Readers, this chapter is going to be longer than normal. The reason it is longer is because someone *cough* Cass *cough* said she would quit reviewing if I left her with more cliffhangers than necessary. I was originally going to go with two, but I've merged them into one big chapter. So thank one of your fellow readers for one less cliffhanger (and honestly, I'm glad there's one less cliffhanger as well because it spares me from one less week of your wrath for keeping you on more cliffhangers). Enjoy!

Chapter Forty-Seven

Hannah's P.O.V.

We landed in the small town in Missouri (I can't remember the name) at about 2:30 in the morning. In a dark alley, we ditched the suits and left them in the shadows. We feared that if we brought them with us, they would make too much of a disturbance and, if my family was alive, it might jeopardize getting to them before HYDRA did. My dress from last night was long gone and had been replaced with some black pants, jacket and combat boots. The jacket was a little big because it was my uncle's, but it was a cold night and I needed the warmth. Plus, his smell was on the jacket, giving me a sense of his familiar security, like he was wrapping me in his arms again.

Bucky had changed into some black jeans and matching long-sleeved shirt, with combat boots to match. The shirt clung tightly to his chest, accentuating his muscles and metal arm. I tried to keep my prying eyes off his metal hand, but being an engineering student, I found the arm fascinating.

"It's okay to look at it, you know." He told me as we walked in the shadowy grass lining the sidewalks lit up by streetlights, many burnt out and had probably gone un-replaced for years because of the town's inattention to its downtown area.

My face flushed in embarrassment.

"It's ummm...interesting."

"It's a fine piece of machinery." He held up his metal arm and wiggled his fingers. "And stronger than your boyfriend."

Realizing that it took a lot of strength to hold Steve in a death grip, I found the arm more mesmerizing.

"Touch it." He ordered, stopping abruptly, his eyes serious.

It took me by surprise how open he was about his advanced prosthesis. I'm pretty sure people like Bucky don't ask you to make physical contact with them every day.

He looked at me with expectation, his eyes moving from me to the arm. Hesitantly, I moved my hand forward before finally touching it. Cold metal rushed through the nerves in my fingertips. I even got more curious and grasped one of the fingers. He wiggled one for me to see how lifelike it was; it was just as flexible as human skin.

"Wow." I whispered.

He chuckled lightly.

"It's amazing." He said as he pulled his arm back. "It's useful in a fight, especially with HYDRA."

We were about to fight HYDRA. I don't think the thought was as real to me as it was now. Flying from the top of Stark Tower in an impenetrable metal suit was different from standing just minutes away from a HYDRA compound with only a gun in hand. Even my fiery sense of determination dimmed a little as I realized that what I was about to face was a far cry from training sessions with Steve at the gym. I sincerely hoped that Bucky's arm would be as helpful as it was when he was a brainwashed assassin.

"Give me the pinpoint on your uncle's tracker."

I pulled out my phone and glanced at the beeping red dot that represented my uncle.

Uncle Clint, wherever you are, just hang on.

"Take a left on Twelfth Street and they're about a quarter mile down the road." I confirmed.

"Alright. From now until I give the word, we remain quiet. Follow my lead, stay in the shadows and keep that gun close, you understand?"

I had raided my aunt and uncle's gun stores before we left. Aunt Nat still had a few of her widow's stings, so I took a couple of those, too.

I nodded, resting my hand on the hilt of my gun, and we slinked off further into the shadows.

The rest of the journey was particularly uneventful. A few things I did notice, however, was that the lights (at least the ones that were still working) became dimmer and dimmer as we neared Twelfth Street. The buildings started to get rattier, their ugliness prevalent even in the blackness of the night.

Perfect for a HYDRA hideout.

This part of town was as unpopulated as it suggested. The silence, a quality that had been such a relaxant in the Iowa countryside, now made me nervous. I clutched my gun a little tighter.

What if we really couldn't manage to bust them out of the compound? I know I had the Winter Soldier beside me, but we were only two people. And not even the Avengers could escape this place. What made me think we could just march in there, grab them, and march out?

I shoved those thoughts as deep down as I could. Worrying was a misfortune I couldn't afford now.

