Author's Notes: I don't actually know how prison and execution work. Please read with a grain of salt, this is for the story, not for accuracy.
amberhardy: This chapter better shows how they are reacting to the events unfolding, and you'll start to see some unraveling. Don't give up on me yet. I'll make it worth your while...
Siobhan: We'll find out what happened to Steve in the next chapter. But for now, stay with me, don't give up on the story yet...
It took seven days after Kayla's daughter was born to arrange her execution. On the morning of March 4, the door to her solitary confinement prison cell opened, and the same brunette nurse from the delivery room was there with clothes in her hands. Kayla jumped up from her bed when she recognized the woman, crossing the room to greet the nurse, "My daughter? Where is she? Where did she end up? Are my parents taking her?"
The brunette's eyes held little emotion as she studied the prisoner before her, holding out the sleeveless white undershirt and grey short-sleeved shirt and matching trousers, "She didn't make it."
Kayla stepped back quickly, reeling from the information. "What?"
"The baby. She passed away shortly after birth. We were still doing initial examinations when she went."
Kayla's breath was snatched from her chest, and she allowed herself to fall back onto her cot, staring at the blank wall ahead of her. "She didn't make it."
"No. I'm sorry for your loss." The nurse answered bluntly, setting the clothes down on the bed beside Kayla. "I've been instructed to wait with you while you get dressed. I'm also supposed to advise you to have any and all last-minute statements prepared."
Kayla nodded, knowing she'd already prepared everything she needed to in the seven days she sat alone and waited for death. She had nothing to leave this world. No belongings, no wealth. Only her reputation and a formula that was better off dead with her. Except that was selfish. Her formula was more than re-creating Captain America. She could change the world. If only she'd be given the chance. "Can you make sure something gets to Doctor Banner for me?" Kayla asked meekly, and the nurse nodded slowly as Kayla scooped down and collected a dirty envelope from under the bed. "This is for Doctor Banner, and him alone, do you understand?" Kayla warned, looking up at the mousy nurse with cautioning eyes.
"I'll have someone deliver it now." The nurse answered quickly, pulling a radio from her belt and calling for someone to retrieve the letter. A small blonde woman appeared in the doorway, and the nurse handed off the envelope, and Kayla prayed that it would find its destination. For everyone's sake. The nurse turned back to Kayla, and her impatience was clear as day on her face, "Now get dressed. You'll be picked up for final goodbyes in about twenty minutes."
Kayla changed in front of the woman, feeling only the slightest bit self-conscious for being almost naked in front of the nurse. Her ribs were showing through her stomach, a terrible thing to see from someone who'd given birth only a week earlier. But Kayla hadn't been eating since. What was the point? Her once toned arms were stick-thin, and her neck was taut as she swallowed hard, trying to mentally prepare herself for death. It wasn't like running into battle, where the adrenaline and need to win overtook the fear. This was just... inevitable.
The nurse watched as Kayla pulled the white tank-top over her thin shoulders, then looked down and realized it was backwards before turning it around. Then Kayla pulled on the grey overshirt, buttoning it up before pulling up the matching pants. As she tucked the shirt into the elastic, she turned to the nurse and sneered, "How do I look?"
"Like a socialite about to be put down." The nurse answered coldly, and Kayla shook at her cruel words. Once dressed, the nurse opened the door and two guards handcuffed Kayla, and the three led her down the hallway to the execution room.
Kayla saw the soundproof room before they even opened the door. It looked ominous, and she balked as they approached, but she had no super-strength now. There was no fighting her way out of her fate. Still, in the very back of her mind, she imagined Steve swooping in and saving her. She looked around, trying to recognize somebody, anybody around her. But she was very much alone.
