Warning: This story might and probably will contain coarse language and other adult themes.

A/N: Sorry for the delay, I had a Geography test I need to study for and then I got sick. But here I am, fullfilling my duty. I wanna thank SamanthaJane13 and PiratePrincess16 for their comments in last chapter.

And PiratePrincess16? I will answer ALL your questions, in time, you'll see. Everything has an explanation, continue reading and you shall see.

PS: Actually, in the fic she is just 5 and 4 years younger than Bucky and Steve, respectively, so she isn't 50. She is 89/90 to fit in the Winter Soldier events of the movie. And Tony is also a little bit older. But I'm glad you caught up on the fact she might or might have not been pregnant.

Anyways, I hope you ALL enjoy this chapter and leave some feedback cause it motivates me to write often. :)

I look at the building in front of me, the binoculars combined with the highness of the tree I'm at gives me a better and clearer view of the ground I'm supposed to invade.

"Remind me again how many are there?" I ask into the comm and towards my brother.

"About 20." Howard replies and I can't help but roll my eyes at his next words "piece of cake."

I roll my eyes before letting out a groan in annoyance and hand Dugan the binoculars. I start to furiously rub my hands together, attempting to create heat between them, finding it hard to get, even with warm gloves on my hands.

I decide to blame Eastern Europe's weather, I mean, if I was supposed to endure this deplorable conditions they could have at least send me to Paris. I would love to become an ice cube with the Eiffel Tower right in front of me, thank you very much.

At least, it would be worthy. I stand cautiously on the branch of an old roble tree with enough wood to support me and my team's weight.

"Morita," I call, "be alert of any movement within the next 5 miles, anything that moves you take it down, these guys will spare us nothing, got it?"

"Yes, ma'am." I hear in reply.

"Where's Gabe?" I ask Dugan and he shrugs, taking a swing out of his bottle. Rum, I suppose, from the smell.

"Gabe?" I ask into the comm, "Do you copy me?"

"Loud and clear," he chuckles "I'm positioning the line; it should be ready whenever you are."

"Which is now."

"Go, then." he states and soon enough I'm strap to the rope-line that should take me closer to my target.

"You know," Dugan starts, "I'm curious to know, since I never asked and now seems like the right time, how in the hell your brother lets you use that outfit?"

I roll my eyes at his statement "this seems like the right time for you to ask that question?"

Dugan seems to ponder on this for a moment, tapping his chin with his finger and then shrugging the idea off, adding "I guess no."

I sigh deeply, my fingers finding the bridge of my nose before answering "it was his idea, I just did some changes to the original design. It's a prototype and it should help female agents to control certain factors when it comes to missions."

"Like?"

"Flexibility. For me," I say, tucking of Howard's toys in the back of my utility belt "it does wonders."

"I see." he nods with another swing of the bottle.

Once I'm secure on the line and have all my weapons with me, I look at Dugan and say "if I'm not back in an hour—"

"Leave," he finishes, "you always say that and you should already know your brother would kill us. Have us by the balls."

I sigh, nodding my head and push myself off the tree, the wind blowing against me from the speed I had taken off, a good 110 feet went by in the blink of an eye and soon I find myself in the ground, 10 feet away from them and hiding behind a tree. I make sure every single one of the Commandos are ready and in place before checking in with Howard.

"Okay," Howard says through the earpiece "you ready?"

I breathe before I answer; gathering courage and finding the missing pair of balls I missed at birth.

"I am," I reply before I climb the tree, until I find a branch I can plan my attack from.

"Okay, you need to take the two men in the front out." Howard mutters as I silently watch the men, they wear black uniform, jackets, gloves, eye protection and use semi-automatic weapons. They joke like good and old friends, distracted in their conversation to even know I'm so close to them.

So close to breaking their necks.

"Karpov," the scientist I assume when Howard mentions the name, "it's on the ground floor"

"How am I going to make it down there?" I ask and Howard chuckles, which makes me frustrated "really, Howard, could you be any more condescending right now?"

"The gadgets on your belt," he begins "they release a smoke that will knock them out."

"Like a bomb smoke?"

"Yeah," he says "like a bomb smoke."

"Then why don't you just say 'Arabella, use the bomb smoke?'"

"I'm not about to start arguing for—" he sighs deeply and in desperation "can you please move on!?"

"Fine, fine," I mutter under my breath, "grumpy."

I take the two little balls out of my belt and throw them into the white snow covered ground, the smoke quickly filling the air with its gas. The men start coughing, guns are being fired shooting randomly.

"Arabella!" I hear Gabe ask through my earpiece "you okay!?"