The buildings were big and vacant as we walked, their dark figures towering over us. This must have been the business center when the town was in its youth. Train tracks ran through the town, so it was probably one of those places that had thrived back in the day when the railroad was the main route of transportation. Now, the buildings were rotting from the inside out and vice versa. Hard weathering adorned their old bricks and the wood signs that still hung-sometimes crookedly- above their store doors. There was some faint paint still on them. One read "Nelson's Pharmacy" and another "Ollie's Home Goods Grocery Store." I smiled. Even the old had an appealing quality in a rundown place like this.

Steve would have liked seeing this piece of history.

"Stop." Bucky whispered, his hand grabbing my wrist and dragging us both a few feet into another abandoned alley.

I would have asked questions, had they not been answered by two souls who, without so much as a glance in our direction, passed by the alley. They looked normal; a couple of teenagers looking for little midnight fun.

Right after they disappeared, Bucky whispered, "Stay here," before moving to the edge the alley. He peeked out, looking to his right, then to his left, before ushering me with his hand.

"It's clear."

I moved quickly behind him as we headed out again, hopefully with no more disturbances. As the red dot on my screen came closer and closer, I found myself now clutching my gun with a death grip.

The fear of a group of HYDRA agents watching our every move suddenly made the hairs rise on the back of my neck. They could be behind a store window in the dark, a gun aimed at our heads. My mind started to play tricks on me as I envisioned a man jumping out in front of us, a pair of menacing eyes glaring at me past black headgear.

I tried to look at the ground in front of me instead, afraid my fears would escalate if I kept looking around.

Bucky suddenly stopped and I almost ran into him.

"We're here."

"How can you tell?" He pointed to the roof above. There was a man sitting up there, a sniper rifle clasped in his arms, scanning the scene in front of us while we safely hid in the shadows.

He was silent for a minute, watching the lookout with interest. He finally whipped out a rope and some sort of weapon.

"Wait here and stay quiet," he ordered as he moved towards the side of the building, preparing the weapon in his hands.

Is he going to shoot him?

He tilted the device upwards before something swiftly and silently shot up towards the roof, a rope trailing behind it. The guard still patrolled the area in above me, unaware of Bucky who was climbing the wall behind him.

I didn't see much of Bucky as he reached the rooftop until the guard suddenly lurched backwards and disappeared out of sight. I quietly moved closer to where Bucky had climbed the roof, wondering the reason for the long moment of silence.

A large thud sounded beside me and I nearly screamed as the patrolman's body fell beside me on the grass, motionless.

Bucky's head appeared from over the ledge.

"Grab the rope."

I did as I was commanded and Bucky started to pull me upwards.

"Take this." He told me, handing me what looked like another gun as I reached the roof. I looked at him in question.

"I already have a gun."

"This is a special weapon." He replied. "I believe S.H.I.E.L.D. called it the Night-Night gun."

I'd heard of those, only I believe the more correct term was the ICER. They had been created right before the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. It had the ability to take down your opponents but without having to kill them. It was pretty nifty, but I never thought I'd have one in my possession.

"Besides, it's a good backup."

I could see he had already loaded his arsenal with another gun and what looked like a couple of grenades.

"Are we blowing the place up?" I asked. He smirked.

"You'll see."

He stuffed one in his pocket and walked over to a trapdoor on the roof.

"So what exactly is the plan?"

"Sneak around, make sure to stay out of sight as we look through as many rooms as possible until we find the Avengers. And if you see anyone, take them out."

"What about security cameras?"

"I've already got that covered, ma'am." JARVIS responded from the phone in my pocket. "You are both virtually invisible."

It made me think back to National Treasure, where, even though the cameras were working, the scene in front of security was pre-recorded to hide the main characters sneaking inside the National Archives Museum to steal the Declaration of Independence.

"Thanks, JARVIS."

"You're welcome, Hannah."

I think he threw in my name just for me. Not knowing if I'd ever come out alive, well, it may have made the A.I. more sentimental. But, of course, Tony had programmed JARVIS never to admit it.

Bucky slowly opened up the hatch that led to the roof.

"Are you ready?"

I breathed in one last breath of the crisp night air, possibly my last.

"As I'll ever be."

Clint's P.O.V.

When Cap had left with a whole team of HYDRA agents, I knew it was the last time we would ever see him again. And when there was a loud ruckus outside right after the door closed, I held my breath for what felt like an eternity. Then all was quiet. The deed was done.

There was no need to convey our great loss as the rest of the team remained silent, grieving inwardly. Nat started at the wall in front of her, never blinking. She wouldn't even look at me.