"Kayla!" Sandra cried out as they turned a corner into a room, and Sandra and Mathew rose quickly from their chairs when their daughter was brought in. Sandra encased her daughter in a hug as Kayla wept against her mother's chest. Her father put his arms around them both and held them tightly as he choked back his own tears. Sandra lifted Kayla's chin, seeing the defeat in her daughter's eyes, "Kayla, I-"
"It's okay mom." Kayla cried softly, swallowing her tears, "Steve's gone. The baby's gone. James... is somewhere. He's with Nat and I know she'll be such a great mom. But- but I'm ready to go... I can't watch anyone else die because of me." Mathew grabbed her a little tighter as Kayla hung her head and plowed back into her mother's chest. Secret Servicemen surrounded the family, offering them one last moment alone. After a few minutes, Kayla lifted her head and saw Wanda standing behind her parents. "Wanda..."
"I should have broken you out when I had the chance-"
"No, no then you'd be a criminal, I don't want that. You've been cleared of any charges, let it be." Kayla fought back, and Wanda responded by throwing her arms around Kayla. She twitched her fingers, and Kayla felt a wave of peace fall over her. One last gift from the Scarlet Witch.
"You are the bravest woman I know." Wanda whimpered, pulling away from her blonde friend, "You are the only friend I have left."
"You'll be okay. You're a survivor." Kayla smiled weakly, and the guards pulled her away, causing Sandra to scream and lunge toward her daughter, but their secret servicemen held her back and Kayla was taken away. "I love you, Mom. Dad-" Kayla was yanked through the door and taken away to the terrifying soundproof room where she couldn't hear her mother's wails.
Once inside, the door slammed shut and Kayla looked around in terror. This was the last place she'd ever see. "Sit down." A gruff man ordered, and Kayla pulled against her chains as she was drug to a large chair at the edge of the room.
"Wait, just a minute."
Kayla looked up and saw Sam and Bucky standing by the door. Sam wore his Captain America uniform, but his cowl was off, not allowing Kayla to trick herself into believing her Steve had turned up. "Sam! Sam- what are you guys doing here?" Kayla cried as the soldier crossed the room and enveloped her in his arms. "Sam, I'm going to die-"
"I know Kay. I know you are." Sam answered sadly, and Kayla realized they weren't there to get her out. They were there to see her off. She pulled away, looking at her friend in terror. He saw her thoughts and continued, "We did everything we could, Kay. We looked everywhere. We can't find him. He never came home. We didn't-" Sam looked to Bucky, who just stared at the floor, his long hair falling around his dark face, "We didn't want you to be alone in the end."
Kayla let out a sob and was pulled back into the chair, where large metal cuffs held her down. She looked at her wrists as she began to panic, realizing the end was near, "No, no I don't wanna die, please Sam- Sam, Bucky, please do something! Please!"
Sam shook his head at her shrieking as the gruff doctor pulled a mask over his face and opened up a latched box, pulling a vial out. When Kayla saw it, she began to squirm, yelling out through her tears. Sam backed away, grabbing the shield, "I can't watch this, I can't-"
"No. We aren't leaving her." Bucky grabbed Sam's arm and held him tight, staring ahead as the man approached Kayla with the vial. "Steve wouldn't want her to die alone. We owe him that!"
"Steve wouldn't have wanted her to die at all. We failed Barnes." Sam howled and the doctor snapped his head up toward the men.
"Shut it or leave." He warned, and Kayla stared at the glistening needle, whimpering wildly as she hyperventilated, trying to pull herself away, but there was nowhere to go. She was about to be euthanized like a wild animal, and she couldn't control herself enough to stop acting like one. Her long blonde hair fell over her shoulders as she shook violently, but the man shoved the needle into her left arm nonetheless.
As he injected her, she felt the liquid fill her veins, and it felt like they were lighting her on fire. It spread through her, shutting her down, but not before putting her through hell. "Please!" She wailed, her green eyes rimmed red as she felt the liquid burn in her chest, "Please..."
Kayla Dawn Ellis thought she'd experienced pain. The anti-serum caused her pain. Waking up after having a building dropped on her caused her pain. Thinking Steve died caused her pain... watching Steve die in Wakanda caused her indescribable pain. Having her child carved out of her caused her pain and holding her dead best friend's body caused her pain. But nothing compared to the poison that now inhabited her body.
