Peace and Vengeance
three
Darcy was glad she'd taken her Stark-tech thermals. It was nearing the negatives were she sat, keeping eyes on a power station from just across the river. She was casing the place while Steve ran surveillance from the rooftop of their B&B less than a quarter-mile away. Darcy's memory hadn't done Surgut's weather any justice. The wind blowing in off the water formed icicles in her runny nose. She was sure she looked a red, blotchy mess. She took a quick sip of her coffee, adjusted her heated earmuffs, and pulled her hood on more snug.
"Stop fidgeting, Darce." Steve's voice rang quiet but clear in her ear.
"People fidget, Steve," she snapped back. "Anything new on your end?"
"Same as always. Shift change might be happening soon. If we're lucky, we'll finally hit a pattern."
Darcy rolled her eyes at that. It had already been six days of freezing her ass off on a cold hard bench and pretending to read Pushkin.
This target had been different from the others from the get-go. This place wasn't just some mostly-abandoned bunker in the middle of nowhere they could blow up and move on. It was a freakin' power-plant in the midst of a thriving city. Intel hadn't been complete, but the situation seemed to mirror the mess at SHIELD; a Hydra infestation among clueless civilians. Their normal 'scorched earth' tactics couldn't be employed here. This required a little more finesse. Unfortunately, subtly wasn't exactly something either of them were known for.
After the first day, they'd known this wasn't something they should tackle. They'd be going in blind and the risk to civilians in and out of the facility would be too high. They couldn't exactly set fire to a power station without leveling the whole damn city. Still they thought they'd stick around and gather a little more intel if they could. Steve was hell-bent on at least finding a neat way in for the forces to follow. He'd let someone else figure out how to separate the would-be Hydra agents from the plant workers.
As far as they could see there were 16 obvious access points (though only four were considered official entrances) and each were secured by a pair of stoic guards (usually smoking and skulking and pacing, but never more than half-a-dozen feet away from their posts). Steve had thought they'd find a weak point during the changing of shifts, but they couldn't follow the schedule. No two men switched off at the same time and he couldn't make head or tales of their timing.
"This might be a problem for minds much greater than ours, Steve."
Steve hated to admit it, but Darcy was right. There wasn't much they could get done on their own here.
"Yeah. Let's pack it in."
"Stop fidgeting, Darce." Steve's voice rang quiet but clear in her ear.
"People fidget, Steve," she snapped back. "Anything new on your end?"
"Same as always. Shift change might be happening soon. If we're lucky, we'll finally hit a pattern."
Darcy rolled her eyes at that. It had already been six days of freezing her ass off on a cold hard bench and pretending to read Pushkin.
This target had been different from the others from the get-go. This place wasn't just some mostly-abandoned bunker in the middle of nowhere they could blow up and move on. It was a freakin' power-plant in the midst of a thriving city. Intel hadn't been complete, but the situation seemed to mirror the mess at SHIELD; a Hydra infestation among clueless civilians. Their normal 'scorched earth' tactics couldn't be employed here. This required a little more finesse. Unfortunately, subtly wasn't exactly something either of them were known for.
After the first day, they'd known this wasn't something they should tackle. They'd be going in blind and the risk to civilians in and out of the facility would be too high. They couldn't exactly set fire to a power station without leveling the whole damn city. Still they thought they'd stick around and gather a little more intel if they could. Steve was hell-bent on at least finding a neat way in for the forces to follow. He'd let someone else figure out how to separate the would-be Hydra agents from the plant workers.
As far as they could see there were 16 obvious access points (though only four were considered official entrances) and each were secured by a pair of stoic guards (usually smoking and skulking and pacing, but never more than half-a-dozen feet away from their posts). Steve had thought they'd find a weak point during the changing of shifts, but they couldn't follow the schedule. No two men switched off at the same time and he couldn't make head or tales of their timing.
"This might be a problem for minds much greater than ours, Steve."
Steve hated to admit it, but Darcy was right. There wasn't much they could get done on their own here.
"Yeah. Let's pack it in."