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January 12th - Charlie Carrier

"AHA! CAPTAIN AMERICA!" Dmitri exclaimed, "SHE SPOKE OFTEN OF Y—"

Maggie's eyes fluttered opened as Dmitri spoke excitedly. She smiled up at him, hearing his words and as she tried to sit up, she realized she was in his arms. He looked down at her and dropped the earpiece. The bear of a man pulled her into a hug, his forehead resting on hers.

"There's my girl," he said, "I am glad to see your eyes open."

"Hey Dmitri," she said attempting to sit up again. He let her go, watching as she struggled to stand. She groaned as she continued in Russian, "I feel like I was hit by a bus… did you hit me that hard old man?"

"I did no such thing!" he replied helping her sit up, "Captain America is coming to get you soon, Little One."

"I don't need him to come for me," she said with another groan, "I've got this."

Maggie stood and peaked around the containers. Shots fired at her, and she stepped back into cover. An explosion at the Alpha carrier stole her attention momentarily and her shoulder peaked out from cover as she turned. A shot rang out and she dropped to the ground completely behind cover with Dmitri.

"Son of a bitch," she hissed, grasping at her shoulder, "The last one was barely healed."

"Last one?" Dmitri asked as she pulled a blade from a pouch on her belt and handed it to him.

"Yeah, I was shot a couple days ago in almost that exact spot," she said turning, "here, I need you to get the bullet out."

He took the blade from her and looked at her wound. Blood was already gushing from it.

"Little one, it does not look good," he began as he brought the knife up to it, "Maybe we should compress it and—"

"Taking the slug out will let it start healing," she replied, pulling a stick of jerky from another pouch. She took a bite of it and looked up at him, "Trust me, Dmitri. I'll be better the sooner it's out of me."

"Alright," he said and plunged the knife into her shoulder. As he dug for the slug, she looked away from him, eating the jerky in her hand. After a moment, he caught the other end of the slug and popped it out quickly. He caught it as it fell and looked back at the wound. The bleeding stopped almost immediately.

"Aha!" he said holding up the piece of copper for her to see, "I got it." Maggie looked at it and nodded. She pulled out a second piece of jerky and a small bottle.

"Thank you," she said. She handed the travel-size vodka to him as she continued, "Could you pour some of that on there to clean it up?"

Dmitri nodded, opening the bottle. He didn't use much, but she hissed as it hit the open wound. He noticed as muscle strands regrew and stared as the wound closed. He could heal fast, but not nearly at that speed.

"Hey," Dimitri said looking at the vodka then at her. She turned to face him, and he held up the mostly full bottle, "do you, uh, have another one of these hiding in your belt somewhere?"

Maggie chuckled.

"No, but you can have what's left," she said. He smiled, drinking it immediately then threw the bottle.

"It's weird no one is coming for us," she said chewing on the second stick of jerky. Dmitri shrugged, silently watching as the color return to her skin with every bite of jerky.

"You killed most of them, even when there were too many of them," he replied, "others, I threw to get to you when you fell. They would be pretty stupid to come to us."

"True," she said lifting her free hand. A blade came out of her wrist, and he winced seeing her skin close the moment it left body. She made no notion of it causing pain, only using the smooth blade in attempt to see around the corner. She stuffed the rest of the jerky into her mouth and held out her hand.

"Gun," she mumbled as she chewed. He put the pistol in her hand. Quickly she spun around the crate and fired once before ducking back behind the crate. He heard a body fall to the ground just before shots hit the crate beside her.

Maggie used the blade to look around again. She stood lifting her hand to her ear, surprise reaching her face when she realized it was gone. Dmitri picked it up off the deck and handed it to her.

"I used it to call you friends for help," he said as she took it. She smiled and put the piece in her ear.

"Thank you, Dmitri," she responded. She held her hand to her ear, "Sorry, I was out of commission for a minute… I have a few assholes between me and the door, then I'll be on my way."

"No!" Dmitri yelled as he stood quickly and grabbed her shoulders. There was a response on the other end of the communicator, but Maggie struggled to process the words coming through as Dmitri continued as well, speaking in fevered, angry Russian.

