I was meant to mention this in the first chapter, but I'm sorry for any mistakes made and seen. I swear I do proofread my work but I always seem to miss some which annoys the hell out of me.

I thought I'd upload the second chapter for you, but you'll have to wait for the third chapter as I'm still working on it.

Have fun reading - Plus, Bucky's in this chapter xx Yay xx

"Am I on the list?" I asked Sitwell as I sat between him and Nat in the back of my car. Steve had volunteered my car even though Sam said he didn't mind using his. And here we are, Sam driving, Steve sitting passenger and here I am, stuck between an ex-assassin and a douchebag.

"You were," Sitwell muttered, quickly glancing out the window as Nat leaned over me to look at him.

"She was?" Nat inquired, her eyebrows furrowing as she glanced at me and then to Sitwell. Steve was also listening, his head turned to us as he waited for an answer.

"Pierce took her off the list," Sitwell said, not turning to face any of us. I bet it was so we couldn't see his face.

"Why?"

"Yes, why?" I muttered, feeling my chest tighten at the thought of Pierce wanting anything to do with me.

"Hydra doesn't like leaks?" Sitwell finally said, leaning towards Sam as if he'd be able to protect him.

"Then why don't you try sticking a cork in it?"

"Insights launching in sixteen hours. We're cutting it a little bit close here," Nat said, leaning over to glance at Steve.

"I've got Frankie working on building firewalls. Even if they try to launch it'll take them an hour or two to break through," I muttered knowing it wasn't much for us. At least we had an extra hour or two to stop them. "It's not much but it gives us a little extra time."

"I know. We'll use him to bypass the DNA scans and access the helicarriers directly," Steve said, sending me a grateful smile. It's not me he needed to thank.

"What? Are you crazy? That's a terrible, terrible idea." A thump on the roof notified us of someone before they broke the window and pulled Sitwell out, throwing him into the oncoming traffic.

I watch with wide eyes as a truck took him out. I'm guessing he's dead. There's no way he'd survive that.

Nat pushed me out of the middle seat and in time too because the man above us started shooting. I shrunk down between the gap behind Sam's chair as Nat flipped onto Steve's lap.

Two more shots were fired before the car came to a screeching stop. Glancing up at the roof I was mortified that my poor baby had been destroyed.

"We should have taken Sam's car," I grumbled, rising slowly to peek out the front window.

There was a man dressed all in black, most of his face covered and what looked to be a metal arm where his left one should be. Was this the man that killed Fury? Something large crashing into the back of us had my head snapping on the back of Sam's chair. Bringing my hand to my bloodied lips, I sunk back between the seats curling in on myself.

I wish I stayed in that hotel room now.

I let out a scream as something landed on the roof again, showering me with glass from the already broken window. I wanted to look up, I really did but I was shaking so fiercely I knew I couldn't move.

"Shit!" Sam swore, and I glanced up only to find the man in black leaping onto the car behind us as Nat or Steve fired shots after him.

The car was swerving, and I felt my stomach lurch as we went up on the side, almost tipping over.

"Hang on," Steve shouted and did something before the car flew in the air. I saw Steve, Nat, and Sam flying out of the car before it hit back down hard and started tumbling over countless times before coming to a standstill.

My heart was in my throat as I stayed as still as possible not wanting to move.

Nothing felt broken, but I ached all over. I should have been dead, right? That should have killed me. Fumbling in my seat, I slipped out, sliding through the bent and broken window.

Glancing up, I saw the man in black firing a large gun at the others and quickly crawled to hide behind the destroyed car. What was I supposed to do?

"Frankie, what do I do?" I asked, knowing she'd know.

"Stay where you are, Ma'am, I'm calculating the situation," Frankie replied, her voice containing a stern edge to it. I felt like a child being scolded.

Peeking around the front of the destroyed car, I saw Sam hiding behind a car and Nat went over the other side of the barrier and out of my sight. Guns went off again and I was tempted to cover my ears. No one told you how loud guns were.

Turning to face the others as they came closer to me, I watched as the man in black walked to the edge of the bridge and glanced down only to be shot at. I shifted back into the car as the other men stepped into view, but I kept my eyes on the man in black as he pulled off his goggles/visor things.

