She felt sick. Norman's words were going around and around Alex's head, as if the mere memory of him was enough to hold her prisoner. He thought he was in love with her.

It didn't matter that Norman had said that he wasn't sure, the simple idea that he might be disgusted Alex. After what he hadn't threatened to do to her, he'd now decided that what he felt towards her was love?

No.

She knew what it meant to be in love, and she knew how it felt to be loved in return. Whatever sick desire that Norman had, it wasn't love.

But that didn't stop it from frightening her.

Alex hadn't even realised that she'd sunk back down to the floor until Rumlow and Sin walked in, when she jumped back to her feet.

"Easy, kitten," Rumlow laughed, clearly enjoying how shaken she was. After Sin motioned her hand at him, Rumlow moved towards Alex, grabbing her tightly and beginning to wind more plastic ties back around her ankles, easily stopping her from kicking out. "Does Barnes like tying you up like this?" he smirked. "Lucky for you, I've got a much prettier woman to take care of."

Despite how scared she was, Alex couldn't help but think it was strange to see Rumlow answering to someone else. Jesus, Sin must be more of a piece of work than Alex had realised if she had Brock Rumlow on a leash.

Once he had her hands and feet bound, Rumlow dropped Alex to the floor, and walked back to Sin, who had put down the strange devices she'd been carrying.

"Your Knight in Red and Blue pyjamas is almost here," Sin called from the doorway, regarding Alex as if she were nothing more than an irritating fly. She looked almost… tired, but the amusement hadn't completely vanished from her expression.

"Don't hurt him," Alex said again instinctively, even though she knew it was pointless. She felt so guilty, James probably wouldn't have risked coming here if it weren't for her (although, to be fair, his track record with running off to do irresponsible and impulsive things wasn't exactly good).

Rolling her eyes, Sin commented, "Shut up," before beckoning to Rumlow. "Osborn ran over. Stall the American moron for a few moments while I finish setting up."

Having sat up again, Alex's eyes followed Sin as she began to place a handful of small black and red blocks around one edge of the room, leaving the larger, grey apparatus near the door. And Alex didn't need experience in the field to guess what they were. Explosives.

"Sin, please, you don't have to do this." Alex received no response other than a genuine laugh. "I'm serious. I know you think James has wronged you and your father, but you must understand that he was just trying to stop people from getting hurt. What happened to you wasn't James' fault." Alex took a deep breath. "What happened to your face wasn't James' fault. Or mine. Your father is the one responsible for the things that have happened to you. It might not be too late, they can still help you- Ah!"

The cry came as Sin suddenly rounded on Alex, kicking her hard in the chest. "Be grateful that I didn't throw you out that window!" Sin snarled – the fury in her eyes matching the red of her scars. "Shut up, you pathetic little rat, before I change my plan and murder you right here and now."

Coughing hard, Alex stayed shrunk against the wall, and kept her mouth shut this time. Her head had struck the stone with the force of the kick, dazing her a little, but the world came back into focus in time for her to see James run into the room.

Alex could just about hear Sin mutter, "Dammit, Brock, you were supposed to stall him."

But, despite the mutter, there was a sickly grin on her face when she turned to him. Strolling over to Alex, Sin called, "You got my pictures then, Barnes?" Pictures? Pictures of her, Alex realised, Sin had to have told James they were here somehow. "It took you less time to get here than I thought; I wanted to get a lot more done before you arrived." " She shot a meaningful and menacing look at Alex. "But we'll have to save it for a later date. At least I can cross one thing off my to-do list."

Just as James raised his arm to throw the shield, Alex saw Sin click a red button down on a small remote she'd been holding. She just managed to scream, "James, look out!"

Not that it did any good.

The few small bombs went off with a 'bang' much louder than Alex had anticipated, the force of them causing her to fall on her side, Sin to stumble, and James, who had been the closest, to be thrown across the room.

"James? James!"

She saw him begin to stagger to his feet as Sin crossed the room, and Alex cried his name again as she righted herself.

"Learn to stay down when you've been blown up, idiot," Sin shot, kicking his hand as he reached for the shield, and then dealing another blow to his head.

