Chapter 9
The loud squeal of breaks protesting deafened her. Brooke watched the motorcyclist fly by her while the one on Steve's side of the car made a sickening crunch when Steve threw his door open and allowed the guy to run into it.
The black SUV was still advancing on them, but Brooke had no time to think about that. As shots started firing, she threw open her door and ran, like Steve told her to.
Brooke thought she had tripped on a rock when she got a face full of grass and dirt. It was not till ten seconds later that she felt a heavy weight on her back and a sharp pain in her skull. The man above her pulled her head back by her hair, his hot breath at her ear.
Whimpering Brooke tried to move away or get her hands out from under her attacker's knees. He had effectively pinned her so she could not reach any of the weapons on her person. She tried to kick but realized her legs were tied together at the ankle. Now at least she knew what tripped her, fuck.
"You can squirm all you like little girl, but we're taking you back."
"Car's abandoned, both Rodgers and the girl are in the woods," Tony announced touching down, scanning.
Natasha's voice came next. "We ran into traffic, Sam and Bucky are on foot."
"Three minutes out," Sam reported, his wings transporting both him and Bucky to the scene.
Steve's out-of-breath voice sounded in her ear. "Brooke, where are you?"
"You don't have eyes on her?" Bucky accused.
"Tony?" Steve asked.
"I've got eyes...She's 2 kilometres south of your position, and she's not alone."
Steve took off running toward her but Bucky still in route drew her attention.
"Brooke, do you copy?" She had been too distracted trying to get the knife from her boot she had been ignoring the team. "Brooke?"
"You have one second to get off of me." She threatened.
The man laughed at her, "What are you going to do little girl, you can't hide behind your supersoldier now."
Brooke pushed her ass up, knees digging painfully into the dirt. She managed to get just enough force to reach her fingers into her boots and pull her knife out. She wasted no time digging the blade into the man's thigh. His warm blood immediately started soaking into her jeans.
"Fucking little- son of a bitch!" He slammed her head into the dirt, rubbing her face against it.
Her nose made a crushing sound and the damp taste of dirt on her tongue as she tried to breathe caused her to panic.
His weight shifted to relieve the pain in his left leg. Brooke squirmed around so she was lying on her back staring up at him. She needed to find any advantage she could, there were more guys out there and she wanted this one dealt with before she became outnumbered.
The guy was quicky to drop his weight onto her stomach, keeping her bellow him, he smiled at her, like he was enjoying her struggling under him. The sickening sound of skin hitting skin sounded through the comms and everyone winched as a second impact was made followed by a whimper from Brooke.
"Time to go night-night." His hands rounded her neck and squeezed hard, Brooke gasped.
"Steve!"
"Almost there."
Brooke brought the knife up to aim for the guy's neck, but he grabbed her wrist and nearly broke it forcing her to drop the weapon.
"Brooke, listen to me. Don't stop fighting. We're almost there."
She bucked and hit, Brooke knew she wouldn't be able to reach his neck or any of his soft spots. She tried to land punches on his ribs but they were mediocre at best. Her head started to tingle and she started to lose her eyesight. She had long since stopped hearing the voices in her comms. Only hearing the blood rushing in her ears as she started to black out.
"Wilson I could use some help," Tony said sounding out of breath.
Brooke's hands settled for grabbing the man's wrists, she dug her nails in deep. She had been clinging to him so tightly that when Steve tackled him off of her she rolled with them.
Air burned her lungs as she gasped and coughed, Brooke rolled onto her stomach trying to get to her feet. She did not know if there were any of their men left to fight. But she forgot her ankles were tied together, making the motion of trying to stand challenging.
Not to mention, her limbs had been denied oxygen, slowing down her movements as they came back to life.
Brooke lashed out feeling hands on her shoulder, as she turned to punch her attacker in the face her hands were once again captured.
"Hey, let me take a look at you," Steve said gently tugging at her hands to help her into a sitting position.
He broke the wire holding her legs captive, the silver dripped blood having cut into Brooke's skin while she was trying to fight back. What a pathetic showing it had been. She could not help but feel embarrassed.
"I'm okay," Brooke told him trying to lean back from him and almost toppling over.
