fist_of_hydra | Snarky ColdWinter #2

Snarky ColdWinter #2

The team had been arguing for a while now, and getting nowhere. They'd narrowed Savage's location down to Italy in September of 1944, but couldn't get any farther than that. James thought he had a pretty good guess what Savage wanted - this was where HYDRA had most of their facilities, and the Red Skull would be the perfect ally to Savage.

The only people who would have any further intelligence about Savage's possible movements were the Allied or Axis forces. Neither were going to hand the information over to a bunch of strangers. Ray wanted to play dress up and march in, pretend to be an officer and demand the information. Sara wanted to go in at night and steal it. There were half a dozen other ideas floating around, and all of them were bad. Quite a few of them were likely to get them shot at.

Ray might be onto something, though. At least, if you turned your head and looked at the idea sideways. Trying to march in and claim to be an officer nobody in the camp had ever seen was asking for a swift visit from the MPs.

Marching in and claiming to be an officer everyone in the camp had seen was another matter.

James had been lurking by the doorway, as was his habit, rather than sitting around the table with the others. He hadn't been contributing, so he was able to slip out without inciting comment. Once in the hall, he strode toward the fabrication room. "Gideon. Do you have any footage or photos of me in uniform in this time period?"

"Of course, Mr. Barnes."

"Good. I need a copy made, and make sure it looks worn and used. Can you do that?"

"Certainly."

"Then do it." James strode into the fabrication area, where a uniform was already synthesizing. He paused, looking at it, and rubbed a hand over the scruff on his chin.

Five minutes later he strode back toward the main room. It felt odd to be back in this uniform. Gideon had even managed to make it smell right - which was to say, like blood and gunpowder and harsh lye soap. Even stranger was not feeling his hair brushing against his cheeks and neck. He hadn't had short hair since HYDRA took him, and he found he already missed it long.

This wasn't him, anymore. It felt like the ghost of Bucky Barnes was riding his shoulders, and the weight was pressing him down.

"...are we supposed to do, walk in and ask them nicely?" Sara was saying, her tone full of exasperation as she threw her hands up at Ray.

"That's exactly what we're gonna do." James rose his voice enough to cut through the babble. Everyone turned to look at him, and most of them did a wide-eyed double-take. He raised an eyebrow at them. "It's just a matter of the right person doing the asking."

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Bucky shook hands without hesitation, but he gave Len the same curious once-over he'd given James. "Pleasure. We'll have plenty of time to get acquainted on the way back, so why don't we head out?"

"Good plan. Commandos, let's head out." Steve made a sweeping hand gesture and pointed toward the camp, and the rest of the Commandos slung their weapons away and started moving in the indicated direction.

Again James felt a pang. He remembered the old hand codes, found them rushing back to him the same way the identification call had. He was drowning in memories, sort of like what had happened when Steve first triggered his true personality, but magnified a hundred times over.

He was grateful to have the memories back; he was going to fill whole books with new information after this trip. At the same time, he wished he could just get a moment to breathe among the onslaught.

Stein drifted closer to Bucky, eyes shining with excitement. He was doing the same thing Barry and Cisco had done to 'the Winter Soldier' when they'd first realized who he was - Lisa had called it 'fanboying'. Hopefully he didn't give them away by asking too many pointed questions about things he shouldn't have known.

Falling in beside Snart, Bucky eyed the motley group, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. The two women, well, he'd gotten a pretty thorough lesson from Peggy about underestimating what a woman could do in the field. The black kid didn't bug him, not after working with Gabe for so long. But the old guy? He had to be sixty if he was a day, what the hell was he doing in the field?

And then there was the guy in the mask, his whole face obscured and his vice somehow distorted. It gave Bucky the weirdest feeling just to be near him. He was creepy, that was for sure. Turning his attention back to Len, he tried to ignore the masked guy stalking along at his back. "So, what can you tell me? Since I'm guessing you're gonna refuse to answer half my questions."

Len hoped that James was doing okay. At least with the mask, if he was having a breakdown, no one would notice. He was already trying to plan the best way to ditch Bucky before they got anywhere near Savage.

But for now, it just hadn't seemed like they had any choice but to let him tag along.

So he walked and plotted and glanced at Bucky when the Sergeant asked him his question. "Savage is bad news, and we're gonna take care of it," he said. "They say he's magic, that he can't be killed, but we have a special weapon that's the only way to take him out."

"Yeah, well, Schmidt thinks he can do magic, too," Bucky said, skeptical. "Guarantee a bullet in the head will still take him down, we're just trying to get to a place where we can put it there. Why does your guy need a 'special weapon'? You gonna do the whole vampire thing, stake him, cut his heart out and head off?"

