I'm back! Nice long chapter for you guys! No warnings for this chapter I don't think, aside from violence and a more excessive amount of swearing (because it's fun to write Steve and Bucky as the foul-mouthed little shits that they are)
Enjoy!
P.S. Sorry for any typos, it's late and my brain is shutting down
-:-
Steve and Bucky walked quickly through the halls of the base, not talking other than for Bucky to say the Colonel was waiting for them in the command center. When they got there, Steve saw that Natasha and Peggy were both already there, as well as his Howling Commandos. Steve looked at them in turn, his gaze lingering on Natasha for just a moment longer than the others. She met his eyes, her face lined with grim determination. He could relate. He'd told her all about Zola and what the Hydra scientist had done to Bucky, and her features only reflected what he was feeling inside.
Steve straightened, looking over the large map they had laid out, with its dwindling amount of little red flags to represent Hydra bases. "What do we have?" he looked at the Colonel as he asked, but Phillips just shrugged and directed his gaze towards Peggy, Bucky, and the other Commandos.
"Well," Peggy started, her brow creasing just the slightest, "it's not so much a lead on Zola himself, but a lead on how we can find him."
Steve waited for more details.
"Gabe," Peggy prompted, looking over at Gabe Jones.
"Right," the Commando said. "Well, I've been working in between missions on trying to pick up Hydra's radio signals. I've only gotten short bursts so far, but I'm getting close. And this morning I was listening and they were talking about the trains they use and they mentioned Zola."
Steve stood straighter somehow, eager, anxious. They could get Zola. They could finally get that monster, the one that hurt Bucky, and he could lead them right to Red Skull and they could end this all. Steve forced himself to focus, though, because it wasn't like they already had Zola in custody. They still had to catch him. But at least now they had a lead.
"From what I gathered, Zola wasn't on the train they were using anymore, but it seems like the doc uses them often enough that if we could get intel on the trains and their movement we could actually catch the bastard." Gabe finished, a small smile on his face.
"Good work, Gabe," Steve said.
"We found a small Hydra outpost along the train tracks they've been using," Bucky added.
Peggy nodded. "It was so small we almost missed it. But we double-checked, and the outpost is the most likely spot for them to be keeping any intel they have on their movements."
"Why do I feel like there's a 'but' coming?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow.
Bucky gave him a knowing look. "But it's in the heart of enemy territory. There's not only a heavy concentration of Hydra soldiers, but there's Nazis in the area too."
Steve nodded, contemplating. They could send in a larger team and they would stand a greater chance against the enemy forces. On the other hand, a bigger team would make it hard to have the element of surprise, and the Hydra agents could destroy intel they had if they were alerted to their presence soon enough.
A smaller team would be able to sneak in, have a better chance of getting the intel they needed, but it would also be a hell of a lot more dangerous.
He told his team as much. The Commandos nodded, considering their options. Colonel Phillips just gave him a look that said, your team, your call.
Before Steve could open his mouth, Natasha spoke up.
"I can go," she announced, everyone turning to her.
"You mean…lead a team to go?" Steve asked, even though he had a feeling what she really meant.
She gave him a look that told him as much. "No, I mean I can go. By myself."
Steve frowned, and the air in the room turned tense, heavy. A pin drop would've made the room explode. He could feel everyone's gazes on him and Natasha.
"It's too dangerous," he said at last.
A flash of defiance sparked up her green eyes, her features hardening almost imperceptibly, and he could suddenly see the assassin in her very clearly, the very woman that had nearly killed him the first time they met. The woman that had been broken and beaten, molded like a piece of metal into the weapon she was. He thought a lot about the things she'd told him about her past, thought about the fact that sometimes, like now, she looked more like a living weapon than a human. He knew that she could be across the room and at his throat in half a second if she wanted to, but the fact didn't scare him like it used to.
She was polite when she spoke, though. Calm, controlled. "This is what I do. I'm a spy, remember? Like you said, if we send in a bigger team we can better defend ourselves against those bastards, maybe take down more of them, too, but we risk blowing this whole thing if Hydra decides to destroy any information they have at that outpost. And this mission is about gathering intel, if there is any. Better for me to go alone, slip in undetected, and slip back out. We shouldn't risk a whole team just on the chance that this is where they're keeping their information."
The air was even thicker now, Steve doubted his shield could've made a dent in the tenseness between him and Natasha. She stared him down and he held her gaze. Part of him, the very logical part of him knew she was right, but…but another part of him still didn't want to risk it. Didn't want to risk her, because those same sharp edges that made her a weapon drew him in. he wanted to test their sharpness against the pads of his fingers…But he knew, goddamn he knew she was right.