Steve frowned, her face was covered in dirt and blood, and she looked dazed from the beating she had taken. He could already see the bruising forming around her neck from being strangled. A concussion was a serious possibility.
"Your nose is broken, we'll have to wait for Natasha to reset it."
They heard Bucky's boots bounding off the forest floor before they saw him. He paused for a moment when he came across them, his eyes flicking around the space for signs of danger. Seeing none, he jogged over dropping to his knees before them.
Gingerly Bucky took Brooke's battered face in his hands, he frowned and winced taking in her new wounds.
"They need you out on the road," Bucky told Steve but eyes still wondered her face.
The blonde got to his feet with a nod. "I knocked that guy out, but keep an eye on him."
Brooke watched Bucky's blue eyes harden and look over at the man who had battered her.
"Buck," Steve questioned seriously.
He was not going to kill the man, "Go, Steve." But god did he want to.
Steve ran toward the fight, the call for more support from his team sending him into a sprint.
"Any trouble breathing?" Bucky's fingers softly ran over her neck, whipping some of the dirt and blood from her face.
Brooke shook her head and her vision swam, she turned and vomited. Bucky pulled her hair softly from her face, a stark juxtaposition to the harsh grip the man had on her five minutes ago.
"No, no, I just got dizzy for a second." She whipped her mouth on the back of her hand. "It's alright."
"You can't breathe out of your nose, Brooke."
God forbid she roll her eyes and make herself dizzy again. Brooke refrained from reacting. She felt weak and like a burden, something she had not felt in a long time. That feeling sat heavy in her stomach. She hurt like hell, but she was not about to start complaining. She needed to keep her wits about her.
"Natasha will pop it back into place, and I can sleep off a concussion. Come on, we need to go help the others."
Bucky shook his head, she was in no shape, "Steve, how's it looking out there?"
"All clear. The only survivor is the man with you."
"Great," Bucky muttered to himself.
Slowly he pulled Brooke to her feet as the rest of the group found them.
"Ou, that looks worse than it sounded, are you ok?" Sam asked Brooke. He pulled some water and a rag from his pack, handing them to Brooke.
Bucky took both things from her, wetting the material he nodded for her to look up. The bruises on her face and jaw had already started to swell, he tried to be as gentle as possible removing blood and dirt from her skin.
"Romanoff's up on the road, you can finish patching her up there, we can't risk sticking around in case more show up."
Brooke turned to Tony. "Do we know who they are?"
"Hydra." It was an educated guess.
The small group walks out of the forest. The sun was high and bright as they left the shade of the trees. Brooke flinched back into Bucky's waiting arms, her head throbbing.
"What happened?" His hands grazed her waist.
The way her body had jolted, Bucky thought, just for a second, she had been shot.
"It's just the sun, it's a little too bright right now."
Bucky placed his hand on Brooke's back, leading her so she could keep her hands over her eyes. He got her into the back seat of the SUV he had driven here in.
Natasha came and pushed him out of the way, she had the first aid kit open and started tending to Brooke. Instead of protesting like she had with him, Brooke told the spy where it hurt and let her straighten her nose.
1,2,3 Crack.
Bucky watched her forehead crinkle as Brooke pressed back into her seat, the only reaction the violent motion drew from her. He frowned at that, he knew her face must be hurting like a bitch.
"We have a couple of "shake and break" ice packs in this kit. Use them now, your face and neck are already starting to swell."
"Thank you." Brooke took the cold bag and cracked them shook them around.
Bucky held out his hands. "Let me do that."
Handing them over Brooke leaned back against the leather seats, eyes closed. Her ears were ringing and her face felt like she had been stung by thousands of bees.
He gently brushed her hair behind her ear, pulling the small comms device from her ear. Placing it back in its hard shell, next to his.
"Headache?"
"Yeah."
Bucky climbed into the seat beside her, he moved Brooke so she was laying into him. He laid the iced packs on her face and neck, then used his cool metal hand to massage and squeeze her head.
"Mmm, that feels nice."
Sam, who had just opened the other door to climb in the back seat with them froze.
"I will hold off on my sexual innuendo because you're hurt, but just know it was left unsaid." He told his hand out, "Here are two T3s, they'll help with the pain."
