Chapter Text
“Are we going to talk about it?” Steve inquired.
Natasha barely glanced his way, brain running a mile a minute at the fact that Yasha was alive, under HYDRA control just like decades prior, and apparently since, but now with a full-length metal arm and a new name The Winter Soldier, “About?”
“Accidents happen,” seeing Howard’s, Enzo’s, Morgan’s, and Fury’s faces on that screen, the implication that HYDRA had something to do with it all. That Morgan was a threat enough to eliminate, an omega that had barely just learned of her family’s legacy was a threat.
Natasha shakes her head, they needed to figure out how to stop Project Insight then she’d read Steve in on Yasha, The Winter Soldier being Bucky. “Where are we going?” looking out the window of another stolen car.
“Sam Wilson.”
“The guy you just met?”
Steve hummed.
“Tony has safe houses.”
“You want him linked?”
“You want to link an innocent civilian?”
“Sam’s an unknown.”
“Yeah, an unknown to you too.”
“Better than running to Stark and --” cutting himself off, Howard and therefore Maria were killed due to HYDRA, what’s to say Tony wouldn’t be next or Peter. They may not be on the same page or chapter half the time, but Tony was his soulmate. They’d been able to have two, maybe three non-argumentative conversations in the last few months. And Steve was not going to bury another mate, and he was especially not going to bury the son of the pack. “I’m not asking Sam to join, we just need a place to regroup.”
*************
“Besides I wasn’t sure who to trust,” Fury ended, before grinning, a small grin, but it was there, “But now, now the real work begins.”
“Real work?” Steve inquires.
“Bringing HYDRA down for good, no more shadow plays.”
“You knew?” disappointment covering the blonde alpha’s tone.
“Like I said didn’t know who to trust,” looking over at Maria Hill, his second in SHIELD and in his pack, “Hill grab that box.”
Maria nodded, grabbing up the box her head alpha had requested be brought down to the secret, secret, secret bunker. Setting it down on the makeshift hospital tray.
Fury sets his good hand on the lid, “Learned the name a few months ago, before then I knew something was up, just didn’t know what. For a decade now I get letters, most just came in the mail. But the last few were hand delivered.”
“You know whose been sending them?” Maria startled.
Fury glanced at his mate, “No,” looking back at Rogers and Romanov, “Whoever has is able to break into my house that only family and close friends know about. Last one was from just before the pirates’ mission.”
“The pirates you hired,” Steve added.
“Who said that?” before waving off the answer, Pierce.
“You used the Strike team.”
Fury nodded, but didn’t elaborate.
*************
Pierce stepped into the abandoned bank followed by a few Strike team members, ready to give orders to The Asset and the few doctors/engineers that followed the chair’s location. He didn’t expect for his men to knock into him from behind, turning around to scold them, he didn’t have long to see the bullet hole that adorned the back of each of their skulls, before his own forehead was pierced with one. Falling backwards onto the marble lobby floor.
*************
Natasha slowed her steps following the rest of the World Security Council, speaking lowly into the coms, “Pierce was killed.”
“What?” was Sam’s automatic reaction.
Steve’s came only a few seconds later, “Proceed as planned.”
Natasha didn’t get a chance to respond, the group converging into the elevator together, not wanting to break character she stayed silent, listening as the rest of the WSC figured out the next steps.
Thirty some minutes later and they were listening to Captain America’s speech. And she was thankful when all of them seemed shocked at the true plan of Project Insight, Pierces true allegiance. Glancing at the computer in the room, she heaved a sigh, she couldn’t publish the files of HYDRA and SHIELD, Fury had stated in that cave it needed two alpha level members, Fury was the only one, now that Pierce was gone.
Hearing gunfire, and then a few HYDRA members were in the room, it was almost sad the relief she felt to actually be useful in this mission. A dangerous twinkle in her eyes forming as she waited for them to get a few steps closer.
*************
Steve shook his head once all three helicarriers were grounded, not that any of them had even left the ground, disappointed with the fact that there had been no sign of Bucky, plenty of HYDRA, but no Bucky.
*************
Bobbi smiled tightly as she was read into the new operation mission of New SHIELD, she knew Fury was playing backseat Director with Coulson as the face, but going undercover as HYDRA made her skin itch, the idea that she would have to cut off all communications with Mack and their new omega mate, Leo; Hunter still wasn’t speaking to her, though he had come to Morgan’s funeral, said his condolences, kissed her on the cheek and held her hand through it all.
A mission was a mission, it’s how she had found herself ready to die on that ship to protect it from SHIELDRA agents.
*************
The Winter Soldier, The Asset, James, Bucky, though he’d gone by Alpha these past few months, it was easier than trying to figure out who he was now that he’d been all five at some point in this long life. Besides the name didn’t truly matter, he had two missions in life to complete now. Looking through the scope of his rifle, he continued with the first, HYDRA needed to be dismantled and who better than the face of HYDRA itself, a cruel irony that HYDRA molded him into the perfect Asset only for him to turn around and use all those skills to take them apart.
