Disclaimer: I own Nothing.
Okay so I am not a frequent writer but the idea for this story has been hounding me for so long and I needed to get it done. It's kind of based as it infinity was doesn't happen but I suppose it can be considered as an AU before infinity war. So yeah hope you enjoy! :D
In the sticky, humid climate of this part of the world, it wasn't unusual to see old buildings run down and out of use. It took a lot of work and money to renovate such places so that they were livable by modern standards, air conditioning and electrical wiring, for example. For those with enough money to spare, it was easier to build something from scratch rather than renovate an unimpressive, stone relic. That's why abandoned buildings were common. That's why it was the perfect cover.
In the middle of a barren, scorched meadow far from any civilisation, a building like this stood. It was an old stone factory from the days of harvesting crops, but beneath there lay hidden tunnels and rooms, used in the past for secrecy and protection from high government powers. Now they were used for a much different purpose.
Inside Natasha Romanoff stood braced against a crumbling stone wall. Her hair was smoothed back into a small ponytail and as she moved it caught the loose pieces of stone, letting them tumble silently to the floor, leaving a trail beneath her. She tucked a loose red strand behind her ear and around her comms set, causing the light grey sediments collecting on her shoulder to slide off the black leather.
The tip that led them here was long in the making. They had been tracking rogue divisions of Hydra that had risen in the recent absence of the Avengers, it was a small and unrewarding goose chase for the most part. No divisions they found made it past a few remaining soldiers banding together and speaking hate of enemies without much action or plans of defeating them. It was a testament to their hard work from the earlier years. One that Steve greatly appreciated.
Though Tony wasn't necessarily aware of Natasha's contact with Rogers. She wasn't doing a great deal to hide it. After all, she made it very clear she wasn't picking sides. They were lucky that Hydra posed no great threat for now. There weren't many Avengers left.
The Russian spy collected her thoughts and directed them back to the mission. Silently, she attempted to brush away some of the dust turning her uniform ashen grey. "This isn't a fashion contest Romanoff, and if it was I'd be winning." A voice whispered into the comms.
She rolled her eyes at her partner, standing with his armoured back against the wall on the other side of the opening to the room. His bright suit was like sneaking a flashing sign into their stealth operation.
"At least I blend in, also I can hear your AC/DC from here, Stark." She could just make it out over the soft hum of activity in the room down the corridor. Abruptly the faint music stopped. "Let's get this over with."
"Come on Romanoff! It's not often we work a case together." Despite the mask, she could hear the smirk in his voice.
"Hmmm," a smile tugged at her lips, "maybe there's a reason for that."
She moved almost like fluid, no action too jerky as to draw the attention of any person who happened to be passing. Keeping close to the wall she reached the end of the corridor, peering quickly around the bend to check for incoming. It was all clear. "Think you can keep up?"
He huffed into his armour. Striding down the length of the corridor with a clumsy arrogance. "Remember, you're the one that needed me." The source of noise they were following grew louder and as they rounded the corner. They were right by the entrance.
"'Need' is a strong word."
With that, she strode around the doorframe with confidence, wrists humming with blue light, she had taken down five men within seconds. They were wearing a uniform she didn't recognise, not the Hydra uniforms they were expecting. The men were easy enough to overcome, none were especially skilled. By the time Stark stumbled in, another four were out for the count.
The room was filled with computers and operating systems. It was the control room of the base. Thick wires snaked their way around the desks, linking up to a great server that stood taller than Stark himself at the end of the room.
Tony walked with purpose to the main computer, leaving the Black Widow to do her job while he did his. On his faceplate, FRIDAY translated the language on the operating system as he typed away, hacking through the firewalls.
On his left one of the soldiers unleashed a battle cry and charged with all his might towards Iron-man but Tony lazily lifted his hand and blasted him with a taser and he fell to the floor instantly. "Missed one." He mumbled into the comms as he continued typing.
"Sorry!" The superspy called from across the room. She was piling the soldiers over to one side, effortlessly incapacitating them.
Another approached Tony from the front but before he could do anything a blue shot fired from behind him and the man fell to his knees jiggling from the electricity. Stark smirked beneath his mask. "Mind the equipment." He called.
