Savage

by awalkerlifeforme

She was everything people feared. She wanted to defend the world but also wanted revenge on those who wrecked hers. The ones who forced her to leave Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. Now she's back and while Steve attempts to get back the woman he's always considered his sister, Bucky hopes to thaw the ice that has formed around her heart. A heart that he had always believed was his.

31. Chapter 31

The moment that the image formed in my brain, I knew that it was a dream. It was the same dream that I had been having for the past few days. It was the dream that I wished could come true again. I was once more dreaming of my night in the pool with Bucky over a week ago. The image began to get a little fuzzy as I slowly started waking up. A smile fell over my face as I started thinking about the ending of the night. We'd moved up to the shallow end for a while before finally settling on the stone floor near the edge of the pool. We had originally laid there just so that we could dry off, but we'd ended up falling asleep there.

That night had been one of the best that I could remember. The morning was another story. There had been a good amount of laughs and jokes exchanged between the two of us in the morning. It had been very difficult to slip back to our own rooms in the clothes that we had been wearing the night before. There had been a very awkward conversation between Peggy and me the next morning about what had happened over the night. It had taken me hours to convince her that nothing more than some heated kissing had happened. She had finally believed me when I'd offered to show her the entire night. She had merely laughed it off and told me to keep the dress.

And I certainly had kept the dress. From time to time I liked to tease Bucky and tell him that I would wear the dress whenever he wanted to. I could tell that he was trying so hard to keep sure that I couldn't hear his very impure thoughts. Not that they bothered me. Neither one of us had returned to the pool since that night. It was probably for the best, as much fun as that entire night had been. I had a strong feeling that if we went back there I wouldn't be able to restrain myself, and neither would he.

But there were also much more important things that I had to be thinking about. Today was the first day in a long time that I found myself nervous about something. It was the first time that I was nervous since having to go and get Bucky back. Today was the day that we were going to attack the first of the Hydra bases. We had been planning the attack for the past week. Everyone had been working together to ensure that we knew exactly what we were going to be doing. The only thing that I wished was that I could lay in bed today instead of having to go out there. It was already early December and Christmas was just a few weeks away.

There was a slight chill in the wind that was absolutely terrible. Thankfully there was a radiator in the corner of Bucky's room. Not that I wasn't a radiator of my own. Like usual, I had fallen asleep with Bucky last night. There had only been one night that I was working with Peggy on the attack today that I hadn't fallen asleep with Bucky. Peggy and I had fallen asleep at our desks. Yawning softly, I rolled over and sighed. I had faith that nothing was going to happen to my boys. Bucky gave a little jump and I sighed, knowing that I had woken him up. It really had been an accident. He was facing me and his eyes slowly peeled open so that he could smile down at me.

"I was wondering when you would wake up," I said softly.

Bucky gave me another small smile. He leaned down and gently pushed me over so that he could roll me onto my back. "You could have woken me up yourself," he teased me.

"You might not have wanted me to do that," I said.

And I knew that I was right about that. There was no way that he would have wanted me to wake him up. I would have done it by shoving him out of the bed or something like that. Something that wasn't very nice. Because that was just the kind of person that I was. "Am I ever going to get that back?" Bucky asked me, looking down at my body.

Grinning softly, I shook my head. The two of us had gone out to the bar a few nights ago with the other men but Bucky and I had left first. We had decided to leave before everyone else. On our way back we had headed straight for Bucky's room and I had collapsed in the bed. I'd been so tired from all of the men wanting to dance all night long. I really didn't want to get changed out of my dress and I really hadn't wanted to go back to my room to get changed. It had led to him giving me his thin robe to sleep in. I had ended up sleeping very scantily clad in my underwear with the robe over it. To both of our surprise, I had been doing that since then.

"No. I like it," I told him, grabbing the robe around me.

Bucky laughed softly and grabbed the edges of the robe, pulling it a little tighter around me. It became a little more revealing, but neither one of us said anything about it. "It looks better on you anyways," he said.

Smiling softly, I shook my head and gently nudged him. "Are you ready for today?" I asked, after a beat of silence.

Bucky nodded at me. "You trained us. You tell me if we're ready," he teased.

The comment that should have been a joke made me slightly sick to think about. There were so many ways that everything could be ruined. There were so many ways that they could be hurt. "I think that we could have the next year to train and we still wouldn't be completely ready. Hydra knows what they're doing. But so do we. That's what we have to rely on," I said, pressing my legs in between his.

It was easy enough to feel the slight shudder that Bucky gave. "We're going to be fine, Vika," he told me.

"I know that I'm going to be fine." Bucky scoffed indignantly at how big-headed the comment sounded. "It's you that I'm worried about," I said.

He looked down at me and sighed, pushing the hair back off of my forehead. He leaned down for a moment and pressed a kiss against my cheek before leaning back up. "I'm going to be fine. So will Steve, and everyone else. You've taught us well enough and we might not have been as useless as you liked to say that we were," he teased, gently nudging me.

"You boys will always be useless," I shot back.

A loud scoff came from Bucky, making me laugh. As much as I did love him, he really was a little bit useless. Although he was a good shot for a sniper. "We're not that bad," Bucky argued.

Smiling at him, I shook my head. "No. But still a little useless," I teased.

Once more he scoffed at me. Bucky pressed his forehead against mine and pushed down with some force. I laughed at the slight head-butt. "Thanks for that." We both smiled for a moment as Bucky rolled back so that I could lay on him. "How long do you think it'll take today?" he finally asked.

Sighing softly, I shrugged my shoulders. That wasn't a question that I had an answer for. "I'm not really sure. Depends on how many men are at the compound," I told him. The less people were at the base, the faster that we could get in and out. "If Schmidt is there, he'll be gone the second that he realizes that we're there. And he's our end goal."

"How do we get him?" Bucky asked me.

It would certainly end up taking a good amount of time. "We take care of all of the Hydra bases. Make sure that he has nowhere else to hide," I said. That was part of the reason that we were attempting to destroy all of the Hydra bases. We were hoping that it would end soon enough, once we had all of the Hydra bases as rubble. "Maybe even get Dr. Zola. If anyone knows what Schmidt is up to, it'll be him. That's his man."

The two of them were obviously quite close. They were apparently always spotted working together. If anyone would be our ticket to Schmidt, it would be Dr. Zola. "You said that the Tesseract could kill him," Bucky said, after a few beats of silence.

It seemed like the Tesseract could kill him, but I wasn't sure. It might just suck him through the void of space. But I supposed that it was as good as dead. "I'm not sure. Loki didn't seem to know exactly what would happen. I know that anyone that can't hold the Tesseract essentially gets sucked into a deep void of space where no one can ever return from. There's a potential that he would be killed after touching it," he said.

"So who can hold these Infinity Stones?" Bucky asked me.

"Beings of immense power."

Bucky glared at me and shook his head as I smiled. I knew that he wouldn't appreciate me saying something that he already knew. "I knew that. I meant people. Is there anyone else that can hold them?" he asked.

For a moment I hesitated. There had to be someone else out there. But it didn't even seem that Loki - a god in his own rights - could manage to hold it. "I don't know. Loki seemed under the impression that I was the only person that he knew of that could actually hold them. But there are more. I'm sure of it," I said, more for my own sake than his.

"And these things are dangerous?" Bucky asked curiously.

As far as it seemed, those Stones were either the most dangerous things in the universe, or seriously close to it. "Yes. But they're not what we need to be concerning ourselves with right now. Until the day comes that we need to be concerned about the Infinity Stones falling into the wrong hands or until the day comes that the Earth ceases to rotate, we will act as though it intends to continue spinning," I told him, smiling slightly and shaking my head at him. The Infinity Stones were not the things that I wanted to talk about right now.

Bucky smiled at me and pressed a small kiss against my lips. I laughed softly and pressed a hand against his bare chest. "Spoken like a true soldier," he told me, once he had pulled away.

"You would know what that sounds like," I teased.

"I suppose that I would."

Yawning softly, I pushed myself so that I could sit up. Bucky followed a moment later so that I could lean into his lap. "When we go out there I need you to be careful. I'll stay in between the seven of you but I can't keep an eye on everyone at once. Okay?" I asked softly, pressing my hand against his cheek.

Bucky smiled and grabbed my hand, placing it down in his lap. "I think this should be the other way around," he said.

I rose my brow. "What's that?" I asked.

"Shouldn't I be the one that's protecting you?"

Normally that was exactly the way that it was. The men protected the women. But it wasn't like that this time. I was the one that could protect him. "Not when I'm the one that can live through anything," I told him sharply.

"Still..." Bucky trailed off slightly. He sighed softly at me and rolled me back over so that he could press himself over me. He was pushing the hair back off of my forehead so that he could press a soft kiss there. "I want to be the one that protects you. Isn't that the way that it's supposed to be?"

That was definitely the way that it was supposed to be. Maybe it would always be that way. I could only hope that people might eventually see that women weren't that weak. "It might not be the way that it will always be. There's going to come a day and age that women don't need to be protected." That was just something that I wished would happen. It might not ever happen. "It just so happens that I already don't need to be protected," I teased, shoving him away from me.

He laughed and leaned back over me. I could tell that he was tensing up slightly so that I wouldn't kick him out of the bed. "I know that you don't need to be protected. But I want to be able to do that for you," he told me, pressing a kiss against my cheek.

Sighing softly, I glanced down at the sheets for a moment before looking back up at him. There was something strange in his eyes that made me desperate to know what he was thinking, but I refused to do that. I would just have to wait. "Just be here for me. That's all that I want," I whispered.

Bucky nodded at me and pressed a kiss against my lips for a moment. "I'll always be here for you," he promised.

And I knew that he meant it. There was no way that he would ever leave me. Not until the day came that he was no longer physically able to be around. But I loved him and I knew that he would always be in my heart. No matter what happened. Bucky leaned down and pressed a long kiss against my lips. My arms went up around his shoulders to press into the shoulder blades as his legs fell over my own. We rolled slightly so that I was laying over him, rolling us over once more. We both laughed as Bucky's hand fell from my cheek, over my shoulder, and down to the knot of the robe at my waits. I smiled, breaking the kiss with him. My self-control was getting worse and worse with each passing day.

As I broke the slightly heated kiss, I leaned backwards and placed myself over Bucky, keeping my legs on either side of him. He laughed at the sudden brashness of my move. "Or we could just skip the mission and go back to the pool," I teased, pressing a kiss underneath his chin.

"Don't make me that offer. I might just take it," Bucky warned.

My heart gave a soft flutter. That was exactly what I wanted to be doing right now. "I might like that," I teased. I could immediately see his eyes darken. "Who am I kidding? I'd much rather do that."

There was a dark smile on his face that made me smile. At least I would always know that he thought the same thing about me that I thought about him. "It'll make us finish the mission a little bit faster," he said.

"Stay safe out there, alright?" I asked, pressing a hand against his face.

Bucky nodded at me as I leaned back up and sat upright on the bed. Bucky followed a moment later, holding my hand gently. "That's not a problem. There's something that I have to do," he said.

And I knew what he meant by that. He was still waiting to get to buy me a ring. It wasn't something that really bothered me. I would be waiting for it in the meantime. But that didn't mean that I couldn't mess with him about it. "Something that you have to do? You better get on that pretty soon. I might just get a little bit impatient and go find something else..." I teased.

