"Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding."

Albert Einstein

        The crunch of the snow seemed to shake the entire mountain underneath their boots, but with only the three of them, they could only feel so powerful. The Death Squad were built for bigger fights than this, but they didn't have what Steve, Bucky and O had. They had each other, they would watch out for one another, protect each other. There was a symbiotic arrangement that was simply understood between them, where as a group like the Death Squad may fight for themselves, instead of as a team. It was a shabby team, too small for comfort, but it was all the world had.

        Ahead there were two familiar doors, doors that Ophelia had once walked out of many times, her mind locked onto her target. She rarely saw action, and in most cases she was sent out with a guard to watch over her as well as deal with the target. This time, while walking towards the doors that were frosted over, looking ancient, they were opened, as if they were welcoming her home. Far from a friendly welcome it was, and Ophelia felt a shudder run down every single vertebrae of her spine. Her legs felt like gelatinous goo and yet she continued to power through. Even as her feet began to get wet as the snow soaked through, still she endured.

         "The doctor couldn't have been here for more than a few hours," Steve noted as he studied the doors; the first step inside of the building had foot prints, and light snow dusted over the entrance.

         "Long enough to wake them up," Bucky replied sourly, but he made it sound more informational than bitter.

          Ophelia wondered if Bucky's bitterness stemmed from a built up need for reprisal against these men and women. They had done awful things to him once he had taken Ophelia's place in the cage; and then another thought crossed Ophelia's wandering mind. She was terrified, and her mind was blissfully keeping her distracted enough not to show it through shaking hands or wobbly legs. As she glanced towards the man she loved, a man who she knew would alter her entire existence the moment she laid eyes on his handsome face, she wondered if his current bitterness was not because of what happened to him inside of that cage, but because of what happened to her.

         A soft smile crossed her lips, she hadn't intended for it to appear, but the thought of Bucky seeking vengeance for her sake sat right with her. On one hand, it felt good to know someone cared like that, and on the other hand, she worried that he was putting himself in danger going in with that mentality. However, they had to face them either way and there was no escaping that fact; better to have even more of a reason behind fighting to the death than simply being required to. They walked down the long, dreary and bland hallways, weapons (and shield) ahead of them, but there was an eerie silence in the base.

           Finding a narrow stairwell, Bucky went up first, his gun at the ready. Ophelia went second, and the minute Steve placed his foot upon the first step, there was a wretched sound beyond the door behind them. It was being pried open from the other side, and Ophelia turned, crouched down so that Bucky could look over her head. Steve stood at the bottom, his shield protecting most of his body, and in turn it protected the two standing behind him. Ophelia leaned against the railing to stop her hammering heart from making her faint. Steve asked quietly if they were ready for this, and Ophelia felt her mouth was too dry to answer, and so she kept silent as to not give away her dread.

           The bright light that could only come from Tony Stark's power source for his Iron Man suit shone through the doors that were being pushed apart. His hands snaked into the crack between the doors and he used his suits strength to open them. Steve lowered his shield ever so slightly and stood a little taller; unsure if Tony was here to try and stop them or not. Something brought him here, somehow he had figured out where they were, and it wasn't from the Quinjet locators, given that Stark-tech created the stealth mode. Not even Stark could crack that. He stepped into the room once the doors were opened, and he popped open his helmet so that he could show his face, and perhaps sincerity.

          "Captain," he began, "you're looking a little defensive."

          "It's been a long day," Steve replied curtly.

           "Stand down, Soldier," he said to Bucky. "I'm not here for you."

           "Then why are you here?" Steve asked sharper than he needed to.

           "Maybe your story isn't so crazy," he replied.

           Steve lowered his shield as a sign of respect, and a sign that he believed Tony. But Ophelia wasn't so sure, and she could hear Bucky's hand shift upon the gun, he took a step down so that he was once again in front of Ophelia. They stood side by side, Bucky leaned forward a bit to protect her from even being seen entirely by Tony. A heavy amount of distrust was in the air; Bucky wasn't going to slip up and let lies from a man like Stark get him caught or killed. And he certainly wouldn't allow the same for Ophelia.

          "Roth doesn't know I'm here." Tony leaned against the wall. "I'd like to keep it that way, otherwise I'd have to arrest myself."

