Steve and Kayla pressed their backs against a brick building around the block from Contini's lab. Steve gently placed his hand on Kayla's waist and held her as he leaned over her to get a better view. "Four guards. No large weapons, but they could be concealed. Buck, what's your status?"
"I'm in position across the street on the roof. I have the guards in my sights." Bucky looked through the lens of his rifle, scanning the perimeter of the lab. On his second scan, a shadowy figure in an oversized jacket appeared around the side of the building. "Steve- the person from last night who was following Tessa and me- they are here."
Steve and Kayla shared a knowing glance, "You think they are a friend or a foe?"
Bucky locked onto the figure, realizing their hood was aimed up at him. Bucky clenched and unclenched his vibranium fist as he watched the figure back away beyond the building, "They knew exactly where I was."
"This is a trap." Kayla hissed, and Steve tightened his grip on Kayla's waist as she stared up at his stiff jaw. "Steve."
"Let's move in. Buck, keep an eye on the guards. Let us known if our friend shows up again." Steve ordered, ducking away from Kayla and sprinting toward the building as the guards began screaming warnings to each other and pulling their guns out. Steve rolled in, sweeping the legs of one guard before grabbing one of the others and using him as a shield from the bullets of the other two.
An alarm inside the lab started wailing as Kayla barreled past Steve, slamming her shoulder into the door to knock it in, allowing her entry into the lab. Kayla rolled into a somersault and sprung to her feet before hiding behind a beam, out of sight of the reinforcements heading outside to attack Steve. "I'm in. Barnes, might wanna get a little up close and personal with the guards. I don't think Steve can handle it alone."
"Thanks for the support, honey," Steve growled as he blocked a punch and threw the man over his shoulder. Barnes responded to Kayla's request by compounding his rifle and slinging it over his back, grabbing the side of the building and sliding down with his metal hand before joining Steve in combat.
Bucky brandished a knife from his vest and swung at one of the men, slicing the guard's throat as he took a bullet to his left hand. Bucky's blue eyes darted up to see a hooded figure appear from around a corner, a gun aimed at Barne's head. Bucky braced himself, but the shot whizzed past him and electrocuted the guard sneaking up behind him. Steve and Bucky shared a quick glance before Bucky pulled his gun off his back and aimed at the shooter, but they had already disappeared. "I kinda think our follower is a friend."
"I don't trust anyone with that kind of weaponry. Get inside and help Kay. I'll stay out here and watch the perimeter. The police will be here soon." Bucky huffed in response, motioning toward the broken door for Steve to go. As Steve darted into the building, Bucky placed his back to the open door, scanning the street for anu=y more assailants.
Inside, Kayla crept down the halls toward the main lab, mentally taking note of all the names on the doors as she went by. The sound of the floor creaking caught her attention and she twirled around with her gun drawn, coming face to face with Steve. "Hey, hey, it's just me," Steve whispered as Kayla sighed and lowered her weapon. "We don't have a lot of time. We need Contini."
"Who's asking?"
Steve and Kayla turned to see Contini's son standing behind them with a gun aimed at Kayla. Steve swallowed and pulled Kayla behind him so he was between her and gun. He scanned the weapon, realizing it was more advanced than the pistols they held. "You have a family, Francis. Do you want your daughters to grow up without their father?"
"Shut it, or I'll blow your head off." Contini snarled, taking a step closer with the gun raised to Steve's face. "Move." He gestured with the weapon to move away from the wall and the Rogers obliged, moving in the direction Francis Contini led them.
"You caught the intruders?" A slender man with dark, greying hair called from the workspace he was frantically cleaning. He looked up and met Steve's glance, answering it with a smirk, "The police are on the way. We have to pack up and move out. We'll dispose of these two on the way."
"And the other two?" Francis asked is father, causing Steve and Kayla to look to each other. Two?
"Use these two as bait. Public execution. Get them out of here while I finish packing up the weapons from Wakanda."
Wakanda.