She's thinking about them.

By "them," I meant our children. Every fatherly instinct within me had wanted to strangle the HYDRA agents that threatened my family, but I had been forced to watch and remain helpless. And watching Nat, I knew she felt the same.

I couldn't help but feel like a failure as a husband. I couldn't even break past those infernal cuffs and hold my wife's hand. I couldn't embrace her, holding her in my arms and stroking her gently, assuring her that things would turn out alright, even though they probably wouldn't. I had failed my children as a father. I couldn't protect them from HYDRA any more than I could protect myself. Natalia, my little red-headed fireball, and my little mini-me son, Barney; they were my world, everything that my life revolved around. And I couldn't save them.

My failure as an uncle creeped into my mind as well. I couldn't protect Hannah now, just like I couldn't protect her from the Dark Hand. The guilt that I had tried to bury for the last four years suddenly reemerged, still as terrible and painful as I last remembered it. My head slumped downwards in shame. The one who I considered to be my first daughter I had let down. Not only could I not keep her safe, but I also had failed in keeping Steve, her first love, safe.

I wanted to curse my life in those miserable moments. I hated my helplessness, my guilt and my shame. I loathed HYDRA, the cause of my inner turmoil. I had already had multiple grievances placed on my shoulders, ones that sometimes made it hard to get up some days. But life at the Tower had made all that pain and misery of the past bearable, and there were some days, however rare, when memories of the past would not come to mind. To have that joy, that hope, taken from me, it made me angry. I wanted to hit something.

I don't know how long I had been wallowing in my anger and depression when the door was thrust open again, three agents coming in, a far cry from the number in the group Steve had left with.

They're here to kill one of us.

I knew that I was right. But which one of us would it be?

"What have you done with Cap?" I demanded, grasping for even one ounce of hope in the darkness. Their blank eyes stared at me, the only indication of an answer was the perking of the lips on a woman's face. My heart fell into my chest.

He's gone.

Through the shock, I could feel my cuffs being undone. My arms felt like jelly as they fell to my sides, surprised at being freed. But their freedom as short-lived as I, just like Cap, was shoved into another pair of cuffs. They started to lead me out the door, I knowing that I was their next victim. Before the door opened, a scream cut through the air like a knife.

"No!" Nat screamed, suddenly tearing at her cuffs, trying to force herself out, her desperate eyes locked on me.

"Shut it!" A man from the group barked, advancing towards Nat with a fist raised. Instinctively, I ran at him, my force knocking him backwards. I was seized by the arms of the other two agents, both of them thrusting me against the wall, the back of my head hitting the cold metal.

"So you think you're so tough, Barton?" The man had gotten up from my hit, looking at me with menacing eyes. "How's this?"

There was a whir of colors as pain shot through my body. Head, stomach, leg. I heard a deafening crunch and my chest started to burn like fire. But the worst wasn't the pain; it was the screaming mixed with an encore of laughter. I tried to separate the two, but as the pain continued, I could barely tell them apart.

Hannah's P.O.V.

From the look outside the building, no one walking by would have guessed that it had been gutted and stuffed with the best tech HYDRA had to offer. The walls were a metallic grey with a tile floor to match. It was pretty cold, but it was also stunning that it existed in a rundown area like this.

"Door." Bucky said as he peaked through the small glass slits. He shook his head for the fifth time in the ten minutes we'd been here. We had already successfully hidden from a group of at least ten HYDRA agents as they walked down the halls.

I wanted to lunge at them, hit them, make them feel terrible for what they'd done. I thought I would be terrified at the sight of them, but for once in my life, I wanted to kill someone.

You're not here to kill. You're here to rescue your family.

I knew it wasn't right for me to kill them-not like that. That would make me the same kind of monster they were. That realization gave me the strength to loosen the grip on my gun-at least for the time being. But if they tried to go after me or threaten me, I would shoot. I made no promises for their lives if they came to kill me.

"Another door." He told me.

There wasn't a glass slit on it this time. And it was shut tight, a special DNA scanner on the wall by it.

Bucky turned to me. "They don't have scanners like these on the other doors. They've got to be in here."

The thought of my family and Steve being on the other side of that door made me want to bust it down with my bare hands.

"How do we get in, then?"

He sighed.

"There's only one way."