Bucky shook his head, "She shouldn't take them unless Banner says, she should see him first."
"I'm going to my bed to sleep as soon as we get back, not the lab." Brooke took the pills and dry-swallowed them, and Bucky huffed.
Sam backed outta the vehicle, "I'm going to get you a bottle of water to follow that up with."
"You should let him check you out. We can have him waiting in the garage for a quick check-up, or come to your room."
They were mumbling now, keeping their voices down to not aggravate her throbbing brain.
"If I still feel this crappy in the morning I'll go see him then."
Settling into a silence, Bucky let his mind wander back to an hour ago.
_ 40 Minutes Earlier_
"The plates are fine, there wasn't any damage there, it's just this last wire."
"Ok," Bucky said, waiting.
He and Tony were far from friends, but they did have an understanding. Bucky had known Howard Stark, and had killed him and his wife. Tony was the exact same arrogant ass that his father was, with less charm. But how could he fault the kid? Growing up with his last name to live up to and having no parents around to guide you.
Bucky could try to understand that. It did not make Tony any less of an ass, though.
"Finished, Suri said this should be the last time you'll need an update for a while. She sent all her latest stuff."
"Thanks," Bucky rolled his sleeve back down over his shoulder.
"Mr Stark, Mr Barnes, Agent Romanoff is currently receiving a distress call from Steve Rodgers."
Bucky's stomach flipped, a distress call, from where? Steve said he was going to be doing paperwork all day. The man never slept and when he did, it was more of a military nap than anything else, a solid six hours and he was ready to go. 'I've slept long enough' always being his excuse when Bucky called him on it.
"He's not on the compound?" Tony prompted, he and Bucky both headed out of the lab.
"He and Miss Mitchell left together over an hour ago."
What the fuck? "Where are they?"
Bucky pulled his phone from his pocket, he noticed almost twenty missed messages in one of their group chats.
Sam almost ran into them in the doorway, "Guy we gotta, go Steve-"
Tony pushed passed him heading for his suit, "FRIDAY told us."
"Nat's pulling up the car man, let's go."
"How many-"
"Natasha was on the phone with them, she'll debrief on the drive over."
They flew into their apartments grabbed their tack gear and bypassed the elevator for the stairs to save themselves a few minutes.
"FRIDAY, which car did they take?"
"They took the Range Rover."
That meant on board there were at least 4 guns and a couple of knives. There were comms in the glove compartment-.
Bucky pulled his comms out from his bag, he hoped Steve would have already activated his and given one to Brooke.
"Where are you?"
They were on the interstate making their way back toward them. The rest of the team was quick to come online, they started getting information bit by bit. It was not until the group was on the main road that Brooke spoke.
Bucky held on to each word as she told the group what little they had to defend themselves with. Bucky knew Brooke did not have as much training as the rest of them, her skills with a gun were going to be clunky and her best bet would be to arm herself with the knives, but to use them she would need to get up close.
Bucky wanted her to keep as much distance between herself and the enemy as possible.
"Brooke. Take the semiautomatic, it had less kickback." He told her, the car should have at least one of those.
"Got it."
Bucky tried to get a read on her, was she scared, nervous? It was hard to tell when she said the bare minimum. He did not want to distract her by saying more than he needed to. She did need to focus. If she lost focus like she did the other day with Clint, it could be her life and not a friendly pulled punch.
It was also an easier gun to use, he hoped the simplicity would keep her alive. Steve was giving her a crash course on guns, reloading and making sure the safety was off. They all listened as metal clumsy clinked on metal as Brooke practiced his instructions.
The muffled sound, almost like white noise filled their ears, they had rolled down their windows.
This was taking too long, they were still too far away, he should have made Stark carry him.
"We're off the freeway. Tony?"
"Six minutes"
"Buck?"
"Eightteen." He clenched his teeth.
Eighteen fucking minutes was too damn long. He was too far away from her, if something were to happen now all she had was Steve. Bucky knew Steve would fight like hell to keep her alive, but he was just one man and he did not even have his freakin shield, Natasha had thrown it in their trunk with the rest of their gear.
