Author´s Notes: Hi there! I really love music, so this chapter was inspired on a Coldplay song called Atlas. It plays on the final credits of Hunger Games-Catching Fire. If you guys want to listen to it, it is an intense song, I love it! Thank you for reading my story and for the reviews and support!
Again, I don´t own the avengers or any marvel character.
CHAPTER 6
Steve and Natasha are climbing the cable from the empty elevator shaft, going up to the roof, trying to escape from the HYDRA facility. Steve reaches the door to the rooftop and puts all his strength in his arms and hands to force it open. A gust of wind catches his face as he manages to do it. He jumps out and then extends a hand to Natasha, helping her jump out too.
Steve and Natasha look around; the rooftop is dark but it seems to be clear of enemies. Then a voice came from behind and above: "Hey you two." They both quickly turn toward the voice, Natasha already drawing her gun. Clint is standing on the roof above the door they have just come out, with a smile on his face: "Took you long enough, I was beginning to worry."
Then Steve hears a helicopter coming, he looks to the left and an attack helicopter directs a blinding light on them, it is going to fire, no time to react. Steve was about to jump in front of Natasha when the Hulk leaps on the top of the helicopter tails and starts smashing it. The helicopter starts to spin and fall, with Hulk still on top of it. It hits the ground and explodes.
The three avengers on the rooftop got their eyes wide open as they watch the scene. Steve releases a breath he didn´t realize he was holding: "Jesus! That was a close call. Remind me to thank Banner when we get out of here." Steve exchanges a relieved glance with Natasha.
Natasha looks at where the dock is and notices that the ship the others avengers were attacking was on fire: "Looks like Iron Man and Thor are doing some damage too."
Clint looks the other way and sees the door from the staircase opens, HYDRA soldiers are coming out, so he shouts: "Incoming from the right!" The soldiers start shooting just as Steve got in front of Natasha and puts up his shield to block the bullets.
Clint shoots an explosive arrow taking out the soldiers that are off the staircase.
Natasha, already with her gun in her hand, rolls to the side and kneels beside Steve. Two more soldiers come out and Natasha shoots both soldiers down.
Steve lowers his shield as the shooting stops, just in time to see a metal ball rolling its way over and stopping right between him and Natasha.
Clint realizes it must be some kind of grenade and shouts: "Take cover!" He lays with his face down on the roof, his hands on the back of his head.
Steve turns to cover Natasha and sees her already running towards the empty elevator shaft, so he just ducks behind his shield.
Natasha jumps and grabs the elevator cable as the metal ball goes off silently.
Several metal blades fly off it, making tinkling sounds as they hit Captain America´s shield. Steve stands up and sees the blades that hit his shield on the ground. He looks up with worried eyes and notices that there are more blades sticking on the wall beside the door of the elevator shaft. He thinks: "Damn it!" as he sees that Natasha is hanging in the elevator´s cable with a pain expression on her face.
Natasha grits her teeth, trying not to cry out in pain as she looks down on her right lower back and sees the blade that hit her, thinking "What the hell is that?" She would be covered in there from an explosion, but not from flying blades. The blade went deep, the pain is too much and it is draining her strength. Her right hand loses its grip on the cable. She shuts her eyes and takes shallow breaths trying to control the pain without much success. Her left arm starts to tremble.
Clint slowly stands, not knowing what happened. He sees Steve making a run toward the elevator shaft.
Steve tries to get to Natasha, but it´s too late. She loses the grip from her left hand and falls to her back, on the top of the elevator, that luckily isn´t far down, but Natasha screams as she feels the blade piercing even deeper on her back, all the way through her abdomen.
Clint sees more soldiers coming out from the staircase but his eyes widen with the horrifying sound of Natasha´s scream. He quickly looks down at Steve.
Steve is looking down into the elevator shaft kneeling besides the opening and is about to jump in to help Natasha when Clint shouts: "Cap, more enemies!" Steve looks to the right were a dozen more of hydra soldiers are coming at them. He closes his hand hard, almost piercing his nails through his palm. He can´t stand leaving Natasha helpless.
Clint quickly asks as he starts to shoot arrows at the enemies: "What happened to Nat?"
Steve looks down at Natasha again, she is not moving but her eyes are open, she seems to be conscious: "She fell into the elevator shaft!" His voice is shaken from the sight of Natasha´s blood pouring out her abdomen. Some bullets hit the floor beside him, taking him out of the panic moment and into a moment of rage. Steve stands up and charges at the soldiers, his shield blocking the bullets. He bashes his shield into the soldiers that were shooting at him with an angry shout, they fall down hard. Then he kicks their faces with all his strength taking them out, he turns around and punches other soldiers that are nearby, knocking them out as fast as he can.
Clint covers Steve, so he doesn´t get hit by the other soldier´s bullets.
As he catches a break, Steve turns to Clint and shouts: "Where the hell are the others, we need some help here!"
Clint touches his earpiece: "Hey, Tin Man, are you guys done over there? We´re on the rooftop trying to escape, Natasha is down and Steve and I are under heavy fire!" He shoots some more arrows without really aiming but hitting the mark.
Tony who is flying over the flaming ship responds: "Got it, I´ll be right with you Legolas! Thor, we gotta go!"
Hulk is smashing down the containers on the ship; some are falling on the water as he hits them.
