The Winter Warrior // Captain America

«Chapter 10»

1945

"Hold on!" Steve shouted at Bucky as he crashed the small jet into the back of the big one. They had to catch Red Skull before he launched the nuclear bombs on board. 

The plane came to a skidding stop and Steve opened the hatch, freeing them both from the tight space they had been cooped up in. "C'mon," he muttered, plucking his red, white and blue shield from the floor. 

Without a sound, Bucky opened the door to the cockpit. It was dead silent as the two entered. Steve at the front, keeping his shield ready. He held up his hand to stop Bucky as he slowly approached the pilot's seat. Bucky was defenceless, but he stopped anyway, looking around anxiously as if he knew what was coming. 

"Steve!" he exclaimed as Red Skull appeared, blasting a laser gun at Steve who was just in time to raise his shield to protect himself. The blast went through the front window and left a gaping hole through which the icy wind bit at everyone's skin. The silence was broken by the howling of the wind. 

"You don't give up, do you?" Red Skull shouted.

"Nope," Steve stated before charging forward. He repeatedly attacked Red Skull with his shield and fist while Bucky defended himself with an iron pipe he had found on the ground.

Steve knocked the blaster from Red Skull's hands as he landed the shield in his stomach, causing him to double over. But he came back strong as he straightened his back and ripped the shield from Steve's grasp and tossed it aside before kneeing him in his abdomen. Steve groaned and he was tossed aside. Red Skull approached him defensively but Bucky jumped forward and hit him on the back of his head with the metal bar. 

Red Skull whipped around with wide eyes and in that short moment of distraction, Steve pulled his legs out from under his body, making him crash to the ground. Bucky took a metal crate and bashed Red Skull down with it. 

Steve wrapped his arm around Red Skull's throat, who let out a few gasping noises while he grabbed at Steve's arm. But he wouldn't let go. 

Red Skull jammed his body backwards and Steve hit the wall, but Bucky came back and smacked Red Skull's head with the shield that Steve had dropped. Red Skull growled angrily before throwing Bucky against the pilot's seat, crashing into the control panel. The jet took a plunge toward the Earth's surface and all gravity inside the jet vanished. 

Steve was struggling to knock out Red Skull and Bucky tried to help him, but both knew that if someone didn't change the course of the jet, all of them were going to die.

Red Skull threw both of them off him before leaping toward the control panel. He changed the settings to the automatic pilot after entering the coordinates of his destination: New York City.

The jet stabilised and Steve pushed himself to his feet, hauling Bucky back up while he was at it. 

"You could have the power of the Gods!" Red Skull shouted before opening fire on them. Steve pushed Bucky away as the blast of Red Skull's gun nearly hit them. "Yet you wear a flag on your chest and think you fight a battle of nations!" He continued to shoot at both of them, but he could only aim at one at a time. "I have seen the future, Captain! There are no flags!" 

"Not my future!" Steve shot back as he leapt through the air toward his shield that he held up just in time to shield himself from the incoming blast. Bucky threw a screwdriver at Red Skull to distract him while Steve launched his shield at him, sending him flying backwards, into the machine that housed the Tesseract. 

A bright, blue beam shot through the room. "No," breathed Red Skull. "What have you done?!" 

He grabbed the Tesseract and while it lay in his hand, the blue cube revealed a large projection of the Universe. At least, Steve assumed it was a projection.