You freeze as Rogers is almost thrown off the side of the Helicarrier by the Soldier. The Soldier grabs Sam by one of his wings and throws him to the ground.
"Sam!" You call into the headset, "Do not engage! Repeat, do not engage! Get me up there!" It's silent for a moment and you shift nervously before Sam dives off the edge, avoiding fire from the Soldier. Sam grabs you around the waist before soaring upwards, towards the Helicarrier. A wire shoots past you and hits one of Sam's wings, yanking him to the ground with you trapped beneath him. You hear a metallic groan as one of his wings are ripped off and then he's off of you, flying off the edge of the carrier. You grab the Soldier's leg, yanking him to the ground and roll on top of him, pinning him down with your weight.
"Will you just listen for a second?" You growl as he struggles, "I'm not your-" The Soldier slams his head forward, his eyes meeting yours before his forehead hits your nose with a sickening crunch. You weren't aware of releasing his arm until the metal one comes up and hits your jaw, sending you skidding back on to the pavement with dark spots blooming in front of your eyes.
Dimly you can hear Sam and Rogers talking through your headset. They were both okay. That was good. You try and blink away the spots in your vision, and you succeed in time to see the Soldier hovering above you, gun in hand. You roll to the side as he fires two shots where your head had been just moments before and scramble to your feet. You grab his wrist as he fires another shot, aiming it down while you swing your elbow around to catch his jaw.
The soldier swings his leg and catches yours, but you use your momentum as you go down to knock his feet out from under him as well. You grab his metal arm and twist it behind his back, pinning him down once again. "Come on," You tell him, "You know me. We're partners-" Wiggling his free arm loose he flips himself over, landing on top of you and knocking the wind out of you. He slams his head backwards, nailing you again, and then he's on his feet, gun pointed in your direction. His eyes watch you warily as you look up at him, panting.
"I know you're probably confused-" You cut off with a sharp cry as he pulls the trigger. Your tactical suit had been due for repair before you had taken your leave of HYDRA, and at this point was looking threadbare at best. His bullet goes right through the material and into the meat of your thigh, leaving a trail of white hot pain in its wake.
"Stay down."
You let your head fall back onto the hard pavement beneath you as he turns and walks away, your leg burning with agonizing pain. In your earpiece you can hear the sound of Rogers engaging the Soldier down below and you wince as you push yourself up into a sitting position. You slip your combat knife from the holster on your thigh and cut a strip of fabric from the arm of the top layer of your tactical suit. You steel yourself against the pain as you methodologically tie it around the bullet wound, pulling it taught to slow the flood of blood.
You take a deep breath before you slowly climb to your feet, testing your injured limb. Putting weight on it was agonizing; but you force the sensation to the back of your mind. You would have plenty of time to lick your wounds later if you survived this, if not, well it wouldn't bother you for much longer anyway.
You spot the pair of soldiers on the lower level, just in time to see the Solder heave Rogers' shield at him, sending him tumbling backwards. You take a deep breath and let it out before you throw yourself over the edge to the bottom of the carrier. Your leg collapses the moment you land and you hit the ground, pain shooting up your hip as it hits a metal rivet in the flooring.
You hear bullets ringing off of Rogers' shield and you force yourself up again. As you approach you see that he's gained the upper hand as he has the Soldier pinned to the ground. Once the Soldier drops the chip Rogers rises to his feet, and sees you.
"Go!" You shout to him, "I've got him." You drop down to your knees next to him, rolling him over onto his back. You push back his hair, pressing two fingers against the flesh of his neck. A steady throb meets your gentle probing and you let out a sigh of relief.
His fist hits your jaw like a freight truck and sends you tumbling to the side. You start to get up and he puts another bullet, this one in your abdomen, just above your hip bone. You fumble for your gun and he kicks it away from you, leaving two of your fingers broken. Satisfied, he turns away from you and begins firing at Steve. From the sound he makes, at least some of them hit their mark.
"Soldier," You call, your hand pressed to your hip. He glances back at you and you give him a shaky smile, "I know you know I'm not your enemy. Otherwise you would have killed me topside."
"You belong to HYDRA. You'll be taken back in."
You snort weakly at that, "Bullshit. You have orders to kill me on sight. I know how HYDRA operates. But you didn't. You know me. Now let us save you."
The Soldier stares at you for a moment before he turns away and fires another shot; this time Rogers collapses, a red stain blooming on the fabric of his suit. You're out of time; before the Soldier can take another shot you pull your tactical knife and bury it into the meat of his calf. He lets out a cry of surprise and falls to one knee next to you. Rogers struggles to his feet and shoves the chip into place, immediately you hear Hill in your ear, "Okay guys, get out of there."
Rogers looks down at you on the ground, and his face looks white against the blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. You nod at your injury and shake your head.
"Fire now," Steve responds, his voice breathless.
"But Steve-"
"Do it!" He snaps, "Do it now!" As the first shot rings out the Soldier launches into action once again. He pulls the knife from his leg and tosses it away from you before grabbing you by your throat and lifting you to your feet. The helicarrier shudders as it's hit and metal starts falling around you. You manage to twist out of the Soldier's grip and throw yourself backwards. The pain when you hit the ground threatens to overwhelm you but you keep moving, rolling out of the way as a twisted car sized piece of metal hits the ground just inches away from where you had landed a few seconds earlier.
You start to get to your feet and something hits you in the back, pinning you onto your stomach. You can see the Soldier several feet away, struggling under a large piece of fallen rubble; he meets your eyes and you can see the first vestiges of fear in his own. Rogers stumbles to your level and starts in your direction.