The tech was pretty impressive…. It contrasted with the run-down building that it was sitting in, meaning the person funding it had a lot of money and a lot of things he wanted to hide. Well too bad for him. His finger morphed into a USB and he gleefully slid it into the port near the computer, the download starting almost immediately.
"Tony, might wanna speed things along." Natasha was stood at the other doorway across the room listening to the angry shouts and stomping boots approaching. "Unless you wanna give me a hand?" She swaggered away from the big stone arch, gesturing loosely towards it.
"Oh, so you do need my help?" He put his free arm to his chest, "I'm touched." He then fired up the gauntlet, pointing it in that direction. A whine echoed in the small room and suddenly where there was once a doorway, there was only rubble. "What's that? Oh your very welcome." He was using his most innocent voice which would infuriate most but caused only a smirk from Romanoff.
"Don't push it, Tony."
"Yes, ma'am."
He began flicking through the files as the content downloaded. Various schematics of guns and tanks and aircrafts whizzed over the screen. "Weapons, Weapons, weapons, oh look, more weapons! You guys like your weapons don't you." Some murmurs came from a few of the soldiers still awake as they sat against the wall under Natasha's unforgiving watch.
The files here were extensive. They covered all kinds of areas from what he could tell. Biology, chemistry, psychology, … The list was endless. What had originally started as a small recon mission, was now an insight into a new superpowered, shady research and weapons group. Stark shuddered at the thought of another Hydra on the loose. He briefly caught eyes with his teammate. She realised the same thing.
They both turned briefly to the pile of rubble where they heard the soldiers digging through the wreckage, their shouts muffled by the rock. Stark swallowed thickly. They had to wait for the download and due to the vastness of the systems, it was gonna take a while.
He drew his attention back to the computer, flicking once more through the files. After a few minutes, he came across a juicy folder in a deeper section of the system. Each file within it was filled with documents under names 'Subject 14' or 'Subject 09' etc. He opened multiple files onto the screens and began flicking through them, his heartbeat increasing with each one. "Widow, can I borrow you a sec?"
She gave a fierce warning look to the few soldiers awake before walking over "What is it?" She furrowed her brow. "Are they case files?"
"Yep." Tony didn't keep the grimace out of his voice. "They are case files on enhanced humans. There are ones from all around the world, even some we don't know about."
"There's a lot of people we do know on this list." She stated, her voice emotionless.
"Lost visual of a few we were watching over the past few weeks and…" He typed quickly and then pressed enter bringing up their case files on the screen, "They all have little x's in the corner." He pointed out the small stamp, anger flowing through him.
They weren't high priority cases. Sure he told his informants to keep him notified if they reappeared but until now he didn't consider it to be anything more sinister. Until now Tony wasn't even sure the subjects were enhanced. Some cases he built were around rumours about teenagers not even founded, primarily based on gossip and the key phase of 'freak'. Kids were smart and often got subconscious gut feelings about people who were different. Having said that, this didn't mean he would send the Avengers best after them if they went missing for a few days. But now he couldn't help the anger he felt for not looking into it deeper.
Suddenly there was loud hum and all the lights in the room went out, the computers included. A small jolt of electricity zoomed up Tony's USB and into his gauntlet and he gave a barely audible grunt as he received a light shock. In the weak glow of his suit, he could see his once shiny USB drive now black and mangled and he couldn't contain his sigh. "Damn they fried it. Must have caught on."
"Okay, Tony lets make a move before they block our exit. This is not one we wanna fight our way out of." She gestured grimly to the sound of the soldiers blocked from view. They were a lot more outnumbered than they expected to be.
Just then a soldier leapt from the floor and with a battle cry and charged towards the super spy, who stood unimpressed in his path. She waited until he was close then fired a bright blue taser from her wrist, sidestepping out the way as he collapsed to the floor in a heap of spasms and jerks. Natasha shrugged and gesture to the door.
"Let's head out." Tony nodded. "I've got some phone calls to make."
