[Ohio AU] the heart of winter

[nerves_of_ice]

Coulson had been called away on something for Fury before they'd gotten more than halfway to wherever his locker is and the set of trading cards stored within it. Without anything else to do, Bucky makes his way back to the quarters he's been given. It's either that or explore the rest of the helicarrier on his own, and that seems like something that can wait safely enough.

He swings by the mess on the way back. As he'd suspected, it's not placed too far distant from what serves as a commissary on this boat. He requisitions a couple of notebooks, a couple of pencils and pens and takes it all with him.

Might as well start with a report on the other Soldiers, he decides. That's likely to be more important in the immediate future than anything else.

Comments

[nerves_of_ice]

"We have enough for our needs," Volkov retorts, stung by that. "You will find this facility remains fully operational, despite the recent changes."

Silent curses fill his head at that. Have they restarted the program in some new way?

[from_the_outside]

"Does it?" Coulson says, still mild. "Well, we're happy to hear that, aren't we, Ms. Kruhl?"

Sharon doesn't nod, or do more than keep up with their pace as Coulson goes on. "I was led to understand this facility was... less than active. An unfortunate miscommunication on Ms. Kruhl's part.

[nerves_of_ice]

He watches as Volkov struggles between pride and clarity and is unsurprised when the man chooses a middle path. The man wouldn't have acceded to a position of any power if he hadn't been able to adapt.

"We are in maintenance operations," Volkov says. "Our state of readiness is high, but with the Soldat now a transferred asset, there is simply no need for all of the functions we are capable of."

[from_the_outside]

"Of course," Coulson agrees. "I would expect nothing less from the facility which hosted the Soldat for so long and which developed the others... regardless of their stability."

[nerves_of_ice]

They pass by quiet rooms as they move deeper into the facility. Volkov hits the control pad for the main door and enters a code.

"They are blunt instruments," Volkov admits. "With a lack of precision or subtlety, but capable of great violence."

As the door into the silo slides open, two guards on duty nearby spot unknown people and lower their weapons to point toward Coulson and Sharon. In the blink of an eye Bucky moves, placing himself between the enemy and his team, poised and ready to attack.

[from_the_outside]

It's imperative that they not react, or that the only reaction they show is expectation. If one of them so much as twitches wrong, the guards will open fire and all of their careful plans will go up in smoke.

Coulson arches an eyebrow. "You are ready."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Yes. For anything." As he speaks, Volkov makes a gesture that's meant to indicate 'stand down,' but Bucky observes that the guards remain watchful even after doing so.

It could just be due to his presence. He's been so used to guards during both activation and return that he couldn't entirely say. Still, he doesn't like it.

[from_the_outside]

"Stand down, Soldat," Coulson says, once the guards return to their more relaxed stance, but she feels their eyes on her, on Coulson and Bucky. She wonders if the "anything" they're prepared for includes dealing with a rogue Winter Soldier, and has to assume it does.

She follows as Volkov leads them onward, keeping her eye out for any visible cameras or more guards as they make their way deeper into the facility.

[nerves_of_ice]

He obeys instantly, moving to his position at Command's side once more, and turns an impassive stare on the guards. It's clear from the way that they watch their little group in turn that they're professional, but it's equally clear that they're not expecting trouble from a fully-controlled Soldat.

Not yet, anyway.

"This way," Volkov says, and flips a breaker. Lights come on throughout the silo, revealing the chair at its center and the surrounding ring of cryo chambers, only one of which stands empty.

[from_the_outside]

Years of training keep her from reacting visibly, but she can feel it roil in her stomach as she looks around the huge, mostly empty space. It's like that lower level of the North Institute writ large: cryo chambers, humming with power, each one hosting a silent figure.

Coulson breaks off from her to walk toward the chambers, hands tucked behind his back as he studies each one. "And they haven't been woken since the initial freezing?"

[nerves_of_ice]

Here and there, a few technicians move around checking readings and doing whatever it is that they do in their hellish excuse for science. Bucky keeps an eye on them too and ghosts along beside Coulson - that's what everyone would expect, that's what an activated Soldat would do. He doesn't even cast a glance in Sharon's direction.

"Ah, well." Volkov sounds fatalistic. "We have tried waking a few of them, one at a time, to see if the cryogenesis or other methods might have stabilized their ability to operate. Alas, it has not yet."

[from_the_outside]

"And when was the last time you attempted that?" Coulson asks, looking up with interest into one of the sleeping faces. "How did you manage to subdue them again?"

Bucky had only mentioned the one time they were awake and Karpov had utilized him against them, but what else could they have done to get the Soldiers back into the chambers?

[nerves_of_ice]

"Three years ago." Volkov studies the sleeping figures and takes a precise step to the side to place his hand flat against the glass of one chamber.

"This one. You see here how there is a small crack in the glazing? We had to repair it. We woke him within the chamber and waited to see if he would be himself. Unfortunately he attempted to break through the glass to reach us, maddened and raging."

He nods to another. "Her, we moved the chamber to a pit deep in the rock below the facility, one too deep for her to escape. It did not stop her from trying, though. After a week we determined that although she could communicate, it was with animal cunning rather than anything more, and took steps to recover her."

