All right, guys, gettin' into some good stuff here!
You know the drill. I don't own Captain America.
Enjoy!
-:-
Taking over the Hydra base started out fine. That is, until the bad guys' reinforcements showed up with a tank.
"Holy…" Dugan muttered, taking a step back so he was shoulder to shoulder with Natasha, the tank visible in the distance through the hole they'd blown into the front wall of the compound as a way to throw off Hydra, since they'd come in the back way. Now, it seemed, Hydra had a few surprises up their sleeve as well.
"Where the fuck did they get a tank? I thought we took all of them out at that base in Germany in '43," Jones cut in.
Dernier shook his head and spit on the ground. "Hell if I know," he muttered with his French accent.
"I think the question now is how do we stop the tank?" Natasha told them. They had found some brief cover amongst the debris, but that certainly wouldn't hold back an entire tank, especially not one equipped with the Tesseract technology that Hydra had been putting into their weapons. They were faced with more of those weapons each mission, and she knew that pretty soon, real bullets would be out of the question for Hydra.
Natasha glanced over to the other side compound they were in. The building's main floor was mostly open space, any equipment or other forms of cover lining the walls. Through the masses of Hydra soldiers now rallying as the tank continued to get closer, she could see the other half of their team. The flash of Bucky's semi-automatic and the glint of Steve's shield were considerably bright amongst the black-clad Hydra soldiers. As Peggy had taken Happy Sam, Pinky Pinkerton, Junior Juniper, and Morita to the upper levels, Natasha had been helping Steve and Bucky. That is, before they got separated. And now they were all going to be preoccupied trying to take out that damn tank, and the Hydra soldiers would overrun them.
"Dugan," Natasha said slowly, a plan already formulating in her head. "You got enough explosives to take out that tank?"
Dugan grinned, glancing at her then Dernier, who was smiling as well. "Between the two of us," Dugan said enthusiastically. "We've got enough explosives to take out the whole damn block."
"Perfect." She smiled. "We only need enough to take out this building. Think you guys can get the tank inside the building?"
"Inside?" Jones asked, confusion flickering across his features before realization did. "You want to turn the tank into one giant bomb. Tank goes boom, along with the rest of Hydra's forces."
"Exactly," she clarified.
The three of them nodded in agreement, and she could practically see Dugan and Dernier's fingers itching to blow something up.
"I can get the others out when you're ready," she told them. "How long do you need?"
"Well, we left some extra explosives in that building by the back gate we came in by…" Dugan trailed off, mustache twitching.
"Gabe can cover us to the building," Dernier said. "After that, ten minutes—maybe—to whip up a bomb. And a little time after that to get the tank close enough to inside the building as we can."
"Half an hour at most probably," she commented, half to herself, inwardly grimacing because half an hour in battle could feel like forever. "I can let the others know the plan, and then we'll hold them off till then."
"Sounds good, Red." Dugan grinned. "I'll give a big wa-hoo when we're about to blow the place."
"Maybe let us know when you're planning on crashing the tank into the building, too. Not really feeling like getting run over today."
Dugan laughed. "You got it. All right, boys. Let's go get some explosives and blow all these Hydra bastards to kingdom come."
Natasha covered them till they were out of the building before making her way to the upper level to let Peggy know the plan.
When Natasha did find Peggy, the other woman was in the middle of beating a guy over the head with metal pipe. The other Commandos with Peggy were further down the hall, taking out the last few Hydra members that were still standing.
"Natasha," Peggy greeted breathlessly, pushing her dark hair back from her face, stepping over the body of the now unconscious, and very injured, Hydra soldier. "Everything all right downstairs?"
"Not exactly—" Natasha was cut off by the sound of the tank's gun exploding. It still sounded a ways off, but it wouldn't be long before the monstrous machine was on top of them.
"What in the bloody hell was that?" Peggy asked.
"Hydra has a tank," Natasha replied simply.
"Perfect," Peggy muttered, before turning and signaling the others to come join them.
Seconds later the other Commandos had joined them and Natasha was telling them the plan she and the others had come up with for destroying the tank and the rest of the Hydra forces.
"Two birds with one stone," Happy Sam commented.
"Or, in this case, explosives," Junior Juniper added.
"Yeah, sure" Happy Sam muttered with a roll of his eyes.
"Dugan's gonna give the signal when they're ready to blow the place," Natasha told them. "All that we need to do is run like bats out of hell and the explosives will cover the rest."
"Sounds good to me," Peggy agreed.
"Yeah, me too," Morita echoed. "All right, let's go kick some more Hydra ass until then."
He gave a grin and a little whoop before charging off in the direction Natasha had come from, towards the stairs, the other Commandos hot on his heels.
"Shall we?" Peggy asked with a small smile.
"It would be my pleasure," Natasha said in return, and they followed the others back down into the chaos.
Hydra soldiers came at them immediately, the sight of more of Captain America's troops making them freshly trigger-happy. As the others broke out into fighting, Natasha snuck off along the flanks, trying to make her way to where Steve and Bucky were, stealthily taking out members of Hydra's ranks as she went.
