Unexpected

XXX

If she was to die now, she would end up dead.

Let me rephrase that; there was no more regeneration. She decided not to. Not for this wound, not for this moment. She'd have to heal from this to regain her regeneration energy.

Nina did her best to stand up, but she couldn't. She looked over at Bucky and Steve, her eyes almost closing. She really just wanted some rest, right about now.

Bucky had managed to get the chip from Steve, who was trying to get it back. Steve had arm locked Bucky's human arm, and had another arm around his neck. Steve was clearly trying not to hurt Bucky, but he needed the chip.

"Drop it," Steve warned a few times. When Bucky didn't drop it, Steve pulled on his arm, hearing a satisfying pop. "Drop it, Bucky," he yelled, as Bucky didn't let go of the chip. "Drop it!" He yelled one last time before forcing more on his neck, until Bucky fell unconscious on the ground.

"Thirty seconds," Maria Hill warned through the com. Steve started to climb the tower one last time to switch the chips.

"Coming," Steve said back.

But both of them were startled when they hear a gun shot. The Soldier had shot Steve's knee. Nina couldn't help but to attack him from behind, her arms around his neck. She was barely seeing anything, her vision extremely blurry, and she had barely any strength, but she just threw herself over the man and put all of her body weight on his back before momentarily loosing consciousness.

"Ten seconds," the coms said again.

"Charlie locked," Steve finally said.

It was then that Nina finally woke up. Bucky was holding her in his arms, putting pressure on her wound. The look in his eyes showed he that he indeed remembered her.

"Hey there," she said with a faint smile that soon turned into a frown. "You're gonna get in trouble for not finishing your mission," she warned.

"I know," Bucky answered. He then remembered about his other mission of killing Steve. Let me tell you something: Bucky tried. He gave it his all, trying not to go to Steve and shot hims in the head, or impale him with his knife. Nina could see Bucky fighting with himself. He tried.  "I'm sorry."

His face went back to blank and cold as he slowly lowered Nina to the ground and went after Steve. Nina really wanted him to come back. She wanted to scream his name, run to him, hug him, kiss him, but she didn't even have the strength to keep her eyes open.

It got to a point where Steve was laying on the ground, on one of the glass windows of the bottom of the ship, as Bucky punched his face with his human hand.

"Bucky you've known me your whole life," Steve pleaded. He wasn't gonna fight back anymore. Bucky frowned. How did this man know his name? Bucky punched him in the face. "Your name is James Buchanan Barnes."

"Shut up!" He yelled. Bucky knew that remembering was way too painful, so he was trying his best not to. One side of him wanted to remember, to make things go back as they once had been, but the other side, the Winter Soldier, knew it would compromise his mission.

"I'm not gonna fight you," Steve said, his face full of bruises and blood. "You're my friend."

"You're my mission," answered Bucky. He then got super mad and started punching Steve mercilessly. "You're. My. Mission!"

"Then finish it," Steve said, his voice breaking. Bucky hesitated, holding his fist up in the air. "Because I'm with you to the end of the line."

Bucky's entire body froze.

I'm with you to the end of the line.

For some reason, those exact words triggered a memory in Bucky's head. He remembered the exact moment when this sentence was said in his life. Steve's mother had just died, and this was him, telling Steve that he was going to have his back no matter what.

Bucky didn't remember much. But he knew his name was James Buchanan Barnes and that Steve Rogers had been his best friend since the 1920's.

And now it was the XXI century.

Before he could react, the ship shook and Steve fell through one of the missing glass windows of the Hellicarrier, and Bucky watched as Steve flew by the debris and fell into the water.

And then Bucky remembered that there was another person in there with him. He ran back to Nina, who now had a pool of blood on her green shirt. Nina was completely pale, and her lips and nails were becoming blueish.

The last thing she remembered before passing out was a big shake. And then she was plumbetting to her death in Bucky's arms.