Snarky ColdWinter #2

[fist_of_hydra]

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."

Comments

[fist_of_hydra]

"What?" Bucky stared at him. "No, Christ, that's not what I... How the hell did I even get into this conversation?"

He had only himself to blame, and he knew it. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose, pained from more than just the concussion. "I'm just saying, usually it's a fella and a fairy, seems like. Which obviously, neither of you are. So I can't figure out how it works, but it's none of my business, like I said."

[coldlenny]

Len blinked at Bucky for a few moments in utter incomprehension before he just resolved this strange terminology into something like 'top' and 'bottom' and decided to move on from there.

"First of all, you're the one who got curious, which is why you're in this conversation. But to answer your question - James and I trade off," he said finally, because he didn't give a fuck about keeping that a secret from James himself, and he wasn't about to get prissy about it. "We're both control freaks in different ways, so we switch it up. That help?"

[fist_of_hydra]

They traded off? Bucky tried to wrap his mind around that. All the dirty jokes and snide innuendos he'd ever heard implied it was one guy who took the woman's position, the one people said made it 'wrong' and 'unnatural'.

No denying either of these two men were absolutely men, though. James could practically give Steve a run for his money, and while Len was a little more... flamboyant... he was still very masculine.

"Well, I still think you're both crazy, just flaunting it like that, but it's your lives." He shrugged, and tilted his head back to rest against the branch behind him. "But I guess if it works for you, it works."

[coldlenny]

[Just a reminder note to us when we're editing that we want to do an A/N on this chapter to give the readers some more information about how homosexual sex was in the 1940s.]

"Who's gonna arrest us out here in the woods?" Len pointed out with a smirk. "And who's gonna arrest us when two of our friends can set themselves on fire? Don't worry about our skins - we're not nearly as crazy as you think."

There was an urge to poke the bear, to ask Bucky if he had ever thought about trying it out. But even Len wasn't that cruel. Not right now, anyway. Maybe later, if he got bored enough.

But before he could decide to do it, he realized that the younger man was snoozing, head still tilted awkwardly back against the branch. Len drew him closer and Bucky curled against his chest, warm and protected.

Len kept his eyes on the skies through the criss-cross of branches, and hoped for the sight of wings or flame, or the rushing sound of the Atom's thrusters.

[fist_of_hydra]

---

The battle took far longer than it should have. The HYDRA troops had reinforcements, men not in a HYDRA or Nazi uniform. James picked off as many as he could from a distance, then closed in and did what he did best - acted as a killing machine.

In this company, he wasn't the only one capable of doing so, either. He heard the distinctive whine of Len's gun to one side, Rory's flamethrower on the other. Saunders was in the air with Firestorm, and Sara was covering Palmer while he got his gauntlets on so he could use the weapons. Hunter appeared to have decided that since none of them were bothering to use their period-accurate weapons, he wouldn't either, returning fire with his laser pistol instead.

By the time the dust settled, even James was breathing hard and sweating. He'd taken a couple of shots, a graze on his thigh and a through-and-through on his right bicep. Both would heal quickly enough that he wasn't worried, though they'd slow him down a bit until they did.

Glancing around, he did a quick head check. Palmer and Sara, Rory and Firestorm, Saunders and...

Swearing, he looked again, harder this time. "Where's Len?" he demanded, heart squeezing in his chest. "Where the fuck are Len and Barnes?"

"Over here," Rory grunted, picking up the cold gun and pointing at an icy patch... at the edge of a cliff, James discovered when he made his way over. There was a clear path of broken branches and disturbed dirt where someone - or maybe multiple someones - had tumbled over the side and into the river far below.

No matter how James strained to see, there was no sign of them in the water downriver.

Saunders was hovering just below the top of the treeline, hanging over the ravine where she'd be better able to see. "Nothing," she reported, swooping back and landing beside them. "They must have been swept too far downriver to see."

"Then we're going after them." James turned on the others, daring any of them to argue with him.

Apparently, Hunter was stupid enough to take the dare. "The extra troops must have been Savage's people," he said. "If Savage is already working this closely with Schmidt, our top priority has to be stopping that alliance at all costs. Mr. Snart can take care of himself, and clearly Sergeant Barnes is just fine and will remain so."

[coldlenny]

Mick snarled and pointed his gun at Rip. It charged up with a whine as he pointed it at their captain's head. "You're just fuckin' gonna abandon Snart and his pretty-boy? What if he's drowning right now?"

[fist_of_hydra]

Hunter crossed his arms. "Of course we'll come back for them, but at the moment our priority needs to be..."