"Let's take an hour," Colonel Phillips spoke up, shattering the staring contest Steve had been holding with her. "I want you to report back to me by then, Rogers. Dismissed."
The Commandos bustled out of the room after the Colonel, hardly even daring to whisper among themselves. Bucky and Peggy followed, equally quiet, sharing only knowing looks between themselves. Natasha gave him one last challenging look before storming out too.
Trying to swallow down his stubbornness he followed after her down the hall. "Natasha! Natasha, wait!"
She stopped, but she didn't look too happy about it.
"What?" she snapped.
"I…can we…." He huffed out a frustrated breath, and looked around. Spotting an empty office, he gently grabbed her hand and tugged her inside, shutting the door behind them. She pulled her hand from his grasp and crossed her arms over her chest. Her green eyes were stormy, features hard, but her shoulders were relaxed, like she knew she had complete control of the situation.
He watched her for a moment, trying to choose his words carefully. She didn't give him the chance.
"You know I'm right." Her voice was just as hard as the look she was giving him.
Steve didn't know what to say. Of course he knew she was right, but he couldn't help the nagging feeling in his gut, that if he sent her out there something could go very, very wrong. But maybe that was just his heart not wanting to send her into danger for completely different reasons. Especially because that logical part of him knew that she could take care of herself no matter what.
His silence was answer enough for her. "What the hell was that back there? It's too dangerous for me? Really, Steve?"
"It is," he insisted, but the argument sounded weak even to his own ears.
The look she gave him told him she thought the same thing. "That's bullshit and you know it."
"Maybe," he shot back, "but it's also suicide to go out there and do this on your own. There are too many of them out there for even you to take on at once."
She scoffed, eyes blazing. "Did you not hear the part back there when I said that this is what I do? This is my job. I'm a spy, not a soldier. No one is more qualified than me to get the information."
"Fine. I'm coming with you."
"No," she emphasized, voice dangerously low, eyes turned from fire to stone. "No way in hell."
"And why the hell not? What, is it too dangerous for me now?"
"Yes! You're Captain America. Even if you didn't have the uniform on, the enemy can practically smell you from a mile away."
"Now who's spewing bullshit?" he told her, feeling stubborn and defiant even though she had a point.
She clenched her jaw, dropping her hands into fists at her sides. She stared him down and lesser men surely would have burned alive under her gaze, but he didn't back down. He crossed his arms, mimicking her earlier position. That just made her more rigid.
"Don't you get it?" she ground out. "I need to go on this mission alone. It is dangerous. But I'm trained for this. And if things were to go south, it wouldn't matter. I am expendable, Steve. That's half the reason Phillips keeps me around. If I die doing this, the worst that would happen is the Colonel would have to fill out a little extra paperwork. You, on the other hand, are anything but expendable. They need you. Your country needs you. If something happens to me…so be it. Just so long as you're here to carry on, to win this goddamn war."
Now it was Steve's turn for his hands to drop down to his sides. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her face, that face that he'd come so used to seeing by his side, amongst his team. Expendable. She thought she was expendable. His heart squeezed in his chest. Just the thought of something happening to her—god he couldn't even fathom the idea. He'd always cared about her. He was just that kind of person. But this…this was so far beyond that, so much more, and he didn't know how to put it into words when it was only written in the beats of his heart, the stutter in his breath, the ache in his gut, feeling every nerve come alive just at the sight of her.
"You're wrong," he said finally, using as few words as possible to convey what he was feeling. "We need you."
Her face softened, one of her brows cocking a fraction of an inch. "We?"
"Yes, we," he repeated, taking a step towards her. "You're a part of this team. And I…we can't lose you, Natasha."
She relaxed even further at the sound of her name. A moment later she was shaking her head. "I'm doing this, Steve. It needs to be done. We need this intel, and nothing you do or say is going to stop me. You can tell the Colonel what you want, but I'm still going."
He nodded, meeting her eyes. "Okay. But then there's nothing you can do to stop me from coming with you either.
The relief that flashed across her face quickly disappeared when he uttered the latter half of his statement.
"You think you're the only stubborn one here?" he challenged.
"You're unbelievable," Natasha growled.
He shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a tough sell."
She bared her teeth at him angrily. "We shouldn't risk the man-power if we don't have to! I can sneak in and out and be done with it. You'll just slow me down."
"I may not be a spy," he countered, "but I can keep up. You need someone to have your back."
