the Austrian Alps, 1944

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Winter still clings to the Austrian Alps. Steve thinks with a grim smile that of course, even at this time of year, they don't have a mission someplace warm.

Between the intel from MI-6 and the ever-mysterious Doyle, they have a location for Zola. Location is a generous term: they have a train, and a track, and a hope that the two intersect.

Falsworth is watching the track through binoculars, while Morita and Jones listen to encrypted messages on an Enigma machine they liberated from one of the HYDRA bases. Dernier prepares the zip line equipment and Dugan paces, his weapon at the ready.

The cable for a zip line is in place. They're just waiting for the train.

Comments

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Dernier raises his arm to count them off.

"We've got about a ten-second window," Steve warns the team. "You miss that window, we're bugs on a windshield."

"Mind the gap," remarks Falsworth.

Dugan says, "Better get movin', bugs!"

Dernier signals for Steve to go, and Steve pushes off from the cliff to ride down to the train, Bucky and Jones close behind.

[nerves_of_ice]

It's a dizzying descent from the height through the ice-tipped howl of the wind that rushes past them, the cable jouncing from their weight and metal screaming all the while.

Bucky drops lightly onto the train one car back from where Steve's landed and makes sure he has his balance and that his rifle's stayed secure before he moves forward, following his best friend.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve and Bucky make their way down several sleek black cars to where they can climb down and let themselves into a cargo car. Jones stays up top to cover them.

Silently, Steve and Bucky make their way down the car to the door at the end. There are no guards.

Strange that there are no guards.

Steve's sense of Something not quite right isn't fast enough this time, as he crosses from one car into the next and the two doors slam shut between them.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Steve!"

He wastes a bare second trying the latch before whirling around and putting his back to the door.

Something moves at the end of the car, and Bucky fires a quick burst of shots at the HYDRA agent that's coming after him.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Bucky!"

Steve hears the tell-tale sound of a HYDRA weapons being powered up, that unmistakable high-pitched whine.

He whirls and fires on the HYDRA agent who bears an enormous double-barreled gun. Pulses of deadly blue light flash down the car.

Zola's voice echoes through the cars: "Stop him! Fire again!"

[nerves_of_ice]

It's not one agent. It's two, which is just enough to turn his end of the car into a kill box.

Bucky lets off another burst and ducks across the car to the dubious shelter of the metal bins stacked against the wall. Bullets ricochet from the wall just behind him as he gets as low as he can and checks the clip to find that ammo's running low already.

What he's got will just have to do. Bucky plants his shoulder against the bins and rolls out, sighting and firing in the same movement.

One agent drops in his tracks; the other takes shelter behind the shelves in the middle of the car and keeps moving forward.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

On his side of the door, for a few seconds Steve and the HYDRA agent exchange fire -- the weapon punching holes into the train's shell.

Enough! Steve takes a flying leap to grab the chain conveyor hanging overhead, blue bolts deflecting off the shield. His momentum carries him forward hard enough for him to kick the agent down, and once the weapon is out of his grasp, Steve slams him with the shield.

[nerves_of_ice]

The cover that bastard's got from the shelves is good, and Bucky doesn't even have to think about it to know that if he stays where he is he's about to become a fish in a barrel.

He leaves the now-useless rifle on the ground and draws his sidearm, then fires two single shots at HYDRA's agent as he ducks back across the car into a slightly more sheltered position.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve grabs the weapon and fires one shot at the door, enough to disintegrate it to nothing, and then runs down the length of the car.

[nerves_of_ice]

Three more shots, unsuccessful; the other guy's better-armed, and has the better cover.

Bucky changes his angle to try to get a better line of sight, and tries again.

Two shots in quick succession, then two more -- and the Colt clicks empty.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve peers through the door that separates him from Bucky, just in time to see Bucky's pistol run out of ammunition. Steve ducks back to avoid attracting the attention of the HYDRA agent and checks his own sidearm. There's a few bullets left, enough for Bucky to finish the guy off.

Steve hits the door control with his elbow and it slides open. He gestures with his pistol to Bucky, and then tosses it to him when he nods.

[nerves_of_ice]

It's as seamless as if they'd planned it in advance, as graceful as any dance could ever be. Bucky drops his own weapon and catches Steve's in one smooth motion, then rises to his feet and steadies his aim straight down the car as Steve charges in.

As Steve hits the top storage container and sends it flying straight for the HYDRA agent's head, their enemy ducks to the side -- and into Bucky's line of fire.

CRACK.

The HYDRA agent drops like a rock, and Bucky lowers Steve's gun and walks forward to join his friend.

"I had him on the ropes."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"I know you did."

There's almost no time to breathe before Steve hears that whine again, and the agent Steve had knocked over earlier is behind them, weapon at the ready.

"Get down!" Steve shoves Bucky behind the shield.

The deflected pulse rips a hole in one side of the train and knocks Steve against the other.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Fire again!"

Dazed from the impact, still kneeling where Steve had pushed him down, he hears Zola's frantic order ring through the car.

"Kill him! Now!"

It galvanizes him into action.

Steve's lying defenseless against the far wall, but his shield's rocking back and forth on the ground within reach. Quicker almost than the thought itself, Bucky grabs it up and gets to his feet, bracing Steve's shield in front of himself the way he's seen his friend do so often and firing shot after shot from Steve's gun at the agent whose weapon's whining to full charge again.

The blue-lightning pulse flashes once more, and he manages to deflect it down the length of the car with the shield -- but the force of the blast knocks him backward.

The shield goes flying from his hand as Bucky slams into the torn metal that used to be the side of the train and slides along it through the hole, out over the abyss.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve scrambles to his feet, grabs the shield and throws it at the HYDRA agent, knocking him flat on his back.

He yanks off his cowl and shouts, "Bucky!" as he climbs out onto the torn metal. "Hang on!"

He makes his careful but quick way as far as he can, clinging to the handrail.

[nerves_of_ice]

He's clinging like grim death to the far handrail, buffeted by the wind of their passage as he dangles over the chasm below.

As Steve moves from the safety of the car onto the treacherous footing of twisted steel, Bucky does his best to inch back toward him, shifting one hand at a time.

Metal screeches, and the rail jerks under his grip.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

The footing is precarious, the railing is coming undone with every rock of the train, and the abyss below is deep and deadly.

There's no further to go, no time to waste when the railing is going to give way any second. Steve reaches for him. "Grab my hand!"

[nerves_of_ice]

Third time's the charm.

The thought floats randomly through his mind, and even in the midst of this mess a tiny smile flickers. He'll tell Steve about it later over a beer back at their local.

Bucky edges as close as he can get and stretches out his right arm as far as he can reach, grasping for Steve's hand --

-- close enough that it's easy to see the sudden horror on his face as the handrail rips free under his weight.

A raw cry is torn from him as he plummets downward, scrabbling helplessly at the air for purchase that's nowhere to be found.

It echoes from the sides of the gorge long after his fall has carried him beyond view.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

For a moment Steve is too stunned to react.
"Sometimes I think, if you didn't have me, there wouldn't be a single person in the world who really understood you..."


And then.
"You've never failed anybody in your life, and you're not going to start now."



The grief takes hold.