BOOM!
Through the whole floor sounded an ear spitting explosion. The heros, plus John, knew exactly who is to blame. "I knew we shouldn't trusted her."
They violently opened the door to the interrogating room and visibly stirred. On the right to spy glass was a huge, and when I say huge, I mean huuuge, hole in a wall. Everything in the room was covered in dust and a debris was all over the place. The pieces of chess board and pieces were everywhere.
One could say that this was truly a bombastic chess match, Sam though, while he made his way to the upturned table. It was just as he though, this Mira Santiago was truly a dangerous woman, but she had a little dignity not to hurt civilians.
Thank god the interrogator was alive, his body was covered in a few bruises, but it could be much worse. He, just to make sure, checked up his pulse too.
"Code Red," announced Bucky through the intercom to Sharon, who controlled everything from the IT sector. Not long after, through all of the rooms sounded alarm with an appropriate warning. In this situation it was 'Attention, attention! One of the prisoners escaped'.
"It seems history repeats itself once again," John made his way through the hole and followed the footprints in the dust. "She has no where to run, poor soul."
"Don't underestimate her, she will kick your ass, and something tells me she will do it glady."
"Shut up Barnes, if I remember well you were the one who trusted her... you too Sam..." argued John and this was the moment when Bucky's patience run out. John noticed the change in the air and took his gun out, not hesitating with bringing it up to Bucky's head.
"ENOUGH!" Sam's commanding tone make them both stirr. Bucky visibly deflated and relaxed his arms, he had his partner to cover his back. "Yea-," he breath out, "she is still somewhere in the building..."
But apparently, John had other plans. And the plan definitely consisted of pointing his gun at Bucky with a finger on a trigger. His hands were shaking a bit and his breathing came out ragged. Both heros drew their attention to John. History began to repeat itself, as John said.
"John, put the gun away," Bucky raised his hands, so John could see he isn't a threat.
"John."
Unfortunately, this John was in a trance. His mind being in the incident where these two let Lemar get killed.
I have to take revenge, if not for my sake, then for his parent's...
Sam was tensly awaiting John's next action, because it was going against his policy to let anyone endanger his partners life, again... He couldn't do anything when Riley died, but if something like that happened while he was able to stop it, he would never forgive himself.
"Walker! Put that gun down!" Warned Sam, but it was too late. The blast was heard and his was left speechless for a moment.
John's body fell to the ground... his body fell to the ground... along with a red dart in his neck... red dart in neck. The dart looked a tad too familiar and of course, to no surprise, it was the exact same dart they used in Norway.
"Není divu, že pohrdáš hrdiny, bratříčku~," has spoken voice in a language foreign to both of Sam's and Bucky's ears.
(No wonder you despise heros, brother).
There was a woman gracefully sitting on the table, her head covered by full face nanomask. Along with her was a man in the same attire, just casually leaning on the same table, like this was some part of a guessing game. He looked at her rather disapprovingly, that much was clear even with their nanomasks on.
"A ja jsem myslel, že nesnášíš telenovely, ale podívej se, jak jsem se mýlil, •tsk, tsk, tsk•" said the man's. Voice weirdly similar to the investigator's.
(And I thought you hate soup operas (drama), but look how wrong I was).
Both of the heros didn't waited and reached for their gun, pointing them almost without hesitation on the intruders. On contrast with John, their hands were as steady as they ever could be. This is called years of practice, praised Rafael in his head. He, himself, was a fucking prodigy when it came to guns, but there are reasons why he hated to be on this side of a gun than the other. I mean obvious reasons...
"Who are you?" barked Sam, backing away slightly. He looked at the body of the investigator and he was not surprised finding nobody there.
"Illusions," Bucky murmured only for Sam to hear it too. "No illusions, Mr. Barnes... just magic of a nanotechnology." Bucky glared at the woman. It was extremely obvious who was behind the mask.
"Why hiding behind the mask, if we already know your face? Hm, Santiago?"
"Do you? I wouldn't b-."
"Santiago?! I still can't believe you have chosen Mira Santiago to be your cover name!" The laugher of her OWN brother filled the room. More like hyena's laughter. You know, that creepy, taunting, contagious and high-pitched sound.
"Didn't you save me back in Norway?" And his laughing came to a halt. Sam just had to destroy his moment of pure joy, Raff glared at him. On the other hand, Sam recognised the tone of his laughter, because it was nearly identical to his panicking gasps.
Michelle looked at her brother with a taunting smile under her mask, "ohhh~. You will have to tell me way more~."
Rafael blushed at the though, he made his life's credo 'Heros suck!' and now he is all giddy and shy, because one of them. One would say he liked the idea of being hero, but sadly that was impossible with their-.
"I would love to talk some more, but you know," she playing with her fingers. "There is someone waiting for us... What about we make a deal? No! That sounded wrong, I didn't intend to make it sound as if you had a choice. Let me try again..." she breathed out and started one more time.
"You owe me; which means... now is the best time to pay me back. What about letting us off the hook?"
"What about you taking your damn mask down and stating your real name?" Bucky added sarcastically, but then his features softened. "What about choose one of those?" He put his gun down, finding that this wasn't an enemy he would easily fight off. On the other hand, Sam was a bit reluctant, still pointing his at Rafael.