"I got along just fine before you came into my life, Rogers. I'll be fine this time too."
He swallowed, fighting the urge to reach out and touch her arm. "But you're not alone anymore."
Silence hung in the air and Steve stopped counting the seconds she just looked at him, weighing her options. He was being unreasonably stubborn, but he couldn't let her go in the thick of enemy territory on her own. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if something happened to her.
"I'm leaving in the morning," she said finally, voice dangerously low in that familiar, threatening way, "and if you try to stop me I will knock you on your ass."
With that, she turned on her heel and stormed out.
Steve blew out a breath.
When he finally went to go talk to the Colonel, he told Phillips what he wanted to hear: that Natasha and Natasha alone was going to risk her life to get the information.
-:-
Steve was pretty surprised that Natasha didn't hear him approaching, but his soft footfalls would be nearly indiscernible in the steady summer rain coming down that night. Guessing that she would try and leave base without him, he'd waited outside her room all night, tucked away in a shadowed corner until she came out of her room.
She'd paused outside her room, like she could sense he was there, but after a minute she moved on down the hallway. He figured it was just luck. And the fact that he'd donned dark pants and his leather jacket instead of his more easily recognizable Captain America uniform. This was a stealth mission after all.
Steve got right up behind Natasha now, crouching down low right behind where she was stationed, scoping out the outpost. He'd barely covered her mouth with his hand so she wouldn't cry out before she had a knife out and pressed into his side.
"It's me," he quickly whispered in her ear. Slowly, he took his hand away from her mouth, and after a few long seconds, she dropped her knife back into its sheathe.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she hissed, whipping around to face him.
"What do you think?" he shot back. "I followed you. I may not be a spy like you but I'm not an idiot. I figured you would try and leave without me, and like I said, there's nothing you were going to do that was going to keep me from coming with you."
She glared at him for several heartbeats. "I'm going to get in so much trouble because of this, you do realize that, don't you?"
"It was my decision to come after you," he explained. "I told the Colonel that you were doing this alone, so all blame will be on me."
Natasha blinked, rain running down her cheeks. She seemed genuinely shocked that he'd be so considerate and make sure that she wouldn't get in trouble. "Well," she said after a moment, "Phillips is going to be fucking pissed."
He shrugged. "Yeah, I know. So is Bucky."
She blanched at him. "You didn't even tell Bucky you were coming after me?"
"I knew he'd stop me."
"Oh my god," she muttered. "You're impossible, you know that?"
He just grinned at her. "So, what's the plan?"
She rolled her eyes at him, barely visible in the dark. She pivoted and then beckoned him forward, pointing towards their target building. "There it is," she whispered, back in business mode. Steve followed to where she was pointing at the outpost. It was a little hazy through the rain, but he could make out a few lights and a couple sentries milling about outside the moderately-sized building, making their rounds. They were crouched between two massive trees, on the other side of the train tracks from the building, close enough to see, but far enough away that they wouldn't be caught in the search beams that lit up the area around the building, putting any threat in the spotlight.
"Not gonna be easy getting in," he commented. She nodded, tense. He understood. His own shoulders were bunched, muscles stiff under his clothes. They'd already been gone three days, and Steve knew Colonel Phillips would be furious at them being gone for so long, but he wouldn't dare send out men looking for them.
Natasha had taken a motorcycle out from base, and he'd followed her out on his own bike, taking a slightly different path so as not to alert her to his presence. He'd left the vehicle on the edge of enemy territory after Natasha had done the same, hiding it among the foliage before continuing to track her on foot. That had been two days ago. It had been long and taxing, picking their separate ways slowly, cautiously through the woods, avoiding Nazi patrols the first day, and Hydra groups all that day. Now they were both on edge and anxious to get what they came for.
"I'm to go in alone," Natasha said, giving him a sideways look to make sure he didn't protest. He stayed quiet, knowing she was still a little pissed at him for following her. "From the info Gabe gave us, there's only two entrances: the front door and the roof. And since we're trying not to get caught, I'm going in through the roof. I'm smaller than you are. It'll be easier for me to get up there unseen."
"I agree," he told her understandingly.
"Just wait here," Natasha told him firmly. Waiting wasn't his strong suit, and judging by the hand she laid on his arm, she knew this too. "Please. If I'm not back in thirty minutes, just go back to base."
"I'm not leaving you," he insisted.
"You're not even supposed to be here in the first place. You go back to base, get all the man-power we can spare, and maybe by the time you make it back here they won't have burned the whole place to the ground."
"Natasha—"
"I'm serious, Steve."