His eyes met mine and he rose to his feet and leaned over the edge of the bridge firing an endless amount of shots. Was Nat down there? Who was down there?

The men at his side kept firing but he stopped and seemed to be watching. He said something to the other men, his voice muffled but they seemed to understand him as they ran off. The man glanced back at me before jumping over the edge of the bridge and out of my view.

Did he just jump off a bridge?

Slowly I crawled out of the car and hesitantly got to my feet making sure I stayed hidden behind my destroyed car. I watched as four men slammed something into the cars next to the bridge and jumped over the edge, wires keeping them from falling.

The sound of rapid gunfire alerted me to the horrors that could only be pictured under the bridge. Didn't they care about civilians? How many people were going to just hurt because of them?

Sam came into my sight then, sneaking up behind another guy and quickly sending him over the bridge. I gagged at the thought of hitting the floor at that impact and shivered. I started making my way towards Sam as he started firing the gun he found down below.

"Go! I got this!" he shouted, and I assumed he was talking to either Nat or Steve. He fired off a few more rounds before stopping.

"Sammie," I called gaining his attention. His eyes widened at the sight of me, but he quickly stepped away from the edge and brought me into a hug.

"Effie, thank God. I thought you died," he whispered, pulling away and glanced behind us.

Right, we were in a big fight.

"I'm fine, just a bit sore. You should probably find your suit and I'll get down there and find Nat," I said, running my hand over my mouth knowing I probably had blood covering it.

"You're good? You'll be okay?" he asked, sounding concerned. He probably didn't want me going down there.

"I know I acted like a baby in the car, but I', trained for this, Sam. I'll be fine," I assured him, giving him a nod before rushing over to the car the others turned up in. I'm sure I could find something useful in there.

Fumbling with the door, I opened it to find a weapons bag on the chair and couldn't help but feel a little smug. Pulling the bag closer I grabbed two pistols, shoving one in my boot and placing the other on the chair. I dug around, my hands landing on what looked like grenades. Huh, they should come in handy. I slide one in each of my jacket pockets before picking up the gun and grabbing a grappling hook.

This is one way of getting off the bridge.

"Frankie, I think it's time we used the lenses," I muttered, as I slammed the hook into one of the cars and climbed up onto the edge of the bridge. "It's a lot higher than I thought."

"Lenses turning on, Ma'am, analysis the area," Frankie said and as soon as she spoke my vision lit up with coding and holographic images.

This time as I glanced down a calculation of the drop became visible in my sight. I bit my lip and jumped over the edge before I could change my mind. Tucking my feet under me, I let go of the rope when I was close enough to the ground and did a tuck and roll, coming safely to my feet.

"Agent Romanoff located," Frankie announced and lit up a pathway for me to follow. I with a nod, I grabbed the pistol and followed the glowing lines that would lead me to Nat.

Red blobs lit up in the corner of my right side and I ducked behind a turned over bus. Peering to the side, I crept along the side of the bus, watching as the red blob hovered on the other side of the bus.

"Show me," I whispered, pressing my back to the bus and watching as a small screen appeared in front of me, showing me the man that stood on the other side of the bus. The street looked clear around him, indicating that he was alone. If I snuck around his left side, he'd never see me coming.

Following through on my thought, I crept around the bus, coming out and shooting at the man, taking him down on my third shot. I was a bit rusty, or I was still in shock from the car accident. It wouldn't normally take me three bullets to take someone out.

"Frankie, I'm gonna run for Nat, keep an eye out for the bad guys and keep me posted," I called to her, running down the street after the glowing lines on the floor.

If someone else could see what I'm seeing, it'd look like some advanced video game.

"I'll keep an eye out for the bad guys, Ma'am," Frankie answered. A blue figure appeared and above it hovered a heart rate, the pulse beating very fast. What is that? Wait, I know what that is. Who is it? "It seems Agent Romanoff is injured, Ma'am. Should I call for an ambulance?"

"No ambulances for Nat, Frankie, we're kind of in the middle of a death match," I said, ducking behind a car as the man in black appeared again. Only this time he was fighting Steve. And it looked like Steve was losing. "Umm, perhaps alert the authorities to the destruction on the highway and under the bridge? Call ambulances for those that need it."

