Mother Russia had always held her secrets close to her chest. But there were some secrets not even the great Mother Bear knew about, secrets hidden in urban myth and military legend, secrets that were so tightly wound that to unravel them would take a lifetime. Deep in the heart of the frozen wasteland that was Siberia, one such secret lay under the ground, concealed in a former nuclear bunker re-purposed for one goal, and one only ....to house Hydra's laboratories for the recreation and development of the super soldier serum, lost in the dying years of the Second World War. For decades, they had worked on the problem, and only recently had begun to test those developments. Already they had lost four promising subjects, and within the last couple of weeks, word had reached them of another raid on another facility not so very far from their location, Security had been tightened. But there is always a way around such things, if you have the right leverage.

The risk of a double agent was always prevalent, and some double agents are more eager for revenge than their previous employers might think. Reassured of his daughter's rescue and safety, Stefanos Evchenko had provided everything the team needed, but this was no hit and run raid. This was all about stealth and infiltration, and no one was going into this without some nerves.

A small transport jet flew low over the barren, snow-swept landscape, nondescript and almost silent. Radio channels crackled as passcodes were requested and given, and permission to land granted. As the entrance to the hangar bay was opened, Alyona bit her lip, looking over at Clint Barton worriedly before glancing over her shoulder toward Johnny Storm and Sue Reed.

"One barrier down," Sue said, speaking as much to reassure the young Sokovian as to keep the rest of the team, concealed in a stealthed quinjet a fair distance away, informed as to their progress.

They'd been over the plan of attack dozens of times, until it was coming out of their ears; until it was memorized; until they could eat, drink and sleep it. They'd been over various scenarios and as many possibilities as they could possibly think of. Steve wanted to make sure nothing went wrong, though he also knew nothing was certain or could be predicted. Still, he knew he had assembled the best team in the world, and he trusted each and every one of them. Down there on the ground, each team member knew their job and knew what was expected of them. Clint Barton had been partnered with Alyona Evchenko, their job to locate Nicholai Petrov for rescue and extraction.

"Easy, kid," Barton told Alyona in an effort to reassure her, knowing she was likely a bundle of nerves. "You know what you need" You need a good alias. They call me Hawkeye, for obvious reasons. You got any idea what you'd like yours to be?" he asked, chatting quietly but amicably in an effort to keep her calm.

Glad of the gentle way everyone seemed to be trying their hardest to keep her calm, Alyona let out a slow breath as Clint spoke to her, her hands on the steering column just for show. He was the one flying the jet. "Mr. Stark calls me Tinkerbell," she offered, though she wasn't entirely sure if that was an insult or not. Tony had gone out of his way to be nice to her, which was odd in itself, because she knew he wasn't comfortable around her yet.

Nat chuckled over the comm. "Not quite what we had in mind," she said warmly, glancing at Steve in amusement.

"Agreed," Clint replied in full agreement with Nat, whether Tony was listening or not. "Maybe we should dub Mr. Stark Peter Pan - the boy who refused to grow up," he remarked, having a bit of fun at Tony's expense, as he navigated the jet downwards to make a neat landing inside the hangar bay. It was tricky flying without a runway to slow his speed, but it wasn't much harder than landing on an aircraft carrier.

"You do know I can hear you, Legolas," Tony's voice interjected, but he sounded distracted. It probably had something to do with the program he was preparing to jack into the base's communications array as soon as the infiltration team made contact with the Hydra personnel.

"Sure do, Gandalf," Clint replied, with a wink in Alyona's direction. If he was nervous, it didn't how, but everyone dealt with their nerves in different ways.

In the back of the jet Clint was flying, Sue glanced at Johnny, nodding to him as she concentrated. A moment later, the siblings were invisible to the naked eye, just as planned.

"Hangar's closing," Nat reported over the comm. "Just make contact and get it done. We've got you covered."

"Good luck," Steve was heard saying, though he didn't really believe in luck; he believed in good planning. Though he didn't mention it, it was killing him not to be going with them, but they couldn't risk Hydra recognizing his face.

