"We're going to start talking strategies in a bit...if you're interested..." Natasha stood by the doorway of the room Seren had recused herself to. It was as shabby as the rest of the rooms in the base.
"If it involves Fury, then I can't be sure he won't try to do something in the shadows," Seren retorted, turning around to Natasha. "He might just let Chloe die for the 'bigger picture'."
"He wouldn't let that happen, Seren."
"He was prepared to shoot me down when Loki brainwashed me," Seren snapped. It all made perfect sense now. She was always so blind focusing solely on the mission that she never considered what was going on behind it. "Everyone at SHIELD is disposable, Natasha. Everyone. I finally got that. Me, you, Steve, Chloe...if we're in the way of the bigger picture, we're disposable."
"Dial back the identity crisis before you really hurt your head," Natasha said.
"It's not funny, Natasha. This is something truly hurtful to realize and, yes, I know it took me forever to realize it. It's my fault for being so blind."
"You weren't 'blind', you were just painfully optimistic," Natasha flashed Seren a little smile. "You have and will always look for the brighter side of things. It's in your nature. Always has been."
"Making me stupid," Seren said with a huff. "Honestly, I should be taking lessons from you. You don't even seem affected by everything we've learned."
"Seren, the things I have seen and done in my life make this whole thing just another passing-by situation for me. Does it affect me that SHIELD turned out to be another red room? Yeah, of course it does. But in the grand scheme of everything, it's not the worst thing that's happened to me."
"You came up with that yourself?" Seren said, slightly unconvinced. Natasha chuckled.
"Steve may have had a hand in the realization."
Seren playfully rolled her eyes. "Of course."
"For what it's worth, real or not, you have always done the best damn job for SHIELD."
Seren lowered her head. She used to like thinking the same thing. "Except now I wonder when I was doing my best for HYDRA, and how much of their agenda I helped push through."
"I wouldn't do that...it's not going to lead you to better thoughts."
"But how do I do that, Natasha? How do I stop wondering when the bad guy was actually the good guy and when the good guy was actually the bad guy?" Seren rubbed her forehead. "I keep thinking about it and I feel horrible. How do I make it stop?"
"By not holding yourself responsible for what was out of your control!" Natasha exclaimed. "You're suffocating in senseless guilt. It's not your fault. You didn't know that HYDRA still existed. None of us did! Not even Fury!"
"He should have said something, Natasha," Seren muttered.
"Maybe, but then what? We were outnumbered, girl. He played the cards he had; they weren't the best cards but it is what it is."
"So I'm supposed to forgive and forget?"
"That's up to you, Seren," Natasha shrugged. "Right now, I just think that we should pull our numbers together and get Winters the hell out of there."
Seren sighed. "Yeah, that...that would be a good idea. I just don't think I can follow Fury this time."
"Then don't," Natasha said like it was obvious what she should do. Apparently, Seren didn't know that it was obvious so Natasha helped. "You've led a ton of missions. You led the Avengers. Do it again."
Seren didn't hate the idea...in fact, it sounded right up her alley.
~ 0 ~
"We have to stop the launch," Steve had said just as Natasha had led Seren into the room. He was grateful with Natasha, and relieved that Seren was more or less alright. It seemed like he was running out of words to comfort her with and so this time he thought maybe Natasha would be better suited to persuade her to return.
"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore," Fury sarcastically said. With a lot of help, he had moved over to a chair and reached over for a case at the edge of a table. He pulled it open to reveal three chips inside.
"What's that?" Sam couldn't help but look at them warily.
"Once the Helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites becoming fully weaponized," Maria explained.
"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own," added Fury.
"One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational, a whole lot of people are gonna die."
"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA. We need to get pass them, insert the server blades, and maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left—"
"We are not salvaging anything," Seren's hard voice cut Fury off. Everyone's head turned in her direction but the only person she was looking at was Fury. "We're not just going to take down those carriers, we're going to take down everything, SHIELD included.
"SHIELD had nothing to do with it!" Fury argued.
"How do you know!?" Seren countered. "You yourself said you never knew who was HYDRA and who was SHIELD. The only sensible thing is to bring it all down. And we will, because there is no way I'm going to help if that's not the plan."
Fury looked like he couldn't believe it. "Seren—"
"There's no other way, Fury," Seren reiterated. "Because even if, somehow, we managed to pluck out every single HYDRA agent from that building, where's our guarantee that there's no other HYDRA agents in the other SHIELD bases, hm? Have we even thought about that? About all the other bases around the country?" By the silence, it was clear that the answer was no. "I'm not letting honest SHIELD agents work alongside HYDRA for another single day! It's all coming down!" The second round of silence was actually rather loud and for a split second Seren wondered if she'd crossed the line.
"I agree." Steve unintentionally brought her some relief. He was already looking at her when she glanced his way. He stood firm on his choice and he hoped that she would stick to hers without fear.
Seren nodded her thanks to him then looked over at Natasha to see what she was going to do. She gave a tilt of her head and her usual smile. Seren then looked at Sam.
"I do what you guys do, just slower," he said, "And I'm not going anywhere until we get Chloe back."
"I think she's right, Fury," Maria said, surprising the others. Even she looked tired of it all.
Seren smiled, more than relieved with the support of her friends. She set eyes on Fury again and walked up to him. "It's going down," she said with finality. "So right now, you are going to tell us everything you know that you haven't told us. And I mean every thing. About the secret projects, the inaccessible files, but more importantly everything about Chloe's file." After a moment of hesitance, she added one more thing. "And everything about Sergeant Barnes."
