AN: Thank you NocturnalRites for Beta-ing this work for me! Your comments and suggestions are much appreciated. Any mistakes are mine and mine alone, probably added after I got the edited version back.

Chapter 15 – Ship Out

Oliver let loose another arrow and took down a HYDRA agent attempting to access the door through which Hawkeye had just entered. Steve's instructions to Oliver had been to guard the Quinjet and to protect the team's back by taking down any strays or reinforcements. He was to take down any strays that got past the 3 Avengers currently below decks or any that might arrive. If a stray army turned up and he needed backup, give a shout. That informational tidbit had been from Hawkeye with a smart ass smirk.

Oliver was fast starting to like Barton's dry wit. It also didn't hurt that Steve trusted him to protect their exit route and watch their backs. Oliver knew how good he was, but having it acknowledged by the leader of the Avengers was helping repair the damage Slade's arrival had caused to his confidence. He'd never admit it to anyone else, but Wilson shook him in ways he wasn't sure how to handle.

Oliver glanced back at his target, who had crumpled to the ground. It wasn't a kill shot, but the man would be out of commission for a good long time. After his fight to be more than a killer for Tommy and for his team, it was enlightening to see these Avengers, Earth's mightiest heroes, kill when necessary.

Maybe, Oliver thought, he needed to find a balance. He had been so brutal when he'd been the Hood. He would never be that again, but maybe he could forgive himself a little when he did have to kill.

"Engine room clear," Barton's voice came through Oliver's comm.

"Stark, I need you at my location," Steve's voice followed right behind. "Barton, go topside and help Arrow. We might be about to get very busy. I've tripped an alarm down here." That didn't sound good. "Arrow, heads up for incoming."

"On it, Cap," came Barton's response.

"Acknowledged," Oliver answered after scanning the area one more time.

He watched Barton emerge from a door on the other side of the bridge area and start climbing up. His leaps and twists as he jumped from rope to railing to barely there handholds along the wall showed an agile grace that was truly impressive. From his own experience, Oliver knew the skill and strength that took.

Hell, seeing Steve jump out of the Quinjet with no parachute had been really impressive. He'd almost said something about it, but Tony had looked over at him as if he expected a comment. Not wanting to give Tony the satisfaction of an opening, Oliver had kept his mouth shut.

Hawkeye settled on the opposite end of the communications tower roof from Oliver, then waved to show he was in place. Oliver raised his hand in acknowledgement and resumed scanning the area around him.

Barely 10 minutes later Steve activated his comm, letting them know that he and Tony were on their way topside. There was no word on what they found.

"Guys, you have company coming," Felicity informed them over the comms. "It looks like two Quinjets approaching from the Northwest. ETA is 2 minutes 20 seconds. No indication as to how many are inside."

"Damn, guess they had those guys on speed dial or did you take a nap after you tripped the alarm, Cap?" Hawkeye snarked, looking in the direction Felicity had given.

"Guess I'm getting slow in my old age," Steve's quick reply got a snort out of Oliver. Steve emerged topside with Stark following close behind. As soon as they hit the deck, Iron Man was airborne.

"Confirming we have two incoming" Stark said. There was a pause in the transmission. "They're a minute thirty seconds out. Cap, they're troop carriers, so I'd say you might want to get clear of the ship unless want to have to fight them for it."

"Load up," Steve ordered. Hawkeye nodded to Oliver and started the climb down to the jet. Oliver reached it just a second before the other two men. Barton jumped into the pilot seat as Steve hit the control to shut the rear ramp.

Oliver could see by the set of Steve's shoulders that something hadn't gone well.

"No luck?" Oliver asked.

Steve met his eyes and shook his head as he raised his wrist to his mouth and spoke into his comm.

"Blow it, Tony," he ordered. "We're clear." Blow what, Oliver almost asked as he heard a boom and a shockwave rock the aircraft. He thought of the HYDRA agents he'd taken down but had purposely not killed. Most of them would be unable to save themselves even if they survived the explosion. The last one wouldn't even regain consciousness before he drowned. He might as well have killed those men himself.

"What are you doing?" he questioned, turning on Rogers. "That isn't necessary." Oliver was surprised to see the ship blast apart with multiple explosions. "We don't know if everyone on that ship was HYDRA do we?"

