Chapter 10: Surprise Attack

TW: Violence

An alarm immediately began to sound in the factory. Its shrill tone buzzed in my head; the tone made me cover my ears, dropping the dagger I was holding to the floor. Remember the plan, I reminded myself. I reached down and grabbed the dagger I had dropped and went over the exit strategy. Now that the gates were open, I needed make my way out of the factory and its surrounding grounds and find Colonel Phillips who was supposed to be stationed outside.

I hastily left the control room and snuck down the hallway as quickly as I could. Hydra soldiers mobilized, and many groups of three or four of them stomped through the halls. I tried my best to duck down around corners or in doorways. I did not want to be spotted. I needed to make it out without anyone in Hydra realizing I was there. Just knowing that I was right under Red Skull's nose, and he didn't know it gave me a thrill of excitement. I smirked to myself as I imagined him being outraged later.

Someone yelled ahead of me, and I dove through an open door and into a small room. What I though was some sort of utility closet turned out to be a weapon storage area. There were a variety of guns and other weapons, all laid out on tables and shelves as if someone were taking inventory. Something glinted in the far corner, and I turned to see Cap's shield, tucked away behind a set of shelves.

This must have been the room where they put the Commandos' weapons when they were captured! I didn't have the capability to gather up all the guns, but I was not going to leave Captain America's shield behind. I dashed and grabbed, then strung it on my left arm. I tightened the straps so that it was secure and wouldn't fall as I left.

I marveled at how light the shield felt, and how right it seemed on my arm. I wondered if this was how Steve felt holding it, and the thought made me suddenly giggle like a little fangirl. Oh my gosh, I was actually holding Captain America's shield! I hopped up and down a little thinking about how I could use the shield to bash my way out of the factory. Calm down, Maddie! I took a couple of deep, steadying breath to regain my composure. I wasn't out of the fire yet, and this certainly was not the time to go to pieces.

I turned and headed out of the room and back into the hallway. I paused, going over the exit strategy I had practiced with Peggy and Howard. Loud, distant booms came from somewhere outside, and I knew that Colonel Phillips had launched the final offensive.

I went back to the path I had memorized, but I realized that I had somehow gotten further into the factory rather than out of it. One way or another, my sneaking through the halls hadn't worked, and now everything seemed different. For one thing, there seemed to be way more Hydra soldiers than what intel had accounted for. Large groups of heavily armed men in black now swarmed the halls, making it harder and hard to find quick hiding places in my escape. Add in the fact that Captain America's shield was a red, white, and blue beacon on my arm, I was easy to spot.

The booms, gunshots, and blasts were now inside the building, and smoke flitted from some destruction in the factory. I jogged down the halls, getting closer and closer to the fight, which was definitely not the plan. I was improvising now, and hoped that Peggy and Phillips would forgive me later. As I got closer to the battle, the amount of injured soldiers (from both sides), and lifeless bodies increased. Smoke filled the air from some of the blasts as well and made my lungs burn and my eyes water. I avoided looking at the dead bodies around me so to not see the blankness in their eyes and faces. My heart thumped wildly in my chest and I started at the sound of people yelling and the rapid firing of gun fire.

Suddenly, a laser blast headed my way. I caught the blue flash out of the corner of my eye; I instinctively held up the shield, phasing out the blue beam in a puff of atomic matter. I lowered the shield with a look of shock. My eyes darted from the shield and then down the hall, where I could see a giant hole in the wall of the factory. That was my way out, but I was stuck. All around me there were tons of people fighting and yelling now. There didn't look like there was any clear path for me to leave.

"Maddie!" A voice called out to me through the din of battle. I looked around and spotted Peggy Carter down the hall, near the blown-out wall.

"Peggy!" I yelled back. I tried to push past a large group of soldiers, but I only succeeded in being pushed backwards.

"Grenade!" The shout instantly silenced the hallway some as a cylindrical object flew through the air, and landed with a sharp plink on the floor.

People scattered then. I cried out as the mad rush of people pushed me backwards. My back slammed against a wall and I winced. The grenade exploded, and the world fuzzed out for me visually and audibly. The blast knocked me harder against the wall once more, and I felt it suddenly give way. I realized too late that it had been a door, not the wall I had slammed into. I called out for Peggy as I stumbled backwards, looking around frantically to see where I was. I realized too late that I was in a stairwell; I had not time to correct my footing or grab a railing as my right foot sunk unexpectedly down a step, and my legs crumpled.

With loud clangs and crashes, I fell down a long flight of stairs. I cried out as pain erupted all over my body from the fall. The stairs felt sharp, and I was sure that some bones were breaking in the process. The shield, still attached to my arm, hit wall and stairs alike, wrenching my arm one way and then the other. It felt like I was falling for an eternity before I finally crashed through some flimsy door and onto a dirt floor.

