"Red Poppy" is the first part of a double-feature. It's set after WInter Soldier, AU and it messes with the timelines a bit.
TW: Major character death - angsty
Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel.

Anouncement: All my Hunger Games / Avenger themed AUs are now published separately under the new title "Odds and Favours" in Crossovers since I decided to make it a longer series!

Red Poppy

HYDRA was a fierce opponent, Steve knew this better than anyone else. Now they were back, stronger than ever, and it was like a hit in the stomach. But at least there was still soemthing like a team left, people he could rely on - Natasha, of course, even though he was fairly certain she had her own secrets, Sam, a new support, Fury, even though he was always a unpredictable variable, and Maria Hill, who seemed a bit like a rock he could build on. She was not only an agent but also a soldier at the bottom of her heart, he could see it in the way she acted and gave orders. It made him feel connected to her in the way he did with Sam, but not with Natasha of Clint who only lived in the shadows.

Danger was apart of the job Hill had chosen, he knew this, and still he couldn't help but feel guilty now. Which was - as Natasha had put it - absolute crap since it had been her plan all along. But he felt he should have had her back, should have predicted somehow what would happen. They had been on the way to a HYDRA safehouse, Hill and Natasha in a grey SUV, himself on a motorbike. Fury had been somewhere else, probably in Washington D.C., anywhere where he could to do damage control to fend of the increasing media attention. After word of their actions had come to some TV-stations, they were now intercepting the missions with their cameras and drones, circling like vultures and making their work 10 times more complicated. Sam had been ready to join them wherever needed, everything had been in order, when suddenly two black HYDRA vans had come out of nowhere, cutting him off Natasha and Hill. Him and Natasha had had started firing, while the former deputy had driven on with almost unreduced speed, keeping a distance between the HYDRA agents and their SUV. Steve had heard Hill's car window splinter through the comms, and a couple of muttered curses, but no answer to his call for response.

"Driver on the right hit!" she suddenly reported, just as the car started to become unsteady as the driver lost control of the car, "Rogers, continue to tackle them from the back!"

"Hill, block the left car!" Steve barked back, making Hill finally reduce the speed, almost causing a collision and enable the captain to get closer to the enemies.

He could see Hill's SUV was taking heavy hits, smoke curling up and obscuring the sight, while himself and Natasha tried to take out the HYDRA agents, but it seemed to hold up fine for now. Suddenly, the communication was interrupted, a shrill sound hurting his ears as he screamed for his partners but nobody answered. HYDRA must have finally hacked the frequency, making communication impossible.

'Please don't let us crash against a wall,' he prayed as the continued to rush through the streets of Chicago, trying to avoid hitting other cars, bikers or pedestrians.

In retrospect, it was maybe the speed of the cars and bikes together with the exhaustion of the last couple of days that made them sloppy. Or maybe it was the fact that only Hill knew Chicago well and the others were flying mostly blind in this city while trying to take out a quite prolific HYDRA cell. Or maybe they were simply one moment to late. One moment Steve was feeling slightly victorious since the right HYDRA car finally crashed into a lampost, taking itself out of the game, the next he was suddenly faced with a bright red hot explosion, only blocked by the car in front of him. Only his quick reflexes kept him from falling off his bike or driving straight into the wall of fire that now also started to lick at the HYDRA car.

He jumped off his bike, only paying the HYDRA agent who was creeping out of his badly damaged car enough mind to pull him out of the broken window by his arms and knocking him out. Steve would deal with him later. Then he tried to run around the further increasing flames, ignoring the screams and panic of spectators that had stopped behind him and were watching the event with shock and morbid curiosity. As she pushed through the smoke, thanking Erskine for his strong lungs, he saw something red and moving on the ground, rightly identifying it as Natasha who was slowly pushing herself up into a sitting position.

"Report!", he demanded.
"Bruised rips and knee, potentially fractured arm," she told him, "I can walk."

He pulled her up without further questions, leading her to the side of the road where the smoke was still less thick and more white than black.
"Hill?" he asked, but a look at the incresing inferno behind the two of them should have been answer enough.

Nat only shook her head, but he still sat her down on the side, taking a deep breath before running abck towards the SUV. From the little he could see it was worse than expected - the two cars had utterly crashed into one another, Hill's SUV bent to the point of ridiculousness. He could smell the metallic scent of blood and saw the potential outline of a person in the fire, but there was no way to get to her. Also, Natasha was right, no unenhanced person would still be alive in this kind of smoke. Without a look back, he ran to his partner, relieved when he saw that she could apparently get up again.

"Let's disappear," Natasha told him quietly without any furtehr look towards the car, and together they walked out of the smoke into the other direction, disappearing from sight as sirens got louder behind them.

It was only much later, when they had arrived in the safehouse, that they finally talked about what had happened. While it pained Steve to push the visibly shaken Natasha, both knew it was important to check in after a mission, even a failed one.

"It was the children," Natasha only said after staring at the wall for a long time, "there was a school straight ahead. Children were playing on an open area in front of it, I don't know why. She was afraid HYDRA would use the area to overtake us or crash into us from the side and run the kids over. She pushed me out of the car before I knew what was happening, and then caused the accident to stop HYDRA from getting near them. Something must have exploded during the crash, it must have beed a technical defect, probably due to the little crashes beforehand."

Steve nodded numbly, understanding and still not understanding what she was saying. Hill had been there since he had woken up in the 21st century, her not being there anymore felt utterly wrong. Not as bad as losing Bucky, but still wrong.

"I didn't know she cared so much about children," he commented.
Natasha frowned. "She cared a lot. About a lot of things. Never showed it though. And protecting children - I don't think any agent wouldn't."
Steve looked away, feeling chastized.
"We need to call Fury," Natasha argued suddenly.
"If you want to, you can do that. But you don't have to," he offered.

His friend gave him a tight smile.

"I think this is more important for you than for me, captain," she said, nodding towards the phone.

It occured to Steve that he actually had no idea what the relationship between Hill and Fury was actually like, whether it was strictly business or in any way friendly. He had the feeling there was a certain amount of trust, but not enough to not go behind each others back if necessary. As he entered the secure connection, he swallowed thickly before answering to Fury's silence.

"Sir, it's about Hill. She - she got part of the HYDRA cell. But they got her too," he told the former director, "she's dead."

The man didn't comment, which he found slightly odd.

"Is it confirmed?" he finally asked, his voice expressionless.
"No Sir, but no chance to get out of there alive."
"Where is she now?"
"There was fire, and with everything around, no opportunity to get hold of her. But It's also unlikely they will find DNA. I am sorry Sir," he answered.
"Motherfucker,"he heard Fury mutter, "alright. Finish the job and then get out of her. She wouldn't have wanted you to make a fuss about her anyway. Rogers, she was an agent, one of my best ones, she knew what she was getting herself into. Whatever you beat yourself up about, stop doing it right now."

He disconnected the call, and Steve wondered if he had disconnected from his former deputy just as easily.