the dark sapphire -Bucky Barnes-

93

The next morning, tension hung in the air as everyone sat for the early morning meeting. The plan was gone over one last time before everyone was sent to gear up. They would be leaving in an hour. Bucky was in one of the weapons rooms with Ally, slipping into his suit, when there was a knock at the door. Sharon entered and handed Ally something. "Sam gave it to us when you guys got here. I put the best people on it and had it improved" she said, smiled at Ally and left the room again.

Confused, Ally unfolded the thing in her hands. "I remember this. I was wearing it when I woke up, after the attack on you" she said to Bucky as she examined the suit in her hands. It was dark blue, almost black, and she remembered it being comfortable, if very tight. Without giving it much more thought, she put it on before braiding her hair in boxer braids and putting on the bulletproof vest Bucky handed her. She then attached the holster that came with the suit. It was a combination of a belt that went around her waist and two more attached parts that she buckled around her thighs. Bucky helped her tighten all the straps one more time so they wouldn't slip before arming themselves.

"You look really damn good. Too bad the outfit has such a shitty reason" Bucky smiled at her while she fixed the second pistol in the holster and then put the knives, she had four in total, in the holders provided. She returned his smile before tucking a fifth knife into her boot for good measure. She then pulled on her fingerless leather gloves and took a deep breath. "Ready" she looked at Bucky with a mixture of nervousness and confidence.

"Not quite" he fiddled with his neck for a moment before reaching for Ally's hand and slowly putting something in it for her.  "I want you to have it" he squeezed her hand into a fist before releasing it. Confused, Ally opened her fist and stared in surprise at Bucky's dog tags. "Bucky...I shouldn't.... You should...." she stammered, but Bucky raised his hand to silence her. "no. I want you to have them. If anything happens, I know you'll have something to remember me by" he said tenderly. Ally opened her mouth, but she couldn't find the words to answer anything, so she wordlessly fell around Bucky's neck and hugged him tightly. Sighing, Bucky hugged her even tighter. "Thank you" she mumbled against his chest. He just smiled and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

When they detached, Ally put on the chain and opened her suit a bit to hide the dog tags under it. She then took off her left glove and brushed her bracelet off her wrist. "Here" she held it out to Bucky. Questioningly, he accepted it. "I want you to have something too" she smiled at him, which Bucky returned. "Thanks Doll" he said as he put on the bracelet.

Later, as they sat in one of the big trucks, Bucky noticed that Ally was getting more and more nervous. She kept reaching for her wrist, playing with the Velcro on her glove while chewing on her lower lip. "Hey, don't worry so much about it now. Everything will be fine" encouragingly he reached for her hand and squeezed it. Nodding, Ally sighed and leaned against him. She hoped that Bucky would be right.

They positioned themselves a little away from the warehouse so as not to be immediately spotted. When all the agents and the strike team had arrived, Sharon handed out the comms. "Remember. Our goal is not to kill these people, but to arrest as many as we can so we can interrogate them, understand?" Everyone nodded. "Okay, good luck then. Get into your positions. We're storming the building on my command" Sharon ordered and again a nod went through the crowd before everyone headed out. "I'll see you inside. You can do this" Bucky pressed a kiss to Ally's forehead. They were on different tackle teams and would attack at different points. "Just promise me nothing will happen to you" Ally sighed as Bucky let go of her hand to join his group. "Don't worry" he winked at her before running after Sharon. Nervously Ally looked after him before joining her group.

Bucky and Sharon positioned themselves to the left and right of the main door, holding their weapons at the ready, while two agents prepared to open the door. "All teams ready?" Sharon asked into the comms. All team captains confirmed their location, even Sam, who was part of the last group, answered that they were in position. "Good, on my mark" Sharon made eye contact with the two agents at the door who nodded to her. "Access" Sharon ordered and the two agents yanked the door open before the team led by Bucky and Sharon stormed the building.

The surprised opponents standing just behind the door didn't even have a chance to draw their weapon before Bucky's group had them surrounded. "Weapons on the floor and kick over here, then lie on your stomach, face on the floor" Sharon ordered and no one made a move to disagree. Bucky helped collect the weapon while a couple of the agents handcuffed the men on the ground.