"Magic is just science we don't understand, yet," James murmured, vaguely recalling a quote about something like that. He'd certainly had it demonstrated to him - many of the things they could do in 2016 would seem like magic to these people, let alone the things from 2166.

"More like have Kendra here deliver the killing blow," Ray said cheerfully, having obviously been eavesdropping, too. "We really don't know what it is that's keeping him alive - I mean, obviously it's got to be science - but I assure you, it's true that he's hard to kill."

Kendra elbowed Ray fiercely.

"All we know, is that there's something to it," Len growled. "So I'm telling you so you don't blunder in and get yourself killed because you don't believe in magic, okay?"

"Sure, okay." Bucky still clearly wasn't buying any.

James sighed. "They've made Rogers a hell of a lot harder to hurt than a normal person. Why is it so hard to believe someone might go even farther on that scale? Think of it like personal armour, if it helps. Knights were the biggest, baddest thing on the battlefield for centuries. Nobody could touch them... until they invented guns. We're bringing the gun to the knife fight."

That seemed to make Bucky think about it, at least. He cocked his head at James. "So why the fancy get-up?"

Len rolled his eyes as Bucky obviously didn't believe them, but then James said something and it appeared to be the right thing. Then again, that shouldn't have been surprising. James would know what would be persuasive to himself.

But he saw James freeze at the question, and quickly jumped in. "It's a security measure." At Bucky's questioning look, he smirked, slow and suggestively. "He's so gorgeous that if he took off the mask, everyone would fall in love with him."

That drew a couple of snickers and snorts of disbelief from the rest of their crew. James rolled his eyes, though nobody would see it.

"Ask him how he knows," Sara chimed in, playful and sly. "He was the first victim. Now we can hardly separate them."

Bucky stumbled over a root and shot a startled look from James to Snart. James ground his teeth. Of course Sara wouldn't give a shit about the social mores of the time. This was the woman who'd seduced a nurse in a small town in the 50s.

Len grinned even more widely, and cast a lascivious look at James. "She's not wrong."

Then he glanced at Bucky again, looking defiant. "Not gonna be a problem, I hope. You seem like an open-minded kid."

It amused him somewhat to think of Bucky making some kind of report on him, that he was engaging in lewd and inappropriate behaviour, and then discovering that Leonard Snart didn't exist. Of course, they'd be long gone.

Again Bucky looked back and forth between Len and James, probably trying to figure out if they were having him on. James refused to comment, but he also didn't refute the claim. He hadn't intended the subject to come up, but he would not reject Len outright.

He wished he could remember better what his thoughts about that sort of thing had been, though. He only remembered ever being with women before Len, and he knew the social attitude at the time was incredibly negative. Sara and Len had no idea how lucky they'd been so far, with their unashamed admissions of their sexuality no matter the time period or place.

On the other hand, he suspected he might have had a thing for Steve beyond mere friendship, though he was certain the interest hadn't been returned if it did exist. Whether he'd admitted it to himself was the question.

To his relief, Bucky finally settled on an expression of unease and uncertainty, but not disgust. "None of my business. Doubt any of the Commandos will care either, I guess. Though you might wanna be a little more circumspect, there's plenty of officers would write you up."

"Like Rogers?" James couldn't resist asking, poking at the question like a sore tooth. Len and Steve hadn't exactly become friends the one time they'd met, and he didn't know if Steve was unhappy about the relationship because Len was a thief, or because he was a man. Or both, probably, since the former was a given.

"Steve? Nah, he's about the most open-minded guy I know." Bucky shrugged. "We had a friend back in Brooklyn, Arnie, he was one of those."

They had? James blinked, startled, but the name brought a few new memories drifting back. Jewish fella, and he'd kept it quiet, but James did remember now.

He'd nearly nerved himself up to proposition the guy for a kiss, when they were teenagers, but chickened out at the last minute. He was oddly relieved at the proof that Len wasn't the first guy he'd thought about that way. It made it more real, somehow.

Fuck it. Bucky knew and apparently didn't care, beyond being startled they'd admitted it so openly. He let himself drift closer to Len, falling in at his partner's side in his usual position.

"See?" Sara grinned at them. "Can't keep them apart. It's cute, really."

Len was also wary, watching Bucky for any sign of disgust. But to his surprise, the younger version of his lover ultimately accepted when he'd said without issue - only warning them.

And suddenly, there was James, drifting in close on silent feet. There he was, right next to him, and Len only now realized how uncomfortable it had been with James so far away.

He did shoot a glare at Sara, though.

"The cutest," Mick rumbled. "We going or what?"

Len was just glad he wasn't inclined to blush. "Yes, we're going."

Nodding, Bucky gestured to one side of the clearing. "All right then, gents... and ladies, sorry. We're heading pretty much due west, so let's go."