A shocked look fell over Bucky's face. "I don't think so," he snapped at me.

It was rather funny the way that he was jealous. We were both the jealous types, not that it really mattered, considering everything that we meant to the other. But that didn't mean that we couldn't mess with each other. Bucky jumped after me and pushed me back over into the bed as I laughed at the impact. He knew that he didn't have to be gentle with me, so sometimes he just went at it. It must have been nice to not have a weak woman in his life. He was pressing me down into the bed as our lips met and we exchanged another long kiss. My leg slipped slightly out of the robe and I gently grazed it over his own, feeling goosebumps rise at the moment.

Pulling away from him while I still had the motivation to do so, I looked back over the edge of the bed. "Did I leave my uniform in here?" I asked, searching the room for the black uniform.

We had come straight from the ballroom last night as I had been preparing the men for the attack today. Bucky glanced over the edge of the bed and nodded towards the desk. "Yeah. It's over there," he told me.

And there is was, pushed back behind the desk. "I'll be right back," I said.

Giving each other a quick kiss, I rolled out of the bed front first and landed on my feet. Bucky was laughing as he got himself back to his feet, much less impressively than I had. I walked into the bathroom to get changed back into my uniform, leaving the robe hanging on the hook on the back of the door. The bathroom door was slightly cracked open as I gathered myself into the uniform. The pants were still so tight that it took a few minutes to pull myself into them; not without almost falling over. As I fixed my shirt I glanced back and saw that Bucky was getting changed back into his uniform. I finished getting changed first and walked back out into the main room.

Glancing up I saw that Bucky was just in his underwear as he laid out the uniform that we had been together. He really does look good like that. "I could get used to that," I said, walking back towards where my shoes were.

"Good. I think that you'll have to get used to it," Bucky said.

He was slowly walking back towards me. He had left the uniform back on the desk. "Is that so?" he asked, his voice lower than normal.

Bucky nodded at me. "Yes."

The two of us stood together and I smiled as Bucky pressed himself up against me. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders as his arms went around my midsection. His fingers very gently hooked into the waistband of my pants and I blushed softly. It was the closest that he had ever come to placing his hands where they really didn't belong. I giggled softly and pressed my hands up against his chest, pushing him back gently. His feet began to stumble back against the floor as we hit the bed and collapsed backwards onto it. I laughed once more as I pressed a long kiss against his mouth. His hands tangled in my hair, pulling my head backwards, as my hands dropped down to his waist.

We were together for a long time before we backed away from each other. We were both breathing heavily as we backed away and smiled at each other. "When we get back," Bucky told me, tightening his arm around me.

"Definitely," I agreed.

We were together once more as Bucky pressed a kiss against my temple. "I love you," Bucky whispered, as we pressed our mouths together in a soft kiss once more.

"I love you too." Bucky was about to get himself up but before he could, I grabbed his arm. "Wait a second. Come back," I said.

He glanced at me and smiled as I pulled him back down onto the bed and over me. We both laughed as our lips pressed together in another heated kiss. We were together for a while before I tightened my legs around his hips and flipped him over so that I was laying over him. We were both laughing as I leaned over him and kissed him once more. My arms went around his neck as I sat back on his lap and pulled him upright. We both laughed as our kiss deepened. His hands were still tangled in my hair as he kept my head pressed against his and my hands were gently pressed against his stomach. I couldn't help it. I heard his thoughts clearly and blushed as we pulled away from each other.

Bucky was watching me curiously, wondering why I had broken the kiss. Not that I'd wanted to break the kiss. "Trust me, it'll get much better," I whispered, leaning in and pressing another kiss against his lips.

The color drained from Bucky's face as he looked at me and I smiled. "What happened to not reading my mind?" he asked weakly.

"Your thoughts are screaming."

Bucky laughed and awkwardly pushed the hair back off of his forehead. Obviously he'd forgotten that I could read his mind. "How the hell do I make that stop?" he asked me.

There really wasn't a way to stop it unless you were well trained. Plus there was the thought that I liked hearing what he thought about me. "I don't want it to stop," I whispered back to him.

Bucky grabbed my hips and pulled me up against himself. The two of us shared a long kiss as I pressed my hand against his cheek, keeping the two of us together. When we finally pulled away, I realized that Bucky was staring at me. "Trust me when I say that it'll never stop. Especially considering that you'll always look like that," he said, pointing to me.

Laughing softly, I nodded at him, pressing a kiss against his cheek. I would always look this way, but in just a matter of years, Bucky would start looking much different. "Don't worry, I'll think your wrinkles are cute," I teased, pressing at his cheeks.

We both laughed as Bucky's arms went around my waist. I was smiling as he kept us pressed right up against each other. It was one of the many moments that the two of us were together and I felt completely at peace with everything. But I knew that it wouldn't be long. The two of us met in another kiss as my fingers ran through his hair for a few minutes. Bucky's second alarm went off and we broke apart, sighing at the fact that we had to get a move on. The two of us got up from the bed together and immediately started getting ready to leave. Bucky was near the floor-length mirror as he got changed into his uniform and I straightened my own out.

Once I knew that I couldn't stall leaving any longer, I walked over to Bucky and began buttoning up his shirt for him. He was staring down at me and smiling at the rare action. "I'll meet you on the air field with everyone else in half an hour, okay? Chester is going to give us a quick conversation about the attack before we head off," I told him.

"Okay. Try not to worry about today," he said, running his hands over my bare arms.

"You either."

We shared one more kiss and stayed together for a few moments before breaking apart. As much as I wanted to be together with him for another hour, I knew that it wasn't the time for that. So I pressed a kiss against the underside of his jaw before turning and leaving into my own room. I slipped in quietly and headed into the bathroom, brushing my teeth and hair out quickly. I stumbled around the living room for a few moments as I put on my boots, debating on putting any weapons. I wasn't sure that I wanted any. I was more in the mood for hand-to-hand. As I stood and relaxed myself, the door to the bedroom opened.

Turning back, I smiled as Peggy walked in with a two cups of coffee in her hands. Just like me, she was already prepared for the day. "Morning. How are you?" Peggy asked as she took a seat at the desk.

Letting out a breath, I pushed myself back against the wall next to the bed. "Ready to get things done with. The sooner that we take out these Hydra bases, the better," I said, wringing my hands together.

"Here you are," Peggy said, handing me the spare cup of coffee.

"Thanks."

As I grabbed the cup of coffee and began draining it, Peggy stood and headed over to my bed, taking a seat on the side. "You should eat something before you go out there," she told me.

She sounded like a mother, but I was trying not to mess with her about it. "I'm not really hungry," I muttered.

It wasn't that I was worried about myself. I had no problem with anything that was going to happen to me, my problem was just in case something happened to the boys. I couldn't bear something happening to them. "You're worried about them?" Peggy asked me.

Glancing up at her, I nodded. It really did make me nervous that I might not be able to protect them all. "Yes I am a little worried about them. I really want them to be safe. We've gone over the plan a thousand times. I know what's going to happen and I know what we're walking into, but still..." I trailed off, not wanting to think about what might happen.

Letting out a soft breath, Peggy moved towards me and placed a hand on my shoulder. She'd be on the plane with us, but she wasn't coming into the fight. "They're going to be okay. Don't worry about it, Vic. Things are going to be fine," she said.

Groaning, I leaned back against the wall. "It's pathetic, isn't it?" I asked her, rolling my head over towards her.

Peggy glanced over at me and shook her head, wrapping an arm over my shoulders. "Not at all. That's your best friend and the love of your life risking their lives out there," she said. Glancing over at her, I nodded. She was right; Steve and Bucky being out there was absolutely terrifying. "But they're going to be fine. They've got things to take care of."

The last thing that I wanted was to continue this conversation. We'd have it if something happened. Not for any other reason. "That's right. Steve has to ask you to go dancing," I teased her.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head at me. It was rather cute the way that she jammed her head back into the wall the same way that I had done before. "He's not the only one with something to do," she shot back to me after a minute.

I rolled my eyes at her and shook my head. There was the whole engagement thing again. It was a recurring theme lately. "I think that you're all a little too excited for the engagement. It hasn't even happened yet. It might not happen for a long time," I told her.

There was a definite sad tone in my voice. I didn't want the proposal to take forever but I knew that Bucky didn't have the money right now. I would just have to be patient. "I don't think so. If that night in the pool is any indication..." Peggy trailed off, a mischievous smile on her face.

My face immediately turned bright red. I wished that I hadn't told her about that night. "Stop! I knew that I shouldn't have told you about that," I muttered, dropping my head on the pillows.

Peggy laughed and rolled me over. "You're red as hell," she commented.

"I hate you."

She laughed as I leaned upwards and gently kicked her backwards. Peggy laughed as she bounced back to where she had been sitting before. She gently nudged at my legs. "Come on, Victoria, that sounds like it's the hottest thing for the two of you. I'm very surprised that the two of you managed to restrain yourselves," she told me, giggling softly.

My face was still bright red. I was so mortified that the night in the pool had happened. At least none of the men would ever find out. They couldn't know. "Can I tell you something?" I asked after a few beats of silence.

Peggy shifted and moved forward happily. "Please do," she chirped.

"I really didn't want to restrain myself," I whispered.

The both of us laughed as Peggy moved a little closer towards me. I really had wanted to keep going but I had already made the promise that I would wait; something that I was kicking myself for. "So you really wanted to?" Peggy asked.

"Yes. And I know that he did too," I added awkwardly.

Peggy snorted at me and nodded. She knew as well as I did that he wanted to do what we had barely managed to stop ourselves from doing. "He's a man. Of course he wants to be with you. In every way," she said.

My face once more heated up. "God, it's so embarrassing to even think about," I muttered.

"Don't be embarrassed, it's natural."

For a moment I hesitated on asking the question. But finally I couldn't restrain myself anymore. I had to know. "Have you?" I finally asked her.

She looked a little surprised as she looked over at me and shook her head. "No. One day, but not today," she said.

So she hadn't even done anything with her ex-fiancé. Suddenly I felt a little bit worse about myself. I had been so close to actually doing something with Bucky, but we had only stopped moments before it was going to happen. "Maybe one day the two of us will... Seems that we always manage to stop ourselves just before something serious happens," I muttered irritably.

Peggy gave a soft scoff that really did surprise me. "Well that's no fun," she said. The two of us stared at each other before we both burst out with laughter. I gave Peggy a slight shove, still laughing at her words. "You're going to have to tell me everything when it finally does happen. I want details!"

The laughs that we let out were more like shrieks. There were shouts next door to keep our voices down as Peggy and I laughed at each other, leaning against the other for support. "You're the worst! But I probably will tell you everything anyways," I said honestly. That was what girls did. We told each other everything like that. "When the time comes with Steve..."

Finally it wasn't me that blushed. She was the one that turned pink that time and she definitely looked like she wanted that to happen. "He hasn't even asked me to go dancing," she muttered.

"Make the first move," I offered.

"And who made the first move with you and Bucky?" Peggy asked.

I knew what she was doing. She wanted to prove a point that she wasn't going to make the first move because I hadn't done it with my own relationship. "Technically it was him. But it was only after I admitted that I had feelings for him. He was just the one that leaned in for the kiss first," I tried to argue with her.

The moment that she opened her mouth to say something, there was a soft knock at the door. I walked over and opened it, meeting face-to-face with Chester. "Are you ready?" he asked me.

