Till the End of the Line

Chapter 14

~Diana's POV~

I'm riding on the back of Steve's motorcycle. He slows to a stop as we pull up to an abandoned building in the middle of the woods. I jump off and look around. There's no sight of anyone.

"You sure you got the right place?"

"Of course, I'm sure." He pauses and looks around. "Mostly."

We walk slowly towards the building. Not wanting to set off any booby traps. Steve walks in first, his shield ready. I follow closely behind. The building has definitely been used for some kind of hydra activity. However, it doesn't seem like it's been used in years. We walk around cautiously. The building is filled with tables littered with empty vials and files are everywhere. A file catches my eye. I pick it up and examine it. It's for a super soldier experiment. Something called the Winter Soldier Initiative. 

"Look." I show Steve the file. "It's an elite group of assassins."

He takes the file from my hand and examines it. He flips through it, reading everything very carefully. 

"This doesn't look like that old of a file." Steve says as he looks around. 

"It has to be a little old this place hasn't been used in what looks like years."

"That's what they want us to think." Something catches Steve's eye from across the room. 

Steve signals for me to be quiet and follow him. He puts his shield up in front of him and slowly walks towards the doorway. As we turn the corner, a man jumps out and runs trying to escape. Steve quickly throws his shield at him. The shield ricochets off the wall right in front of him, before coming back to Steve. The man stops quickly as the shield hits the wall. He turns to look at us. I see a flash of fear in his eyes. But not the kind of fear like he just got caught. The kind of fear that something far worse is after him.

'What is he scared of?' I think.

Just as quickly as he stops, he runs in the other direction. I chase after him. We race through the building. Jumping over tables and pushing through doors. I am so close to him that I could reach out and touch him. Just as I am about to touch him, he turns the corner. As I turn the corner I stop in my tracks. He's gone. He disappeared. Steve comes up behind me. 

"Where did he go?" Steve looks at me confused. 

"I don't know. He was right here." I look around trying to find how he could have disappeared. 

Steve and I continue to search the building. Eventually we split up. Steve takes the left wing and I take the right. We agree to meet up in the middle. 

I search the right wing, but I find nothing. I have no clue where that man went and it's angering me. As I reach the meeting point a loud bang comes from behind me. I whip around just as a room behind me explodes. The explosion isn't close enough to affect me but down the hall I see the man. He's with someone else. I can't quite make out who it is.

Steve quickly runs in behind me. 

"Diana! Are you okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine." 

He covers me with his shield as another explosion, this time much closer, hits. The blast throws us to the floor.

"We've got to get out of here before the whole building goes down!" Steve says as he quickly helps me up. He tries to usher me away from where the explosions hit, but I just stand still. "Diana what are you doing? We need to go!" 

"I've got to find him. I just know he knows something." I take out my gun. "I'll meet you outside." I say as I run after the man. 

"Diana wait!" Steve yells after me. 

~Steve's POV~

'Why is she like this?' I think as I run after her without hesitation. 

Do I want to be running through fire right now? No, not necessarily, but I won't let her do this by herself. I know she can take care of herself, but I want her to have backup in case she needs it. 

I run after her and soon I'm running beside her. Not far ahead of us I can see the man. Another explosion hits, causing the building to shake. We don't lose our balance; we just keep running. Diana and I slow to a stop as we hit a dead-end. 

"We lost him again!" Diana says as she hits the wall out of anger. 

I understand her anger. I have no clue how this man keeps disappearing. It's like he's disappearing into thin air right in front of our eyes. We look around but there is no trace of him. 

Suddenly a bullet fly's past me and hits the wall right beside Diana. I turn to see the man aiming his gun at her from a balcony. Quickly Diana grabs her gun and shoots back at him. I use my shield to protect her and me from the bullets. Since there is a lot of smoke from the explosions, Diana can't see the man very well. The man pauses for a second and I use this second to throw my shield at him. He moves out of the way just in time. Another explosion hits throwing me into the wall. Diana manages keep her balance. 

Finally, the smoke clears enough for her to get a good shot. She shoots him in the arm, causing him to double over in pain. She shoots him again, this time in his stomach. As he falls to the ground Schmidt emerges from the smoke with an evil grin. He slowly raises his gun, aiming it right at Diana. I watch as the bullet heads towards Diana in slow motion. I jump to my feet as I try to jump in front of her. I watch in horror as multiple bullets pierce her skin, causing her to drop to the ground. I rush to her side to see if she's okay. 

Red fills my vision as I look back at Schmidt. I grab my shield and throw it at him, as I run towards him. My shield hits him as I jump on to the balcony where he stands. I punch him multiple times before he punches me back. Schmidt shoots at me, grazing the side of my shoulder and hitting me in the abdomen, causing me to stumble back. 

"Give it a break. You'll never win." Schmidt says as he shoots at me again. 

I quickly regain my balance. "I can do this all day." 

With bloody hands I punch at him again. Using my shield I'm able to knock him off his balance. I grab him lifting him over my head, then throwing him to the ground. I punch him again and again before I'm thrown off him. Before I can even process what has happened, I'm shot two more times. I look up as I hold my abdomen to see the other man helping Schmidt to his feet. They take one last look at me before making a run for it. I want to chase after them, but I know I need to check on Diana. Ignoring the pain, I slowly rise to my feet and rush down to Diana. 

"Shit you're bleeding a lot." I quickly help her to her feet.  

"It's fine." 

I stare at her in disbelief. "Diana you were just shot multiple times you're not okay. Let me help you."

"What about Schmidt?"

"We'll worry about him later." Another explosion shakes the building. "Hurry we need to get out of here." 

We rush out of the building. Luckily, we make it in time. We ride away as the building crumbles to the ground behind us. I rush Diana to the hospital. Once were there the nurses and doctors get right to helping her. One of them notices that I was shot too but I just wave it off. As I wait for Diana to get out of surgery I work on my wounds. My armor helped it from being too bad. The only one I really had to worry about is the graze on my shoulder. The rest barely got me. Yeah, they're bleeding a little but not too much. 

As I wait in the waiting room for Diana, I take the chance to call Howard. The phone rings a couple times before he picks up.

"Stark residence." Jarvis says into the phone.

"Hey Jarvis, it's Steve I need to talk to Howard."

"Alright I'll get him."

Howard gasps dramatically, "Oh my, America's Golden Boy wants to talk to moi. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

I force a laugh. "Diana's in the hospital."

"Oh shit. I'll be there in 6 hours." Howard says right before hanging up.