DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN MARVEL OR ANY ASSOCIATED CHARACTERS

Hey everyone! Thank you all for the support, we just hit over 6,000 views! As long as you guys keep reading, I'll keep writing. You guys are definitely gonna like this chapter. Forewarning, scenes of gore and very graphic violence ahead.

Chapter 21

Sean was mentally preparing himself for the upcoming mission. He was also trying to process his grief. SHIELD was like his kid. He'd been there from the beginning, watching it grow up, only to learn that it was corrupt. That'll break a person.

Sean was strolling down the long corridor, hands in his pockets. He emerged outside, walking through the iron gate. Steve was already out there, staring off into space, but Sean knew what he was thinking about. Sean walked up to stand on his brother's left side, and they silently stood together before Sam joined them, crossing his arms as he studied the brothers.

"He's gonna be there, you know?" he asked.

Steve nodded. "I know."

"Look, whoever he used to be, the guy he is now, I don't think he's the kind you save, he's the kind you stop," Sam continued. Sean remained silent, letting Steve have his moment.

Steve's gaze didn't waver from the horizon. "I don't know if I can do that," he said.

Sam was trying to get through to Steve. "Well he might not give you a choice. He doesn't know you."

Steve didn't budge an inch, finally turning his head to look at Sam. "He will," he said. "Gear up, it's time."

Steve nodded to Sean before walking back towards the city. "You two just gonna wear that?" they heard Sam call.

Sean gave a wry smile to Steve, who turned his head to look back as he walked. "No, if you're gonna fight a war, you gotta wear a uniform."

Sean chuckled as Steve took off in a dead sprint. Shaking his head, Sean accelerated and followed Steve.

Sean had never felt such nostalgia. He felt like he was back in 1945, his brother by his side, about to assault a HYDRA base, which they were. The familiar grays and whites and reds gave Sean a sense of serene calm before the storm that was inevitably going to happen.

He and Steve met Sam and Hill back in the woods on the bank of the Potomac. Sean knew Natasha wouldn't be joining them, because she had a mission of her own. They all nodded silently to one another, all aware of the gravity of the situation. Sean was comforted by his brother, his new best friend, and the one thing that had never left him in his entire life: his sword. The weapon that had become a part of who he was was strapped to his back, resting in its leather scabbard.

Hill turned and led the way to the Triskelion, which was visible on the other riverbank. Sam took turns ferrying each of them across before they proceeded to the communications tower.

Hill set off a device that scrambled the satellite dish, and they waited outside for one of the techs to emerge. As soon as the door unlocked, Sam pulled out one of his automatic pistols and held it at the techie.

Steve stepped forward. "Excuse us."

The tech guy held his hands up and let the four of them pass. Sam and Sean concentrated on clearing the room of the workers as Hill and Steve tried to bring up a SHIELD-wide broadcast. When they succeeded, Hill stepped back, and Steve leaned forward, his helmet off, to speak into the intercom.

Man, I really wish Fury'd had the foresight to stock some of my 1911's. I refuse to use any other pistols, Sean thought before Steve began.

"Attention all SHIELD agents. This is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about me over the last few days. Some of you were even ordered to hunt me down. Nut I think it's time you know the truth. SHIELD is not what we thought it was. It's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader. The STRIKE and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. I don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building, they could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want, absolute control. They shot Nick Fury, and it won't end there. If you launch those helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way. Unless we stop them. But the price of freedom is high. It always has been. But it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not."

Sam glanced at Sean with a smirk as Steve turned around. "Did you write that down first, or was it off the top of your head?" Sam asked, amused.

Sean clapped him on the back. "You should know by now that Captain America is literally the best in the world at motivational speeches. Literally the best. Better than Mel Gibson in Braveheart, or Aragorn in Lord of the Rings," Sean laughed.

Sam shrugged before putting his goggles back on and smiling. Steve put his helmet back on, and the three of them headed out of the tower, Hill staying behind to man the technology. Captain America, the Patriot, and Falcon exited the building just as the Insight bay doors opened, and the three helicarriers began their ascent.

"Hey Cap, how do we know the good guys from the bad?" Sam asked as they ran along.

"If they're shooting at you, they're bad," Steve said helpfully before he and Sean leapt off the edge of the runway and fell at least fifty feet to the carrier below as Sam activated his wings and took off into the sky. Steve and Sean landed with a roll before they immediately took fire from some HYDRA soldiers on board. The two brothers sprinted for cover behind some crates on deck before the soldiers advanced.

