Project: TESLA || [The Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes ★ Fanfiction]

Wind of Change

But that didn't take away the light that lived within her naturally, that inherent goodness that The Winter Soldier hoped would never leave her heart. Something about the purity of the girl reminded him of someone he knew a long time ago, someone he could never quite remember.

Through a haze of red and the HUD therein, he watched Tessa and let the computerization within his goggles read for movement in the periphery. At times like these, he could never complain about his mission. The girl gave him hope that, perhaps, someday he could find his freedom and the buried and blood-stained goodness that used to be him in another life.

The Winter Soldier was dressed in more than he usually wore. His left arm was obscured by a full sleeve and a glove to let him mingle more with the regular people in the embassy, aside from the mask he had on; that looked tactical enough to be something a soldier or skilled bodyguard might have. After watching Tessa a moment longer, movement at a visible walkway across from the parlor caught his eye.

Several people were being evacuated, it seemed, though he didn't know why. Regardless, he half-turned into the room and gruffly spoke one word.

"Tessa."

Stormy eyes rose from her book immediately upon hearing the commanding tone carrying her name. She didn't even need to ask a question, and he was grateful for that. Uncurling from the couch and closing her book, she stood and immediately headed toward the hand lifted toward her.

"Place your palm against my back and don't let it move from there, do you understand?" The soldier asked as he pulled her near and got a nod in exchange from his charge.

With her nod, he leaned out into the walkway, looking left first and then right down the sight of the sidearm he pulled from its holster. Without a second of thought, he spun gracefully out into the wrap-around balcony then roll-stepped forward at a steady pace down the parquet flooring in the direction of the conference room he knew her father was in.

There was no reservation as The Winter Soldier quashed the meeting with an abrupt opening of the door. Within, the dignitaries all looked up, but the figure in the doorway set his sights on Pierce and spoke immediately.

"Sir, we need to leave," that growling, muffled Russian was given and drew even more attention from those around the table.

"Gentlemen," Pierce dismissed his colleagues with a nod, closed his binder and left it on the table before moving toward The Winter Soldier and his daughter. "Let's go, Soldier."

Tessa said nothing, but her eyes looked up toward her father as he took her hand, replaced the presence of it with his own on the Soldier's back instead and gave his beloved daughter a reassuring smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes. Linked together by touch, The Winter Soldier snapped into action and turned, heading toward the back stairs that they could take from the third floor all the way down to ground level.

And that would have worked nicely, had the explosive beneath the stairs hadn't gone off when it did.

Tessa was flung back toward the third floor with a shriek while The Winter Soldier and Pierce collapsed with the rest of the structure of the stairs. Both men were just recovering from their fall when another screech of Tessa announced a flood of Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN Rebels) soldiers swamped over her, several of them grasping her and picking her up off the ground.

As those now in possession of Tessa turned to take her off to where the other hostages would be held, some stayed behind and took advantage of their position to shower rounds down around The Winter Soldier and Pierce. The Soldier wasted no time; his left arm flew up with the sidearm and blocked the bullets pelting down around them. When he was able, his arm stretched out and he returned fire as movement found them yet again. He harshly took hold of Pierce's jacket with his right hand, just between his shoulders, and guided him quickly away from the area and outside until they had reached relative safety.

Just as The Winter Soldier turned back to head inside, there was an unbelievable sight that dazzled his vision even behind the goggles. With a great shattering of glass, bolts of electricity blasted out of each and every window on the third floor. The currents were strong and arced up toward the clouds once they exited the building.