Phoenix Fire (Book 2 in the Winter's Series)

Chapter Sixteen: Extraction

For six days we spent time sparring and getting comfortable with each other. Since he remembered our mission he's more open with me. My healing factor is back to optimum performance and we've been gearing up to start tracking the agent with the heavy perfume problem. We got a call from Jesse yesterday detailing what he's learned about the device. It was created by a company called Griffon A.N.A. (Altered Nanotech Advancements) It seems to be a major classified company on the streets of New York. He can't find much on it which is what Bucky and I are preparing to dive into.

"Are you ready?" Bucky says turning to me as he tightens the straps of his bag so that it's pressed against his body.

"Yeah, I'm good to go." I say folding the black hoodie over my arm. The white racer-back tank top hugs my body snugly. I walk over to the door and look behind me at Bucky. His eyes stay below my waist area and I'm caught off guard by his blatant display of ungentlemanly behavior.

"My eyes are up here soldier." I say as a smile tugs at my lips.

"Your tag is hanging out." He says looking up to my eyes and I deadpan before reaching behind me and ripping the label off of my blue jeans that is very much sticking out.

"Thanks." I mumble before opening the door. The night wind greets me with a gentle caress and I step onto the not-balcony area. I pull my wings out and fan them in the wind, allowing them to stretch before we take off.

"I'm ready when you are." Bucky says looking to the city. I roll my shoulder and stretch my neck muscles be tilting my head side to side.

"Let's go get this bitch." I say right before I wrap my arms under his arms and hug him to my chest before pushing off of the ground with my feet. My back muscles strain to lift us up into the air at first. As I gain momentum, gaining altitude comes easily. The New York streets are crowded even at this hour, and it makes getting by unseen a little harder. Going up too high and Bucky's lungs won't be able to properly function, too low and we'll be caught.

"Are you sure, they're in New York? Last time we saw them they were in Washington." I say above the wind.

"Yes Jesse said he pinged the location of the place where the device was manufactured. It's here, just keep looking." He says turning his head to be closer to my ear. I focus my vision to zoom in on the names of buildings. In doing so I leave myself vulnerable to anything that could have been easily seen in my peripherals. I come across a building with G.A.N.A. across it's center. It's not as big as I had assumed it to be.

"I found it." I say refocusing my vision to normal before searching for a place to land. "How do you want to handle this?" I ask in order to help me decide where to land.

"Coast in and drop me on the roof. Land on the neighboring building." He says as I tilt my body in the direction of the building.

"It's going to be quite the drop, are you going to be okay?"

"I've had worse." He says as I near the drop point. I tilt downward and coast in, letting him go at the right time so that he can roll when he lands and not fall off the building. As soon as his weight is gone from me I pull up and turn to drop onto my building. The two buildings on both sides are considerably shorter so I'll have to fall onto them.

I turn around and tilt my body to coast down towards my building. As I near it I lean back and retract my wings and free fall 30 feet before coming in contact with the hard concrete. As the balls of my feet touch I bend my knees to save my joints from jarring and allow myself to roll a few times before popping back up and skidding to a stop with the soles of my boots. I dust myself off before walking to gather my fallen black hoodie. Knocking the dirt off of it, I slip it onto my body and look up to the building that Bucky is on. I see him peering over the edge to make sure I'm okay. I throw up a peace sign to him before stretching my aching back, groaning.