"Look, I didn't know about Barnes, alright?" Fury retorted.
"Even if you had, would you have told us?" Steve said, and walked up to him as well. "Or would you have compartmentalized that too?"
Fury was at a loss between Steve and Seren. Neither one of them was backing down.
~0~
"You know it would've been wise to go down for a nap or something," Seren's voice reached Steve seconds before she did.
He looked away from the river to see her coming down the bridge. He'd disappeared shortly after finalizing their plans inside.
"I could say the same thing for you," he said when she came to stand beside him.
"Ooh no, I am done sleeping," Seren said. She watched the river for a minute, actually envying how calm and peaceful it looked. It made her realize she had never truly experienced those phenomena. She was always...working. "Steve, if I had known...if I had ever had a doubt that...that he could've been..." she looked up at him, "I would have said something. I swear."
Her worries lessened as a warm smile spread across Steve's face. He met her gaze and nodded. "I know. You were never like the others. Knew that from the start." Seren flushed with his look. "I just can't believe I never noticed."
"How could you?" Seren said. "You only just started working with SHIELD—"
"Two years ago, Seren. And that was on top of the time before I got to work." Steve shook his head. The more he thought about all the time he wasted while Bucky was out there suffering made his blood boil. He was angry at himself for being so blind and...naive. "I was doing all the wrong things..."
"No, you weren't," Seren said gently. She sensed the underlying anger in his voice and honestly couldn't blame him. She felt exactly the same when she thought about Chloe. "You were adjusting to your trauma, to your situation. Even if you had known about Bucky, you wouldn't have been in any condition to go look for him. You needed that time to get better — you deserved that time."
"Maybe...but it doesn't change what Bucky went through in the meantime..." said Steve, and for that he would never forgive himself. "I got lucky. I was asleep for 70 years. I can't even begin to imagine what those years were like for him."
Seren rubbed a comforting hand on his arm. Working through that mentality would take a lot of time, but she would be right there with him helping him get through it.
"I-I know that it's hard to believe it after that fight but...that wasn't Bucky, not the one that I knew. The real him..." Steve looked down at Seren again, feeling an overwhelming urge to explain who his best friend truly was, "He would never hurt anyone, Seren."
"I know—"
"He was kind—"
"I know—"
"—and helpful—"
"Steve, I know," Seren said with a soft smile. "You don't have to tell me twice. I believe you. I swear."
Steve moved his arm down to wrap around her waist. "Bucky wasn't like a brother, he was...is." He would have to get used to that now. He always talked about his life in the past tense, including those he thought he left behind. "To know that all this time he's been alive and brainwashed…"
"We're going to get him out," Seren said to him. "Him, and Chloe. We're going to get them out. I don't know how but we're going to."
"Question is, will either of you be able to fight them?" Sam regretted making his presence known in this way but he didn't think anyone else would have the courage to ask the question. So far, no one had. The pair looked over at him with similar pained expressions. "Listen, I've talked to Chloe plenty to know her so me fighting her already feels challenging. And I just met her. I can't imagine what it must feel like to both of you."
"Hard," Seren said, "But we'll manage."
"Will you?" Sam raised an eyebrow at them. "What if they already put that other chip in her head or wherever it needs to go? What if she's already brainwashed like Barnes? She will shoot to kill. We already know Barnes will definitely kill us if he gets the chance. I hate to be the one to tell you this but you cannot go easy on them by any means."
"We get it, Sam, we do," Steve said quietly, "But we're going to do our best to try and save them."
"Chloe might have a chance but I don't know about Barnes, to tell you the truth," Sam said. "After decades of brainwashing, he might be the guy that needs to be stopped rather than saved.
"I understand what you're saying but we can't abandon them," Steve said. He already left Bucky for dead decades ago, he was not walking away this time. "I'm going to do what it takes. Even if it takes a long time to get there."
"Alright," Sam nodded. He had said what he needed to. "So when do we go?"
"Now," Steve replied. "Gear up."
"What, and you're gonna wear that?"
For a moment, Steve actually chuckled. "No. If you're gonna fight a war, you gotta wear a uniform."
"Well, my suit's probably already been destroyed at S.H.I.E.L.D," Seren said, although she didn't sound very upset about the matter. "You know I never even got a say in the design? SHIELD just did it for me and that was that. Just one more thing it took from me. I'll get a normal one from the base."
~0~
The entry into the Triskelion wasn't that difficult. Because everyone was busy looking for them outside of it, no one ever really thought about checking inside their own walls first. Before they would actually put a stop to Project Insight, they thought they should at least give those Agents still working humbly a chance to choose their side after hearing the truth about S.H.I.E.L.D. Seren had faith that they would choose the right side. They had just reached the door when it opened for them, almost like fate, and a young tech guy nearly crashed into the group.
"Excuse us," Steve promptly said before leading the way inside. The others walked in behind him with the exception of Seren.
She lingered behind to address the entire room. "It would bode well for you all not to activate any alarms," she warned with a serious face. "Just listen. That's all we want." She put a finger over her lips. "Listen."
Because in the next couple of minutes, Steve had taken over the entire communications system. "Attention, all SHIELD agents. This is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about me over the last few days, some of you were even ordered to hunt me down. But I think it's time you know the truth. SHIELD is not what we thought it was, it's been taken over by HYDRA…"
The room had gone absolutely still. Seren, Maria and Sam looked around to see which techies were looking guilty and which ones were looking afraid. The latter were the ones they would try to help.
