Hellbird

Rescue

3rd Person P.O.V.

Bucky and Peter were two of the last to arrive in the conference room. Everyone else had been awoken by Jarvis and directed to the conference room as well, and sat in their respective seats. Bucky and Peter sat down in their spots and looked toward Tony, who led these meetings in Steve's absence.

Tony stood and gestured to the screen on one wall. A photo appeared, detailing what appeared to be a large mountain. "Jarvis, zoom in." Tony instructed. Jarvis obliged and the photo enlarged. A portion of a wing was visible, alongside a blurry glimpse of a face.

"It's satellite imagery, so we can't identify her but this was found at the base of the mountain." He held up a metal feather the size of his hand. "Upon further investigation and some string-pulling, there does seem to be something inside the mountain in question."

"This is a trap," Sam observed simply.

"Sam's right. She's well trained, if we're finding her it's because she wants to be found." Natasha agreed.

"That's why we'll be sending in a small team, to see if it actually leads to anything or if it's a red herring." He explained. "Any volunteers?"

"I'm going." Bucky stated, staring down Tony.

Tony shrugged, "Okay. Anybody else?"

Wanda raised a hand, as did Peter and Natasha.

"Parker, drop your hand." Tony said and shot Peter a look. His hand dropped immediately and he looked down. "So all our Russians are going back home." He commented.

Natasha rolled her eyes, Wanda looked moderately annoyed and Bucky continued to glare daggers. The rest of the meeting was spent coming up with a plan and making snide comments back and forth. It was quite a feat that nobody had their head ripped off before the meeting ended, though it certainly came close.

Later, on the quinjet, Bucky looked over at Natasha and Wanda. "You didn't have to come. This is probably nothing more than a trap, a false lead, it's too easy." He said quietly.

"Trap or not, I felt I could be helpful. If the captain is here, I could help to free him from any mental constraints. If he is not, than I will do my best to protect us all." Wanda said with a simple nod.

"I came because somebody competent needed to come along." Natasha said and the corner of her mouth quirked.

"Thank you, both." Bucky said softly and looked up as the quinjet slowed to a stop. 

"Thank me when we get out of this alive." Nat said and stood, holstering two final weapons on her person.

Wanda nodded in agreement and stood as the back of the jet slowly lowered, depositing the trio onto the frozen Russian mountainside. Bucky holstered his personal weapons and stepped out onto the snow, his footsteps crunching beneath him.

The three hero's trekked across the ice and snow for a short while, Natasha leading the way. Wanda stopped them by holding a hand out before they could take another step. She carefully pointed ahead, where they could see a hint of a door in the mountainside. "The are people inside. I can open it, but an alarm will be set off. Are you two ready?" She asked, looking between her two companions. They nodded affirmative.

Wanda raised her hands and a cloud of scarlet energy appeared. It sought out the door and enveloped it. She looked between Nat and Bucky one final time and when they nodded she pulled. Once, twice, three times. And the door was ripped off it's hinges, dropped into the snow as an alarm began screaming from deep within the base.

Nat and Bucky stormed the base, leaving Wanda by the door to make sure nobody could escape or close off their exit. They soon split up and began searching for Steve. The winding halls led them farther into the base, and they were soon met by squads of guards whom they dispatched of.

Deep within the base, the alarms startled Steve awake. He jumped to his feet and found himself face to face with Nicky, who grabbed his arm and dragged him out of his cell. He half expected her to tell him to run. Her place between their two sides was precarious. Following Hydra's orders but feeding him information about Bucky. The contradictions had clouded his judgement. When she did no such thing he found himself confused again.

She seemed just as confused. A few times her tight grip on his arm loosened, as if somewhere within herself she was questioning herself. "Nicky, this isn't you. Bucky thinks you're a good person somewhere in there." Steve said, almost trying to convince himself of the same thing.

Her clawed grip on his arm loosened and fell to her side. She took a step back and then her expression hardened. "I'm following orders Captain Rogers. You understand orders don't you? You have to follow orders from a superior. Have to follow orders." She said and took a step towards him again. "following orders." but her voice sounded confused, like a lost child.

A bullet was fired from the other end of the hallway and she only barely raised her metal wings in time. She formed her metallic cocoon just in time and the bullet ricocheted. Natasha fired again, sprinting towards them.

Nicky whirled around and ran the other direction, fleeing the scene and abandoning any orders she had previously had. Steve watched her run and then turned and saw Natasha at the other end of the hall.

 He ran to her, and followed her through the labyrinthine hallways until the two reached the surface. Wanda raised her hands in a fighting stance before recognizing them and gesturing towards the quinjet. Bucky soon ran out of the compound and boarded the quinjet.

Sitting down, Steve was hit by the thought that he was going home again. He couldn't shake the feeling of pity for Nicky. She was alone somewhere out there, trying to figure out her mixed memories. He wondered if it was a side effect of spending too much time in a cell.

The four hero's started talking as the quinjet set a course back to New York.