He pulled out a hand grenade, holding it tightly in his fingers.

"That will blow our cover." An explosion would be sure to send HYDRA running in our direction.

"It's all we've got." He told me sadly.

I knew we had to. It was foolish of me to believe that we could sneak in and out of here without a fight. But it was hopeless to avoid it now.

"Do it." I consented and he nodded.

"Stand back." I quickly moved back into a small hallway. He pulled the trigger on the grenade and ran in my direction, diving to narrowly avoid missing some debris as it exploded. Pieces of the wall flew by, both small and large, past us, flaming as they went.

The explosion was followed by loud footfalls. Bucky and I huddled in the hallway as they ran towards the scene of the crime, large guns held in their hands.

As the footsteps sounded more towards the scene and not near us, Bucky nodded at me.

"Get your gun. Shoot when you come out of the hallway. Don't give them a chance to shoot you."

I knew I would ignore that order, only preparing to shoot if they raised their guns at me.

I peered around the corner, seeing all eyes were on the scene. With one motion, I stepped out, gun still at my side. I forced myself not to shoot until I saw someone raise their gun at me. It didn't take long. One of them, a woman, raised her gun and I immediately aimed at her, Bucky starting to fire right beside me.

A shot rang out, my finger pressed down hard on the trigger. The woman fell, blood dripping from her neck. I didn't have time to realize what I had just done because I was caught up in shooting another raising his weapon. He clutched his chest before sinking to his knees. I shot again and he fell, never to get up again.

A bullet zoomed past my head, missing my ear by mere centimeters. I ducked, returning fire. Bucky was shooting left and right next to me, a gun in each hand. Finally, there was silence, the bloody corpses lying in a heap on the floor.

"Go. Now. I'll keep watch." He told me, nudging his head towards the door. I rushed over, trying to move past the carnage on the floor. If anything, I wanted to avoid their eyes, probably open from the shock of being shot.

I moved into a room that was the same complexion as the hallway, only darker because there was only a small light bulb hanging in the middle of the room. And there was another big difference, too-some familiar faces. They were held by some cuffs, probably magnetic, on the wall.

"Hannah?" Pepper's voice led me to the end of the line they made on the wall. She was filthy, the beautiful dress smeared with dirt and grime.

"What are you doing here, kid?" Tony said, his voice surprised.

I didn't answer him as I looked down the row of faces. My eyes landed on Aunt Nat, a smear of eyeliner running down one of her cheeks.

Where was Uncle Clint and Steve?

"Hannah?" A voice cracked in the corner and my head jerked to the bearer of the voice. My heart stopped.

"Uncle Clint?" I couldn't believe my eyes as they scoured his face. He was injured. His face was bloody, his left leg disjointed and he kept moaning as he sucked in each breath.

"How'd you get here?" He gasped, a painful groan emerging from his throat.

"Don't talk." I ordered, ignoring his question.

"Bucky!" I cried. He poked his head in. "Help!" He took one last look down the hall to make sure the ghost was clear before coming in.

"What happened to him?" He asked in dismay as he kneeled beside me.

"He was beaten up by those guys out there." Tony nodded towards the door to the pile of dead HYDRA agents. "They were going to kill him."

"He's got a broken leg, that's for sure." Bucky moved from his leg to his chest, feeling around. Uncle Clint suddenly flinched as he felt around his chest. "And a couple broken ribs."

"It's nothing." He breathed out.

"I'm sorry." I tried to hold back the tears that threatened to emerge and fall down my face.

"It's not your fault," He replied.

But it wasn't just about that. It was more than being too late to stop HYDRA from hurting him. No, that barely scratched the surface of my guilt. I had failed him as family not only there, but in spending time with him. We had grown apart, especially in the last two months. I had loathed him for trying to keep me safe for the past four years after the Dark Hand had almost killed me, but now I understood why.

The reality that everything and everyone around me, the balance between order and chaos, was so fragile, that even the tiniest threat could tip the scales and throw my world upside down. It was all too surreal to understand unless one was forced to face losing someone they loved.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"We need to get them out of here." Bucky broke me out of my guilt, putting my attention elsewhere.

Have you got anything to break these?" I motioned the cuffs that held my uncle and the others.

"Sure do." He responded, moving over to Aunt Nat.

"I never thought I'd see you again." Aunt Nat replied before Bucky gave her a smirk.