"I'd stay to kill you," she said casually, strapping something to her back. What was that thing? "But I've got a long flight ahead of me."

A jetpack? Alex thought to herself incredulously, but the thought was confirmed as Sin moved to the hole she'd blown in the side of the room, and kicked the contraption into life.

James had scrabbled across the room, cut the tie around Alex's hands, and had begun cutting the one around her ankles when he realised what Sin was doing. "No you d- don't… You don't get to do all of this, and just get away!" He snapped the remaining plastic with his hands, and then darted away.

"No, James, no!" Alex shrieked, running to the gap in the wall a second too late to stop him. She watched, horrified, as James grabbed hold of Sin's ankle and the two of them went higher, higher, higher. If he fell, there was no way he'd survive. "James!"

She couldn't hear what Sin said, but she didn't need to. The bang and flash of the gun told enough of a story. And, while James' uniform could withstand those bullets, the blast was enough to push him backwards, for him to lose his grip. Crying his name again, Alex leant forward and reached a hand out to him, even though she knew he was too far away from her. She could do nothing but watch as James fell, tumbling down, down, down towards the solid ground below.

But James never hit the ground. Seemingly out of nowhere, Sam had flown as fast as he could and, seeing James fall, had changed his trajectory, heading towards his friend. And, just in the nick of time, he caught him.

As Sam and James landed safely on the ground, Alex couldn't take it anymore. She collapsed to her knees, the wind catching her hair and causing it to fall around her face. Tears of relief spilled from her eyes, and she barely noticed Sam land beside her, pick her up, and bring her down to where Steve and Natasha were checking James over.

Thank God he hadn't come alone.

But when her feet hit the ground, Alex seemed to snap back into herself. After squeezing Sam's hand as a quick 'thank you', she ran to James, throwing her arms around him just as he lifted her into his, and for a while they simply clung to each other, terrified of letting go.

After almost a minute, however, Alex moved back, looking up at James in a mixture of relief and worry. "What the hell, James?!" she cried, although her tone didn't match how her hands were now gently cupping his cheeks. "You can't be here!"

"There was no way I was going to leave you with them!" James argued back.

"You ran away from your trial, they'll crucify you for this!" Alex replied, her voice falling to little more than a whimper. "Oh God, James…"

He pulled her close, one hand cradling her head as the other arm wrapped around her, and James found that he was crying with her. Alex was safe, and that was the most important thing for him, but that didn't mean he wasn't scared about what was going to happen next. There would be consequences, and he wouldn't be at all surprised if they were severe.

"Did they hurt you?" he asked, sniffing and trying to pull himself together.

"No. I'm okay, she didn't hurt me badly." Which was true, but Alex felt like she was lying to James. What was she supposed to tell him about Norman? He would panic at just knowing that she had spoken to him, let alone that he was able to go in and out of prison as he pleased, and that he was clearly planning something big.

And, while she wouldn't hide this from him for ever, or ever for very long, she couldn't burden him with it now. Not when there was so much to deal with first.

James looked over her face. He could see that there was something wrong, something more than what was happening around them, but a call from Steve distracted him from asking what it was.

"My God… She gave it a black eye…"

Both James and Alex looked up to what the others had already seen. The Statue of Liberty, with a giant hole where her left eye had used to be.

"Fuck," James grunted, running a hand through his hair. "On my watch…"

"Your watch?" Steve echoed, angrier than Alex had seen him in a long time. "You're not even supposed to be here! You know that Sam, Nat, and I could have handled this!"

James stepped towards Steve. He wasn't confrontational, but apologetic. Almost sheepish. "I wasn't going to let Alex be sacrificed to save myself. Sin sounded like she had been planning to kill her."

A sigh came from Steve. "Damn it. Luring you out here… Sin might have just ruined whatever chance you had, Buck…"

"I know."

He turned back to Alex. She was standing with her head bowed. She looked like she was going to fall apart any second. James quickly gathered her back into his arms, letting her cry into his chest. And he could hear her mumbling the words, "I'm sorry…" Over and over.

"Don't be," he whispered, kissing the top of her head tenderly. And then, a little louder, he added, "I'd do it again." He moved away just enough to walk with Alex, his arm still around her. "So, let's go face the music."