Wherever Life Takes You

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I try to steady my breathing as I take some slow breaths, resting for a moment from the effort of what I just did. Training. Always training.

But I knew with Cap gone, I was going to need to be ready. So, while I was still “accepted” by Shield, I needed to utilize the space while I could. They didn't see me as a threat and as much as that aggravated me, I used it to my advantage was Steve was on the run. So, every day for hours I would be in the training area honing my skills.
What skills you may ask? Well, to put it simply, I can create ice. Okay, that sounded super lame.

Basically, an accident years ago somehow changed my DNA so now I can super cool the air around me and pull the water out of it to create an ice shield, ice daggers, and if I super concentrate, a few other tricks.  But luckily the daggers allowed me to attack from far away, so I was always safe from harm – just like Cap asked.

Thinking about Steve made me reflect back. It had been a few years since I had come here. I was an unofficial Avenger. I hadn’t proven myself just yet because I was still so young and new at this. Fury saw potential in me I guess, and brought me here. I had already improved so much since I first joined thanks to the team. But I was always the odd man out, left behind as communications or just used for practice. But one day, I’d get to go on regular missions all the time with them.

At least for the time being, I was lucky enough to have Steve looking out for me. When I first showed up, he had kind of taken me under my wing. Maybe I reminded him of someone, he took pity on me, or thought it cool that we were actually pretty similar in our likes and stuff. Tony kind of did to; but he was a little rougher around the edges for me to handle; he didn't really have what we'd call a "gentle touch" when it came to trying to look out for me. Sometimes it was sweet but really overbearing.

My phone vibrates and I can only hope that it’s the exact person I’m thinking of right then. I check the message that simply has some coordinates. I know it's from Steve and he wants me to meet him. He finally has a lead that should hopefully put a stop to this whole mess. I quickly memorize the location, delete the message, then leave the training room to head out.
______________________
Well, that was fun. Watching Natasha push someone off the roof, having Sam use those super sweet metal wings to save him, and finally getting the answers that we needed after a good scare. Too bad it just brought more bad news to what we were already worried about. Now we’re in the car speeding down the highway trying to figure out our next plan of action.

We’re a small team against an apparently large army, where do we start?

We don’t get long to discuss our plans before things start to get ugly.
The glass shatters from the car windows around us and something pulls our prisoner out from the window of the car and into the next lane of traffic. He’s gone. Then gun shots start coming through the roof and Natasha and I are forced to do what we can to dodge them, rolling around in the back seat as best as we can. I have no room to try to get any kind of ice shield up, the space is too small. Steve thinks quickly and slams the car into park and the cause of the chaos above us slides off the roof into the street. It appears to be some sort of solider. He is decked in black gear, goggles and a mask. As he is flying forward in the air, once he lands he faces back towards the car. He drops into a crouch and he slows himself down with what appears to be a metal arm. When he finally stops, he stands and looks as though he doesn’t have a scratch on him. Before we can register what is happening in front of us, another car collides with the back of us and pushes us forward, towards the solider. Natasha and I are thrown forward and she loses the gun she had just gotten into her hand to the floor. The tires squeal loudly as despite being in park the car is pushed forward. The solider jumps on top of our car again as soon as it gets close to him and begins to tear the car apart, ripping away the metal as it was as paper. Sam is doing what he can to get the car free from both, turning the wheel this and that, but it’s no use.
Suddenly, the steering wheel is torn out by the solider above. Natasha is finally able to grab and fire her gun upwards towards the enemy. The solider jumps from our car in response and onto the car that is pushing us forward still. That car reverses away from us, then hits the gas and strikes us again, causing our car to begin to lose control. Steve yells “Hang on” as he does his best to grab all of us towards him. He puts his shield on his arm, breaks down the door closest to him and then we all slide out of the car just as it flies into the air.
We hit the ground and slide for a little bit but then Sam and I get caught on the concrete and start doing rolls down the highway. We do our best to keep our bodies intact, but concrete is not something fun to roll around on. When I finally come to a stop, I can feel all the cuts and bruises on my arms and legs.  I let out a groan of both pain and slight annoyance.
As I slowly begin to recompose myself, I look up to see the solider aiming what looks like a rocket launcher at Steve and Natasha. Steve quickly pushes Natasha out of the way and lowers behind the shield as the solider fires. With an incredible explosion, it connects and sends Steve flying off the bridge
“STEVE!” I scream as I see him fly out of my sight. I hear glass breaking and a car accident just below, and then another huge sound of metal tipping over. Without a second thought, I run to where he disappeared I jump after him. Without thinking, I quickly cool the air and create a small ice slide just big enough for my feet. It disappears as soon as my feet leave it, but I just need it to slow me down enough. If it wasn't for the adrenaline and panic coursing through me, I would have been really excited about that.

