"You sure, Steve?" You asked, leaning forward.
"It was him," Steve told you. "Maybe he doesn't remember anything, Y/N, but I remember him. It was him."
You sipped at the bottle of whiskey you held, nestling further into the wall nearest to Steve. Natasha looked between the two of you while she got her arm stitched up from the wound she received while fighting the Winter Soldier. You were all in the tunnel that Agent Hill had brought you to, Fury seated in the middle, sickly and injured as ever; but not dead.
"Say he does know you," you began, "what do you plan on doing Rogers? We can't just airlift him out. We have a mission, and he's in the way."
"I won't take him down. It's not a promise I can make." Steve finalized, downing a gulp of water from his water bottle.
"Okay, so, say we don't take him down," Natasha rationalized, "what's the game plan?"
"We fight. Our goal is to stabilize the helicarriers, not to kill Bucky. I'll handle him, chances are Hydra has him near wherever the main fighting is going down. Sam can station a chip in one of the carriers for targeting," Sam nodded in heed of his words, "I can get the other…"
"Y/N, you'll stay near me on my two helicarriers. Just in case I can get ahold of Buck and need help getting him out." Steve finalized, looking to you desperately. "You're a good fighter, I know you just joined the Avengers, but I need your help. I trust you."
"Shit, fine Rogers. If I die, I'm coming back to haunt your ass though."
"I don't doubt that a bit." He smiled. "Nat, you'll be working on overriding Project Insight from Pierce. You'll have to go under cover."
"You'll need me in order to override it." Fury stated, leaning against his elbows in his gurney. "It takes two officials to override. Bastard probably wiped me from the system, but I should be able to use my left eye."
"You sure Fury? You have been through some shit in the past week." Natasha voiced, worried for her superior.
"Yeah, I'm sure."
"Alright," Steve continued, "Last thing, Agent Hill?"
"Yes Captain?" She answered.
"I'll need you to monitor everything. You'll have HYDRA agents coming after you, but it's nothing I don't believe you can handle."
"I got your backs." She agreed, smiling.
"And another thing…" Steve began, "Be on the lookout for Rumlow."
He gave the group of you a nod of his head before turning and exiting the tunnel.
"Okay," Natasha huffed, standing up and wincing at the slight pain in her shoulder, "this is how it's going to go."
You rode in the helicopter next to Steve, bouncing your right knee as you watched the ground pass underneath you.
"You nervous?" Steve asked, adjusting his mask.
"I'd say that's an understatement…" You scoffed.
"What is there to be nervous about?"
"The impending doom. You should understand. If we don't carry out this mission successfully, our world is down millions of people. How are you functioning so well?"
"Experience." He replied simply, latching his shield into place on his back.
"It's not just that. I'm new, Rogers. I don't have any powers, and this is the first big mission I've been on."
"You don't want powers. They only make you feel alone." He whispered, looking out towards the horizon.
"I don't want them, you're right. I guess I just don't see why I'm even an Avenger in the first place…"
"Y/N, you're one of the best fighters I've seen. You're smarter than anyone I know, too. But don't tell Bruce that. You're supposed to be here. We need you. I need you." Steve grabbed your hand and squeezed, smiling when you squeezed back.
You sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the passing scenery and preparing your minds for the battle to come. Your anxiety continued to ebb at your mind, poking and prodding, begging for attention. Disentangling your hand from Steve's, you busied yourself with readying your pistols, throwing knives, hand knife, and concussion grenades.
"You ready?" Steve breathed out, watching as the S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters came into view.
"As I'll ever be." You replied, standing up and attaching your wingsuit, parachute and goggles. "I'm right behind you, Rogers."
"Alright. Let's go."
You watched as he shot you a wink, propelling himself out of the helicopter and into the surrounding air. Allowing yourself a deep breath and a quick whisper of fuck it, you jumped out after him, spreading your arms and allowing the military grade fabric to catch wind.
Soon you were gliding, watching as the helicarriers beached themselves from the ocean around you.
You caught Steve's figure down below you, falling feet first as he plummeted into the water. Angling yourself directly towards the middle carrier, you flew faster, releasing your chute a mere hundred feet above impact. As you floated towards the cement you disattached the wingsuit, nerves prickling and adrenaline racking throughout your body in electric-like shocks.
Steve climbed up the edge nearest to you as you landed, smiling when he saw you were okay.
"You ready to fuck this shit up, Cap?" You laughed.
"Language." He snipped delicately, trying not to sound too harsh.