But it wasn't fast enough. Everything hurt so bad. She lifted her head, feeling dizzy as her eyes struggled to focus. They fell on Sam and Bucky at the back of the room, and when her eyes met Bucky's he couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed a gun from one of the guards and Kayla's eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen.
He pulled the trigger before Sam could stop him and embedded a bullet in Kayla's heart.
The blonde's head slumped to the side as she went limp, blood beginning to spread from the bullet hole in the left side of her chest. Her color drained as the doctor looked up to see the assassin shove the gun back into the hands of the guard. The doctor placed two fingers to her neck and felt no pulse. "Time of death, 9:24 am."
Sam stared at Barnes as the doors were held open for the men, and the guards ushered them out so the body could be disposed of. Once outside the room, the men saw Kayla's parents sobbing uncontrollably as Wanda watched, her own eyes red as tears ran down her face. As Bucky took a step toward them, Sam grabbed him by the arm, "What the hell was that back there?"
"She was suffering. It's what Steve would have wanted." Bucky answered quietly as if he was trying to convince himself of that. The truth was, he just couldn't bear to watch the beautiful blonde crying, knowing there was no escaping her fate. Bucky looked back toward her family, and they saw him, and he couldn't face their tear-stained cheeks. The Winter Soldier didn't make a habit of facing his victim's families. "I gotta go."
Before Sam could protest, Bucky stormed away, pushing past the swinging doors of the hospital wing of the prison to leave Kayla Ellis and all the trouble she caused behind him. Sam Wilson watched Barnes go before his shoulder's slumped and he trudged toward the area where the Ellis family waited. When he arrived, the secret servicemen closed the doors behind him, and he stood silently with the shield on his left arm. Mathew Ellis stared at that shield, blaming it for the loss of his daughter. Sandra just looked to Sam, wanting him to say something comforting about her daughter's end, but he offered no words. He just stood there silently, his own head hung as he stared at the floor with blank eyes. Wanda twitched her fingers, red smoke entering Sam's mind. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she had the ability to see her friend's end without asking Sam to describe it. What she saw made her cry out in anguish, and Sam slung his right arm over her shoulder, pulling her tight into his chest. This only set off Sandra again and the woman began to cry as her husband stood with his jaw set.
"Captain." The former President finally said, causing Sam and Wanda to look up at him. The title caused Sam to stiffen, but he forced a confident expression as he nodded for the man to continue, "I expect you'll be able to find Natasha Romanoff and my grandson. He's all I have left of my daughter and I'd like to know he's safe."
"I'll do my best sir," Sam answered quietly, knowing if anyone could disappear it was Nat. He just hoped that he knew her well enough to track her and the child down. "She won't want to be found, I'm sure she thinks she's doing what's best for him."
"He's our flesh and blood, and we'd like to take custody of him. We are his only living relatives." Mathew replied slowly, his mind already made up.
Sam gave a firm nod, latching the shield onto his back as he extended his hand to Mathew, "You have my word, we'll do everything we can. I just don't want to make a promise I can't keep."
"No, I suppose you shouldn't," Mathew answered, offering a hand to his wife, "Come on darling. There's nothing left to do here."
"What about the body? Don't we get to bury her?" Sandra asked, but one of the prison employees who were present shook his head.
"No ma'am. I'm afraid not." He answered simply, gesturing toward the door, "I got the call a few minutes ago that it's already been taken to the morgue by the doctors."
Sandra continued to cry as Mathew held her close, walking slowly behind Sam who led them through the prison. His heavy boots echoed down the empty halls as the only sound was Sandra's crying and the occasional sniffle from Wanda Maximoff. Sam felt the weight of the world press down on him as they were escorted out of the prison, where news reporters waited, trying to snap photos of the mourning family and Avengers.
Kayla Ellis was dead.