Ro Six Echo

Part 24

After a few months of being on the run, Bucky finally came back to the compound. Steve was relieved but really angry at the same time. "If you had asked I would have gone with you, punk. You're not the only person that cares about Ro."

"I'm sorry, Steve, I had to do something."

"We finally have a real lead," Natasha said as she stormed into Steve's room.

"Where?" Bucky asked.

"It's in Florida. She's being taken to another production plant to sabotage it."

"Can we get there in time?" Steve asked.

"I think so. But we need to leave now. It's supposed to go down in a day or two."

Steve, Bucky, Nat, and Sam all suited up and took a quinjet down to the east coast of Florida. It was a small tech firm that was making a breakthrough in nano technology. They were about to go public and any mishaps would make their stock crash.

"Here's a layout of their facility. If I was going to break in I'd enter from this side, closest to the production line. Maybe take out the corporate offices along the way," Natasha pointed out to Steve, Bucky and Sam.

"Will she have extra people with her?" Sam asked.

"Maybe two. I doubt she would need any extra help. One on the inside and a getaway man on the outside. That's how I'd do it."

They were able to get to the company before it was attacked by Six Echo and her team. Natasha convinced the CEO to let Bucky stay inside the facility overnight to prevent any losses of property. He was perched in the security office when the cameras started to flicker out. Steve, Nat, and Sam were tied in to his coms and were in the quinjet a few miles away. "They're here," Bucky said.

He left the security office and made his way into the hallways, staying in the shadows. There was noise at one of the outside doors and Bucky watched as Six Echo walked into the hall. She was wearing all black and had a tools and weapons strapped and buckled into a vest. She was wearing fingerless gloves with reinforced knuckles. Her hair was still short like Bucky had remembered, but her face was hard, not revealing any emotions. She glanced around the hallway and then proceeded down one to her left. She was going for the corporate offices first. She made her way to a server room and easily broke the lock and walked in, taking out a small computer from her pants pocket. She opened it and started to plug it into the terminal and the screen came to life. Bucky was right outside the door by then. There was no one else with her as he scanned the hallway. He entered the room and she whipped around to face him with a gun drawn, pointed at his face. "Don't shoot! It's me, Bucky!"

She continued to look at him and a puzzled look came across her face. She didn't recognize him and was pretty sure he wasn't part of her mission. She looked at him again and then fired a shot at him, but he blocked it with his metal arm. She lunged to the side to fire again and he blocked that shot too. He then hit her with his gun and she swept his legs out from under him. He fell to his back and she pounced on top of him, hitting him in his solar plexus rapidly. He groaned in pain and pushed her off with his left arm. They both recovered quickly to their feet and began circling each other. "Your name is Ro Six Echo, but sometimes we call you Reese. You were found at a facility-"

He was interrupted by a kick to the face. She didn't hesitate to draw a knife and surged toward him again. His eyes widened as he didn't remember her being so good with a knife. He backed up defensively and kept talking to her. "Ro! Please don't do this! This isn't you! Someone else is controlling you!" He was able to grab her wrist and tried to land a punch to her face. She was too quick for him. She jumped and twisted her wrist out of his hand and landed on his shoulder, circling his neck with her arms. She began to squeeze with all she had, making Bucky drop to his knees. He was pulling at her arms, trying to loosen her grip. He scooted back on the floor until Six Echo was slammed against the wall. She still didn't let go and Bucky began grabbing at her shirt to get any type of leverage to pull her off of him. He was able to snag a strap and yanked her and threw her several feet from him. He coughed and rubbed his throat as he filled his lungs with precious air. Six Echo grabbed her gun from the floor and shot Bucky in the chest and shoulder. He groaned in pain and she returned to the computer terminal to finish her mission. "I'm hit and she's still hacking their system," Bucky called to Steve. He began dragging himself toward her, calling her name. "Ro, please, it's me, Bucky."

"We're on our way."

She finished her computer work and turned to face him and kicked him in the jaw, rendering him unconscious. She looked down at his metal arm as a pain blossomed in her head. She shook it away and ran out the door to complete her mission.