Project Mercury

Chapter 1

Sam checked his gear for the umpteenth time as the helicopter made it's way towards the dark building on the horizon. There was nothing different about this mission; it was a simple enough elimination, but for some reason, Sam had a bad feeling about it. The same feeling he'd had that one time his wings had jammed and Bucky had had to take a bullet for him getting him out. A hand gently stopped Sam's fingers from their anxious gear checking, and Sam looked up.

"It's gonna be fine, Sam," Bucky said quietly. They were sitting across from each other and Bucky scooted forward so that their knees bumped together. "I've got your back, remember?" Bucky continued softly. Sam forced a smile through his unease.

"I know, Buck," Sam replied, "I've just... got a bad feeling about this. Like something's going to go wrong."

"Nothing's gon' go wrong," Bucky replied, "It'll be a quick in and out,then we can get back home and finish what we started." Sam snorted and rolled his eyes, smiling in spite of himself.

"There are other people here, Buck," Sam said, "You do remember that, right?" Bucky smirked.

"So?" Bucky replied, "We all live within the same hundred square meters, it's not like they don't know about us." Sam sighed with a smile.

"C'mere, Buck," Sam said. Bucky leaned forward and his hands cradled Sam's face as they kissed. Sam closed his eyes, desperate to hang onto this moment for as long as possible. His hands found their way into Bucky's hair, toying with it, but being careful not to pull it out of the tight bun it was in.

"Is everybody ready? We'll be landing in five," the pilot's voice floated through the tensely quiet helicopter. Bucky pressed a kiss to the back of Sam's gloved hand, then sat back and slipped the strap of his gun around his shoulder so that the gun hung across his chest. Sam took a deep breath, then picked up the shield from where it was resting by his feet and slipped his arm through the straps.

"Let's do a final comm check," Tony's voice said into Sam's left ear.

"Sounds good here," Bucky replied.

"Mine seems to be working," Sam said quietly.

"I hear you loud and clear, Cap," Bruce said.

"All good! Let's do this!" Clint said enthusiastically, glancing out the open door of the helicopter.

"Alright, you all know the plan," Tony said as the helicopter came to hover over the roof of the HYDRA base, "Let's do this!" The sun glinted off the red and gold armor as Tony took off out the helicopter door. Natasha followed, jumping out of the helicopter onto the rooftop. Clint, then Bruce followed her example. Sam stepped to the open helicopter door and pulled down his flight goggles.

"And we have liftoff," Bucky said cheekily as Sam launched himself out of the helicopter and instantly activated his boosters to gain some altitude. Sam scanned the rooftop where the rest of the Avengers had landed, and spotted a few HYDRA agents hidden behind various rooftop structures.

"We have company!" Sam called, "Your twelve, three and ten o'clock!" Sam tucked his wings and rolled to avoid a few shots that were fired in his direction from the hidden agents. One HYDRA agent popped up from his hiding place, gun raised to fire again, but before Sam could do anything, he had fallen backwards with a spray of blood.

"Not on my watch," Bucky growled through the comms. Sam glanced at the others to see Clint and Bucky advancing side by side towards a group of the agents, raining bullets and arrows on the group. Tony had disappeared around the side of the building, searching the grounds, and Natasha was nowhere to be seen, but Sam knew that probably meant some HYDRA agents were getting gutted before they knew what hit them. Sam took a curved path, trying to get behind the agents on the rooftop. They needed to get into the building.

As Sam managed to get into a good position to help take out the few agents left, The door to the rooftop burst open, and a flood of heavily armed HYDRA agents streamed out.

"Guys, I thought this was supposed to be a small base!" Bucky yelled, "Fury said no more than twenty agents. Tony, Nat, we need backup here on the roof!" Sam drew his handgun and circled the roof slowly, shield held protectively against his chest as he helped Bucky and Clint pick off agent after agent. Still more HYDRA agents swarmed onto the rooftop, and Bucky called it.

"Clint, we gotta retreat!" Bucky yelled, the sound of gunfire clear behind his words, "We're sitting ducks on this roof. Nat, Tony, are there any other ways in?"

"Yeah, North side! I've got a door open, and it seems clear!" Nat called.

"Tony, get Clint and take him to that door," Sam ordered, "I'll grab Bucky. We stick together from now on on this mission. Something's wrong, there's too many of them for such a small base."

"Copy that," Tony replied, "Coming in hot, Barton, get ready." Out of nowhere, Tony swooped down, firing his repulsors at the agents before grabbing Clint under the arms and quickly gaining altitude again. Clint yelped in surprise as Tony grabbed him.

"Watch it, Tin Can!" Clint yelped, "The cargo is fragile!" Tony snorted.

"Yeah, whatever, Katniss," Tony said, "Cap, get your boyfriend before they turn him into a pincushion." Sam slung the shield over his back, knowing he would need both hands free to get Bucky out. Instantly, he seemed to draw twice as much fire as before from the rooftop agents. He rolled to dodge a few bullets, then was forced to soar up and out of their firing range for a moment. 

"I'm drawing too much fire!" Sam called, "I can't get in close!" Bucky was still picking off agents, but some of them were beginning to turn their attention away from Sam and towards him. 

"They're targeting Sam!" Bucky said. The sound of some more gunfire and Bucky's heavy breathing was all that could be heard for a moment before Bucky continued, "Sam, join the others. I'll get myself out." 

"I'm not leaving you!" Sam growled, scanning the rooftop, "Bucky, I swear to God if this is some sacrificial bullshit -" Sam lost his train of thought when he spotted two heavily armored vehicles pulling up in front of the base.

"You have got to be kidding me! This is Fury's idea of a small-scale elimination?!" The tank-like vehicles began firing at him, and it was all Sam could do to dodge both the gunshots from the roof and larger shells from the ground. 

"Sam, get the hell out! I'll grab your boyfriend." Tony snapped, "We need to regroup." Sam fired up his thrusters to gain more altitude, but a second later, he heard the whistle of something large heading towards him, and next thing he knew, he was falling.

"Shit!" Sam swore as he tried to right himself, fiddling with his wingpack with one hand, while holding his shield in front of him protectively with the other. "I'm down!" Sam yelled as he finally gave up on Redwing and tucked himself behind the shield as best he could to prepare for impact.

The crash jostled him, but thanks to the shield, he was mostly uninjured and able to get upright quite quickly. Sam looked around, trying to find something he could use as cover, but there wasn't anything handy. 

"There's too many! I can't reach Sam!" Bucky sounded out of breath, and in pain, "Tony, please get him out." Sam could hear the worry in his voice. Sam crouched, holding his shield up for protection as he tried to figure out what was wrong with Redwing. He gave up on getting it started again as a small squad of HYDRA members approached him, guns at the ready. Sam fired at them, keeping himself tucked behind the shield as best as he could. A few shots pinged off the vibranium, ricocheting off in different directions. 

"Guys, I need help!" Sam said frantically as more shots rained on him. 

"I can't get in close enough!" Tony replied angrily, then his voice changed to concern, "Sam! Watch your back!" Sm whirled around to see more agents approaching, surrounding him. Great, just great.

"Tony, just stay above me and cover my six. I can't hold them all!" Sam ordered.

"Shit" Tony swore, "I'm hit! They took out vision on my suit!" Sam groaned. He was about to reply when he felt something hit his neck.

"Sam!" Bucky shouted as Sam's vision swam and he keeled over, fighting to stay conscious.

"I love you, Buck," Sam slurred, "If they turn me into a weapon, please kill me. I don' wanna hurt anyone." Sam vaguely heard Bucky reply, but before he could comprehend what Bucky had said, Sam passed out.