Endless Winter (Bucky Barnes)

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen- Hello darkness my old friend

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"And you're one hundred percent up for this?"

"You're mocking me, I know, well hardy har her," Bucky replied to Jacklyn, they were sitting in a SSR plane that was ready to drop them over to the Hydra base at any moment.

"I'm just making sure you're ready for this," Jacklyn said in mock concern, placing a hand on his arm gently. Obviously picking on him for how much he had been pestering her about not having to face Hydra again. She had known HIS heart was in the right place, but she was nervous so she was going to lighten the mood a little.

"One hundred percent, Jack." Bucky said, saluting to her playfully, she laughed and leaned up against the wall. Jacklyn smiled and gripped his hand in hers. Jacklyn was wearing a heavy military vest, cargo pants, and combat boots. She had handguns in both of her thigh holsters, a sheath on her calf with a swiss army knife, an assault rifle on her back. It was nothing like the Hydra uniform, and for that she was glad. Overall she felt pretty badass.

"Okay, parachutes on everyone!" Steve yelled out, handing out backpacks to his entire crew, the men start unstrapping themselves from the seats and buckling the packs over their backs, he hands one to Jacklyn and she mimics everyone else's action by putting the bag on. She had never dropped from the sky when she was with Hydra, her missions were carried out on foot, but she had had her fair share of heights and the thought of dropping out of the sky should've scared her, but if anything at all, it excited her.

He unlatched the hatch on the plane and slid it aside, pressing himself against the wall to prevent himself from going flying out. The wind blew wildly without restraint, so loud it almost hurt Jack's ears. "On my signal!" He yelled over the noise, putting on his own parachute. Jacklyn felt an unfamiliar thrill, when she carried out expeditions for Hydra she felt sick, but this was thrilling. She was doing something good for once.

Her instinct kicked in as soon as Steve jumped off the plane, Mark jumped off the plane following Steve down, the wind taking him away from the plane swiftly in a matter of seconds. Another man went after him, then another, then Bucky was yanking her hand and motioning for her to follow the one that was about to jump. She nodded sharply, she felt no fear of what lied beyond the plane, and she trusted Bucky with her life, so she didn't waste a second of hesitation to leap into the wind.

Her adrenaline spiked as the wind enveloped her, rushing past her and almost pushing her away from the ground, but ultimately quickening her plummet all the more. She could see the ground coming into view with each passing second, each second of heart-stopping stomach-wrenching excitement, she hardly remembered why they were there for a moment, she was separated from all her problems up there, they seemed to leave with the wind.

She felt like she was flying.

She was a free bird in the clouds, free of her earthly burden and free of her trauma and her dread. She was aloof, she felt insignificant in the great tide of the air around her but that was okay because she was her own person at that moment. 

Her eyes quickly snapped into focus as she saw the other men activating her parachutes, she quickly yanked the rope on the pack. Her race toward the ground came to a jerking stop when the fabric opened up and stopped her. With the space around no longer slurred together in a mess of colors, she could acutely measure her surroundings. She was close enough the ground to notice details, mainly the most obvious ones. Movement in the trees caught her attention quickly. 

 She looked up down, she saw a set of Nazi patrolmen walking, not noticing the soldiers falling from the sky yet. They were terrible at their job.