There was something in her voice that made him stop short. He looked at her, the contrasting hard insistence of her features to the softness, the pleading in her eyes. Her red hair, soaked by the rain, was dulled, pieces sticking to her neck. Her hand was still on his arm and she gave it a small squeeze. Without breaking their eye contact, he laid his hand on top of hers briefly.
"Okay," he promised. "Okay. I'll be right here."
"Thank you." Her hand slipped from his arm. "Remember, if I'm not back in thirty minutes, you get the hell out of here."
"Be safe," he said as she rose from her crouching position. "Please."
"Always am," she whispered, loud enough so that he could still ear her over the rain.
Steve watched her dart over the train tracks and head the long way around towards the building. He shifted into a more comfortable position, and settled in to wait.
-:-
Steve had a pretty good internal clock and deduced that Natasha had been gone for ten, maybe fifteen minutes. The sky was lightening a little, dawn not too far off, but the rain was still coming down in sheets and he was thoroughly soaked through.
He was anxious, worried, but there had been hardly a sound from the little outpost building so he assumed everything was okay. If something was majorly wrong, he would know. It made it easier to tamp down on his worry.
That is, until a convoy of trucks started rolling up the dirt road that ran up from behind the outpost, and continued across the tracks and back North toward allied territory. The trucks wouldn't have been a problem by themselves—he would have assumed it was supplies or soldiers switching out. But when he saw the vehicle that pulled up last—the familiar black V16 Roadster with the Hydra head hood ornament—his heart stuttered to a stop in his chest.
Steve bolted up from his more relaxed position, crouching down low and easing forward, keeping to the shadows. Eyes fixated on the black car, Steve watched as Johann Schmidt, Red Skull, climbed out, in all his bare, scarlet skinned glory. He was wearing a scowl, per usual, that only seemed to deepen as he took in the little outpost. Steve's heart only pounded harder against his ribs when Zola, carrying an umbrella, climbed out the car as well.
"Shit," Steve muttered.
Schmidt started speaking, but the rain was too heavy and they were too far away for Steve to make out anything he said. It didn't really matter, though, because a minute later he was headed into the building with Zola and the three dozen soldiers he'd brought with him.
And Natasha was still inside.
-:-
Natasha had just finished sticking all the relevant copies of information they needed into her satchel when she heard the sound of vehicles—definitely more than one—driving up the road. She'd had her ears perked the whole time she'd been in the back office, which was more of a storage space for old files, tucked into half a dozen, slightly rusted filing cabinets. It was hard to hear over the rain pounding down outside, but no, that was definitely vehicles outside. Trucks, it sounded like.
Tucking her satchel underneath her coat and then buttoning it up, she crouched low, heading over to the window that looked out into the woods beyond, and the dirt road that led up to and past the building. Sure enough, three trucks and a black car were just about to the building. She was about to leave when she froze in her tracks. That car…
"Oh, god," she whispered.
She shouldn't have, but she watched for a minute longer, just to see, just to make sure…
Sure enough, once the car had stopped, Red Skull stepped out, dressed head to toe in black, his crimson face gleaming in the lights from the building, his malignant gaze sweeping the area like he knew they were there. Or rather, like he could sense his enemy's presence, sense Captain America.
"Shit," she muttered. And because that didn't seem like enough, a string of Russian curses followed. Natasha double checked her weapons, and then double checked to make sure the strap of her satchel was secure and tucked safely under her coat.
She could sense movement outside as she headed over to the door. Pressing her ear against it, she could hear the sound of several dozen pairs of feet coming her way. She tucked herself into the corner, bracing herself for the fight to come…but they walked past the room she was in and the sound receded down the hall.
The roof entrance she had come in had emptied into the main control room down the hall, which was no doubt where Red Skull was now. The room had been empty when she'd entered, but there was no way she could use the roof again. That left the front door. Which she could get to, but the place was now teeming with Hydra, and there was no way she would get out unseen. So the front door…the front door or…or the window. Duh.
She mentally chided herself before heading back over to the window. Making sure no one was standing directly outside, she tested it. It opened a fraction of an inch, relatively quietly. And any noise was covered by the rain. Natasha watched the flood lights, timing them, marking her best moment for escape. When the floodlights were pointed away, she eased the window open far enough to climb up and wriggle her body through. She quietly dropped to the ground, tensing, waiting, before shutting the window and easing herself along the side of the building.
When the floodlights came back around, she pressed herself flush against the side, waiting till they passed by, before edging far enough down so she could look around the corner of the building.
