Flickers | Bucky Barnes

Wake Up Call

The alarms were still blaring while the sleek elevator was encased in the emergency red and thankfully still worked. Her mind immediately wondered back to what happened in Berlin. Karina wasn't even sure if using the elevator was smart. Yet the 10 second trip was happening without interruptions. James' medical bay seemed undisturbed and she thanked the gods the smart lock still worked so she could gain access to his room. The alarms must have meant there was only a breach not a power outage. The steel enforced door slid opened while the automatic lights flickered on. She immediately made her way to find the light switch to manually keep the room encased in darkness besides the flashes of red that made the room look like it was dipped in blood.

She knew the door was coated with vibranium but the walls weren't as she stepped back to James' chamber where he laid asleep unaware of the peril that was surrounding him. She ran to his monitors looking to turn the cryostasis off when she jumped and accidently released a squeak when a large bang resonated in the room from a large object trying to penetrate the door.

It was blatantly obvious that whoever was in charge of attacking the base was here for James.

Karina tried to rack her brain for some sort of contingency plan the group had if they came under attack or really what she should be doing under a situation like this. Her self-defense could only get her so far. She knew even with rushing his thawing that it would take some time for James to become coherent from the abrupt awakening. She remembered distantly how he mentioned in passing how jarring and disorientating it was being woken up where he couldn't even walk. They had to drag him out of the chamber, but this wasn't Hydra and this awakening could be different for him. She knew she needed some diversion tactic if the men penetrated the room before James was conscious and able.

She watched as the ice fog lessened in James' chamber as the pounding outside the room increased in volume and she could hear shouting in from outside the room. Karina ran behind a pillar and crunched down and her hand slipped down into her boot and clutched James' Gerber Mark II he always insisted he have on her person.

She removed her gaze from the unthawing chamber back to the door where the pounding had seized. She could faintly hear voices discussing something in what she was able to decipher what she thought were Persian or even Hebrew.

The room was encased in silence besides the hum of machines that were reading James' vitals that were coming to life before the whole room shook as if an earthquake had erupted. Debris from the blast showered the room and over to where Karina was perched behind the pillar. She had clamped her mouth shut to prevent any noise of surprise and fear to leave her lips as the dust coated some of her body and airways. The blast had turned off the alarms sound system and only the flashing red was still going. It eerily reminded her of the setting at the CIA headquarters in Berlin where she had another encounter with James as the Winter Soldier and survived the whole ordeal. However, she wasn't a cat with nine lives.

Thanks to James and even Natasha's training she was able to distinguish two sets of footsteps entering the perimeter. By the deep baritone of their voices, she was able to decipher they were both male even before she seen them from the corner in their black tactical suit guns placed across their back and strapped to their thick thighs.

They were talking hurriedly amongst themselves and it was clear they were excited about the sight of the Winter Soldier before them, presumably at their will. She was thankful they seemed oblivious to the fact James was being woken from sleep.

The alarms were silent due to the effects of the blast. And due to the security of the place she couldn't hear anything from the upper floors. She watched silently as one man went to the monitors and bent down squinting at the words that were on the screen thankfully in Xhosa and the man released a noise of distress as it seemed he didn't understand the language. And where ever the men came from seemed to not want damage to come to James. She watched the man begin fumbling with his pockets while the other intruder admired James. She could see the pure joy being emitted from his body and eyes at the scene. A part of her was slightly curious as to why they would still even want James and even alive for that matter considering all that he knew that wasn't leaked. She surmised it was arrogance on their part and a part of her couldn't believe Hydra was still a thing or maybe they weren't Hydra. Maybe they just wanted to own James.