"You up for this?" Clint asked, turning briefly to glance at Alyona as the jet came to a halt on the strip.

"It's a little late for me to say no," she pointed out, with a rare flicker of humor. Her expression sobered at the sight of the delegation coming to meet them. "We should get on." Swallowing to calm her nerves, she rose from her place in the co-pilot's seat, collecting the folder that contained their fabricated orders. It was reassuring to know that Clint knew what he was doing, and that every word would be heard by the rest of the team via the comms. If anything went wrong, there was help right there for them.

Like flipping a switch, Clint's demeanor suddenly changed as he turned serious. He hit the switch that would open the cockpit door and got himself unbuckled from the pilot's seat. "Show's on," he murmured quietly, moving past Alyona to take the lead in greeting the delegation of Hydra agents that had been sent to meet them. He exchanged some Russian with the agents and allowed Alyona to hand them the folder with the fake transfer documents, distracting them long enough to allow Sue and Johnny to make their way past, unseen to both their teammates and delegation alike.

Listening in from the stealthed quinjet, Nat nodded to Tony as Clint and Alyona made it past the guards. "Sting 'em."

Tony nodded, tapping a complex code quickly into his tablet and setting it free. "Okay, we're looking at thirty minutes, tops, before they guess you're not supposed to be there," he relayed via the comms.

Thanks to a camera mounted on a pin in Clint's lapel, Steve had a good view of what they were seeing as the pair walked through the base, past laboratories and testing stations, guard rooms and rec rooms.

Nat glanced over at Steve as Sam checked over his gear one last time. "So what was that Lianne was babbling about when I called?" she asked mildly.

With Clint and Alyona well on their way toward the cryo-suite and Johnny and Sue moving toward the where the power core was located. Everything depended on the information they'd obtained from Evchenko, but so far, so good. If the man truly did value his daughter's life, he wouldn't let them down. "Hmm?" Steve murmured, his attention focused on what Clint and Alyona were seeing as they made their way through the facility. He glanced toward Tony, unsure if he wanted to discuss his personal affairs within earshot, but he was his brother-in-law, and he was bound to find out sooner or later. "Oh, um ....apparently, we're having twins."

"Keep going!" Clint shouted to Alyona as the pod hit the floor. If they didn't keep going, they'd get trapped between troops ahead and behind them.

"In a moment!" Alyona yelled back at Clint, exerting what looked like a powerful amount of concentration into the barrier she had created. When she released the tendrils from her hands, the barrier stayed put, allowing her to turn and lift the pod to run and catch up with Hawkeye herself. "That won't last long," she warned him, already breathless but doing her best not to panic. "Which way do we go?"

"Uh, guys?" Sue's voice came across the comm. "Do you need us?"

"I'm not even gonna ask how you did that," Clint remarked, as he waited for Alyona to catch up. "Hangar door," he told her. "Follow me!" And off he went to take the lead again, lifting his right arm to shoot a couple of arrows from a small crossbow attached to his wrist, taking down two guards that were quickly advancing toward them.

"No! Stay put!" Steve ordered Sue. "We're gonna pick them up. We'll let you know when we need you. Johnny, you ready?"

"Ready and raring to go, Cap ....er, Steve," Johnny replied. He was itching to do something other than listen, but he was saving his flame for something bigger.

An almighty explosion from the hangar announced that the door was open, accompanied by a triumphant whoop from the two airborne attackers. Tony might even have swept inside, if he hadn't had to get out of Nat's way quite so quickly. "That's the signal, light it up, Flameboy," Nat told Johnny over the comm, pulling hard on the steering column to back the jet toward the smoking remains of the hangar door as she opened up the ramp. "Clint, you there" Cap's coming out to cover you."

"Copy that, Nat. We're almost there," Clint replied, as he and Alyona fought their way back through the corridors to the hangar deck.

"You gotta get clear. It's only gonna be a couple of minutes before this whole place blows to kingdom come," Johnny warned the entire team, even as he started to flame on.