Her heart sank like a rock. There were dozens more Hydra soldiers than before, and the trucks were now blocking the path she'd taken around the building to get in the first time. Sure, she could get around the trucks, but now there were more soldiers on the other side, and the floodlights were scanning the area more thoroughly. With Red Skull on site, he'd surely brought in his best soldiers.
What the hell was Schmidt doing here anyway? Shouldn't he be holed up in his lair, safe and sound and destroying the world from a distance? Then again, this just proved that the information they so direly needed was in this ramshackle little building alongside the railroad tracks Hydra had been using. That was somewhat of a relief. But now she had no idea how she and Steve were going to get out of there unseen. Steve, who was Red Skull's biggest threat and shouldn't even be there in the first place.
Deciding that trying to go around the way she had come was worth the risk, she waited till the floodlights had passed before darting over to the trucks, keeping low. With dawn coming quick, she hated that she couldn't stick to the shadows as much. Soon Hydra wouldn't need the floodlights to see her.
Mud splattered her boots, the rain still coming down as she crept alongside one truck, her senses on high alert. Just as she was about to duck just inside the line of trees, a group of Hydra soldiers rounded the trucks, spotting her immediately. Before she even had time to react, shouts in German filled the air. They raised their guns just as she pulled her knife out of her boot and threw it at the nearest target, the blade sinking into the flesh of his neck, blood spurting to mix with the rain falling from the sky.
She lunged at the other three, spinning and dodging as she disarmed them and twisted her body to avoid the one or two bullets fired her way. With a stolen gun, she executed two right away, bullet holes in between their eyes smoking as their bodies dropped. She grabbed her knife out of the closest guy and then stabbed the third one in the chest, covering his cry of pain with her hand.
Not that it really mattered anyway. They'd already sounded the alarm, and more shouting filled the air, footsteps pounding her way as one of the floodlights focused on her general area.
Well, so much for getting in and out unseen.
-:-
Steve thought it couldn't get any worse after Red Skull showed up until the alarms went off.
"Shit," he muttered, and even though Natasha told him to stay put, he risked creeping forward until he was just on the inside of the tree line. From the better vantage point, he could see the flash of muzzles and half a dozen soldiers converging on the trucks parked on the road. More soldiers were converging in front of and around the building, across the railroad tracks, covering the whole area. Red Skull burst out of the small building, looking livid, a flustered Zola inching out after him, protected behind a couple of Hydra soldiers.
"Dammit," Steve cursed. His eyes darted back to the trucks. Natasha was over there, he knew it, and there was no way she could break through all those enemies and make it back to him. He should do as she said, just haul back to base. They probably wouldn't kill her right away. Schmidt would have questions for her. But he couldn't risk her life on a 'probably'.
"Shit," he repeated, with a sigh, before slinging his shield off his back and darting out into the open.
At first, he was ignored. Mostly because all the Hydra soldiers were too surprised, but then they saw his red, white, and blue shield flashing in the rain and the slowly lightening day and they open fired. Steve's boots thundered on the muddy ground as he charged, dodging and blocking bullets, pulling out his pistol and firing shots of his own in between throwing his shield, ricocheting it off the bodies of Hydra soldiers with satisfying thumps. Out of the corner of his eye, Steve saw Red Skull and his glowering features broke out into gleeful hunger at the sight of his most hated enemy. Steve gritted his teeth, focusing on the enemies directly in front of him.
Luckily, with the distraction, Natasha was able to break free from the throng of enemies that had swarmed her and Steve saw her dart out into the battle. She gave him a brief look that said 'thank god' and 'I'm going to kill you for being so fucking stupid' at the same time. He didn't think about it too much, though, as he drove his muddy boot into the abdomen of one man, sending him flying until he crashed into the ground. He threw his shield at another, and the disc connected with the side of the man's helmet and he effectively dropped to the muddy ground. He retrieved the shield, and charged at three more men, using his body now that his gun was empty.
He ended up back to back with Natasha as they fought and the enemies pressed in closer.
"I thought I told you to go back to base!" Natasha shouted at him over the rain and sounds of the fight.
"Did you really think I would listen?" he called back to her over his shoulder.
The sound of her gun firing was the only response. She dropped a few more bodies with precise shots until the gun clicked and she swore under her breath. Steve had taken down a few more soldiers that had been dub enough to get near him, breaking several bones with the force of blows and the strength behind his shield arm as he brought it down on them. But the circle of enemies was getting tighter, and he and Natasha were both out of bullets, and there was no chance to reload.
"Steve," Natasha warned lowly.