Steve took his helmet off and ran a hand through his hair. "I've read the reports on you, Oliver," Steve told him. "I know you've changed the way you operate a lot since you've been protecting the city. I respect that, but this isn't the city and there are no police to take these men in, no backup and no one capable of holding them if we could get them in." Oliver felt his perception shift. This wasn't one on one vigilante justice; this was a skirmish in a battle with the world, quite literally, the prize.

"From what we saw in the hold, they were trying to set the program up that turned a WWII hero into a HYDRA assassin."

"Your friend Bucky Barnes into the Winter Soldier," Oliver said.

Steve nodded. "I'm not sure if they were trying to make sure they had the equipment to contain Bucky when they catch him again or if they have him already," Steve looked a lot older than his years at that moment.

"No indication if he'd been there or not?" Oliver understood missing your best friend and doing anything possible to get him back. He couldn't imagine anything he wouldn't do if there was a chance he could get Tommy back.

"No, we couldn't tell. I don't think he's been but it was very obvious HYDRA wants to reinstitute the program and turn others into what they turned Bucky into. That equipment was on its way to be duplicated. Tony downloaded what he could from their files and then I made the call to destroy everything."

Oliver just nodded. There wasn't much he could say. Steve was right, everything needed to be destroyed just like he and Slade had destroyed Fyres' men on the island. At first Oliver hadn't thought they'd have to kill everyone. He'd been hesitant, but Slade had taught him to think like a soldier.

Learning to kill, torture, all the things Oliver had been made to learn under ARGUS, been made to do under ARGUS,had eaten pieces of his soul, but it had also made him think less like a soldier and more like a vigilante. He didn't want to give anything more of his soul than he'd already given that was for sure, but to see Steve make the decision, being on the mission made him realize one of the reasons that Slade had been beating him.

Oliver was still thinking like a vigilante working to end crime. Slade was a soldier through and through. He was mounting a campaign against Oliver and up until Steve had come into the picture, Oliver hadn't seen that. He needed to change his strategy and start thinking like a soldier again.

"This was on me, Oliver," Steve told him, "It was my call to destroy that ship and any deaths that are the result are on my shoulders, not yours." Steve's voice was weary. "I fought the Winter Soldier. He put me in the hospital. He nearly killed me, the Black Widow, and Falcon. Can you imagine how many innocent lives will be lost if those men on that ship succeeded in setting up a new lab, creating new super assassins? That equipment and information needed to be destroyed."

"You're right, Steve," Oliver stopped him. "You did what needed to be done. I'm just not sure how to make those decisions and still sleep at night."

Something shifted in Steve. The man's eyes became older in that moment and it was as if he could see that Oliver was struggling more with his own demons than anyone else's. He had tried so hard for Tommy to be a better person, but he just wasn't.

"Sometimes we don't sleep so well at night, Oliver," Steve told him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "But we do what we have to so that others can be free. Isn't that why you do what you do? So your city can be free."

Oliver hadn't thought about it that way. He nodded, not trusting his voice. Steve's words weren't that far off from what Maseo had said to him when Oliver was trying to live with what he had to do for Waller. What had Felicity tried to say to him, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Steve squeezed his shoulder and moved to the front of the jet. Oliver didn't follow. He thought about his time on the island, killing to stay alive and his time later being forced to torture for information and kill for Waller. The things he'd done haunted him, but they had all been for survival. Now it was much more than his own survival he fought for. He fought for his family, his team and his city. He'd die for any of them. It wasn't about survival any longer.

Oliver looked up at the two men in the front of the jet talking. They were relaxed. This type of mission was something they probably did fairly often. They were too much like a well oiled machine, too comfortable with each other for it not to be. Ordering the death of a ship load of people was something Captain America probably had to do more than once, or at least the equivalent of that type of carnage. His image was the all American hero, but in reality he was a soldier in a very messy war and had been for most of his life. He was a leader and owned his decisions, no matter the price. Oliver respected that, he respected the man but he couldn't help wondering what the cost of being Captain America was to Steve's soul.

In that moment he promised himself he would do everything he could to keep that soul from suffering any more hits. Maybe he was finally seeing why Steve's team was so protective of him. To stay as good a man as he was with the decisions he made, that needed protecting.