I slammed hard on my back in the dirt. The shield, its straps loosened with the fall, skittered off my arm and away from me on impact. I hacked and gasped as al the air within my lungs rapidly disappeared and dust settled in my mouth.

"What is this?" A harsh voice hissed and I breathlessly scrambled to my feet.

I must have been in the bowels of the factory; the very bottom, almost like a cellar that contained a secret transit tunnel. A large supply truck lumbered a little way down the tunnel, heading out of the factory. There were other small jeeps also lined up and ready to go, but my attention was caught by something else. Johann Schmidt stood in front of me in all his Red Skull glory, no longer masked. The sight of his true face made me sick, not in disgust, but in fear.

"Oh god," I muttered, taking a step backward, away from him. Numbly, I turned my head and looked around the room.

Captain America kneeled before Red Skull with his arms bound behind his back. There was a trickle of blood coming from the corner of his mouth, and his face was dirtied. It was evident that he had been in some physical fight. Behind him, all kneeling in a line were the Howling Commandos with two, armed Hydra soldiers standing behind them. I looked at their faces, noting their tired expressions and beat-up bodies. They looked like they had been through hell, but there was still a spark of defiance in them all.

"They believed the ruse and sent the girl, Captain." Red Skull chuckled darkly.

My mouth dropped open a little and my blood ran cold. Ruse? My mind flashed back to the briefing room in London, and how I had given thought to what I couldn't believe. I had questioned whether Captain America was in his right mind when he sent the message, or that Red Skull had sent it, and the latter had proven true. We had played right into Red Skull's plan, and that made everything I had just done to get here useless.

"What simpletons," Red Skull's voice pulled me back to the horror of the moment. "I expected the girl to willingly believe it, but not your leaders, Captain America." He sneered, spitting out Cap's name bitterly.

Red Skull had his own personal Tesseract pistol in his hand. When I had crashed in, it must have been pointed at Steve, but then was pointed to the ground. He suddenly turned rapidly and raised the gun at me. Steve tried to lunge to his feet but winced and only managed to get one foot out from under himself.

"Don't!" He snapped angrily, and Red Skull's grin turned wicked.

In that moment I was paralyzed. Fear and panic replaced the sick realization of Red Skull's plan, and time seemed to freeze around me. I felt like I was floating outside of my body watching everything unfold in front of me. My simple mission of opening the gate had taken a sharp turn and dropped me right in front of the only super villain who truly scared me to death.

"I won't shoot her, Captain," Red Skull assured Captain America. "She'll be coming with me, back to her rightful place with Hydra."

No one said anything, the only sounds came from above us as the fighting continued. The occasional boom of some sort of explosion shook the ceiling. I could feel myself trembling and my heart racing to the point where I didn't know if air was even reaching my struggling lungs. Through my self-made mist of fear and doom looming in my conscious, I made myself mentally take stock of the situation. Red Skull had waiting vehicles, Steve was pulled away from his Commandos, and two Hydra soldiers had Tesseract-Powered weapons pointed on them.

I glanced down at one of my belts of knives and cursed silently. My tumble down the stairs had knocked many of my knives loose. They were probably now scattered in the stairwell, long forgotten. There were only three solitary knives strapped to the belt in question, and I reminded myself that I had Carter tucked away in my left boot still. A hazy plan began to form in my head, piercing through the darkness that threatened to make me just give up. Once it solidified in my mind, my eyes snapped to Steve, who raised his eyebrows when he saw the serious expression on my face.

"Maddie, no," He mouthed silently, guessing at what I was about to do next.

Red Skull saw the exchange and narrowed his eyes at Steve, and then at me. We locked stares for just a moment as I pulled the three knives from my belt. The swirling blue mist returned to my vision as I continued to glare at Red Skull. His expression changed, but I didn't stop to look too closely at it. I turned and narrowed my eyes at the two guards behind the Commandos. The strings tightened in two places, and I immediately stepped into action.

I gave a small grunt as I threw the first knife, turned my attention to the second set of swirling strings and threw the second. I then dove at Red Skull, tackling him to the ground. He let out a strangled cry as we collided and fell onto the ground, tussling in the dirt. His pistol flew through the air and landed far away in the dust. In our struggle, Red Skull landed a fierce punch into my right side, making me gasp loudly. I felt something pop and crack within me but ignored it as I kicked myself away from him and crawled quickly to Steve.

I hoisted myself up to my knees and used my last knife to free Cap's hands. I looked around and spotted his shield not too far off, and quickly grabbed it. I thrust it back into his hands as he got to his feet.

