A/N: Sorry this update took so long! Things began getting a little crazy and I'm getting ready to go back to classes. I only have a few so I will have time to update more! Only a few chapters left so… yeah! But the ending is something you all want to stick around for! :) I'm not very good at fight scenes so I hope the scene turned out…
Please don't forget to fave, follow, and review!
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"They're initiating launch." Maria said from the computer she was sitting at. It must allow her to see the launching.
"Let's go." Steve said before he took off out the door. Katherine and Sam followed him without question. They made it all the way outside before Sam spoke.
"Hey Cap, how do we know the good guys from the bad guys?" He asked.
"If they're shooting at you, they're bad." Steve said and Katherine chuckled.
"I never would have known that. Thanks for telling me." She could hear Steve laugh slightly. Katherine glanced behind her, watching as Sam's wings opened up and he flew into the sky. She looked over at Steve, nodding her head before the two of them jumped down. The woman waved her arms, causing the wind to pick up around them. She used the wind to make a cushion for them before they hit the ground. Steve landed and rolled before coming back onto his feet and running down the runway. Katherine landed softly on the balls of her feet before following the man. Steve lifted his shield, blocking the bullets coming towards them. Katherine used the wind, once again, to make a shield. The plan the two heroes had briefly discussed was that they split up, so Steve ran to the right while Katherine ran to the left. She hid behind some crates to catch her breath as the men continued to fire on where she was. She looked in Steve's direction when she heard an explosion. She was only there for a moment before her communicator crackled to life.
"Hey guys, I found those bad guys you were talking about." Sam said. The woman could hear the explosions in the background.
"You okay?" Steve asked.
"I'm not dead yet." Sam replied. Katherine nodded before turned her head, the bullets had stopped flying at her but she could hear an agent slowly walking towards her. She waited silently until she saw him beginning to round the corner. She stepped closer and swung her leg out in a roundhouse kick, catching the man in the jaw, knocking him unconscious. He grabbed his gun from his hands when he hit the ground.
"That's the kind of attitude to have." She said to Sam as she checked the number of rounds. She peeked around before bringing the gun up and firing off a few rounds. She could hear the agents grunt and fall as she hit them.
"Falcon, status?" Maria's voice said in her ear.
"Engaging." He replied and Katherine could still hear the explosion in the background. "Alright Cap, I'm in." The woman sent out a wall of high pressure wind, knocking back all of the agents around her. She peeked out and when she didn't see anyone standing, she began running to where she was supposed to meet up with Steve.
"Eight minutes." Maria said.
"Working on it." Steve said back.
"You need some help?" Katherine offered.
"I'm almost there." Steve said and she knew that meant that she needed to stay where she was. A few seconds later, Steve appeared. He opened a door and ran up the steps, Katherine followed him.
XXX
Three helicarriers meant that each hero had their own to disable. Steve had Alpha, Falcon had Bravo, and Katherine had Charlie. Katherine helped Steve get into his carrier before Katherine made her way to hers. She was just beginning to make her way through, knocking out agent after agent when Steve came over the comm links.
"Alpha lock." He said.
"Falcon, Mother Nature, where are you now?" Maria asked, waiting for the other two carriers to be linked up.
"I had to take a detour." Falcon said.
"In the carrier now, making my way down." Katherine said into the earpiece, punching an agent in the face, knocking him unconscious. A few minutes later, the communicators came on again and Sam's voice filtered through.
"I'm in." A few moments of silence. "Bravo lock. All you sweetheart." Katherine kicked another agent.
"Awe Sam! You know it gets me all tingly inside when you talk to me like that." The woman said with a chuckle as she grabbed the railing, shocking a few agents into unconsciousness.
"I do what I can baby girl." Sam replied and Katherine smiled as she ran down the steps.
"Katherine…"Steve's voice spoke this time. He was in Captain Mode, which meant he was expecting her to do a job and to do it quickly. The woman couldn't argue, this was an important mission. She knew he wasn't mad about the pretend flirting though.