"Especially under these circumstances." He pulled out something from his pocket. He placed it against my aunt's cuffs and it suddenly broke off the wall.

"Magnetic excursion." He explained as he did that with each cuff that held each team member to the wall. "It weakens the polarity of the electromagnets in these cuffs just long enough for you to get out of them."

"Good to know." I said as he handed me a second one. I quickly undid my uncle and his free hands immediately grasped mine.

"Don't ever think this is your fault."

Pepper suddenly kneeled down and wrapped her arms around me, her arms dirty with small scratches of dried blood on them. Her once beautiful dress had been reduced to tatters in the short number of hours she'd been here.

"I'm so glad you're okay." She told me as she pulled me closer.

"It's okay, Pep." I replied, holding my friend even tighter.

"Pepper," Tony appeared, finally freed. She let go of me and immediately clasped her arms together behind his neck, holding him as tight as she could, her face buried into his chest.

"It's okay, baby. It's okay." He kissed her hair softly, stroking her back.

"Hannah." My aunt caught my attention before I was enveloped in another hug. Make that two because Uncle Clint had managed to sit himself up behind me, so I was sandwiched in-between them.

"It was stupid of you to come here," my aunt told me firmly as she looked back at me. Then her gaze softened. "But I'm glad you did."

"Here," I said, taking out one of my guns and some widow's stings and handing her the items, "you might need these. We could use the experience."

"I think you're doing quite well, actually." Clint replied, looking outside at our little mess.

I still didn't want to look out there at them. It was too mortifying.

"Where's Steve?" I asked.

Their expressions changed from hopeful to dismal. Aunt Nat placed her hand softly on my shoulder.

"Hannah, he's been gone for a while now. He's probably..."

I jerked away from her, the horror in what she was about to say unthinkable.

"No. He's not dead." The word sent shivers down my spine.

He's not dead. He's Captain America. He can survive anything.

"Lady Hannah, please, don't make this worse..." Thor tried to comfort me as well, but I pushed him away.

"He's not gone." I replied stubbornly."If I have to search every room in this building, I will."

"It's time to go." Bucky told us, his head watching the halls. "There will be another round of them if we're not quick."

"No." Aunt Nat replied. She looked to the group in front of her. "Whether he's dead or alive, we're bringing him home. We either leave together or die together."

"She's right." Tony replied. "We've got to find Capsicle."

"By we, I hope you mean a small group." Bucky replied. "One of you is a civilian and the other has a broken leg. At least two of you need to leave."

"I can help." Uncle Clint huffed.

"Clint, forget it." Aunt Nat stopped him. "You're injured and need medical attention."

"I've suffered worse in Budapest." He gave her a sly smirk, but she quickly reprimanded him.

"Thor, can you please take him?"

Thor readily agreed, picking up my uncle in one swoop over his shoulder. "Where is the way out?"

"Through the roof. Up the stairs, down the hall. If anyone comes, use one of these." He handed Thor a gun, but he promptly refused.

"I believe I might be able to summon Mjolnir now. That poison you call drugs are wearing off now. I can feel it."

"Be careful." Tony told Pepper before kissing her on the cheek.

"You do the same." She replied, running her hand down his cheek.

"Well, this is certainly awkward." My uncle said to Aunt Nat and I as he laid over the Asgardian's shoulder.

"It certainly is." Aunt Nat replied, touching his bruised cheek gently. She looked at him for a moment, eyes gazing into his. I could swear I saw a small tear, but if there was, it fell unnoticably to the floor. "I'll come back."

A warm smile with serious eyes met hers. "I know you will." She ran her hands through his hair one last time before rejoining the group. That left just me and him, apart from Thor who was kindly giving us some time together before they left.

"Keep her safe, will you?" He told me. I wanted to roll my eyes. As if Aunt Nat was the one who would need saving.

"I will." He clasped my hand one more time.

"I want you to know..." He paused for a moment, "I'm proud of you."

Something connected between us then. It was as though the drifting apart that had taken place over so long had somehow mended itself, making us back into the Barton family we once were.

"I will come back." I promised him. "And maybe take you out for some coffee?"

"Absolutely." He grinned. And it was a promise I intended to keep.

"Be careful." Tony told Pepper before kissing her on the cheek. Our group watched as the three left, our eyes not leaving until they disappeared from sight.

With a sense of urgency, Aunt Nat started to take control of our mission.