Was I ready? I would just have to figure out how to be ready. "I don't think that there's any other choice. Yes. We're ready," I said, motioning between us. "Are you?"

Not that he was really going to be out there. He'd be in the airplane the entire time. So would Howard and Peggy while we were out there. "I'm not the one going out there. We're going to be on the plane with you but once the eight of you are ready to jump, that's it. We're going to be in the dark until you're done," he told me.

And he was right about that. We were going to be in the dark out there, separated from each other. "Don't worry about that. I'll be able to speak to you while we're out there," I told him, just in case.

It would be easy enough for us to be able to talk to each other. "You're worried about him," Chester commented.

For a moment I just stared at him. Peggy had gone back into the bathroom to give us a moment of privacy. "Yes. Of course I am. I just want to make sure that he's going to be alright. All of them, not just him. They're family. Just like you, Howard, and Peggy. I want to have all of you with me," I said, gently placing my hand on his arm.

Chester gave me something that was akin to a smile. "They're going to be fine out there. They've got you watching over them," he said.

"You're right about that."

They were going to be just fine as long as I was there and watching over them. I'd keep all of them safe. "Everything's going to be okay out there. Just keep focused and be prepared for whatever happens," Chester told me.

"I will be. I'll take care of them out there. We'll be back in a few hours with one less Hydra base in the world," I said.

"That's the spirit."

Probably sensing that the tense part of the conversation was over, Peggy walked back into the room. I glanced at them both and smiled, trying to pretend that things were okay with me. "So we're ready for this?" I asked.

Chester nodded at us. "Yes. Time to head to the air field," he said.

My stomach gave an irritating flutter. It was nothing about me. I knew exactly how the mission was going to go. I wished that I could go in there alone. It would be so easy to end things for me alone with no one else to worry about. But with the boys... There were people that I had to watch over while we were out there. There were things that I would have to be careful about. But I could manage myself. I would just have to be careful to make sure that I had my eyes on the boys while we were out there.

Chester, Peggy, and I left the room so that we could head over to the air field that was right outside of the base. I knew that we needed to get up into the air soon. Peggy was going to be listening over the radio in the plane for anything that might be coming towards the base for us. She would also be listening for any problems with us, just in case something happened during the attack. On our way out of the building I saw that Steve was standing in the corner. Like me, he was already in his uniform with his shield held in place on his back. His helmet was strapped onto his waist. He looked nervous but excited to get things done.

Stopping in my place, I looked over at Peggy and Chester, motioning for the two of them to keep walking. "We'll be there in a few minutes," I said, motioning back towards Steve.

Chester nodded at me and said, "Okay."

The two of them walked off together and I smiled at them, trying to reassure them that everything was okay. Once they were gone, I turned back to where Steve was standing and walked over to him. "Ready to head out there, Soldier?" I teased.

"I'm ready. Are you?" he asked.

There was a small smile on his face. I wasn't sure if he was nervous or not. "Yes. I just want to keep you boys safe," I said.

Steve sighed and placed a hand over my shoulder. "We're going to be alright, Vic. We've got you training us. We're ready for this," he told me.

If there was anyone that was good to train them, it was me. Hopefully they had actually learned something. "I know that you guys are. And I'll be there to protect you. All of you," I said determinedly.

Maybe they felt the way that I normally felt when men wanted to protect me. But I couldn't help it. I really didn't want to have to watch any of the boys get hurt. "Don't worry about it. We're going to all be back here tomorrow safe and sound. Because I would hate to see what you'd do to one of us if we were hurt out there," he said, earning a laugh from me.

"Yes you would. So be careful," I snapped at him.

If anything happened to them, I'd bring them back just to kill them myself. "I will, Vic, I promise." I smiled weakly at Steve and grabbed his hand. "Is Bucky alright?" Steve asked after a few beats.

"He's fine. Being a typical man. He wants to be the one to protect me," I said, adding in a little eye-roll.

We both smiled and laughed softly. That was just the way that Bucky was. Even though he knew that I could protect myself, he still wanted to feel like he was the man. "None of us are ever going to get over the fact that we're the ones that have to be protected by you, not the other way around. It's not exactly normal," Steve said.

"Trust me, I know that I'm not normal," I said.

But none of us were really normal. We were all the outliers in the rest of the world. "But being not normal is the best. That's why you were always so amazing to us," Steve told me, grabbing my hand gently.

Laughing softly, I nodded at him. I would always be appreciative that I meant so much to them. They would have had every right to never speak to me after breaking into their house. "Thank you. You guys were always pretty amazing to me too," I said.

Steve laughed at my wording and I raised a brow. I couldn't understand how that was funny. It was the truth. "How?" he asked me. I merely stared at him blankly. "We got mediocre grades in school, I was never that strong, and Bucky was always in the middle of the class; there was nothing that we did that ever made us different."

But that wasn't the truth. There was one thing that he had done that had always made them so amazing to me. The fact that they were the only ones to ever look twice at me? "Wrong. When everyone else ran from me, or treated me like I was the dirt on the bottom of their shoes, you two were the only ones that were ever there for me. Every single time," I said, feeling very guilty. I was here now, but there had been a long time that I wasn't. "Even after I left you both. You were always there."

It was pretty obvious that Steve could see that I was upset. I was always upset when I thought about the fact that I had left them for so long. "And we're always going to be here. For as long as we can," he said.

Wanting to lighten the mood slightly, I gave Steve a gentle shove off to the side. We both laughed as he wrapped an arm over my shoulders. "You better not embarrass me out there with that shield," I warned him.

Steve reached around his back before yanking the shield off of his back. There were magnets on the back strip of his uniform that were designed to hold the shield in place while he fought without it. "Come on, Vic, I learned from the best. I know how to use this thing," he said, tapping the shield fondly before placing it back on his back.

"I think you're in love," I teased.

Before Steve got the chance to say anything back to me, Bucky walked up in between the two of us. "You would know," he told me, throwing his arms over our shoulders.

Rolling my eyes, I shoved the two of them away from me. "Idiots. Both of you," I snarled.

"Ah but we're your idiots," Bucky responded.

And they would always be my idiots. A day wouldn't pass that I wouldn't love either one of them. "Fair enough. And lucky me, that's just what I've always wanted," I said, nudging the two boys.

They were about to respond to me - probably to tell me just how lucky I was to have them in my life - before Steve was called away by Peggy to make sure that he had everything together. It was probably more to try and speak to him in private. As he walked off, Bucky leaned over me. "And I think that I know exactly what you want," Bucky said, placing his lips near my ear.

"Funny. Don't forget, I know everything that you want," I shot back, letting my hands run down his chest.

His entire body tensed at my touch and I smiled, knowing that I had gotten to him. Just like I always did. "There's only one thing that I want," he told me, pressing a kiss behind my ear.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I gently pushed him away from me and smiled at him. "Eye on the prize for today," I said softly.

"I've always got my eyes on the prize."

His eyes were locked onto me. A soft blush was on my face as I made a move forward to kiss him. He had no idea what everything that he said meant to me. But the moment that our lips were about to touch, Howard interrupted us. "Hate to interrupt this beautiful moment, but there's a few things that we need taken care of before heading out," he said.

Both Bucky and I glanced over at him. Bucky awkwardly ran his hand over the back of his neck as I crossed my arms over my chest. "Go finish getting ready. I'll see you in a few minutes," I told Bucky.

"Okay."

Bucky walked off towards the other as Howard took a step forward. I glanced over at him and set a glare over my face. He was such a jerk, having to interrupt that one moment. "You two are adorable," Howard said.

"Shut up," I snapped. "What do you want?"

Howard looked a little surprised as I raised my brow, wondering what it was that he wanted. Then he made a sudden move. "Oh I didn't need anything. I just wanted to annoy you," he told me with a teasing grin.

Rolling my eyes at him, I popped out a hip. "You've succeeded," I deadpanned.

Howard smiled at me and pressed a kiss into my hair line. "But it really is time to leave. Is everyone ready?" he asked me.

Glancing backwards, I saw that everyone else was already surrounding the plane that Chester and Peggy were currently checking over to ensure that everything was alright. The rest of the men were all standing around and chatting with each other. "Yeah it looks like everyone is ready." I turned back to Howard. "You're piloting the plane?" I asked.

I had merely been assuming that he was the person that would take the plane in. He was the best pilot that we had. "Aren't I the only person who's mad enough to brave the Hydra air space?" Howard asked me.

Smiling softly, I nodded. "Yes you are. Thanks for doing this."

"My pleasure. Ready to go?" he asked.

Would I really ever be ready? If it was just me, I would probably be perfectly well past ready. "I'm not so sure that I'll ever be quite ready to leave and go out there. But it doesn't matter, it's time to go. We have to get this taken care of and the sooner that we leave, the sooner that we can get back," I told him, grabbing him with me and pulling him towards the plane.

With the wave of my hand, the rest of the men began loading into the plane. "Works for me. I've got a date," Howard said.

My eyebrow rose as my head snapped back to him. "You're going on a date?" I asked disbelievingly.

For as long as I had known Howard, I had never known him to go on a date. He didn't go on dates. He only had his little friends that would hang around for a few days and then move on. Howard nodded at me and said, "Nurse named..."

When he trailed off I realized that he didn't even remember her name. "Really?" I asked.

That was pathetic. He couldn't even remember what her name was. We stood in silence for a moment before Howard snapped his fingers. "Ruth! That's her name," he said.

"A true romantic," I teased.

The two of us both laughed as we crossed the yard towards the plane. He would manage to be a romantic one day. I genuinely believed that the day would come that he would be a wonderful husband and maybe even a father. But that day wasn't today. And Howard was still young. That was okay. He had time. We walked over towards the plane and I looked it over. It was the same one that we had taken to the Hydra base that Bucky and the rest of the men had been held in. Everyone was already in the plane and getting ready to leave.

Ready to move on with the day, the two of us walked into the plane as the rear door was closed. Howard walked up to the front of the plane to begin to pre-flight checks before we took off. Dum Dum, Gabe, and Jim were up in the front of the plane with Chester and Peggy. James, Jacques, Bucky, and Steve were standing together towards the rear of the plane. It was just our small team that was infiltrating the base. That was the whole point of our little team. We were a special operations division, which meant that while we worked under the Strategic Scientific Reserve, we would be going on the missions solo. But that was easier for us.

The plane took off and I waited for us to get to altitude before heading over to a seat in the center of the plane and spreading out the few sheets that we had about the base. "Alright. Come on over," I called over the roar of the engine.

"We'll get everything together before we head in," Steve added.

As we rolled out the papers, I leaned over them and glanced down at them. "Here's the plan. We've put together a map of every Hydra base that we saw when we were rescuing Sergeant Barnes and every Hydra base that the S.S.R. knows of. This is it," I said, showing them the top paper.

"What are we looking at?" Bucky asked.

Between Steve and me, our hands flitted over the page to show them what we were talking about. "Two bases here in Switzerland. Another two here in Northern Italy. There's this one in Belgium. They have more in Greece, Poland, and in Czechoslovakia. Then we have the one here in France. This is the base that we'll be infiltrating tonight. It's right near Strasbourg, about forty miles west of the Maginot Line. We infiltrate the base, striking hard and fast. It won't take Hydra long to know that we're there," I told them.

They were silent for a few minutes as they processed what I had told them. It was never fun to hear just how much we were going to have to do. "How do we go in?" Dum Dum asked after a few beats.

