Taking Down SHIELD
One good thing about Fury being 'dead' was that SHIELD hadn't erased Hill's access to the Triskelion. For all that SHIELD was concerned, she was trying to track down who had shot Fury, off the grid so as not to be found, but still 'working' for SHIELD. It had been easier than it would have been to break into the facility with her help. She had access and clearance and so they quickly found themselves just outside the door to the control room. Olivia glanced at Steve beside her, Sam and Hill before her, and reminded herself that she had been right to insist on this formation, her with them and Natasha with Fury.
She didn't think she'd be able to keep Fury in line the way Natasha could if the man tried to do more than he should with his injuries. Given how Natasha was still quite peeved with Fury, she didn't put it past the woman to shoot him with a sedative dart gun or use some sort of assassin knockout technique to keep Fury from over doing it. And Fury would be well aware of the bridge he'd burned in not trusting Natasha. That and, given Fury was about to face Pierce, he would need someone willing to shoot to kill beside him.
And…perhaps it was a little to do with what Natasha had said before, what her original thoughts had been on having a medic from WWII as part of the team but not fighting alongside the team. It had always been something she and Steve struggled with, the feeling of not being good enough. She knew she was now, she'd earned that right to be 'good enough' as a Medic. But this went past that. This was about doing as she had always seen Steve do, standing up for what was right and pushing back. She hadn't lied all those years ago when she told him she could do with some lessons in how to push back like he did. There had never been a more important time to push back, to prove her worth as medic and as super soldier.
She had the same abilities as Steve, more in some areas, less in others, similar to him compared with her. There were three helicarriers, they needed three people to board them and take them out. Steve, Sam, and Hill would be qualified to do it…but that left the control room unguarded. Someone had to stay there and Hill was the only one familiar with this base and its tech.
SHE would be on that third craft. She would be the one to infiltrate it and take it down. It had to be her, she had to prove, not just to herself but to others, that she COULD do this. That she had worth outside of being a medic just as much as she did being one.
And, perhaps, she wanted to know she could do it as well. Much like how Steve didn't know what he would be outside of being a soldier, she truly didn't know what she could be outside of a medic. She didn't know if she COULD be anything but a medic, but being one meant helping, protecting, keeping people safe. And this would be just that.
"Triskelion command request we clear the area for launch," a man's voice came over the PA system just as they reached the door to the control room.
The door opened, a tech about to leave, only to hold his hands up when he saw the guns in Sam and Hill's hands, pointed at him.
"Excuse us," Steve offered, pushing past the man as he stepped aside.
Hill walked right over to the controls, quickly switching on the comms. all through the building. She gave Steve a nod and he stepped up to the microphone, leaning forward slightly to rest his hands on either side of it.
"Attention, all SHIELD agents," he began, "This is Steve Rogers and Olivia Williams," he glanced at Olivia as she nodded encouragingly at him, "You've heard a lot about us over the last few days, some of you were even ordered to hunt us down."
"I don't appreciate that, thank you very much," Olivia couldn't help but mutter under her breath, earning the smallest of chuckles from Steve as he was sure it had been picked up by the mic.
"But I think it's time you know the truth," he continued, "SHIELD is not what Liv or I thought it was, it's not what you think it is either. It's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader. The STRIKE and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. We don't know how many more, but we know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want: absolute control. They shot Nick Fury and it won't end there. If you launch those Helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way…" he looked at Olivia once more, feeling a twisted sense of déjà vu settle over him, how many more times would he and his best girl be forced into this position because others hadn't stepped up to do what was right? Well it was time to find out who would step up now, "Unless we stop them," he sighed and turned back to the microphone, "We know we're asking a lot, but the price of freedom is high, it always has been, and it's a price we're willing to pay. A price we have paid and will pay again if we need to. And if we're the only ones...then so be it. But both of us are willing to bet we're not."
He flicked off the microphone and straightened up, letting out a breath.
"Did you write that down first?" Sam asked, trying to crack the tension, "Or was it off the top of your head?"