Gradually, more groups came from the sides and brought their arrested men into the entrance area. Sam also joined Bucky, grinning at him in his Captain America suit. "Going pretty well so far, isn't it?" he asked. "Karpov isn't in yet and Ally is missing too" Bucky replied. "Oh, come on. You know the plan. We'll move right on to the second hall and meet Ally there. Probably Karpov will be there too" Sam patted him encouragingly on the shoulder before checking with Sharon when to move on.

"Madame, we did a head count. There shouldn't be more than ten opponents plus Karpov in the facility" one of the team captains reported to Sharon. She nodded her thanks before calling four of the team captains over and telling them that they would be escorting Bucky, Sam and her into the next hall.She warned them that Karpov would probably be there and that they should proceed with caution and extreme alarm.

As they stormed the hall, the agents immediately took aim at the five men who were in the room, moving slowly toward them, while Sam, Bucky and Sharon moved, weapons drawn, toward Karpov, who sat grinning, hands folded, in a chair in the center of the room. Bucky immediately felt the hatred and disgust he felt toward this man who was grinning so filthily at them. "welcome, I thought you would find your way to me faster" he stood up and immediately Sharon aimed at his head. "Woho, slow down. We don't want anyone to get hurt here, do we?" His grin grew even bigger before he let his gaze slide around the room and Bucky very briefly noticed disappointment on his face.

"So where did you guys leave Alison?Did you lock her up because she was getting too powerful for you, or were you afraid she'd realize who her enemies really are and end up fighting you?"  Bucky was about to storm over to him and punch him in the face so he would finally shut his disgusting mouth, but Sharon blocked him with her arm. "Easy" she hissed at him before turning back to Karpov. "You mean the one-woman-army? Don't worry, she'll be joining us any minute and believe me, she has enough anger to let out"

As if Ally had been waiting for the command, suddenly the only door left leading out of this room flew out of the wall along with a man and crashed to the floor just a few feet in front of Karpov, who winced briefly in fright. Bucky had to stifle a grin as Ally climbed out of the hole in the wall, dusting herself off and cracking her knuckles as if she hadn't just pushed a man who probably weighed more than twice as much as she did through a wall including the door. No sooner had she entered the room than her team followed, pinning down the remaining opponents, as well as the man on the floor, and disappearing from the room.

Karpov, who had quickly recovered from the shock, turned to Ally and grinned at her. "Baby, it's good to see you. Did you miss me?" Bucky clenched his fists.What was this bastard thinking?  But Ally only raised an eyebrow questioningly, spat at Karpov's feet, and pulled her pistol from its holster. "Does that answer your question?" she asked as she pointed her pistol at Karpov. Karpov laughed before looking at Ally again. "Not the answer I was hoping for" he shrugged. "Give up, S..Karpov. You're powerless against us" she nodded to Bucky, Sharon and Sam, who by now had split up so that each was aiming at Karpov from one side.

"Hands over your head and kneel. Make one wrong move and no one here will hesitate to put a bullet in your head" Ally sounded bolder than expected, which also seemed to throw Karpov off track for a moment. He raised his hands above his head without taking his eyes off Ally, who was getting closer and closer to him. "We'll see who's powerless here" he said, kneeling down very slowly.

Bucky inhaled sharply as Karpov uttered the first of Ally's control words. They had only tried it one other time since the release, where Ally had not responded to the control, but until now it had never been tried in a stressful situation like this. But Ally showed no reaction and continued on her way to Karpov. Karpov, however, did not think of stopping, it seemed to spur him on that Ally did not show any reaction.  Suddenly, Bucky noticed Ally's face was contorted in pain and she lowered her gun, grabbing her head briefly before continuing.

Startled, he looked at Sharon, what were they supposed to do? In all their planning there had never been a plan for what would happen if Ally was controlled. "Don't shoot" Sharon formed with her lips as Karpov spoke Ally's final control word unhindered. Bucky thought for a moment nothing would happen when Ally's head suddenly tilted down. He held his breath as she raised her head again and looked blankly at Karpov. "Я жду приказаний.(ready to comply)"

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