"Yeah," I nod, even though he can't see me "dumbasses are shooting at the air, don't worry."

I confide in Howard's words when he told me the gas would knock them out; that I almost miss one of them attempting to sound the alarm. However I caught onto it quickly and strike a knife into the back of his palm, attaching it to the wall. He screams in pain for 2 seconds before I deliver a punch into his face, knocking the lights out of him.

"Bells, are you okay?" Howard asks in a concerned voice.

"You told me it would knock them out."

"It did knock one out, didn't it?"

"I'm gonna kill you."

"Okay, the easy part is done. Now—" Howard speaks but soon gets cut off from a groan from me.

"What!?" I silently gasp in frustration "twenty men were the easy part!?"

"Yes, now eyes forward, missy." I groan once more, huffing but follow his order anyway.

"What am I looking for?" I ask when I'm inside the building, a long corridor full of doors at both my sides greet me.

"I—A hallway, there are a bunch of doors, if that helps anyway."

"You're in the main hall." Howard answers "Three doors down there must be brown—"

"They're all brown, Howard."

"Right," he adds, a strike of realization into his words "well, the third door to your left, open it."

I walk through the hallway, following Howard's instructions and when I open the door, finding it unlocked from some random luck.

"What do you see, Bells?"

The room has walls covered in what could pass as a bank vault, tiny boxes with locks where a key should fit. There are also tables, metal tables, and surgical instruments lay on top of one of them, papers, files even guns.

"A laboratory, I guess."

"Okay, you must on the top floor, there's a door in the corner—"my eyes soon drift to the corners of the room, and as Howard said there's the door. A brick red door. "—that door should take you to the room where Karpov is."

I nod, knowing he can't see me and start making my way to the door, opening wide and stepping in. I realize I'm yet in another hallway, but this is a straight up ladder made of metal, no walls and it's right on the middle of a huge auditorium, the ceiling made of tinted glass, made for obvious purposes, of course. To make sure they could see threats above them but make them unaware of their presence. I walk a little further and look down, to where I can see some light peeking from.

"Bells?"

"Shhh!" I whisper into the comm "I'm making recognition." And I was, my eyes squinting at the figure of a man that looks like he has been strapped down to a chair, beaten and laid now unconscious.

"Wha—" he stutters but I cut him off quickly.

"I have a visual of Karpov. He is underneath me."

"Wait—What?! Underneath you? Where are you!?"

"I'm in what looks like an auditorium, it's deserted except for Karpov's beaten body down below."

"You're in wing C." he says, gasping when another fact I had already taken strikes him "It's a 200 feet fall! No! Wait for backup, look for a staircase but don't—"

"I already did and there's none. The longer I wait for backup, the more likely they will find out I'm here, taking their prisoner, I think it's best if I just get this over with."

"No! you don't have the tools or the gear—Arabella, don't do something stupid."

"I never do." I reply, already tying the rope around my waist, around the handlebar and preparing myself to descend.

"Shit," I mutter "that's a long way down."

"Language," Howard grunts to then release a deep sigh "be careful and good luck."

I take a deep breath and start to make my way down along the rope. My hands maintain themselves tucked away from the burn of the material, thanks to the gloves I wear. It's when I'm about 35 feet from the ground I realize the rope breaks, making me fall without any type of stop.

My boots collide against the floor and I fall crouched down, without a scratch. I might or might not have used my powers, but even if I did no one would have been able to tell, for all they know I was very good at this.

"Goddamit, Bells! Are you okay!?"

"I'm still in one piece, aren't I?"

Howard takes a deep breath and asks "Is Karpov there?"

"Lemme look," I reply, standing up and dusting whatever trace of dust that could have might attached itself to my suit before unleashing the tie from around my waist. I walk towards the man, his breathing is unsteady which tells me he might have a couple of ribs broken but at least he is breathing. I take Karpov's chin in my hand, tilting his head up, I get a good look at his face; his lip is busted, eye dark, purple and swollen and a couple of cuts lay on his face here and there.

"I have Karpov." I say into the comm.

"Where are you?" Morita asks "We're ready to blow this place down."

"Northeast, specifically wing C." I reply, a line of 'good', 'will be there soon' follow my statement.

"Good job, Bells." Howard says "now go."

"Calm down, crazy." I say, dropping my hand to my side, kneeling to Karpov's eye level and start to slap his face to bring him out of his drugged out haze.

"Hey, buddy," I say as he starts to wake up from his sleep "get up we need to go."

"Miss Stark," a voice suddenly intrudes, booming through the room, I quickly look up but find no one is there "don't bother," the voice continues "I'm not in the room, at least not in the same room you are in."

