Clutching || Bucky Barnes

21

The hydra fortress fortress in the mountains was exactly what Basil pictured it to be. It was some concrete soulless bunker hidden in a mine shaft and surrounded by snow and rock. He was glad for the insulation of his suit but still grabbed a coat from the emergency pack on the plane as the craft lowered. He tugged the too big material round his shoulders and pulled the hood up over his head as the plane touched down. "Alright", Steve stated as he stood from the pilot's seat. T'Challa, Basil and Bucky all turned to watch him as he pulled on his helmet and picked up his shield. Tony sighing as he came to stand at Steve's side. 

"Zemo plans to wake up five of the most dangerous super soldiers hydra has. We need to stop him before that happens". 

"Yeah yeah, we know the drill", Tony grumbled as his helmet reformed over his face. 

"You'd think that after the red skull incident, they would take that as a warning and stop trying to make more of us", Basil commented as he pulled out the rack of guns in the wall. He picked a sleek shield issue black rifle and held it out wordlessly. Bucky's face was blank as he took it and began checking it over. Basil watched the routine, something quiet and familiar that had not changed much since the 40s. 

"How bad are these guys?" Tony asked. "Any powers like pasta basil here or standard enhancement like thing one and thing two here?" 

"Standard enhancement", Bucky murmured as he rested the rifle on his shoulder. "No metal limbs either". A humourless slight twitch of the lips and a grim gleam in his eyes. "I was special like that". Basil glanced out through the windows at the snow outside. Their closeness to a hydra facility where The winter soldier must have spent a lot of time was visibly making Bucky uneasy. The man's expressions had closed right back off again and there was a stiffness in his shoulders. If Basil had his way, Bucky would never have to be near another hydra facility again in his life. 

"Landing bay dropping", T'challa announced as the ramp started to lower and reflected white light began to fill the space. Basil hissed at the cold and reached for the ship med kit, a bright red box, and picked up a pistol from the rack. He tucked the gun in is pocket and slung the medical bag over his shoulders. Time as a first responder telling him that it would be needed. 

The five men came to stand on the edge of the ramp, looking down on the heavy snow outside. Tony in his red and gold suit, Basil between him and Steve. Then Bucky with T'Challa on his other side. "Remember that time when we had to ride back from Rockaway beach in the back of that freezer truck?" Steve asked, shooting Bucky a small conspiratorial grin. Some of the anxiety in the man's shoulders eased. 

"Was that the time we used our train money to buy hot dogs?" He replied, a genuine smile growing on every word. Basil watched his expression like he always did, with the absorption of someone looking at a piece of art they may never see again. 

"Oh spare me from the bromance", Tony muttered under his breath. Basil only heard because he was staring right next to the man. 

"You blew three bucks trying to win a stuffed bear for a redhead". 

Bucky chuckled at the memory and Basil's brain went silent at the sight of that soft smile. He had missed that smile so much it hurt. "What was her name again?" 

"Dolores. You called her Dot". 

"She's got to be a hundred years old by now".

"Yeah, well so are you three", Tony interrupted as he began strolling down the ramp. T'Challa made a chuckling noise through his mask and followed. 

"Rude", Basil scowled as he took a step after them. "I'm twenty six I'll have you know. Steve's only twenty eight". 

"Wait", Bucky frowned as he and Steve joined them. "Does that make me twenty nine? or thirty?" 

"Hurry up grandpa!" Steve snorted as snow coated their boots. "Or we will leave you behind". Basil laughed as he watched Bucky flip the blonde the middle finger.

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The doors to the base were already open. Iron doors hidden amongst rocks and the space beyond dark and black. The wind tugged at Bucky's long hair as they trudged through the snow. "He can't have been here more than a few hours", T'Challa, who was leading the way, announced. 

"That's long enough to wake them up", Bucky stated. He was at the back of the group, rifle ready as he surveyed the area. 

"Why do all the evil lairs need to be in the mountains?" Basil wondered aloud as they made their way through the open doors. "Why can't it be somewhere warmer?"

No one replied to his mutterings as their footsteps echoed on the stone. Concrete is what they first saw. Concrete floors and walls pained half green and white. Dim electric lights hung from the high ceilings to illuminate the corridors. They glanced around as they made their way down. Cobwebs hung from the exposed ceiling pipes and rooms separated by grated metal walls loomed in the gloom. T'challa had his claws out as he checked each one, only seeing nothing but empty cabinets left open and cleared off desks. This place was obviously long abandoned but the grim and depressing atmosphere that seemed to hang over the base was not improved. In fact, the clear abandonment and age of the base, this place must not have been used since the eighties at most, made the atmosphere worse. Despite being out of the wind, Basil felt colder down here than he did out in the snow. 

"I've got heat signatures ahead", Tony announced as they came to a corridor crossroad. To the right the white and green paint continued, to the left it faded into grey exposed concrete and darkness. The circle on Tony's hand flared to life as he lifted his arm and started down the left corridor. 

"How many?" T'Challa asked. 

"One", there was audible slight confusion in Tony's tone. Silence fell on them as their steps slowed and eyes swept along the darkened hall. Only the sound of their footsteps were audible, softened to quieten the noise as the floor began to slope downwards, taking them further and further without the electric light. Bucky had his rifle pointing behind them warily as he brought up the rear. 

"Lavender's blue dilly dilly. Lavender's green". The words lilted hauntingly off the walls. "When I am king, dilly dilly. You shall be queen". 

"Basil!" Tony hissed. "Maybe we could do without the creepy nursery rhyme as we descend into the hydra base straight out of a horror movie". 

"I could sing a different one if you want. Ladybug fly away home, your house is on fire and your children are gone. All except one, and her name is Ann, and she hid under the warming pan". 

"Cause that was so much better than the last one. Thank you. Definitely not creepy". 

Basil scowled but fell silent as the corridor reached it's end. The room it opened into was dark but there was a quality of space in the air. Basil, could see shapes in the gloom, his night vision allowing him to pick out the trails of metal coils on the floor and five round tanks on the opposite end of the room. He didn't want to see more, instead he stepped to the wall and pulled the light switch. It took a second for the rows of electrical lights to turn on. First one row exposing concrete floors and cables. The second row exposing the shapes of what wasn't tanks, but cells with frozen glass and organs lighting. The third row lit up the room enough for everyone to see the catwalk above and the control desk in the middle of the floor. The frozen cells surrounding it like an audience. They reminded Basil of the cell they stuck Bucky in not so long ago and he grimaced at the thought of that cell being based on these.

Basil felt T'Challa slink into the shadows silently behind him. The black panther creeping off noticed as Steve and Tony stepped into the room. "If it's any consolation", a voice echoed scratchily on speaker, Zemo not in sight. "They died in their sleep". 

unedited