"Bruce, you stay in the middle of us. We'll need you in case..." Aunt Nat didn't finish her sentence. But it was an easy fill-in-the-blank.

In case Steve was injured. Or dead.

We all formed into a line, Dr. Banner and Tony in the middle, both armed, Aunt Nat in the front, and Bucky and I in the back.

"Steve, please don't be dead." I whispered to myself as we advanced down the hallway. I wondered how many floors and various rooms we'd have to search through to find him.

"He's strong." Bucky told me. "The strongest man I've ever known."

"That doesn't exactly help if there's fifty of them versus one of you." I replied dismally.

"But his heart is strong." He replied firmly. "He'll hold out as long as he feels there's hope."

I just prayed Steve was grasping on to hope. If not, then the worst was ahead of us.

Steve

I could feel my body slowly giving up its strength. My whole being felt like it was on fire, my left eye swollen shut and right leg throbbing terribly. My breathing had turned ragged and uneven. And worse, I couldn't move to help myself with any of it.

I had felt the floor shake a while back, but I had assumed it was part of a hallucination. I had been drifting in and out of consciousness since Rumlow had left, so I wasn't sure what was real and what was fictitious.

Out of consciousness, I could only remember one face: Hannah's. I wished I could reach into my pocket now and give that necklace to her. I had wanted so bad to see her that night. Pepper had told me her dress was pink. The whole day I had been imaging what she would look like; curled hair, shimmering dress, heels-it would have been a blissful night.

I wish I could see her just one more time.

I knew I was going to die. I'd leave this world in the misery of a cold room with no one beside me.

I thought back to my youthful daydreams-ones of a wife and kids. And when I was old, I would bounce little grandchildren on my knees and tell them war stories and regale them with how I met their grandmother. Even though the daydreams were useless now, I could still hold onto them until the last moment. If I was going to go, I was dying with blissful thoughts of what could have been. I would die happy, if only in my dreams.

I drifted out again, waking up when I heard something outside. Probably a scuffle amongst the HYDRA agents.

Probably fighting over who wants to kill their next innocent victim.

The door was suddenly thrust open, a lady in black quickly moving beside my bed, gun in hand.

This was it. They were going to kill me now. They probably couldn't wait for me to die any longer, so they were going to finish the job.

The lady turned and I gasped. Hannah.

"Steve." She whispered, suddenly covering me in fervent kisses.

"Hannah." I rasped. I wanted to hold her close, as close as I could without Clint throttling me later. If I could only break the restraints.

"I need some help!" She called out the door.

Bruce appeared through the doorway, along with a very familiar face.

"Bucky?"

He smirked at me.

"Told you I'd be there for you until the end of the line."

He quickly started ripping at the restraints with his metal arm, the metal quickly tearing into pieces and clanging on the floor.

"Oh no." Bruce said as he checked my pulse and looked me over. He touched my body and I couldn't resist a groan.

"He's got a broken leg and multiple lacerations to the chest. His body's not reacting right."

"Drugs." Hannah answered grimly. She put her hand on my face, looking at me with worry.

"Don't leave me, okay?" I finally was able to grab her with my free arms and hold her close.

"Not on my life."

I could feel hope stirring inside me, a fire igniting every part of my inmost being. I could hold on. I'd hold on for her.

"You look beautiful." I ran my fingers through her curled hair. She had been all done up for the party. I could only imagine what she looked like in her dress.

"Unlikely." She told me. "I'm all sweaty."

"You're glowing." She looked like an angel, combat boots and all. I would have believed I was in heaven, if not for the scene around me.

She blushed as she stroked my hair gently. "We'll get you out of here. I promise."

"That's a promise you're not going to be able to keep, I'm afraid."

Rumlow's voice sent chills down my spine. It wasn't me I was worried about, it was Hannah. And I was incapable of helping her. Hannah immediately held her gun up, meeting his.

"Who are you?" She demanded as he came through the doorway, both of them eyeing each other like the hardest of enemies.

"Stand back." He told Bruce. "Unless you want me to shoot you."

"Come behind me." Hannah told the doctor.

"Boys, come in here." Rumlow ordered as he jerked his head to usher in some more troops.

"Where are the others?" I heard Hannah whisper to the doctor.

"They went to secure the area." Bruce answered. "They're making sure it's safe for us to get out of here."

