The Soldier of Summer: Book 1

Chapter 3

We had almost no problems getting out of the facility, save the guy who recognized the Winter Soldier. He was large, bald, had a stocky build. He walked up to us, asking when we had gotten him back under.
"Just a few minutes ago. We're taking him back to his cell now," I told him.
"This isn't the way to his cell," he said, looking around.
"He was just a part of the Avengers, sir. He was moved so we could gather information from his mind." I spoke to him while fitting my gun with a silencing tool.
"Oh, well, what was it like? Ya know, killing Cla-"
The bullet went through his head before he could say her name. He fell to the ground, eyes and mouth open, head rolled back. It was silent and disturbing, even for me.
"Let's go, we have to hurry," I looked back. Sam looked at me in shock. Steve and Natasha were trying not to look surprised. Winter, still holding Clara, was looking down. I turned around and stepped over the body.
We had no other problems getting out of the building, but the hard part was still to come. I led them through the woods, towards our small cemetery.
When we got there, I found an open grave and told Winter to set her down. I unzipped her and grabbed the two mechanical airplanes tangled in her hair, then zipped her back up and looked at Winter. "Bury her," I told him. He looked at me puzzled and asked, "Aren't you supposed to do that?" He set her in the grave.
"Normally I would," I said, diffing through my bag. "But for this to work, I have to work while making it look like I'm still burying her." I pulled out Natasha's knife.
Sam looked around. "Why are there so many empty spaces? Are you expecting a party?"
I rolled my eyes, flicking the knife out. "No, it's just that Hydra doesn't have time to dig a grave for each person when they die, so they just dig out a ton at once."
Steve eyed the knife warily as Winter got to work on burying Clara. "What are you going to do with that?" He asked me.
"This," I said. Not looking up, I sliced my flesh arm open just before my elbow. Sam screamed as blood dribbled down my arm, black as tar in the night.
"What the hell, Auri!"he screamed.
I dropped the knife put my metal fingers in the wound, digging around the flesh. "First of all," I winced, "keep your voice down. Second." I grunted as I pulled a microchip out of my arm.
"Don't call me Auri."
They all looked at me in disbelief as I held out the little rectangle for them to see. Steve picked a few leaves from a nearby tree. He rushed over and put pressure on my wound with them.
I smiled grateful for his willingness to help. As he continued to put pressure on my arm, I tied the chip to a chord I had packed in my backpack. I tied the other end of the chord to one of the mechanical planes that had been hidden in Clara's hair.
"I built it myself," I said to Steve. "I programmed it to fly towards the Hydra facility at the pace that I walk. This way, they won't expect a thing until we're gone."
"What is it?" Steve asked pointing to the chip.
"It's a tracker," I told him.
Natasha looked at me, "Why not just out it in your metal arm?"she asked.
"Good question," I said pointing at her, "It would be easy to get rid of the metal arm. But nobody wants to lose both of their arms."
"Hey Buck," Steve called, "How are you are you doing with the girl?"
Winter grunted. "Almost done." He was just patting down the dirt. I walked over and placed my metal arm on the freshly placed dirt.
"I will avenge you my friend," I whispered. "I promise."
And when I got up, I pressed a button on my little airplane, and it drifted off. I silently led the team out of the small cemetery.