His Angel

Kill the Parasite

Angelina

We all gathered in a central room with Fury and Maria.

"This man turned down the Noble Peace Prize," Fury stated holding up a picture of Pierce, "He said peace wasn't an achievement, but a responsibility. See it's stuff like this, that gives me trust issues."

"We need to take him down," I stated.

"And we need to stop the launch," Natasha added with a nod.

"Well I doubt the council will take any of my calls," Fury pointed out with a frown.

"Then what's the plan?" Sam questioned.

Fury and Maria went back and forth explaining it.

"We're not salvaging anything," Steve cut in firmly.

"But SHIELD," Fury began.

"We're taking down Hydra and SHIELD," I cut him off bringing all attention to me, "SHIELD's been compromised. We can't risk letting even one part of it stand. Hydra was a parasite that grew within SHIELD. To kill the parasite, we also need to kill the host."

He started to speak but then nodded slowly. With that the conversation was over.

"Looks like I'm no longer in charge," Fury sighed, "Congratulations Captain and Guardian."

I turned and walked away. I needed some time alone. This battle was going to be different from anything I've ever fought before. This wasn't a game of strategy or weaponry. It was a battle against a ticking clock. It was also a battle against the past. It was time to face our past, stare it right in the face, and come to terms with the future. I just wasn't sure if I could do it.

My hand absently moved upward. Cool metal brushed my fingers. I'd almost forgotten the locket was there. My hands closed and around as I took a deep breath. I knew what I needed to do but my heart refused to agree. I could never let him go. Natasha's words replayed in my head. I could save him, I could bring him back to me. I just have to work at it.

"It's time."

I turned to see Steve behind me. His face was hard set, battle ready. I walked over and did something I hadn't done in a really long time, I hugged him. He returned the hug pressing his face into my hair.

"You know what we have to do," he said softly, his voice muffled by my hair.

"Yea," I nodded drawing back, "Save our Bucky."

He let a small smile break through and nodded. We met up with the others and headed back to SHIELD Headquarters. While Steve made the big announcement of Hydra's infiltration to the rest of SHIELD, I worked with Maria to hack into the system. It didn't take long and soon we had every camera up and the Project Insight launch timer up.

"Once you get on board, you each need to switch out one of their chips with one of ours," Maria explained handing one to Sam, then one to Steve, and lastly one to me, "We can't take out just one. All of them have to go."

"Let's move out," Steve ordered.

I made my way through the building receiving some help from agents still loyal to SHIELD. I reached the helicarriers just in time and got on before it could take off. I moved down the halls easily having memorized the blueprints. Just as I reached the center, about nine Hydra agents appeared on one end of the hall and six more on the other end.

"I just had to pick the one with all of you assholes on it," I huffed.

They began firing on all sides. I moved into a crouch allowing most of their shots to pass overhead and hit each other. I waited until they got closer flicking on my gloves. Punching my way through things was never really my style but hey it's effective.