"Of course, Ma'am. Agent Romanoff is on your left behind the dark blue truck."

"I got her, thank you," I grumbled, rushing over to Nat. she was holding her shoulder, blood seeping through her fingers. She glanced up at me as I cupped her face, taking note of her eyes.

"No concussion – losing blood," Frankie said as a list of everything wrong with Nat popped up next to her. Swiping it away with my hand, I stood back up and glanced at Steve fighting the man. "Assailant is known as The Winter Soldier." So that was who he was.

"Where's Steve?" Nat asked, breathing heavily as she hunched over trying to reduce the pain.

"Getting his butt kicked by The Winter Soldier," I told her, turning and crouching in front of her.

"What's up with your eyes?"

"I'll explain later. Umm, should we do something to help Steve?" I asked her, reaching down to help her stand.

"Yeah, follow me," she replied, leading me over to a silver SUV where there was a launcher of some type lying on the floor. I guess it belonged to The Winter Soldier. She made her way around the side of the car and we saw Sam flying in and kicking the Soldier away from Steve.

The Soldier rose to his feet quickly and raised his gun, aiming at Steve. It was then that Nat fired the launcher and a big silver thing flew at the Soldier, blowing up the car next to him.

I turned to Nat as she leaned against the car, putting most of her weight on her right side as he slumped over.

"We need to get out of here," I grumbled, glancing around and trying to find a way out. My sight was flashing with incoming red from all directions and I sighed knowing we'd been caught. "Fuck."

Large black cars came to a stop and what looked like an army came charging at us, ordering us to get on our knees. Steve was the only one that listened, but Sam rose his hands and rested them on his head as three men took him away to an SUV.

Rough hands on my arms started pulling me away from Nat but I didn't bother struggling as she was also dragged to the same SUV as Sam. I was shoved inside as well, sitting opposite Sam.

"It was him," Steve said reminding us of who he was talking about. "He looked right at me like he didn't even know me." I was finding it hard to believe that The Winter Soldier was Bucky Barnes, but more unexplainable things had been heard of. Hell, Steve was here after being on ice for seventy-odd-years.

How is that even possible? It was, like, seventy-years ago," Sam argued finding it hard to believe the man we were just fighting was Steve's best friend.

"Zola. Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43." At Steve's words, I zoned out, focusing on Sam's shirt as file after file appeared in front of me and I started reading then info Hydra had on The Winter Soldier, or Bucky, whatever his name was.

It was interesting what was here, and Frankie was already translating everything in Russian I couldn't understand. It sometimes amazed me what Frankie could do, but then again dad had created her to be like Jarvis and I did teak her a bit.

My attention was pulled away as one of the guards brought their electric baton up in warning and I glanced over just as they attacked the guard next to them. The guard fell from their chair and landed at my feet.

Glancing back at the guard, I smiled when Maria was revealed under the large helmet.

"That thing was squeezing my brain," she said, causing me to laugh. Here we were thinking we were about to die and she just casually reveals herself like that. She glanced Steve before looking at Sam and then turning back to Steve. "Who is this guy?"

No one said anything as Maria drove us somewhere in another SUV. We'd managed to escape using a mouse trap device, cutting through the bottom of the van and escaping through the sewers.

The car came to a stop just outside what looked like a dam power plant and we quickly left the car, Sam and Steve helping Nat as I followed behind Maria. I guess this was a hidden Shield base. I wish someone would have told me this was here. So much for the trust.

"GSW. She's lost at least a pint," Maria called as a man came running towards us.

"Maybe two," Sam called out, his concern for Nat clear in his tone.

"Let me take her," the man said, his records came up next to him, alerting me to the fact that he was a doctor.

"She'll want to see him first," Maria said, confusing us all. Who? Who would Nat want to see first?

We followed Maria down the hall and into a room where a man on a bed lay, his eyes opening and head lifting when he saw us. Fury. So, he wasn't dead. I knew it would have taken more than a few bullets to finish him off.

"About damn time," he greeted in his usual blunt tone.

The doctor pulled Nat over to a chair started getting to work on her shoulder while Maria took my shoulder in her hand and started wiping the blood from my chin and bruised lip.