Glancing over at them, I nodded with a small smile. We already had a full plan. "We go in as a group. Outside of the base will be all of the soldiers that are there to protect the men inside. We strike them first. The weaker ones will be inside. France is under Hydra's control right now. That means that there won't be anyone in hiding as they have nothing to concern themselves with. No sniper on this mission. We need everyone down at the base," I told them, mostly Bucky.

They were all nodding along as the men started to figure out what was happening and what the plans were. "So we attack from the outside and work our way in?" Bucky asked me.

"Yes," I said.

"And then we trap them like mice," Steve added, surprising me slightly.

As much as he liked to try and be noble about everything, he really could be a hell of a fighter. "There's one way in and out of that Hydra Facility. At least the main entrance. Two high-grade steel doors. Steve and I can open them. From there we will storm the building," I told them.

Once more they started nodding. Steve took over the conversation quickly. "This is how the line-up will go. I'll be in front. Bucky, you'll be on my right behind me, Dum Dum, you'll be on the left. James, you'll be behind Bucky, and Jacques, you'll be behind Dum Dum. Gabe and Jim, the two of you will bring up the rear and take care of anyone behind us," Steve explained.

"What about you, Victoria?" Jim asked.

"I'll be in front of all of you," I said blankly.

That was the one way that I could make sure that the boys would all be safe when we were ready to storm the building. The men didn't seem overly fond of that idea. "That a good idea?" Gabe finally asked.

After a few seconds, I nodded at them. "Their weapons cartridges will empty in ten seconds. That's how long that I'll keep up the force field. When I drop it, you'll all come forward and take out the soldiers," I told them. The men nodded but I did notice that Bucky and Steve were watching me nervously from the corner of their eyes. "Steve and I will handle the stragglers hand-to-hand. It's up to the rest of you to take out the first division."

That was all that we needed. While the men shot down the large chunks, Steve and I would be able to take down the stragglers hand-to-hand. "We can do that," Jim told me.

"How long until we get there?" Dum Dum asked.

"About a hour and a half. We'll be dropping into the woods about two miles outside of the base. Once we're down, don't speak. We don't know if they have any spies. To communicate... I know it might sound strange, but think loudly. I'll hear your thoughts," I told the men.

It didn't sound very normal, but it was the thing that would work. "That's useful," Gabe finally said.

Everyone laughed at the thought that thinking loudly would ensure that I could hear them. "I think it is. In the meantime, look over the maps. Be prepared. I'll come get you guys when we're getting close," I told them, placing my hand on Steve's shoulder.

As they leaned back over the maps that they were reading over, I got to my feet and left the table that we were all sitting around. There were a few rows in the back of the plane that I was planning on sitting in for a while. I just wanted to think for a few minutes before we actually got there. Once we were there, it would be impossible to slow things down. I took a seat in one of the back rows and plopped down into the chair, holding up my fingers and letting the sparks fly over my fingertips. They were crackling gently, just barely audible over the roar of the engine. A few minutes passed before Bucky came and took a seat next to me.

He was looking down at the sparks flying off of my hands and smiling at them. I debated on sending him a little shock, but figured that it would be nicer to not do that. "Can I grab your hand or are you going to electrocute me?" Bucky asked me.

"We'll see," I teased him. Bucky leaned forward and risked grabbing my hand as I smiled at him. I immediately dropped the electrical currents so that I wouldn't accidentally electrocute him. He looked very grateful that I hadn't shocked him as he leaned forward and pressed a small kiss against my mouth. "You ready to get there?"

"No more than you," Bucky said.

My legs crossed over themselves as I watched Bucky out of the corner of my eyes. He was doing the same thing to me. "This is a good thing. I know that what we're doing is a good thing, I just wish that we didn't have to risk your life to do it," I said, placing my hand on his thigh.

Bucky smiled at me and leaned over to grab my hand once more. "Everything's going to be okay. I'm going to be okay. We're all going to be okay. Besides, there's some unfinished business that I have to attend to," he told me.

I smiled back at him and pressed a kiss against his cheek. "Still unfinished?" I teased.

The ring would be here one day. "I'm working on it," Bucky said.

One day I would get that ring that I wanted so badly, but until that day came, I wouldn't panic about anything. There was nothing that I could do, other than wait for him to get the money. "I know. I'm just messing with you," I told him. We sat in silence for a while before I looked back over at him. "You know I think that this is the first time in a long time that I'll actually really genuinely enjoy my Christmas."

Bucky raised a brow at me. "What about last year? You had Steve," Bucky told me.

Last year, Christmas really had been the best one that I had in a long time. But I had really wished that he would have been here last year. "Yeah I was really happy that Steve was around. It was the first Christmas that we'd spent together in a long time. But I didn't have a lot of people with me. Chester, Peggy, and Howard weren't there and the worst part was that you weren't there either. I didn't have a chance to see you. I didn't even know if you were alive or not," I said sadly, trying to give him a sweet smile.

That comment very obviously bothered Bucky, despite the fact that I really hadn't meant to do anything like that. "I wish that I would have been there. But I'm here now. And I'm not going to leave at any point soon," Bucky promised me as I gently laid my legs over his lap.

"I know that you won't," I whispered.

And I knew that he wouldn't. There was no way that he was ever going to leave me. Not after everything that had happened between the two of us. "Everything's going to be fine out there," Bucky told me.

"I know," I said confidently.

Bucky raised an eyebrow at me. "How's that?" he asked.

"Because I'll kill you myself if anything happens to you."

The two of us laughed at each other as Bucky's arms wound around my legs and wrapped underneath my thighs. I laughed softly as his fingers splayed over the material. "I know that you will." We were silent for a moment before Bucky said, "I don't think that I've ever seen you as nervous as you are right now."

"Oh just go back a few years," I muttered.

I'd really meant to keep that in my head, but I had accidentally ended up saying it out loud. That really wasn't something that I wanted to get into. Or maybe I did want to say it. "What do you mean?" Bucky asked.

It was unsurprising to hear that he wanted to know what I had said. I just had to admit it. "When I was in Stryker's lab -"

"You don't have to tell me this," Bucky interrupted.

But I shook my head at him. This was something that I really wanted to tell him about. So I shook my head at him and grabbed his spare hand, pulling him into me and keeping my voice low. "It's okay. It's like I told you the other week, you can't change things that happened to you, but you can talk about them and try to make things less painful." Bucky nodded at me. I knew that it was the best way to try and move past something that had happened to someone. "I had a schedule in Stryker's lab. Every day it was exactly the same thing. Shortly before I was allowed to leave for the night, I had to fight. Every day there was a new man for me to fight. A few days after I first got to his laboratory, Stryker started all of the new lessons.

"The things that he would spend seven years teaching me. Some were worse than others. Some were bad in different ways. But one of the worst things that he'd done was use me to fight. Three years passed before I finally won a fight. I used to have to be dragged out of the training room because I couldn't even stand once they were done with me. Pain was something terrible." Bucky cringed at the comment that I'd made. It was the truth. I'd had to be dragged out of the training room a number of times and some days I had been passed out from pain. "But then I learned. I learned to push past the pain and I learned to live with it.

"So I got up that day and went to the training room to fight the new man. I was nervous. I was shaking and too afraid to make the first move. So he did. He hit me so hard that he broke my jaw." Once more, Bucky cringed. "But I still won the fight. After he hit me, I knew that I couldn't let that happen again. So I hit him back. And I just kept hitting him until he stopped moving. I still don't know if he died or not. I know that quite a few of the men that I fought ended up dying. Stryker cared for them no more than he cared for me.

"Anyways..." I trailed off for a moment when I realized that I didn't know what I was supposed to say. I had just admitted that I'd killed someone. Multiple people when I'd only been a young child. I couldn't believe that I'd done something like that. It was just something that I had to live with. "That was the first fight that I won. After that, I never lost another one. You were all wondering just how I can manage to beat you all without a problem. That's how. I spent years knowing what would happen to me if I lost a fight, so I ensured that I'd never lose one again."

Bucky was silent for a long time after I'd admitted to him what my life had been like before I'd walked back into his. He finally leaned over to me and kissed me behind the ear. "That's never going to happen again," he promised me.

Glancing up at him, I shook my head. Nothing like that was ever going to happen to me again. "I know that it won't. Because I wouldn't let it," I told him stubbornly. There was a little hint of pain is his eyes that I wished so desperately that I could get rid of. I leaned forward and pressed my hand against his cheek. "I love you, Bucky. You know that. I'm sorry that it doesn't always seem that way."

Making me smile slightly, Bucky leaned into me and grabbed my hand, tightening his grip around my thighs. "It does seem that way," he argued. I was glad that at least he thought that I was in love with him. "I saw the memory with your parents when you were listening in." I cringed at the distant memory. "They were wrong. There are so many people that love you. It's not just me. Peggy, Colonel Phillips, Howard Stark, and Steve... The rest of you guys. They're your family."

He was right. They were my family. And they were so much better than the family that I had been born into. "They're better family than I ever thought that I could have. My family..." I trailed off as I grabbed Bucky's hand and pulled him into me so that I could press a small kiss against his mouth. "They're right here."

Bucky's eyes briefly flitted downwards towards my chest and I raised a brow, wondering what he was looking at. His hand went towards my chest and I jumped backwards slightly. But I realized quickly that he was only reaching for the chain around my throat. He grabbed it and pulled it upwards and out of my shirt, smiling at the ring that was hanging off of the edge of it.

Bucky was merely smiling at the sight of the temporary ring. "I didn't know that you had this with you," he said, running his hand over the ring.

He looked rather impressed that I had it with me. "I just like having it with me, I guess," I muttered.

"A better one is coming," he promised.

"Good."

Because I really was getting sick of feeling like I was doing something wrong when it came to the two of us. We were always doing things that only married people should be doing. "What are all of these?" Bucky asked, pointing to the papers on the table.

I pointed to the paper that was the closest to us. "Aerial views of the Hydra base that we're headed to. There are a few outdoor posts over here," I said, motioning towards the few buildings that were outside of the main building. "We might be dealing with an attack before we even get inside. But it'll be fine. We have one benefit."

Bucky smiled and motioned towards me. "We have you?" he asked me with a smile.

Laughing under my breath, I shook my head. "That too." Having me around would definitely make the entire attack a lot easier. "No. They don't know that we're coming," I said.

We had the element of surprise and that was everything that we needed. Bucky smiled at me as he pressed his hand against my leg, gently pushing it off of his lap. I watched him get up with my eyebrow raised. "I'll be right back, okay?" he asked me.

"Okay," I said. As Bucky walked off, I went back to the aerial views of the compound and started formulating a plan in my head.

Bucky's P.O.V.

It was something that Bucky had been debating back and forth for a while. To be completely honest, it was something that he had thought about since they were kids. But he knew that it was finally time to act. They had been together for almost two years. That was much longer than most people spent together before taking the plunge. He knew that it was time and he knew that he finally had the money for it. Maybe not for an extremely nice one, but it would be everything that she'd want. Bucky walked over to where Steve was seated and took a seat next to him.

Steve glanced up and smiled at Bucky. He was doing the exact same thing that Vika was, reading over all of the plans for the Hydra base. "Vic alright?" he asked.

Bucky nodded at him. "She's fine. Looking over the aerial views of the Hydra base," he said, motioning down to the plans that Steve was reading.