Peter was bored. So unbelievably bored. The combination of this and the fact that he was out on patrol until 4 am the night before meant that he stood no chance of staying awake as his teacher rambled on about the history of America. Especially with Mr Brown, a boring name for a boring guy who taught a boring subject, in a boring way.
In another lesson he might have been worried about being told off for sleeping, maybe even getting detention, but not in his classes. Mr Down, as he was often called, could not have made it more obvious how little he wanted to be teaching and the little care he had for his students or how they behaved. Probably because he was teaching history in a science-oriented school, meaning he had the least pay of all his colleagues. Something that he was frequently reminded of.
"See you next week." The teacher droned, slouching quickly out the door, avoiding any questions his eager enthusiasts might have.
Ned gave Peter a sharp nudge. "Class is over dude."
Peter raised his head groggily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He yawned, sluggishly packing his things into his bag ready to go to lunch.
"They released a new news report!" Ned thrust his phone screen into Peter's face. The article read 'Spiderman saves residents of burning apartment block' and showed a blurred picture of the blaze. "It says there were no casualties and you saved like 20 people!" His whisper was strained by his excitement.
Peter chuckled softly. "Yeh I know, Ned, I was there."
"What was it like? Did the suit filter the smoke? I guess it didn't otherwise you wouldn't have been coughing this morning. Wait do you even get sick any more?."
Peter paused trying to recall the last time he was sick. "No… I guess my immune system is stronger?" He couldn't help but smirk as his friend's awed look. "Yeh I might try and do something about the suit, a tighter knit material would block out the majority of the smoke but it might restrict some movement."
"Wow." Ned gaped. "Do you think Mr Stark would let you make improvements to your suit? That would be awesome, you'll have to do test runs though. Maybe he'd let you use his lab!"
Peter straightened himself. "Yeh, I'm sure he wouldn't mind."
"That is so cool." Ned shook his head in disbelief before suddenly remembering what started their conversation. "Wait so if you didn't have any filtering for the smoke that must have been hard! How long did it take you to get the people out? Did you take more than one at a time?"
Ned didn't drop the subject even as they walked to the cafeteria. His questions came wave after wave and at some point, Peter considered just giving him the tape from the suit, but that way he couldn't sugar coat the scary bits. His friend was disappointed when the arrival of MJ cut his interrogation short, giving Peter some form of temporary relief. Sometimes he liked to pretend he was a normal kid even if just for a little bit.
He enjoyed the fact that MJ was oblivious to his nightly activities, though he found it weird she hadn't figured it out, the amount she stalks him. She was an interesting addition to the duo but he wouldn't say that they had become close. More of an occasional add-on if she decided to sit with them. When she did join them she wouldn't say much, the occasional snarky comment maybe, but most of the time she would be sketching or reading a book.
Her presence did mean that Ned and Peter had to talk about normal things, something Peter was starting to miss. He was really glad he turned down Tony Stark's offer, it was probably for the best he wasn't an Avenger. For the time being anyway.
They were halfway through complaining about the latest Spanish project when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Happy was calling. He couldn't deny the rush of excitement.
"Um, I, uh, have to go. It's a call about the, um, Stark Internship thing, its-" MJ lifted her gaze from her sketch pad, narrowing her eyes. He tried to gather his words. "I can't Ignore this." He mouthed 'sorry' as he half ran out of the hall.
Ned had begun to rise from his seat, desperate to follow, but under MJ's watch, he quickly sat back down. "What you sketching?." He attempted to look as innocent as possible despite his blatant attempt at a distraction.
Rather than replying she furrowed her eyebrows and then slowly began to carry on with her sketch.
Ned nodded his head, looking down at his packed lunch. "Cool." He muttered, barely audible, trying to shake off the awkwardness.
Peter speed walked his phone down a few corridors until he was well out of earshot of the cafeteria. It wasn't often that Happy returned his calls, never mind calling Peter himself, this meant that the call was either something he had done wrong (unlikely) or something he had been hoping for for a while. A mission.
