December 29 2025

Somewhere on the East Coast of the United States

The hot air surrounded Sam as he pondered at his position. His mind running around in circles while he sat completely still. Within an hour, he is going to be on a private jet to Russia.

Sam stared at the open window of his apartment, watching crows fly by. Vibration rose from the table, his phone. A message from James, hidden by walls of encryption. He is only able to open it for exactly sixty seconds before the details of their location is erased from history.

Sam sighed as he memorized the message. Steve has no clue about the new alliance.

For some reason, he was barely thinking about Steve's position, he was thinking about his own.

Sam cannot remember the last time they were on such a critical mission, one that placed millions of lives in his hands.

He could feel his adrenaline slowly rush in at the thought.

He was on a different high.

However, he still has to figure out how he can convince Steve. Steve has lost a lot through missions like these, through physical and mental death.

Sam knows Steve trusts him but if he knew Stark was a part of this, he might turn it down for good.

He grabbed his bags and his metal suitcase. Camouflaged as an ordinary suitcase, he is able to walk around without catching suspicion. An thin wall of high tech that Sam could not describe covered the identity of anything inside the case, especially metal. 

He needed to hide his wings and that is all that mattered.

December 30 2025

Area Classified

Hours went by as James and Natasha searched through the weaponry that has collected dust. Ranging from SIG-Sauer P220STs to Milkor MGL Mk 1Ls.

Cleaning and examining weaponry calmed Natasha down dramatically. Her focus was on all the corners of the heavily detailed artillery. She can feel the weight of revenge and anger being lifted off her shoulders as she loads each and every chamber.

James' focus was also on ordnance, mainly the snipers. 

James has a very strong connection and reputation with snipers; especially with the Barrett M82A1M. How intimate yet far it is from the target. How precise your aim has to be, it has made James the most dangerous sniper to still live.

He placed the last one down and sat on the chair behind him. He watched Natasha's eyes move with every stroke.

"Is it wrong to be jealous of a Colt M4A1?"

Natasha gripped the pommel. "It depends." The M4A1 clicked into place. She positioned it on the metal table and sat on James' lap. His hair intertwined in her delicate hands as she pulled so he would look right up at her. 

Her lips grazed his. "Jealous now?" 

James stared into her blazing green eyes and pulled his lips onto hers. He grabbed her waist as her hands explored the small of his back. Their embers were no longer flickering but roaring with new life. Their lips collided with such an explosion of passion that it would take the devil to push them apart.

His hands met as they went around her back. Picking her up and throwing her onto an empty metal table. It rattled as her hot skin touch the ice cold surface. Natasha's legs wrapped around his back, pulling him down lower. His metal fist digging into the table, creating a deeper dent every time their kiss intensified. 

A hole the grew into the cold surface, causing James to fall onto her. They laughed as they both sat up on the now impaled table. Their skin red with heat, panting as the stared at each other.

Clint and Wanda sat on the table across the computers, watching as files and pictures kept opening and closing, searching for a location.

Natasha and James walked in, trying to hide their "time" spent together off their faces.

Clint kept his eyes on the screens. "We should have a rule about how two super soldier assassins are not allowed to have make-out sessions when they have company." He grabbed some popcorn from a bowl in front of him.

Natasha folded her arms. "That loud?"

"You guys moaned louder than fucking elephants" 

Wanda began laughing in the background, almost dropping her cup of coffee.

"Anyways, Sam is on his way. He should be here any second." Clint said.

James sat on the nearest chair and glanced at the screens. "Nothing?"

Clint got up. "Actually we've got suspicious movement near Kargat."

"How suspicious?" Natasha wondered.

"The town has a small population, barely any new visitors come during winter. However, two black SUVs went inside the town. One three hours ago an the other just fifteen minutes ago."

"They were trying to get in discretely."

"This is Russia, nothing is discrete when you see black SUVs." James chimed in.

Then a knock echoed across the room, and they all turned their attention to the door.

Wanda stood up and headed towards the door, her hands glowing dimly. She was prepared for an intrusions. "Da?" she asked. 

For a few seconds it was silent, then a voice spoke. "Chernyy led (Black Ice)." It was Sam.

In the message, they placed a code that they would use when detecting who is on their side. So they all decided it needed to be something not typical and not strange, so it was narrowed down to Black Ice.

Wanda's red light faded to nothing as she opened the door. A rush of wind came in as Sam walked in.

James stood outside the tech room. "Welcome to Russia, Sokol (Falcon)."

***

Hey guys! I apologize for the lengthy wait. I am officially on winter break so hopefully I'll be uploading consistently. 

Thank you for reading the chapter!