"I know! I'm moving! They're throwing everything they got at me." She said as she jogged down the hall. It was true. Charlie being the only helicarrier left, they tried to make sure that nothing was going to get in the way of them having at least one working weapon. Katherine glanced around before she continued the way she had been going, there were so many winding turns and hallways but Katherine tried to remember the path that she had been taught.
"Five minutes." Maria said.
"Almost there." Katherine answered.
"Bad news." Steve said. "Sam's down. The suit is grounded. I'm on the carrier but so is Bucky. Be careful."
"Got it. I might make it before he finds me." Katherine said, running into the control room. She slowed her run to a stop when she saw the Winter Soldier waiting for her. He was fast. She took in a deep breath. "I don't know you Bucky and I know you don't know me… but people are going to die. And we can't let that happen." The man watched her silently. "Please, just let me by. I don't want to fight you." She glanced at his metal arm before looking back up at his emotionless face. She could feel the electricity dancing between her fingers before she took in another deep, silent breath before firing a bolt at him. Natasha had told her that a powerful jolt of electricity fried the arm last time, maybe it would happen again. The man dodged the bolt, pulling out a gun. She made a shield of air when he fried off two shots. She ran over to him, blocking all of the bullets with the wind until he aimed one lower than her shield (since she's never actually had to worry about that before). It landed in her thigh, her knee almost buckled as the pain seared all the way from her ankle into her hip.
She gasped before kicking the man hard in the chest, knocking him back into the console. The bullet had easily pierced the Kevlar of her new suit. Glancing down at her leg, she took a few steps towards the console when Bucky stood up. She kicked the gun out of his hand and roundhouse kicked him in the side, knocking him away from the console. She watched him as he rolled to his feet and pulled a knife out of the back of his belt. She sighed, taking a step back. At the moment, the woman was glad that she'd taken up training with Steve and Logan as well as Natasha when she was given the chance, even though, she was never a fan of hand-to-hand combat. She let out a large gust of wind, knocking him back. She bolted forward, ignoring the searing pain in her leg, to the console. She typed in the code quickly to open the glass surrounding the chips. She turned when she heard Bucky's heavy footsteps coming towards her. Before she had a chance to block, he punched her in the jaw, knocking her onto her back. Before she could move, he placed a heavy boot on her throat.
"Bucky!" She heard Steve call the other man's name. Katherine wrapped her hands around his ankle, trying to pull the boot from her neck. The man turned and looked towards Steve, glancing down her briefly before turning his attention back to the man in the red, white, and blue suit. He turned his whole body, stepping away from Katherine. The woman rolled over and away from him, coughing when she was finally able to get air into her lungs. In a matter of seconds, Bucky and Steve were fighting hard. Every punch Bucky landed on the shield with his metal arm resulted in Katherine hearing the Vibranium vibrating. She could hear the sounds of their fits meeting each other's bodies as well as the shield whizzing through the air every time Steve tried to hit him with it. She managed to get to her feet and pull out one of S.H.I.E.L.D's chips, reaching for the one in her belt when she heard Bucky shout, knocking Steve off the platform. She glanced over her shoulder, honestly not expecting Bucky to be standing there. As she turned, she powered up an electric charge but before she could shock him, he wrapped his metal hand around her throat, picking her up like she weighed nothing and throwing her over the edge of the platform as well. She hit a metal support beam hard and all the air left her lungs.
She closed her eyes and tried to catch her breath when she realized that Bucky wasn't coming for her. He was more interested in taking on Steve, which suited the woman just fine. She reached into her belt, looking for the chip when she realized that it was gone. Her eyes flew open as she looked around her. It must've fallen out when she had fallen. She rolled over, groaning at the strain it put on her clearly broken and bruised ribs. She looked around for the chip and as she did, she could hear Steve and Bucky fighting. The sounds of grunting, shouting, the shield vibrating, and the sounds of Bucky's metal arm filled the supposed to be quiet room.
"One minute." Maria said. Before Katherine could say anything, she saw the chip tucked away a corner of the support beam and some glass. She ran over to it, grabbing it, before using the wind to make a platform to allow her to rise back to the control panel. She landed and ran towards the panel, only to grunt and stumble when a pain shot through her side. Glancing down, she saw a bullet wound on the part of her stomach that was unprotected by the Kevlar.
