behind blue eyes [bucky barnes]

thirty

"Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople."

Song: Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by They Might Be Giants

. . . . .

"Stick close to one another," Steve said as the four members of the team began gathering their things and preparing to hit the ground. "Romanoff - you and Barton take the southside. Maria and I will hit the north. Remember - extract the intel then get out."

"Aye-yiy Captain," Clint said, saluting him with a smirk. Maria rolled her eyes as she put her coms in her ear and slotted a multitude of weapons in the different compartments along her suit. Her nerves had disappeared only to be replaced by a calm and clear mind. She was ready to face whatever was going to be thrown her way.

Thankfully, the mission was very simple - gather intel from a low security facility in Istanbul. Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker had a facility that was rumored to contain various intel over past, present, and future projects sanctioned by HYDRA. Having that intel could slow their progress and significantly increase the likelihood of the Avengers preventing future attacks. It was highly imperative that they executed this mission to perfection.

"You good," Natasha asked Maria as she came up to the rest of the group.

"You care?"

Natasha huffed and walked away, leaving the two boys to look between one another and then down to Maria.

"What's that all about," Steve asked. "Since when have you and Nat been at odds?"

"She had a lot of shit to say when she found out that Bucky and I were soulmates," shrugged Maria. "I don't take kindly to it being insinuated that my soulmate is a villain. And I especially don't like it being thrown in my face that I have a jaded past when the person pointing fingers doesn't have much room to talk."

"So it's girl drama," shrugged Clint, nodding before looking back out towards the exit. Silence was all that was experienced until they were ready to go. Steve and Maria jogged side-by-side towards the north end of the building. They stopped periodically, taking out security officers as nonchalantly as possible. Or well, Maria was. Steve threw his shield around so much that discreteness wasn't something he was really able to do. The girl had to go in behind him and keep them from catching too much attention.

"I thought security was supposed to be low," mumurred the girl as she and Steve stood on either side of the outer door. "We've taken out at least 50 guys just on our side."

"Romanoff," Steve said through the coms. "Status update."

"40 hostels down- correction, 41. There's a lot more firepower than we anticipated."

"Same on our end," the captain stated. "But we have to keep going. This intel is too vital."

"Got it."