Chapter 53: Caught Off Guard

Night at the heavily guarded laboratory building, SSR Headquarters. This is the building for reparing equipments, weapons, and also where the symbiote bracelet is repaired and recharged.

After the meeting, Steve, Logan, Victor and others members of the Howling Commandos immediately went here to retrieve their newly recharged and repaired symbiote bracelet.

"Just wait here, I will go inside and retrieve our bracelet." Bucky Barnes spoke and entered the building.

Steve nodded and the team sat on the chairs in the lobby, Logan and Victor look around feeling something. They just brush off their feeling since they think they were on the headquarters and feels safe.

While waiting, Junior Jupiter, the youngest of the team asked, "Why do you think Mr. Stark suddenly left earlier during the meeting?"

Gabe Jones shrug and replied, "We don't know, but he sure has a bad expression though."

Dum Dum Dugan also voiced his opinion, "Maybe he accidentally make someone's wife pregnant, haha."

Steve and the others laugh at the joke considering the romantic nature of Howard Stark.

In fact, the real reason is one of the military general raided his laboratory in his home and stole his invention called 'midnight oil' and research data. He was ordered by the said general to design a gas that would keep awake soldiers for days but the result of experimentation failed. After comfirming that his design has cathastrophic side-effect, he decided not to handover it to the military.

Unfortunately, he was suddenly informed that the said general ordered the U.S. Air Force to fly a plane and released the gas in intending to help the Soviet Armed Forces against the Nazis. However, they didn't expect that the soviet soldiers suddenly went mad and started to kill each other. Only few people survived during massacre including the future leader of Leviathan and the master hypnosis Johann Fennhoff.

Howard Stark immediately went there to check and saw the horrific sight and was distressed by the result and attacked the general but was instead beaten up, the general also did everything in his power to cover up this massacre and this incident will be called Battle of Finow in the future.

After a good laugh, Steve saw James Falsworth's forced smile expression and went to comfort him, "Don't worry James, we will do everything to help you save your son Brian."

"That's right, believe in us. Wait for Mr. Stark to come up with something to capture your discharging son, hahaha." Victor patted James on the shoulder and teases him. Even for him, he didn't want to fight Mighth Destroyer and get electrocuted

The others also laughed, and Dum Dugan also added, "Yeah, we really need to stop your son. We already felt the first hand experienced of being defeated upon first contact, haha."

"To forgot your worry, we will accompany you to the pub and drink to our hearts content later." Logan also cheered him up, the others also nodded in approval.

"Hey, it looks like you all are having fun." Bucky voice sounded and he walked out of the iron door leading to the laboratory, holding the suitcase containing the newly charged and repaired symbiote bracelet.

"Well Bucky is here, let's go." Steve and the others stood up seeing him and walked to his side. When they were about to reached him, Logan and Victor shouted with "Get down!!!"

*Boom!* Suddenly, there was a loud explosion in the lobby, catching everyone off guard. Steve, Logan, Victor, and the other members of the Howling Commandos was blown out by the explosion.

"Damn!" Steve shouted and tried to stand up, His ear is still buzzing and was almost unscathed thanks to his shield on blocking the explosion.

Logan and Victor also stood up with their body's covered in blood with their wounds healing. At the moment of explosion, they used their body to shield the others.

The other members of the Howling Commandos and SSR personnel inside the building are groaning in pain, while some were not moving with their life and death situation unknown.

"Steve! Everyone!" Bucky on the other side also tried to stand with his head still in groggy state.

But before they could react and check the situation, Baron Blood and 10 HYDRA spies stormed into the building with guns on their hand, shooting anyone who could still stand up.

"Ah!" Bucky Barnes was shot by Baron Blood multiple times, leaving him critically injured and dropping the suitcase.

"Hail HYDRA!" Baron Blood snatched the suitcase from him and made his way out of the destroyed lobby.

"Bastard!" Logan and Victor roared in anger and immdiately went after him. The HYDRA spies tried to block them but was immediately cut down by the enraged brothers.

"Bucky!" Steve shouted rushed to Bucky's side, checking his injuries and trying to stop the bleeding.