"I know," he said just as quietly. The rain was slowly, but it was still coming down and the ground was a muddy mess beneath their splattered boots. Both Steve and Natasha's faces were covered in mud and water, their clothes thoroughly soaked through. Natasha backed up against him, her back flush with his, and he felt her quickly press something into his hand, before stepping forward again. It took a second for him to process what she'd given him, but when he clicked the pieces together, he tucked the object safely out of view of Red Skull, who was stepping forward through his ring of two or three dozen men that had them surrounded.
"There's a smaller truck right by the train tracks," Natasha whispered as Schmidt got closer, grinning at them.
Steve nodded. "On my mark," he said just as quietly.
He caught the nearly imperceptible tilt of her head in acknowledgement before bracing himself, standing at his full height as Red Skull stopped in front of them.
"Captain America!" the Hydra leader shouted, the words echoing around them. "How nice to see you again! I was very much hoping we would get a chance to speak again. Tell me, what brings you here at such an odd hour?"
Steve sense Natasha tensing beside him, slowly reaching for the knife in her belt.
"Thought I'd do some sightseeing," Steve replied, staring down the Hydra leader, keeping track of the Hydra soldiers' movements, waiting, waiting. "So far I'm not too impressed."
Red Skull's mouth twitched, the corners turning down into the slightest frown before he shook it off. At Red Skull's ease, the Hydra soldiers lowered their weapons just the slightest. Now, they had to do it now.
"Why don't we go inside, and we can converse like civilized men?" Red Skull offered.
"Ready?" Steve mouthed to Natasha. She nodded. He looked back at Red Skull. "Sorry, I've got somewhere to be."
By the time Schmidt had processed the words, Steve had already pulled the pin from the grenade and launched it into the sea of Hydra soldiers. He and Natasha didn't waste a second. They pushed through the ring of soldiers, feet slamming against the muddy earth, away from the fallen grenade. Seconds later, the explosion went off, and a fireball exploded into the graying sky behind them, red and yellow flames lighting up the air before they died down and black smoke took its place.
"Stop them!" Red Skull screamed in German. Steve cursed silently, but knew he hadn't been lucky enough to take out Schmidt so easily.
He didn't have time to think about it though as he and Natasha made their way to the empty truck. He threw open the door to the truck's cab and slid into the dry leather seat, slipping his shield onto his back and starting up the vehicle and Natasha slid in on the passenger side. No sooner had she slammed her door shut before he was slamming his foot down on the gas. They rocketed over the railroad tracks as the sound of engines fired up behind them.
Steve barely looked in the rearview mirror as he drove as fast as he could down the road, back towards allied territory. He didn't want to think about far off ally territory actually was, but the closer they could get, the better. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Natasha reloading her pistol. A quick glance in the mirror showed that there were three motorcycles and two jeeps chasing after them, still a little ways behind, but not far enough to comfort him. Natasha just kept a hand on her gun, glancing in her side mirror every once in a while.
He was foolish to think that they were in the clear, but for a second he did. For a second he thought they were going to make it. They were going to drive all the way into allied territory. And then something slammed into them from behind and that thought was effectively knocked from Steve's head as his neck snapped forward.
"What the hell?" Natasha muttered. He glanced at her quickly and saw her fastening her seatbelt. When he looked in the mirror, Steve saw one of the jeeps had rammed into them from behind—and Red Skull himself was driving.
Steve cursed, pushing the gas pedal down a little farther, as far as it would go, barely getting a lead on Red Skull. But he focused on the road in front of him. The rain had slowed to nothing more than a lazy drizzle, and dawn was upon them, a dull gray light filtering in here and there through the equally gray clouds.
Red Skull's jeep slammed into them again, and the tires swerved the slightest on the muddy road before Steve righted the vehicle.
"Steve," Natasha said, worry coloring her tone.
"I know, I know," he replied, looking back in the mirror. The other jeep and the motorcycles had caught up, and now, in addition to Schmidt riding their tail, two of the motorcycles were flanking each side. "Don't suppose you got any more grenades?"
"I do, actually," she said.
"How many?"
"Two."
"Give me one," he said quickly, keeping a hand on the wheel and holding his other out to her. "Let's take those two bikes out."
She set a grenade in his hand, and he maneuvered, switching things around until he could roll down his window. Natasha did the same. "Ready?" she asked. He nodded, and they pulled the pins on the grenades, chucking them out the windows, ducking back inside as gunmen started firing bullets, all shots bouncing harmlessly off the metal body of the truck. Seconds later the grenades went off, and Steve looked in the mirrors to see that only one of their intended bikers had been stopped, but so had the jeep that was farther back, so he took it as a win.