Gun shots rang out on the other side of the container—although not aimed at them—and he quieted. The two peaked their heads around the crate to see where the shots had been aimed. Sam and Steve were on the flight deck, walking toward the door. The few Hydra soldiers that Maggie and Dmitri hadn't fought, appeared to be down.

"Steve, Sam!" she called out, jogging toward them as they talked and walked. They looked at her and Steve began to smile, seeing her well. However, the Winter Soldier dove from another pallet of ammunition, seemingly appearing out of thin air and knocking Steve off the side of the carrier.

"NO!" Maggie screamed, her jog toward them turning into a run.

"Steve!" Sam called, jumping after him. The Winter Soldier grabbed his left wing as he jumped and attempted to throw him back onto the deck. Sam flew into the air and pulled out two fully automatic pistols, firing immediately at the Winter Soldier. The Winter Soldier dodged and ducked behind cover between Sam and Maggie, paying her no attention. She glared at his back as he ignored her.

Maggie took her chance and jumped onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and legs around his waist attempting to put him in a sleeper hold. He grabbed her with his metal arm, pulling her off him and slamming her on the deck in front of him. She wheezed as her back hit the ground hard and the air left her body. Her broken ribs pressed against her lung painfully.

She groaned as she stared up at him, his eyes cold as he stared down at her. She rolled away from him as his hand slammed into the deck beside where her head had been. She rolled, bringing herself into a crouched position, the two staring at each other once again. Her eyes darted to where his hand had left a dent. She was sure he had intentionally missed—although barely—and she paused. There was no way Pierce had reset him and not added her to his mission list. He stared back at her. He was watching her, his stance defensive.

Behind her, Sam took the opportunity to try and fly after Steve again. The Winter Soldier tore his eyes away from her and shot a handheld grappling hook at him. Maggie cursed under her breath and charged at him again, hitting the Winter Soldier as he pulled Sam to the ground. They wrestled and she knocked the grapple away from him.

For a moment, as she sat atop him and hit him hard against his temple, she thought she had the upper hand, but after a couple solid hits, he rolled so she was beneath him. His metal hand went to her neck, his fingers wrapping around. He began to squeeze. She grabbed at his hand, trying to pull it away from her as her breath began to slip away. She estimated she had no more than thirty seconds before she would be unconscious.

In a panic, Maggie summoned a blade to her hand. She thrusted her hand forward to stab him in the other shoulder but stopped before the blade went into his skin. She looked up at his face, hers reddening with a lack of oxygen. Their eyes met and she dropped the blade.

"Bucky, y-you" she gasped, and the Winter Soldier froze, his grip on her neck loosening ever so slightly, "are such an ass."

"Get off her!" Sam yelled as he stood to her right and Maggie looked at him. One of his wings missing from his suit, having been pulled off when the Winter Soldier pulled him back down to the ground. The Winter Soldier ignored him, his focus solely on Maggie.

"Go," she mouthed at Sam. The Winter Soldier's grip around her neck tightened as his nose flared in annoyance.

"Not without you, Mags," Sam said pulling a pistol out with his right hand and firing on the Winter Soldier. The Winter Soldier blocked the shots with his arm, but one grazed the lower side of his forearm and strayed across her nose, stopping in the deck near her face. His grip on her neck loosened immediately and she gasped for air as the man on top of her looked at Sam, murder in his eyes.

Rage filled the Winter Soldier, and, in an instant, he charged at Sam.

Maggie watched the scene unfold as if in slow motion. Bucky left her, and charged at Sam. She slowly chased after him, grabbing at the air behind him. Her focus turned to Sam as the Winter Soldier kicked the man hard in the chest. The kick caused Sam to fall off the side of the carrier. Her hand went out and a large spike grew from side of the carrier, barely piercing his wing. The spike ripped the metal and he kept falling

"No!" Maggie screamed as she jumped off after him. A metal arm grabbed her forearm and as she came to a sudden halt, bouncing off the side of the carrier she felt her shoulder dislocate. She yelped in pain. She looked to the metal hand on her wrist, then to the face of its owner

Bucky was staring down at her, laying over the side of the Carrier and breathing heavily. His grip on her wrist tightened and he pulled her up quickly. She looked down, her eyes on Sam as she was lifted and watched as he pulled his chute. Sam landed hard, just as Bucky pulled her onto the deck. He pulled her to him and held her tight as his breathing returned to normal.