He took one last breath trying to act calm as he excitedly answered the phone. "Hey Hap, what up?" His face dropped as the words left his mouth. 'What up? You've never said that in your life!'. He clutched at the air, pressing his knuckle to his forehead in a dramatic display of frustration at himself.
There was a pause on the other end. "I'm gonna pick you up from school today, okay kid?"
"Oh yeah sure, but um actually, Happy, I was going over to Ned's-"
"Well your not anymore, I'll see you after school." He hung up.
Peter looked down at his phone as if expecting it to give him some kind of answers. Peter's heart was racing. He had so many questions but no way of answering them. He was tempted to phone Happy back but he knew he wouldn't answer. Hesitantly he put away his phone and returned to his friends.
Ned's disappointment that Peter wasn't coming over to continue their Star Wars marathon was drowned by the excitement at the abrupt phone call. He spent the rest of the day creating theories about the reason for the after-school meeting. Everything from 'missing hanging out with Spiderman' to end of the world scenarios.
At first, Peter felt his own anxiety gnawing at his mind but the more outlandish theories Ned had, the more he felt at ease. The day seemed to go quickly and suddenly Peter was walking down the school steps after the final bell.
"Hey Peter, you listening?" Ned placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "We can meet up tomorrow and continue our marathon." Ned gave him a smile of encouragement as he turned on his way back home. Peter smiled; if he was going to Ned's tomorrow he was sure they wouldn't even get round to watching the films.
Happy was hard to miss. His big, black four-by-four was not uncommon amongst the cars outside, but the former bodyguard was stood menacingly leaning against it, waiting for Peter's arrival. He opened the door for Peter when he got close and they both wordlessly got in the car.
They drove in silence for the first few minutes. That was until Peter could no longer distil his nervous energy. "Hey, Happy, am I in trouble?"
"No, I don't think so, kid. Tony just wants to talk to you."
"But do you know what it's about?" Peter pushed causing Happy to give an exasperated sigh.
"I'm not sure, Tony wants you to stay at the tower for a bit, you can grab some stuff before we head off." As he finished his sentence they pulled up outside Peter's building.
The teen hesitated. This whole thing wasn't giving him the excited vibes from a mission, but instead making his stomach twist with anxiety. He tried to suppress his nervousness and quickly ducked inside his house. His mind was buzzing with so many questions, the journey up the stairs to his door all merged into a single motion and suddenly he was face to face with his aunt.
"Peter, the most amazingly weird thing happened at work today." She kissed him on the forehead and ran off into her room.
"I thought you weren't meant to work until tonight." He half-heartedly followed her stopping a few meters from her door. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he grabbed for it absentmindedly, still a bit dazed.
"Yeh I wasn't, one of the other nurses messaged me and asked if I wanted to switch, never said why. I wasn't going to but-" Aunt May's voice drifted into the background as he looked at his phone. It was just Ned asking what was happening. The truth was he didn't know. He considered going down now and asking Happy but decided against.
Not sure but Mr Stark wants to see me. I have to grab overnight things. Not sure if I'll be in school tomorrow.
He tried to keep only to the facts, trying not to hint at his bad gut feeling.
Ned replied almost instantly. No way!? That's so cool! Then the gasping emoji. Keep me updated!
His Aunt's voice tuned back into his focus."That would involve being away for the next two weeks and I can't just leave you to fend for yourself."
"Sorry, what?" Peter came now to his Aunt's door and saw she was hurriedly packing.
His Aunt looked down at her nephew's phone which he held in his hand and back up to him, her eyebrows lifted. "Not listening, huh?"
"Sorry." Peter smiled innocently.
"One of the old ladies I was treating today, she runs a private cruise liner, there was a temporary nurse position to fill on her cruise ship for the next two weeks. I wouldn't normally say yes, but she made it sound so amazing. She said, for the most part, I would be like a passenger on the ship, all the food provided and everything! Plus the pay would really help us out." She skimmed quickly over the last point sending a sideways look at Peter, a crooked little smile she gave him when she was upset about something but doing her best to reassure him. Like, for example, their recent struggles with paying rent. "But I need someone who can look after you first. Any preferences?"