"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache," Nick said, listing off his injuries.

Frankie scanned him over, all his injuries highlighting and showing me their healing process. He was lucky to be alive, I had known people die from lesser injuries.

"Don't forget your collapsed lung," the doctor added just as it popped up on Frankie's list.

"Let's not forget that, but otherwise, I'm good," Nick said his face neutral as he rested back against the pillows.

"They cut you open. Your heart stopped," Nat argued, a look of annoyance and disbelief on her face. Nick answered her but I was distracted by a picture of my dad flashing in front of me. Oh God, he's calling me.

Glancing at Maria, I bit my lip before leaving them and taking the call from my dad.

"Take the call, Frankie," I muttered knowing why he was calling.

"Effie are you alright?" Dad asked, the worry evident in his voice.

"I didn't know you cared so much, Dad," I teased wanting him to relax and not stress out.

"I just watched my daughter being arrested for being a fugitive. Can you explain that to me?"

"Umm, I can't right now, I'm a bit busy," I told him, glancing over my shoulder at the others. It looked like they were moving away from the bed and the doctor was helping Nick with something. "I'll get Frankie to send you the details later. I love you, Daddy, but I gotta go." Hanging up, I made my way over to the others as they gathered around a table, waiting for Nick to join them.

The table was covered with folders and laptops, the screens covered in code. I knew Frankie was probably downloading it all and couldn't help but feel smug. She was amazing.

Maria handed me a bottle of water and a pack of cookies. Why did they cookies biscuits here? I bet it was Nick that liked eating them. I fiddled with my cookie as Nick joined us and Maria placed a file in front of him.

"This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize. He said peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility." He was talking about Pierce, someone he had worked with for years. "See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

"We have to stop the launch," Nat said, pointing out the obvious. Of course we had to stop it. We couldn't let all those people die for something so stupid.

"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore," Nick said pulling open a black case revealing three data chips, or better known and targeting blades.

"What's that?" Sam asked, looking a little unsure as he glanced between the case and Steve.

"Once the helicarriers reach 3,000 feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized," Maria answered, turning a laptop around so he could see a simulation. It was similar to what I had shown Nat and Steve earlier today.

"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own," Nick went on, actually explaining to Sam what the chips were.

"One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work because if even one of those ships remains operational, a whole lot of people are gonna die." I loved how blunt Maria could be sometimes. I reckon it's why Nick has her as his second in command, so was like him in so many ways.

"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers id Hydra. We have to get past them, insert the server blades. And maybe, just maybe we can salvage what's left—"

"We're not salvaging anything," Steve snapped, cutting Nick off. "We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick. We're taking down Shield."
"Shield had nothing to do with this," Nick argues but Steve wasn't having it.

"You gave me a mission. This is how it ends." There was something hot about the way Steve was taking charge. "Shield had been compromised. You said so yourself. Hydra grew right under your nose and nobody noticed." He had a point there. How long had Hydra been within Shield polluting and overtaking?

"Why do you think we're meeting in his cave? I noticed." It was like a game of tennis with these two. Steve. Nick. Steve. Nick. Someone was going to win, and I had a feeling it wasn't going to be Nick.

"How many paid the price before you did?" Ouch, that's a low blow from the Captain.

I could tell it hurt Nick as he looked away and glanced at Maria. I did think Steve was being a little harsh but if his words got him destroying Hydra then who was I to complain?

"Look, I didn't know about Barnes," Nick said, and it made me realize what Steve was actually saying. He blamed Nick for Bucky being captured and used.

"Even if you had, would you have told me?" And Steve keeps hitting it on the head. God, I never want to be in a fight with Steve; verbal or physical. "Or would you have compartmentalized that, too? Shield, Hydra, it all goes."

"He's right," Maria input, causing Nick to look at her. Nick glanced over at Nat, but she gave him a look which we took to mean she agreed with Steve. Nick then looked at Sam.

"Don't look at me, I do what he does just slower," Sam answered making it clear whose side he was on.

"Well," Nick said, taking in a deep breath and leaning back in his chair. His eyes flicked to me and I gave him a small nod. It needed to be done. Steve was right. "It looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain."

Thank you for reading xx