Sorry again for the late update! I had no time to write this week due to finals. I have also taken a lot of time to write an AoU oneshot, which I am still working on.
Big thank you to everyone that has stuck with the story thus far. A little more action this chapter. I tried my best to make the action alright, but it is not my strong suit :) Okay, hope you enjoy this chapter!
I don't own Marvel, duh.
The next day was a fairly quiet one. Steve stayed in the gym for most of the day, only appearing to eat, before he disappeared again. Tony insisted that the rest of them have a movie marathon. With nothing else to do, Natasha, Tony, Thor, Clint, and Bruce all sat around the giant television, each person pulling out one movie for all of them to watch.
Halfway through the third movie, Natasha was getting anxious. She had to get up and do something. "Assassins don't sit on couches all day long," she thought to herself. She looked over to Clint, who was smirking at Tony's comedy movie pick. Thor looked confused, Bruce bored, but Tony had the widest grin on his face.
"I can probably take today off," she thought again, a small smirk playing on her lips. She could make it up tomorrow.
"GUYS WE HAVE A SITUATION!" was what woke Steve up the next morning. He quickly threw on a shirt and ran to the communal floor.
Everyone else was already there, looking just as shocked as him. "Stark, if this is another stupid thing, like we are out of waffles, I will kill you," Natasha threatened.
"We are out of strawberries," Tony said playfully. But he quickly changed his mood when he saw Natasha's face take a turn for the worse. "But. JARVIS has some security footage you should take a look at."
He projected the footage on an empty wall. Everyone gasped at once. "It can't be," Steve murmured.
On the screen was a huge factory, pumping out smoke. Figures clad in black and red carried glowing blue boxes everywhere, obviously in a hurry.
"What troubles you, Steven?" Thor asked.
"HYDRA. Everybody suit up. Fury may not be here, but that doesn't mean we can't stop injustice," Steve said.
Seeing his change in mood, everyone ran into their respective rooms to pull on the proper clothes.
Bruce stayed in the kitchen, for he had no reason or want to change clothes.
Natasha was the first to appear, clad in her night black uniform. She was affixing various weapons to her suit when Steve came out, buckling up his helmet. His american shield was strapped to the back of his outfit.
"Looking snazzy, Cap," Tony announced as he walked up in his Iron Man suit, the red and gold shining in the morning light. "Where's Legolas?"
"Present," Clint said, marching into the room, bow in hand and a quiver of arrows in his back. "And quit calling me that."
"I'll stop name-calling when you stop being an archer," Tony replied playfully.
"Let's go," Steve ordered.
They made their way to Tony's hangar that was underneath the tower. A large garage space greeted them, filled with cars of all kinds. Off to the side, a Quinjet awaited them.
"You really do have all the toys, don't you, Stark?" Steve asked sarcastically.
"Is it fueled?" Bruce asked cautiously.
"Fuel level at 98%," JARVIS informed them.
"Good enough," Steve said and opened up the vehicle. Everyone clambered inside, Bruce taking the front. He would not be on the ground, as he wanted the Hulk to be seen as little as possible.
Once everyone was situated and the carrier started to take off, everyone looked at Steve. All of the attention made him uncomfortable.
"What?" he asked.
"So, do we go for kill, no kill. Do we collect or save anything?" Natasha asked.
"Right," Steve replied, a faint blush creeping up on his cheeks. "Go for kill. HYDRA will take prisoners, so don't get caught. If you can, try and see what's in the boxes they were carrying around and what their future plans may be. Natasha, you set explosives so that we can blow the factory after we take what we need," Steve ordered.
"Yes, sir," Clint said sarcastically. Only Natasha could hear the twinge of annoyance in his voice. He didn't like people he didn't know very well giving him orders. They were all silent for the next ten minutes as the carrier closed in on the building.
"Coming up on the factory," Bruce said over the intercom.
"Set us down at the tree-line," Natasha said.
Soon the Quinjet was on the ground. Everyone got out and Bruce took the Quinjet back up, looking at everything from above.
"You know what to do. Go!" Steve yelled.
They stormed the compound. Natasha took off to the right, explosives lined on her belt. Tony took to the skies, firing on the HYDRA agents from above. Thor went to retrieve a few of the boxes while Clint and Steve took down more of the agents.
Clint was a master of archery. He could fire accurately without even looking at the target. This astounded Steve. He had never seen such a good archer. Even before the agents could pull out their guns, Clint already had an arrow in their chest.
An agent came for Steve and he kicked out with his right leg, sending the agent flying back. Taking a running start, he leapt and landed behind another man, catching him off guard as he buffeted his head with the shield. A bullet scraped his arm, sending a flash of pain through his body. Steve quickly recovered and shield himself from the volley of metal that pummeled his shield. When the agent went to reload, Steve flung his shield out.
It sounded with a clang of metal as it made contact with the target, sending the man flying back. Steve caught his shield easily and looked at the many men laying on the ground. And the amount of agents that were still coming.
He hit a few more with his shield, the white star being the last things those men would ever see, and ran up to take one down that was gaining on Clint.
"I had him," Clint said as he fired more at the other agents.
"Just wanted to make sure," Steve said and smirked.
Tony shot his repulsers down from the sky, lighting up the scenery for a moment. Dust and dirt went flying everywhere whenever he missed.
"Watch your aim, Stark," Steve chided into his earpiece.
"Hard when everyone is moving," Tony replied.
"Explosives are in place!" Natasha yelled.
At the same time, Thor was moving out of the factory, his hammer in one hand, and two boxes in the other, both glowing with the ominous blue light.