"He's quite the brilliant speech maker," Olivia informed them.
"I had a great teacher," Steve offered her a soft smile, knowing she had been the orator of the two of them, always reading books on heroes and how they inspired their people. She had been the one carted off across her county to give speeches and interviews while he'd been stuck in tights with showgirls, uttering the same lines and hearing the same songs over and over. It was her silver tongue that had gotten her Prime Minister to allow her to join him on his overseas tour, had been her arguments to the government that finally got them to agree to join Major Britannia and Captain America together, though likely not quite as entrenched IN the war as her government had first expected.
"Oh, you were quite talented in your own right," she countered, her smile just as soft, "How else do you convince a girl to agree to marry you in the middle of a warzone?"
"He already proposed?!" Natasha's voice cut into the sweet moment, her words sounding in their comm., making Olivia wince at the loudness of it in her ear.
"Decades ago, as it were," Olivia confirmed, earning a chuckle from Steve.
For as much as he pretended to be annoyed at Natasha's constant comments about them getting married, he was quite amused to watch her react to some tidbits of information, little comments that let her draw her own conclusion about things. A remark here or there and she would go from planning their wedding to mapping out how he should propose. It was fun to keep the 'all-knowing' assassin on her toes.
But now she had confirmation that Steve HAD proposed already.
Olivia always remembered it fondly. It had been Christmas, literally Christmas Day. The Commandos had all scrapped together tiny gifts, mostly recycled necessities, or a bottle of beer for each other, some sort of item for her medical pack for her. Bucky had been in on it, had managed to somehow steal mistletoe from a nearby village and hung it up. Steve had gotten Peggy over for a brief stay, something about how she should check in on their progress and plans for the SSR. SHE had thought Peggy was her Christmas gift as it had been a surprise to her to step out of her tent to see Peggy there beaming at her. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. Peggy had brought a small record player with her and some additional provisions, they'd had a tiny feast that night, a bonfire burning. She and Steve had had one of those dances neither of them ever thought they'd get to have with the right partner. And he'd tugged her over to the mistletoe, kissed her far too quickly than she'd have liked, but excused himself as needing all the luck and Christmas magic he could manage…before he got onto one knee, a ring in his hands and the most beautiful speech she honestly couldn't remember a word of on his lips.
The commandos had barely let her squeak out a 'yes!' before they were all loudly cheering and clapping as she fell onto her knees to kiss him properly, which only served to make their cheers louder. Peggy had cried, Bucky had gotten drunk, both just SO happy for their friends, to find peace and joy in such a time, in the middle of a literal warzone.
The ring had been beautiful in its simplicity, apparently having belonged to Steve's mother, Sarah. There had been a brief point, around the summertime, when Bucky had gotten leave to go to America for a very short break. They had thought it was to receive another evaluation after his time being tortured by HYDRA to make sure he was still fit to serve, and it had. But Bucky, the sneak, had also gone to Steve's apartment, dug out Steve's mother's ring, and returned with it…much to Steve's surprise as he hadn't asked his friend to do such a thing. From what Steve had told her later, Bucky had seen the way they looked at each other and told Steve it was best if he kept it with him…knowing his friend, he'd propose the second the war was won. Steve had surprised him by admitting he didn't think he could wait that long to call his best girl HIS.
Neither could she, when she thought back on it and how she and Peggy had scrambled to find a gift equally as wonderful as the one he had gotten her. The small box of colored pencils she'd saved for his original gift hadn't seemed enough after that.
"They're initiating launch," Hill's voice cut in, halting any other words or outcries from Natasha, the monitors showing the helicarrier launch sequence was starting.
It was time.
