3 | TWO GHOSTS • BUCKY BARNES [COMPLETED]

I.

"Sam, can you give me a boost? I'm by the loading gate on the east side. Just got the heat signature radar up," Gideon asked as she crouched besides an unattended truck. "Coast is clear on this side."

"On it," he returned through their earpiece communicators.

She watched him swoop down and land besides her. Without words, she hooked the back of the harness connected to her suit to his. Turning herself and him invisible, they were off. She only kept the tablet visible to look for any prominent signatures resembling a one-armed man or the cryotank.

"Head east. Last time, the cryos were in the back, eastern wing," Gideon commanded, keeping a constant vigil on the monitor. A couple of moving figures appeared, but they had all two arms each. More prominent heat sources appeared in the direction they were heading, and Sam flew faster.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. There were so many cryotanks aligned in the room where only one once was.

It was difficult to know, though, if anyone was in them.

"Land right by that corridor," she pointed. "I don't see any guards."

He lowered them, and Gideon's feet were the first to hit the ground. Unhooking the harness and stowing it in her bag, Sam uttered, "Let's get moving."

"Hold on. I'm gonna make sure that the coast is clear on the inside," Gideon began. She then disappeared through the door. She was only gone for half a minute, and once she confirmed no one was there, she reached her hand back through the entrance door to tap Sam on the shoulder, regaining his attention. She felt his hand grasp her wrist before pulling him inside.

"You know," Sam breathed out, "That never gets any less weird."

"Tell me about it," she returned, her voice low.

"Gideon turned back on the electronic map and heat radar on the tablet. She studied the map and led as Sam remained at her flank.

They followed the most plausible route, the one she recognized the most. The two often found themselves scurrying to hid within Gideon's invisibility as the threat of footsteps echoed through the corridors. They appeared to be approaching the room of cryotanks. It was only a matter of finding them without detection.

This time, the sound of two sets of feet resonated from the adjoining hallway. Gideon and Sam hid in plain sight while listening.

Speaking entirely in Russian with thick accents, Gideon waited until they sounded far enough away to translate to Sam. In a voice barely above a whisper, Gideon relayed, "There's a convoy going out tomorrow. They're bringing weapons to Moscow."

"What kind of weapons?"

"Didn't say," she only shook her head, but Sam could see the worry behind her guarded eyes.

"Should we alert Russian officials?"

"It's probably for them," she breathed out her best guess.

They remained silent for a moment for Sam didn't have an answer, knowing she was most likely right. But they continued to stand, contemplating, for a couple more seconds. "We'll worry about them after," Sam finally said. "Let's get moving."

Gideon shielded them both from anymore incoming eyes before going any further. She was far more anxious than she ever thought she would be. It was finally the first real lead and possibility of seeing Bucky again, since that day on the helicarrier. She didn't know what she would do if he was in there either; she wasn't prepared.

They reached a series of doors, but she knew the one. It was the thickest and most secured. It was padlocked and sealed with a coded lock.

"You gonna be able to crack it," Sam asked jokingly.

"You wish," she returned before pulling him through the door once more.

The room was strikingly colder than the outer room, yet that wasn't what brought goosebumps rising to her skin nor caused her heart to plummet to the floor or for her face to pale.

There were multiple cryotanks aligning the room, just like the one she saw Bucky in years ago. The only thing was, they were all empty.

"These... they weren't here before," Sam inferred by the ghostly expression on her face.

"No," she only shook her head. "He was the only one."

"Then what are they doing with all of these," he wondered.

She continued to shake her head, her thumbnail stuck between gritted teeth out of nervousness, before saying, "The real question is, what the hell are we going to do?"

Sam looked back down at her short stature. Her eyes were glued to the machines so foreign to the both of them, and she looked completely and utterly afraid.