Inktober #4: protagonist

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They had modified weapons, firing something other than bullets. They hurt like nothing I'd felt before. The body armour held up at first. But in the end, the repeated hits broke down even the best Stark had to offer.

Still, we held our ground. Dropping one by one. Keeping them our while our Captain and his team completed their mission. It didn't matter how many of us went down so long as the goal had been achieved.

They rushed the doorway, a half-dozen forcing their way through guns firing with a scary precision. Only five of my team of twelve still stood, though several of those down continued the fight, firing from where they had fallen. Others... might never stand again.

Hazard of the job, I suppose.

You put your life on the line for god and country and hoped you walked away reasonably intact. I'd been doing that for a long time. Miltary, then SHIELD, and now for the Avengers under the guise of the employ of Stark Industries.

I and my team had the distinct pleasure of working with Captain America and the other Avengers. This time might not end as well as the others.

"Cap, we're not going to be able to hold much longer."

"Roger, Alpha. We need at least five minutes."

I grumbled under my breath. Uncertain we'd last another sixty seconds. "Beta leader, is our exit secure?"

"Window is closing. Backup incoming. ETA seven minutes."

Well, that wasn't good, but I did not have the leverage to encourage our fearless leader to move any faster. "Understood. Keep our exit clear by any means necessary."

"Roger, Alpha leader."

I fired off a few quick shots, taking one of them down with a lucky shot that got between the sections of his armour. However, there remained another dozen behind them, and they knew they had the upper hand, my team being picked off one by one.

And more were on the way.

Another one of my men went down, but we were currently outnumbered four to one and it would only get worse and mine dropped beneath the onslaught.

We needed to stop them here, but since they had the numbers it would just be a matter of time before we were overwhelmed. And we were the last line of defense for the Captain.

I fired off a couple more rounds then ducked behind the shelves. We needed to convince them the cost would be too troublesome to move forward. How though.

I went through my remaining arms. Two grenades, three clips and not much else. It might just be enough, though.

"Alpha, we need to draw them in and get them bunched up."

"Roger, Alpha leader," came from the half-dozen of my team still mobile.

They began taking shots while backing deeper into the room. They conveniently formed a wedge, standing almost shoulder to shoulder as they progressed deeper into the room and closer to my position.

I had a plan. Not a great plan, admittedly, but one that should eliminate most of them, give us some breathing room and permit the Captain's team the time they needed to finish.

With liberal use of ducktape, I wrapped the two grenades together with two of the magazines. I maintained my position even as the rest of my team retreated deeper into the room. I waited impatiently until they were parallel with my position. I pulled the pins on the grenades and tossed the makeshift bomb right behind the three in the front.

I dove for cover even as several of them turned and began firing at me. I felt the body armour fail in at least three places, the pain shocking and driving the breath from my lungs. I hit the floor hard and curled up into a ball, protecting my head and covering my ears just in time.

The grenades went off, setting off all the bullets in the magazines as well.

The flash blinded me. The sound deafened me. But I forced myself to shift about to see the results.

There were bodies everywhere, my IED had successfully stopped them, the few who'd survived limping back out the way they'd came, abandoning their compatriots.

I forced myself to stand, ignoring the sudden weakness that washed through me. "Alpha team, regroup and hold position."

I heard a chorus of 'rogers' in response, propped myself up where I could see the doorway and hoped I'd convinced them it would cost far too much to try to take this room.

I didn't remember closing my eyes or falling over onto the floor. I opened them to see the face of Captain America hovering above mine.

"We've got you, just hold on."

It didn't matter whether I lived or died.

I wasn't the protagonist of this story.

They were.