"Don't engage first,"
The two biggest selfless idiots he knew were in that car together. Bucky knew the only reason Steve had not engaged them yet was because Brooke was in the car with him. They had a better chance of "running" from the fight this time than facing it. They had no clue how many people were in the following car, no idea who they were and what weapons they had.
There could be another vehicle waiting just outside of view in the tree line for all they knew. One lone SUV was not Hydra's style but it could be the red rooms.
"Aim for their tires," Steve ordered her shooting out their rear window. "Two new hostiles on motorcycles. We've got twenty seconds."
"Fuck!" They were too far away, this whole thing could be over before they even got there.
Sam looked over at him, it looked like he might have wanted to say something, but keep his mouth shut. Nothing could calm his nerves, not when he was going to have to listen to the two most important people to him fight for their lives.
"Cap, Landing in four minutes."
They could hear erratic uncalculated shots being fired. Followed by Steve's instruction before another set of shots went off. All were loud, meaning they came from Brooke's gun.
Steve was trying to get her to slow down, to breathe. Bucky knew he was talking to Brooke, but he too took a deep steading breath himself.
Brooke's scream and the loud sound of glass shattering send a chill down his spine. He was the fucking Winter soldier for christ sake, he did not get spooked. The only reason Bucky knew she had not been hit was Steve would have announced they needed medical.
"Engaging in 5,"
Bucky's head shot up, what!?
"Two more minutes", Tony told them.
"Steve, Wait for Stark!" Bucky shouted.
He knew if Steve was willing to engage he was out of options. He listened to Steve and Brooke's back and forth as he told her to run and she argued why she should stay and fight.
"Nat pull over," Sam had had enough of watching Bucky suffering in his seat. "Get outta the car."
Bucky frowned by did as Sam said without question, a first.
He watched as Sam told Natasha to go and strapped his wings to his back.
"We're close enough, I can take us the rest of the way."
Bucky turned holding his arms out. Moments later his feet lifted off the ground.
If he thought listening to her being shot at was bad, the white-hot terror that flooded through him as he heard Brooke choking, fighting for her life was unbearable.
"Brooke, where are you?"
"You don't have eyes on her?" Bucky accused, where the hell was she?
"Almost there, man," Sam told him.
Bucky knew they were. He could hear the gunfire getting closer.
He yelled at Steve when he heard a male voice telling Brooke "It was time to go 'night night'"
_Back in the car_
Bucky shook his head, focusing on Brooke's warm weight against his side to ground him.
Steve joined them in the back seat with, Sam joining Natasha in the front.
"How is she?"
"She'll be fine," Brooke answered for herself, Bucky shot a pointed look at Steve to convey his disagreement. "I'm sorry about your car Steve."
He patted her knee, "Don't even think of it, it was one of our mission vehicles, it's seen worse."
"Tony's going to stay behind and take care of the mess. We can head back." Natasha pulled onto the road.
"Do we know who they are?" Bucky asked.
"Not yet," Steve ran a hand down his face, "Tony is hoping to find something in their SUV or on their phones."
"He knew me..." Brooke cleared her throat, "The guy who hit me, he called me "Little girl". They all called me that."
"Who?" Bucky prompted.
"The people my dad worked with, Hydra."
All four Avengers traded looks with one another. They had assumed, but there had been a little hope that maybe this was an isolated incident. They were not that lucky.
Bucky continued to massage her head, his fingers being gentle to not inflict any pain.
They all slid into silence the rest of the 20-minute ride, Steve filling out a report for Fury on this whole mess. Sam texts Bruce about Brooke's injuries, Natasha drives, and Bucky watches Brooke. Who could feel his eyes on her and tried to keep her cheeks from heating up.
"We're here." He told her way too soon.
Brooke opened her eyes, iced packs falling from her face into her lap. Bucky took them from her, giving them to Steve.
"Steve?" Brooke turned to him, "We need to get in that deposit box."
"You heal up. Once you're feeling better we'll make another trip. If I had to guess, those guys had been following us since we left the compound, I don't think their goal was the deposit box."
"Okay." She slid out of the car after Bucky. "Can we get some more Tylonal on the way to my room?"
Bucky nodded, he could not help but think that if she would go see Banner, he could give her more than just Tylonal.
"I have some in my room, you head to bed and I'll go get it."
.