"Well, I have no time for introductions, neither do I think are necessary, your stalkerish behavior already lets me know, you know my name."

"Well, you do have a mouth on you." He chuckles.

I roll my eyes, standing up straight and taking Karpov over my shoulder "Yeah, so I've been told."

I haven't taken two steps down the door before he speaks again "We can't let you leave this place with him… or alive for the matter. HYDRA takes no prisioners."

"Oh, I know" I say, putting Karpov's limp unconscious body on the floor "but I wasn't asking for your permission anyway."

"Don't let her get away!"

The doors snap open and three men suit up in black clothing enter the room with weapons in their hands, all aiming at me.

I raise my hands slowly "now, now..." I chuckle, "it is not politely to show up from behind to a lady like that, you know?" I twist my wrist, the guns leaving their hands, floating above them, another flick, and they're now pointing at them. They gasp and start to back out slowly.

"She might get scared." I finish, while I make the guns start shooting at the feet of the men, making them fly away from the room.

The voice from before returns, this time with laughter leaving his throat. "Those are some skills you have there."

"Distract him," Howard whispers into the comm. "Gabe, Dugan, get my sister out of there."

"I guess," I say, following Howard's instructions "but something tells me you already knew that."

"What tells you that?"

"You're still speaking to me."

He chuckles, "I might have been informed of a SHIELD agent with abilities compared to none other, but—"

"Let me guess," I say, interrupting him "you didn't thought it was a girl? Or was it you didn't thought it was SHIELD's director sister?"

Before he can answers, there's an explosion on the ceiling, the glass comes falling down in tiny pieces, I stand my ground, like nothing has happened but something tells me the man is no longer there and I wasn't planning to stay one more second here, in a base that was about to blow up.

I take Karpov's limp body again on my shoulder and start running from the place, the door opens harshly, my boot destroying the wood.

"HOWARD!" I scream "WHERE THE FUCK DO I GO!?"

"The door to your right," he says, knowing deep down he is refraining himself from muttering the word 'language' at me "there's a hall, the door at the end, and then your left. The team is waiting!" I nod, thrashing the earpiece away and start to run to the best of my abilities with Karpov's weight on me.

I follow his instructions.

The door, the hall, the door at the end and then…

He is there, standing, with his fists clenched tight and his upper body clad in a leather jacket, his face is covered by a mask and his hair is long, needing a haircut. But what really caught my attention is the glistening of light on his left arm, his metal left arm. I groan in annoyance since I know how much time I have and my low desires to fight right now.

"Look," I breathe, "get out of my way, I'm tired and have no desire to fight another minion from this fucking place."

I'm having a feast with the image of Howard's face with each curse word I say.

The man stays quiet, his blue eyes piercing into mine. He doesn't says a word but he doesn't have to, I know what he is thinking and implies the words 'you're not getting out alive, not with that man.'

Well, I do love a challenge.

I smirk, dropping Karpov's body, and cringe when his body hits the ground.

Poor man, that's going to hurt later on.

His eyes never leave mine and he stares at me with so much intensity I can feel it deep down and it makes me shiver, gives me a feeling I haven't felt for so long. A feeling only…

No, it can't be.

I tear my eyes from him, only to shake such silly and stupid thoughts out from my head. I need to focus or else, I'm dead. When I return my gaze to him, he still hasn't moved and it only increases the eerie feeling his presence gives me, the goose bumps that rise on my skin, the chill running down my back.

I look above him; air ducts. A plan develops in my head, a plan that could work, only if I find a way to do it without raising suspicions from him; suddenly Howard's words from before come to my mind.

Distract him.

"You are awfully quiet aren't you? It only makes think you were expecting something else?" I ask, teasingly "am I wrong?"

No answer.

"Cat got your tongue?" I tease again but still, no answer.

"That's okay," I say, shrugging it off like it's no big deal, an explosion goes off somewhere in the building, but it doesn't interrupts our staring contest "but I'm not staying here and you will not stand in the way of me and that exit."

For a moment I could swear I hear him chuckling but can't be sure because of his mask muffling any sound that comes out from his throat.

I raise my hand behind my neck, as if I was rubbing off some kind of pain, my other one starts to follow down to my leg, making sure he follows my movement, making him think my plan was to throw a knife at his direction.

And I do,

He avoids it, and misses how at the same time several air ducts start to break above him, clouding his vision and making him stumble backwards for a moment. A moment I take to use my hand and create enough force to push the scientist away from him, from me and to the exit. I start running behind his body, towards the exit, but the masked man is faster than I am, and for his tight grip on my throat, apparently he is also stronger than I am.

