Hellbird

The Avengers

3rd Person P.O.V.

The Avengers sat around a conference table in the Avengers Tower. A different emotion showing on each of their faces, ranging from fear to thoughtfulness to absolute calm. None of them had any major injuries except for Natasha, who had a bandage over a bullet wound to her shoulder. 

Steve spoke first, "Bucky's alive." He said, still shellshocked.

"That isn't the Bucky you knew Steve," Sam said quietly.

"Sorry to break up the moment but there were two assassins sent to kill you, not just Bucky, or the Winter Soldier or whatever they're calling him." Tony interrupted.

Once he had their attention he asked, "Did anyone recognize the woman?"

He looked around at the group. Slowly they each shook their head.

"Can you pull up camera footage of the fight? It might show her face," Sam asked.

Tony nodded, "JARVIS, pull up footage from the fight by the bridge."

"Yes sir." JARVIS replied. A moment later, blurry camera footage of the fight was pulled up on the screen nearest to the table they sat around.

"Fast forward," Tony commanded and the footage sped up. "Stop," he commanded and the footage froze. "Zoom in." The picture zoomed in.

Steve's eyes widened slightly. Bucky's face was at the center of the shot, recognizable despite the extreme pixelation. His burning glare was focused on something out of the shot. The footage must have been from the end of the fight, when he was about to shoot Steve.

"Refine the picture," Tony commanded and the picture focused, revealing much more of the picture.

The Winter Soldier was still the center of the shot, but there was now a definable second figure. She wore the same black face mask that The Winter Soldier previously wore. Though it reminded Steve more of a muzzle than a mask.

Her hair was the same shade of dark brown, nearly black, as Bucky's and was frozen in the motion of blowing around from her recent landing. Silvery metallic wings spread behind her, halfway folded. Her dark brown eyes appeared to be focused on the same spot as The Winter Soldiers, and just like his they held no emotion.

"Guess you're not as original as you thought," Tony said, turning towards Sam.

Sam just sighed wordlessly. Slowly each person at the table turned away from the screen.

"Can you run facial recognition on her?" Sam asked, looking over at Tony.

"JARVIS, run facial recognition on the woman." Tony commanded.

"Yes Sir." Jarvis replied.

"So, how are we planning on getting Bucky back?" Steve asked, looking around the table.

"Are we sure we can get the old Bucky back?" Natasha asked, finally voicing the words everybody had been thinking but nobody had dared to say.

"Of course we will," Steve replied, sounding more like he was trying to reassure himself than them. "We have to."

"We'll find a way," Bruce said, finally speaking.

"Sir." JARVIS spoke, her robotic voice echoing around the room.

"Yes JARVIS?" Tony answered, raising an eyebrow.

"I ran facial recognition on the woman in that footage." JARVIS stated.

"What did you find on her?" Tony asked, glancing back at the screen that still held the picture of The Winter Soldier and his unidentified partner.

"Nothing sir. She doesn't exist."

What do you mean she doesn't exist?" Tony asked, sounding annoyed.

"There are no documents connected to that face sir. Either someone wiped away any and every trace of her existence or HYDRA has had her since she was born." JARVIS replied.

The Avengers at the table looked around at each other. All Steve could think about was Bucky. His eyes were still focused on the frozen picture of The Winter Soldier and his partner on the screen. Pure hatred filled Bucky's eyes as he glared. The sight of his best friend like that broke him.

"What did they do to you?" Steve whispered to himself.

"First of all, we need to figure out how to overpower those two."  Natasha stated logically.

Steve's eyes shot towards her, "We aren't hurting Bucky, we can capture him, but we aren't going to hurt him." he said firmly.

"We may not have a choice Steve," Sam said, "We can try, but if that fails we may have to kill him."

Steve shook his head, "We can get the old Bucky back. He's still in there somewhere." he said, determined.

"We'll capture them both if we can," Natasha said, watching Steve carefully. "But they may not give us much of a choice."

Steve finally nodded. His eyes drifted back to the picture that was still up on the screen. He couldn't seem to stop himself. He was determined to get his friend back. To free him from HYDRA's control.

"We're coming for you Buck." He said under his breath. He believed with all of his heart that Bucky was somewhere inside of the monster that HYDRA had created.

------

Hellbird P.O.V.

The Winter Soldier sat on the edge of the chair. His metal arm had a panel peeled off of it, allowing a technician to repair the complicated inner workings. He stared down at the floor, appearing to have sunk deep into his own mind. That couldn't mean anything good. We were meant to be soldiers, complete missions. Not think, not question HYDRA's orders.

Alexander Pierce walked into the room, followed by two guards. The technician quickly finished repairing the metal arm and slid the panel back into place. He stood up and shuffled silently out of the vault. Pierce walked up to The Winter Soldier.

"Mission report." He commanded, towering over the sitting soldier.

The Winter Soldier didn't answer. When he looked up from the floor, his gaze was distant; confused.

"The man on the bridge... he knew me." He finally said. He looked up at Pierce, he looked... lost almost. "I recognized him,"

Pierce nodded, "You met him on another mission." he replied smoothly.

"I knew him," The soldier repeated, he hesitated as he spoke, as if he didn't believe his own words.

"Sir, he's been out of cryostasis too long." A scientist interjected.

Pierce turned around, moving to leave the room. "Wipe him." He said coldly and then walked calmly out of the room, his two  guards following.

Metal bands wrapped around The Winter Soldiers arms. They locked tightly, holding him to the chair. A scientist pushed a mouth guard into his mouth and pieces of the machine lowered over his head. A scientist started up the machine. I watched, emotionless, as he began to scream in agony.