~8~
Olivia stood in the middle of Steve and Sam as the elevator they were taking to the top of the Triskelion raced along, gripping the ends of her batons tightly in one hand, her other hand clasped tightly in Steve's, which he'd taken when they'd stepped into the lift. It wasn't lost on her how his grip tightened the further up they went. She wasn't sure if his mounting tension was from the fear of having to face his best friend once more on opposing sides of a battlefield, or the fact that she would be in the thick of it with him this time. It had been one thing in New York, when they were mostly surrounded by allies, and another thing entirely with their plan now, where they each would be on their own on a different craft.
"At least I managed to pop off to the loo first," she murmured, squeezing his hand once more, trying to lighten all their nerves, which did earn her a small chuckle from him.
"We sure about this?" Sam asked, only the second time someone had brought up the plan once they'd settled on it.
Steve didn't even hesitate to nod, "Very."
Despite the serious and likely very dangerous situation they were about to step into as soon as the doors opened, Olivia couldn't help the small smile that made its way onto her face at the conviction in his voice. He had been the only one to nod along and agree when she suggested SHE go onto the third helicarrier instead of Natasha or Hill.
Steve caught sight of her smile, of the faint blush that had spread across her cheeks at his belief in her. He had seen it in the expressions on the others' faces when Olivia made her suggestion, and for a split second he couldn't understand their hesitation with her plan. Olivia had all the endurance, speed, and strength he did. She had been right beside him in infiltrating a HYDRA base in the middle of a war. She had jumped out of planes, scaled walls, leapt across burning chasms, survived being in a crashing plane and being frozen. Only a few short hours ago she had disabled a number of SHIELD agents to ensure he would be safe.
It had been the last few thoughts that had made him realize why they hesitated.
They didn't know.
They hadn't been there.
They hadn't really SEEN her in action before.
He had all the faith in the world in her skills and abilities, because he'd seen them on full display, where the others only had brief comments in files to go on. They hadn't seen how much she'd grown from the medic on the fields of WWII to now, the fact that she even volunteered to be the third carrier, knowing what they might encounter, spoke volumes to him. If she was willing to do this, he was going to believe in her the way she had always believed in him, even before the serum made him what he was.
The doors opened just then, revealing bright daylight, the roof of the Triskelion, and the helicarriers a short distance away.
They looked at each other, nodding firmly, before they took off running across the roof.
"Hey, Cap, how do we know the good guys from the bad guys?" Sam called over to them.
"If they're shooting at you, they're bad," Steve answered simply.
Sam nodded and activated his Falcon suit, taking off into the air just as they reached the edge of the roof. Steve gave Olivia one more glance, both of them nodding, serious, before they leapt off the roof as well, landing quickly and rolling to their feet to take off in diverging directions across the platform that the helicarriers were stationed at the end of. While Sam flew for the second one, and Steve ran for the first, Olivia focused on the third.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Olivia found it the tiniest bit funny that she, being a blur of red, was not being targeted quite as heavily as the blur of blue that was Steve. Against the grey of the platform, she stood out quite a good deal more. But, then again, Steve and Sam, soaring above, were probably classified as much higher threats than the errant medic. She wouldn't put it past SHIELD to identify her as an easier target to take out, or one that required less effort to fell.
She could see Steve out of the corner of her eye, dashing past soldiers shooting at him, flipping over containers, causing explosions. She could see Sam flying above her, being shot at but avoiding the bullets. But that was all she could afford as the soldiers seemed to realize she was there now that she was halfway to the carrier and had begun to try and stop her as well. She activated her batons before her, creating a small shield as she was fired at.
"I found those bad guys you were talking about!" Sam's voice called over the comm. in her ear.
"Are you alright Sam?" she called back.
"I'm not dead yet!"
"Let's stay that way," Steve ordered.
Olivia gave a quick glance around, quickly calculating angles when a grenade was thrown at her by one of the attacking soldiers. She kicked it as she ran, sending it flying back towards a group of approaching soldiers, but more towards a large crate nearby, causing that to explode and shock them back instead of landing in the middle of them and doing serious injury.
She may have taken on this mission, but that did NOT mean she would attack to kill, not if she could help it.
"Falcon," Hill's voice spoke, "Status?"