Bucky was kept giving Len and James a sidelong look as they all walked, quizzical and a little uncomfortable at the obvious display. Was James projecting, thinking there was a hint of wistfulness as well? Maybe the kid - he couldn't help but think of his younger version as a kid, even though there was really only a few years separating them - was imagining being able to be that open.

James stared right back at him, not hiding it or being coy, daring him to... he wasn't even sure. There was a possessive edge to his feelings, which was completely ridiculous. Bucky didn't want Len, didn't even know who Len was.

But James had fallen for him, and James was Bucky, so if Bucky got to know Len, would he fall, too?

When he realized he was growling, the sound thankfully mostly muffled by the mask, he forced himself to look away.

Len could tell there was some kind of tension passing between James and Bucky now that Bucky knew. He even thought he heard a growl coming from his lover's throat, though he couldn't be sure.

And even though Bucky wasn't saying much, it did seem like there was tension there now that wasn't there before.

He moved closer to Bucky, hoping James would hang back a bit. "This gonna be a problem?" he asked in an undertone.

"You tell me," Bucky replied, shooting a wary glance over Len's shoulder. "Your pal there doesn't seem to like me much. What's his issue with me?"

The guy was downright creepy, with the mask and goggles hiding his entire face, and the unnatural sound of his voice. Then there was that weird metal armour over his entire left arm. It looked like he'd removed the sleeve of his jacket to show it off, which was stupid for a sniper. The metal could catch the light and give his position away.

Len shrugged, and lied without hesitation. "He doesn't have an issue with you - no more than anyone else. He's sensitive about our relationship, and he's a grump. Takes him a while to warm up to people. Don't take it personally."

"Uh-huh. Sure." Somehow Bucky really wasn't convinced. The guy kept an eye on him like he thought Bucky was dangerous, somehow.

Although... maybe that was exactly what it was. The guy was worried Bucky might report them, after all. Get them in trouble for the relationship. Len didn't seem to care who knew, but it did seem like James maybe was a little less eager to flaunt it.

After an hour of marching, most of the Waverider group were tired and footsore. James had very little sympathy for them, and he caught an eye roll from Sara that suggested she felt the same. Mick was grumbling about all the flammable things around he wasn't allowed to burn, and Stein looked like he was getting short of breath. Kendra and Ray both kept glancing up like they really wished they could get into the air - which would have been a great strategy, especially for the Atom which could go unnoticed, if not for Bucky's presence among them.

James was so distracted keeping a jealous eye on Bucky and Len that he committed a cardinal sin - he stopped paying attention to everything else. His first warning was the crack of a branch up ahead, too close to be an animal, and a brief glint of sunlight off something metal or glass.

"Ambush!" he shouted a warning, lunging to one side and hitting the ground rolling. Sara landed not far from him, both of them coming to a stop behind thick trees just as the bullets started to fly.

After that, things got heated fast. HYDRA troops in specialized armour and with HYDRA's impossibly advanced weapons came pouring down on them. James picked off as many as he could, and heard the crack of Bucky's rifle doing the same some distance away. The familiar sound of Len and Rory's guns going off at least assured him his lover was all right, but there were more and more troops coming in.

Bucky didn't know what the hell Len pulled out from under his jacket - it looked kind of like a HYDRA weapon, big and clunky, but it seemed to shoot ice. He was rapidly distracted by the black kid who slapped his hand on the old guy's shoulder and burst into flames before shooting up into the air.

"What the fuck..." he didn't have time to finish the question before he saw one of the HYDRA flamethrowers coming up behind Len, apparently unnoticed. "Snart, look out!"

Len whipped around and fired at the new threat, icing the guy and a good area of the ground between him and Bucky. Unfortunately, they'd been closer to the edge of a ravine than Bucky realized, and the ice made the ground crack and fall away beneath his feet. He shouted, scrambling for purchase, but couldn't get a grip on anything.

He tumbled over the edge, heading for the ground below at far too fast a pace. There was just enough of a slope that it probably wouldn't kill him, but the river at the bottom of the gully was fast and turbulent, with an awful lot of rocks.

It was also ice cold, he discovered when he hit the water. And those rocks were really hard, as he proved when he slammed headfirst into one of them.

And that was pretty much the last thing he knew.

Len began cursing the moment the ambush was called, at least internally. He couldn't believe HYDRA had managed to get past all of them - and worst of all, they had all been forced to reveal their advanced weaponry and abilities. Ray was the only exception, and he noticed him going to ground near James, with Mick covering him as he torched HYDRA soldiers.

All Len knew was that he couldn't allow Bucky to get hurt or killed. He probably wouldn't have been here if it weren't for them, and that meant the ambush could kill him and change history. So he kept very close to Bucky and fired blast after blast of ice.

Too many, it seemed, as they started to fall.

