Anna gripped Bucky's arm tightly, her gaze trained on the soldiers that were in front of them.
"A super soldier and our little science project." Ivanoff sneered at the two. "What a prize indeed. You've been a very bad girl indeed Anna."
Anna whimpered quietly, and Bucky pulled her closer to him. "You aren't going to be touching a single hair on her head Ivanoff."
"You know who I am. How touching." Ivanoff placed a hand on his heart. "But the thing is, I'm going to be doing whatever I want. You know why that is? Because I can. Seize them."
Bucky looked at Anna. "I want you to run." He told her. "Just past the Compound, there's some woods, they won't be able to find you in there. I'll come looking for you once I've dealt with these guys."
"But Bucky-"
"Just do as I say. Now go!" Bucky launched himself into battle, and Anna took off running while the soldiers were distracted with him. Everywhere battle raged. Clint and Natasha were fighting a group of soldiers, as were Tony and Taylor.
Anna ran out the door and towards the woods that Bucky had mentioned, not looking back once, his words echoing in her head. I'll come looking for you.
Branches scratched Anna's face and arms as she went deeper and deeper into the woods. Bucky was right, these woods were so dense that the HYDRA soldiers would have a hard time finding her in here. Anna just hoped that Bucky would survive, and that he would come to find her like he had promised.
The soldiers had been nothing for Bucky, and once Ivanoff realized that this was a losing battle, he had quickly taken off running. Bucky scoffed. 'Coward' he thought to himself as he lunged at Ivanoff, tackling him to the ground. One swift punch knocked the guy out, Bucky knew that there would be questions that Tony would probably be wanting to ask the agent.
Speaking of, Tony and Taylor walked up just then. Taylor had some scratches on her face, and Tony's suit was banged up a bit, but other than that they looked alright.
"Where's Anna at?" Taylor asked. "Did they get her?"
Bucky shook his head. "No, I had her run off into the woods."
Tony sighed. "We're gonna have a hell of a time finding her, those woods are like a labyrinth."
"We have to find her, I told her that I would come for her." Bucky kicked at Ivanoff's side. "What do we do with this guy?"
"Put him in one of the cells. We can question him later, after we find Anna and get her back safe and sound."
Bucky dragged Ivanoff off, and Tony looked at Taylor. "You know the woods better than any of us, do you think that you'd be able to find her?"
Taylor nodded her head. "I know those woods like the back of my hand. She probably went as deep inside as she possibly could. I'll find her."
Anna wasn't sure how much time had passed. Minutes? Hours? She had climbed a tree, settling down on one of its thick branches. Her legs dangled off of either side of the branch, and she kept her gaze fixed on the ground, looking, waiting to see if anyone was going to be coming. Whether it was friend or foe, only time would tell. Then, she heard it, the breaking of branches as someone was walking through the woods. Was it Bucky? Or had Ivanoff dealt with him and was now coming in search of her?
Anna leaned forward, placing her hands on the branch in order to stabilize herself and keep her balance as she tried to figure out who it was. A familiar female figure came into view, and Anna let out a cry of relief before climbing down the tree as quickly as she could, running into the waiting arms of Taylor.
"Are you okay?" Taylor asked her, her fingers lightly brushing against the scratches that were on Anna's face that had by this time scabbed over.
"I'm fine." Anna assured her. "What about the others? Are they all okay? Is Bucky..." She didn't want to finish her sentence, starting to fear the worst.
"Bucky's fine. He would have come looking for you, but he doesn't know the woods as well as I do. We have Ivanoff in custody, he isn't going to hurt you anymore. Once we get back and get you cleaned up, Dad wants you to be there while he's questioning Ivanoff, would you be okay with that?"
Anna nodded her head. "Yeah, I think so."
"Good. Come on, let's head back, Bucky is worried sick about you."
It took an hour by the time the girls made it out of the woods and into the clearing that led to the Compound. Bucky was waiting by the entrance, his eyes scanning the woods as he anxiously waited for the girls to come out. When he saw Anna's figure, looking so small and fragile next to Taylor, he wasted no time in running towards them. He swooped Anna up into a tight embrace before pressing his lips to hers.
Anna kissed him back, and it took her a minute to realize that Bucky was crying. "Bucky..." She whispered as she wiped away his tears.
"I was so scared." He whispered to her. "I was so scared that one of the HYDRA guys would be the one to find you, and not Taylor."
"Buck, it's okay, I'm alright." She ran a hand through his hair. "It's over now, I'm alright, I'm safe."
Taylor went inside, allowing the two to have their intimate moment.
"How is she?" Tony asked Taylor.
"She's alright, just a bit scratched up." Taylor responded as the two went into the kitchen so that Taylor could grab a bottle of water from the fridge. "I think that it's safe to say that Bucky is worse off than she is at the moment. I would wait to interrogate Ivanoff until the morning, after Anna has had some rest."
Taylor thought that all of their troubles were over now, but as it turned out, their troubles were only just beginning.