Steve and Bucky had met Natasha at the Starbucks, ordered coffee, and browsed the stores for anything the brunette might like. As far as the two knew, Director Fury had given Natasha a card linked to a well-stocked account, so they pretty much had free reign. Bucky had left the apartment anyway he usually would, hair back in a ponytail and a large hoodie with the hood hiding his face. He mostly kept his hands shoved deep into the pockets, or covered by the sleeves.

Urban Outfitters, Levi's, and the latter half of the mall had all been busts. They didn't even dare try Abercrombie when Bucky saw the skinny jeans on the mannequin. Nothing was working, and Steve was getting the feeling that they were being followed. It wasn't hard to understand though. There was three familiar looking men (one bald with a blonde-grey goatee, a blonde female with her hair in braids, and one with spiked black hair) that went into every shop they went to, every floor, every escalator. It wasn't until they had been standing in line for a pretzel stand that they realized who they were dealing with. Natasha asked Steve and Bucky to hold their spot in line while she went to the bathroom. Walking back, she noticed the outline of a handgun under their shirts and an ear piece in their ears. They weren't mall security, she knew that. Mall cops usually don't stalk specific targets. She walked up to Steve and Bucky, and pulled them out of line. They walked for the mall doors, and sure enough, Baldie, Braids and Spikes followed.

Once they were out of the mall, Natasha led them through a maze of a parking garage until they ended up a floor from their car. Baldie, Braids and Spikes were still following them, but had now moved up on them. Steve stopped and held a hand out for Bucky and Natasha to stop as well. He could hear their pursuers stop also. That and the safeties of a few guns click off. Steve turned and punched Spikes in the jaw while Bucky engaged Baldie, and Natasha took on Braids.

Steve was struggling to punch his attacker, while simultaneously trying to avoid the gun. The captain managed to land a knee in Spikes's gut before being tripped back onto the pavement. The assailant pointed the gun at Steve. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Steve's foot kicked the gun away, and the weapon flew to the ground.

Natasha, who was busy trying to strangle her opponent with her thighs and a choke-cord, pulled Braids to the ground and lunged for the gun. Braids pulled hers out and began shooting at Natasha. However, she was too quick and jumped between shots. When she was two feet from the attacker, Natasha swept her leg along the ground and knocked Braids down to the ground before pinning the enemy down onto the floor.

"Who do you work for?" Natasha demanded and held the gun the the woman's forehead, "Hydra?"

"Strike...force."

Natasha didn't react; she only fired two shots into Braids's head.

While Steve was in the middle of an MMA match and Natasha was finished with her target, Bucky had pulled a knife from somewhere on his person and was stabbing and slashing at Baldie.

The older man was using his forearms in deflecting the blade and when Bucky lunged for the opponents torso, he was grabbed by the neck and held up in the air. He grasped at the Arm holding him, but it did no good. Baldie pulled his gun out and was about to shoot Bucky when Natasha's boot collided with his face. All at once, he dropped Bucky and shot. Steve looked over to see of the bullet had hit his friend. The ex-assassin froze for a second, but continued when he felt no pain.

At sparing a glance in Bucky's direction, Steve had gotten him kicked to the ground, where he was now curled in a ball getting the living crap kicked out of him. Spikes was holding the gun over him once more, but Steve managed to look over his shoulder and saw a gun lying a few feet way. Spikes flipped Steve onto his back with his foot and ground his heel into the captains ribcage, where he could feel a couple ribs break. On the next kick, the captain grabbed his opponents leg and swung him on his back with just enough time to grab the gun. Steve jumped to his feet and landed a few bullets on Spikes's chest.

Bucky scrambled for his knife while Natasha pulled her choke-cord tighter on Baldie's neck. The brunette couldn't find his knife, so he just grabbed the nearest gun he got his metal hand on. As he turned back, Baldie slipped Bucky's knife from behind his back and cut the choke-cord; sending Natasha somersaulting backwards. He lunged at Bucky and, before the ex-assassin could aim, had plunged the knife into his metal arm. Bucky screamed in pain as the blade was pushed deeper into his artificial limb. Baldie pried the gun from Bucky's hand and shoved it into his torso just below his stomach.

There were two gunshots.

Steve ran over and tackled the man to the ground while Natasha ran over to Bucky. The captain landed punch after punch on the assailant, and by this point he didn't care that he had three broken ribs. He didn't care that his knuckles were beaten raw. And he didn't care about anything else but Bucky.

"Who the hell do you work for?!"

"Ask your girlfriend..." he trailed off while Steve continued his assault.

Out of the corner of his eye, Steve saw a gun laying next to a car and reached for it. He squeezed a bullet into the dead center of Baldie's forehead. He heard a scream from behind him and reality snapped back.

Steve ran over to Bucky and Natasha just as she finished pulling the knife from his metal arm - which he was holding over his bleeding torso.

"Can you still move it?" she asked quietly once Steve was over.

Bucky nodded and moved his metallic hand the best he could. The silver palm was painted over with scarlet blood.

"He's got three shots in him," Natasha stated bluntly.

"Three? But I thought -"

"The first shot wasn't a miss, Steve. The car's the next floor up. Can you carry him?"

Steve didn't reply. He pulled Bucky up into his arms like a bride and they made for the elevator. The jolting of the creaky elevator made Bucky cry out some more, and Steve's heart dropped. When they got to the car, Steve laid Bucky on the backseat and climbed in after him. Natasha said she had a gym bag with some clothes and towels they could use in the trunk. The trunk door opened and there was an exasperated sigh.

"You kept your shield in my trunk?" she asked pointedly as she threw him the bag.

Once again Steve didn't answer. He tore Bucky's shirt and jacket off as Natasha sped from the garage and made a phone call. The two in his torso were right next to each other, with the third was in his right shoulder.
"Where are we going? He's gotta go to a hospital, Natasha!" Steve snapped as the landscape become taken over by trees.

"Temporary HQ," she said and put her phone down.

Steve suddenly remembered this place. It was where they had found Fury alive and where they had been after the fight on the bridge - when Steve first discovered what had become of Bucky. He found it an odd sense of irony as he held the waded clothes tighter over Bucky's wounds.

OH NO WHATS GONNA HAPPEN TO BUCKY?! well...you have to wait for that one. I bet thought this was gonna be some sweet rehab style fluffy, and we were both wrong. That's the first fight scene I've written in forever so I hope its decent. I'll get chapter three up as soon as I can. Until then...