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Haines was gagged, silver duct tape roughly slapped over her mouth. She was relieved when the SHIELD agents and the mysterious red haired woman, burst in to haul her out, but with her mouth taped, she couldn't warn them until it was too late. HYDRA had no intentions of doing anything with her, they wanted Captain America, for reasons she didn't quite know, but she presumed the soldier with the metal arm and dead eyes was something to do with it. At the very least, he was the one who would be facing her, and he expected Stephanie, but did she know what she was getting herself into? 

As soon as her hands were free she ripped off the tape, not even taking time to shriek at the painful lip-wax she'd just given herself. She had to warn them. 
[b]"Get out of here- Quick- This is an ambush"[/b] she warned, but Captain America wasn't there ... Haines found herself half disappointed, half relieved. On the one hand, Cap had saved her once, had she disappointed the Captain by getting herself recaptured? Was she not important anymore because she'd wound up in trouble again? But on the other hand, it was safer with Captain America out of the way. She had to count her blessings where she could find them. Captain America or no, she was getting out of here alive with any luck. Milliseconds ticked by without the Winter Soldier pumping them all full of bullets. Haines didn't know what he was capable of, but he'd blown up a mutant rally causing countless civilian casualties just yesterday. Dropping a grenade or opening fire on a group of SHIELD agents was probably childs play to him. 

She stared up at the upper levels of the secure but largely disused warehouse. She was certain the Winter Soldier headed up in that direction, to get a good vantage point of the main doors where the SHIELD agents had stormed in. She couldn't make out his figure in the shadows up there, but she assumed he was lurking up there somewhere, watching. There was no movement, no noise, no gun-fire from the upper platforms ... if he was there, he didn't engage with the SHIELD agents at all. He did nothing to stop them help her up. 

A soft thump from the upper level revealed the arrival of Haines hero, and at present, her worst nightmare. Captain America had come after all, using what would usually be a smart move, a high entrance while the main team served as a distraction coming through the main doors... Somehow the Winter Soldier had [i]known[/i] or .. anticipated this plan. While a meagre band of HYDRA goons put up minimal resistance, some straight up fleeing to lead SHIELD away so they wouldn't break up the impending engagement on the upper levels. Cap swept the area, clearing half the upper levels without confronting the Soldier before she wandered into position and waited right where Winter Soldier had wanted her. 

The Winter Soldier watched Stephanie from behind as she leaned over the railing, his figure concealed in the shadows of a disused office, likely the next spot Cap would survey once she finished watching Haines' evacuation ... not that she'd have a chance now. It was too late.  He studied her with the curiosity of a child examining an insect under a magnifying glass before they pulled the insects legs off one by one. Pausing to study her form, how she moved. He should have had a sense of deja-vu, familiarity, but there was none. She was a stranger. She was a target. 

She was his mission. 

[b]"He's here-"[/b] Haines warned, shouting as she was being escorted out of the building. [b]"The Winter Soldier- Cap look out!"[/b]

Once again, Natasha's fears were more than confirmed. The man with the metal arm was the deadly Soviet Assassin ... a whisper even in the KGB. Training in the Red Room ... Natasha had encountered him once before. Before the Black Widow Program graduation ceremony, the sterilisation and memory implantation, there was a test, a fight against the Winter Soldier. None of the Black Widow trainees had beaten him, but they were younger then, had less experience. Those who had performed well against him proceeded to graduation, those who did not perform well left with grievous injuries and shame. Most just vanished. Nat had been one of those girls to face him, he hadn't said a word but his eyes burned into hers as she fought fiercely ... the rest was a blur then... Perhaps something more had happened, but he was a ghost and ghosts had the habit of disappearing or sometime lingering in memory. No one involved in the Black Widow program saw him again but some of them heard whispers. Sometimes on missions, KGB spies would report mysterious covering fire on missions they thought they were flying solo on ... most assumed it was the Winter Soldier, no one else was a quiet and deadly as him. Although he was on their side, he terrified them because they neither seen nor heard him. But he was there. 

Stephanie would experience that fear now. She wouldn't hear or see him, until it was too late. 
The shadows peeled away and he closed the narrow gap between himself and Stephanie. Haines, and a significant portion of the SHIELD agents were carrying out the extraction of the hostage, covering their exit. 

The Winter Soldier had  a number of factors in his favour. First, the element of surprise, second, he had no concerns about friendly fire. Any HYDRA agents that had been holding the warehouse were already captured, dead or fleeing. They knew the operation, to minimise friendly fire they had to stay out of the way, or if they got in the way, they had to eat bullets. If The Winter Soldier threw himself into the middle of a fire fight, even surrounded by SHIELD agents, they'd pull their punches, but he wouldn't hold his. The fact that the clumsy reporter was tied up in this only made it easier for him. They wouldn't shoot in close quarters for fear of wounding the hostage or Captain America and he knew the average SHIELD agent couldn't take him down, even a handful of them would have a hard time besting him hand-to-hand. 

There were two disadvantages though ... Captain America could match him blow-for-blow, that was why the hostage and other agents gave a slight advantage to him, she'd do whatever she could to reduce casualties while he could focus on the fight ahead, but if they stayed out of the way, the fight would be a tough one. 
Secondly ... Black Widow was there. She was a variable HYDRA could never have anticipated ... HYDRA assumed SHIELD would underestimate the soldier and send in a handful of agents and Captain America, no one could have presumed Natasha Romanoff would be there and she was a several steps above the average SHIELD goon ... 

The Winter Soldier flicked his combat knife from its sheath on his thigh, it whispered a [i]'shwink'[/i] as it slid free of its cocoon, freshly sharpened. 
His arm moved in such a fast arc that the knife let out a keening sigh as it cut through the air, two forward steps and he closed the distance between himself and Stephanie, seizing the arm closest to him and wrenching it back so he could easily slice open her throat.