It takes all his willpower not to react in any way, but Bucky manages it.

[from_the_outside]

"And if I asked you to wake one today, so we might observe their status?" Coulson asks. "Which strategy would you use?"

Sharon stays quietly where she is, marking the distance between Bucky and Coulson and the bank of buttons and switches across the large room that must have the silo mechanism Bucky had mentioned. He'd be able to get there in just a few seconds, she estimates. Whether that will be enough time, she has no idea.

[nerves_of_ice]

Volkov shrugs. "You have the Soldat. He looks to be in good condition, so clearly you have been maintaining him properly." Bucky stands still while the scientist looks him over like a piece of meat.

"So if you wish a full test, rather than an in situ one, it can be arranged, with him to subdue his brethren - one at a time, at least."

[from_the_outside]

"Yes, he is very capable," Coulson agrees. "But if the other Soldier were to defeat him, I think we would need more than two other guards to keep them at bay."

[nerves_of_ice]

Volkov waves his hand dismissively.

"That can also be arranged."

[from_the_outside]

Coulson half-turns to glance at him. "Then arrange it. We are eager to review the Soldiers at their current capacity, to determine whether we may be able to find a use for them after all, but none of us want this to get messy. Right?"

There's almost no chance Volkov will bring down all the personnel in the facility, but even if they just get most of them centralized, they can put their plan into action.

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky watches Volkov’s jaw work. The scientist doesn’t like being spoken to like that, but he swallows it. He speaks under his breath in Russian to one of the guards, who leaves the room.

“Choose the one to awaken,” Volkov says.

[from_the_outside]

Of the two of them, she'd really have expected her to be the one to annoy the Russians, but maybe Coulson's working out a few of his own feelings about the situation on this guy's pride before they take him and the others out. He doesn't twist the knife, though, just looks back at the sleeping Soldiers, considering, before pointing at one towards the end of the line of cryo chambers.

"Him."

[nerves_of_ice]

“As you will have it.” The guard returns, accompanied by five more who take up positions around the silo with their weapons trained toward the staging area. “Order the Soldat accordingly and I will trigger the release,” Volkov continues.

[from_the_outside]

Coulson glances back toward Bucky. "Soldat, prepare to engage."

As Bucky moves forward, the door behind Sharon opens again, and a mousy looking technician comes scurrying through. He takes in the situation at a glance, then hurries to the nearest guard, leaning up to whisper in his ear. After that, things happen pretty quickly:

The guard barks something in Russian that Sharon can only sort of understand, not that she really needs to get each of the words right, because it's pretty easy to pick up the gist: they're liars, Karpov and the North Institute are out of contact, and this is a trick. He swings his gun up to point at Bucky, and the other guards, confused, follow.

Volkov's hand was already in motion. He hits the release trigger at the same moment the guard yells, and pulls back like he'd burned his hand, color draining from his face.

Sharon kicks the first guard in the back of the knee and reaches for his gun, smashing the butt of it into his face to break his nose as the release mechanism hisses and the guard stumbles, cursing in Russian while she wrenches the weapon from his hand. "Guess it's time for plan B!" she calls to Coulson and Bucky as mist rushes out of the cryo tube.

[nerves_of_ice]

He blocks the first scatter of bullets from the lead guard with his left hand and charges forward into him with the force of a falling mountain. They don't have time to be cautious, not now, not with the full guard attacking and the unknown soldier's cryo chamber releasing a familiar mist. They have seconds only before it cracks open and everything gets worse.

Bucky snaps the guard's neck and slings his body around as a weapon, flinging it into three other guards. As they go tumbling, he sends a throwing knife into Volkov's gut, checks to make sure Sharon and Coulson aren't in imminent danger, and leaps for the silo launch activation switch.

[from_the_outside]

In a matter of seconds, four or five guards are down and Volkov is stumbling back, his hand wrapped around the matte black hilt of the throwing knife that's sprouted in his gut. Coulson ducks out of the line of fire and reaches for a guard's gun, elbow-checking him in the jaw and stomping at the side of his knee to get him down before firing a round down into him.

Sharon bolts for the door, slamming it shut and firing into the locking mechanism to short it out. It'll trap them in here, but it's better than getting swarmed by more guards from around the facility. At least in here Tony will be able to get them out... so long as the silo ceiling opens.

[nerves_of_ice]

He slams the flat of his right hand against the switch and is rewarded by the loud grinding of mechanics and flashing warning lights up the height of the silo as the roof begins to split apart. A bar of sky appears, slowly widening.

Not that he takes the time to pay attention to it. Bucky kicks a groaning guard in the face, snatches his gun and empties it into him and the others, then tosses it aside and races to plant himself between the active cryo chamber and those he'd give his life to protect.

The mist finishes dispersing and the chamber's tube rises, revealing the soldier inside, whose breathing has already started to turn rapid as the sounds around him filter in.

"Stand down, soldier," Bucky says, low and intent - first in Russian, then French, then English. He doesn't remember this man's name, if he'd ever known it. "Stand down. Wait."