"We got this, Flameboy, just look after yourselves," Nat promised, turning to look over her shoulder at the hangar. Most of the transport was in pieces, the soldiers and technicians still reeling from the explosion that had opened them to the elements in the first place. At the far end, Clint and Alyona came into sight, but they were being pursued. "Cap, they need cover."

"I'm on it," Steve replied, disappearing from view as he rushed down the ramp to cover Clint and Alyona's escape. He threw back his arm to give his shield a throw, ricocheting off the wall to take out half of the Hydra guards in pursuit, before he rushed in to take on the rest hand to hand.

Once they reached the jet, Clint turned to shield Alyona's back while she got the pod on board. "Petrov better be worth all the trouble, Cap," Clint complained as the two of them fought side-by-side until Alyona was safely inside.

"It's not just about that," Steve reminded him.

"Two minutes to nova burst!" Johnny warned as he heated up, gathering all his body's stored energy and heat for one devastating burst that would wipe out everything in a 900 feet radius.

"Get back on board, boys!" Nat ordered them, barely glancing back as Alyona ran up the ramp and noisily slammed the cryo-pod into the fixture rigged up to hold it. "Sam, Tony, get out of here. We'll pick you up in a few minutes."

"Barton, get going!" Steve ordered, stepping forward to shield them both against a spray of bullets. "That's an order, soldier!"

"I'm not leaving you here!" Clint argued.

"Clock's ticking. No time to argue, son," Steve insisted, though it could be argued that Clint was the elder of the two.

Clint knew Steve was right; he also knew that while Steve was capable of taking care of himself, he doubted that shield of his would protect him against a blast equivalent to that of a nuclear bomb.

"One minute!" Johnny warned.

As Steve and Clint argued over who was going first, a shield of crimson passed through them from behind, emanating from Alyona's hands as she stood on the ramp.

"Guys, you're doing nothing for my blood pressure," Tony warned over the comm.

"Move your ass or I'm gonna tell your wives you're being unnecessary heroes!" Nat added fiercely.

Hero or not, Clint had no desire to commit suicide and turned to quickly make his way onto the jet.

"Alyona!" Steve called. "Can you toss up a shield to block any pursuers?" he asked, rather than ordered, as he, too, turned to return to the jet. He could have easily overtaken Clint and beat him back to the ship, but that wasn't his way. Instead, he used his own body to try to shield his friends from enemy fire.

Scowling, Alyona concentrated. "Yes," she nodded firmly. Sweeping her hands forward, she solidified the shield protecting the retreat and thrust it into the hangar, knocking the soldiers back.

As soon as Clint and Steve were firmly on the ramp, Nat slammed the quinjet into full acceleration ....and almost lost Alyona off the end of the ramp in the process. The sudden motion beneath her feet knocked the young woman off-balance, tossing her toward the edge as the ground dropped away.

"Going somewhere?" Clint asked as he caught Alyona around the waist before throwing them both to the floor.

Steve hit the button to close the ramp door, before grabbing something solid to hold onto. "Brace for impact!" he warned, knowing Johnny's minute had to be about up.

"Accelerating!" Nat fought to get the quinjet to a decent distance, even as ominous rumblings from below declared that Johnny was well on his way to one of his favorite tricks.

Lying flat on the floor of the jet, Alyona wound her wrist into one of the cargo nets hanging from the hull and closed her eyes, whimpering a little as she tried not to throw up. The sensation of abrupt acceleration was not something she'd ever experienced before.

The rumbling that preceded Johnny's nova burst grew louder and more intense, as the energy inside him built until he could suppress it no longer. Sue and Reed had once warned him of the dangers of losing control of his flame, and he'd taken heed of that warning. This was only the second time he'd ever gone nova, and though he hadn't said so, it wasn't something he particularly enjoyed. The nova burst sapped all his strength and energy, as he'd learned when he'd blown up the Arctic Hydra facility, and would leave him weak and without flame for at least half a day. The burst would also take out everything in its path - there would be no survivors. The rumbling suddenly stopped, followed by a single moment of silence - the calm before the storm, as it were - and then there was a burst of light and heat and flame not unlike that of a nuclear warhead exploding and destroying everything in its wake.

