AUTHORS NOTE: 7th Chapter fun all around! Confession time: I haven't edited this at all. I'm sorry. I'll give it a go tomorrow but I'm just not in the mood (aka I'm a lazy bugger) :) I am, however, completely broken by the "research" I did in watching Swan Song for this chapter.

Anywho.

Enjoy!

Captain America crashed into a stream of melted chocolate running through a street with a sludge. He couldn't fly those stupid jet things. Maybe he hadn't thought that part through when he'd split up the Avengers. He'd survived. Sammy's jet had landed more successfully a few buildings down. Sam stood in the middle of the road, walking slowly. If Dean didn't know better he would have thought he was lost of purpose. No. The Winter Soldier always had purpose.

Dean approached him slowly, shield lifted, helmet down. The Soldier turned and strode towards him. Captain America didn't flinch.

"Sammy."

He was careful with the name. The Winter Soldier glared at him and dived. He wasn't going to question the name this time. He had his mission. Stop anyone who crosses his path. Dean's blows were to block the Soldier's knives. His shield took a pummelling from the swing of his metal arm.

"Sammy, I'm your brother." Dean tried to get through to him again. The Soldier grunted out his correction with more hits to his target.

"You're my mission."

Dean blocked more hits. The Soldier didn't back down.

"I'm not talking to the Soldier. I'm talking to Sam."

Then the confusion came. Wild and desperate.

"Why don't you run?"

The Soldier's next hit sent Captain America's shield flying across the road. Even without his shield, Dean remained on the defensive. He wasn't going to fight Sam. Not when Sam didn't get a choice in whether he wanted to fight Dean. He'd been getting through to him. Dean wasn't going to give up now.

"Sammy, can you hear me?"

The Soldier grabbed him by his suit and pushed him back into a car. The front window smashed to litter the street with tiny shards of glass. Before Dean could recover, the soldier yanked him off the car by his ankle. Dean barely stayed on his feet. Another punch. Dean collapsed back onto the car. His grip on the roof slipped under the blood spilling from his mouth. Captain America staggered, but he forced himself around. Forced himself to look The Winter Soldier in the eye.

"Sammy. Are you in there?"

The Winter Soldier wasn't going to answer.

"I'm going to feel the snap of your bones." There was no passion in the threat. It was as mechanical as the punch he used to punctuate his point. "Every single one."

The Soldier screwed the star on Captain America's costume into a fist and landed another punch through his jaw. Dean fell to the floor. The deep scent of the iron in blood and the gravel between his fingers clogged up his senses. He tried to push himself up. The Soldier pulled him up by his uniform again, pushing him against the car.

Dean wasn't going to fight Sam anymore. The Winter Soldier didn't relent. He hit him again and again. One hit with his metal fist, one with human flesh. The punches got faster. He was his mission. Captain America was weak. Weak. Only strong enough to choke some words out.

"It's okay. It's okay, I'm here. I'm not going to leave you." Meaningless words. Another two punches, Dean's head was weak against the side of the car but he spoke louder. Clearer. "I'm not gonna leave you!"

Sam pulled his metal fist up once more. Dean knew he couldn't take any more hits. One more and he'll be knocked out. One more and he'll be dead. Sam seemed to pause. Only for a millisecond.

The Winter Soldier saw two kids playing with army men. Carving their initials into the fire escapes outside their apartments. Playing pranks on each other. Laughing together. Fighting over 20s music. Playing war down the street. Subtle glances as they pulled guns out, ready for everything from training exercises to world wars. Singing crumby songs together, bellowing them at the top of their lungs on the ride they'd hitchhiked back from Rockaway beach. Laughs. Heartbreaks. Sorrows. Happiness. Grief. All round brotherhood.

The fist slackened and fell. Sam let go and Dean sloped down the car. Weak in the gravel. He managed to turn his head.

It's okay, Dean. It's going to be okay. I got 'im. Sam wasn't sure whether he said it out loud. He could see Dean looking at him, he wasn't sure he had got him. He didn't know what was happening. He just knew he felt safer. Sam was going to try and say the words again when the world erupted with blue. Cars moved with the force that blew through the road. Light shot up behind buildings to their left. Dean was too weak to move his head much but Sam shot his attention to the explosion. The Big Blue Bang.

"Ready to comply."

Loki smiled and checked his novelty Spiderman watch. He gave his orders quickly.

"Take a break Soldier. We're stealing some jets. If anyone tries to stop you do your thing…until I give you the signal. A big blue bang…I'm guessing. Find me, after that do whatever you want. Foreign concept – I know – but trust me, hot stuff. You're one of daddy's favourites. If this doesn't work, well, I don't have much to lose as it is – apparently."

The Soldier didn't question Loki's bitterness. The Soldier didn't question his orders, despite the confused lift of the head at the prospect of doing whatever he wanted. Doing whatever he wanted? He could cross that bridge when he came to it. Now he had to aid his master's escape. Now he had to stop anyone who tried to stop him.

Now he had to find his master. The big blue bang. Then he could do what he liked. He was still staring down at Captain America. Confusion was more like a concussion for him. The Soldier still didn't understand…He had to find his master.

The Winter Soldier ducked away and ran from Dean. Leaving him bloodied, swollen and bruised against the car. Dean's eye was too swollen for him to be able to make much out past a foot ahead of him. He saw Sam above him, metal fist raised. And then he saw him disappear.

He managed to shift. He managed a grunt. The noise he managed to groan out was strangled. It was an attempt to call after his brother one more time. His brother was gone. He hadn't really accepted it until then. His brother was gone. Dean knelt on the gravel and looked at his bloody hands. The Soldier had left him alive. Maybe the Winter Soldier was gone too.

AUTHORS NOTE 2: Next week the Avengers get a good talking to with the new Director "Fury" and head of SHIELD in Chapter. 8 "Surprise Bitch"