"Engaging," Sam called back as Olivia ducked to the side behind a row of crates and sprinted down them, hoping to get to the end and closer to the third carrier before the smoke cleared from the grenade, "Alright," Sam reported, "I'm in…shit!"
"Be careful!" Olivia shouted back, hearing gunfire over the comm. from his efforts, and hearing a number of grunts from Steve and the men he was engaging as well, "Both of you!"
She stopped short, seeing a line of soldiers before her, their guns aimed at her, and looked to the side and back. Before she took a leaf out of Natasha's book and held her arm up, activating the grappling hook she'd been given by the assassin just before they parted ways. She has the foresight to think of what might happen if they were pushed off the carriers. Steve had refused it, the only one she'd had, insisting Olivia take it. And it appeared a good thing she had, for it hooked above her, yanking her up towards the carrier as the soldiers fired at her.
"Eight minutes!" Hill warned them.
"Working on it!" Steve responded.
"Almost there," Olivia added, reaching the top of the hook, but not close enough to the upper deck to get over onto it. She released a length of the rope, and began to swing, ready to use the momentum of her movements to hurl herself up onto the deck when she reached the optimum point.
It felt like a lifetime, but she finally got the right force, and released the hook as she propelled herself up, grabbing onto the railing and hauling herself over the edge.
"Alpha locked," Steve reported.
Olivia let out a breath at that, one down, two to go.
"Falcon, where are you now?" Hill asked.
"I had to take a detour!" he shouted.
Olivia looked up, hearing a sound of an explosion to see a missile had struck the side of one of the carriers.
"Oh, yeah!" Sam cheered, "I'm in. Bravo locked."
"Two down, one to go," Hill remarked.
Olivia nodded to herself, "On it," she took a breath, about to turn and run into the control room of the last carrier, when an odd noise reached her, causing her to tense as she turned much slower than she intended to.
The breath she had just taken left her at the sight of the man standing before her, metal arm glistening in the sunlight, gun aimed right at her.
"Bollocks," she muttered, before jumping to the side as he fired a miniature missile at her, "We've got company!" she warned.
"Liv?" Steve's voice called out.
"May need some backup," she panted, rolling to the side as yet another missile flew.
"Charlie Carrier's 45 degrees off your port bow, Cap," Hill spoke, "Six minutes."
"Sam, I'm gonna need a ride," Steve yelled.
"Roger!" Sam replied, "Let me know when you're ready."
"I just did!" Steve shouted, grunting when Sam caught him as he jumped off the side of the first carrier, "Liv, status?"
Olivia couldn't respond, thinking quickly as she aimed the grappling hook once more, the end managing to grasp the missile launcher, and hit the button to retract it, pulling it out of Bucky's hands, "Bucky, you don't want to do this!" she called out to the man instead.
"Who the hell is Bucky?" the Winter Soldier demanded.
Olivia frowned at that, shaking her head, for a moment not understanding why he was asking the very same thing she'd heard him ask Steve only hours ago...when her eyes widened as a horrible realization dawned on her, "No..." she breathed.
Whatever HYDRA had done to him to make him forget Steve, they'd done it again. She was sure of it. The man sounded like he had never even heard the word 'Bucky' before. And there was only one thing she could think of for why, if he'd been forced to forget it.
And then, an even greater shock struck her.
HYDRA would have had no need to brainwash him again...unless he gave them a reason to feel the need to do so.
Unless he might have remembered Steve!
The small blossom of hope she felt unfurling within her at the thought was quickly pushed aside as the man used her shock against her and grabbed one of the many guns on his person to fire at her. Only her quick reflexes saved her as she activated her batons for the shield.
Olivia grit her teeth as Bucky began to walk towards her, still firing, until he was close enough to swing at her with the gun. She jumped back, deactivating the shield to use the batons to defend herself instead.
But Bucky seemed to guess her moves, adapting to the use of her batons, and wedging his metal arm between one of her defensive moves, grabbing her around the throat and hurling her back over his shoulder, off the side of the upper deck. He strode after her, jumping down onto the lower deck where she had fallen in a heap.
