Chapter Thirteen~
Upon discovering that they had started the launch, Steve along with Sam and myself left to hop onto one of the Helicarriers. Maria would stay behind and give us the orders and to help us with any information she could get. Running at top speed, Sam asked aloud,
"Hey how do we tell the good guys from the bad guys?"
"If they're trying to kill you they're bad, no offense." I said to him watching him smirk at me before he took off with his winged jetpack. Steve took my upper arm as we both fell to land on the deck of the first Hellicarrier. Landing in a ducking roll, Steve let go of my arm so that once standing I began firing back at anyone shooting at him. I was his cover, taking deadly aim at the gunmen and putting a bullet through their head. My rage for HYDRA I was now channeling to destroy whoever was a part of them. Anyone who tried to stop us would die at my hands. For this moment only I allowed myself to become the Pale Shadow again, only this time my shadow was to protect Captain America. Taking cover behind a large amount of crates, I watched Steve toss an explosive to make several men go flying into the air.
"This way!" he shouted waving me towards the bay door that would take us inside the ship itself.
"Hey Cap, I found those bad guys you were talking about!" Sam aka Falcon called into our coms as I told him,
"You can't die yet, we have to finish the job."
"Who said anything about dying?" he snapped back as I looked up upon seeing large guns trying to shoot him down, him weaving through the explosion like a bird. Rolling my eyes, I kept cover on Steve while we raced for the dock bay door to get inside. Once inside I changed ammo cartridges as we raced for the Hub of the Hellicarrier where we'd have to switch out one of the targeting chips. By the time we got inside and changed the chip I said,
"Alpha locked." so that we heard Maria asking where Sam was only he replied,
"Had to take a detour!"
"For what coffee?" I teased making him say back,
"Sounds good about now!" so that glancing over at Steve who just shook his head, we moved to the top deck again where we would have Sam pick us up. At least that was the plan anyway. Hearing Sam say that Bravo was locked and loaded, we ran through the Hellicarrier hearing Maria say,
"Charlie carrier is 45 degrees off the port bow. Six minutes."
"Hey Sam gonna need a ride!" Steve called making the winged flying man ask,
"What about Blondie?" rolling my eyes at that I followed Steve towards the side of the top deck of the Alpha Hellicarrier.
"I'll be fine! Pick up Steve!" I shouted as we both jumped off the side of the top deck, Steve falling at a faster speed than me with his weight. Sam came swooping in and grabbed Steve by his arm, pulling him with all his force upwards into the sky. Meanwhile I kicked on the jetpack I had in my backpack, conveniently taken from a SHIELD locker room, conveniently 'borrowed'. With both engines blasting, I shot upwards into the sky right behind the two men as Sam dropped Steve off onto the Charlie Hellicarrier. Watching him land, I steered the jetpack over and on top of the top deck before noticing a jet that had landed. Frowning, I directed the jetpack over the jet and landed on top as I spotted a glint of metal. Taking off the backpack, I leapt onto the top deck and ran to stop the last person I wanted to fight. Seeing Solider made my heart ache, but I had to stick to the mission as he shoved Steve right off the top deck. Watching him fall off, Sam tried to grab him yet Soldier took one hold of a wing and forced him backwards. As Sam began shooting at Soldier I went around a cargo hold to fire at Soldier as he took cover. However he was too focused on Sam who tried to fly off, only to have his wing grabbed by a metal cord and then pulled onto the deck hard. Ripping a wing off the jetpack, Soldier then kicked the man right off the side of the top deck. Knowing both men had fallen; Sam probably going to have to make an emergency landing, Steve nowhere in sight, I raced to the Hub of the Hellicarrier. Hoping Steve would meet me there, I heard gunfire behind me and had to slam the top deck door shut for cover. Now I knew Soldier had spotted me, and was now after me.
"Steve where the hell are you?!" I snapped taking a moment to breathe as he replied,
"I'm still on the Hellicarrier, meet you at the Hub! But where's Sam?"
"I'm grounded and the suits down, sorry guys." Sam told us as I maneuvered through the inside of the Hellicarrier towards the Hub. As I ran Maria told us that Rumlow was on his way to the Council with Sam agreeing to take him out.