Peter couldn't believe his luck. "Actually, Mr Stark wanted me to stay over at his for a couple of weeks." As he said it the pieces fell into place and the look on May's face showed she figured out the same.
"Oh hell no."
"Aunt May-"
She threw down the jumper she was in the process of folding. "I knew this was too good to be true. He set this up to get rid of me! There is no way I'm going and leaving you in the hands of Tony Stark. He is immature, irresponsible and in no fit state to look after a child. Never mind where he lives, you won't be safe at the Avengers 'secret headquarters' or wherever the hell he runs off to. I bet dangerous things happen there all the time. Don't you roll your eyes at me." She placed her hands on her hips. "We do not need his charity. Who does he think he is throwing money at us. We are coping fine on our own. If we want to go on a cruise we can, I'll just get another job, save up some money."
"You can't get another job."
"Watch me." She was taking deep breaths, her eyes glistening with the liquid that had swelled over them. She painfully swallowed and she desperately tried to keep her composure.
Though he tried to hide it, Peter was just as pissed. Though he idolised Tony, he could be completely oblivious sometimes. Like his Aunt said they weren't a charity case, the last thing Peter wanted was to be taken pity of by his mentor. Peter scrunched his nose at the thought. However Peter was rational, they were struggling. Tony was trying to help, despite his own ulterior motives, the gesture was coming from a good place. Plus at the end of the day, it was a job which was a lot easier to accept than a handout.
Peter sighed. "I want to got stay with Mr Stark." He stated it plainly and without room for argument. "The chance to work with him is an amazing opportunity."
She made a sound between an exasperated moan and a sigh.
"I think you should go on the cruise. Knowing Mr Stark he will probably have made it practically a holiday for you and you deserve it. You work so hard."
"We don't need his charity." She repeated through gritted teeth.
"Don't bite your nose off to spite your face."
With that May felt all her tension slip away. She laughed despite herself, tears brimming on her eyelashes. She flopped down on the bed, picked up her previously discarded jumper and folding it again. "You know, you can't keep quoting Ben to get your own way." Her laugh wavered.
Peter chuckled but a lump was forming in his throat. He went and sat on the bed next to her. She wrapped her arm around him and pulled him in, giving him a tight squeeze.
"I don't know what he'd think of all this you know." She smiled, resting her head against Peter's. "The superheroes, fighting bad guys, going to work in high tech labs."
Peter laughed softly. "He'd be so jealous I met Captain America."
She laughed with him. "He would, he loved him." She fiddled with her jumper in her other hand, rubbing it softly between her fingertips. "Your dad loved Captain America as well, he and Ben collected all the cards when they were little."
Peter's chest clenched. Mentions of his father were few and far between and he never quite knew how to react. He was so young when his parents died that, if he tried, he struggled to picture them. In fact, he often found them replaced with May and Ben. Sometimes he even forgot he was an orphan.
The teen and his guardian sat together for a while. Comfortable in their own thoughts.
When they eventually moved it was prompted by the buzz of Peter's phone, a reminder that Happy was still waiting downstairs. May sighed lightly, a smile fixed on her face, and helped Peter with his bag. They walked to the car together and said their goodbyes. It was going to be a strange couple of weeks.
Elsewhere there was a small town that buzzed with the low hum of life. Happy neighbours waving at each other as they went about their business, smiles beaming. Across the street, two children squealed and giggled at their bouncing golden retriever as he ran through the streams of water raining down onto the lawn from the sprinklers. Their mother watched them as she gardened in her pastel pink polo shirt. A man with a conservative haircut and a beige, knitted cardigan was cleaning his people-carrier, whistling merrily to himself as he scrubbed. Next door to them an elderly couple sat on a swinging porch chair sharing a laugh at the children and talking softly to each other. This was the perfect neighbourhood.
"Canada huh?" Two men were sat on deck chairs on the front porch of a big wooden lined house. They sat, beer in hand, watching the world go by, small smiles playing wistfully on their features. "Never thought we'd end up here." There was a playful bitterness in his words.
The other man laughed lightly but made no comment, only taking a swig of his beer. He watched the streets activities with a wistful smile. This was once a life he wanted for himself. A dream he had now put behind him.