           There was a moment of silence, and everyone held their breath as they wondered what Steve was going to do. He knew Stark better than Bucky or Ophelia knew him, and it was only a man like Steve who could tell if Tony Stark was lying or not. Bucky was tense as ever, and Ophelia wondered why. Of course she knew that Tony Stark was not only one of the main reasons people were hunting for him, but also the reason why Steve was disobeying the law and risking his own freedom in order to protect Bucky. A lot of people were in trouble because of Bucky, but it wasn't directly his fault that anyone was imprisoned. Ophelia blamed Tony for that one - if he had only listened to Steve to begin with, none of them would be where they are right now. 

          "Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork," Steve said. "It's good to see you."

          Tony was about to reply, but a twisted, gurgling, almost hissing sound came from his lips when he glanced up the stairs at Ophelia and, well, mostly Bucky. "Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me. We have a truce here!"

           Steve looked behind him at Bucky and Ophelia, and nodded at them that it was okay. Ophelia was the first to lower her weapon, taking a step past Bucky and finding herself on the main level with Tony and Steve. Bucky finally lowered his weapon, half of the reason was because Ophelia was now standing in his way. He took a deep breath when he lowered his gun, but didn't come down the stairs. They had to go up them anyways to get to the spot they believed they would run into the Death Squad. 

         All they could do was hope that they were still frozen, or waking up and not yet brainwashed. Groggy and unaware of where they were; five bullets and pinpoint accuracy. That was all it would take, but they no longer had time on their side, and this was another delay.

         "We should keep going," Ophelia said softly, the nervousness obvious in her voice.

          "Tell me," Tony started, pointing at her. Ophelia could almost hear Bucky flinch when Tony pointed his weapon-clad hand at her. "How'd you know about Pepper?"

           Ophelia smirked. "I can get inside your head."

           Tony raised an eyebrow. "Like what you see?"

          "Hey," Bucky warned.

            Ophelia was still smiling, but ever so wryly. "Not particularly."

            Tony pressed his lips together, shifting them into a sideways expression that revealed he understood. He was the joking kind, and knew that Ophelia was making one, sort of. Such a level of banter certainly revealed a sense of trust, trust that they were here to do what had to be done, and anything else could be sorted out otherwise. From the sound of it, Tony wasn't going to turn Bucky in after the fight, if they were even still alive. There was a silent agreement that things were going to be okay, and with confidence, Ophelia turned to walk back up the stairs.

         "So, you guys have been together since what... the dawn of time?" Tony asked as they walked through the next level of the base.

          "Not exactly." Ophelia glanced over her shoulder at Tony, feeling a bit more at ease now that they had another person on the team. "HYDRA likes to erase memories, they like blank slates."

          "I should take note."

          "You should talk to her." Ophelia wasn't sure why she was trying to give relationship advice to Tony Stark while they were searching through a Russian HYDRA base for five elite killers. But anything to keep the mood light, she figured, was a good thing. Plus, talking kept her head focused on something other than what was coming. Her panic subsided. "If Bucky and I survived seventy years of HYDRA, surely you and Pepper can survive.... Well, you."

          She heard Tony scoff as they entered the next room; when she saw the very cage she had been nearly killed in, Ophelia felt her legs would no longer push her forward. The shattered glass brought back memories of being thrown against that very glass wall; she looked at Bucky with pleading eyes as though she were about to drop. And she did; she fell to her knees and felt her breath get caught in her throat. Breath refused to enter her lungs, her muscles tightened as though they had been frozen in cryo. Bucky was by her side in an instant, before Tony had even noticed that she had fallen to her knees, her hands clutching the side of the cage.

         "What the hell is wrong with me?" She whimpered, looking up at Bucky who was softly trying to get her back on her feet. She couldn't help them if she kept breaking down; Bucky had suffered at the hands of the Death Squad just as much, if not more, than Ophelia. She had no right to break down while he stood strong as ever.

           Bucky slipped his hand underneath Ophelia's chin and lifted her head so that she was looking into his calming, ocean blue eyes. Studying them as she had a thousand times before, she saw the sincerity and utter honesty in his eyes. His lips parted as he began to speak, the words coming out reminding Ophelia of when he had first promised to get her out of this very base. "I'm going to keep you safe, O. I promise."

           The words were enough to get Ophelia to rise, and she knew this was the last slip up she was going to have.