He saw Bucky hit the water first. He was lucky, landing between the rocks instead of on any of them, and he came up sputtering a moment later. He looked around, shouting Bucky's name, and then saw a figure floating in the water, face down.

With a snarl, he swam to Bucky, fighting the pull of the current that was sweeping both of them downstream at an unfortunate pace. He grabbed the other man and turned him over, treading water and just trying to keep both of them afloat.

Thankfully, he seemed to be breathing, but there was a cut on his forehead that was still bleeding sluggishly.

Another quarter mile downstream, and Len was starting to tire. He hadn't seen Kendra or Raymond in the air, which meant that the others might not have seen where he went. Which also meant that rescue was not imminent.

But the ravine walls had lowered and the river had widened, slowing down considerably. He made for the nearest shore, swimming awkwardly with the burden of the other man. He wasn't a strong swimmer, but he made it, and hauled Bucky out of the water on a rocky sort of beach. Beyond was a stand of dark trees.

Edited 2016-06-09 02:10 (UTC)

About halfway up the beach, Bucky started coughing as he returned to consciousness and tried to take too deep a breath. Gasping for air, he turned on his side and vomited up some water. When he managed to get his eyes open, he saw Len gripping him under the arms, dragging him along.

Groaning, he lifted a hand to his head, feeling the knot and trickle of blood on his temple. "Fuck. What happened?"

Len dropped him when he started to cough, and helped him to lean over and vomit up the water without choking on it. He rubbed Bucky's back, trying to suppress his concern.

But thankfully, he was talking, and seemed to be breathing okay.

"We fell and you hit your head when you hit the water," Len growled. "Think you can get to your feet?"

"Yeah, I think so." Bucky tried to haul himself to his feet, and dizziness nearly overwhelmed him. He flailed out a hand, and was grateful when Len took it to support him.

Between the two of them they managed to get him to his feet, though it was a near thing. He was forced to sling his arm over Len's shoulders to stay upright. Looking around, he was dismayed not to recognize any landmarks. "How far down river did we come? Did anybody see us go over?"

Len had his arm around Bucky's waist and he held him close, shaking his head as he looked back the way they'd come. "I'm not sure how far, and I don't think anyone saw." He pursed his lips. If someone had seen them, he was sure he'd see Kendra and Ray by now, but still not a sign of wings.

"We'll need to try to go back up the river. At least I think we're on the right shore. But if we hit that HYDRA force, we'll be iced pretty quick.

His fingers dropped down to his thigh, but he had dropped his cold gun when he fell. He could only hope that it had fallen on solid ground and could be recovered.

Bucky tripped and stumbled over nothing, another wave of dizziness hitting him. "I don't think I'm going to make it that far. Find somewhere I can hole up, then you go back for help. It's the only thing that makes sense."

Even if the thought of being left behind, to be potentially recaptured by HYDRA, was a nightmare, Bucky knew what he was suggesting was the only way. He just wished he had a weapon better than a knife, but he'd dropped his rifle on the way down, as well. It was probably at the bottom of the river right now.

Len gritted his teeth, hauling on Bucky to keep him moving. They had to at least find some kind of shelter. That water had been pretty cold, and Bucky was definitely not doing well.

"I'm not leaving you, idiot," he snarled. "Keep moving. They'll figure out where we went. We just have to find a place to stop."

Steve would definitely come looking for him, which was part of why Bucky thought it made more sense for Len to head upriver - he could meet the search party halfway and lead them back, it would be a lot faster.

Bucky couldn't quite bring himself to protest again, though. Not when he didn't WANT to be left behind, at all. At least the man's insistence on saving him and staying with him meant he probably wasn't intending to kill Bucky for having seen... whatever the hell he'd seen back there.

Probably. Unless he didn't realize Bucky had seen it.

Damn it, he had to know the answer, though. It was going to eat him alive. "So, I don't suppose you'd like to tell me what exactly happened, back there? Because I gotta tell you, watching one of your guy burst into flames is gonna be nightmare fodder, and I've got plenty enough of that already."

Len figured Bucky might have seen some things, but he wasn't sure how much the other man had seen - or remembered after the head injury - so he hadn't seen much of a reason to tell him all about it.

But Bucky clearly did remember, and Len sighed faintly. "We told you we're a special ops team, right? You starting to realize why you haven't heard of us, and were reluctant to have you come hang around with us?"

"And I thought Red Skull was the weirdest thing out there," Bucky muttered, shivering. Then he shivered again, racked with cold, and had to clench his teeth to keep them from chattering.

Ahead he spotted a dip in the ground, a little pseudo cave where one of the forest giants had fallen and its trunk mostly covered a natural hollow. "Over there," he suggested, jerking his head. "We can line it with boughs and dig in until this damn dizziness passes. I'm not going to make it far like this."

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