Chapter Text
But she said, Where d’you wanna go? How much you wanna risk?
I’m not looking for somebody with some superhuman gifts
Some superhero, some fairytale bliss
Just something I can turn to, somebody I can kiss
I want something just like this.
--The Chainsmokers & Coldplay
The mission starts off exactly as planned. Hawkeye pilots the Quinjet, dropping you and the rest of the four-person team about half a klick from the target, a large castle somewhere in central Romania. Once a bustling training and research center, recent intel indicates that it’s been decommissioned in the last decade, and now all it boasts is information storage and the occasional internal debate about whether or not HYDRA should put it on the real estate market.
“I mean, I’d probably at least want a tour,” says Hawkeye when he finally gets the castle in view. You can’t blame him; it’s a pretty spot in the middle of the mountains, surrounded by trees and few neighbors.
“Nah, man,” says Falcon, though it’s more of a shout in the wind as he flies off the back of the jet. “That place is gonna be crazy haunted.”
“It doesn’t have a moat,” you point out. “Can you even call it a castle if it doesn’t have a moat?”
“They filled in the moat,” says Bucky, so completely deadpan that you’re not sure whether or not he’s joking. “When they sold off the alligators.”
You give Bucky a good hard stare; he doesn’t even crack a smile, the bastard, and you have no idea if he’s telling the honest-to-God truth or pulling your leg. Again.
“Chatter,” says Captain America, as if you and the rest of the skeleton team haven’t run this particular play half a dozen times in the last three months. Cap’s briefing is getting so repetitious, you’ve got it memorized. You and Bucky spent most of the inbound flight playing Hangman.
(Final score: You 6, Bucky 8. Bucky would have more points except he’s a cheating cheater who cheats by switching to Russian when that’s expressly against your rules.)
It’s the same plan as usual: you and Bucky on the ground, Cap to run point and perimeter, and Falcon providing eyes in the sky and backup for Cap as needed. The four of you have it down to a science. Hangman is definitely a better use of time.
Cap and Falcon stay on the castle’s perimeter—roughly where the filled-in formerly-infested-with-alligators moat would have been—while you and Bucky infiltrate the castle. It’s quiet, apart from the guards doing their rounds, and you and Bucky move quickly through the dim stone corridors.
“You cheated,” you mutter as you work your way inside.
“Did not,” says Bucky. “Duck.”
You duck. He swings his Vibranium arm over your head, grabbing one of the approaching guards by the throat until the guy blacks out, at which point he lowers him gently to the ground. Neither of you much like killing HYDRA’s minions, especially when you both know they’re mostly in it for the dental plans.
Bucky’s just set down the guard when another comes around the corner. You block the incoming kick without hesitation, sliding into the fight like it’s just another day of training in the gym. The hits come fast and furious and bang on target; the guy’s good.
“Hey, you take lessons?” you ask, delighted to have an actual opponent who knows what they’re doing for once. “’Cause you know, most of you guys, I swear it’s like you learned from TV or something.”
“Yeah, I—” begins the guard, right before Bucky’s arm comes out of nowhere and clotheslines the guy.
“Aw, Bucky,” you complain. “I was doing a thing.”
“Stop trading quips with the enemy,” says Bucky.
“Steve does,” you grumble, adjusting the pack on your back and following him into the castle. Two more guards come racing at you, which is good because it means it’s one-on-one and Bucky’s less likely to squash your opponent before you can do it yourself. Which you do. Because you can.
“See?” says Bucky, barely out of breath. “You trade quips, you end up taking twice as long. You stay quiet, you win faster.”
“But it’s more boring that way,” you complain.
“It’s faster that way.”
“You say that often enough, I’m going to start thinking you don’t like partnering with me on these missions,” you tell him.
He gives you a look. It’s a cross between exasperated and murderous, and it makes you grin. Honestly, getting that look on Bucky’s face is almost as much fun as beating him in Hangman (and a lot easier, too). “Who says I like partnering with you?”
“Steve. Sam. Natasha. You,” you chirp, counting out on your fingers. Bucky grumbles in Russian; it’s something you’ve heard before and Natasha refuses to translate it for you, which means it’s either really really horrible, or it’s super embarrassing and she’s saving it for a special occasion.
Which reminds you, so you pick up berating him while you make your way through the castle to the central computers. “You know my Russian is crap, and it’s a Hangman rule—”
“Language,” says Cap mildly over the comms.
“Exactly,” you almost shout. “It’s against the rules in Hangman to switch languages without even saying so.”
“Or, and I’m just throwing out a suggestion here,” says Falcon, “maybe don’t admit you were playing Hangman during the mission briefing.”
Bucky just grins at you. Letting you hang yourself, ugh. If he weren’t your best friend, you’d probably hate him.
But he is, and you don’t, and you are totally going to get him back after you’re done with the mission. It’s a really long flight from Romania to New York, even on a Quinjet.
“Who said anything about playing during the briefing?” you say innocently. Falcon snorts, but Bucky’s shoulders shake with laughter.
It doesn’t take long to break into the computer room, and then it’s a matter of minutes before you hack into the system. “Hey, Cap?” you say after a moment. “I thought you said this was just a hacking job? Because I’m showing a chemical storage facility in sub-basement C.”
“Shit,” groans Cap.
“Language,” Bucky and Falcon chorus together.
Cap ignores them both. “Can you get down there and neutralize whatever you find?”
“Yup,” you say, examining the floorplan. Cheers to whichever HYDRA minion insisted on posting super-clear fire evacuation maps in every room, you totally love that person. “Might add about twenty minutes, unless we find resistance.”
“Do it,” says Cap.
The minute you finish copying the files—and wiping the computers—you and Bucky both head down to sub-basement C. There’s not much resistance until you get to the end—well, nothing the pair of you can’t handle. You’ve spent the last year training for exactly this sort of mission; from having only handled a Nerf gun in your previous life, you’ve turned into a decent shot under the combined tutelage of both Clint and Bucky. Nowhere near their level, of course, but Bucky says you can hit the broad side of a barn sometimes, which from him is an actual compliment.
The basement door has a gazillion locks of all types on it, which honestly has you a little nervous. Not because of the locks themselves, you’ve been breaking those since one extremely boring summer when you were eight, but because whatever’s behind a door with that many of them can’t possibly be good.
No sooner than you reach the door, though, all the resistance you didn’t find on your way down suddenly shows up and starts firing at you. Immediately, Bucky creates a barrier with another door ripped from across the hall, which gives you enough cover to start working on the locks.
“It’s a whole fucking platoon,” he says, gritting his teeth, while you work furiously at the locks. He takes out the shooters one by one, but you’re very well aware that the door won’t provide cover for very long.
“What, were they on break before?” you grumble.
“Quit yapping and hurry up!” He always gets so snippy when you’re under fire.
“I’m hurrying, I’m hurrying!” you assure him.
You break into the door just as the gunfire stops. “Ta-da,” you announce as the door opens.
“I finished first,” says Bucky smugly.
“Whatever you have to tell yourself,” you say, patting his flesh arm soothingly. He rolls his eyes and you both step into the sub-basement lab.
And stop dead in your tracks.
“Woah.”