Kayla clenched her jaw and Steve grabbed her arm as Francis took a step closer with the weapon. It was from Wakanda. They'd stolen it. They'd stolen everything when they destroyed them. When they murdered her friends. Kayla lunged toward the younger Contini, but the older scientist raised a gun toward her, finger on the trigger. "Take a step back, or they'll find nothing but a smoldering heap in your place." Kayla pursed her lips and leaned her back to Steve's chest.
"Steve? Kay? Does anybody copy?" Bucky asked into the comms, pulling his rifle from his back to turn to the building. He heard the sound of a door closing around the corner and pressed his back to the brick to quickly look around the corner unseen. He saw Steve and Kayla being led out of the lab at gunpoint. Steve's eyes met Bucky's and he gave the slightest shake of his head to tell Barnes to hold back.
Meanwhile, Tessa studied the guidebook while James and Sarah looked into the Colosseum with matching bored expressions. "It's just... a building. I thought there were gladiators here?" James whined as he kicked at the stone railing, causing a piece of it to crack.
"There used to be. Thousands of years ago." Tessa explained, grabbing James's arm to yank him away from the edge when she saw the pebbles beginning to tumble. "Please stop breaking the Colosseum." She hissed, looking both ways to make sure nobody had noticed.
"Can we go now? I think we've seen everything there is to see here." Sarah moaned, and Tessa knew she'd lost the kids' attention span if even the inquisitive Sarah was ready to leave.
"Alright. Let's get out of here-"
Tessa was cut off by the sound of people shrieking and a burly man running full speed past all the tourists. He was followed by another slim man wielding a thick sort of gun. "Kids, get down," Tessa ordered, pulling the kids to their knees behind a pillar. She pushed them behind her as the man leaped over the railing into the center of the Colosseum. Tessa looked back at the kids, finding James holding Sarah securely in his arms as the man with the gun stormed away toward stairs that would lead him down into the battleground below. When she looked back, she realized many of the tourists had stormed the railing to watch the fight unfold.
Tessa pressed her index finger to her lips and slowly stood, motioning for the children to stay hidden. She moved to the railing, peeking between two men to see the two men staring each other down- one with a high tech cannon and the other with a sniper rifle.
"Get out of here, we need everybody out!" Security guards screamed as they herded the tourists away while several more guards stormed the standoff below. Before they could gain control of the situation, one of the men aimed his cannon at them and blasted them to mush, causing the tourists to scream louder.
"My God. We have to get out of here." Tessa hyperventilated as she darted back to the kids, encouraging them to their feet as a gunshot went off down below. Sarah began to cry and James comforted her, looking over his shoulder until Tessa pulled his chin away. "Focus. We have to go now."
Tessa led the children down the stairs along with the rest of the masses, but they were abruptly stopped before they could get free into the streets. Several large Italian men with the same high-tech weapons blocked off the exit and began herding the sightseers back into the amphitheater. Tessa put a hand on each of the kids, holding them tightly as they stayed tucked safely in the pack. She should have been worried about their lives, but she was more worried Sarah and James would see their parents die.
"Back into the building." An older man with a megaphone ordered as he led the guards. "Then you'll all see what happens when you defy the reign of Hydra." They all aimed their weapons at the people and the shrieks intensified as they all stampeded back into the Colosseum.
When they arrived at the openings looking into the arena, Tessa gasped and shoved the kids behind her back, finding Steve and Kayla pressed back to back in the center with guns locked on their heads.
"I wanna see!" James whined loudly and Sarah shushed him as Tessa knelt down and grabbed his arms.
"No. You need to stay behind me. You need to hold your sister and do not, under any circumstances, look into that arena, do you understand me, James?"
The boy tried to look over her shoulder, but there were too many people blocking his view anyway. "Okay. I won't."
Tessa smiled grimly and rose to her feet, keeping one hand locked onto James's shoulder to make sure they were still behind her. She looked around frantically, realizing Bucky wasn't there.