"I don't have anything else we can use, and from the looks of it, this truck is empty," Natasha told him, holding her pistol like it was a lifeline. "There's no way we're going to get back to base without a fight, and we don't have a whole lot to fight with."
Steve exhaled through his nose. "I'm thinking."
Red Skull didn't seem too keen on giving him the time to think, though, as he rammed into them again.
"Shit!" Steve barked, righting the vehicle, but not failing to notice that they were a lot closer to the shoulder of the road than before. A few more hits like that on the slippery ground and they'd be off the road entirely.
Schmidt, still racing behind them as they barreled down the road, seemed to realize this too and sped up and hit them again, shoving them over a few more inches. Steve couldn't press down the gas pedal anymore. Steve turned the wheel, knocking into the bike on Natasha's side that had failed to go down with one of the grenades, causing the vehicle and its rider to lose control and flip, man over bike, before settling, still, on the side of the road. But the Red Skull was right there with them, bumper to bumper, pushing them towards the opposite ditch now.
"He's going to knock us off the road," Natasha said, half to herself.
"Yup." Steve spared her a glance, and she just nodded grimly at him. He noticed her hand flutter once to the satchel she had still hidden under her coat. Even if they ended up in the ditch, if one of them could just get out, just get that information back to base, they could win this, they could end the fight with Hydra.
"Hang on," was all Steve said as he maneuvered his shield off his back to protect himself, watching in the rearview mirror as Red Skull sped up one more time and rear-ended them at full speed.
Steve, not really wanting to go in the ditch, tried to right the vehicle, but Schmidt pushed and pushed against them, his malicious smile visible in the mirror. The tires slid on the muddy road, until the front right one caught on the edge of the ditch.
-:-
The world was right side up for just a moment, everything perfectly still, before the vehicle was rolling down into the ditch, Natasha's stomach turning in time with the flipping truck. She was glad she'd put her seatbelt on, because it was about all that kept her somewhat in place as the truck turned and turned. Metal groaned and the windshield shattered, spraying glass, scratching up her face and hands. The world was spinning and she couldn't see anything except for the occasional flash of Steve's shield out of the corner of her eye.
She gasped when the truck finally settled, like a half-crushed tin can against the side of a tree, her door trapped against the trunk. They were upside down, and it only made her already throbbing head pound more. Her ears were ringing, and she could hear shouting, maybe, but it all sounded so far away. She groaned, blinking against the spots that danced in her vision. When everything came into focus for the most part, she was staring through the broken windshield, at the damp and muddy grass. The light rain tinkled against the exposed bottom of the truck, trickling in here and there.
"Steve," she whispered, her voice scratchy, like she had been screaming. Maybe she had screamed, she didn't know.
Twisting her neck, panic immediately rose into her throat when she saw that he wasn't there. Oh god, oh god, had he been thrown from the vehicle? He hadn't been wearing a seatbelt? Shit, shit, shit. Oh, god.
"Steve!" she yelled, as loud as she could. She could still hear shouting, gunfire now too, and her fear and panic rose and rose and rose inside of her chest, and it made her head hurt, the blood pounding too heavy in her veins. "Steve!"
She called out his name a few more times, trying to get her seatbelt unstuck, and when that didn't work, uselessly pounded her door against the trunk of the tree the vehicle was wedged against.
"Steve—"
"Natasha,"
She nearly sobbed in relief when his face swam into view through the broken windshield. He gave her half a smile, slung his shield onto his back, and then lowered himself further to the ground, half crawling into the broken truck to pull on her seatbelt. Even with his enhance strength, from his awkward position, it took him a few tries, but the belt finally snapped, and she tumbled free, sucking in a breath of air as the blood rushed from her head back down towards the rest of her limbs.
He helped pull her out, and by the time they were done, they were both thoroughly covered in mud. Their clothes were torn in places, and they both had scratches and dirt everywhere. Steve was sporting a pretty good gash on his neck and cheek, and the stickiness she felt on the side of her face told her that she was bleeding pretty good too.
"Sorry I couldn't get to you right away," Steve said suddenly. "Red Skull and his men started to open fire and—"
"I thought you were dead!" she burst out, cutting him off.
He blinked at her, then chuckled.
"It's not funny," she snapped.
"No, no, it's not, I'm sorry," he said, but he was still smiling. "Really, I am. I'm sorry about worrying you. If it makes you feel any better, I for sure thought I was dead, too, but, well, I found someone. Come on."