"I have got to learn to wear suits with full body protection, no matter how hot I look." She said to herself, pressing her hand to the wound.
"Katherine!" Steve said as he ran over to her. She shooed him away.
"I'm fine! Where's Bucky?" She asked as the two of them made their way to the control panel.
"He's unconscious down there." Steve said, motioning his head to the glass below them. She nodded her head. Another shot rang out and Katherine fell to the ground, Steve right behind her. She'd been shot in the back while Steve had been shot in the back of the thigh.
"Unconscious, huh?" She asked Steve with a glare. The soldier looked down before standing and jumping back down to confront the other man again.
"30 seconds!" Maria almost yelled.
"Stand by." She said, pulling the chip out of her glove. "Charlie…" She began to say when another gunshot rang out. When she didn't feel any pain, she ran over to the edge. Steve was lying on the ground in front of Bucky, the man watching him closely, the gun clenched tightly in his metal hand. The woman wanted to go down there, she wanted to make sure that he was okay but 30 seconds had already passed and she had a job to do. She turned quickly, running back over to the panel and putting the chip into place. With a sigh, she said, "Charlie lock." The woman sank to her knees, leaning against the panel for support. She was feeling lightheaded from the blood-loss and probably just the shock of the whole situation.
"Alright Nature, you and Cap get out of there." Maria said.
"Fire now."Katherine heard Steve said through the comm link.
"But Steve…"
"Do it!"
"You heard him. Go ahead." Katherine said to the other woman. Katherine reached over and grabbed the railing as the ship began to shake from the force of the explosions. Below her, she could hear Bucky screaming. She looked over the edge and saw him trapped by a piece of large debris. Steve was trying to get it off of him but he wasn't able to lift it on his own. "This is ridicules." She said to herself as she jumped down, wincing when the wounds on her side, back, and thigh pulled. While she did have the same healing factor as her brothers, it had always taken her just a while longer to heal. She ran over to Steve, she quickly checked him over, seeing the bullet wounds in his stomach and on his thigh. She didn't say anything though as she grabbed the beam and began pulling. With the little extra help from her, Bucky was able to slip free. Steve and Katherine dropped the beam before turning to look at the man.
"You know me." Steve said to him.
"No, I don't!" Bucky shouted before punching Steve, knocking the man into Katherine, causing them both to fall. Steve stood up again, glancing back at Katherine before turning his attention back to Bucky. They were all panting from exertion and exhaustion.
"Bucky. You've known me your whole life." Steve said before Bucky back-handed him with his metal arm. Steve tripped over Katherine, falling back.
"Steve, we don't have time for this." Katherine said, ready to shock Bucky and get the hell out of dodge. She stood up, slowly taking a step to the side.
"Your name is James Buchanan Barnes." Steve said as he stood up again, he completely ignored Katherine.
"Shut up!" Bucky screamed, punching him again. Steve stood, pulling his helmet off.
"I'm not going to fight you." Steve said before dropping his shield. It just so happened to fall into a whole in the glass, falling through to the water below. "You're my friend." Bucky roared as he tackled Steve down. Katherine stood up, watching as Bucky used his metal hand to punch Steve repeatedly in the face. She could see Steve's lips move. She wasn't sure when he'd said but it had stopped the man cold. She walked over to them, cautious about what Bucky would do if she got too close. What she didn't expect was a large piece of debris to fall and hit the support beams underneath them. What she had expected, was to fall down into the water but… she wasn't falling. She opened her eyes slowly and saw that she was hanging from the helicarrier. She noticed Steve falling into the water but she wasn't. Looking up, she saw that Bucky had managed to grab her hand with his human hand, using his metal one to hold onto the carrier.
"We have to go get him." She said up to the other man. He looked down at her, his blue eyes looking into her hazel ones before he nodded, letting go of his grip on the carrier, causing them both to plunge down into the ice cold water below.