James flipped his long knife into his hand from the sheath on his thigh. When he took a step forward to stand beside Rory, he didn't need to say anything. The message was clear. He was not leaving his lover behind.

Sighing, Hunter ran a hand through his hair. Apparently, for once, he recognized a battle he couldn't win. "Oh, very well. The two of you hunt downriver for Mr. Snart and Sergeant Barnes. Head back to the ship after, and either we'll meet you there, or Gideon will give you our current coordinates."

[coldlenny]

Mick glanced over at James when he came to stand beside him, and gave him a fierce grin of pleasure - all teeth. "For once we're on the same side, huh, pretty-boy?" he growled gleefully. "Let's go."

He turned his back on the rest of the team immediately, starting in the direction he judged to be downstream.

[fist_of_hydra]

James turned as well, and waved at the others as he went... the wave might have involved a single finger sticking up, aimed at Hunter.

"I'm going to check near the water, watch for any sign of them coming out," he told Rory. "You stay up here, keep watch for any patrols or things I might miss from too close." He started to step off the cliff, then paused and held out his hand. "Gimme the freeze gun, might help me get across the river if I need to. Nothing says they came out on this side."

[coldlenny]

Mick rumbled a laugh at the sight. He loved it when James proved he wasn't stuck up.

He had picked up the gun, but hesitated at James' request. Thing was, it was obvious that Len would want James to have the gun. So he reversed it and offered the handle.

"You gonna jump?"

[fist_of_hydra]

"Slide," James corrected, taking the gun and clipping it to the equipment harness across his back. He could draw it quickly if necessary, but it should take the least battering there as he went down. "Looks like it gets shallower downriver, at least, so you should be able to meet me there. Let's go."

He jumped off the ledge where the ice was, leaping from point to point down the hill until he reached the bottom. Crouching, he examined the point where Len and Barnes had gone into the water. "There's blood on a rock here," he called up to Mick. "One of them hit hard. Let's follow it downriver."

Standing, he headed down the bank with an expression as cold as anything the gun could produce. He was getting Len back, if it killed him.

---

Snart had been waking Bucky up every so often, checking to make sure he hadn't passed out completely from the concussion. What the guy thought he could do if Bucky had, he had no idea.

This time he came awake all on his own, though. "Did you hear that?" he blurted out, forcing himself upright. Somewhere, not nearly far enough away, there was shouting.

In German.

[coldlenny]

Len had heard it, and had in fact been listening to it for a while. He growled when Bucky suddenly sat up. "Shush," he hissed, grabbing the younger man around the shoulders and putting a hand over his mouth.

"If you can hear them, they can hear you," he whispered, his lips brushing against Bucky's ear.

[fist_of_hydra]

Right. Good point. Bucky froze and went silent, ears straining to catch the German questions being called back and forth. His knowledge of the language was pretty spotty, but he knew a few words. They had to be pretty confident they were the superior force in this area if they were giving away their position like that, which meant it was a big group.

Far more than he and Snart could hope to take, with hardly any weapons between them. Bucky had a tactical knife, that was about it, since he'd dropped his gun on the way down. He hadn't seen any sign of Snart's fancy ray gun, either. If they were found, they were so screwed.

Unfortunately, it sounded like the patrol was heading right for them. Maybe they were just coming to the river for water?

Yeah. Because his luck was ever that good.

[coldlenny]

Len's arm tightened around Bucky's shoulder as he waited tensely, listening as the Germans got closer. Though they were somewhat screened, there was no way even a casual search wouldn't find them.

"We're trapped like rats," he hissed, drawing a gun from his boot and gripping it tightly.

[fist_of_hydra]

Bucky drew his knife, futile as it was. He tried to pretend his hand wasn't shaking subtly. Being taken captive by HYDRA a second time was pretty much his worst nightmare - literally. The first time had been bad enough, when he was just a random Army grunt.

Now that he was a Commando, and specifically on HYDRA's shit list? It would be so, so much worse.

"Nothing for it," he replied, just as quiet. "If they find us, I'll go left, you go right. At least we'll go down fighting." He swallowed. "Try not to get captured. Try really hard."

[coldlenny]

Len looked at Bucky penetratingly. "No," he growled. "No, we are not going down today."

He grabbed Bucky by the front of his uniform and got in his face. "Listen to me. I know what HYDRA can do, but I also know that if we get captured, my team will go to hell and back to rescue us. We will get rescued. So you have to promise me - promise me, James - that you will not die."

