the escapees || bucky barnes

XV: see all of you in hell

I had done what Tony likes to call a big no-no. You see, I'd left the compound.

Was it a wise decision? Far from it, actually. It ended in a fiery explosion. But I should start from the beginning, when I'd finally left the compound.

I don't remember much about that night. The one concrete memory was when I clambered out of my window, my bag of clothing and food slung over my shoulder. I fell down the fifteen feet into a bush, the spiky shrubbery poking itself into my skin. I grimaced, small dots of blood now decorating my body.

I slid out of the shrub, silently making my way across the front lawn. I passed the gravel road, sneaking into the garage. Unluckily for Tony, he always kept his keys on the hood, so he wouldn't lose them.

What an idiot.

I grabbed the keys to a pretty nice Audi R8. It was one of Tony's older cars; he wouldn't mind if I borrowed it for a bit. Maybe. Whatever the case, I was using it, and there was no stopping me. I got into the car, turning on the ignition and peeling out of the garage. There was no going back now.

I was free.

Driving got boring really fast.

I found that out two hours into a seven hour trip up to Maine. I wanted to go somewhere that would be colder than New York without crossing the border. So, Maine was a good solution for me. It was also out of the way, being in the corner of the US. Nobody went there without a good reason.

And I had a pretty good reason.

By the time I'd gotten to a secure location, the sun was high in the sky. I'd planned on staying at some sort of hotel, but nixed that choice when some police got on my tail. I shook them off in Newport, which was a sparsely populated little town compared to places like Portland. It was a good spot for me.

For some odd reason, Tony had a house up in Newport, one of his "quainter" residences. By that, I mean that he didn't have a helicopter pad on this one. It was also under a holding company's name, which meant that it was out of the public eye, which in turn gave me protection from the police. Three cheers to Tony's slight paranoia.

The house was nice. That's all I really know how to describe it as. It was in the middle of nowhere, plopped down in the center of a large forest. There was a small lake, with a dock and speedboat. I didn't know how to drive a boat, but I suppose it was nice to know I had a second method of escaping. The rooms were well insulated, which was good, since winter was only about two months away.

Once I'd settled into my new abode, I did notice that it was quite lonely. Sure, I'd wanted some time off from the people in the compound and their many issues, but I hadn't realized that it would be this quiet. Looking back on it, I truly did need someone to talk to, at least for the night.

In fact, I think calling Nat was an idea that ran through my brain. Then Clint. Then Peter. Then Bucky. The last one I was more hesitant not to, maybe because I thought that if I told him not to tell anyone, he wouldn't. We both knew about hiding big secrets, right?

Either way, I nixed everyone, for fear that they would bring me back to the compound. But, as I soon would realize, going back to the compound was the least of my many worries.

At about twelve at night, I'd finally decided to go to bed. The house was so large, it took me nearly twenty minutes just to find a spare bedroom. After getting myself situated and in the comfortable bed, it didn't take me long to start falling asleep, though I kept getting jostled out of it by an odd crashing sound. I dismissed it, thinking that maybe there was just a thunderstorm on the way.

Boy, was I wrong.

I couldn't fall asleep at all with the loud sounds, which was odd for me. Usually, I could sleep through anything. This sound gave off a feeling of unease along with the noise. It was that feeling that was preventing me from sleeping, not the sound.

Instead of sleeping, I decided to go check out the creepy noise, like one who's really stupid or really brave would. I like to think it's the second one.

I grabbed my knife from the bedside table and quietly got out of the bed. As soon as my feet hit the floor, the hardwood flooring creaked under my weight. I tensed up, getting ready for someone to hear the sound and come attack. Since no one did, I kept moving throughout the house, trying to find where the sounds were coming from.

I reached the closest point I could find the sound coming from, and looked out the window. As it turns out, the only thing that was making the weird noises was a raccoon, of which was digging through Tony's trash. I let out a deep breath before hearing a crash come from another point in the house not too far away. My eyes widened, and I ran towards it, you know, like an idiot.

When I got to the part of the house, I saw a large window that had a beautiful view out into the bay had been broken, the shards of glass scattered everywhere. I made great care not to step on the shards, and even then I nipped my palm on a piece that had landed on a table.

As I was clutching my hand, a dark shadow slid on the ground. It was fuzzy, though I could easily tell it was human. Had someone shot my window? The figure got sharper, and it split into four different shapes. The people all ranged with different heights and body shapes, but one thing was clear; they were here for me.

The guns they were holding told me that much.

The group started to get closer, and I broke into a run. I jumped over the broken glass, darting through the long corridors of the house. I took many turns to try and shake the men off, but every time as soon as I thought they were gone, one would jump out from another corridor, armed with a tranquilizer gun in their hands.

I kept on running until I reached the broken glass again. The shards made one side completely blocked off, meaning I was at a dead end. I tried to go back down the hallway that I had been in before, but it had been closed by the men. My eyes grew wide as I realized that I was truly trapped.

My line of sight glazed over the entire room, and doubled back when I realized what insignia the men had on their shoulders. I started to panic, my breathing getting heavy and my body slumping on the table. My cut hand stung on contact with the surface, but the bloody table and pain was the least of my worries.

One of the men raised his gun, and I attacked. My knife was driven into the side of one agent, of whom yelped an fell to the floor, curling into his side. I kicked another in the gut, poking the one who rose his gun in the neck with my knife. I moved to stab the other one, but he seemed to have disappeared. I didn't care in the least. Less hostiles meant less of a scene.

Before I could cut the man I'd kicked in the guts down, I felt a sharp prick in my arm. I looked to the spot I'd felt the pain in, and saw the pretty feathers of a well-made tranquilizer dart. The last man stood behind me, a small grin on his face.

I tried to weakly stab him, but he moved out of the way. I stumbled, falling to the floor as the dart took affect. I rolled onto my back, staring up at the ceiling as the HYDRA agent smirked down at me.

"Thank you very much, miss," The man had a faint southern accent. "You're going to get me a promotion."

The last thing I felt was the man picking me up in his arms, trying to get a good view of the trigger words on my upper back. I tried to weakly fight back against him doing it, but he just shifted me in his arms, making it harder for me to move.

"Fuck you," I said, and my world went dark.