VITALITY ↝ B. BARNES [1]

[0]

The air was abuzz in Avengers Headquarters as the team communicated in hushed whispers. Surrounding them, holograms shimmered in the air detailing blueprints of the HYDRA compound, along with an image of their target, and any intelligence they'd gathered on the subject in preparation for their upcoming mission: one James Buchanan Barnes.

On the table in front of them sat file after file detailing Barnes's whereabouts and movements in the past year, since he was spotted in Manhattan on a mission to kill Nick Fury and had nearly put Steve Rogers in a grave in the process. While the Winter Soldier had gone off the grid following the mission, the Avengers had spent the following months gaining intel on HYDRA's movements, tracing them to a building in upstate Massachusetts where they believed he was still behind held behind enemy lines.

"It's a power grid," Tony Stark mused from the head of the conference table, eyes scanning every possible exit he could find on the blueprints. "That's where they're holding Barnes. Our tech can't get through that grid without being noticed, and by then they'll have enough of a head start that we'd never get to him in time."

"So all those months that it took for us to track his whereabouts in the first place will be for nothing?" Natasha Romanoff asked, inclining her gaze back to the holograms as she crossed her arms over her chest. "We're just back to square one? There has to be something we can do. Find any secret entrances, get someone in undetected, something that'll take out that grid."

"We may not be back to the beginning just yet." Vision said slowly, calculatingly. "If we had a way to cut the power without raising an uproar, rendering their grid useless and giving us a chance to ambush them, it could buy us enough time to get Barnes out before they would have a chance to move him. We just cannot lose that element of surprise, or vital time would be wasted."

"Any news on Thor?" Steve asked as he rose from his chair, pacing the line of holograms before he came to a rest in front of the image of Bucky Barnes, the childhood friend he'd thought dead up until the last year when he resurfaced with no memory and a new name in the middle of the city. "He could get the grid down no problem, right?"

"He could, but there's still no word." Tony said. "After Sokovia he went off the grid, and our signals haven't picked up any signs that he's back on world. We won't be able to count on him for this one."

"Nor do we have the time to wait before they move Bucky again." Steve insisted, his eyes never straying from his friend on the screen, the one who'd long forgotten who Steve was, even if Steve himself could never forget the promises he'd once made to his best friend. "But could he do it? Could he short circuit the power with a lightning blast?"

"Maybe," Tony shrugged, swiping the screen of the computer in front of him so the images vanished, leaving the team alone in the conference room. "Could also be extremely messy, if we're not careful. The second they see lightning coming from the sky, they know we're there. We need something quiet, something that won't tell them we're there before we really have a chance to act."

"So what do we do?" Natasha asked, looking back over at him. "We can't risk them moving him again."

"I have an idea," Tony said, standing up and instantly beginning to punch something into his phone as he strutted towards the exit. "Not something I wanted to have to do, but I don't think we're left with much choice. I just need ten hours and a Quinjet."

"Where are you going?" Steve asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Arizona," Tony said simply, straightening his tie. "I know just the person for the job."