"Get the others!" I barked, handing him the knife I had used on him. Steve opened his mouth to protest, but I shoved him behind me and turned to see Red Skull back on his feet going for his pistol.

I rushed past Red Skull and headed for the gun, hoping to get to it first. He jolted and reached out to stop me, but my ducked down and grabbed the cold metal of the handle. I straightened up and turned, pointing the glowing weapon at him. He stopped and held his hands up defensively, but the look of angry death on his face made me shudder.

"Will you have the nerve to pull the trigger this time?" He asked loudly, obviously referring to Barnard's failed attempt to kidnap me back in London. "Even then you couldn't make the shot truly count."

I tensed but kept the gun pointed at him. The calm vigor I had displayed previously started to vanish as I thought back to that instance. Nerves, both anxious and full of fear, began to take over as I recalled the turmoil I had faced after shooting Barnard. I had hated it, the recoil, the sound, the sight of bloodied flesh on my enemy. If I shot Red Skull now, I would surely kill him, blast him to bits with concentrated Tesseract energy. My breath hitched at the thought of seeing that happen, and I glanced at Steve who was finishing up freeing his squad from their bindings with the help of Dugan and Bucky.

Red Skull took advantage of my distracted thoughts and struck. He smashed into me, once again knocking the air out of my lungs. To be honest, there was hardly any air in them anyways, and it only served to create more pain in my chest. I stumbled backwards as he yanked the gun from my hands. He swept one of his legs beneath me, knocking my legs out from under me. I landed hard on my back in the dirt, coughing and gasping.

"Maddie!" Bucky's voice called out as Red Skull stomped a booted foot on top of my chest.

My asthma was already at its breaking point, and now it was in full force, evident in my wheezing gasps and coughs for precious air. I must have looked like a fish out of water; I squeezed my eyes shut as pain burned all over me. The taste of copper coated my mouth, and even more so when Red Skull stomped his foot one more time on my chest. I cried out in pain as I felt and heard a few more cracks from my ribs. I was blinking rapidly now, fighting back tears and darkness that threatened the edge of my vision.

"Do not move!" The crazed maniac yelled loudly. He pointed the gun at me and narrowed his eyes towards the Captain and his squad. Bucky must have tried to get to me because I could see Steve holding him back.

I shakily reached out to Bucky and Steve with my right hand. I couldn't speak, and my trembling hand looked strange, almost alien as it tried to reach them. Both Steve and Bucky looked angry and conflicted, but I was having a hard time focusing.

I was in so much pain; my lungs burned from lack of oxygen, and my ribs were all pins and needles from the various points where they were cracked and broken. My vision was starting to blur, but I fought it, refusing to let myself lose consciousness. I was afraid that if I did, I would wake up in a Hydra base, and Red Skull would be victorious.

In the haze of pain and fuzz, I looked back up at Red Skull who was saying something to Bucky and Steve, but I couldn't hear anything through a ringing in my ears. Whatever was said made Bucky and Steve take a collective step backwards, and I could only assume that my life had been threatened in some way if they got any closer.

The swirling blue strings returned to my vision. I watched them swirl and move toward my left side. It was like the strings were trying to divert my attention to something else; I didn't know to what, until I followed it. I craned my neck to look down towards my legs. My right leg was laid out, but my left one was crooked up a little, with my foot planted firmly on the ground. I figured I looked like I was leisurely relaxing instead of ignoring my impending capture or death.

The blue misty strings suddenly tightened around my left foot, and I remembered the weapon hidden within it. For some reason, I had forgotten about the knife I had lovingly named Carter tucked away there. The gift from Peggy suddenly seemed obvious in my boot, as if the swirling mist strings were reminding me that it was there. A new burst of hope swelled in me as I strained to reach into my boot and grasp the hilt of the small blade. I pulled it out with the sheath staying firmly planted in my boot.

"Red Skull!" I snapped, my voice sounding hoarse and wheezy. He looked down at me as if he were obliging a small child, and then saw the glint of the knife in my left hand.

His lips curled into a snarl, and he said something that didn't make it past the rushing, roaring noise still in my ears. I could tell from his look that he was basically telling me that there was nothing I could do, but he was wrong. I gripped the hilt of the knife tightly, my knuckles turning white from the effort. The strings returned to my vision, and I took a deep breath, or as deep of a breath I could.

"Hydra will never be my rightful place!" I yelled furiously, and then stabbed the knife deep into the leg that kept me planted to the ground.

He yelled out in pain, a sound that seared itself into my memory, and the pressure he was using to keep me pinned eased up considerably. I managed to push his foot of me and rolled to the side, keeping Peggy's knife close to my chest so I didn't inadvertently stab myself in the process. A pair of arms hastily picked me up and held me. I started to struggle but saw that it was only Captain America and I practically sobbed with a tiny laugh.

