we know anything for sure?"

Savannah sat forward again and folded the map. She leveled her gaze at the three men sitting across from her.

"This is our best bet. The time frame is flawless. Any fireworks within a three-mile radius will mask any trouble we run into." She moved her hair over one shoulder and slid toward the back of the van. "That's not permission to get trigger-happy. I'd bet he's been waiting on extraction for the past three months. But he knows how to hide and he knows how to remain undetected."

"Unfortunately for him, we're the ones who taught him that," Savannah said as she pushed herself onto the sidewalk and brushed off her clothes. She crossed her arms and made eye contact with each of the six agents, their full attention on her. "The goal is to bring him in alive. Expect resistance, but don't shoot first. I'll handle any disobedience."

They nodded intermittently. She glanced at the setting sun and smiled, raising two fingers to her temple with a nod. The six agents straightened their backs and nodded at her, their response coming in an eerie, unanimous whisper.

"Hail HYDRA."

——

Savannah plucked the blank piece of notebook paper from the ground and crushed it in her free hand. The other held her pistol, which she reluctantly tucked back into its holster. Her blood boiled as the agents surrounded her and stared blankly, waiting for orders or an explanation. She was still trying to figure out that last part for herself.

"We're getting closer," she muttered, squeezing down harder on the ball of paper. "He was here. No doubt. But we've already raked this entire premise clean."

"So you were wrong," said the woman who had questioned her earlier in the day with a dismissive scoff. Savannah thought her name was Alina. "You were wrong again, Savannah. This is getting ridiculous."

Savannah turned her body to the shorter woman, who had abandoned her helmet and offensive posture. It'd be too easy to take her out, right there. She held back for the moment, if for no other reason than the woman had been tremendously useful in the past weeks, in every aspect.

"Not wrong. Miscalculated. He's only half a step ahead, which is more than we've been able to say for the past three months." She tossed the paper to the ground with a grimace. "But that means he knows. He's noticed. Which means two things for us."

"And what the hell are those two things?" One of the men sighed as he unzipped his kevlar jacket, revealing a plain white t-shirt beneath. "Malveaux is right, this is fucking exhausting. And ridiculous. You're not going to get ahead of him. It's better to let him keep running and let the Feds get ahold of him. They'll take care of him real quick and we won't have to play these stupid games anymore."

Savannah cracked a smile and turned her face toward the windows. One set of fireworks was coming to a finale over the East River, but there were more that would likely last for most of the night.

"For one, it means we have to be more careful."

She pulled her firearm from its holster and fired a single shot into the man's abdomen in a fluid motion. The other agents cried out and took several steps back as their colleague folded to the floor and black liquid stained the white fabric of his shirt.

Savannah cocked her gun and pressed it to the top of his head as he writhed and groaned on his knees, gasping for breath below her.

"It also means the rest of us are going on a trip to Europe. Unfortunately, I just don't think you're fit to travel."

One of the other men retched the moment she pulled the trigger, but Alina and the others remained cold-faced and clutching their own weapons.

Savannah wiped the barrel of her gun on her jeans and replaced it in its holster, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. After they all stood silently for several minutes and watched the blood ooze onto the concrete from their fallen agent, Savannah looked at each of them and crossed her arms.

"Well, you heard me. We're off on a European retreat. Get packing."