The bitterly cold wind nipped at her cheeks and pulled strands of blonde hair out of Ada's braid. She stood next to Steve on the edge of the cliff and stared down at the tracks below them, her teeth chewing on her bottom lip as they examined their task ahead of them.
"Remember when I made you ride the Cyclone at Coney Island?" Bucky called over the wind.
"Yeah, and I threw up?" Steve replied.
"This isn't payback, is it?"
"Now why would I do that?"
"You wouldn't. She would."
Ada smirked at Bucky's words and tipped her head in thanks before looking up at the cable above their heads. Gabe's voice brought them all back to attention.
"We were right. Dr. Zola's on the train. Hydra dispatcher gave him permission to open up the throttle. Wherever he's going, they must need him bad."
Steve looked to his best friend and then to his wife. Ada shrugged and glanced back at the approaching train.
"We get Zola and we get out. I have things to discuss with him. It's personal," she said.
"Well let's get going because they're moving like the devil," Falsworth announced.
Steve secured his pulley onto the cord and looked back at the others. "We only got about a ten-second window. You miss that window, we're bugs on a windshield."
"Mind the gap," JJ replied.
"Better get moving, bugs!" Dum Dum roared. He paused and nodded to Ada. "And lady."
Dernier counted them off, giving Steve, Bucky, and Ada a chance to land perfectly on the train roof. The blonde landed in a crouch and flattened against the cold metal before crawling up to meet the men. Steve led the way to the stairs that descended next to the door to the train car. He swung open the door and jumped in, Ada and Bucky close behind. Gabe stayed up top to make sure no one came at them from above.
After Bucky shut the door to the car, the three turned to find an entirely empty train. Ada frowned and cautiously took a step forward, her hand resting on the pistol strapped to her thigh. She stayed with Bucky, her silent steps tracing his every move.
Steve's head swiveled between them and the door separating the two cars. He gestured towards it and Ada nodded tersely. The second he stepped into the next car, doors slid shut.
They were separated.
Ada drew her gun and fired off three quick shots at the oncoming HYDRA soldiers. One dropped quickly but the other kept firing. Bucky grabbed his friend and yanked her behind him and some crates before firing back.
"It's a fucking ambush," she spat.
She stood up behind the crates and fired two more shots, taking out another soldier. But that damned machine gunner was still going. Bucky yanked her back down and provided cover as they moved to the other side of the train.
"Stay down, damnit!" he barked.
"Yeah, I'll listen to you this time," she said. She could hear the echoing blasts coming from the car Steve was trapped in and it was driving her blood pressure through the roof not being able to help.
"Shit, I'm out," Bucky swore. He tossed his rifle down and pulled out his own handgun. Ada motioned for him to switch sides and provided cover as he moved. Her finger pulled on the trigger and all she heard was a dull click.
Bucky picked up the slack and fired three shots but they all missed. The crates and shelving in the middle of the car weren't helping at all. Bucky let out a frustrated grunt when he ran out of ammo as well. He leaned his back against the wall and looked to Ada who was doing the same.
"It's been a hell of a ride," he blurted out.
"You're not giving up this easily," she snapped.
"No. Just...thank you. You're good for him."
The door slid open and Steve tossed his gun to Bucky and then charged into one of the crates with his shield first, sending it flying right where the HYDRA soldier was hiding. The man ducked, giving Bucky a perfect opportunity to shoot him.
"I had him on the ropes," Bucky said as they joined Steve's side.
"I know you did."
The sound of a HYDRA gun charging up had Ada flying back behind the crates as Steve pushed Bucky behind him, taking the blue energy blast right in the middle of his shield. The blast ricocheted and cut a gaping hole through the side of the car as Steve was thrown onto his stomach. Ada grabbed a knife from her boot, but Bucky was already standing with the shield in one hand and a gun in the other. He fired once, twice, and-
"NO!" Ada cried as the HYDRA gunman shot a blast at the shield, throwing Bucky into the hole. He caught the railing of the barely hanging on metal and dangled over the cliff.
Ada threw herself up, her foot colliding with the cannon gun and knocking it out of his hands. She didn't hesitate to plunge her knife in his throat and tear the fleshy skin of his neck wide open before she let him fall to the ground.
When she turned and found her husband clinging to the broken metal, his hand outstretched to the empty, barren sky, she knew in her heart what happened.
Bucky Barnes was dead.
/
"You're late," Peggy stated.
"I went to try and retrieve the body." Ada had no energy left in her to lie or fight against SSR command right now. Peggy didn't scold her, however, but merely leaned against her desk and watched her carefully.
"And did you find it?"
Ada stilled. She set down the papers she was rifling through and sighed, her shoulders slumping. "No. I think you and I both know what that means."
"Are you going to tell Steve?"
"No. I think, after today, that it would break him. And I can't see that. I won't see that. So I ask of you one thing. When this war ends, you will destroy any and all records of me. They can't know I was a success."
The blonde grabbed her friend's arm. Peggy had never seen fear in Ada Kennedy's eyes but she figured this came pretty damn close.
"Please, Peggy."
"I promise."
Ada swallowed past the emotion that threatened to rise in her eyes and she stepped forward, enveloping Peggy in a tight hug. "Thank you."
Before Peggy could hug her in return, Ada pulled away and returned to her desk. She straightened out her jacket and then inhaled. Peggy watched as a cool mask of indifference slid over her features. One second there was a slight twinkle in her eye and the next, she was completely cold.
"If you don't mind, I have a few questions for Zola regarding his wife," Ada said.
/
Ada stepped over the rubble and into the shelled out bar. She pulled her coat tighter around her body as she looked for the person she had been tasked to find. The streets of London were silent and empty thanks to the bombs that had rained down upon them an hour earlier.
She knew she would find him here. It was the last place they all gathered before the hell of war ripped them apart.
Steve sat at a table in the corner with a bottle of absinthe in front of him. Ada crossed the room to stand beside him. She reached out and took the bottle off of the table and brought it back over to the shattered bar.
"It won't work so I don't know why you bother trying," she chastised.
"Didn't realize my wife would become such a nag." Dry humor laced his voice and she turned to glare at him without any malice. Instead, Ada returned back to him. One hand cupped his cheek and drew his face up to look at hers while her other hand carded through his hair.
"It wasn't your fault," she whispered. "There was nothing we could have done."
"You were there."
"Yes." She stroked a thumb across his cheek to swipe up his tears. His sorrowful blue eyes looked up at her and she just wanted to tell him it would all be okay.
That would be a lie.
"Then you know that's not true."
"You did everything you could," she protested. Ada pressed her forehead against his. "Bucky went into this fight knowing the risk. We all do. I know he wouldn't want you blaming yourself right now."
"I'm going after Schmidt. I'm not gonna stop until all of HYDRA is dead or captured," he murmured.
"You're not alone in this fight, Steve."
His shoulders shook as she pulled him closer. The collar of her coat was soaked with his tears, but she didn't care. She just needed to know he was okay.
Bucky's death signaled the end of the war was near and Ada would need to make the difficult choice. The man weeping in her arms made it that much harder to decide.