"Cap!" Sam came over the coms, "Cap come in! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm here," Steve grunted, "I'm still on the Helicarrier, where are you?"

"I'm grounded," Sam replied, "The suit's down. Maggie's still up there. Sorry I couldn't get her away from him, Cap."

"Maggie?" Steve asked. She felt the Winter Soldier's grip tighten around her as Steve called her name.

Maggie shifted as she tried to subtly look over the edge of the flight deck. Steve was staring up at her, still in Bucky's arms. She nodded to Steve, and he nodded back. Bucky pulled away from her and followed her gaze as Steve ran off. He stood and angrily pulled her away from the edge of the flight deck, noticing as she winced. He looked at her arm and quickly popped it back into place.

"Are we going to talk about this?" she asked. His eyes went to hers, narrowing as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to a quinjet that was missing its pilot's side hatch. He lifted her and practically threw her in the pilot's seat.

"Stop me again and I'll kill you," he spoke in angry Russian.

"No, you won't. If you wanted to kill me, you would have let me jump after Sam," she replied in Russian before quickly switching to English, "Bucky, I know you're in there, I—" He began walking away. Maggie stared after him in disbelief before she huffed angrily and jumped out of the quinjet to chase after him.

"Oh, no you don't!" she yelled chasing after him, "You don't get out of this that easy!" His body tensed and he turned to face her.

"I don't have time to deal with you. Get in the damn plane," he seethed.

"No," she replied, stopping just out of arm's reach.

"I really don't like you telling me that," he grumbled.

"You've mentioned it once or twice," she retaliated as she lifted her hands and altered her stance ready to fight him, "And I've already told you that you're just going to have to get over it."

The Winter Soldier's eyes left her for a moment as he looked behind her and she turned her head to see a giant silhouette behind her. Strong arms wrapped around her and immediately lifted her. She summoned a blade and was about to stab the person as she heard Dmitri's voice.

"We have to get you to safety, Little One," he said turning and heading back toward the quinjet.

"No! Dmitri, I have to stop him, I—" she began to yell, but she stopped as she looked back and saw Bucky was already gone. She continued quietly, "I needed to remind him who I was."

"Another time, Little One," Dmitri whispered, climbing into the quinjet. He opened the other door and pushed the body from the co-pilot's seat before he set her down and strapped her in.

"For now," he continued, "we will get you to safety. He clearly does not want you dead and there is no need to tempt fate. Or his temper. He always had a bad temper—well not when it came to you, unless you were hurt or too stubborn to listen…" He trailed off as he strapped himself in and began starting up the quinjet. Dmitri smacked Maggie's hands as if she was a disobedient child when she began fiddling with her seat belt.

"Remember when you insisted you could beat me, and he had to watch you get beat up until you finally couldn't stand up anymore?" he continued as he took off from the flight deck, "Once you were gone, he really took it out on me. You know, if I wasn't also a super soldier, I would have been dead."

Maggie looked at Dmitri, her eyes devoid of emotion. Dmitri looked over at her and sighed deeply. She was attempting to hide her sadness, for him, it only made it more obvious.

"Ah, do not look at me with such sadness, Little One," he said, reaching over and lifting her chin gently, like a father attempting to raise his daughter's morale, "I'm sure he'll be coming after you soon enough."

It almost sounded like a threat, Dmitri realized, and for a lot of people it would be. It certainly would be one for him.

"Take me to Fury," she demanded, "If you won't let me go after Bucky, take me to Fury."

"Ah I do not kno—" he began.

"He'll be with Pierce by now," she interrupted, "With whom I also have some business to attend to."

"We could leave, Little One," he offered, "Just leave. We have one of their planes, we could go anywhere in the world…"

His voice trailed off as the two stared at one another. She was angry and her eyes showed it. He sighed and turned the quinjet toward the Triskelion.

Sorry it's late, friends. Lost track of the days.