The men had been sat in a comfortable silence for a while now but it was broken by Bucky's fidgeting. "You can't seriously like it here, Steve." He huffed lightly. "It's like we walked into a cartoon. Do you hear birds chirping?."
"Bucky." Steve chided.
"I can hear birds." He mumbled and took a swig of his beer.
A few more moments passed but they felt heavier than before. Bucky barely took time to stop and smell the roses, he was clearly struggling with it. The soldier began tapping his metal finger against the wooden chair. The rhythmic beat was harsh against the smooth flow of sound from the neighbourhood and his friend furrowed his eyebrows.
"We're just waiting for Sam to get back." Steve sighed. "He shouldn't be too long he's already been a gone a couple of hours."
"Well, I don't see why he couldn't see the relatives without our help," Bucky grumbled.
He wasn't used to this kind of pace. A snail's pace that is. Even when he was in Wakanda he found ways of keeping busy. Keeping his mind clear. Sitting still was… suffocating, in a way.
That's not saying he couldn't take time to relax once in a while. In the village where he stayed, a few times one of T'challa's friends, Nakia, would bring a tablet for the children so they could watch kids films. They loved it and they loved her. Not that he would admit it but it was some of his fondest memories sitting with the children as they stared in wonderment at the fairytales on the screen.
However that didn't mean he wanted to be a part of those fairytales and here, now, this was suffocating.
He knew why they were here though. Sam received a weird letter from his Great Aunt 'something or other' but it was out of the blue, rushed. It asked for an urgent visit. Something Sam didn't expect and was immediately suspicious.
Of course, it was unlikely that this was a well-laid trap set across the border to Canada to capture the almighty and powerful Falcon (a theory Bucky had been too eager to squash), but still… it was good to have people on standby just in case.
So here sat two super soldiers. In the porch of a discontinued, picket-fenced safe house in a small wholesome town of Canada awaiting their comrade. He was over there now probably sipping tea and listening to his Great Aunt witter on.
Bucky sighed.
"Why are we drinking beers anyway?" He launched himself from his seat, almost jittery with boredom. He paused suddenly is eyes glistening as a thought struck him. "Hey didn't Shuri give us some stuff she distilled herself in the lab?" He smiled mischievously a hand resting on the door handle to the house.
Steve laughed. "Surely my company can't be that bad?"
"Come on Steve, when was the last time we were drunk?" He was grinning wildly like a teen wanting to steal from his dad's liquor cabinet. But the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.
Steve's smile slipped slightly at this realisation. He'd noticed it before.
"Come on, Steve, It'll be fun."
"We are on duty." He tried to hide his smile. "We need to be sober if Sam needs us." He paused a moment. "Though I think sometimes when we went out drinking made you a better fighter." Steve taunted.
"That's because I always had to save your ass after you picked a fight!" Bucky countered and unfortunately, Steve couldn't deny the truth. They both knew he had a problem for picking fights he couldn't win.
Suddenly both soldiers tensed. The small happy noises of the neighbourhood had stopped.
Bullets rained down from the newly armed residents of the town. Bucky threw himself through the doorway, slamming it behind him. His head whipped to the left as Steve came crashing through the window at an attempt to save himself. They exchanged a curt nod before slamming their fingers into their ears.
"SAM!" They yelled in unison down the comms.
Bucky scrambled across the floor into the back room followed by Steve, who was updating Sam on the situation.
The neverending waves of bullets tore through the house. Wood splintered, littering the floor and throwing sawdust into the air. The ornate cabinet containing crystal glasses created a waterfall of shattered glass cascading down the punctured wood.
The door slammed shut, numbing the sound of the onslaught. They sat panting on either side of the door frame as more bullets punched through the wood. Steve reached for the duffle bag across from him but it crumpled under his hand. Empty. Bucky's face turned grim. They took the weapons.
"What the fuck?" Bucky growled under his breath.
Steve threw the useless bag away. "You good?"
"Got clipped." Bucky gestured lightly to the small patch of blood soaking into his right sleeve. The force of the bullet had taken a small patch of the grey material away but it was clear that the bullet only skimmed him. "You?"