"Accelerating," Nat said once again, and this time, there was nothing to outrun as she steered them high above the clouds that were scattered across the sky. As Steve dropped them into stealth mode, the suggestion of movement through the clouds below them told how close they'd come to getting caught. The Russian reaction time had improved since the last test, it seemed. "Okay, taking us into the upper atmosphere just to be sure," Nat said, not wanting to risk being spotted. "I'll go sonic when we're out of range."

"Copy that," Steve replied, though he was sitting right next to her.

"Did we do it?" Johnny asked weakly from wherever Tony had deposited him. He was visibly shivering and just barely conscious, his face pale and pulse week, but he needed to know.

"You did good, Johnny," Sue smiled at her brother, reaching over to stroke his cheek with a shaking hand of her own. Her smile faded to a frown. "Cap, he's cold," she said, the worry showing on her face as she looked over at Steve.

"Wilson, there's a medi-chest behind you," Tony pointed out, gesturing toward it as he examined the cryo-pod. "Barton, give me a hand here, would you? I wanna make sure this guy doesn't wake up on us unexpectedly."

"That would not be a good thing," Clint remarked in agreement. Satisfied Alyona was going to be okay, he got up to help Tony with the pod to make sure Mr. Freeze didn't thaw out too quickly.

"There should be an emergency blanket in there," Steve told Sam, who was looking through the medi-chest for something to something to warm Johnny up with.

"What he needs is a hot cup of coffee," Sam said as he unwrapped the blanket and tucked it around Johnny's shoulders. "You're gonna be okay, kid," he promised, but Johnny had already gone quiet again. "Okay, so much for hot coffee. Sleeping Beauty's passed out on me again, and I'm not kissing him to wake him up."

"I can help," a small voice offered. As Sue looked up in surprise, Alyona unbuckled herself and moved over to where Johnny was slumped. She took the Torch's cold hand between her own, closing her eyes as she concentrated. A warm red glow surrounded her hands, and for a moment, everyone could feel the warmth rising from her before she somehow managed to siphon that heat into Johnny's body.

Nat glanced over at Steve. "Well, that answers the question about energy manipulation," she murmured.

"She's more than earned her keep," Steve replied, turning to watch as Alyona helped to raise Johnny's core body temperature to a more normal level, at least for a human. It would still take many hours before his temperature rose to what was normal for him.

"Well, I'll be damned," Sam muttered as he watched Alyona at work.

"Team work," Steve murmured further. They'd just proved anyone who thought they couldn't work together as a team wrong.

"Timber," Tony muttered. He'd been testing Alyona's abilities over the last week or so; he knew what was coming next, even without needing to look.

And sure enough, as Johnny's temperature rose to a safe human level, Alyona pitched backward, out for the count, her own body clammy and slightly feverish. Hopefully Sam was close enough to catch her.

Fortunately, Sam was right there to catch Alyona as she collapsed, carefully maneuvering her back into her seat and buckling her securely in. He checked her pulse and her temperature to be sure she was okay. "Just exhaustion, I think. Looks like a successful mission, Cap. One less Hydra base to worry about."

"Thanks to all of you," Steve replied, smiling warmly at his team, and more importantly, his friends. "Let's go home, Nat. We've all earned a good rest."

"Setting coordinates for home, Cap," Nat nodded, tapping in the appropriate keys.

As the auto-pilot kicked in, she leaned back in her seat, twisting to look at their team. No injuries, and only two suffering from exhaustion. That was a good day, in her book, but it wasn't over yet. Her gaze wandered to the cryo-pod, a quiet frown touching her brow. Until that was open and they knew what they had recovered, they couldn't call it a good day. She just hoped they weren't bringing a time bomb home with them.