"So much for that." Hannah said flatly as the last one came in. And the last person looked eerily familiar.

"Derek?" Hannah exclaimed.

Yes, there was no mistaking it was Derek; from the longhair that almost hid his eyes to the shrimpy body that looked like it would be weighed down by his gear, it was Derek.

He didn't respond. He just stood there, gun aimed, ready for orders. His eyes had turned cold and hard, any hint of humanity in them hidden.

"Not bad, huh?" Rumlow told her, clapping the boy on the shoulder. "Not much to look at, but a great spy for HYDRA."

"So much for friends." The boy remained motionless as the words spat out of Hannah's mouth.

"What's better is he's the one who set up our system in the Tower, thanks to you."

"What?" Hannah stepped back, bewildered by Rumlow's statement.

"Yes, it was you that let him in." He grinned evilly. "I needed him to get close to you so he could get in and hack into your precious A.I."

Derek had taken advantage of her.

"Derek?" Even with him pointing a gun at her head, she still couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"You let him in?" Bruce asked her.

"I...I thought he was a friend."

"Foolish girl." Rumlow spat. "Someone should have taught you never to trust anyone."

"Derek, you don't have to do this." Hannah pleaded with him. He wouldn't budge.

"Don't you see what he's asking you to do? He's asking you to shoot people in cold blood."

"It's for the good of everyone." He finally spoke, his voice shaky.

"How's killing people for the 'good of everyone?'"

"Kill her." Rumlow ordered.

"How is killing people who try to save others bad? How is committing crimes against humanity so that one group can be in control good? How is being a monster something to be admired?"

"Shut up!" Derek shouted. "I'm not a monster!"

"You were a good person, Derek. Funny, smart; not the monster that I see now." Hannah reasoned with him, her eyes desperate. "I wanted to be your friend, and you're willing to throw that away to be a part of some miserable, no good..."

"Kill her." Rumlow repeated.

"Lying, filthy, backstabbing..."

"Now." Rumlow's patience was wearing thin as Derek stayed motionless, eyeing her intensely.

"Two-faced monsters!"

"Boy, I'm telling you one more time," Rumlow's voice had turned cold and hard as he looked at Derek, "kill her or I will."

Derek looked from Hannah to him, this time, gun cocked and looking at her, face emotionless.

"I'm not sorry." Derek told her.

I couldn't watch. I couldn't move to stop him and I couldn't bear to watch him kill her.

A gunshot rang out and an array of bullets followed. I could hear the bullets hitting the wall beside me and far away outside the room.

"Steve!" I felt my body being dragged off the metal table and down to the floor. I opened my eyes to find Dr. Banner watching over me, Hannah on her knees in front of us, shooting her gun mercilessly behind the safety of the metal table that had been turned into a shield.

"You didn't tell us you were a good shot." The doctor told her as she kept firing.

"You do remember who my uncle is, right?"

I didn't have the strength to peek over the edge of the table to see what was going on. But every few seconds, a bullet would fly and hit the table, followed by Hannah lifting herself and the gun to return fire.

"Just a few more left." She muttered to herself. A few more bullets flew right over the table, barely missing Hannah's head and making nice new holes in the wall already covered with bullets.

I could feel myself start to fade as she continued to exchange fire with the enemy. I wanted to be there, to watch my girl fight and see her win like I knew she could. She had a fire in her eyes.

She's fighting for something.

Or someone.

My vision started to blur. I could barely make out the figures of Bruce and Hannah. I wanted her to hold my hand, tell me it was going to be alright.

"Steve." Bruce shook me a little. "Stay awake. Just a little bit longer."

"Tell her I love her." I looked at her as I said it. And she wasn't even looking at me. The one time I actually had the courage to tell a woman I love her and she wasn't even paying attention.

"No, Steve." Bruce replied, grasping my hand in a tight grasp. You could tell that his strength as the Hulk was returning. "She needs you to stay awake so you can tell her that yourself."

My body started to shut down; my muscles relaxed, my breathing slowed and my vision slowly turned to black. The gunfire stalled in my ears and my eyes closed. The last person I saw was Hannah.

Longest. Chapter. EVER. Last cliffhanger, I promise! Please, please, please leave me a review! You've no idea (well, you fellow writers do) how hard I worked on this chapter, especially with a history essay breathing down my neck. Thanks everyone for reading! :D