"Same." Steve's injury wasn't too bad either but it looked a lot worse. The bullet had grazed his collar bone, the blood dripped down his shoulder soaking into his white t-shirt as far down as his waist. "I guess this invite was a trap after all."
"But not for bird brain," Bucky growled bitterly. "They know what they are doing, efficient, good aim," he touched his arm lightly, "and good acting. Did you see the pensioners with automatics? I knew no neighbourhood could be this 'nice'".
"Getting cynical in your old age, Buck?" Bucky raised his eyebrows. "I thought you wanted some action?"
"I take it back. I prefer the Disney town." Bucky whispered.
"Was that a pop-culture reference?" Steve smiled lightly to which Bucky shrugged.
The sound of the bullets stopped.
Both men stood silently, their eyes locked briefly as they wordlessly exchanged strategy and Steve joined behind Bucky as his friend placed a tentative hand on the doorknob. He eased open the door.
The Winter Soldier took a breath as his eyes scanned for any movement. Quickly he skimmed around the door and, like fluid, positioned himself past the corridor behind a large pillar in the open space. Seconds later Steve was behind another pillar across from him.
They both peered round to see the front door still shut as Bucky left it. The beautiful stained glass window that occupied most of the top half of the door was now shattered on the floor and as Steve looked over to his friend he also saw glimmers of the red and green shards resting in his hair.
Destruction had ripped through the house; wallpaper peeled from its canvas, leaving craters in place of pastel flowers. The polished wood floor was littered with remnants of furniture and ornaments.
This had been such a small, unassuming house and now it was a battleground.
An almost inaudible metal clink was the only warning they got as a small, metal ball rolled between them. They were thrown backwards by a strong pulse. Bucky landed hard on the glass from Steve's earlier entrance through the window while Steve collided with the wall on the opposite side.
They barely had time to scramble to their feet before people kitted with civilian clothes and guns flooded through the front door, easily recognisable as the humble residents from before.
"Rendezvous Alpha," Steve called as he sprinted through a door that leads to the back of the house.
With the horde of bodies with guns between them, Bucky had no choice but to turn and leap out of the empty window frame, sprinting with all his might to the nearest car driving behind it as bullets once again following him.
Pressing his comms he was left only with static. He yanked it out of his ear to see it sparking angrily and threw it away from him in disgust. "Shit." He gathered his breath. He needed focus.
The end of a gun appeared to his left. He thrust himself towards it, twisting the but away from his face. He gave a sharp jab and the gun was his. With trained ease, he raised the automatic. Two. Three hostile down. A grenade was thrust his way but he shot it, exploding it before it came within range.
A torrent of fists attacked from behind but he dodged each one. Sweat was beading on his brow. This should have been easy; at least for his skill set. They weren't particularly spectacular at hand to hand.
He threw his assailant over the bonnet of the car he was hiding behind. The man landed with a thud. It was muffled. Everything was muffled. His skin was burning, numbness setting in his aching limbs. He fell to one knee, his mind racing across his body, trying to find the problem. His arm. It was on fire. Panic set in with the realisation. The bullets were laced. Not only laced but infused with something so strong that a graze could take down a super soldier.
Steve was hit too, he must already have lost consciousness. With his wound, he must have had a heavier dose. He called his friend's name weakly into the blurred motion of people around him. He's tingling wrists were crushed under the weight of their grip as they held him. He watched but he could do nothing but try and stay conscious. And even that was hard.
Frustration screamed at his unresponsive body. Willing it to fight. To do anything. But then all went quiet. 'You better hurry up bird brain.' His eyes slipped closed.
On the painted white porch of the house, a faint buzzing was inaudible over the gunfire and shouting as a small flip phone vibrated against the floorboards. In the small illuminated box on the front was the words 'Tony Stark'.
Okay so I'm nearly finished with Chapter 2 but I honestly don't know how long I'll take to publish but if you like it and want to hear more then I'll do my best! Please review and let me know if I made any mistakes, constructive criticism always welcome. Thanks for reading!