"Liv!" she heard a voice shout, recognizing it instantly.
"Steve, no!" she called, trying to warn him as he ran towards her, having been brought right to the lower deck by Sam.
The Winter Soldier ran from the side, slamming into Steve and sending him toppling over the side of the carrier.
"Steve!" she gasped, pushing herself up and rushing to the side railing as Sam distracted the assassin by attacking him.
When she didn't see him plummeting to the ground, she gripped the railing tightly, knowing it meant he was still somewhere on the carrier, just below. She looked over at Sam, seeing he had been grounded, one of the wings on his suit ripped off. She could tell, just in how Bucky was bracing himself as he ran at Sam, that he was about to kick the man off the carrier. She knew Sam's suit had a built in parachute though, she knew he'd be safe…the rest of the world wouldn't be if she didn't get Charlie Carrier locked. She hit her hands on the railing before running back into the ship, using Sam's distraction to get in without Bucky seeing.
"Steve?" she called into the comm.
"I'm here!" his voice reassured her, "I'm still on the Helicarrier."
She nodded to herself, rushing up a set of stairs, knowing she had to get up higher, "I'm headed to the control room. Sam's been grounded."
"Meet you there."
She nodded to herself, racing up flight after flight, until she reached the control center. She didn't even pause, dashing across the walkway towards the controls. She retracted her batons, slipping them into her holsters, knowing she needed to be quick. Using one hand, she fished the chip out of her utility belt using her other to activate the sequence to bring the control chips out so she could replace one with her own.
The panel with the chips had just swung out to her when a gun went off and she nearly fell against the panel from a combination of pain and force from the bullet. She looked down seeing herself bleeding from a blast to her side, not enough to graze the side of her stomach area, but shot through the side of her abdomen. She twisted, her face set in a grimace to see the Winter Soldier striding towards her, eyes intent, gun in hand. She turned, trying to get the chip in, managing to yank the one out of the panel…when a metal hand clamped around her wrist and hauled her back, slamming her wrist into the edge of the railing. She held onto the chip the first two slams, but the third one hit at an angle that forced her hand open, the chip fell.
She was shoved back, the Winter Soldier aiming his gun at her once more…when a blur of blue slammed into him, sending two men over the edge of the railing.
"Steve!" Olivia gasped, rolling to her side to see Steve and Bucky landing below, just where the chip had fallen. She panted, knowing she wouldn't be of much help to Steve if she didn't get herself sorted.
With a grimace she yanked her medical pack off her back, scrambling through it for the most basic items she could find. She used her teeth to rip the packaging off of a bandage, literally a wide band-aid, and tearing at the hole in her clothing where the bullet had gone through, and slapped the bandage on over one side of the wound, and another on the back.
She took a few deep breaths, knowing she didn't need to worry about shock the way most others would. The serum had helped with her pain tolerance and her healing. She wasn't about to waste medical supplies on herself when she could bear the pain better and endure longer than others.
She grit her teeth, closing her eyes for just a moment. She did what she always did when she was injured post-serum, she thought of a moment in her past where she'd been hurting, hurting much worse than she was now, and used that memory to push past the fire coursing through her from her current injury. This was nothing compared to what she'd lived through, if she could endure that, then this was nothing. Her hand shot out and grabbed around the railing, hauling herself up. She looked down, seeing Steve jumping to the bottom level of the control center, racing to where the chip had fallen even farther. Bucky had jumped just behind him, flinging Steve's shield at him and knocking him down, before aiming his gun at Steve.
Without even thinking, she jumped over the railing, practically flying down to the bottom level and slamming into Bucky, much like she had the enemy agent on the ship days ago, knocking him to the side, rolling to the side herself, half flipping over as she went to get back on her feet. Bucky glared at her as he strode towards her, Steve momentarily forgotten, but Steve refused to allow his best friend to go after his best girl, throwing himself at Bucky.
