5 minutes earlier...
The dark masses of two soldiers stood amongst the eerily bare trees. The onset of winter had shredded away the leaves, the skeletal remains of the bark left reaching out and up. "How'd we get stuck with the night shift?" He sounded afraid, barely hiding it with annoyance.
"Well next time you guard the most powerful being on the pl-"
Before the second could finish, a flash of red, white and blue collided with his head. Slicing its way through the dark, it bounced off a nearby trunk before slamming into the next man's jaw. The shield then fell to the floor, peaceful silence resuming. A large man clad in patriotic clothing soon retrieved the weapon, strapping it back to his arm. "Sam, what's the situation? We need those specs." Steve seemed more determined to take this base down than most-the last known Hydra base. Somehow since Sokovia they'd struggled on for a little while longer, like a spider tries to crawl with legs missing.
Above the trees zoomed past Sam in his Falcon jet suit, his red visors showing a detailed scan of the hidden base. "There's still a few guys in the forest Cap," he replied over the thruster noise. "But there's a tonne of activity within the lower levels."
"I'm guessing that's where they're keeping the two of them," the familiar voice of Natasha appeared almost out of nowhere, followed by her slim figure. "You sure it's the wisest of decisions to keep out 'heavy guns' out of this Steve?"
The super soldier paused to think, reassuring himself before anyone else. "Wanda's too close to the mission. And Tony still doesn't want Vision in the spotlight yet, not until we know as much as we can." Suddenly the sky filled with cannon blasts, dimming the light from the moon. Steve urgently pressed his earpiece. "Sam? Sam, do you copy?"
Above them, the winged hero was forced to swoop right, left, up, down, desperately dodging each blast. "I guess we lost the element of surprise, huh," he would've laughed if he had a moment to. "Could use some help up here Rhodes."
Steve sighed before giving out the orders. "Plan B. Rhodey, we'll need you to be the distraction for the Hydra forces whilst we infiltrate the base. But we can't destroy the base too much-we still don't know where the two powered individuals they captured are at."
Up ahead, a black figure burst through the sky, a red core powering the arsenal of weapons he had in his possession. As he pulled up to the building, he readied the machine gun on his arms and the massive barrel gun on his shoulder, aiming it towards the cannons. "Don't worry Bird Brain, I've got you covered," he playfully jousted before releasing a wave of bullets.
The distraction gave Sam enough time to manoeuvre over the top of the building towards the courtyards. "At least I'm not carrying every weapon Shwartznegger ever used in a movie." As he landed in the open area, his wings gracefully slammed one of the soldiers across into a brick wall, before acting as a shield to deflect the bullets fired at him. Sam pulled out his gun and quickly retaliated.
Rhodey switched between his repulsor blasts and machine guns, pausing every now and then to dodge a blast. One managed to clip him slightly, sending him spiralling to the ground. However, he soon rose up from the dents in the ground be made, flying up once again, more angry than hurt.
On the ground, Steve and Natasha ran as fast as they could, the former's greater speed meaning he inched forward. However, the odd Hydra soldier being punched and slammed by his shield meant they stayed at the same pace. "There's the entrance," he pointed out as they reached a clearing in the trees.
As they continued another soldier burst in panic, not saying a word. As he lifted his gun, Natasha jumped and wrapped her legs around his throat, skilfully taking him down whilst snatching his key card to open the doors with. With a small smile she waved the card at him, before the guard was slammed into a tree.
Steve arrived at the door, waiting a couple of seconds for his teammate. He looked around in the forest, not finding any other soldiers close by. As he did Natasha arrived and quickly swiped the key card at the lock. An automated voice calmly spoke to them. "Retinal scan required."
The two of them rolled their eyes, before hailing Rhodey. "We need some help from above Rhodes. Can you blast the door?"
From above, the machine-clad Avenger quickly aligned itself, before firing a small missile at it. Steve had moved in front of Natasha, and used his shield to protect them from any debris. The explosion was just enough to destroy the door, and the two quickly made their way indoors.
"Sam, they made it inside," Rhodes updated the teammate. "What's your situation?" As he asked, he dashed away from the missiles aimed right at his chest. He quickly fired off some machine gun fire, causing a large explosion.
Sam was in a tight spot, sliding further into a corner every second. About half a dozen soldiers were on the ground, but in no time at all he had been outnumbered. "Could use some help here," he shouted through the gunfire. Bullet upon bullet hit his wings, the red paint chipping away. And then...all of a sudden...nothing.
It took a minute to register, but Sam's face was burrowed in confusion as he slowly rose up. All the men were in position to shoot, but they were still. Statue-like. Then the Avenger saw them. A boy and a girl. Both looked malnourished and tired. The girl hid behind the boy, her dark red-brown hair covering her face. The boy's skin was glowing blue, as if he was using powers. Or maybe he was-why else would everything just stop?
Sam started cautiously moving towards the two, pressing at his earpiece. "Guys...I found them."
Hey guys, thank you to ScarletAvengerLauren for the follow right off the bat ? Leave a review if you liked it enough to read to the end of the page ? 'Till the next time