Once I land, I notice a bus on its side and a huge hole in it.  The cause of most of the sounds I heard I can only imagine. I run over to it and attempt to help people clear away and get out of harms way.
On the bridge, Sam and Natasha do their best to keep cover for the bullets being fired at them. When she sees an opening, Natasha follows suit and jumps off the bridge. As she is falling, she turns and shoots a grapping hook type of system towards the bridge, which catches on the ledge and slows her own decent. She is on the other side of the bridge now and begins to run underneath it, towards the bus and me. As she gets closer though, she sees the soldier’s shadow, ready to shoot her as soon as she appears.
The solider stops a moment, and noticing Natasha doesn’t reappear, he aims the gun at me. Before he can pull the trigger though, shots are fired by Natasha who stopped just out of the soldiers’ line of sight but in a position to reach him.
I am trying my best to assist people with getting out of the bus, knowing that as soon as these people are clear, I can get to Steve. But my work is interrupted with Natasha grabbing me by the elbow and pulling me away.
“We have go, NOW” She yells to me. More shots are now firing all around us. I try to pull away to get back to help the people and Steve, but Natasha’s grip is iron tight. She turns around and lets loose a few more shots herself, then hauls me away at a full run.
“I have them. Find him” the solider says in a different language.
The solider jumps off the bridge onto a car, crushing it entirely but he is unhindered and undamaged, and keeps walking the same path Natasha and I both went. We duck behind a car, breathing heavily. She tells me she has a plan, and that I need to wait here. I hate hearing that, but I nod to her.
The soldier prowls down the street, blowing up cars as he passes. He luckily does not shoot any civilians running away quickly from him, he is simply searching for us. Then he stops and listens.
He hears a voice he identifies as Natasha. He stops and squats down to roll something under the car where it is coming from. He then aims and fires at the item he rolled underneath, and the car blows up.  Distracted by the explosion, the solider doesn't notice as Natasha jumps out from her true hiding spot and begins grappling with the soldier. He flings her over his soldier and picks up his gun to aim at her, but she’s quicker and throws an electrified piece that lands right on his metal arm and sends a shockwave through him.
Natasha gets up and begins to run again, ushering for me to follow fast. We both yell at the civilians to run away and find cover. As we do, I hear a sickening wet sound and I realize Natasha has been hit. She quickly ducks behind a car as she sucks in several breaths, holding her shoulder. That was it, I needed to do something. While Natasha took some gasping breaths, I pulled out both of my hands, feeling a charge move through me. I ran out from behind our car and I started blasting as many ice shards as fast as I could in the soldiers direction. To my dismay, he easily knocks all of them away with his metal arm, showing no damage. He advances on me and when he is close enough, I try to put up an ice shield. It does not help me as he easily crashes right through it, grabbing me by the throat.
I can feel him tighten his hands and lift me up a little, and I can feel it getting hard to breathe. I try to weakly pick my hands up to defend myself but it’s no use; I am just forced to stare directly at this solider. I realize he’s lost his goggles now and all I can see are his blue eyes.

Wait…blue?

It feels like the world stops for a second as everything bursts into color. I’m dazed from it but so is he as he releases his grip on me. I fall to one knee when he drops me, holding my neck, as I try to greedily suck in air. He quickly shakes his head then pushes me all the way to the ground. He glares at me and aims his gun. But then he hesitates as we lock each other’s gaze.

Then Captain America is there.
Back and forth they go. Punches, guns firing, throwing the shield, using the shield. Two superhumans having it out is a crazy thing to watch. I stare in disbelief and wonder until it seems like Steve has landed a good hit; the solider rolls away and I hear a metal sound as his mask hits the ground.
As the solider stands and turns around, he looks directly at Steve.
“Bucky?” Steve says, totally stunned.
“Who the hell is Bucky” the solider asks. As soon as the soldier moves towards his gun he is attacked by Sam.
Sam is knocked off the solider and is forced to fly a little ways away. The solider, Bucky, then aims at Steve. As I start to move towards Steve, an explosion happens, and I look over to its source. Natasha has somehow obtained the rocket launcher from before and had let it off to save us. As the smoke began to clear, we realize that Bucky has now vanished.
Then sirens wail and cars speed over and surround us, and we are all taken into custody by so called SHIELD.

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