"Sam, don't hesitate to kill that son of a bitch, he deserves it more than you know." I told him as he chuckled saying,
"That's fine with me Blondie." up ahead I spotted Steve who taking my arm in his checked me over. Slapping his cheek teasingly, the two of us reached the Hub—where standing before us was the Winter Soldier. Before we had left for the SHIELD headquarters, Steve had told me in all honestly,
"If he doesn't remember me or you, we'll have to do whatever is needed to get the job done. You know that right? We can't let anything get in the way."
"I won't, no matter what I know that I can't." I had told him with a sad bitter smile on my face, so that now seeing Soldier standing before me with literally no expression or even light in his eyes made my mind harden, and my heart break.
"People are going to die Buck. I can't let that happen." Steve said not getting a reply as he tried again,
"Please don't make me do this." hearing the emotion in Steve's voice, the raw pain and regret, I took a step around Steve telling Soldier,
"I don't want to fight you, but I will if I have to." however again there was no reply so finally Steve threw his shield and the fight began. Having given me the chip to switch out, Steve focused on keeping the attention on him while I would change the chip out. Darting around the two figures engaged in battle, I went to the Hub and began punching in the code. Hearing something 'whizzing' towards me from behind, I ducked and spun to one side seeing a dagger being thrown where my head had been. Only the dagger had once belonged to me. Noticing the blood on Steve's side, I removed the dagger embedded in the metal of the Hub and threw it back at Soldier. Of course he easily dodged the object as Steve took that moment to kick him backwards towards the railing. As the Hub where the tracking chips where lowered, I grabbed the one we'd need to switch out before my instincts kicked in. Ducking low, I swiped my leg to knock Soldier off his feet yet he used that moment to fly at Steve. Seeing the Steve having to turn around, Soldier forced the two off and over the side of the railing. Running over to see if they were ok, I noticed somehow in the chaos the chip had fallen along with them.
"Shit." I muttered leaping over the railing and onto the metal ledge below me. Just barely dodging a kick aimed for my head by Soldier, I ran for the chip only to have my ankle grabbed and pulled backwards. Turning around to try and kick Soldier off me, he used the dagger I had thrown at him to jam it into my thigh making me cry out. Seeing that Steve had used that moment to slide down onto the glass below the metal ledge, I knew he had to be going for the chip. With that in mind I forced myself to stand ignoring the pain in my thigh. Glaring at Soldier, I got out my own set of daggers seeing as if I had lost my gun. We began a deadly dance of swipe, block, spin and dodge with me never letting up the pressure even if I had been stabbed. Somehow Soldier managed to kick me in the stomach and send me flying in the machine behind the two of us. As he slid down to the glass below, I grunted and took a moment to tear off a part of my uniform. Wrapping it around my stab wound, I stood back up and jumped onto the glass seeing the two men still going at one another. Spying Steve's shield lying near me, I grabbed it and threw it at the back of Soldier who had stabbed Steve in the shoulder. As Soldier fell onto his knees from the impact of the shield hitting his back, he tried to grab the chip. However Steve forced him into a choke hold shout at me,
"Get the chip!" seeing Soldier limp on the ground, I had to push that thought aside as I grabbed the chip and ran to get back up top. Hearing that we only had a minute, I swung myself with both hands back up onto the metal ledge. With the chip in my pocket, I started to climb the metal work only to hear a gunshot behind me. Turning around, I saw that somehow Steve had managed to block the bullet aimed for me with his body. Forcing myself to continue climbing, I heard two more gunshots and glancing down notice Steve holding his side.
"Thirty seconds Cap!" Maria shouted in my ear just as I rolled onto the top deck to put the chip into its case. Fumbling a bit, I heard two more gunshots and felt a stinging pain in my shoulder causing me to drop the chip. Grabbing my shoulder, I tried in vain to pick the chip up only it was out of my reach. Seeing a hand pick it up, I saw Steve appear and running past me moved to put it into the Hub. Only with one more gunshot watched Steve crumble onto his legs, having been shot in the stomach.
"Steve!" I shouted standing up and limping over to him took the chip from his hand before saying,
"Charlie Locked." hearing Maria saying that we had to get out, I shared a look with Steve as he told her,
"Fire now, just do it! Do it now!"