The Winter Soldier pulled out a knife, trying to stab Steve with it, managing to get him in the shoulder, before Steve headbutted him to release him. Bucky moved to grab the chip, and Steve threw himself at the man again, managing to get him by the throat and slam him down, twisting so he had Bucky by the back of the neck with his arm caught. When it became clear Bucky wouldn't drop the chip, he turned even more, getting Bucky in a headlock.
Olivia ran forward, grabbing Bucky's metal arm when it shot out to try and hit Steve, holding it down so Steve wouldn't be hurt.
The second Bucky lost consciousness and released the chip, Steve released him.
"Liv?" Steve turned to her, a question in his eyes he didn't need to say out loud.
"Go," she half-ordered, moving to kneel next to Bucky, "I'll monitor him."
Steve let out a breath at how she just knew where his mind had gone. With his new strength, he never would have roughhoused with Bucky back in the day, too afraid to hurt him. Now that the man appeared as enhanced as them, as enduring, he had used more of his strength than he ever would against a normal human. But even then, he didn't know how much was too much and his mind had immediately gone to the fear that he had truly just killed his friend instead of knocked him out, or done some other damage to his neck that might kill him. Having Olivia there to monitor him, not just keep an eye on 'the enemy' but truly tend to Bucky…it was a blessing.
And he knew, had it been anyone else, Bucky wouldn't be monitored but restrained, apprehended, and dragged back to the ground in someone's custody. They would see him as an enemy, hell they might even refuse to monitor him or check his wounds because of that. Not with Olivia. Even if it hadn't been Bucky specifically, she would still show them the same amount of concern and care.
In all the time he'd known her, the only person she hadn't instantly treated was Loki, citing he wasn't human and her job was to heal the humans. Though he'd seen her treat Thor, an honorary human as she'd remarked to him later. Even then, it did make sense to refuse Loki. Being non-human, there was no telling if human medicine might have an adverse effect or cause more harm than good.
He gave her a quick nod and turned to rush off, the chip clutched tightly in his hand.
"One minute," Hill's voice warned in their ears as Steve scrambled back up to the Helicarrier's targeting system.
Olivia bit her lip, glancing between Bucky and Steve. She was holding Bucky's real hand in both of hers, one of her hands pressed against his wrist to monitor his pulse, steady and strong, which was a good sign Steve hadn't done too much damage. Seeing him reach the top level, she focused more on Bucky, leaning over him slightly to examine his neck where Steve had gotten him in a chokehold.
It happened in an instant that her focus was on Bucky's neck and her hands occupied by his, so suddenly not even is heart rate indicated it. His eyes snapped open, his metal hand shot out, and Olivia found her own hands flying up to his metal wrist as his hand closed around her neck, trying to crush it.
Steve must have heard her grunt or gasp of surprise suddenly cut off for he spun around to see his best friend trying to choke his best girl to death, "Liv!"
He seemed about to drop the chip and hurl himself over the railing back down to her side, when Olivia used the grip she had on Bucky's arm as leverage to swing her feet up, slamming them to his chest and using the force to push him back, pulling herself out of the grip he had on her neck, the two of them falling to the ground.
"Finish it!" she shouted up to him, her voice a little hoarse from the trauma, but able to breathe now.
Steve heeded the order, turning to finish his mission, the sooner he got the carrier taken care of the sooner he could help Olivia.
Olivia quickly got to her feet and ran towards Bucky as the man seemed to notice Steve inches away from the controls and had his gun out. He'd fired once at Steve, catching him in the thigh before Olivia managed to distract him enough with her approach that he turned his attention to her. She activated her batons quickly, shielding herself from the next round of shots he fired at her, able to see Steve out of the corner of her eye slowed down by the bullet in his leg, but still moving towards the controls. She had to get the gun out of Bucky's hands before he tried to shoot Steve again.
Not only did she not want Steve hurt, but she knew Bucky, when he came to his right mind once more, would be devastated to have harmed his best friend, his brother, in such a way.