I start clawing at his arm, gasping for air, but it's useless, his grip doesn't gives in, if anything, it only gets stronger. I know if I make it, bruises would start to form on my neck. I need to act, and so I close my eyes, focus and when I open them, I find strength enough to make him soften his grip on my neck unwillingly and make him question his own strength, a millisecond, almost, for me to escape.

My knee collides with his abs, which is hard as a rock and his expression give nothing away; but with that rock stomach, I doubt there's anything to give. However, I don't stop and my right hand falls to my side so I can flick it and create enough energy at my fingertips, energy that I use to send a magnetic pulse through his metal arm, the arm that holds my neck within its grasp. Making it fall to his side and release my throat.

I cough, the air returning to my lungs but it doesn't lasts enough before I see his right hand already aiming at me in a fist to collide with my face, I dodge it, by inches, and it collides with the wall, the strength breaking through it.

I crawl on the floor for a few seconds, attempting to get away from him, before I can stand up and start running for the exit again. This time his grasp is at my ankle, sweeping me off the ground and making me fall on my back, my head bounces against the floor and I hold in a slight groan of pain. He pushes his boot down my chest as I lay on the floor, my hands start to try and lift the pressure off my chest but it's no use.

He lowers his body, so his face, or at least what can be seen of his face it's closer to mine, "how did you do that?" he asks, a threatening tone can easily be heard in his words.

For a second the phrase 'He speaks!' seems tempting at the tip of my tongue but I put that option on the side. Instead of it, I smirk and say

"A lady never reveals her secrets."

His eyes, once again, reveal nothing and as he straightens up, he only pushes deeper, applying more pressure into my chest. I feel my chest constricting from the weight, making blood sputter out of my mouth. I swallow deep, eyes closing before the image of him, taking his knife clouds my vision. He flips it in his hand, the handle secure in his hand and the blade aiming for my throat.

I launch forward, my hand aiming for the blade, a secure and tight hold on it that breaks skin as soon as I apply pressure from my side to avoid him from pushing it deep into my chest. The blood drips into my hand, he, for a moment seems surprised with my strength and perseverance but with the blink of an eye, his stoic look is back on.

I can't fight him, never the less, compete with his strength, he is twice my size and there's no way I can hold this knife longer, not with a bloody, aching hand. I falter on my hold and allow him to stab my shoulder, the knife colliding deep with the part where my arm and shoulder meet.

He relaxes, he thinks he has won and he couldn't be more wrong. I raise my knee and it collides with his… package. He groans in pain, never mess with a man's thing. And while he does that, I lay for more than necessary on the floor, gathering strength to pull the knife out. Even when I have already managed to stand up, he's still kneeling on the floor; the pain from my kneeing against his balls has him immobilized.

I almost feel bad. Almost.

I stand and stumble my way out, the blood pouring from my shoulder makes me dizzy, makes me fall on the floor, while he stands up and doesn't says a word. But he makes sure his gaze tells me he is everything but happy. I, after all, did just touched his most precious parts and not in the way a man likes for them to be touched.

I drag myself up, attempting to stand for myself, using the wall as a support and when I'm fully up, the room starts spinning around me but I don't stop. I glance behind me, he continues walking, slowly, but he isn't stopping.

And then I hear it; I hear it before I feel it. The piercing sound of a gun being fired, the sound it makes when it finds flesh, the sound so quiet yet so loud, like if it was a boot colliding with a puddle of mud.

And then I fall, my knees touching the floor. He is a good 15 feet away from me when I fall to the floor completely; my hands hold my stomach, apply pressure to the part of my skin where the bullet pierced through and started to drench my clothes in heavy, red, liquid.

I look up, the air ducts and pipes give me an idea, and if I don't act soon, it could be my last one. I raise my hand and gather all my strength into breaking them down, I pull and pull air, until pieces of broken metal, concrete and plastic materials block his path to me.

I no longer have my earpiece but the comm remains on my sleeve.

And I speak into it, hoping someone will hear me.

"I'm in the East side, send backup."

My eyes glance again at him, his eyes cold and for a minute something that resembles of pity, shame, even empathy cross his features but I blame it on my injuries, my loss of blood and my mixed feelings from the things he reminded me off.

What he reminded me off…

The pain on my shoulder feels less and less present, but it's still there. I close my eyes but not before I glance at the metal arm guy and how he starts to take his mask off.

"Hey, Howard…" I whisper, not knowing if he can hear me "I would love to see this fucker's face, but I'm going to sleep now, okay?"

I swear I could hear the word 'language!' in Howard's voice somewhere in the world.