"...Alexander Pierce is their leader. The STRIKE and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. I don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want: absolute control. They shot Nick Fury and it won't end there. If you launch those Helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way, unless we stop them. I know I'm asking a lot, but the price of freedom is high, it always has been, and it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not."
Steve let the communications go and waited, though for what he wasn't quite sure. Maybe it was more to catch his breath for what was going to come in the next couple of minutes.
"Did you write that down first, or was it off the top of your head?" Sam came to ask him, earning just a small smile in return.
Seren stalked her way up to the closest technician and grabbed him by the lapels of his shirt. "Winters. Where is she?"
"I-I don't know!"
"There hasn't been any sign of Chloe around here!?"
"I—no! Nothing!"
"Seren!" Steve called to her, frankly unsurprised with the abrupt manner she was 'questioning' the poor man with. If he could, he would probably do the same thing to find Bucky...but he had a feeling that Bucky would be finding him very soon instead.
Seren let go of the man and stepped back. "I need to find Chloe."
"C'mon," Steve motioned her to the doors. He held his hand out for her. They would go find Chloe together.
Seren came over to take his hand, squeezing it as soon as she could, and headed out with him. Sam followed behind while Maria stayed behind to man the controls. It was easy getting out to the Helicarriers but that was probably going to be the last easy thing they did for the day.
"Not one sign of Chloe," Seren was fiercely looking on either side of them. "Not even Bucky. What do you think they're waiting for? HYDRA must have given Bucky the order to kill already, but what about Chloe?"
"I'd rather not think about the mechanics of those plans..." Steve admitted. If he allowed himself to think about the many reasons why they were lacking in their presence, he would spiral and he wouldn't be able to focus on their plans.
"Okay, now wait a minute," Sam said once he saw the Helicarriers in sight, "Before we split up and all, how do we know the good guys from the bad guys? We haven't exactly identified them yet."
Steve had the perfect response. "If they're shooting at you, they're bad."
Sam deadpanned Steve for a second. "Oh, funny guy." He activated the wings of his suit and flew into the air.
"That was pretty funny," Seren said afterwards with a little smile.
"We'll discuss my 'funny' afterwards," Steve said, turning to her, serious. "You need to be careful, alright?"
"I know," Seren nodded, swallowing hard. "It's going to be tough fighting familiar faces, but if they're HYDRA then they'll need to be careful." She raised her fists that were already glowing with power.
Steve could smile at that. It was surreal fighting HYDRA all over again but this time he could believe that things would end very differently. Last time had an era of disadvantage, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Today, they had better weapons and technology backing them up, and a lot more knowledge. Plus, he also had one magnificent star with him this time.
"Gotta run," Seren said but then shook her head, "Or fly, I guess?"
"Fly," Steve said. He wondered when, oh when, would it stop being weird saying that so easily.
Seren nodded and, like Sam, jumped into the air (sans the wings). Steve watched after her for a few seconds until he ultimately decided that it would never stop being weird watching someone fly.
He hopped off the ledge and landed on the lower deck. Very quickly he had to run for cover as HYDRA agents spotted him and began firing. He ran behind a crate only to find another agent much too up close. He grabbed the agent by the neck and smacked him against the crate, stealing a grenade from the unconscious man just before he collapsed. Steve threw the grenade behind him, taking out a group of agents with it.
Up above, Sam had to swerve to avoid getting hit with some serious tank firepower. "Hey, Cap, I found those bad guys you were talking about!"
Steve had a chance to look up and see Sam just narrowly escape the last blow. "You okay?"
"I'm not dead yet!"
"Seren?" Steve called. He had yet to see her in the sky. There was no answer. "Seren!"
"Here!" he heard soon after he caught a swirl of star matter striking one of the tanks and destroyed it in a go.
Seren zoomed by to catch up with Sam who'd gotten himself even more attention. Must be the wings, she theorized. Several quinjets had been deployed and were relentlessly firing after him. Her arms started glowing strongly the closer she got to one jet.
Purposely lingering behind one, she waited for her opportunity. "Sam, focus on your left!" she warned and was thoroughly confused when he groaned a 'Oh, c'mon!' in return. Had she said something wrong? She headed for his right and landed on the jet in that direction. The two pilots gazed up in time to see her shatter their glass with her star matter. She then reached inside and forced their ejection button to work.
One down...several more to go.
Sam managed to land on the Hellicarrier bay for a second before another jet forced him off. Seren sighed heavily from the sky. They would never get their feet into one of the Hellicarriers at this point.
From the ground, Steve was having the same problems. He zoomed through the HYDRA agents, knocking them down as quickly as possible but the more he got through the more agents appeared.
"Eight minutes, Cap!" Maria warned him.
"Yeah, working on it!"
"I gotcha!" Seren said, coming down in a rush.
"Seren, you need to get your Helicarrier—" Maria tried to say when Seren cut her off.
"They're everywhere—I'm multitasking!" She created a string of starmatter spheres between her hands then sent each of them towards the agents in the vicinity. With each section covered, Steve was able to make the rest of the way even quicker than before.
"I'm in!" he would later say after giving her a special thanks. "Alpha locked!"
"Seren, Helicarrier!" Maria said again.
"Yeah!" Seren shot for the second Helicarrier, this time determined to make the trip with no interruptions.
"Falcon, where are you now?" Maria checked in on the man who'd been pretty quiet for a few minutes.
"I had to take a detour!" He was in the air again, closer to the third Helicarrier, when heat-seeking missiles fired after him.
"Sam, are you good?" Seren had caught sight of the missiles and couldn't help but stop again.