"N-No no no. Please, hang on Bucky..." Steve is already tearing up looking at his seriously injured best friend.

*Cough* Bucky coughed in blood and stared blurry at Steve.

Meanwhile, Logan and Victor chased after Baron Blood, determined to catch him and didn't care if they retrieved the stolen suitcase. Their only thought now is to shred him into pieces. But their chase was difficult, as they were quickly blocked by the HYDRA spies waiting for them outside the building.

Logan and Victor fought like a beast, taking down the HYDRA spies one by one, Peggy, Lorraine, Bonnie, Connie and the other SSR agents also arrived and helped them killing the enemies, but it was too late. Baron Blood had succesfully escaped with the suitcase with the help of HYDRA spies sacrificing their lives to delayed them.

Before disappearing in the darkness, Baron Blood glanced one last time and shook his head regretfully, "Unfortunately, I could't finish off all of them."

..

..

The SSR Doctors arrived at the scene, rushing to provide medical attention to the wounded. They quickly assessed the situation, working to stabilize the injured members of the Howling Commandos. Bucky was rushed to the hospital, where he was immediately taken into surgery.

Fortunately, none of the Howling Commandos died and were also taken to the hospital, where they were treated for their injuries. Some of them had broken bones, while others had suffered from burns and cuts.

Steve was watching outside the operating room while Laura held his hand to comfort him. Logan and Victor were also beside them with their heads down, feeling guilty.

The doctors worked tirelessly to save Bucky's life, but his condition was critical. After hours of operation, the doctors came out of the operating room and informed them that Bucky's condition had stabilized.

Steve rushed to the doctor and held his shoulder, quickly asking, "How is he?"

The doctor winced in pain and said, "A-aww... Please let go."

"Stop, Steve. You're hurting him," Laura said, hurrying over to calm him down. Steve let go and apologized, "I'm sorry, doctor. I just couldn't control my emotions."

"It's okay. I understand your mood," the doctor forgave him and explained, "As for your friend's situation, I'm sorry. We've already done our best, but his situation is not optimistic."

"What does that mean?" Steve immediately questioned.

"It means we're not sure if he'll ever wake up again. It's a miracle that he survived despite having these kinds of serious injuries," the doctor explained. What they didn't know is the initial HYDRA serum injected by Docto Zola, the serum saved Bucky's life making his vitality tenacious.

"I suggest that you immediately take him to a hospital with state-of-the-art medical equipment." After saying this, the doctor left them to think.

"Don't worry, Steve. We'll fly back to America tomorrow and go to Umbrella Hospital so that Bucky can receive treatment. It might help him recover and wake up with their advanced medical instruments. Isn't Logan and Victor healed under their treatment?" Laura comforted him.

"That's right," Steve's eyes lit up as he remembered. He had almost forgotten about the Umbrella because of his anxious state.

On the side, Logan and Victor looked at each other. Logan decided to confess, "I'm sorry, Captain."

"Huh? Why are you apologizing?" Steve asked in wonder.

"It's our fault, Captain. We already knew something was amiss, but we ignored it because we were in the headquarters," Victor explained with guilt.

Steve took a deep breath to calm himself when hearing this. He had also forgotten about their stronger enhanced senses than him. "It's not your fault. We were all caught off guard and who could've taught they will attack our headquarters. We could say we underestimate their desperation, they even sacrifice hundreds of spies just to steal our equipment."

Logan and Victor remained silent after hearing he didn't blame them, they still felt guilt though.

Well, it's really their fault and slack off and forgetting that vampires could controll the mind of someone, much less a super vampire like Baron Blood. Hypnotizing his way into infiltrating the SSR Headquarters is as simple as eating a snack, and planting a bomb is not simething difficult.

"Speaking of our symbiote bracelet, what does the Umbrella says? Will they send another batch to us?" Steve asked Laura. The symbiote bracelet has healing function, it can help the other members of the Howling Commandos to recuperate.

"Yes, it's already prepared and they are just waiting for us tomorrow to arrived to distribute the bracelet." Laura answered.