She found herself next to Bucky, who had just shot down a couple of Hydra goons when half a dozen guys—big guys, clearly bigger than all the rest, with thick armor covering their towering forms—joined the fight right in front of them. Natasha took a step forward, taking a second to make sure her shot was perfectly accurate, before firing the bullet into one of their necks, right in the chink of his armor. Blood spurted, spraying one of the other guys, and Natasha took the opportunity to leap at him while he was momentarily distracted. A few blows later and she got behind the guy, bending him backwards, his feet scrambling to find purchase on the ground. Swiftly, she snapped his head back with a satisfying crack and he crumpled to the ground.
Natasha stepped back towards Bucky, risking a glance at him. He was breathing hard, dirty and scratched up, but otherwise fine it seemed. He met her glance for a split second, giving her a nod, before turning back to the other four brutes. They all seemed to be hesitating after having just watched Natasha take out two of them in a matter of seconds. Natasha kept her eyes trained on them, focused on Bucky at her side and the enemy in front of her. There was noise off to the left, closer to the back wall of the building. At the commotion, two of the guys darted off, and Natasha could only see from the corner of her eye that they were headed for Steve, before one of the remaining two lunged at her. She heard Bucky engage with the other one as she was forced back a few steps.
The guy managed to land a solid blow to her side, causing her to gasp and he took the opportunity to knock her gun out of her hand. She ducked before he could repeat the motion, but it wasn't quite fast enough. He reached out and yanked on her arm—hard. She was flipped to the ground, her arm protesting, nearly ripping out of the socket. He dropped to his knees, that ugly Hydra mask staring back at her as he reached for her neck, she got an arm up in time to keep his fingers from reaching her throat. He pressed harder, before lifting a fist and giving her a solid punch across the jaw. She could taste blood in her mouth as she reactively bit down on her cheek. Just as he was about to go for her neck again, she shifted, and brought a knee up to his groin. The area was protected by some padding, but not enough and the guy groaned, nearly falling on top of her, she rolled out from underneath him, bringing an elbow down on his back before he could recover enough to stand up. She picked up her gun and fired a couple rounds into his back mercilessly.
Natasha turned back to help Bucky, as he was still fighting the other big goon. Seeing as she was about to step forward, he shook his head quickly. "No!" he shouted. "I got this! Go help Steve!"
Steve. Right. She gave Bucky a quick nod before turning her body and darting off towards the back wall to where Steve was. As she neared him, she could see him fighting off the two big guys that had run away from her and Bucky, as well as several other regular Hydra soldiers. Natasha joined Steve's battle, radiating all the power and terror that came with the title of Black Widow. Within a matter of seconds, the number of enemies against them had dwindled as Natasha struck down the regular Hydra soldiers, before the two bigger men came at them, hands curled into fists that looked like they could smash through a wall with no problem. Natasha didn't really think these men had been enhanced in any way—they fell like any other man—but it was clear that they had been selected and trained to essentially be human wrecking balls. Using all hands and brute force, instead of weapons.
The bigger of the two—who even had a good two to three inches on Steve—strode towards the good Captain himself. Natasha barely had time to watch them engage in battle, full of punches and kicks and the flash of Steve's shield as he deflected blows, before the other one attacked her. She'd run out of bullets and was left with her own body to fight the guy off. And whether he'd been specially trained or not, she was better. And faster, for that matter. The guy had size and weight on her, but it also slowed him down. He charged her, face unreadable through the black of his mask. He swung out his fist at her, missing as she ducked. She grabbed his still outstretched arm as she came around behind him, yanking the limb down hard, flipping him to the ground. He landed on his back, but immediately started to rise.
The Hydra brute moved to grab her leg, and she slammed a foot down on the hand that was still planted against the cold floor. He howled in pain. While he was dazed, Natasha kicked him square across the jaw. He groaned and fell back again, but wasn't completely out. She pulled a knife from her belt and moved her body over him, pinning him down, prepped to bring the knife across his throat. But he flipped her just as the knife was an inch above his neck—apparently not as weak as she'd thought. She fought underneath him as he tried to pin down the wrist holding the knife. Landing a good solid punch to his temple with that same hand that was curled around the knife, she used the opportunity to end his life, warm blood spattering her face and jacket as she slashed the weapon across his throat. He gurgled around his last breath and she shoved his body off her, wiping a hand across her mouth, breathing hard.
Natasha looked up, searching for Steve. When she spotted him, he was surrounded by more Hydra soldiers, the other big guy face down a few feet away, though it was hard to say whether he was dead or not. As it turned out, not dead was the correct answer. The man stirred, hand scrambling for a fallen gun. Everything seemed to slow, and Natasha saw the guy cock the gun and aim it at Captain America's unprotected back. Without a second of hesitation, she charged, covering the distance between her and the Hydra soldier in no time, kicking his arm just as he fired the gun. The shot—which seemed deafeningly loud—went just wide enough, only missing Steve by and couple inches, hitting another Hydra soldier instead. Steve looked back just long enough to catch her gaze. She could see him register what had happened, and he gave her a quick nod, before turning back to the enemy soldiers in front of him.