But obviously he hadn't really been reading them. He had merely been staring at them. "Yeah, we should go do that too," Steve said.

He was about to get up so that he could start reading over the plans when Bucky put an arm around. "Hang on. Can we talk for a second?" Bucky asked, earning a strange look from Steve.

"Sure."

They both got to their feet and headed away from where the other men were sitting and looking over the plans. Bucky wanted to keep what he had to say as secret as he could for as long as he could. They walked over to a secluded piece of the airplane where no one else was seated. Bucky had made sure that they were seated in sight of everyone else in the event that they needed each other, but far away enough that no one could hear what they were saying. Particularly Vika. If there was ever something that he'd wanted to be a surprise for her, it was this.

"Everything alright?" Steve asked as they seated themselves.

Bucky laughed and ran his hands through his hair. "Yeah. Yes. Everything's fine. You ready for the mission? Ready to use that thing?" Bucky asked, pointing to the shield, wanting to change the subject for a moment.

Steve laughed and patted the shield. "Vic made sure that I was ready to use it. Should be a good time. Time to prove to her that we can manage ourselves," Steve said.

They both laughed at the thought that Vika was always talking about how useless they were. She knew that they weren't useless, but she really did enjoy messing with them. "Doesn't matter. We're always going to be the weak ones," Bucky said.

"That's true," Steve said.

They were both merely staring at each other. It was obvious that Steve wanted to ask Bucky what he was really over here for, but he wanted to give them a chance. "I got a few checks from the Army recently," Bucky finally said. "Some of them are payments from the deployment and others are from the current situation with the S.S.R. They just started coming in last week."

There was a small smile on Steve's face. "And?"

"In a few weeks I gotta get out there. I've saved up enough money for a ring," Bucky admitted quickly.

Both men laughed under their breath. Bucky saw a smile on Steve's face that was bigger than he had seen in a long time. Vika was like his sister, and their being together was something that he had waited for, for a long time. "You're gonna buy her a ring?" Steve asked.

Bucky nodded, wringing his fingers together. He was smiling at the thought that something was finally going to happen between them. "Yeah. I'm gonna use the excuse that I'm going out to buy her a Christmas present," Bucky said.

Steve laughed and place a hand on Bucky's shoulder. "Buck, man, I'm really happy for you both," he said happily.

"Doesn't bother you?" Bucky asked.

Even though Vika was an only child, Steve might as well have been her brother. The two of them loved each other. "The two of you have belonged together since you were kids. It's about damn time that you make a move," Steve said, making them both laugh.

Bucky laughed and punched Steve on the shoulder, knowing that he could take the hit. "You little punk." They both laughed once more. "I've just been trying to get the money back so that I could afford a ring. I've finally got it and I want to go and get her a ring. And I wanted to ask if you'd come with me to do it," Bucky said.

It was half because he knew that Steve would do the same thing when he was ready to propose to someone, and half because it really wasn't something that he wanted to do by himself. He wasn't even sure what to look for when it came to rings. Maybe he should ask Peggy to come with them. "Nothing would make me happier. Of course I'll go," Steve finally said.

"Thanks, Steve," Bucky said.

"Not a problem. When are you planning to propose to her?"

Bucky wasn't completely sure when he wanted to propose to her. He knew that he wanted it to be special and he knew that he wanted to do it soon. "I don't know. Hopefully on Christmas," he said, smiling softly. She had always loved Christmas and they had even met on Christmas. It would be a nice way to do everything. "There's a few things that I need to do first. Peggy wants to see the ring before I do anything. I'll have to ask Colonel Phillips about it. Who knows, maybe I'll even ask Stark. Or at least let him know. The two of them are close."

That was another thing. He wasn't sure who he wanted to ask or what he even wanted to say. "That's a great idea. They're going to love the whole thing. Everyone knows that the two of you are supposed to be together," Steve said, making them both smile. The men would be thrilled when they heard about it. "Good luck asking Colonel Phillips to marry Vic."

Both men snorted with laughter. Colonel Phillips loved Vika, but Bucky was sure that he was not going to enjoy that conversation. "I already know what I'm getting into. It's worth it," Bucky said determinedly.

"Let me know when you're ready to go," Steve said brightly.

He was sure that he was going to go shop for the ring soon. He just wanted to make sure that they got out before Christmas. Bucky was hoping to propose to her on the holiday. "I will," Bucky said.

The two boys sat together and went looking through the maps. After a few minutes, Steve glanced up at him. "Sick of waiting?" he asked.

Bucky laughed and nodded at Steve. They had been waiting for so long. It was time to make the move. "Hell yeah I'm sick of waiting. It's been fifteen years in the making," Bucky said, laughing softly.

Everyone had always known that Bucky and Vika would somehow manage to end up together. And Bucky now needed to get up the nerves to go out there, buy her a ring, and officially propose to her. It was long past time to do that. Steve smiled at his best friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm happy for you, Bucky," he said.

"Thanks." A strange thought hit Bucky. "She's still gotta say yes," he muttered under his breath.

Steve scoffed at his friend and shook his head. There was no way that she would say anything other than yes. "You really think that she wouldn't?" Steve asked. Bucky said nothing, nerves clawing at his stomach. "Bucky, she's going to say yes. It's no big deal. It's just saying the one thing that everyone's been waiting for since the two of you met."

"I guess we really were always that obvious," Bucky said with a little laugh.

They really were always supposed to be together. And everyone had known that. Bucky just hated that it had taken him so long to figure that out. "Oh yeah," Steve laughed.

The two men laughed, placing their arms around each other, throwing their heads back. It really was so obvious that Bucky and Vika had always been meant to be together. From the day that they had met, they had always been meant for each other. Bucky and Steve sat together to chat back and forth about anything and everything. For both of them, it really was good to be back together with the other. They had missed each other while Bucky was deployed. They had always been brothers and it had been so strange to be away from each other for so long. Vika had always been one of their best friends, but sometimes it was nice just to sit with each other and reminisce on the old days.

Victoria's P.O.V.

It ended up taking us just over an hour and a half to get into the airspace of the Hydra base. Just about what I had been expecting. As the men chatted back and forth about everything that was going to happen and the things that they were going to do to the same men that had held them captive for months, I had been looking over the papers. We would have to take our time before the attack. It was something that we could rush, because the moment that we made our first move, everything would go into overdrive. We would land in the woods and infiltrate it from there.

The plane was getting quieter as we made our way into the Hydra airspace and I smiled as Bucky walked back over to me. I had heard him with Steve, laughing and joking with each other the entire time. "Sounded like quite the amusing conversation over there," I teased.

He smiled at me as he took a seat next to me. "Plotting," Bucky said.

My head turned up towards him and I raised my eyebrows at him. "So now you're plotting?" I asked. He merely nodded at me, pulling my legs back into his lap. "That can't be good."

"You always think that I'm up to no good," Bucky said.

And he was always up to no good. They were always up to no good. That was part of what the boys did. Fooled around so that none of them could ever be trustworthy. "Are you not up to no good?" I asked.

Bucky laughed and nudged me. "Come on, Vika. I'm always up to no good. You want to know where I got all of that from?" he asked me. I nodded at him, crossing my arms over my chest. "You."

My jaw dropped as I whacked him on the chest playfully. He was definitely the reason that we were always getting into things. "You're such a jerk. Need I remind you that I was always the one that got straight A's and I was always the one that never missed a day of school? You and Steve were always the ones that were getting into trouble," I told him.

Bucky scoffed at me and pressed a hand against my thigh, pulling me a little bit closer to him. "Says the one that got a week of lunch detention," he told me, a small grin over his face.

Scoffing softly, I shoved him away from me. "Like that mattered? I was defending myself from Johnathan Harper," I snapped. Bucky looked furious at the thought of anything like that ever happening. But it was long in the past. And there was nothing that I could do to change it. "Actually Principal Sanders wanted to expel me."

The look on Bucky's face had suddenly dropped. He looked horrified at the thought that I had very nearly been expelled from school. "How'd you convince him not to?" Bucky asked after a few beats.

"You realize who you're talking to?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

The realization suddenly struck him of what I was talking about. He merely shifted awkwardly and laughed, running his hands a little further up my thighs. "You controlled Principal Sanders's mind?" he asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders, playing with the ends of my hair. "Not my fault he's a grown adult that can't control himself against a child," I said.

Bucky laughed loudly and tightened his hands around my legs once more. "Come here," he said.

It wasn't long before he tightened his hands around my legs once more. It was rather sweet the way that he grabbed me and yanked me into him. I laughed as I wound up half in his lap from the sudden force. He would never be able to do that with another woman, but I was different. Leaning halfway onto him, I pressed a long kiss against Bucky's mouth. My hands were pulled over his shoulders and knotted behind his back as Bucky's hands were on my hips, keeping me against him. One of his hands went up to my hair, but it didn't last long. There was a clattering on the floor behind us and the two of us sprung apart, myself jumping off of Bucky's lap.

Our heads snapped up in the direction of whatever had made the noise and I glared when I saw that Dum Dum was standing behind me with a little smirk on his face. "Sorry about that. We're almost there, lovebirds," he told us.

Laughing softly, I looked up at Dum Dum. "Yeah I'm sure that you're really sorry," I muttered.

Dum Dum merely laughed and gave me a hand up from the chair, out of Bucky's lap and back to my feet. "Well if that's your way to say good luck to everyone..." Dum Dum trailed off, giving me a pointed and playful look.

"Get lost," I snapped.

Dum Dum laughed and smiled at us. "Just kidding," he said.

We all laughed once more. Everyone knew that no one wanted anything to do with me that was anything more than friendship. We all knew that I was just supposed to be with Bucky. He was the only person that I would ever belong with. "We're going to get everyone ready for the attack. Come on," Dum Dum said, motioning us with him.

Both Bucky and I nodded as we made our moves to get up. Dum Dum headed towards the front of the plane as I leaned down and gave Bucky my hand up. His arm went around my shoulders as my arm wound around his waist and we headed up towards where everyone else was standing. I noticed Steve give me what looked like a very pointed smile and I rolled my eyes. We walked up to the middle of the plane and I glanced around at the other men. Everyone was grabbing all of their weapons and final pieces of their wardrobes so that they could be ready for the attack. It looked like they were all ready to get moving forward with the attack.

We walked up to the table that all of the plans were laid out on and I glanced at the view, motioning towards a large blurry dot just around the entrance of the base. "Okay. This is a gas tanker that they're holding near the entrance of the compound. There are men walking back and forth all throughout the base. We can't just come in guns blazing. There's only eight of us and there could potentially be hundreds of them. Even with me, that's tough. But that gas tanker could be a good distraction," I told them.

"So what do we do with it?" James asked.

Glancing over at him, I smiled. It was easy enough to figure out what we had to do. And it was a good thing that I was with them. "What happens when gas heats up?" I asked.

It was obviously Jacques that figured it out first. "Combustion..." he muttered.

Almost immediately a small smile spread over my face. I was very proud of the beginnings of my plan. "Exactly. If we're going to hit them, we have to hit them fast and hard. Surprise them. That might be a little surprising," I said, referring to the gas tank explosion.

