Once they were outside the tower, Bucky let her go.

"Bring your asset back here and we can protect you both," he reminded her.

Colbie didn't actually respond to that. She was still for a few moments, taking in everything and looking for potential traps. She took two cautious steps away from him, and when he didn't try and grab her again, she bolted.

But she did take an extremely convoluted route back to the base where Maya was.

Bucky let the others know as soon as the asset took off. They had to keep an eye on her so she didn't run, though he managed to keep himself from physically following her.

Because she was that paranoid, it took Colbie almost a full twenty-four hours to get back to base. And then she paused, observing, looking at the amount of people and the actions. Nothing amiss. Good. She had a slightly higher chance of not being punished for her failure, then.

As it was, it took some inventive lying, allowed only by the cracks in her programming, and some time for her to get back to Maya to check on her asset.

By the time Colbie got back to her, Maya had ended up in the gym, going through a relatively gentle workout. The swell of her belly wasn't very noticeable yet, but she was already feeling it in her sense of balance as she worked through a yoga routine.

Colbie stopped a little ways away, just watching for now. Maya still looked healthy and whole, and some part of her relaxed at that. She also looked like Maya, meaning they hadn't put her in the Chair. Not that they would; it would be too harmful to the child.

"Maya." Colbie dropped down to the mats in front of her, mirroring her pose easily.

Maya jumped just slightly when Colbie landed in front of her. She only just managed not to gasp and break her pose.

"You're back?" she asked, a bit in disbelief. "Everyone assumed you were dead."

"Not yet." Colbie's gaze didn't settle on anything for long, darting around the gym. "Although I may be after this."

"What happened?" Maya asked as she changed pose.

"The Winter Soldier is protective of Captain America," Colbie said quietly, changing poses with Maya. "He also seems quite certain that he can protect us." She kept her voice low enough that only she and Maya could hear, half-hiding her lips behind her hair to keep anyone or any cameras around them from reading her lips.

"Protect us?" Maya repeated quietly. "What do you mean?" The connotations of the phrase seemed oddly attractive to her, and she had no conscious idea why.

"We could leave." Colbie still spoke carefully. "He offered to keep us safe from them." She let her eyes sweep the room to indicate she meant all of Hydra. "I... do not yet know why. His motives are not clear to me."

Maya considered that for a moment as she changed poses again.

"I overheard the doctors," she murmured. "They want to take the baby from me as soon as it's born." She couldn't help the worry from settling on her face. "Surely it would be better to leave the child with me?"

"I... don't know." Colbie frowned. "The doctors rarely have any concern for the mothers." Which went against her mission; Maya was her primary mission right now. "It may be better for you to leave. I will help."

"Will they be any better?" Maya asked quietly. "Will they try to take the child too?"

"I do not know." Colbie frowned. She was quiet for a moment before she considered something she never would have thought of, had her programming been intact. "We... do not have to go back to them, either."

Maya's eyes widened slightly as she realized what Colbie was getting at.

"Defect completely?" she whispered. "Would we even be able to?"

"It is possible," Colbie said carefully. "I would need more time to plan, but it is possible. The city is not far from here; we could obtain money and clothing there. The hardest part would be escaping here. We would need some kind of distraction."

Maya was quiet for a moment.

"I'm sure we can manage something," she murmured. "I need to do what is best for this child." And if she really thought about it, she wasn't certain sticking around was what was best.

Colbie nodded, accepting her new mission parameters.

"I will need some time to work it out," she murmured. "I will let you know when I am ready." But she didn't leave right away, so as not to arouse suspicion. Instead she stayed and finished the yoga session with Maya.

After the yoga session, Maya retreated to her room. A warm bath sounded nice, and it would give her time to really think over what Colbie was planning to do.

Colbie set off to put her plan into motion. It was surprisingly, stupidly, easy to rig explosives. No one questioned her anywhere she went, although that may in part have been the glare she was giving everyone. But it worked, and she made her way back to Maya's room.

Maya was just getting dressed again into comfortable clothes when Colbie came in.

"Have you come up with a plan?" she asked quietly as she tugged her tee down over the slight bulge of her stomach.

Colbie nodded. "When you hear the explosions, head for the south side of the building, the door nearest the loading dock. I will meet you there."

"Alright," Maya said, nodding. "I'll get there as soon as I can. I expect the doctors will try to collect me quickly, considering the child." She was about to reach for her shoes when an explosion rocked the building, and she looked at Colbie.