The man with the megaphone waltzed up to Kayla and Steve and eyed them curiously before turning to his trapped audience. "My name is Leonardo Contini. I'm the head weapons scientist for Hydra." Kayla and Steve looked over their shoulders at each other suspiciously, unsure about why this man who had tried so hard to hide had just given up his identity to the world. "Would you all like to see a demonstration of what Hydra can do?"
The crowd mumbled loudly, but no cheers were heard from the terrified tourists. Tessa squeezed James's hand behind her back and he tightened his grip around Sarah as he tried to peak around Tessa's side.
Several of the Hydra agents fired up their weapons and approached Steve and Kayla. He grabbed her hands behind his back, holding her tightly as they prepared to die. Suddenly, Bucky appeared with a gun pressed to his back, being led into the center of the ring by the shadowy figure still hiding behind the hood. His jaw was hard when he met Steve's eyes and the two friends shared a nod in greeting. "Guess they weren't a friend after all," Bucky grumbled as he put his hands up in surrender. Kayla shook in her boots as Barnes was turned around to place his back to theirs. There was no escaping. No help on the way. The Avengers were nowhere near here.
They had gotten in too far over their heads.
Tessa covered her mouth as Francis Contini grabbed a gun and aimed it at Kayla's face. "Who are you? And who are you working for?"
"The Avengers." Kayla hissed at him and he took a step forward, causing her to lean farther all her weight against Steve's back. "If you kill us, they'll hunt you forever. You will die. Your family will die. You could have walked away. Remember that."
"I think you underestimate the power of Hydra." Francis answered, lowering the weapon and taking his place behind his father as the older Contini addressed the crowd.
"Cut off one head, two more will take its place." He warned, taking the weapon from his son and waving it at the crowd, "Our puppet head may have fallen, but our leader has guided us to victory over the most advanced country in the world! And now we take Wakanda's advancements as our own. Hail Hydra." He turned and aimed the weapon at the three hostages. Tessa crunched her eyes closed, turning to shield the children as their parents prepared to die.
Leonardo Contini pushed the button on the weapon, discharging it. He looked at the weapon, then at the three heroes he was trying to disintegrate. He pushed the button again, but nothing happened. Kayla opened her eyes and stared at Contini before looking over her shoulder at Steve. He stayed laser-focused on the man trying to kill them, finding the weapon defective.
"Give me that!" Contini grabbed a similar gun from a man nearby, aiming it at Bucky and shooting, but once again, nothing happened. He studied the weapon, finding it wouldn't activate. "This isn't possible. Everyone shoot!"
Every Hydra agent in the Colosseum raised their weapons to the trio, but nothing happened. Finally, after a long moment of trying to fix the firearms, the hooded figure raised their arms and blasted the three closest Hydra agents holding Steve, Kayla, and Bucky captive. The electric current brought the agents to the ground, and the figure turned and shot down Leonardo as Kayla, Steve, and Bucky sprinted away. The change of status quo sent the crowd scrambling out of the Colosseum, seeing that their captors had no weapons to keep them there.
The older Contini pushed himself to his feet and grabbed a pistol from his pocket to aim at the hooded figure, but before he got a chance, Steve swept his legs and pinned him to the ground, "Where is your supply going?"
"You think I'd tell you?" Contini asked, tilting his head curiously as he smiled, "You look so familiar. Captain America, wasn't it?" Steve narrowed his eyes, daring the weapon's specialist to say anything more. "Everyone thinks you're dead. But here you are. You aren't going to kill me. You don't have it in you."
Steve pulled back his fist and pummeled it into Contini's face, knocking the man unconscious. The soldier grunted as he lumbered to his feet, looking to his right to see Bucky rip the gun from Francis's hand and discard it on the ground, causing the younger man to run away in panic. Steve turned to find Kayla, but she was nowhere to be found.
The figure who had taken their side aimed at two Hydra agents, blasting them to the ground, but they didn't realize another mercenary was right behind them with a knife, ready to plunge it into the traitor's back. "How could you betray us? Nobody betrays Hydra." The figure froze at the words, knowing the enemy was too close.
Suddenly Kayla came charging out of nowhere, pummeling the attacker to the ground. "Go! Now!"