"Thirty seconds, Cap!" Hill warned them.
"Stand by!" Steve reported, drawing Bucky's focus back to himself.
Olivia saw him aim the gun up at Steve and quickly swung her batons upwards, knocking his aim towards the sky, sending the bullet to the ceiling. Bucky, however, used the force of it to swing his arm back down, turning with it, moving back to face her and firing.
She gasped, feeling a searing pain in her shoulder as Bucky managed to get a shot at her, similar to Natasha, but the bullet didn't go all the way through. She grit her teeth and used the momentum of the shot, the way it reactively made her body pull to one side to get away from the pain. She turned, dropping to her knees as she went and swinging out her other arm, refraining from wanting to reach up to grip her shoulder with it, to swing out the baton and take Bucky's legs up from the back of the knees, the assassin clearly not expecting either her to continue fighting or to not be outwardly affected by the shot. She jumped to her feet, kicking out and using the split second of startlement to kick the gun out of Bucky's hand.
That was one thing she and Steve had over others that had nothing to do with the serum, this ability to push past the pain and fight on. So many would assume it was the serum. But she and Steve had lived their lives pre-serum in a world of never ending pain. Her from the medications, him from his physical ailments. Steve especially, from their long talks, she knew that that pain, coupled with the beatings he used to take from bullies…there was nothing worse. To have lived every day of your life with such a present and debilitating pain? Nothing compared to it, not the beatings or wounds they sustained after the serum.
They could handle pain better because they'd lived their lives in far worse pain constantly.
She imagined though, that had Natasha seen her now for the first time, she would have quite a different first impression of her. She was shot, bleeding, but refused to allow herself to be affected as she continued to distract the assassin trying to kill her, all to ensure Steve wouldn't be targeted and they could save the planet from HYDRA.
"Charlie locked!" Steve reported right at the moment that Bucky grabbed her leg with his other hand, twisting it to slam her to the ground beside him. He rolled instantly so he was on top of her, pulling another knife from his belt as he went to try and stab her, but she crossed her arms and managed to grab his wrist to stop him.
She let out a cry of pain as he moved his other hand, not needing it to stab, and slammed his fist into her side, right where he'd shot her before, likely cracking one of her ribs at the same time.
It was enough to get Steve's attention, the man sending his shield flying down and slamming into Bucky's back. The man let out an angry cry, slamming his metal fist into the glass just under Olivia, bracing his legs on either side of the panel and letting her fall through it, sure that the fall would kill her so he could focus on Captain America.
"Liv!" Steve screamed, watching, as though in slow motion, as Olivia fell from the carrier...
A/N: I feel like Olivia's little self-treating moment is very much her. She would be much more careful and tender and thorough with anyone else on the field if they were injured. But it's HER. She won't waste the supplies on herself when others might need them.
But lol, I died writing that bit about Steve already having proposed to Olivia :D Natasha was JUST starting to get into plotting how he could propose and they throw that wrench in it? Lol :)
Poor Bucky though :'( When he comes back to himself and remembers, he's going to be devastated with what he's done to both Olivia and Steve :'( As much as it killed me to end the chapter this way, I felt like it was too good a parallel to pass up, how Bucky fell and Steve couldn't help him, and now Olivia is falling and at Bucky's hand :'(
I know that part with Olivia confronting Bucky was a bit repetitive of when Steve faced him, but I felt like Olivia would try to get through to him too, and he wouldn't know who 'Bucky' is because of the brainwashing he went through again. I feel like, given what they know/assume about what's happened to him, Olivia would put the pieces together about how it happened a second time and have a good guess as to why. I felt that it would make her put a bit more effort and willingness into actually fighting Bucky or actively stopping him because she knows he CAN remember now and it'll kill him to have harmed Steve :(
Some notes on reviews...
Thank you for your welcome backs! :) I'm an SO glad to be able to get back to writing and posting again too and I hope you'll all enjoy what's coming up ;)