Scowling at him, she let him lead her up the moderately steep ditch they'd rolled down, until they were standing on the road. Looking back the way they'd come, Natasha could see the tiniest prick of a fast-moving vehicle off in the distance.
"We chased Red Skull off," Steve said by way of explanation. "We almost had him, but…"
"We?"
"Um, yeah—" Steve started to say, before Natasha turned and saw Bucky and the other Howling Commandos standing there.
"You," Bucky growled, looking at her briefly, before turning back to Steve. "Now that we have a moment to talk, you are in so much fucking trouble! Do you have any idea how red in the face the Colonel got when he saw that you were just fucking gone the other morning?"
"I—" Steve started to say, but Bucky gave him a look and he stopped immediately.
Natasha shifted on her feet, noticing the other Commandos taking up similar stances, but they also had amused expressions on their faces, like they'd seen Bucky like this before. She hadn't, and it was a little funny, but he was also a little terrifying.
"Guess who he came to first, Steve? Guess! That's right! Yours truly! And it took me hours, fucking hours to convince him that I knew nothing about your stupid as shit plan to go chase after Natasha here, who was just as stupid for going off by herself, and goddamn you're just so fucking lucky punk that Gabe finally tapped into Hydra's radio signals and overheard that motherfucking Red Skull was going to be at the exact place you two fucking idiots were going to be at, and we drove out here immediately to meet you. Only to see you two getting run off the fucking road! And let me tell you, Stevie, you're gonna wish that fucking truck killed you because I'm about to do it myself."
Natasha knew Bucky swore even more than usual when he got upset especially at Steve, but damn. There was a good long silence, and Steve managed to look sheepish and completely unapologetic at the same time. The corners of his mouth were quirked up in the tiniest smile, and Natasha was sure that Bucky was going to make good on his threat and strangle Steve right then and there.
"You done?" Steve asked finally.
"No, you motherfucking shithead! Of course I'm not done!" Bucky yelled. "You're going to hear about this for the rest of your fucking life! I mean Red Skull? Only you would be fucking stupid enough to go to the fucking outpost when Red Skull was going to be there!"
"Well, I didn't know he was going to be there," Steve argued with a shrug.
"Well I know you, and I know you still would've gone because you're a fucking idiot!" Bucky snapped.
At this point, the rest of the Commandos had piled into their vehicles, leaving her, Steve, and Bucky standing in the middle of the road, still well into enemy territory.
"Come on, girls," she chided, grabbing both their arms. "You can finish this later."
Steve just smiled while Bucky grumbled and climbed into the back of one of their trucks. As they settled in and started driving back towards base, keeping an eye out for anymore Nazi or Hydra soldiers, Bucky gave them both a once over.
"You two look like shit," he commented.
"Thanks," Natasha muttered.
"Did you at least get what you went there for?" Bucky asked, piquing the interest of Gabe, who was seated next to Bucky on the bench opposite from her and Steve.
Natasha unzipped her jacket and pulled out her half-soaked satchel. She lifted it over her head and pulled it off her body, tossing it to Bucky. He looked inside, his eyes lighting up in surprise before handing it over to Gabe. Gabe pulled out all the files and papers she'd managed to steal. Quite a few of them were a little messy with the rain and mud that had managed to soak through her jacket and the satchel, but for the most part, all the information was intact.
Gabe whistled. "Damn, girl."
She just smiled.
"I'm still going to kill you," Bucky looked pointedly at Steve, who just raised his hand in an innocent gesture.
"Oh no," Natasha said with a shake of her head, "I get first stab at him for being such an idiot and coming after me."
Bucky made a face. "Fair enough. I can take turns."
"Yeah, that's if the Colonel leaves any for the rest of you," Gabe cut in.
They all laughed at that.
Then Bucky and Gabe started poring over the files Natasha and retrieved. Natasha leaned against Steve's side, not minding at all when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She was too damn tired to fight him, anyway.
"I'm glad you're not dead," she murmured to him sleepily as her eyes slid shut and she sagged against him.
He chuckled, his chest rumbling underneath her cheek. "Yet, you mean."
"Yeah," she agreed, already half-asleep.
"Well, I'm glad you're not dead too," he said.
Natasha only half-heard him. Seconds later, with her head tucked against this chest, she was asleep.
-:-
Thanks for reading! You guys are the best! Seriously, I couldn't ask for better readers. The support you guys give me is just amazing, so thank you.
I will try to update soon! I can promise that next chapter will be a good one, so stay tuned!
-DaughterOfPoseidon333