𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 | bucky barnes

27: Plan

"So," said Cat, loading a few small knives into her belt.  "Is there a plan?"

She had checked the digital map, and they were close to Germany.

"We drop in, fight our way through, and get to the file archives," answered Steve.

"And access?  I'm assuming we need access."

"The place isn't in use, so I'm assuming we don't," said Natasha.  "But if we do, we can always drag an unconscious guard over."

"Or float," said Cat, waving her fingers and referring to her powers.

"That too."

"So, get in, find file, get out."

"Yep," said Steve.  "The archives should be in alphabetical order.  We look under B.  It's the best bet."

"Gotcha."

Natasha came over to Cat.  She looked at her, serious.

"You sure you can do this?"

Cat looked back at Natasha. "I'm sure," she told her.  "But thank you."

"I just want to make sure nothing's going to... y'know... happen."

Cat knew what she was talking about.  "It won't," she said.  "Not anymore."

Nat smiled and nodded at her. 

——— ✪ ⍟ ✪———

"Ready?" Steve shouted, over the sound of wind and engines.  To be unsuspected, they were going to jump.  Nat was going to stay in the quinjet and land it somewhere hidden, then catch up to them later.

The door was open — they were going to jump down.

"I'm ready," replied Cat loudly, wiping hair out of her face.  "Are you?"

"Yeah," replied Steve.

"And you both are one hundred percent sure you don't need parachutes?" asked Nat.

"I'm sure," said Steve.

"I'm sure," Cat repeated.  Natasha rolled her eyes at the both of them.

"Good luck," she told them.  "See you guys soon."

They nodded to Natasha, and jumped.

Cat felt the rush of the wind.  She had only ever done this once before — on her first mission.  Then, she had jumped with the weight of knowing that was the day she was going to run.  The day she would desert. 

Today, she felt lighter.  She easily pulled the air around her to hold herself, to help her float easily down to the ground.  She was going to be free of the only thing holding her back from her full potential.  And she was going to help Bucky. 

She stopped herself and Steve from making noise as they fell to the ground.  She cushioned the fall using her powers to hold them above the ground for a moment, then let them down to the ground gently. 

"Thank you," said Steve with a nod.

"It's nothing," she said.  "Let's go.  Back entrance, or are we going in looking for a fight?"

"Might as well take the short way around, right?" Steve came out of the woods they had landed in and made his way to the front entrance.  Four guards immediately spotted them, and started shooting.  Cat pushed the bullets out of the way and towards the woods. 

The guard looked both confused and surprised.  He shot again at her, and she dodged once more.  She sent a punch his way, one he wasn't expecting.  He started stomping toward her, ready for hand-to-hand combat, but she had already started punching from a couple of feet away.

Cat spun to her other side and kicked him in the gut twice, knocking him backward.  She glanced to the side and saw Steve throw a rock, knocking a guard out.  It was about to ricochet off of the side of the building, but Cat used her powers to send it off course toward the guard she had been fighting.  She knocked him out with it, then caught the rock and tossed it back toward Steve. 

He nodded to her and turned back to the third guard.  Cat looked around, but didn't see another — until she turned around to a kick in her gut.  She was knocked onto the ground, hard.  The man stood over her, ready to knock her out, but she rolled away from his punch and stood up again.  She used her power to push the man back against the wall of the facility.  She knocked him back thrice, hitting his head against the wall, and knocking him unconscious. 

"Cmon," said Steve, motioning her through the doors, after having finished with one of the burlier guards.

"Coming."  She walked in after him, glancing back at the unconscious guards on the ground. 

She and Steve were careful to be quiet. Cat hadn't been expecting bullets flying toward her. After hearing the commotion outside, the guards had probably already known they were coming.

She hadn't ducked in time to dodge them fully, and one grazed her upper arm.  She winced in pain, but immediately was distracted by a second guard with a large baton coming toward her.  Hearing the sound of punches and grunts, she could tell Steve was occupied, too.

They fought their way down the wide hallway, through about a dozen guards.  It was dark, mostly — the only two electric lights were by the door, at the beginning of the hall, and one at the end.  The hall exited into side rooms, all labeled in German.  Most of them read PRÜFEINRICHTUNG; or testing facility. 

When they got to the end of the room, they were ready for more guards to come at them.  One silhouette walked down the hallway —

"I see you two handled that part of the plan,"  said Natasha's voice.  Her face came into the light. "Look," she said, nodding toward the door behind them, "we're here."

Cat turned around to look at the label on the large, gray metal door.

"Well, we can all understand that," said Steve.  "This is what we were looking for."

ARCHIV, it read.

Steve turned the large wheel and pushed open the door.  The girls followed him into a large room with a tall ceiling.  All the air conditioning and wires were exposed, and it was cold inside.  An empty, airy cold.  Cat didn't like it.

"Now what?" asked Nat, staring down every row of boxes and boxes of files.

"Now we search," said Cat.

a.n.

hiii! look at me, not even forgetting to post and not doing it at 9 pm. slayyy

anyways, it's gonna start to get good after this, act 3 may not have been much so far but as we progress y'all get some good discoveries!!

ilysm, don't forget to vote!

molly