Thor is flying by and throws his hammer hitting another helicopter that is attacking them. It falls down spinning towards the water. "Lead the way, I am finished here!" Thor answers to Tony as his hammer flies back to his hand.
Natasha vision is blurry. She blinks a few times trying to focus. Her head hurts from hitting it against the elevator, but the more intense pain comes from her right side, she slowly raises her head looking down at her injury and sees the bloody tip of the blade on the right side of her abdomen. She grimaces at the sharp pain it is sending through her body.
Tony and Thor arrive at the rooftop taking a lot more of soldiers down.
"We´ve got this, you two get Natasha and get out!" Tony says as he shoots at soldiers with his beams.
Natasha lets her head fall again and turns a little to the left side to take a hold on the back of the blade. Natasha takes a deep breath, gathering the strength to try pulling it out. She presses her lips together not to scream as she starts pulling it. She holds her breath for a moment as the pain increases. When the blade comes out, she can´t hold it anymore and screams in pain. Tears start to fall from her eyes.
The Avengers all look terrified at each other as they hear Natasha´s scream. Steve is already running to the elevator shaft with his shield on his back when Clint shouts: "I´m going to get the jet, Cap!"
Clint then turns to Tony: "Hey Stark! You can have the honor!" He throws the detonator from the bomb to Tony, who grabs it and says: "Ah, just like old times!" remembering when his company used to make weapons of mass destruction and he occasionally went on the tests sites.
Clint starts running to the edge and jumps. He turns in the air shooting his grappling hook arrow to descend the building.
Steve lands right next to where Natasha is laying, her face is pale and tears are falling from her eyes. She looks at him and manages to say: "I took it off…" with the blade in her trembling and bloody hand. He takes the blade out of her hand and tosses it to the side. She lets her hand fall beside her. Steve looks down at the puddle of blood on her back and then puts his hands at the cut in her abdomen, to try stopping the bleeding. He presses it, but the bleeding is coming out from her back too, he whispers: "Jesus Tasha!"
Natasha sees the fear in his blue eyes and says: "I…don´t think I´m…going to make it" she feels weak, her breath is erratic.
Steve meets her eyes and replies almost angry at her for saying that: "Yes you are! I´m getting you out of here!" He has to stop the bleeding so he grabs a bandage and a small bottle of antiseptic from one of his pockets. He quickly looks at her and says as he opens the small bottle: "This is going to sting a little." And pour the antiseptic on the top of the wound.
Natasha grits her teeth and takes a hold on Steve arm, squeezing it hard. When he is done she lets go of him and takes shallow breaths. She then groans when he moves her to pass the bandage around her back and wrap it tightly around her belly. He mutters: "Sorry" and then takes a hold on her waist, puts her left arm around his neck and says: "Hold on to me". He lifts her up. She sinks her head into his shoulders, biting her lip from the sharp pain and tries not to pass out.
Steve looks up, the opening is high above. He looks to the side walls calculating his trajectory; he gets an impulse with his feet against the side wall and jumps to the opposite wall and with another impulse, jumps out of the shaft landing on his back, his shield absorbing the impact, holding Natasha tightly in his arms.
Thor sees him coming out and points to the right: "The jet is approaching that way, Captain!"
Steve stands up and nods at Thor. He shifts Natasha in his arms to get a better grip on her and she groans in pain. Steve looks down at Natasha and whispers: "Stay with me Tasha, I know you can get through this!" She tightens her grip around his neck in response.
Steve runs by Thor as he clears the way for him with his hammer. He looks foward and sees the jet coming up with the back door open right in front of him. He runs to the edge, lightly bends his knees and takes a big jump, landing on one knee inside the jet.
Steve lays Natasha down, takes off his helmet throwing it to a corner and gets more bandages to try containing the blood that is still slowly coming out of her wound.
Clint, already flying away, asks: "How´s she doing Cap?" The pilot that came with them is sitting beside Clint on the copilot´s place.
Steve kneels beside Natasha and answers Clint: "A blade pierced through her abdomen, she lost a lot of blood and probably has a concussion on her head, so get us to a hospital, fast!"
Steve then gently rolls Natasha to the side to wrap around more bandages. Natasha presses hers lips together, trying not to cry out with the pain. He rolls her to her back again. Steve sees her eyes shuts tight and the pain expression in her face so he whispers: "Sorry, just hang on. We are getting you to the hospital." He holds her cold hand in his, she tightens her grip on it. He looks at her bandage and sees that the bleeding has stopped, but he keeps staring at it, afraid she might start to bleed again.
A few minutes passes when Steve feels that Natasha´s hand starts to lose its grip on his so he looks up at her face in concern and notices that she is pale, her eyes are open but far away. Steve grabs her face with both hands and pleads: "Look at me Natasha!" Her glassy green eyes meet his worried blues, she blinks heavily. "Don´t you dare leaving me, do you hear me?" Steve commands her, holding back the tears forming in his eyes.
Natasha is tired, her body at this point is numb, but Steve Rogers won´t let her give in, he is the only reason she is fighting so hard to not let herself go into the darkness that is surrounding her, his face is the only thing that keeps her going, so she puts a weak smile on her lips and says in a faint voice: "Yes, my Captain…"
Steve caresses her face with his thumbs, occasionally whispering: "Stay with me Tasha." Never taking his eyes out of hers to make sure she stays awake, until the jet lands on the top of Singapore´s main hospital.