Above us the ceiling rumbled, and pieces of it and dirt fell to the floor by us. That was our cue to escape, and the Captain didn't waste any time in leading the way out. He and the Commandos rushed to the stairwell I had crashed down and started heading up to escape.

I had forgotten about Johann Schmidt as we made our way up the stairs. Like a minor shock, I wondered what had happened to him. Had we captured him? Had he escaped? I wanted to ask Steve, but when I opened my mouth, I realized that I wasn't breathing, and hadn't been breathing for a little bit. The sudden realization made me gasp and sputter a little violently, and I grasped Captain America's shoulders tightly. His body tensed up when I startled him, and then we crashed through another door into a hallway filled with smoke and fire.

"Hang on Blue!" Cap said, looking around for the next path to freedom.

"Steve, hand her over and lead us out!" Someone said, and I blinked blurrily as I was passed into someone else's arms, and Steve took the lead once more.

I continued to gasp for air in whosever arms I was in, trying to clear my lungs with the little air there was around us. I was wheezing so badly that I could feel my chest rumbling with every breath, accompanied by the pain. In that daze, my mind wandered back over the previous events.

The mission had taken so many wrong turns! All I had to do was get the factory opened for Peggy and Phillips, and they would rescue Captain America and his squad. I wondered if I created the mess I was in; what wrong turn did I take, or pause in the path I should have taken, led me here? The "other" voice in my head began to get louder, telling me things were my fault, the pain I felt was well deserved, and that I messed it all up.

"I failed," I didn't realize I had muttered this out loud as I closed my eyes.

"What?" I twitched and looked up into Bucky's face. Steve had passed me over to Bucky, who had demanded he do so in the first place. My eyes widened as a faint heat rushed my face.

"I failed, Bucky," I said again. "All I had to do was open the doors, and I almost got myself captured!" A few tears slipped down my face.

Bucky didn't respond, but I could see him thinking. There wasn't much to say as he jogged behind everyone, following them to the way to freedom. A moment later we made it outside, and the clean, clear air was easier to breath. My short gasps for breath became longer and a bit more satisfying. The factory all around us was in shambles. Bodies of both allies and enemy were everywhere along with those wounded or captured. Steve and the rest of the group came to a stop to survey the whole scene.

"Maddie," I looked up at Bucky again as he set me on my feet, his arm still wrapped around me in support. "You didn't fail."

Words escaped me as I continued to stare at Bucky.

"We were about to die when you came crashing down those stairs," He kind of chuckled. "And it was your own strength and courage that managed to get us free. Hell, did you even see what you did back there?"

I looked down at my hands, spotting Carter still held tightly in my left fist. Everything flashed in my mind like instant replay, and I saw it all. How I had stiffened my resolve despite the fear I had of Red Skull. I had dipped and dodged attacks, tackled the Hydra leader to the ground, and even stabbed him!

I smiled and then started to laugh, and Bucky laughed with me. My laughter wheezed and hitched as I shook my head and pressed the heel of my left palm into my forehead. It floored me that Bucky cared so much to make me see things from a different light, something I hadn't done in a long time, even back home.

The rest of the Commandos and Steve turned to stare at me and Bucky as we laughed, and they couldn't help but smile too. Somewhere underground, I could only imagine Red Skull fuming as he nursed his stabbed leg, and I laughed harder.

"Captain!" Peggy's voice cut through the din, and we all looked up to see her standing by a truck in the woods. She caught sight of me and put her hand up to her face.

"Oh my God, what happened?" She asked, rushing up to me and Bucky. She looked over me and gingerly touched bruised or cut up portions of my arms and face.

I suddenly began to cough then, doubling over as pain racked my chest. I put my hand to my mouth as I did, and when I pulled it away, there was blood splattered in my palm. I swayed on my feet, and Bucky rushed to pick me up once again.

"Long story; we've got to get out of here!" Steve waved us on to the covered truck waiting to take us all away from the decimated factory.

I was hoisted up into the truck and passed off to Steven who sat me gingerly at the rear of the truck bed, with my back against something solid. My wheezing sounded worse than before, and my coughing fits were louder and longer.

The truck roared to life and started rumbling away from the factory. Steve, Bucky, and the other Commandos huddled near me. We all watched the burning facility get swallowed up by the view of trees. My eyes began to close as Steve leaned closer to me with a look of concern on his face.

"Hang in there, Maddie," He whispered, and I closed my eyes with those words in my head.

Hang in there.

Hang in there.

Hang in there.