"Get him," You shout, waving him away with the arm not trapped at your side, "I'm fine!"
He looks at you once doubtfully before heading in the direction of his old friend. You try to stand up but can't lift the metal that had you pinned. Instead you twist your body, testing your range of movement. You manage to get one foot cocked under you and you slowly push your way forward. The wounds on your hip and thigh scream in protest as you drag them across the ground and your fingers are white hot as you push them into the ground to give yourself the leverage you need to escape.
"You know me," You hear Rogers say and you look over to see the Soldier freed from the rubble.
"No I don't!" The Soldier screams in response, lunging forward and hitting him hard. Rogers stumbles but stays on his feet.
"Bucky," He tries again, "You've known me your whole life." The Soldier swings again and you resume your efforts to free yourself.
"Your name is James Buchanan Barnes," Rogers pants.
"Shut up!" He hits him a third time, and for the third time Rogers climbs to his feet.
"Cap!" You shout, halfway out now, "Just go!"
He ignores you, "I'm not going to fight you," You watch in horror as he drops his shield and it falls through a hole in the bottom of the carrier, "You're my friend."
With a cry the Soldier rushes him, tackling him to the ground, "You're my mission!" He says, before pounding his fist into Rogers' jaw repeatedly, "You're. My. Mission!"
"Then finish it," Rogers says quietly and you watch surprised as the Soldier hesitates, arm cocked back, "Cause I'm with you to the end of the line."
You finally slip out and you cross the space between you in two short strides, tackling the Soldier away from Rogers before he could decide whether he was going to finish it after all. When the two of you hit the ground the floor beneath you gives way, sending you three of you tumbling from the carrier.
The water feels like cement when you hit it and you flail uselessly as you try to right yourself. The force of your tackle had knocked the wind out of you and you hadn't had time to catch your breath. You pay for that now as you inadvertently take a breath, water rushing down into your throat. Lungs and throat burning you make a last ditch effort and propel yourself in a random direction, praying it was the surface. You hit something in the water, probably a piece of the ship and know you hadn't been heading in the right direction; black butterflies bloom in front of your eyelids and you let your body go slack. This is okay. You were dying, but you could accept that.
It was disorienting to say the least when your head breaches the surface. You let out a sputtering cough, water pouring from your mouth as you empty your lungs of the cool liquid. It took a second to realize that you were being dragged to shore. You peel open your burning eyes and see the blue of the Captain's uniform. He was okay. You were okay.
You hit the sand with a whimpering sigh, your side and leg both white hot with pain. You can see the blurred outline of the Soldier above you, "You know we're not your enemies," Your voice comes out soft and raspy, "You wouldn't have pulled us out otherwise. Please. Let us help you," Your voice breaks, "Let me help you."
He stares at you a moment, his expression broken, and then turns away. "No!" You try and climb to your feet, but you slump back down as your leg goes out from under you. "Do not leave me here!" You let out an angry scream that tears at your throat, but he still doesn't turn back.
An angry sob escapes your throat and then he's gone. You turn your attention back to Rogers. You're too weak to get up so you drag yourself over to him and to your relief he's still breathing. You pull him half into your lap, pressing your hands over the injuries you can see. "It's okay Steve," You tell him quietly, "You're okay. Someone's gonna come help you."
While Steve was shipped off to a hospital, Natasha patches you up in a nearby motel. "I'm not a doctor you know," She reminds you as she finishes the stitches in your leg.
"I'm not big on doctors anyway," You sit up as she rolls backwards in the office chair to toss her bloodied gloves into the trash can. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it," She turns towards the door, "I'm going to advise Rogers not to go after him," She pauses, "And I like you, so I'm going to advise you to do the same."
"He's not going to listen to you," You tell her.
"And neither are you," She turns to smile at you, "I'm sure we'll see each other soon."
"We've been data-mining HYDRA's files. Looks like a lot of rats didn't go down with the ship. I'm headed to Europe tonight, wanted to ask if you'd come." Why Fury wanted to meet you guys at his own grave, you'd never understand.
"There's something I gotta do first." Steve says, and Fury nods.
"How about you Wilson? Could use a man with your abilities."
"I'm more of a soldier than a spy."
"(Y/n)?" You startle at being addressed.
"I've had enough HYDRA for a lifetime," You tell him carefully, "I think I'm just going to lay low for a while."
"Alright then," Fury says, and shakes each of your hands, "Anybody asks for me, tell them they can find me right here." As he walks away, Romanoff walks over.
"You should be honored," She tells Steve, "That's about as close as he gets to saying thank you."
"You're not going with him?"
"No." She smiles.
"Not staying here?"
"I blew all my covers. I gotta go figure out a new one."
"That might take awhile."
Natasha smiles, "I'm counting on it. That thing you asked for, I called in a few favors from Kiev," She hands Steve a file, "Will you do me a favor? Call that nurse."
"She's not a nurse."
"And you're not a SHIELD agent," Romanoff counters.
"What was her name again?"
"Sharon. She's nice." She leans up and plants a kiss on Steve's cheek. "Be careful Steve. You might not want to pull on that thread." As she walks away Steve opens the file, and you catch a glimpse of the Soldier's face.
"You're going after him?" Sam asks, and Steve looks up.
"You don't have to come with me."
"I know. When do we start?" Sam grins and you feel your own lips rise in a smile.
"I think now is a pretty good time," You say, and Steve looks at you in surprise, "Don't look at me like that. We're both looking for him. Might as well look together." Steve claps the hand not in a sling onto your shoulder, giving it a light squeeze.
"Thank you."