In Another Life | Sergeant James 'Bucky' Barnes / The Winter Soldier + Ikaris

Chapter 12

There was no better way to wake up, than to the brisk Russian air in the morning.

No one had much to say as they traipsed through the woods towards the facility they would be infiltrating. None of them were awake enough to think of anything to talk about. They even stayed quiet when Agent Thompson went ahead to get a better look through the binoculars.

"Looks like we beat the bad guys here," Thompson reported, handing the binoculars to Agent Ramirez.

"So we could have slept for another hour?" Dum Dum asked.

"Well, then we wouldn't have the advantage of surprise, would we, Timothy?" Peggy asked, smacking his arm playfully.

"So we infiltrate in three teams of two and one team of three. You, you, you and us three," he pointed out the groups. "No weapons discharge unless absolutely necessary. Meet on the ground floor in 30. Clear?"

"Carter?" Dum Dum asked.

Peggy shrugged and shook her head. "Agent Thompson's lead."

"You got a better idea?" He asked skeptically. "Let's hear it."

"The smaller teams are faster. Two teams of four and five is safer. Discretion seems to be the order of the day? We don't know what we're walking into."

Thompson thought about it, and nodded slowly. "Okay. You five. Happy Sam, Pinkerton, Ramirez, you're with me. Good?" He asked, looking back at Peggy.

Peggy nodded.

"Aces."

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The facility was eerily empty and quiet.

Scarlet kept expecting someone or something to jump out at them. But nothing ever did.

"This place is really creeping me out," Junior muttered from behind her.

They came to a closed door, and Peggy glanced back at them, before turning the handle and entering the room.

The creep factor skyrocketed.

The room was some sort of classroom, with desks lined up, an american flag by the door, maps and pictures of important people covering the wall, a blackboard with math equations written in chalk on it, and a white projector screen in front of a projector.

"Does anyone else feel a chill going up their knickers?" Peggy asked.

"I would if I wore knickers," Junior replied, looking around the room in apprehension.

Agent Li walked around, and pumped into the projector, causing a cartoon reel to start playing on the screen. "Oh! Sorry!"

Scarlet stepped closer to the screen, watching the cartoon. There was something hidden in plain sight that she could quite make out.

"Shut that thing off!" Dum Dum ordered loudly.

"Wait!" Scarlet and Peggy said at the same time.

"Do you see it?" Scarlet asked.

Peggy walked to the projector and stopped it. She then began to turn the wheel back, so that the images were moving slowly. With the images frozen, it was easy to make out the russian that was hidden within the cartoon. "Instill," Peggy moved the wheel back two more notches, "Fear."

"Really regretting the lack of knickers right now," Junior said.

The sound of a child crying suddenly came from a different room.

Scarlet felt even more chills rush down her spine. She couldn't fight the feeling that they needed to get out of there.

"There's a little kid crying," Agent Li said. "What's a little kid doing in this place?"