Daybreak | Steve Rogers

Chapter Twenty-Six: Strucker

"Do you ever miss it?" Barton asked me, sighing as he leant against the leather seat of the large truck we were sat in.

I frowned, "Miss what?"

He shrugged, "Living a peaceful life. You know, waking up in the morning without that sense of impending doom?"

I leant to the side as the truck went over a rock, narrowly dodging a few bullets as we sped along through the icy forest. Standing up, I aimed a few shots at the attacker before ducking behind the seat again. "And miss all the excitement? God, no!" I scoffed, watching as he pinned another guy to a tree with one of his arrows.

"Would you guys shut up for a second?" Nat snapped as she struggled to manoeuvre the vehicle along the uneven dirt path, "I'm trying not to get us killed"

A large, green creature raced across our path, smashing a few guards against the ground.

We were hit by something and the car lurched, a strange heat beginning to surge through it. The three of us managed to jump out of it in time, the blast propelling us forwards.

My feet grazed against a few rocks, using them to boost me into the air. I landed on the back of  nearby motorcycle, feeling it tip slightly at the sudden added weight. "Hey, Rory" the driver called over his shoulder as we sped past trees covered in a wintry sheen of white.

"Hey, Cap" I replied, trying to settle into the seat without falling of. I reloaded the gun, shooting a couple of guards as we went past.

There was a sudden thud from the comms link and I heard Stark gasp, "Shit!"

"Language" Steve huffed.

I let out a quiet groan of irritation, "Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?"

"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield. Strucker's technology is well beyond ay other HYDRA base we've taken "

"Loki's sceptre must be here, Strucker couldn't mount this defence without it," Thor added, his voice mixing with the sound of his hammer returning to him, "At long last"

I frowned, grabbing Steve's shield from his back just in time to deflect a fusillade of bullets. A guard tried to race towards us, but I managed to thrust the shield forwards, bashing them in the face with it. Once I reattached it to his back, Steve gave me a quick grin, "Nice one"

There was a second of silence before I nodded, "Thanks"

"'At long last' is lasting a little long, guys" Nat remarked over the sound of blasts and shouts.

"Yeah, I think we lost the element of surprise"

There was a scoff, "Wait a second. No one else is gonna deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language'?"

I chuckled and Steve let out a quiet groan, "I know"

He motioned for me to get off, waiting for me to grab onto an overhanging branch before using his momentum to leap off of the bike and hurl it at an oncoming truck full of HYDRA agents. I gently lowered myself from the branch, landing next to him with a quiet thud. He shrugged timidly, "Just slipped out"

The two of us had ended up back-to-back, trying our best to hold off the guards as they advanced on us. I shot a few of them down, hurling one of my knives at another as I tried to reload my gun. There was a strong gust of wind and I felt something knock me to the ground.

Steve exchanged a look of confusion with me, both of us glancing around to see what had hit us. A silver flash caught my eye, disappearing before I could get a hit.

"There's an Enhanced on the field" I called into the comms, staring around wildly. As I turned my head, a sharp pain ran through my body, causing me to gasp and stagger to the side.

A pair of hands reached to steady me, sky blue eyes watched me in concern as I clutched at the back of my neck. I tried to shake my head, brushing him off as I stormed away through the forest.

"Clint's hit!" Nat yelled frantically, "Somebody want to deal with that bunker?"

There was a loud roar from the distance and we span around, seeing the large cloud of smoke and ash that had erupted. "Thank you" the redhead murmured.

I dodged the blow of a guard, grabbing both his arms and kicking his legs from under him to flip him over. My gun produced a few clicks and I threw it aside, grabbing a larger one from another fallen guard.

After taking a second to get adjusted to the new weapon, I aimed a few shots at our attackers. "Stark, we really need to get inside" Steve shouted, knocking a few guys out with his shield.

"I'm closing in... The drawbridge is down, people"

As I turned around, I noticed that Steve had his back turned to the last guard, too busy scanning the area to notice. I raced over, dodging a couple of bullets as I went. The guard must have been to focused on the prospect of taking down Captain America to notice me, letting out a yelp of shock as I clobbered him over the head with my new gun.

Steve span around, staring at the unconscious man in surprise before looking up at me. "Uh, th-thanks" he stammered.

I shrugged dismissively and bent over to collect any magazines I could find, stuffing them in the holders on my belt. "Gotta get me one of these" I murmured, admiring the stolen weapon with a hint of jealously in my voice.