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The Avengers were airborne heading towards their latest mission. Iron Man and Thor flying wingman to the jet. They were headed towards a hydra outpost up in northern Canada that SHIELD had just uncovered, the plan was known but there was a certain amount of tension on the plane.
It was Barnes first official mission out since his recovery and they were facing Hydra, it was enough to give anyone a little tension. The Winter Soldier seemed however, at complete ease, his legs kicked out and crossed at the ankles, his focus on a paperback idly in one hand.
Beside him Steve was doing a weapons check, gearing up. Humming.
Clint turned in the pilot seat, trusting Nat to take the reigns fully. “Ten minutes to drop zone folks, look alive.”
Sam stood strapping on his wings and beginning his own weapons check, casting a side glance at Steve who just kept humming. He was used to it, a constant in the search for Bucky a year before. He made eye contact with James as he put down his novel stretching and they shared a glance over Steve’s head.
James shook his head ducking it to hide a smile and poked Steve in the side, “Can’t believe you still do that.”
Clint caught on as Steve started humming again a little laughter in it now, “oh the glory hallelujah thing? He does that all the time.”
James snorted, “That’s not what that is.” the soldier’s shared a look, one of those coded looks that the Archer recognized.
“Oh it’s a war thing, gotcha.”
“What’s a war thing?” Tony’s voice was tinny from inside the suit but his interest was piqued as Steve acted for all the world like they weren’t talking about him while he was still on the damn plane.
“Cap’s humming thing.” Bruce supplied his head ducked into his phone as the device made an irritated sound at him.
“Oh the Glory, Glory thing?” Tony asked catching up to their conversation with a grin on his voice, “all the time, there’s a couple others too.”
“Already told you that’s not the song.” James said to Stark over the com with something like a grin. He hummed a few bars for them, a slower more paced version of glory glory hallelujah.
“Ah.” Coulson nodded sagely as where he flicked through mission reports, all the info they’d gathered on the base one last time, Sam beside him did the same.
“I’m feeling out of the loop.” Bruce admitted.
“It’s a very old paratrooper song.” Steve supplied looking up from his work, “I didn’t even realize I was doing it.”
James laughed, a genuine one, a rare sight. “He used to do that all the time whenever he was thinking deep thoughts. Dum Dum used to say we could hear out his mood before he knew he was in one.”
Steve looked a little wistful as Natasha announced, “Five minutes to drop.”
James started his own weapons checks, he chuckled when Steve started up again and they shared a look, just the two of them. “used to get us going though.”
As if on queue Steve and James started up together, humming a few bars until James bore out the words in rich baritone, “He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright, he checked all his equipment and made sure his pack was tight; he had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar, ‘You ain't gonna jump no more!"
Steve spoke up adding his own steady voice to the tune and they sung together, “Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die, gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die, gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die, He ain't gonna jump no more!”
By the time they hit the next verse Sam had joined them and Coulson to all their surprise was humming quietly along with them. “‘Is everybody happy?’ cried the Sergeant looking up, our Hero feebly answered ‘Yes,’ and then they stood him up; he jumped into the icy blast, his static line unhooked, he ain't gonna jump no more.”
The chorus fairly shook the jet as the back of it opened indicating they were close to the drop point and the voices rose to be heard over the rushing wind. Clint turned back around chiming in under his breath as Natasha counted off in their ears, tone firm, “Drop zone in four boys.”
“Gory, Gory what a hell of a way to die!”
“Three”
“Gory, Gory what a hell of a way to die!”
“Two.”
“Gory, Gory what a hell of a way to die!”
“One.”
Steve, Sam and Bucky launched themselves into the air as one voices loud, James falling backward saluting Bruce as he went. “He ain’t gunna jump no more!” Of the three of them only James was wearing a chute, Sam kept his wings tucked in until a few hundred feet before the ground sweeping them out in time with the unfurling of James chute.
Beside them Steve was plucked out of the air by Tony who muttered something partially indistinguishable over the com lines and roaring wind but it sounded suspiciously like ‘crazy people’. He dropped Steve a considerably less lethal distance to the ground and James hit the ground running alongside him only seconds later passing Iron man with breathtaking inches to spare.
Hydra came out shooting,
Steve swung out his shield to meet them, humming beneath his breath once more, without more prompting than that James launched into song again a gun in each hand, “He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock, he felt the wind, he felt the cold, he felt the awful drop, the silk from his reserves spilled out, and wrapped around his legs, He ain't gonna jump no more.” Steve joined him less than two words in.
“God dammit Barnes.” Natasha’s voice was the annoyed kind of affectionate that she reserved for James and Clint, “this is supposed to be a stealth mission.”