By Bucky's point she seemed smart, way too smart for their own good. He had also seen her fight, and damn, compared to her he was truly out of form. Also he was a bit saddened by the fact, that her face might not be hers. He would love to see those eyes again. And those hips in action. He could vividly remember how their bodies fit perfectly together. Now it's official, Bucky has obtained a soft spot for the said assasin.
Michelle contemplated for a moment, unsure what to do. She had a plenty of time to see that this man, standing a few steps away, is not the Winter Soldier she was so familiar with. She smiled behind the mask, I'm glad you were able to fight your demons and rise victorious, James Buchanan Barnes.
It gave her hope, actually. Maybe... just maybe, they would be able to forgive them too, and with that a single tear spilled behind her mask, she didn't realised it did.
She climbed down from the table and was now standing opposite of Bucky. Michelle checked out, if it was safe to approach him. Who knows? This friendliness may come in handy later.
She reached to the one button on her mask, that came to cover half of her face. Revealing her beautiful brown orbs and leaving Bucky in expectation of her next move. Those eyes... you should never cover those.
What happened next surprised even Rafael. Michelle extended her hand to give Bucky a handshake, leaving Bucky to stared dumbfounded at her hand.
"If we are going to be enemies, you may call me Caligo. If you have no ill intentions...," she leaned closer to him and stood on tiptoes, trying to reach the level of his ear and whispered, "Michelle Syankova."
You did both Bucky nodded and moved out of her way.
After that she maneuvered around him and was standing by the door. "I believe, we have somewhere else to be Sniper," she looked and her speechless brother, who was still trying to overcome the shock, that his own sister just gave her name to a hero.
Willingly.
After Michelle left the room, the atmosphere changed dramatically. It wasn't the calm before the storm, which they successfully avoided. Now it was cold, like siberian cold, - 47 °C (-52 °F). Sam had to get a better grip on the gun, because of the chills running down his back and Bucky visibly tensed.
His gaze fell to Bucky, completly ignoring Sam's gun, he stood up and made his way to Bucky. It was hard to believe, but he checked him out, and not in any sexual way, in a deadly way. He checked him as a predator checks his prey.
When Rafael, the person Michelle professionally referred as Sniper, wanted to say something. Michelle spoke once again, "I won't clean your mess this time..." one could think that it was a warning, but not for them. In their case it was a signal for be careful.
Rafael had to chunckle, because he would never do anything to endanger their freedom. He relaxed his posture to give Bucky a time to take a breath, the poor guy was as tense as a string.
He lose his interest in showing his dominance and wisely followed words of his sister, but he had to leave with the final comment. "So long, Samuel."
So for summary, the two vigilantes left, John was drugged and there was a hole in the fucking wall, and yeah Bucky and Sam, just let them do it. Even though they saved them from troubles with John, the paperwork would be a pain in the ass.
Neither Bucky, nor Sam ever faced opponents like this, they weren't just strong, I mean super soldier, or incredibly intelligent as Stark, they seemed like a fellow civilians. Nothing looked out of ordinary and if they ever met the pair on the street, they wouldn't even notice them. That's the meaning of being subtle.
They just destroyed a FBI interrogation room, attacked Valentina's favourite lackey and left unscathed. They even had the audacity to negotiate with the heros. Well in this context, negotiate is a strong word...
But nevermind that, Bucky's mind was still trying to progress the encounter with Michelle Syankova.
Who was she? Who was the man with her? How did he know Sam?
Sam had the same dilemma. How could a person control atmosphere in the room as easily as Caligo did? Was it really the same man he encountered in Norway? He could hardly believe it.
His eyes finally traveled to John's sleeping form. "We should get him to the infirmary," he finally snapped out of it and thanks to his voice Bucky did too.
When they were holding John's arms, they tried to no make it awkward. And... they obviously failed. Both men had too many questions in mind. Either it was of how they met the vigilantes or what the hell just happened. It was awkward.
"So who starts?"
...
"Took you long enough," Uraš stated the obvious. "Any form of problems?" he added, but Michelle didn't heard and Rafael refused to answer, the incident of him being a hero still fresh in his mind.
They were now far away from the building, at the parking lot they agreed to meet up. It took so much energy from Rafael to make Uraš not drink. Soon much. He was still pissed at him, because he threw a tantrum, that he didn't want to drive a car. But if he was in a place of an interrogator, their mission would obviously fail. He wasn't suited for an art of acting.
"Oh come on! None of you are talking, so what happened?!" He started to freak out, it was out of character for his siblings to be this quiet.
"Nothing out of ordinary," Michelle started, looking weirdly at Uraš. "You are just impatient, that's why it seemed too long," she lied. Michelle had a embarrassing matter, she would rather not talk about.
With Rafael they shared a knowing look and ignored Uraš completly. As a good siblings should. He was always like this when he didn't have a single drop of alcohol in his system. Child. He was on the verge of crying when Michelle decided to take pity on him. She took of her mask.
"We will tell you after we arrive home, okey?" She said in a higher pitched tone, as if she was speaking to a cute little dog instead of her own brother. She cared deeply for her brothers, even if she was sometimes too harsh, it was for their own good.
‐‐‐‐‐
Fun facts:
Michelle and Rafeal always have a playful banter going on, when on serious missions. It somehow keeps them sane.
Uraš has an alcohol addiction, but he has a reason for it. (You will learn about it later *wink, wink*).
With love, Autor-san.