"She's right," Steve said, making me look over at him and smile. "We're going to be about two miles from the base out into the woods. We'll make our way up to the base from there. Vic is going to move in first. She'll blow up the gas tanker and distract - maybe kill - some of the Hydra soldiers." He glanced over at me and I nodded my consent. Hopefully we would kill most of them with the blast. "From there we're going to clear out the outside of the base before moving in. Corner them."

Grabbing Chester's hand, I looked over and pulled his watch towards me. We were almost there. "We're about forty-five seconds from the landing site. Howard!" I called up to the front of the plane. "How are things going?"

Howard glanced slightly back over his shoulder. "No one's spotted us yet. We'll be down there in a minute," he said.

Nodding at him, I glanced back towards the rest of the men. "Great. Mr. Stark, Colonel Phillips, and Agent Carter will remove the plane to approximately five miles out so that they will be safe from the attack," I told them. They all nodded at me, knowing that at least we wouldn't have to worry about protecting them. "I'll call out to them once the base is ash and we're ready to return."

"Everyone ready?" Steve asked, looking around.

"Yes," they all chirped together.

Peggy gave what appeared to be a very nervous smile. I felt terribly for her. She would just have to sit here and wait until we got back. "Good luck out there. To all of you," she told the rest of the men.

Almost immediately I felt the plane's nose turn down into a dive. I let out a deep breath as I felt Bucky's hand briefly tighten around my thigh. I smiled and placed a kiss against his shoulder before turning and going back towards where Peggy was. She was standing there and smiling at me as we were making our way towards the landing strip in the woods. Peggy and I stayed in a long hug as the plane landed, deeply hidden in the woods. The back door of the plane dropped open as we were exposed to the woods. Peggy gave me a quick kiss on the cheek as I grabbed her hand as we turned to leave. But just before we headed out of the plane, I turned back to Peggy once more.

"I'll call out to you when we're ready," I told her.

She nodded at me. I could see her wringing her hands together from nerves. "Be careful," Peggy whispered.

"Always."

Before we could leave, Howard walked over to me and pressed a kiss against my cheek. I smiled at him and walked over to Chester. "Take care of them out there," he said. I smiled at him and nodded. They would always be under my protection. "Take care of yourself," he added.

Once more I smiled at him. It was reasonably easy for me to take care of myself. I nodded at him and grabbed his hand quickly. "Of course. I'll see you soon. Get out of here," I said. I left the plane and moved to stand in front of the boys, giving them all reassuring nods. "Let's head out. Don't speak and move quietly. We'll be there in a few minutes," I warned them.

And so that eight of us moved through the woods very quietly. I made sure to warn the men to be quiet and walk without crunching the leaves or branches. In case Hydra had scouts out in the woods, we had to be careful. None of the men made any moves to alert me to anything since I was scanning the woods, ensuring that no one was here. My eyes were glazed over white so that I could listen in and see if anyone was near us. But no one was, and ten minutes after we had left the relative safety of the plane we were on Hydra ground once more. I could see the way that the men stiffened, probably from the memory of our last encounter at a Hydra base.

It rose over the hill in the distance and I looked over it. There were more men outdoors then I had been expecting. There looked like there were at least fifty men outdoors and I assumed that there were at least three times as many indoors. I could see the gas tanker near the center of the base, not far from the doors to the front of the base. The blast probably wouldn't be enough to pry them open, but hopefully we could kill the workers that were close to them. We were only about a thousand feet away from the base as I ducked through the trees, trying to get as close as I possibly could.

The men fell backwards so that I could move forward first. I was the one that needed to send out the heat wave through the gas tanker so that I could make it explode. I had faith that it would work out just fine. I just wanted to make sure that it would kill as many men as possible. I motioned the men to stand behind me as I moved forward towards the gas tanker once more. I was only about five hundred feet from the tanker in the middle of the compound. Raising my hands, they began to glow a soft red as I brought the gas inside to a complete boil. It would need to get up to four hundred and ninety-five degrees before it would ignite. I pushed myself behind the trees as it got closer and closer.

Glancing back towards the men, I wanted to make sure that the men would all be safe. They were hiding as the temperature passed the five hundred degrees point. And that was all that it took. The gas was bubbling as it expanded and finally reached the ignition point. The gas tanker wasn't strong enough to hold the blast as it detonated like a bomb. The flash of light nearly blinded the men as the Hydra soldiers tried to make a run for it. But it was too late. The explosion automatically killed the fifty men that were standing within the immediate vicinity of the tanker. It lit even more on fire and I knew that they would be dead within a few minutes. There were screams as the Hydra soldiers started running in a panic.

We had our window of opportunity. I moved forward and motioned the rest of the men with me. "Go! Now!" I shouted.

That was all that it took. The men began running off in a sudden bout of movement. We were all sprinting down towards the base. Most of the men that were still on the Hydra base trying to figure out who had infiltrated the base were still clueless. That was all that we needed. At first I hung back for a few minutes so that I could watch the men to make sure that they were all alright. They immediately opened fire on the Hydra soldiers and I smiled as I saw one after another drop. I pushed forward slowly and ran towards the Hydra soldiers that were near the doors to the compound.

There was a large jumble of Hydra soldiers that were standing in front of the doors and I knew that it was time for them to be taken down. The men all noticed me as I walked onto the base and brought the flames up to my hands. They were all watching me as they began to shoot. But it was easy to manage to avoid the barrage of bullets. And a moment later I brought the flames into giant whips and sliced them through the torsos of three of the soldiers, ripping them in half. Their corpses fell to the ground as I turned and threw a ball of flames through two more of the soldiers. I shot out a large current of flames and took down eight more of the soldiers that fell to the ground, screaming in pain.

But the moment that I had managed to take them down, more took their place. I switched from the flames and allowed the current of electricity to run up through my arms. They were brilliant silver streams of electricity as I shot out at the sudden movement of another ten Hydra soldiers. The shot of electricity went straight through their bodies as they all dropped to the ground. Black char marks were all over their bodies as they fell to the ground. Their hair was standing on end as they hit the blackened dirt.

Once I was sure that all of the men were gone, I turned back and checked out what was happening to the other men. Thankfully they were all fine. Steve was off in the distance, fighting off three men with his shield. He was having an easy time keeping all of the Hydra soldiers at bay. Just behind him was Dum Dum, Jim, and James - all of whom were shooting at the soldiers. Gabe was using the Browning to tear through the large sections of Hydra soldiers while Jacques was throwing small grenades off in the distance. Bucky wasn't far from me, shooting at more of the soldiers.

As they all continued through everything that they were doing, I turned back and saw that there were a few stragglers of the Hydra soldiers. They were some of the few that hadn't come forward and come into the main fight. As the men advanced on me I brought up a force field to keep the bullets from flying towards me. There were four men that were moving forward towards me to try and take me down. But I continued to block the bullets that they were trying to fire at me. It was a few minutes before their guns finally began to click. I smirked, knowing that they were out of bullets and I was about to take care of them.

Running towards the first of the men - the one that had been standing the closest to me - I ducked underneath the knife that he threw out towards me and spun sideways over myself, throwing out my leg and kicking him in the side of the head. A little bit of blood flew out of his mouth as he hit the ground and tried to get back to his feet. As I straightened up, I kicked him across the jaw and backed off. He tried to get back to his feet once more as I jumped forward into a front flip and kicked him over the head. He stumbled backwards once more as I righted myself and grabbed his shoulders, flipping over him and wrenching him down to the ground with me.

As the first man was down for the count, I looked towards the second. The second man leaned down to grab his pistol to shoot at me, but I acted faster. I ran after him and used his bent knee as a step. I had one foot down on his bent thigh as I leaned forward and wrenched the gun from his hand. My other leg was on top of his shoulder as I brought the gun up and shot through his skull. As I leaned forward once more, I hooked my foot behind the man's head and brought the two of us into a sprawl. I rolled forward off of the corpse and leaned up towards the third man.

Sliding past the man first, I jumped back to my feet and pulled the trigger. I was met with a little click. Empty. Figures. Instead I tossed the gun off to the side as the man arrived at my side. I tried to hit him but he was faster. As he threw his fist out, I managed to catch it in my own hand. Our hands went off to the side before I wrenched them back upwards and over in the other direction, sending the both of us into a sprawl sideways. I immediately dropped his hand and made a move to get back to my feet.

The man attempted to get back to his feet from the sudden movement but I reacted first, knowing that it wasn't a very hard move to recover from. I slid forward on my knees and swept out his legs. The man grunted as he hit the ground and I flipped forward from my kneeling position. As I came back over myself I jammed my foot into his helmet, effectively crushing his skull.

The moment that I was sure that he was dead, I glanced back towards the fourth of the Hydra soldiers. He ran towards me without a weapon in his hands and I smirked. This one would be easy. The man missed grabbing out at me as I stepped off to the side of him and used a small box as a stepping stone. He reached up an arm to try and stop me but I merely wrapped a leg over his arm and onto his shoulders. I jumped up onto the man and placed my hands over his throat, electrocuting and killing him. His body fell backwards as I rolled forward off of him and back to my feet. My eyes immediately scanned the few remaining fights. Bucky was currently fighting one man with another walking up behind him.

They were some of the last few Hydra soldiers that remained outside of the base. As Bucky sidestepped to shoot at the Hydra soldier that had his full attention, he seemed to finally notice that another was advancing on him. I moved forward, unwilling to let anything happen to him. I slid forward on my knees and underneath the gap in Bucky's leg, stealing the garrote that was tucked into the waistband on his pants. Bucky stepped back in surprise as he shot the first man that had been advancing on him.

In the meantime I jumped back to my feet and loosened the garrote that was in my hands. I had a feeling that Bucky didn't know how to use it anyways. The other man that had been about to attack him merely stepped backwards in fear at the sight of me. I advanced forward and grabbed the man's shoulders. I spun over his back before placing my thighs on either side of his neck, pulling the garrote over his throat and tightening it. I fell backwards, keeping the garrote tight around his throat. He was thrown over himself onto the ground as I hit the floor, back on my feet.

The man was down on his stomach - desperately clawing at the garrote - trying to suck air back into his lungs. I merely flipped forward and used the tight grip that I had on the rope to pull the man back to his feet. I could already see that it was cutting through the skin. The entire time, Bucky had been watching in shock. I nodded my head towards him and he understood what I was getting at as he looked back at me and raised his own gun, shooting the man through the forehead. He fell to the ground - dead - as I finally dropped the grip that I had on the garrote.

As I walked back over to where Bucky was standing, I saw that his chest was heaving softly from exertion. I hadn't made a move to indicate that I was tired. "I had him on the ropes," Bucky muttered.

I smiled at him and placed a hand on his arm. It was the same thing that Steve had said to him almost a year and a half ago. "I know you did," I said.

My hand was on his arm as Bucky gave me a gentle shove. He knew that I was just messing with him. I loved him more than anything, but that didn't mean that I was always going to be nice to him. I glanced up towards the rest of the men and was very relieved to see that the rest of the men were all still alive and well. They were already handling their ends of the bargain. They all had dead soldiers all around them. It seemed that everyone that had been outdoors during the attack was gone. That meant that all we needed was to take care of the men in the building.

They must have still been hiding from us. They must have known that they were being attacked. Steve made his way over to me and I looked down at the shield in his arms. "How's that shield working out?" I asked him.

"Thank God they can't fight like you," Steve said.

Everyone laughed as I turned over to them and smiled. We wouldn't be doing very well if they could fight like me. "That could pose a problem. Nice job, tough guy," I joked, patting against his arm. "Gentlemen! Shall we?"