Natasha grabbed a discarded weapon herself and mercilessly emptied a bullet through the big guy's head. He dropped like a rock. Having a moment to breathe, Natasha looked around the building's main floor. Bodies littered the ground. The other Commandos were on the other side of the building, adding more bodies to the sea of black-clad Hydra soldiers that already covered the floor. Bucky had taken down the last big Hydra soldier, and was fighting his way through the regular Hydra enemies to make his way to her and Steve.
Suddenly, just as she was about to jump back into the fight, the air stilled, just before an explosion ripped through the front wall and partially into the back one that she and Steve were by. She swore under her breath in Russian, having momentarily forgotten about the tank in the midst of battle. Natasha headed for Steve just as another shell was emptied into the building, blowing apart more of the back wall. She came up next to Steve as chunks of wall began to rain down. Steve grabbed her around the waist, pulling her to his body as he raised his shield over their heads. He gritted his teeth as debris and pieces of wall rained down on them.
Even as it stopped, Steve held her to him for just a moment longer, and she marveled at how incredibly safe she felt in his arms. He smelled of the heat of battle—smoke and blood and dirt—but also a bit like the soap they issued out at base. His body was warm, hands strong as they held her tightly to him, protecting her. His whole body was a shield. It was kind of nice…
"Thanks," she breathed. Then she pulled free from his grasp, shaking away the ridiculous thoughts that had been circling through her mind a second before. She wasn't some little school-girl with a dumb crush, especially not a crush on Captain America.
Natasha looked to the front wall. Through the huge hole now in it, she could see the tank approaching, closer and closer, until it looked like it was going to crash right into the building—
"Wa-hoooooo!" came Dugan's cry, echoing around the floor.
She grinned. That was their signal. She turned back to Steve, grabbing his arm. "We've gotta go."
She remembered that he didn't know the plan, but he didn't question her. He raised his hand, signaling to Bucky and the others across the room to get out. The enemy had been cheering earlier when the tank had fired into the building, but now they stopped, frozen as the tank barreled into the building itself, raining more chunks of stone and other debris down on the enemy.
Bucky came up behind her and Steve as they crawled out through the hole in the back wall, Bucky firing back at the Hydra soldiers who tried to follow them. They raced back to the rear gate where they'd come in, the other Commandos appearing as they rounded the building. Seconds later, the tank inside the building exploded into a huge fireball, the ground trembling, the heat reaching them, even as far back as they were. They all crouched low, hands going up to cover their heads instinctively. The building started to collapse, flames reaching high as smoke, thick and black, rolled into the sky. Dugan and Dernier appeared in the distance, big grins on their sooty faces.
"Wa-hoo!" Dugan cheered again, encouraging victorious cries from the rest of them.
Natasha grinned again, looking up at Steve.
"Your plan?" he asked, pride glinting in his blue eyes.
She nodded. "Yeah. I figured if they had a tank, we could use it against them."
Steve bobbed his head up and down, a smile growing on his face. "Nice job."
"Well," she poked his chest. "Couldn't let you take the glory all the time. Wouldn't want it going to your head."
"Right, of course not," he chuckled. His features sobered up quickly, and her own smile fell. "You saved me," he said softly. He said it almost like he wished it weren't true, almost like he didn't quite believe it. Or didn't want to.
"Yeah," was all she could muster, because, for some reason, the fact that she'd done it—actually done it and saved his life—was not nearly as happy a moment as she'd thought it was going to be.
"Your debt is paid." There it was. That voice again. She couldn't even pinpoint what it was. Disappointment, maybe. Why would he be disappointed, though? Now she could get out of his hair and he'd never have to see her again. But it that what he wanted? Was that what she wanted?
Natasha didn't even know anymore.
-:-
So Natasha paid her debt! Now what? Guess you'll just have to tune in to find out :)
I am on spring break now. Going to try and catch up on my writing since I pretty much have zero else to do. Should have another chapter up by next Friday. If not, be patient, it's coming pretty close to the end of the school-year for me and things are getting busy. I'm sure you all know what that's like! Just lots and lots of craziness and stress and worrying about all the tv finales coming your way!
Anyway, I did want to add a little note here. So I know a few people (definitely not all of you, and I'm not pointing fingers) but some people have expressed concerns about the Bucky/Nat and Steggy stuff in the story. I'm just going to say again that this IS a Romanogers story. No matter what else happens between now and the end, Steve and Nat are endgame. Because I literally ship them so hard. I mean, when I think OTP, Steve and Nat are one of the first ones (top 2, actually) to come to mind.
The Steggy stuff is pretty much over, but since Peggy is a really important part of Steve's life, I didn't want to erase their relationship altogether. Now the Bucky and Nat stuff, there is going to be some more of it, but again, Steve and Nat are endgame, and I have a plan! It's all part of a plan! And it wouldn't be any fun if I revealed that plan to you :)
Thank you all for the support! Means the world to me, truly!
Thanks for reading!
-DaughterOfPoseidon333