"Yeah, yeah, you go!"
Seren's gaze lingered on the missiles but she ultimately decided to keep going. She couldn't afford another distraction. Plus, she still needed to find Chloe. Thankfully, a short moment later, she heard Sam give the clear for the second Helicarrier. One more to go.
Seren landed on the last Helicarrier and was surprised to see no agents around. She balled her fists and cautiously proceeded towards the center. "There's no on here," she told the others. "That's not right..."
"No, it's not," agreed Steve. It sounded a lot like a trap. "Wait for us!"
"Can't do that, lovey. Five minutes left," she reminded him with a perfectly good point. She started running for the center when a bright blue blast of energy hit her from the side. She screamed as her body went into a tumble near the edge.
"Seren!" she heard her name through the comms but everything seemed to ring in her ears for a few minutes while had body felt the horrible sting on her side.
Her vision may have blurred there for a second too. She'd never been hit with energy like that and it took her a minute to realize why...They were always on the same side.
"There would be a 98% chance of a victory if Stardust, Captain America and Falcon were to disappear," she heard from behind. As she began to pull herself, a second blast struck her back and forced her back down. A psionic blast. "The other 2% remains with Black Widow and other vigilantes but it's not much of a threat."
Seren scrunched her face, swallowing down her groan as she once again attempted to stand up.
"You will be alright. It's only a minimal laceration for your kind. Even half Celessians count with a higher healing factor than the enhanced."
Seren wobbled on her feet as she turned around, one hand wrapped around her stomach. She saw Chloe standing across her, smiling in a way that gave her chills. Chloe's face was covered with blue streaks that were seemingly constantly pumping energy. Seren saw the same blue lines peeking out from Chloe's sleeves and neck.
"Chloe, what's happened to you?" Seren felt even worse when her eyes fell on Chloe's left hand. "What is...what is that?"
"I've been upgraded." Chloe raised her left hand and showed Seren her palm. There was a small tech piece lodged in the middle of her palm and it seemed like her flesh was trying to merge with it, or perhaps absorb it. "I will finally gain full access of the Hive Mind, whether they want it or not."
Seren quickly picked up on Chloe's last words. "Whether they want to or...not...?" Could it be that the Hive Mind was rejecting the process? If that were the case then maybe, just maybe, the Hive Mind didn't accept what HYDRA was doing and...maybe they would help her instead. Maybe they would help her reach Chloe.
"HYDRA had to make some modifications in order to fulfil their goals," Chloe said, turning her palm over to see for herself. "The Hive Mind wasn't very compliant but...I can win."
"No, you can't," Seren said quietly, eyeing the relentless glow around Chloe's face. The energy was fighting to keep running through. "The Hive Mind doesn't want that, Chloe. It doesn't want HYDRA to gain access to their knowledge, to their power. Chloe, you don't want this either. You never have!"
"Because I didn't know that this is what I was missing!" Chloe exclaimed with an unnatural glee. "To see the future, to see all the calculations — it's mind blowing! All the power, it's..."
Seren started shaking her head. "Now I know this isn't you. Chloe was always terrified of what the Hive Mind could do. HYDRA made its modifications but not for the Hive Mind. They made them for you. They took your will, your freedom to think for yourself. It's exactly what they did to Sergeant Barnes.
Chloe's lips stretched into another wide smile. "My mind has never been more clear." She suddenly fired and hit Seren square in the chest. She dashed forward as Seren landed harshly on the ground. She turned Seren on her side while the latter was groggy, and plucked out her ear comm, smashing it to pieces in her hand.
"Chloe what are you—?"
"I knew you wouldn't expect that." Chloe dug through Seren's pockets around her waist until she pulled out the last of the targeting blades. "See? The Hive Mind is already accepting our new fate." She straightened up on her feet and turned, walking a few steps away from Seren. "Getting rid of the blade won't minimize the chance of failure. I'm 100% sure of this. Don't destroy it."
It took Seren a couple seconds to understand that Chloe was talking to someone else. When she sat upright, there stood Chloe in front of the Winter Soldier. "Chloe, don't..."
Chloe smiled and handed Bucky the blade. "They'll be landing on the Helicarrier in 10...9...8…"
"No!" Seren fired at the pair without thinking. Bucky made a run while Chloe held off the star matter with a psionic forcefield.
Seren stumbled up on her feet and only then saw Chloe talking to Bucky of all people. He held the targeting blade in his hand. "No, give that back!" Seren ran for the pair. Chloe spun around and clapped her hands together, creating a psionic wave. Seren crashed into a wall.
~ 0 ~
Steve landed with a rush next to Sam. The communications with Seren had gone out minutes ago, not even Maria could get through, and he knew that she was with Chloe. He looked around for a sign of her but it was just as she had said earlier. There were no agents on board. He then heard the distinctive crash of a body nearby. "Ser—"
A hard boot collided with his side, throwing him off the Helicarrier. He managed to hang onto the side at the last moment and then saw Sam flying off the edge (or attempting to). A metal arm reached for his wings and yanked him back.
Steve swallowed hard. Bucky was on the Helicarrier. What had he done with Seren? He started climbing back up as quickly as he could.
"Cap? Cap, come in!" He soon heard Sam through the comms. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm here! I'm still on the Helicarrier!"
"Good, cos so is your friend. I think I saw Seren on the higher deck. She's with Chloe."
"Where are you, Sam?"
"I'm grounded, the suit's down. Sorry, Cap."