"ON YOUR LEFT." Echoed throughout your earpiece as Sam, or should we say Falcon, flew beside you, evading someone behind him.
"Sam, what the hell-"
"Y/N! MOVE!" Steve shouted, shoving you out of the way and to the hard pavement. You felt your head make contact with the ground and ringing in your ears followed. Metal on metal sounded around you and you raised your head to see Bucky and Steve fighting over control. Metal arm against vibranium shield.
Your body reacted quicker than your mind, sending you forward and into the long haired, giant figure. A grunt of protest sounded as he fell to the ground, his body breaking your fall. He was as solid as Steve, and his cold metal arm against your side only added to the stiffness.
You were sailing across the air and towards the edge of the carrier quickly. Bucky had easily sent you flying with ease. You felt hot pain shoot from your right thumb to its elbow. Gritting your teeth, you managed to crawl to the very edge of the carrier, peering over and seeing a ledge to the lower floor. You snuck a look back at Steve, who was landing punch after punch on an advancing Bucky.
"Steve!" You shouted, looking between your friend and the ledge below you.
"Go!" He yelled back, somehow managing to toss you the second chip.
You caught it and shuffled closer to the edge, readying a grappling hook, and then you jumped; latching the hook against the carrier's side and walking horizontally towards the ledge. A HYDRA agent stood below you, aiming a sniper at Falcon. You jumped down, pulling out and throwing one of your 4 throwing knives. It sank with a slurping noise and you grimaced, running across a small walkway and towards the system stationed in the middle of the inside of the ship.
You swiped a finger across the green screen, typing in the password Hill had you recite back in the tunnel. The screen glew with the words ACCESS GRANTED, and you stepped back as a tray opened up with chips similar to yours in it. You took out the one in the first row, third from the end on the right side, and then replaced it with your own. You retyped the password and watched as the tray was sucked back into the machinery. Shoving the HYDRA chip into your back pocket, you ran back towards the ledge.
You hooked yourself back up to the grapple line, your left arm causing you to scream in pain before you were jumping and walking your way back towards the top. Falcon waited for you, sweat and blood trickling down his face.
"Hey buddy." You grunted, jogging up to him. "Where's Rogers?"
"Third carrier. He wanted me to bring you there. Winter Soldier was on his ass the whole ride there." You sucked in a deep breath, allowing Sam to pull you close and use his metal winged military suit to fly you across the expanding battle.
Bullets ricocheted off of the suit as you went, each dink causing you to squint your eyes closed even further. You didn't open them until you felt cement under them again. Sam shot off quickly, telling you that he was headed after Rumlow. You looked at your surroundings. You were on a ledge similar to the one you were on previously, a long metal walkway ahead of you.
Steve was stationed in the middle, Bucky ahead of him.
"Steve…" You grunted, shuffling closer towards the pair. Steve didn't move an inch, or even reply to you for that matter.
"We have 15 minutes, guys." Hill stated through your earpieces.
"Bucky...move." Steve gritted out. You were now only ten feet away from him.
"Who the fuck is Bucky?!" the Winter Soldier shot back, stepping closer to Steve. You watched Steve send his shield hurtling towards Bucky, a shot nobody would be capable of evading; but you were shell-shocked when Bucky shot out his metal arm, discarding the shield to the bottom of the large metal and glass bubble the three of you were in.
Bucky smirked, walking in full strides up to Steve, and crashing his metallic fist against Steve's helmeted face. Bucky looked up and met your eyes as Steve's unconscious body went over the railing and down to the next level.
"STEVE!" You screamed, scared to look over the edge but doing so anyways.
That was your first mistake, your second was not noticing Bucky stalking towards you. Your own worried gaze met Bucky's hardened one right before he lifted you up by your shoulders, his metal arm squeezing and shattering your right shoulder blade.
"FUCK-" You screamed, kicking against rock hard abdomen. Bucky tilted his head and simply looked at you pitifully, blue eyes icy and fiery all at once. The muscles inside your body contracted as Bucky shifted your weight. Your third mistake was not preparing yourself for what you knew was coming.
One second you felt a gloved and metallic hand on either shoulder, the next all you felt was gravity working against you. You screamed as you fell, your body meeting and shattering the spherical glass shape below. Large glass shards stabbed into your back and thighs, and you felt like you were on fire as you fell, blood seeping into your clothes and trickling down your face. A second later and you were freezing cold, water seeping into not only your clothes, but your mouth and lungs as well.
And then you felt absolutely nothing at all.