Winter's Ballerina-WINTER SOLDIER FANFIC

twenty-eight

"When everyone you thought you knew deserts your fight, I'll go with you."
-twenty one pilots; My Blood

Siberia, Russia-2016
(Vera)

The Quinjet landed on a frozen mountain top somewhere in Siberia. Beside us was a truck.
"I'm out of ammo, you?" James asked me.
"Yah, lets raid my sister's cabinet." I suggested pointing to a metal drawer marked 'Romanoff'. James nodded and pulled the drawer open revealing at least a dozen firearms and stacks of ammunition. I set my handheld guns on the table and reloaded them. James grabbed a light machine gun with a shoulder strap. I also grabbed a few throwing knives to restock my thigh holster. Next to the drawer I found a box also labeled 'Romanoff'. Inside was a white snow parka that I put on over my suit.
Doubt this place has any heat, unless it went under major remodels since I was here last.
"Ready." I announced.
"Damn. You look good in white." James whispered as he shut the 'Romaoff' drawer.
"I look good in everything, and you know it Barnes." I joked.
"That I do. I am the luckiest man to ever live." He mumbled and kissed my cheek.
Together we walked to the exit and waited with Steve for the ramp to descend.
For James and I being around Steve felt surreal and awkward. For James it was mostly stressful and surreal because Steve wasn't a skinny kid from Brooklyn anymore, and he didn't feel like the young war hero James Buchanan Barnes. For me, however, it was more awkward than anything. I didn't know Steve Rogers before the Super Soldier Serum, only as the American Hero, Captain America. And that was someone we were told to shoot on sight. At the academy we would make drawing of him failing or practice our throwing knife skills with his picture as our target. Brutal, I know. But in our defense, we were taught he was the bad guy, and the Red Skull was good. So, I felt extremely out of place even standing in the same room as Captain America.
Unless I had a gun pointed at his face. That would definitely feel more natural.
It wasn't that I wanted to kill Steve. It was more preprogrammed from all my years of throwing knives at his face and killing heroes like him. Also no one like him had ever helped me before like this before and treated me like a human. There was always James, but he was never treated like a person either, so we were both ignored and stepped on by our superiors. Never has anyone who could be considered superior to me in rank or status treated me like a human being. It was a strange feeling, but I suppose I was glad he was here.
"You remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway Beach in the back of that freezer truck?" Steve asked James. I knew Steve was trying to help humanize him by reminding him of the experiences they had together. That technique definitely wouldn't work on me; I don't think I'd ever had any of those experiences. It was always either you succeed, or you failed. No in between. No mistakes. And I'd certainly never been to a beach, ridden in a freezer truck, or done anything else a stupid and reckless teen from the 1930's would do. Maybe I had it easier though. For James, he had to constantly worry about who he used to be and try to remember all these people from what feels like a thousand years ago. For me, well, the only people I ever knew where the girls from Madame B's Preparatory Academy (almost all dead) and Hydra agents (most dead or completely off-grid). Perhaps it's easier for me to adjust than it is for him.
"Was that the time we used our train money to buy hot dogs?" James asked, almost smiling. I wondered for a minute what a hot dog was. Hopefully Americans didn't actually eat dogs. I'd have to make a note to ask James about it later.
"You blew three bucks trying to win a stuffed bear for a redhead." Steve replied. I surprised myself and laughed.
"Oh, James! You must have a thing for redheads!" I giggled, thinking about the irony. James shrugged and then pulled me into his chest.
"Yeah, but you're the only redhead for me, doll." He told me before kissing me on the lips. Steve's cheeks turned bright red as he turned away and busied himself with putting his helmet on.
James held my hand and together all three of us descended down the ramp into the cold.
"It's freezing." James muttered.
"That's Russia for you." I retorted, pulling the white fleece closer around me.
We walked to the entrance that would lead to the labs. The door was set in rock and was still open.
"He can't have been here more than a few hours." Steve said, examining the door.
"Long enough to wake them up." James replied, frustrated.
"We need to get going, they obviously haven't left yet, so we're not too late." I said gesturing to the truck that was still parked beside the jet. Steve nodded and led the way inside the facility. We all got on a caged elevator that looked like it was at least thirty or forty years old.
And yet, it's still probably younger than you.
Steve stood to one side and James and I on the other in order to equally distribute the weight. When the elevator hit the bottom floor Steve gave us a nod. I moved away from James and over to Steve's side as he lifted up the elevator's cage door. Steve got out first, followed by me and James. James had his machine gun in position and ready, so I pulled out my handguns and readied them too. We stayed close to the wall as we edged our way through the halls. We carefully navigated several corners and blind spots but eventually make it to a narrow staircase.
"Didn't we literally just come here from an elevator to avoid stairs?" I complained under my breath. James shrugged and started up the steps, so I followed. Suddenly Steve stopped, whipping his head around. Immediately his shield went up, ready to protect us from possible attack. James reacted right after and hoisted his gun up, just above Steve. I stood to the side with James' metal arm ready to cover me from any incoming fire. Both of my handguns were aimed for the door.
"You two ready?" Steve asked.
"Yeah." James replied, then using his metal arm to pull me closer to him. For one tense and adrenaline-filled minute we all stared at the metal double doors, ready for something, anything. When the finally did open they were forced open by the Iron Man. He walked toward us, taking only a few steps, before his helmet retracted revealing the face of Tony Stark.
"You seem a little defensive." He quipped.
"No shit, Sherlock. I mean you kinda tried to kill us a couple of hours ago." I complained in Russian. Tony gave me a brief look of confusion before directing his attention back to Steve. Steve had walked to meet Tony, but his shield still up. James and I kept our guns up and aimed.
"It's been a long day." Steve sighed.
"At ease Soldiers 1 and 2. I'm not currently after you." He said, addressing James and I. I ignored him and kept my handguns locked on him. All I had to do was pull the trigger.
"Then why are you here?" Steve asked, seemingly more relaxed now.
"Could be your story's not so crazy. Maybe. Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself." Tony said, attempting some more humor.
"That would be a wonderful twist of irony, wouldn't it." I told James in Russian.
"It would. See you in prison, maybe we can talk about the whole 'what exactly happened in the last fifty years' thing. He'll certainly have time." James joked. I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from snorting.
"Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork. It's good to see you, Tony." Steve told him after lowering his shield.
"You too Cap." Tony replied before looking up to see us still aiming for his head.
"Hey, Manchurian Candidate, Mrs. Winter, you're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop..." Tony exclaimed. I had no idea what a Manchurian Candidate was, but I knew he was referring to James. Steve signaled us to drop the weapons, so I very slowly lowered my guns, glaring at Tony the whole time.

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"No, you don't need to run, stay with me, my blood."
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