"Don't worry, I got it." Steve took the last climb up to the Helicarrier. As soon as he was on his feet, he searched around for anybody at this point, whether it be Seren, Chloe or Bucky. He heard Seren first, maybe a slight divine justice for the moment, so he dashed towards the noise.
Seren had dodged Chloe's psionic blast and, unfortunately, delivered her own starmatter sphere in return. She hated the idea of hurting Chloe on any level. "Chloe, c'mon! It's me! It's Seren!"
Chloe's lips quirked into a smile. "Of course I know who you are. Agent Seren Soul, Stardust, prized agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., blah, blah, blah." She lunged on Seren with all her strength and managed to knock the ginger down. "You know what I thought when I first met you? 'Oh god, it's an alien. How could she ever be trusted to fight for Earth?"
Seren sucked in a breath then smacked her own forehead against Chloe's. The blonde groaned and fell back. "Funny, cos when I first met you, I thought: what the hell is this kid doing? Story of my life, I guess."
Chloe rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand, inadvertently allowing Seren to see her palm again, and clearer.
"Seren!" she heard Steve. Her head flipped to the right and saw him coming towards them. "No!" she yelled at him, forcing him into a skidded stop. "Bucky! He has the-the targeting blade!"
"What?" Steve automatically looked around as if Bucky himself was about to jump out, and he possibly would.
"I'm sorry, they took it from me!" Seren said. "Go get it! I'll take care of Chloe!"
"The hell you will," Chloe spat. She roundhouse kicked Seren but the latter proved quicker by grabbing Chloe's leg and using it to push her backwards. "Sorry! Steve, go!" Seren yelled at the man still conflicted with his choices. "Chloe's my sister. I'm gonna get her back!"
Steve's eyes flickered to Chloe groaning as she pulled herself up from the ground. As much as he loved Chloe—and he really had learned to—he agreed that this was on Seren, much like he had to help Bucky. He turned for the center of the Helicarrier and ran.
Chloe stumbled on her feet for a few seconds. "Can you really fight me?" she asked Seren.
Seren raised her head. "I could never fight Chloe Winters, but you're not her right now."
Chloe snorted. "I am."
"No, you're not," Seren's voice was sharp and final, wiping off any trace of amusement on Chloe's face. "HYDRA has taken your mind and forced it to accept that new tech piece, but it's not working, is it? Because if it had, you would've turned into another puppet like Sergeant Barnes. Your mind is having trouble fitting in a whole new piece so it's altering your personality, your thoughts, your actions. That is not my friend. But don't worry, I'm gonna get her back."
"Yeah? And how are you going to do that?" Chloe raised an eyebrow.
Seren balled her fists, letting them practically shine with power. "By giving you a good smack in the head." She flashed a smirk.
~ 0 ~
Bucky was waiting for Steve. He held the targeting blade in his hand, an act alone that had Steve genuinely surprised. Why not destroy it already?
"People are gonna die, Buck. I can't let that happen," Steve decided to break the silence first. He kept his safe distance but was prepared to attack as soon as he had to. For the moment though, Bucky only stared at him. "Please, don't make me do this. Give me the targeting blade." But still, Bucky did not budge.
Time was running out.
Without another thought, Steve threw his shield at Bucky. Like last time, Bucky caught it swiftly in his hand and chucked right back to him. They ran down the catway to meet each other in the middle. Bucky had two guns firing on Steve but with a swift kick, the latter was able to throw them to the side (though he did get one graze on his side in the process). He got a quick opportunity and shoved Bucky to the side to get into the targeting blade system. He could at least bring it up then swipe it from Bucky.
Bucky yanked him back with the intentions of pulling his knife on him. In doing so, however, Steve was able to reach for the targeting blade. He got it for a split moment before Bucky threw him back. Steve heard the fall of the targeting blade from a distance. He raised his head to see the blade dangerously on the edge. He pulled himself up and ran for it only for it to fall below. He picked up his pace and jumped over the edge as well, landing on the ground below.
~ 0 ~
Chloe raged against Seren with fists in the air. Seren would admit that Chloe was stronger with this new tech piece but her fighting was all over the place. If she had to take a guess, she would say that the Hive Mind was interfering. "Don't let them win, Hive Mind!" she called. "If HYDRA gains access to your power, they'll know everything about your species. All your secrets in human hands!"
Chloe shoved Seren and angrily shouted at her to stop. "The Hive Mind doesn't speak to you!"
"No, but I bet everything that it's listening!" Seren snapped. "And I bet that it's messing with you right now!" Chloe growled and threw a sloppy jet of energy at her. Seren crossed her arms in front of her and produced a shield to block the blast. "So much for calculating," Seren smirked. "And that's sad considering you've trained with me, with Natasha, Citlalli — you've had all kinds of training and right now, you seem like a clumsy high school cheerleader right now." She got what she wanted with that jab. Chloe's anger made her blind and thus more open for attack.
Chloe started throwing psionic blasts again. Seren shot into the air, dodging each blast.
"Get back down!" Chloe ordered.
"Okay!" Seren decided to swoop down and grab Chloe by her shoulders. "I love you, Chloe, but…" She unceremoniously dropped Chloe. The blonde tumbled on the ground but when she stopped, she was more furious than ever.
She jumped on her feet and dodged the following star matter spheres Seren sent her way. Her vision blurred as numbers sprouted from every corner in her mind.
Left, right, under, another left—
She shook her head as she followed the instructions to avoid the spheres. She wanted the specific sphere to…
Third!
When the third star matter sphere came her way, Chloe captured it with a shield. Seren gasped, eyes blinking wide. Since when can she do that!? With a smirk, Chloe sent it right back to her. Seren barely dodged it with her surprise.