Sean drew his sword and prepared for close combat in the confined space, something he excelled at. The close quarters would take away the advantage of HYDRA's guns. Sean peered around a corner just as two HYDRA soldiers appeared. With an enraged battle-cry, Sean charged them, cutting them to ribbons in mere seconds with several precise cuts of his sword.

Sean had just scared himself. The anger of HYDRA's continued existence all these years with Sean's help had brought the submerged cold killer Sean used to be back to the surface. He was killing for revenge, out of anger, rather than a desire to save people. But at that point, he didn't care. Steve was too occupied to notice anyways.

Sean sprinted and took cover between two quinjets, drawing the HYDRA soldiers in for the kill. They thought they were hunting Sean, but he was really hunting them. As soon as the first one reared his ugly head, it was separated from his shoulders by one savage strike from Sean's sword. Raising the blood-soaked blade, he sliced the next one completely in half at the waist before driving his sword through a third's chest, impaling him to the concrete.

"Hey Cap! Found those bad guys you were talking about," Sean heard Sam say over comms as he withdrew his sword.

"You okay?" came Steve's concerned reply.

Off in the distance, Sean could see one of the helicarriers firing what looked like blindly in the air, but Sean figured they were shooting at Sam. "I'm not dead, yet," Sam replied.

Sean peeked out from behind the quinjet, seeing another group of maybe six or seven HYDRA agents. Wordlessly, he ducked out and charged them. Topping out at over forty miles an hour, Sean shoulder charged the first guy before he'd even gotten a shot off, killing him instantly. The others opened fire, but Sean was so filled with rage and adrenaline that the bullet impacts didn't register in his brain. He danced his deadly dance among them, leaving pieces of each one on the ground before looking up as the last one died.

"Alright, Cap. I'm in," Sam said. "Shit."

Sean figured that because of the second part, Sam wasn't in yet. Out of the corner of his eye, Sean saw Steve duck inside the helicarrier. Steve could handle himself on his own from here, so Sean decided to hijack a jet. He jumped in the nearest quinjet, starting it up and taking off. He flew it straight from helicarrier Alpha, where he'd just come from, to helicarrier Charlie, the furthest one away.

Seeing a group of HYDRA, Sean aimed the jet for them before popping the canopy and somersaulting out, landing on one knee as the jet crashed into the HYDRA soldiers with an explosion. Sean was about to duck inside to insert the Charlie targeting blade, before he was blindsided by the strongest punch he'd ever taken.

He flew maybe ten feet before rising back to his feet. Turning to face his new adversary, Sean saw it was now a maskless Bucky Barnes. "Bucky, I don't know what they did to you, but snap out of it," he began. When Bucky didn't move, Sean sighed. "Alright, I guess it has to be the hard way."

Bucky drew a pistol on him and aimed at Sean, who slid to avoid the bullets. He jumped back to his feet and kicked Bucky in the side of the knee, then uppercutted him before the metal arm impacted with the side of his head, sending him reeling.

He quickly recovered and held his sword out in front of him, he and Bucky sizing eachother up again. "Nonlethal," Sean said quietly.

The sword obeyed, and the two ridged stars that were on either side of the blade split into several small plates, that attached themselves to the edges of the sword, effectively dulling it. It was now beveled on the edges, and the tip was curved, rather than pointed.

"Buck, I don't want to have to hurt you, but believe me, I will," Sean tried, only answered with a guttural growl from Bucky, who charged him again. Sean stepped forward and brought the sword in a low sweep at Bucky's feet, but the enhanced HYDRA soldier lightly jumped over and engaged Sean in close quarters. Going for Sean's ribs and abdomen like body shots in boxing, Bucky let him have it. Sean could only take so much before he grabbed Bucky's right forearm and locked his metal arm in place with the hilt of the sword and Sean's wrist. They stared at eachother for a few seconds, Sean's pain-filled brown eyes contrasting with Bucky's steely blue gaze.

Sean broke the lock with a headbutt, and Bucky stumbled back as Sean regained his position. Advancing on Bucky, Sean executed a series of light jabs and thrusts, followed by and overhead swing that Bucky caught between his palms before kicking Sean in the chest and stealing his sword.

"Lethal," Bucky said forcefully, with the sword now in his right hand.

"Ah, shit," Sean said as the small metal plates receded and reformed the stars on either side. "I really need some voice recognition software on that thing."