Brooke settled in on her couch, not wanting to go to bed at one in the afternoon. Bucky found her there in the dark. He handed her a couple of pills and some water.
"Bruce said you can take one more now and two more at eight."
"Thank you." She took the pill, setting the other two aside, and she downed the water.
Sliding down deeper on the couch Brooke closed her eyes and started rubbing her temples. Bucky sat her her feet, 'come 'ere' he gently took her wrists and pulled her up to lie down on his lap so he could rub her neck and head.
Bucky studied her face as she relaxed. Hours passed before Bucky felt comfortable gently sliding out from under her and laying a blanket over her. He wanted to find out what Steve and the others had found out from the guy Tony took to interrogation.
"Anything?" Bucky asked joining the team.
"Brooke was right, they were Hydra," Natasha updated him.
"Do we know what their goal was?"
Steve cleared his throat, "We found a sedative in the guy's jacket, zip ties and a blackout hood in the trunk. We don't know if they were planning to take Brooke for sure."
"A sedative wouldn't have taken down you or me. No one else here is a target that we know of, but Brooke is." Bucky shook his head, "They have to have a base here in New York."
"They could have been looking for you." Sam pointed out. "Or, if they were waiting nearby to follow one of us out, maybe they were willing to grab anyone to draw the team out."
"Unlikely." Tony shook his head, "Brooke walked into their organization and stole their asset right out from under them. Do you know how many secrets are floating around in that head of his? And let's not forget, she's one of their little experiments as well."
"So what are we going to do to-"
"Right ahead of you Capsicle. FRIDAY is currently downloading new software and protection assurances. This place is even more secure than it had been, basically, no one is getting in here without my say-so. As for leaving the compound, why were you guys off the compound anyway?"
Everyone looked at Steve, "Brooke's mom had a security deposit box, she found her father's key and thought there could be something important, either to us or her family history."
Tony clicked his tongue, "I'll get those keys from the girl and get that box in case there is something in there we could use against them."
Bucky was on board with that plan except, "I'll ask Brooke for the keys, but once you get that box we'll let Brooke open it."
Tony begrudgingly agreed when Steve backed Bucky up. Whatever was in that box belonged to her family, and Brooke should decide whether to share it with them or not. Steve was sure if something in there was important for them to know, she would share.
"On another note Barnes, The guys asking for you."
Steve flinched and turned to Tony, "I told you, I would handle-"
"Barnes has a right to know. It's his girlfriend they are after and they mentioned him by name."
"Everyone at Hyda knows his name," Sam argued.
"They know the Winter Soldier," Steve said, "Only the ones closest would know his government name."
"All the more reason to see what he wants to tell him. What do you say, Barnes?"
Bucky looked between the two men. "I didn't get a good look at him back in the woods. I might recognize him, do you have a name?"
"Craig Omar." Tony read off the file they had created for him.
"I don't recognize it, but that doesn't mean anything. I can go talk to him now."
"I'll come with you." Steve stood to join him, he was not going to let Bucky do this alone.
"Make sure he doesn't kill him will you." Tony's yelled as they walked out the door.
Bucky huffed. Did he wanna kick the guy's ass for beating up a woman, yeah. The fucker broke Brooke's nose. But he was not a killer, not anymore, it had never been who he was in his core.
He was soft, a momma's boy. At least he had been, now who he was, he was still trying to find the balance of who they made him be, how it tainted who he was, and who he actually is.
"Brooke asleep?"
"Yeah, she settled in on the couch. The ice didn't do much for her face though, she's going to be hurting for a while."
"She's tough, she reminds me of Peggy." Steve smiled lost in a memory.
"She reminds me more of you actually," Steve frowned in confusion. "Running head first into a bully she can't possibly defeat on her own. Always standing up for the other guy, even if it could get her killed."
Rolling his eyes Steve stepped into the elevator, "She held her own out there today."
"He had her Steve, by the throat. A minute's difference and he could have disappeared with her. Romanoff told me there had been another SUV stashed on the other side of the forest."
"He's locked in the cellar and she's safe in her apartment. Focus on that outcome instead of worrying about what could have happened. You went on your date last night right? How'd it go?"
Bucky smiled. "I really love her man."
"I know you do."