"We shall," Dum Dum said.

They all made their move to form a line with their weapons drawn. They were all holding their rifles and ready to get into the fight. As they were holding the rifles and weapons, I saw that Steve was holding his pistol. I was the only person that would be walking in without a weapon. Steve and I made our way towards the doors first and I leaned back, kicking them apart. The metal bent as the doors went flying apart and my force field went up. The bullets immediately began ricocheting off of the force field as we walked forward. It was just a few seconds before the men had to stop to redraw. I dropped the force field and rolled out of the way for the men to be able to take over their rolls in the fight.

It was easy for them to move forward and shoot down all of the soldiers that were coming in droves. I was the person that was supposed to be taking out the strays. Bucky's voice cut through the loud bangs of the weapons. "Left corner!" he yelled.

Glancing up, I realized that he was right. There were six or seven Hydra soldiers that were running towards the men. "I got 'em! Keep moving!" I shouted, running after them.

As the men continued to advance through the building, I ran off to the side towards where the rest of the reinforcement Hydra soldiers were on their way in. I ran back towards the double doors that they were running through and moved towards the first man. He was running towards me as I dropped to my knees and slid past him, grabbing his knee and yanking it out of the socket. He was screaming in pain as I got back to my feet and ran towards the rest of the men. One man was standing right in front of the other as I ran towards him and grabbed him around the neck, pushing my legs forward and sending a kangaroo kick into his stomach.

The second man fell as I kept my grip around the first's neck and did a quick run on the ground, pulling him with me, as I hit the wall and ran up it. Two steps up the wall and I flipped over his back, sending him sprawling as I turned back. There was another man standing not far from me and I smirked, running after him. The man was watching me as he raised his rifle towards me. Although I was very easily able to jump upwards and use the rifle as a step up onto his shoulders. I used my weight to spin around on his shoulders and rip him off of his feet. He was thrown towards the ground as I rolled forwards and shoved his head into the ground, crushing it.

Another man ran after me and aimed his rifle towards me. I was just barely able to duck out of the way as I grabbed the rifle, shoving it back into his face. He stumbled backwards as I kneed him in the stomach. He grunted and collapsed to the ground, throwing up blood, as I grabbed the rifle and turned back towards the next man to advance on me. I used it to throw the other man's rifle out of his hands as I dropped the one that I had stolen. I threw out my leg into his stomach as he stumbled backwards. Another man came from behind me and I turned back, swiping my leg out to kick the rifle out of his hands and delivered another kick towards his stomach.

The man that had just recovered from my earlier hit came after me and I ducked out of the way, turning away from him and reaching back behind his neck. I leaned down and yanked him with me, throwing his body over myself. He hit the ground as his neck snapped and I got back to my feet. The last of the men that was coming after me let off a shot that I barely managed to avoid. I slid past him on my knees - getting out of the way of a few more of his shots - before getting back to my feet and running after him. I ducked down before getting back up and jamming my fist into his nose. The cartilage shoved upwards into his brain and he fell backwards, dead.

Two more Hydra guards were running towards me and I looked around for a moment. There was a desk not far from me that was turned onto its side. I slid towards it and kicked it straight towards the first of the guards. He grunted as he was crushed in between the desk and the wall as I got back to my feet and jumped over the desk. I punched the man in the stomach before reaching my arm over the back of his neck and twisting, snapping his neck and allowing him to slump dead against the desk. The second Hydra guard caught me around my throat and I groaned as I shoved my elbow back into his gut and flipped backwards over him.

As I landed back on my feet, Steve passed me and threw the shield into the guard, knocking him out. I gave him a quick nod before sprinting off towards three more soldiers. Two were standing close together as a third advanced. I ran towards the first and ducked down, sweeping out his legs from underneath of him, as I got back to my feet and grabbed the second man's hand, turning my back towards him and throwing him over myself. I leaned down to him and punched him in the face as the first soldier got back to his feet. Dropping my grip on the unconscious second man, I turned back to the first and swept my leg out across his skull, crushing it under the force. A third man ran towards me as I ducked out of the way of his punch and grabbed his arm, twisting it behind me. I easily jammed his head into my knee twice before throwing him over himself.

Coming back to a stand, I realized that more soldiers were still advancing on me. As the men realized that I was the real problem, they were coming for me. Another man ran towards me and threw out a fist that I was easily able to catch as I spun underneath him arm and threw my leg straight up into his neck. He leaned over, gasping for air, as I jumped up onto his shoulders and rotated around his front. As he was thrown into the floor, I rolled off of him and back to my feet as another man came towards me. I jumped over the first man's body and sent a kangaroo-kick into the second man's chest. He was blown backwards off of his feet as I landed on the first man's back, breaking his spine with my elbow as I hopped back to my feet.

Two more men ran towards me as the first threw out two consecutive punches to my head. I dodged both before grabbing his arm and shoving him into the ground, keeping my grip on his arm, as the second man came to stand at my other side. I kicked him in the throat, making him stumble backwards, as I wrapped my leg over the arm of the man that I still had a grip on. He was thrown to the ground as I rolled us over ourselves, breaking the joint of his shoulder. He fell in pain as I released him and got back to my feet. The other man was running back towards me as I jumped out of his way, and grabbed his shoulders, pulling myself up and over him, only to throw myself back towards the ground. He was thrown over himself once more as I hopped back upright, spotting that two of his vertebrae had been broken.

Barely a second had passed before another group of men ran towards me. One man ran after me and I ducked out of the way before swinging my leg up and out, swiping across his head. He hit the ground as two more men came towards me from opposite sides. I waited until they were parallel with me before jumping up and kicking my legs out, making them both go flying backwards at the impact. I rolled backwards and upright so that as I came back up, I went into a back-flip, kicking one of the men in the jaw, cracking the bone and breaking it. As another man ran towards me, I kicked the rifle out of his hands with one leg before turning and using the other to break his skull.

As another man - clearly one with martial arts training - made a move to kick at me, I ducked underneath and placed his leg on my shoulder. I shoved him forwards and onto the ground as I stepped over him, placing his knee in between my own, and yanked. His knee broke at the sudden movement as I turned back and leapt forwards towards another man. He was not expecting the hit as I caught onto his front and pulled myself up onto his shoulders. I sat on him for a moment before swinging myself downwards, throwing him to the ground.

It was almost immediate that another man ran towards me. I ducked underneath his legs before grabbing under his thigh and yanking him down towards me. He fell over the top of me as I rolled behind him and back upwards, grabbing his arm and twisting it backwards. I heard the pop almost immediately and I let go, bouncing back to my feet. There was another man that had been trying to sneak up behind me and I whipped back around. The man turned on his heel to run, but I was faster. I launched after him and grabbed his shoulders, rolling us forward and over ourselves. I caught one of his legs underneath mine and the other in my arms as I twisted backwards, feeling the tendon separate.

The man's screams were enough to tell me that he wasn't getting up anytime soon. So I stood and noticed that Bucky was shooting at another man. They had too much cover in between the two of them to shoot at each other. "Bucky, get down!" I shouted.

Bucky barely had time to move before I was at his side. He ducked down onto his hands and knees as I ran after him. As expected, the man that was shooting at him stepped out into the open to try and shoot at me. As usual, I was faster. I reached Bucky and used his back as a spring to propel me in the air. As I sprang towards the man, I kicked out at his chest and sent him flying backwards. I hit the ground and bounced back up, glancing back towards Bucky. He was about to get back to his feet as I motioned him to stay down. I ran back towards Bucky and threw my leg out over his head, connecting with the man that had been running towards us, throwing him backwards.

Another man came at me from the corner and I turned to run after him when Bucky acted first. He shot the man in the head and I watched as he dropped. I turned back to Bucky and laughed softly. I was about to say something when I saw that another soldier was headed towards him. I sprinted towards Bucky, who was smart enough to open his legs so that I could slide underneath them. I got back to my feet as I ran after the man and punched him in the head. As he recovered from the blow, I turned back, placing my back against his front and hooked my thigh back around his waist. Jumping forward with the leg that was on the ground I threw the two of us over ourselves, landing on top of the man.

He grunted at the impact as I rolled forward off of the man so that Gabe could shoot him. "Thanks," I called out to Gabe. Just a moment later I saw a man sneaking up on him. "Knife!"

Gabe needed no more warning. He tossed his knife at me as I ran after the man. He got no warning before I threw myself forward into a front flip. He dropped the rifle that he was holding as my legs went up around his shoulders. He grunted in a sudden panic as I pulled myself up so that I was sitting on his chest and leaning over him. The knife in my hand went straight down into his heart as his eyes widened and he dropped backwards, allowing me to drop the knife and roll forwards off of him.

Two more men were running after me and I rolled my eyes. It was like they never ended. There must have been more here than I thought. As he threw out a punch, I caught his arm and turned backwards, looping my arm around the back of his neck before throwing us up and over. I landed on the man and rolled forward to let Bucky shoot him. A second later I got back to my feet and turned back to where the second man was. The man had no time to think as I ran after him, wrapping my legs around his neck, and throwing us back to the ground. He was thrown into a sprawl on top of another man as I slid forward on all fours.

And then came three more. I rolled my eyes but moved forward anyways. I ran towards the first man and stepped up onto his thigh. He had an arm around my leg, trying to pull me off of him, but I was rooted in place. Using his leg as support, I leaned backwards and kicked out at another advancing man with my free leg. The man that I was standing on began to lose his balance as I twisted to the side, throwing one leg over his back. He fell to the ground as I threw him into an airborne spin and rolled off of him. Another man threw a punch at me that I ducked out of the way of as I grabbed his arm and placed the other behind his neck. I jumped to place my back against his front and roll the two of us forward.

My hand was underneath his knee as I took his leg and jammed it upwards, tearing the muscle. Another man moved towards me while I was down on the ground and I grabbed his arm, wrenching it backwards to dislocate it. He screamed in pain and tried to stand up to get away from me, but I moved first. I grabbed him and spun around so that I was sitting on his shoulders. I fell backwards and tore the man off of his feet with me. He was thrown across the floor as I landed on all fours.

Getting back to my feet, I saw Jacques firing at a group of men not far from us. "Jacques! Come on!" I shouted.

He nodded at me and shot at two men before running after me. I smiled and ran towards the center of the building. It was part of our plan. Once we had managed to clear out most of the soldiers, we were supposed to set up explosives to demolish the rest of the building. We had to make sure to destroy all of the knowledge that Hydra had. Jacques began to load the explosives into the building as I stood back and kept watch for any other Hydra soldiers. The men were finishing off of most of the rest of the Hydra soldiers out on the edge of the base.

It wasn't long before two more Hydra soldiers came running up to us. Jacques glanced up at us and I shook my head at him. "Keep going. I've got them," I said.

Walking back towards the men, the first one ran towards me and swiped out for a punch. I ducked out of the way before twirling up into the air to aim a kick at him. My first leg went over his head as my second was thrown out - kicking directly in the center of the man's chest. He was thrown back into the wall as I dropped back down to the ground. The second man ran towards me and I stood my ground. The man was bent down slightly as I ran after him. I leapt upwards and wrapped my legs around his neck before leaning backwards and rotating over myself. The man was thrown to the ground as I landed back on my feet.

I was about to finish them off as Jacques called to me. "We're done!" he shouted.