Sean took a defensive stance, his new priority to avoid the deadly sharp blade. Bucky charged him again, swinging the sword towards Sean;s neck. Sean ducked before rolling to the right as the sword impacted the concrete where he used to be. Standing up, Sean grabbed Bucky's metal arm by the wrist to keep himself from being cut in half by the next swipe of the sword.

Bucky stared at him with cold intensity before kicking Sean in the knee, causing it to fold backwards. As Sean crumpled to a heap on the ground, now unable to stand on two legs temporarily, Bucky drove it straight through the middle of Sean's chest, just below the sternum. Sean yelled in pain as Bucky lifted him up off the ground and walked the helpless Sean towards the helicarrier's bridge.

Bucky lifted Sean up and drove the sword to the hilt through Sean and into the metal wall behind him, leaving him suspended in the air. Sean gripped weakly at the hilt protruding from his chest, but all his strength was being sapped. His healing factor was preventing him from losing consciousness, but the wound itself was taxing his strength completely. Sean looked down at Bucky, who simple turned away and headed off, presumably to find Steve.

"Steve-" Sean began before a cough wracked his body, causing even more pain.

"Sean, are you alright?" Steve asked.

Sean steadied himself. "Bucky's here. I'm down for the count. I'll see you when this is over," Sean managed as he tried once again to pull the sword out of himself.

"Where are you?" Steve almost demanded.

"Don't worry about me, finish the mission," Sean insisted.

"No, I'll-" Steve started to say before being cut off.

"Goddammit Steve, save the damn world. I'll live, hopefully," Sean said. He was relieved when he didn't hear a reply from Steve.

Maybe this is finally what kills me in seventy years of pain and nightmares, Sean thought as the helicarrier fell from the sky.

He was going through all the usual deathbed emotions and thoughts. Strangely, though, his mind didn't stay on Steve for too long, as his memories were suddenly filled with a certain redhead.

I'm sorry, Nat, Sean thought as the helicarrier impacted with the river.

The concrete and steel runway split apart, and the bridge began to crumble. A crack appeared in the wall of the metal building, and the sword somehow slid out. Sean would have been relieved, except he was not plummeting hundreds of feet towards an unforgiving river, with a sword still in his chest. He grasped the hilt and pulled the sword out of his chest just as he hit the water.

Sean immediately swam back to the surface before taking as deep a breath as he could with the hole still in his chest. His blood was spreading through the water around him. Sean was pretty sure he'd be shark food if this was the ocean. Regardless, he began to swim to shore. The opposite one from the Triskelion, because a helicarrier was currently flattening the SHIELD base of operations.

When Sean reached the shore, he laid on his back, legs still in the water, and gave his body time to heal before he had to move again. Sean was soaked, bleeding, and tired. All he wanted to do was take a damn nap.

In fact, I think I'll just take one right here, Sean thought to himself before his eyes shut and he allowed himself to drift off.

"Wake up, you big idiot," Sean heard.

Wait a minute, I know that voice, he thought before opening his eyes. He was greeted by the face of Natasha Romanoff, the woman he loved. She was kneeling in the mud next to him, shaking his big frame awake, her beautiful red hair framing her face as she looked down at him with those irresistible green eyes.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again," she scolded after slapping him across the cheek.

"Ow," Sean said with a slight smirk. Natasha smiled amusedly before leaning in and pressing her soft cherry red lips to his. Sean lost himself in the moment. This was all he'd wanted ever since he saw her on that SHIELD helicarrier two years ago.

Sean wanted to stay that way forever, but he lightly pushed her off him. "Where's Steve?" he asked seriously.

Natasha's grim expression told him everything he needed to know. "How bad?" he asked quietly.

"He'll live, but he's hurt bad, Sean," she said. Sean breathed a sigh of relief. At least he's alive. I'd never forgive myself if my brother had died cleaning up a mess I helped create, he thought.

In the two days since Steve had been admitted to the hospital, Sean hadn't left his side. Natasha would come every now and they and curl up with Sean as they waited patiently for Steve to open his eyes. Sam had decided to visit today, and was setting up his portable stereo system, plugging his phone in before playing Marvin Gaye's Trouble Man.

Sam sat down on Steve's right to read a book while Sean stayed in his spot on Steve's left. Sean closed his eyes for a few minutes to clear his thoughts, losing himself in the soothing music before he heard the best sound he'd heard in a long time.

Steve's raspy voice sounded on Sean's right, speaking to Sam. "On your left."