~ 0 ~
Steve couldn't remember another time where the fight was too close. As skilled as his opponents were, in the end he always won. Today, he couldn't be sure that would be the same story. Bucky had similar strength to him, similar skills and Steve was almost sure that those skills could outwit him if he wasn't careful. HYDRA played dirty, a known fact and Bucky had always been an agile fighter anyways. A deadly combination.
Steve landed on the same level as the blade and ran for it. Just before he could reach it, his shield hit him in the back. Bucky had come down as well and caught up with Steve. He plunged a knife into Steve's shoulder then headed for the targeting blade. Steve forced the knife out of his shoulder, ignoring the blotch of blood that surged from it, as well as the wicked pain he felt, and started running. He reached for Bucky just as the latter had grabbed the blade. He dodged Bucky's attempts of a clean punch and in return headbutted him several times. As much as it pained him (both emotionally and physically), he grabbed Bucky by the throat, raising him for a second before slamming him down on the ground.
As groggy as Bucky was, he had yet to let go of the blade. Steve grabbed him from behind in an armlock. "Drop it!" he yelled, but Bucky kept a tight grip around the blade. Why couldn't he just make things easy this one moment?
Bucky possibly squeezed the chip in his hand even more. He was stubborn, that much was still in him. He reached an arm back to try and pry Steve off him but instead of managing that, Steve broke that arm. The two fell back on the ground but even then, Steve still held Bucky by the neck. If he wasn't going to willingly let go of the blade, then he would have to by force. Steve tightened his grip around Bucky's neck until he passed out. He felt terrible about it but it had to be done, thousands of people were counting on him.
~ 0 ~
Chloe grabbed Seren's arm and pulled her up. "Sixty percent chance of your demise right here and now."
"Just 60%?" Seren raised an eyebrow, ignoring the ache in her chest. Now she knew what her opponents felt like when she attacked them. "Could it be maybe the Hive Mind is gaining the upperhand, then?"
Chloe seemed to twitch as she tried to think about the calculations. "The other 40%" — she twitched again — "is unaccounted now..."
Seren took advantage of the next time Chloe twiced and used the grip Chloe had on her arm to throw the blonde over her and onto the ground. Chloe fell with a thud, eyes squeezed shut in pain.
"I'm no expert but I think you're going into overdrive," Seren said, none too pleased with the fact. She didn't want to Chloe to suffer an irreversible effect. "The tech piece needs to come out, Chloe. Let me help you."
Chloe struggled to get back on her feet. She rolled her shoulders over to shake off the pain. "I don't need any help." She went to throw her fist but Seren caught it with one hand.
Seren's eyes flashed colorfully. "I love you, Chloe, but I know a lot more than you. And if I have to burn that tech out of your hand, I will."
Chloe felt the sizzle of her skin and started screaming.
~ 0 ~
"One minute!" Maria's voice rang in Steve's ear, along with everything else.
He was climbing his way back up to the systems when a bullet was fired and grazed his left thigh. He used all his strength to finish the trip up. Bucky was still a bit lost with his own balance too. The system was just as he'd left it earlier. He rushed inside as best as he could, which was a series of wobbles and sprints.
"Thirty seconds, Cap!" Maria went again.
"Stand by!" He pulled the targeting blade out and reached for the system when Bucky fired again, this time hitting him straight in the stomach. That one forced Steve down for a moment. He looked down at himself to see another blotch of red on his stomach. No matter, he literally didn't have time for it.
"Twenty seconds!" Maria could already see the algorithm targeting potential victims. The White house, the Pentagon, the C.I.A., Stark Tower were just a few of those places.
Steve climbed up to his feet again and pushed his arm forwards, placing in the targeting blade just in time. "Charlie locked." At least whatever happened afterwards, he would know that the people were safe. He, however, had no idea where he stood.
~ 0 ~
Chloe screamed as her hand burned. She slapped and smacked Seren as much as she could but the Celessian proved her superior biology.
"Help me, Hive Mind," Seren called, "Please."
Chloe emitted a force of a shield, shoving Seren across from her. With a heavy breath, she took her hand and studied the damage on her palm. She felt it hard to blink and focus as so much information started flashing in front of her eyes.
~ 0 ~
"Okay, Cap, get out of there!" Maria said once she had successfully locked the Helicarriers onto one another. "Get Seren too!"
Steve felt like that would be an impossible task. He was stumbling to stay on his feet. "Fire now!"
"But, Steve…"
"Do it!" Steve snapped. He looked up above as if he would see Seren or Chloe, but of course luck wasn't that easy right now. He had to believe that Seren would be able to get out of there in time with Chloe.
Each of the Helicarriers started firing at one another.
Up above, Seren saw the mess that was starting to come down on them (literally). She pulled herself up to her feet then looked at the ground underneath her feet and wondered where Steve was right now. Had he gotten off? He had to. With or without Bucky, he had to get out. She believed he would which was why she turned around to Chloe.
"Need a ride?"
Chloe only glowered at her. She lowered her injured hand, angrier than ever. She knew exactly what Seren was going to do. "Don't you dare—"
Seren zoomed towards Chloe like she would ram her down but instead, she jumped off the Helicarrier with Chloe in her arms.
"Let me go! Let me go!" Chloe screamed all the way down until Seren did just that. She let Chloe fall from a safe distance on the ground. The force of it was enough to knock her out.