[fist_of_hydra]

Bucky stared at him, wide-eyed and incredibly confused. What the hell? Where had this intensity come from? Snart was talking like it mattered to him, personally, if Bucky died.

And, James? Yeah, that was his name, people called him that in the Army sometimes, but Bucky hadn't introduced himself that way. Wasn't that the weird guy in the mask's name?

"Steve will come for us, too," he agreed, subdued but with his hands steadying. "We just have to hang on long enough, if they do get us." He just had to keep reminding himself of that. Steve had come for him once, when it should have been absolutely impossible. He'd do it again, now.

[coldlenny]

"Then you promise?" he asked. He knew he was being weird, but he didn't care. What mattered was saving James' life, and not letting his past self sacrifice himself needlessly.

And the Germans were getting closer. He held Bucky's gaze, though his attention shifted and the grip on his knife tightened.

[fist_of_hydra]

"Yeah, okay, I promise." Bucky had no idea why it was so important, but it wasn't like he wanted to die. He was grateful for the reminder that it wasn't a hopeless situation. It wasn't like him to give up - but this was the one thing that terrified him.

Flipping the knife in his hand, he pushed up into a crouch. "So are we fighting, or surrendering, then?"

[coldlenny]

Len hesitated, looking out between the branches. His eyes flicked upwards once more, searching the skies, but there was no sign of wings or thrusters.

"We surrender," he said. "But we leave a message." He pulled the ring off of his finger and carefully threaded it onto a protruding branch. If his friends searched this shore, they would find the shelter, and know they were here. He took a branch and drew the word 'hydra' on the sandy ground.

Then he looked at Bucky. "You ready to go?"

[fist_of_hydra]

Bucky had his head down, eyes closed, offering up a silent prayer that it wouldn't take Steve and the others long to find them. He didn't do the religious thing much these days, not since his parents had stopped making him go to church, but it was still ingrained. The last time he'd prayed had been when he was strapped to Zola's table... and that prayer had been answered, in the most impossible way.

Maybe this one would be, too.

Crossing himself hastily, he glanced up at Snart and nodded, his eyes determined. "Yeah, okay. Let's do this."

He could hear the German soldiers getting close, and one of them had clearly noticed their little hidey-hole, was shouting for his fellows.

"Wir geben auf," Bucky called, hoping he had the phrase right. He'd heard Germans surrendering to them before, but never had to do it himself. "Don't shoot... uh, nicht schießen!"

Hands up, he rose slowly from the hole, and found three men aiming rifles at him. HYDRA uniforms, of course. Because his luck just went that way.

[coldlenny]

Len didn't speak German, so he stayed quiet. He just crawled slowly out of the hole behind Bucky, his hands raised as well. He wasn't looking forward to this, and his eyes were cold and forbidding as he looked at the black-clad German soldiers.

Glaring at them, he dropped the knife in his hand onto the ground.

The HYDRA soldiers moved forward cautiously and searched them, then cuffed their hands behind their backs. "Move," one of them said in accented English, and began to push them on, heading downstream.

[fist_of_hydra]

---

James found the place where Len and Bucky had dragged themselves ashore, but the trail ended at the stony beach. There wasn't enough underbrush along the river's edge for them to have disturbed it significantly, and woods tracking wasn't a skill HYDRA had ever seen fit to give him.

"Over here," he called to Mick, keeping his voice down. There might be patrols in the area, and they didn't want to draw attention, or he'd have been shouting for Len.

[coldlenny]

Mick stomped through the forest and underbrush in a downstream direction, searching here and there for any sign of the two, and paused at the shore as Snart's boytoy climbed out of the water.

He glared around. "You saw blood, right? Can't you sniff for any or something? You're a freak like the Flash and all."

[fist_of_hydra]

"I'm not a fucking bloodhound," James snarled back. "Pretty sure the Flash isn't, either. Why don't you get off your ass and look around, see if you can find any footprints or something."

Not knowing if Len was okay made him snappish and surly. That blood had him badly worried - whether it was Len's or Bucky's, it wasn't a good sign.

He searched as well, and even with his focus and attention, he nearly tripped over their clue. Someone had done a good job of strewing the branches around to try to hide the hole, but there were footprints all around it. HYDRA footprints - he'd know those sole prints anywhere, even after all these years. "Rory! Over here."

He slid down into the hole, careful not to disturb anything. He didn't know what he was hoping to find - but he got a lot more than he'd expected. There was an arrow and the word HYDRA, and a ring hanging from a branch. A ring he knew all too well. Snatching it, he jumped back up, nearly running into Mick. He held out the ring, silent proof. "HYDRA got them."