When the shadowed figure heard Kayla's voice, they stopped and unbuttoned their jacket, pulling off the hood to reveal the Wakandan Princess. "Kayla?"
Kayla looked up in shock, struggling to catch her breath at the sight, "Shuri? I thought-"
"You were dead." Shuri finished, offering her hand to help Kayla off of the man she'd crushed into the dirt. "I don't understand." Kayla took her hand and bopped her head back and forth as she took a deep breath.
"It's a long story." Kayla pulled Shuri into a reluctant hug, "I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry for everything."
"We have time for that later, for now, we have to stop that shipment from getting out. Hydra has been tinkering with my tech for months. I can render it useless within range, but once it's out of Italy there's nothing we can do." Shuri explained, looking around. "Where did they take it?"
"They have an old truck, green tarp over the back. I don't know where they are taking it but I'm sure they have a jet. Take Barnes and go. We'll take care of the Contini's." Kayla promised as Shuri double blasted two men coming for them. Shuri looked to her questioningly, but Kayla just waved her off, "Go, now!"
Shuri took off running, sliding between two Hydra agents to reach Bucky. When he saw her, he dropped his jaw a little, but Shuri just grabbed his real arm and pulled him toward the back of the Colosseum to catch the truck.
Tessa was following the crowd of people toward the exit but spared one more glance behind her at the battle in the arena. It was then she realized Bucky was nowhere to be seen, so she slowed to take a better look. After realizing he was gone, she turned back, only to find he wasn't the only one missing. "James? Sarah! Where are you?" She darted after the crowd, looking for the kids she was supposed to be protecting. Three rapid gunshots erupted from behind her, and she spun around, unable to see anything as people pushed her toward the exit. "James! Sarah!"
The boy looked around, trying to find the voice that called for them. Sarah clung to him as he held his ground, people occasionally running into the strong boy in their attempt to flee. "Aunt Tessa!" Sarah screamed, but she couldn't find the brunette any better than her taller brother. She turned toward the arena in what felt like slow motion and saw one of the men raise a gun.
"It's over, Contini. Tell us where the shipment is headed." Steve said as he aimed his gun at Leonardo. "You're the last man standing."
Kayla stood off to the side, shifting in her boots as she watched her husband threaten the man. With the weapon's expert gone, Hydra would struggle. They'd be on to their next target. They just needed a location in case Shuri and Bucky couldn't catch them.
Leonardo Contini laughed loudly, brushing himself off. A dark bruise was already forming where Steve had punched him, but his eyes were still electric with hope, "Oh Captain, you think you've outnumbered me, but you're sadly mistaken." Contini motioned to Kayla and Steve turned to his wife just in time to see Francis Contini come up behind her and hold a needle to her neck. Steve moved the gun to Francis and he touched her soft skin with the needle, prepared to plunge it into her. Leonardo laughed and took a step closer to Steve, "Shoot me, and my son kills the girl. Shoot him, and I get away. That gun you picked up only has one bullet left. You have to choose. I can recreate my weapons, but can you live with yourself knowing you could have saved her?"
Steve looked between father and son, and he saw Francis put the dots together. His father was bartering with his life. Steve's hand was shaking as he kept it aimed at Leonardo, knowing that if he pulled the trigger they'd be one step closer to stopping Hydra.
Sarah took a step closer to the opening of the Colosseum. Two more steps and she'd have a perfect view of the standoff in the arena. James held her hand but didn't walk with her, instead, standing his ground as he watched his sister nervously. The gun cocked and suddenly Sarah was being yanked away from the opening, but the gunshot resonated through her very soul. She buried herself in Tessa's chest and began to cry as the brunette covered James's face with her hand. Tessa shook from head to toe, not able to look around the pillar to get a better view. Everything was silent.
"Let's get out of here. Let's go back to the hotel okay? Wait for your parents there." Tessa stammered, feeling her throat dry as she considered that their parents may not show up. "Let's go." She held each child in a hand and stared straight ahead as she led them back into the crowd and back to the hotel.