Connie pulled her fingerless gloves onto her hands, thus completing the tactical suit that Skye had allowed her to borrow. Of course, Connie preferred her own suit, along with her own weapons, but the nurses and doctors back in Washington had probably thrown her suit away. A suit stained with blood and littered with bullet holes wasn't of much use to Connie, and her batons weren't of much use at the bottom of the Potomac. She did like Skye's suit, however; it was adaptable and flexible and it was also hooded, something of which Connie found herself to be very enthralled by.

"Wow, you look even better in that suit than I do," Skye's voice sounded.

Connie turned to look at the brunette, a small smile pulling onto her face. Skye had without a doubt become her favorite member on Phil's team, aside from Phil himself. It was so easy for Connie to talk to Skye, which was something she didn't experience much when meeting new people.

"I highly doubt it, but thank you, and thank you for letting me borrow it for the time being," she replied.

"It's better you being down on the battlefield than me," Skye chuckled. "I'd rather stay here where I can help navigate you and the rest of the team to Barnes. I can't even begin to imagine how he's feeling right now."

"Yeah, I'd rather not imagine that," Connie muttered.

Skye noticed the way her face dropped and frowned. Connie's feelings for Bucky were obvious simply by looking at her face, and Skye knew she felt what she felt deeply, as she could recall Phil telling her just how reserved Connie was in regards to her emotions. Phil told Skye that Connie possessed a particularly hardened exterior, which was something he believed had been constructed throughout the many years she had spent with Hydra. He had told her that it was rare for Connie to open up to people about her feelings unless they were of close relation to her. It took a very special kind of person to force Connie's emotions to the surface, and Skye figured that person was Bucky Barnes.

"You love him, don't you?" Skye said to her.

"More than I've ever loved anyone, which is why I hope you don't mind me murdering your little boyfriend for his actions," Connie said to her.

"Do whatever you need to do."

Connie reached out to grab the pistol on the table in front of her. Her brows furrowed as she looked over the weapon. It wasn't a regular gun, and Connie could tell simply by looking at it and holding it. It was a lot lighter than a regular pistol, though it still regained some weight. It was unlike anything she'd ever seen before.

"What exactly is this?" Connie inquired.

Skye looked at the ICER and chuckled to herself. "It's an ICER; Fitz designed them not too long ago. We use them instead of regular guns to incapacitate people. They're very effective and a lot less harmful than a real gun."

Connie raised the brow and further inspected the weapon before placing it in its holster. "So, you're telling me if I shoot Ward in the head with this, he won't die?"

"Precisely."

"Well, that's no fun."

Skye only laughed at her.

Just then, Agent Trip walked into the room, his head down as he focused on the tablet in his hands. The two women looked up at him; Connie raised a brow, while Skye's lips pulled into an amused smile.

"If it isn't Mr. Can't-Keep-His-Hands-To-Himself," Connie muttered under her breath.

Trip looked up from his tablet and glanced between the two women. "Phil sent me to retrieve you two. He wants you both in the briefing room with the rest of the team to go over the mission."

"Copy that," Skye replied.

Trip stopped and looked at Skye before looking at Connie, pure confusion on his face. He looked Connie up and down, much to her disapproval, and looked back at Skye. "What the hell?"

"Is something wrong?" Connie asked him, slight annoyance in her tone.

"For a minute I just thought she was you and you were her, but nevermind," Trip answered her.

"Not only do we share a similar personality, but we also share a resemblance," Connie chuckled dryly. "How hilarious."

"Yeah, you two could be sisters in some strange, other worldly dimension," Trip joked.

Skye snorted. "No wonder Phil likes us both so much."

"Phil seriously has some attachment issues," Connie added with a quiet laugh.

"He also has issues with his team members not paying attention to his orders, so I suggest both of you heading to the briefing room before you have to deal with an annoyed Phil Coulson," Trip told the two of them before taking off for the briefing room.

Connie only rolled her eyes at him and followed after him, Skye following shortly after. It wasn't that she didn't necessarily like Agent Trip, but he hadn't exactly made the greatest first impression on her. Sure, he seemed like a nice person, but it would take a little bit for Connie to warm up to him, not that she really cared whether or not that would happen. She doubted she would even be around long enough for it to happen.

Connie soon arrived in the briefing room with Trip and Skye, attracting the attention of those inside, including Steve. She moved to stand at his side, and she delivered a small smile his way before turning her attention to Phil, who was now pleased to have his entire team—and Steve and Connie—with him.

"Right, now that everyone's here, let's get started," Phil chimed, clapping his hands together happily. "I've separated the entire ground team into three separate teams; Jemma and Skye will remain on board the Bus working on assisting us remotely, Agent Trip and Agent Fitz will take one wing, Agent May and Agent Jones will take another, and I'll be with Captain Rogers."

Connie pressed her lips into a tight line to prevent herself from laughing out loud. Phil's obsession with Steve was becoming too much, but he could exactly blame him at the moment. It had been two years since he'd been able to see the Captain, so she was going to let him enjoy himself rather than speaking up about her peculiar necessity to be Steve's mission partner. Personally, she didn't care who her partner was; all she cared about was bringing Bucky back.

"Why exactly am I on the ground team, sir?" Fitz asked Coulson.

"Because you're the only one on the ground team besides Connie capable of handling complex technology, but she'll be in the fight, so if Skye or Jemma need you to tamper with or alter anything they can't do remotely from the plane, I'm counting on you to do it," Phil explained to him.

"Copy that."

"Skye, brief us on the layout of the base," Phil instructed her.

Skye stepped forward and began tapping away on the interactive table in the middle of the room, and before long a three-dimensional, holographic blueprint of the base was lighting up the room. Connie studied it intently, as did the rest of the team.

"The base has three stories—a main level, a secondary level, and a level below the surface of the Earth," Skye informed the team. "I'm theorizing that they're keeping Barnes below the surface, as it is the most difficult to reach and doesn't require a lot of personnel security."

"So, May and I will take that level," Connie spoke up before Skye could continue.

"And what if he isn't there?" May replied.

"She's right," Skye spoke again. "I haven't taken the other levels out of the question just yet. The top level of the facility appears to hold several small rooms or containment chambers, which could also be used to hold Barnes. My data also tells me that human activity at the facility has grown substantially within the last several hours. I'm guessing other Hydra personnel are heading in to either keep watch on Barnes or provide extra security. I'm sure they know we're coming, or at least they know someone's coming."

"The facility has security cameras inside and around the perimeter outside, right?" Steve asked her. "Is there any way for you to tell us what's going on inside and outside of the facility to make things less complicated for our arrival?"

"Well, I've been working on hacking into the surveillance system so I could do just that, but this Hydra facility's older than most, so the surveillance equipment is old as well. Because of that, it'll take a little bit longer for me to get into surveillance than it normally would, but I'll have an image up for everyone by the time we land tomorrow morning," Skye told him.

"Great," Steve said with a nod.

"Hydra's taken so much from so many people," Phil began. "That's a problem, and it's about time we start working on correcting that problem. This world won't be safe until Hydra is a thing of the past, and it's our job to help make that happen. Hydra needs to be destroyed once and for all, and this mission right here is only the first step."

"So," Connie said with a smirk on her face. "What do you want us to do, Director?"

"That's simple. . .don't hold back."