Seren landed beside her and fell to her knees. Her arms hovered over Chloe, going back and forth as she decided what to do. Her hand was badly burned and the tech piece was still lodged in her palm and by the looks of it, it was only getting worse. It wasn't absorbing the right way and now with her interferance, it looked like it was sparking from the inside. "Oh Chloe, what do I do? What do I do?"
~ 0 ~
Against his own injuries, Steve managed to help Bucky free himself from the fallen rubble. "You know me," he insisted afterwards.
Bucky lashed out at him in anger. "No, I don't!" He raged. It was an entirely new reaction that Steve would take with hope. If Bucky was angry and not stoically cold then it meant he had an inkling doubt that what he was saying was true.
"Bucky, you've known me your whole life!" Bucky continued to punch him but he wasn't going to fight back. If he did, then Bucky would never listen to him. "Your name is James Buchanan Barnes!"
"Shut up!"
Steve pulled off his mask and let his shield fall which, in turn, let it fall out of the Helicarrier altogether. "I'm not gonna fight you. You're my friend."
Bucky ignored him and shoved him to the ground. "You're my mission!" He delivered the worst punches he could to make his point. He couldn't remember something that wasn't there—
He scrunched his face when a blip of a distorted image clouded him for a second. Absolutely not. "You're my mission!"
Steve let his body fall limp. His energy was already dwindling with his injuries catching up to him. He couldn't fight and he didn't want to. "Then finish it," he said, all too much defeated. Bucky held his fist up, looking almost hesitant for a moment. "Cause I'm with you to the end of the line."
Something about those specific words forced Bucky to stop for a full second. The distorted images were trying to push back, too fast to actually see anything but the point is that they were there. There were images to have. He felt the same when Chloe had eased his mind earlier...
The bottom of the Helicarrier lurched on its side and forced Steve down into the river below. Bucky managed to hold on from his side but there was still something he was trying to see. He couldn't...whatever they were, those images had come because of the words that that man had said.
"I knew him," he said, inadvertently proving her point.
Chloe very quickly confirmed it. "You did!" After that, she had agents coming to retrieve her. She thrashed and yelled at them to leave her alone.
He had thought Chloe was telling the truth. No one else around him showed emotions. She did and she was very confident in it too.
~ 0 ~
Seren had Chloe's hand in hers. She couldn't imagine the type of pain Chloe was in from the burn injuries. From the side, she heard a series of splashes. When she looked over, all she saw were the pieces of the Helicarriers finally touching water. She really wished she had her ear comm. still in place. Chloe would need medical attention fast.
She froze altogether when she saw Bucky emerging from the water. For a moment, she thought she would have to fight yet again. The feeling intensified when she realized he was pulling Steve's unconscious body with him. As much as she knew Steve loved him, Seren wouldn't hesitate to fight Bucky too. He was not going to take Steve anywhere.
Seren had just stood up when Bucky met her gaze. He had pulled Steve to the ground and left his body beside Chloe's. Seren stayed where she was for the moment, shocked as he seemingly stepped away from the two unconscious bodies. She dared to even say that Bucky was confused with himself too.
He looked up from Steve, meeting Seren's gaze again. She was breathing heavily, probably wondering what he was going to do next. That was a good question, what was he going to do now?
Chloe started shuddering and twitching again. Seren quickly fell on her knees beside Chloe and tried helping keeping her still. The blue lines around Chloe's face was glowing much too bright and the tech piece in her palm was sparking on the outside now, adding more sting to her burned flesh. Helpless, Seren looked up to Bucky.
"Please, you don't know me and that's fine, but you know him." She swallowed hard when she saw all the injuries that Steve had. "I know it doesn't seem like it but he tried to help you and...and maybe you just did it too. If could help her too…" She motioned to Chloe. "Please...HYDRA hurt her the same way it hurt you. She didn't want for this to happen. Please help her."
Bucky looked down at Chloe. Even with the mind wipe, he still remembered parts of her from his missions before. It was funny how HYDRA thought he was always back at zero when they "started over with him". That was his secret. He was never back at zero. There were always bits and pieces he was left with.
Chloe smiled slightly at him. "Can I?" She gestured her wrists still bound by his hands.
The shock wasn't enough to cover his expression when she asked for his permission. Because of that, Bucky gave a slim nod of his head. Now he was curious and that was a novelty. He hadn't been curious about anything in...he didn't know how much time had passed.
Chloe focused all her power on Bucky. Never had she tried so hard to make it work. While Bucky had no idea what was supposed to be happening, he felt it. It was strange. His mind, as fuzzy and conflicted as it was, started to shift. Every thought, no matter what it was, was dissolving to allow this wave of serenity to wash over him. How could this woman be producing that level of calmness? As much as he had planned to stay alert, his eyes fell shut. For the first time since he could remember, everything dark around him slipped away. He knew nothing but sweet bliss and calmness.
Chloe watched the people around them hurriedly move to do whatever Pierce instructed them to do. "What...what are they going to do?"
Clamps shut around his arms.
"Woah, woah, woah, wait!" Chloe pushed herself towards them, forcing the agents around her to hold her back. "Leave him alone! It's my fault! I did it — leave him alone!"
Bucky's eyes lowered to Chloe's burned hand. That tech piece had been recently implanted. He still remembered her screams when they carried her away while he was to be "prepped". She had tried fighting for him, tried to defend him. After being prepped, he was introduced to HYDRA's newest asset and according to them, the Winter Soldier would be working closely with this asset. She would provide all the insight on their missions while he carried them out.