*************
Bruce set the flowers down on the grave, stepping back to be with the rest of his mates. It was the two-year anniversary, two years since that fateful day. Five months since they learned that they may eventually get back one of their deceased mates, an alpha that will be considered the longest POW in world history, though the fact that one had risen from the dead made the fact that Morgan would never a bittersweet moment. At least their omega never had to be in HYDRAs clutches like their alpha had been.
*************
Clint sighed looking around at the carnage, glancing over at Tony in his Iron Man suit, “This makes what?”
Face plate lifting up, Tony announces, “Five? No this is seven in three months.” Seven places where they swoop in, and the soldiers are already dead.
“Damn their like cockroaches,” kicking an actual cockroach off his combat boot.
“Maybe this one has info,” moving towards, the computer. One encryption later and Tony is looking at a factory defaulted computer, memory having been wiped, “And that’s a nope.”
The fact that they were all linked on coms, were the two betas able to hear the growl from Steve. The blonde had been relentless in trying to find his their missing mate, though it seemed Bucky was everywhere and nowhere, considering both Natasha and Steve both were positive that this was the alpha’s doing.
Clint was almost afraid to ask, thankfully Bruce did it for him, “Is there paper files?” they’d gotten lucky with one of the bases having paper files, though the others had all been scorched.
Natasha’s voice rang out through the coms, “Negative.”
*************
“Thanks to Ward and Skye, we got access to a HYDRA base’s security videos before they were wiped.” Coulson having seen the video he was showing, hit play and watched Natasha’s expression.
Natasha watched as bullets flew, soldiers went down and then Bucky was in frame, he was wearing the same clothes she remembered from the bridge, his entire head covered with a gray cloth, the arm the only thing that indicated that it was him, eyes squinting in confusion when Bucky did a hand signal and a person covered head to toe in what could only be described as concrete gray, ran passed him, knives and guns strapped in multiple places from what Natasha could tell. “Do we know who that could be?”
“No, but Ward said something about there’d always been someone in gray coming after HYDRA for the past decade and a half. Maybe they found each other.”
Natasha hummed, and what met at a I want to destroy HYDRA club, “Is there more videos?”
“With them?”
“Yeah.”
“Two more,” clicking onto the next camera feed video. “This one is from the hallway,” pointing to the map, Coulson’s team had secured, it looked like a bottle neck position, the perfect place to control the flow.
This one showing the unknown person practically melting out of the shadows to attack. And attack they did with ferocity and skill; knives flew around with accuracy and body wrapped around soldiers like a snake if they got too close. Natasha idling wondered where Bucky was in all this. And four minutes later twenty HYDRA soldiers were dead and the gray assailant, who Natasha in her head started calling Gray, went out of frame.
The last video had Bucky and Gray joining forces and Natasha was thankful that Steve wasn’t there to watch cause watching the two fight together, the easiness of the movements talked history, talked trust. She watched Bucky slip his hand around Gray’s waist to grab a knife, a moment before throwing it with deadly accuracy, the alpha wished the videos had sound, sharing was one thing, but not even her and Clint just grabbed weapons from each other with the ease of as if they were sharing a popcorn bowl. Gray using Bucky as a vault to flip over a group of soldiers to get at their backs.
*************
Bruce fiddled with the tablet he’d brought, sitting in heart of the Avenger’s quinjet that was cloaked while everyone else was storming the HYDRA base, they had found, first in thirteen that had alive soldiers. He hadn’t been called yet to join, as he was a last resort, and both his alphas knew how hard it was for him to deal in the aftermath.
Peter’s face pops up asking to video call, and Bruce moves to answer, grinning at the thirteen-year-old alpha, “Hey Pete.”
“Bruce.”
“What you need?”
“Have a project due,” a sheepish grin forming on his face, “J said dad was busy, and I kind of need power tools to finish, do you think you could give me access?”
He almost started nodding, before clarifying, “To the garage? Or Tony’s lab?”
Giving his best rendition of puppy eyes, “Lab.”
Catching sight of his watch, “Wait aren’t you supposed to be at school?”
“No.”
Hearing the kid stutter of the single syllable word, “Peter Parker-Stark are you skipping?”
“No!” seeing the beta’s brows furrow, “Not, not the whole day promise, just need to finish this project and then I’ll go.”
“Why wasn’t it done before today?”
“Got caught up.”
“Caught up in?” Bruce posed when the baby alpha didn’t elaborate.
Peter sighed, “Flash and I had been working on decathlon.”
“Really?”
“Yes!” was quickly added.
Bruce hummed noncommittally, “Okay, just be careful.”
“I’m always careful in the lab.”
“Give me a minute and the door should open for you.”
“Thanks, Bruce.”
“Have a good day, make sure you get to school. And we’ll see you when we get back.”
Peter hummed, clicking off the video call.
Bruce shakes his head, before typing in the series of codes to grant Peter unsupervised access to the lab for a few hours.
*************
The hum of the bikes hides the low static sounding hum of the cloaked quinjet to the two riders heading for the HYDRA base.