"Bruce, bring the Quinjet down!" Clint yelled as Thor made his way to the tree-line. Steve and Clint kept the agents busy while Tony distracted the snipers on the roof. He twisted and turned, avoiding their carefully placed bullets, as he fired his repulsers down at them. Thor put the boxes in the Quinjet and Bruce took off again, hovering just above the trees.
Thor returned and began helping Clint and Steve on the ground. Lightning sparked out of the clear sky as Thor electrocuted multiple HYDRA agents.
"I've only got a few arrows left. We almost done?" Clint asked, turning to Steve as he fired on another agent. The flow of minions was decreasing, only a few stragglers left to try and take down the superheroes.
"Natasha, what's your status?" Steve asked into the earpiece. All he got was static.
"Where is Red?" Tony asked from above.
"Bruce, do you have a visual on Natasha?" Clint yelled.
"Negative," Bruce replied.
The air cleared and no more agents were appearing. They were either all running from the factory or dead. Smoke was wafting up through the air and small fires burned in random places around the factory. It was a scene of destruction and that was before the explosives even went off.
"We must find her," Thor said and began walking towards the entrance to the factory, stepping over bodies as he went. Clint followed.
Steve was a little slower. He looked at all the bodies, all of the crimson mixing with the black of the earth. The red octopus highlighted on the uniforms.
"Steve, hurry your old butt up!" Tony yelled. He was back on the ground, proceeding through the door, following Thor and Clint.
Steve tore his eyes away from the scene and followed his teammates. The air inside the factory was thick with soot. Unfinished weapons lay scattered around.
"It was a weapons factory," Clint said under his breath.
"Say something not obvious," Tony replied, a small light popping up from his suit to light the way.
"Natasha!" Steve yelled. His voice echoed through the empty building.
"Wait," Thor muttered, holding up his hand. Everyone came to a stop. "Do you not hear that?"
Steve listened closely. Nothing at first, but then a small, sharp beeping.
The explosives.
"Everybody out!" Tony yelled.
"But Natasha!" Steve fired back. Everyone started running toward the door.
"There's movement in the trees outside the factory. Two people," Bruce informed them. Steve ran for the exit. The rest of the group was already outside, breathing heavily. The faint ticking was no longer audible, but the explosives were set to blow any second. Steve looked around at the destruction surrounding them. Holes in the ground and red rivers everywhere. And the silence.
In a deafening blast that sent everyone flying back, the building exploded in a fiery inferno. Steve pressed his hands to his ringing ears and covered his neck as debris rained down upon them. Black spots clouded his vision as the heat from the flames caught up with him.
"There!" a voice cut through the noise. Clint was pointing to the trees, where a figure was moving fast.
Steve stood up on shaky legs and threw his shield, running forward as he did.
The shield made contact with the runner, sending them skidding to a halt. An object that they were holding fell to the ground and lay there, motionless. The other men stopped to retrieve the item that the runner had dropped as Steve followed the human.
The runner turned around and looked at Steve with cold eyes.
Steve felt fear wash through him again, the same fear he had the first time. "Bucky!" he yelled.
The Winter Soldier ran through the trees, Steve at his heels. Bucky was once again clad in his HYDRA gear, his exposed metal arm gleaming in the red light from the fire.
Steve followed Bucky through the trees. Bucky grabbed something from his belt and threw it in Steve's direction. Soon, his vision was blinded by smoke. Coughing, Steve stopped running. When the smoke lifted, Bucky was gone. "Not again," Steve murmured to himself. He picked up his shield and tried to find out how to explain that his friend was once again caught in HYDRA's clutches.
Steve made his way back to the burning remnants of the factory, halting when he saw the others looking at something on the ground. Clint was crouched down at the object the soldier had been holding.
Steve came closer and his heart dropped. Natasha lay on the ground, a large gash on her forehead leaking blood all over her face. Her lips were set in a straight line, her chest moving faintly up and down. Clint gingerly picked her up with ease, as if he had done it hundreds of times before. Maybe he had, Steve had no idea.
"Did you catch him?" Tony asked as. Bruce brought the Quinjet closer. He emerged from the ship as Clint ran in, Natasha limp in his arms.
"No," Steve said as he dropped his shield on one of the benches. They lifted off once Thor was aboard.
Clint had set Natasha on one of the benches and was wrapping gauze around her head to slow the bleeding.
"How is she?" Steve asked, walking over to where Natasha was.
"Not sure. We have to get back to the tower quickly," Clint said quietly. He was sitting next to her, just looking at her, a sad expression on his face. "Hopefully this is the only injury she has."
"Who did this to Lady Natasha?" Thor questioned. His face was angry.
Steve was sure that making a god angry was never on his to-do list, but it was checked off one way or another. Depending on if Bucky viewed Thor as a god or not.
"Bucky," Steve said, training his eyes on the floor.
"Woah! Hold up, Spangles. Bucky?" Tony exclaimed.
"HYDRA must've found and broken him again. In only a day," he replied and put his head in his hands. He had let Bucky slip away, again. A feeling of extreme grief washed over him. It took all of his left over strength to keep his head above the waves.
"He's messed up," Tony said, looking at Steve.
Steve, however, was not in the mood for getting into another competition with Tony. If he had learned one thing about Tony, it was that he was just as stubborn as his father. He refused to mention it, however.
Steve looked back at Natasha. Blood was beginning to seep through the bandages on her head. Clint held her hand in his, lightly stroking his fingers over the back of her hand. Thor was trying to control his anger, taking deep breaths in and out. Bruce was flying and Tony was simply being Tony.
Steve was at war with himself.
Everyone remained silent for the rest of the ride back to the tower.