"Run!" I shouted. Both Jacques and I ran from the center of the building up towards the front. I was just behind Jacques as I brought up a gust of wind and blew the men backwards against the wall. They collapsed on themselves as I ran back out into the main building. The rest of the men were still firing at the remaining Hydra members. "Let's go! Charges are set!" I yelled out them.

That was all that it took. They all began to sprint from the building with us. We didn't need to make things any more dangerous than they already were. The charges would detonate in a matter of seconds. James was in the front as he started firing at the few remaining members of the Hydra division. The Hydra men were trying to run after us as I turned backwards and brought up a force field, stopping the men from escaping the building. A second later, it detonated. Explosions began rocking the ground as the building imploded on itself, killing all of the Hydra members that were trapped inside and the the men that were trapped in my force field.

A few minutes passed before I was sure that the explosions had stopped. I eventually let the force field drop and straighten up. I motioned for the men to wait as I walked forward and did a quick analysis of the land. I smirked quickly, knowing that we had managed to completely wipe out this Hydra base. There were now at least two hundred less Hydra soldiers in the world and there was no way that they would be able to salvage anything from this base. I turned back to the men and smiled brightly.

"Not bad, boys," I chirped.

"Wa-hoo!" Dum Dum yelled.

We all laughed as I was brought into the middle of a pile of the men. I smiled at the men as I was dunked underneath the pile of them. "We had a good teacher," Bucky told me as they released me.

They had all done such a good job out there. No one was dead and no one was injured either. The only casualties were Hydra soldiers. "You made me proud out there. Now let's go home. I could use a shower," I said, really meaning it. I'd kind of been rolling around in the dirt and dust. The men all laughed as Bucky and Steve threw their arms over me. They smelled terrible. "Ew. And so could you two."

Once more everyone laughed. They really did need a shower. They smelled like sweat and a little like metal. Probably from blood. "Well now we know that you were taking it easy on us," Jim said.

I was definitely taking things easy on them. I laughed and wrung out my hands, cracking the bones that had tensed up during the attack. "Oh I needed a good fight," I said happily.

Once more everyone laughed. I really had needed a fight. It was the reason that I hadn't taken one of Howard's pills before coming out here. I could feel the electricity sparking through my hands as we walked back towards the place that the plane had been left. It only took us half an hour to get back to where everyone was waiting for us. It had been a long time since we had been back with the rest of them. It had been about three hours since we had left for the fight. I was sure that Peggy, Chester, and Howard were getting nervous by now.

So I decided to slip into Peggy's mind and let her know that we were still alive. We're on our way back, I said into her mind.

Everything alright? Peggy's voice called back to me.

We're here.

The airplane was rising in the distance as I glanced upwards and saw the back door of the plane dropping once more. Peggy came running out towards us, Howard and Chester following closely behind. "What happened?" she asked desperately.

"There's one less Hydra base in the world," I told her.

Smiles fell over their faces as Chester walked up to me. "Not bad, kid," Chester said, wrapping me in a hug.

Laughing at him, I brought him into a hug. "Thanks, old man."

"You took care of everything?" he asked me.

Nodding at him, I walked over towards the map and made a move to take the Hydra base off of the map. "Everything. We took out all of the Hydra soldiers and detonated the base. There's nothing left there. I did a check to make sure that we were the only survivors," I said, letting them know that I was sure that we were the only person that had walked out of there.

"Well done," Chester said to me, before turning and looking at the rest of the team. "To all of you."

I noticed that he had added it begrudgingly. "We'll take it off of the map," Peggy said.

"When do we move forward with the next mission?" Bucky asked.

To my surprise, it was Steve that spoke first. He did make a good leader when it came to things like this. "We have to spend some time getting everything together. Look at maps and make the plans. Vic has seen us in action and she'll know how to alter our training," he said. I raised my brow and crossed my arms over my chest. "Right?"

He had turned towards me with a slightly nervous look. It almost made me laugh. He would always make sure that I was alright with whatever the plans were. "Right. We should wait until after the holidays. After the New Year?" I asked everyone.

"That'll work," Chester said. "Rest. You've all had a long day."

Everyone slowly started moving off to carry on with whatever they wanted to do for the next hour and a half or so. Bucky grabbed my hand and pulled me with him towards the chairs in the back. "You were incredible out there," he told me as we sat down.

He grabbed my legs and pulled me halfway into his lap. "That was nothing," I said honestly.

Bucky smiled and grabbed my hand. I was a little concerned that he might spot the bloodstains on my fingers. But if he did, he made no note of it. Maybe because I noticed that there were a few flecks of blood on his uniform. "It was the most impressive thing that I've ever seen. And I've seen you do some pretty impressive things," he said.

"Thanks," I said, with a small smile. A moment later I pressed my hand against his cheek. He did the same to me, running his thumb down over my lip. "And thank you for keeping yourself safe."

Bucky moved forward and pressed a small kiss against my lips. "You had my back in there a few times," he said.

"Always."

And I meant it. I was always going to be there to protect him and have his back, no matter what happened. The return to the base was relatively uneventful and not at all peaceful. It didn't take long for the other men to come over and join Bucky and I. We didn't leave from our positions but we didn't actually hang over each other. Instead we spent most of the ride back talking and laughing with each other. It was the nicest that I'd felt in days, knowing that everyone was safe and had made it through the attack. By the end that we did return to the base, it was already midday.

When we walked back into the base I noticed that men and women were already standing around everywhere and waiting to hear what had happened. They were all very excited to hear that the base had been destroyed with all of the soldiers. I had been very embarrassed that all of the men had made it a point to tell them that I was the reason that they had made it out. I was sure that the entire story would be in the tabloids by the morning. We had to stand and talk about everything for a few hours before we were allowed to leave back to the barracks; which was good, considering that I was exhausted from the lack of sleep from the past few days.

"How about a trip to the tavern?" Dum Dum asked as we walked in.

Glancing up towards the clock that was mounted on the roll, I shook my head at them. It was the middle of the day and they wanted to go drinking. "It's the middle of the day," I commented dryly.

Gabe laughed and wrapped an arm over my shoulders. He smelled just about as bad as everyone else did. "We just beat Hydra. Who cares what time it is?" Gabe asked me teasingly.

"I'll be there in a few hours. I'm gonna lay down for a while," I told them.

Going out to the bar sounded like a fantastic time, but I really wanted to lay down for a while before actually doing anything that involved more work. "Hurry over. I want a game of darts," Jim told me.

"You'll lose," I commented. I glanced back and saw that Steve was heading over towards the barracks. "Where are you going?" I asked him.

Steve looked back at me and I noticed the bags underneath his eyes. He must have been exhausted. "I think that I'm gonna follow your lead and take a nap for a few hours. I'll be at the bar around seven or eight," he said.

"That sounds perfect to me." Before he could walk off, I reached my arm over and placed it on his shoulder. "Hey. Good job today. Seriously. You did so well out there. I don't think that I've ever been so proud of you. Those training sessions with me... I could do whatever I wanted, but I would have never really hurt you. This was your chance to prove to me that you've learned something. And you definitely have," I told him happily.

That was the most impressive that I had ever seen Steve do out there. He had looked incredible out there. Much better than I'd been expecting. "Thanks, Vic. We made a hell of a team out there," he joked, nudging my shoulder.

Laughing softly, I nodded at him. "Yeah. We did. I'll see you in a few hours, okay?" I offered.

"I'll come get you both when it's time to head over," Steve said.

There was a small flush on my face from what he'd told me. Was it really that obvious that Bucky and I spent those nights together? I hoped that not everyone had noticed so far. I wanted to keep that a secret for as long as possible. "Thanks," I said, laughing awkwardly.

Bucky patted Steve on the back. "Good job, buddy." Steve and the others walked off as Bucky turned back to me. "What would it take to coerce you into coming and taking a nap with me?" he asked.

Glancing over at him, I smiled and walked into him. He pressed a hand behind my back, keeping me pressed against him. "Coerce, that's a big word. I'm proud," I told him, teasing him slightly. He laughed and shoved me as he tightened his grip on my back. "Honestly, it wouldn't take much."

That was all that it took. Bucky and I headed straight back towards his room as he pressed a hand over the lower half of my back, pulling him with me. Even though it was only the middle of the day, I really was exhausted. I yawned deeply as I leaned into Bucky's side. It was the most comfortable place that I could have thought that I could be in right now. I would probably end up falling asleep almost immediately. We walked into Bucky's room and he closed the door behind us as I dropped into the bed.

It did make me giggle the way that Bucky plopped on top of me a few moments later. My eyes were closed but they sprang open again as I felt his body lay on top of my own. He pressed the hair off of my forehead and my hands went down to the jacket of his uniform. As he caught my lips with his own, my hands went to the buttons on the jacket that he was wearing. It was easy to undo them all so that he could push it off of his shoulders and drop in back to the ground. His hand made its way underneath the skintight shirt, just barely able to push it up slightly. I smiled as I broke the kiss for a moment, allowing us to undo the laces on our shoes.

"You're terrible at punching, by the way," I said as I kicked my boots back to the ground.

Bucky's head shot up as he kicked off his own. "I am not!" he shouted, affronted.

"Yes you are."

A small smirk formed over his face as I raised my brows. "Well I'll tell you what I'm not terrible at," he said.

My eyebrows rose as he leaned into me and pressed another kiss against my mouth. I laughed and let him push me back into the bed. My legs pushed their way in between his as one of his hands dropped dangerously low on my waist - not that I really cared - and the other came up to tangle in my hair. Our mouths moved together in a slight frenzy as I was pushed back into the bed. My hands were busy pushing the shirt up around his chest as I tried to push the thoughts of what I really wanted. There was no ring on my finger yet, so I couldn't go too far... But I was no fool. I knew that we weren't getting to sleep anytime soon. And that was perfectly alright with me.

A/N: Oh I have so much fun with the fight scenes. About time they started going on these missions, right? Now the main attacks on the bases are from the movie, but many of the details are obviously of my own imagination. Sorry about the long update waits, but college keeps me busy. I'll always update, you just have to give me time. Thanks for all of the follows and favorites! Please review! Until next time -A

rebelforcauses: Thanks so much! I love college but it drives me out of my mind sometimes. Congratulations on starting! I hope that you have an awesome time :) So glad that Vika/Bucky is one of your favorite things. They're one of my favorite things, too!

racefunhorse: Senior year of college? That's what I am this year. So close to being done! Glad that you loved the last chapter! Twenty-six will remain my favorite chapter for a little while. I think that you might like the next one though. Well if your friend is reading this, I hope that she likes it!

Tumblr-0-Trash: Bucky is so desperate for that ring lol. But it's for so much more than the sexual tension, he really is in love with her. Although the tension doesn't help things lol. Thanks! Glad that you liked the chapter!

Moniquita2: Bear in mind that I do everything that I do for a reason. And I promise that it wasn't the whole fight, just bits and pieces. Remember who was watching the fight in the background. I swear it will make sense in time. But I am sorry for stealing parts of it. Hope that you're still enjoying!

.2017: No, they didn't. They stopped themselves after the chapter ended. They fell asleep up on the stone outside of the pool but they didn't have their first time there.

kuppcake: Thanks so much! I did the same thing! I started thinking about the fight on the helicarrier and it made me really sad thinking about the future. They will manage to keep their hands to themselves, but not for much longer lol. Hope you liked this one!