It had been a very long time since he had met someone who didn't want to instantly "work" on him. Chloe was almost like the rest of HYDRA's assets, those who were brought in against their will. He would have to run, he knew that, which just begged the question of what Chloe would have to do now to take care of herself.
He would pay her back with the same coin, almost.
He moved around, startling Seren in the process, and stopped by Chloe. Seren's breathing couldn't possibly be harder. She watched him with hawk eyes, hands at the ready to commence a fight. He lowered his metal hand to Chloe's burned one. His fingers touched the tech piece in her palm and with one swift pull, he forced it out of her hand. Seren scrunched her face when he saw Chloe's skin pull apart to leave a big hole in the middle of her palm.
That's one way to do it, she swallowed hard.
Bucky stepped back with the tech piece in hand. Seren quickly sought Chloe's hand to try and stop the bleeding. She would then glance over to Steve and seeing him unconscious and Chloe's bleeding not stopping made her all the more frantic.
"We need to get them to the hospital! Can you….?" She looked up to find Bucky gone. She scanned the area and saw nothing. He was just gone.
~ 0 ~
Steve felt the ache of his body before he was fully conscious. He could hear the faint noise of music in the air and a few seconds later, he realized he was on a bed. Considering how bad he felt, it had to be a hospital. He turned his head as much as he could and was able to see Sam sitting next to his bed. He should have figured the music was Sam's. "On your left," he said, making Sam's head flip in his direction.
He smiled. "Good, you're being funny again. Seren will like that."
At the mention of Seren, Steve tried to move a bit more. "Where is sh—"
Sam snapped his fingers in a direction Steve couldn't see. It was the open doorway to the room because Seren was standing outside, conversing with a doctor. At the snap of Sam's fingers, she looked back and immediately waved the doctor away. Sam got up and moved his chair just as she hurried inside the room.
"I'll go join Natasha in Chloe's room," Sam told her as he left the room.
"Hey there," Seren took Steve's hand. Though groggy, he met her gaze. She was smiling softly at him. "We have got to stop meeting like this."
It hurt to laugh so Steve only managed a little one. "Somehow I prefer it this way more than the other way around." It then struck him that Seren hated hospitals of all things. "Hey, you conquered your fear..."
Seren smiled solely for the look on his face. "Oh, don't be fooled, lovey, I still hate these places. But you're here, and so is Chloe, and I'm not going anywhere. I'm watching these doctors like a hawk. I'm not letting them pump anything into either of you without me knowing what it is." Steve wanted to bring her hand closer and when Seren caught on, she saved him the work and picked up his hand to press a kiss over it. Steve started recalling things and one of those was the image of Chloe's face with some strong blue streaks. "Chloe, where is she…?"
"Shhh, she's in another room," Seren told him before he got too antsy.
"What's happened to her?"
"Uh, you know, the tech piece HYDRA implanted on her palm wasn't absorbed so well into her body."
"Did they get it out?"
Seren bit her lower lip. She'd been going over in her head how to answer this question. "Umm...yes…" She could keep quiet about it, she knew, but in the end the guilt would gnaw at her head. "Bucky sort of did that."
"What—?"
"I asked him to help and he did. I don't know why but I'm grateful with him." Seren hesitated her next words. "He's gone, Steve. I'm sorry."
Steve wasn't all that surprised. He didn't remember much after the Helicarrier sent him down. "Did he...did he say anything?"
Seren shook her head. "No, I'm sorry."
"Not your fault," he tried to squeeze her hand but his strength wasn't all that good at the moment.
Seren still felt his intentions and squeezed his hand instead. "I'm here, lovey. I'm not going anywhere." She leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek, careful to avoid his bruises.
"Hm, even if I'm here for days?" Steve challenged with a hint of a smirk on his face.
"Well, that's the lucky thing when your boyfriend is all super-serumed...his injuries don't last very long."
"So that means you won't get to be my nurse for a long time..." Steve pretended to sigh disappointingly. Seren blushed and would've smacked him if he hadn't gone through hell already.
"Oh, hush already." Seren took the chair Sam left and scooted it close to the bed.
"Aren't you supposed to be in one of these?" Steve said once he noticed the faint bruises on her neck. "Not that I would want you to be but..."
"I'm okay," Seren assured him. "It turns out that I do in fact heal faster than most. Chloe was right about that. Or, I guess it was the Hive Mind." She cleared her throat and began to think about things. "I really hurt her, Steve. I burned her hand trying to get that second tech piece out of her..."
"Seren, you did what you had to to save her..." Steve said, managing to squeeze her hand a bit that time.
"I gave her a serious burn," Seren said, "She's going to hate me."
"No, she didn't want any of this stuff. She'll understand."
Seren wanted to believe it as much as Steve did. "For now...let's just make sure that you are okay. You and Chloe."
"And you," Steve said, prompting her to remind him that she was already healing. "I don't mean the physical injuries. SHIELD is gone. You are not okay." Sure enough, with his words the smile on Seren's face slowly waned. "We all have some work cut out for us."
A/N:
And thus this happens :o. My apologies on the big gap of updating. Truthfully, all my stories have gone through some hiatus. Life at work has been...hard, to say the least. Some angry "clients" to say, one of my assistants quit because of some beef she had with admin, and just...it's been a lot. It's left me with very little desire to write but this 3 day weekend has given me some inspo again to get back into what I love doing.
And now we're going to start moving into the second phase of this fic, which is more on the sweet side (at least for Seren and Steve) and just a general build up for Age of Ultron!
P.S. As always, I have an AO3/Wattpad account under "noblecrescent" and a tumblr account under "saiilorstars" if you'd like to follow :)