“Uh yeah it’s a little late for that.” Tony remarks letting his chest RT scorch the ground to the left of Cap cutting off a trio of Hydra goons heading straight for him giving Falcon enough time to slip behind them.
“On your left.” Sam laughs out between breaths before he joins in on the chorus with aplomb, there’s a moment before Thor’s own voice is added to the din and hell everyone in a ten mile radius can probably hear him, every word punctuated with a blow of his hammer.
“It’s a hell of an intimidation tactic,” Tony is grinning and a moment later the suit speakers launch a full orchestral background track for the singing troupe.
Hydra’s forces stutter to an abrupt halt as they reach the next verse, James, Steve and Sam are left to sing that on their own as Thor’s voice resounds over the com, joval. “Tis now safe to land Hawkeye, join us friends!”
“Big ‘n Blond’s right, the anti arcraft is out you are clear to land.” Tony confirmed after a sweep of the exposed areas of the base “I’ll give you some breathing room.”
“We’re in.” James snipped and his voice reminded them so much of the Soldier in that moment it caused before he launched into the chorus, “Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die, gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die, gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die, he ain't gonna jump no more!”
Clint lead the others back into song as he emerged from the plane bow in hand and Natasha at his side, her voice light and musical next to his own. Hydra began to scatter. Phil secured the plane as Bruce added his own warbling notes from inside, he wouldn’t emerge until they called for him.
Soon all of them were singing or humming when they didn’t know the words as they worked through the base, the next verse was left to Steve as James grappled hand to hand but he didn’t waver. “The days he'd lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind, he thought about the girl back home, the one he'd left behind; he thought about the medic corps, and wondered what they'd find.”
James chimed back in for the last line grinning with a split lip, victorious. “he ain't gonna jump no more.”
They all hit the chorus again while Nat, Clint and Thor followed the other three into the building, the two agents doing a more thorough room by room sweep as Thor hustled their prisoners into one room standing guard. More and more of Hydra surrendered at the sound of their voices. Another verse, this time soloed by Sam and a group chorus passed again before they found the labs they had come all the way for.
“Found the labs, it looks like they cleaned the place out.” Steve offered up frustrated. “Recently.”
James kept up this next verse at barely more than a whisper, still loud enough to be heard clearly in their ears but softer, “He hit the ground, the sound was ‘SPLAT’, his blood went spurting high;” He found a scientist and managed to corner the man his voice taking on a lethal tone, sinister as he pointed a gun at the man. “his comrades, they were heard to say ‘A hell of a way to die!’ ”
The man surrendered with a whimper and James clocked him with the but of his gun knocking him clean out, “He lay there, rolling 'round in the welter of his gore, he ain't gonna jump no more.”
“Jesus Barnes did anyone ever tell you how creepy you are?” Clint was laughing though launching from that straight into the chorus with the others as he and Nat worked their way into the room helping clear it out with the boys.
"Nat did once." The woman gave an affirmative hum and just like that they were all back singing the chorus.
“Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die, gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die, gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die, he ain't gonna jump no more!”
“Alright boys and girls I think we’re just about cleaned up here,” Sam informed them cheerfully as they cleared the last of the rooms, “Call it cap.”
“Coulson, if you would bring in Stark and Dr. Banner. I think they’ll make more sense of this than the rest of us. Clint, Thor, Sam take the perimeter in case they called reinforcements.” Steve cas a glance at Natasha unsurprised to find her and James standing shoulder to shoulder. “Shall we?”
It was Steve who led them to the room Thor had gathered their prisoners in, all bound, a few of the more vile ones gaged or unconscious. Thor they found was humming the tune still much to the horror of his conscious charges and James couldn’t repress a dark chuckle.
He launched into the last verse like it was a funeral dirge, in the distance the music from Tony's suit could be heard, warbling and faint. “There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon the chute, intestines were a-dangling from his paratroopers suit, he was a mess, they picked him up, and poured him from his boots, he ain't gonna jump no more.”
Natasha picked it up instantly for the last chorus singing low and soft while she toyed with a blade in her hand, Steve hummed along fixing himself at parade rest just inside the door as the two assassins narrowed in on their target.
“Let’s have a little chat, friend.” The Winter Soldier pulled the man to his feet “Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,”
Their captive writhed and screamed, not a single on of the other prisoners took their eyes off the floor, “Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,”
Natasha held open the door to an adjoining office her tone syrup sweet, “Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,” The door swung shut behind them and their was a beat of silence before tortured screaming started.
Steve hummed the tune acting for all the word that nothing as untoward as torture was happening a door away, the eye of every single captive was locked on him. It wasn’t long before the screaming tapered off into an uneasy silence and Steve fully focused on their prisoners. “He ain't gonna jump no more.”