The trip back to the States was considerably faster via plane ... the ship had taken aaaagggeeeessss. It was also considerably more comfortable, since she wasn't hiding in a cargo hold, she was travelling as a proper passenger. THe technology of this realm still greatly eluded her ... she'd only arrived relatively recently afterall and there were no planes on Vanaheim. Asgard had once had flying crafts though, but they were tremendously different to Midgardian airborne vehicles.
Finally, after roughly 7 hours, Tarene was back in New York. Thor had suggested she go to his home in a remote area in Montana ... there she could rest, allow herself to get comfortable and cause minimal damage, however S.H.I.E.L.D quickly scuppered those plans when they discovered she had been located and apprehended. Instead of exiling herself to Montana and keeping in contact with Thor, she was interned into one of S.H.I.E.L.D's specially designed containment facilities. Calling it a "cell" was a tad overzealous though. Yes, she was confined, but her chambers were generously sized and the S.H.I.E.L.D agents had promised to try make her as comfortable as possible since she'd allowed them to take her in with a great deal of willingness. There were no promises about when she would be released, but the general consensus seemed to be that she'd get to Montana once she was no longer deemed a threat, or at least, a threat that S.H.I.E.L.D could keep a lid on.
The agents were rather afraid of her, but, since Thor was taking responsibility for her, they seemed to relax just a little. When she asked for someone to find Dwight for her and allow him to visit her, they agreed, they also agreed to teach her how to use a phone, Dwight would like that and since she was sitting cooped up here for a while, she had nothing better to do than to try and improve herself. She hoped this internment wouldn't last long, she wasn't exactly the most patient ... She also hoped Thor wouldn't leave her to waste away down here, he could visit from time to time and update her on the world outside, then again, he was still her king, it wasn't her place to make demands of him. She was relieved that she was well fed here at least. She'd been in worse situations before, even though she was unofficially a prisoner of S.H.I.E.L.D for goodness knows how much longer.
Sif's sword was taken from her, and she still didn't have her reliable old golden hammer ... Perhaps Dwight had been able to track it down, she had told him about it and he'd begun researching all the big Norse ancient historical sites and museums that housed ancient artefacts. If he dug it up, she was hopeful S.H.I.E.L.D or Thor might help her reclaim her hammer (without breaking and entering and causing grievous bodily harm to scientists and night-security guards).
The Winter Soldier was prowling New York. Assessing escape routes, secret tunnels, back alleys and public transit networks. He worked methodically and precisely. It wasn't often he had a chance to properly map out large chunks of his hunting ground when he was sent on a mission ... Most of the time he was injected into the general area his target was scheduled to appear and then pulled out as soon as he made a hit, leaving the Winter Soldier out of cryo for too long had
undesirable side-effects. This mission was top priority though, to make sure he didn't lapse out of his conditioned state, his handlers kept a close eye on him and mainained regular radio contact. A back-up team was on stand-by, should the worst happen, but so far, the Winter Soldier was thoroughly dedicated to his goal, all traces of Bucky Barnes and his best friend Steve, were gone.
"Soldat. Report." the radio earpiece crackled to life, a brusque Russian barked the order.
"I got a visual on the target. Mapping out the area for escape routes. I have read the dossier, I will not let the target escape.""Good. Make the hit quickly, we need you to return to base Soldat.""Understood." Bucky levelled his sniper rifle and watched Fury's movements through the scope of his M4A1, his finger toyed with the trigger but didn't apply enough pressure to fire the shot. He studied Fury's mouth, lip-reading, he caught snatches of the discussion from his huge distance away from the target.
"Rodgers ... back from the dead ... the Captain America ... 1945 ... The ice ... he's with Wilson and Stark ... AIM agents ..." Bucky felt a strange searing pain lance through his skull
Captain America. It was the same pain he endured when he was "wiped clean", his memory scrubbed out like a bloodstain by his handlers. He knew the codewords. The magic combination of words that made him scream and spasm in pain, the words that made him compliant if he ever dared to run away or defy his handlers. He knew that Captain America wasn't one of those words, and he knew that he hadn't heard it, he'd lip-read it, and yet, it had hurt him.
He decided to do something he knew he probably shouldn't ... He had to get close to Fury. He needed to get answers first.
Then. He would kill him.
He leapt over the edge of the apartment building. Air sailed past him for several floors before he shifted his body as he flew down toward the concrete pavement below, swinging in to land on the fire-escape stairwell. The fall would have been fatal, but the Winter Soldier saved himself the embarrassment of splattering on the concrete below. He finished the rest of the drop in a shorter, non-fatal jump from the 3rd floor fire-stairwell down to the street.
He no longer had a visual on Fury, down on street level, but he had an aerial view of the city mapped out in his head. Fury had only a handful of places he could go in the time it took from Bucky to close the gap between them. He'd sweep the surrounding area and close the net on Fury, narrowing down his search area quickly. Then he'd get in close and strike. Quick, concise ... he wouldn't allow things to get messy.
"Captain America ... Captain America ..." while the Winter Soldier planned out attacks and escape routes, he felt the name swim around his skull in the background.
"Was he a target? ... Was he a target I missed? Is that why my head ached when I saw Fury say that name? Is he my punishment?""Soldat. Report.""I need to get closer to the target, too many witnesses. Mission could become compromised.""Do not waste time Soldat-" the handlers attention was drawn away from the mission at hand for a moment and Bucky could hear chaos and alarms erupting on the other end of the radio.
"What do you mean they've escaped? Well shut it down. Take the helicopters and shoot them down." The handler drew his attention back to the Winter Soldier.
"Soldat, there has been a change in situation. The Wolf Spider units have escaped and we are compromised. Abort Operation now, you have been reassigned, take down the Wolf Spiders now."The
Captain America questions had to wait ... Now there were 10 deadly super-soldiers on the loose with unknown motives. Bucky had to eliminate the Wolf Spiders which meant he had to move fast. There was a military base nearby, the National Airport and a certain technological tower which belonged to a renowned young businessman ... Stark tower was the closest, Bucky opted to head to the helipad on Stark towers roof, he had to admit he would have been mildly impressed by the security (and the tech) if his thoughts weren't focused on the mission ahead. Info from Siberia was relayed on to him, he knew the Wolf Spiders, their strengths, weaknesses, their training, to an extent, he even knew how their minds worked, their training had been modelled on his own training after all. He analysed their movements from the reports relayed to him, the movements seemed random and chaotic to most, but Bucky could anticipate their next move, he knew the method to their madness.
Breaking into one of Stark's jets was a piece of cake, then again, Stark probably never anticipated a Soviet Super-Assassin would make it through his security and get close enough to hijack a jet. Regardless, he fired up the engines and took off, soaring over the New York skyline and out over the Atlantic.
