Let Me Go (Book Four)

Chapter: 9

DAY: 211

Winter Soldier

Why I kept forcing myself to say goodbye to Lark, I had no clue. She was the one thing in my life that I saw was worth protecting more than anythinig else in the world. I had to keep her safe.

And no one understood that more than Steve himself. He knew that I had followed them when I went to see Lark, he knew that I was there with her. But he didn't stop me. And I wanted to to thank him for it. But I couldn't, being seen with them there, when others were just as well tracking me, would raze more hell than spare us of it.

When I left her, I kissed her cheek goodbye and whispered to her that I'd see her again soon. That was a promise I'd keep forever. I was still going to go after Jack and Alexander, even knowing that Lark was still alive. They were the people that were causing all of this distruction and all of this pain in my life and Lark's. I had to make a stand and do something about it before they could attack or hurt anyone else. It was my job now. Lark couldn't carry it out on her own anymore, everyone could see that.

But that night, when I saw her, I noticed the grey ash marks over her shoulders and her neck appearing once again. And that sight broke me in two. It meant that the Aether was growing back, that it would soon surface and cause her harm. And she was already dealing with enough pain as it was in her life, she didn't need anything else to add more stress in there. One thing that I was afraid of was her eyes, there was a chance that they could change and look exactly like Jack's did. Glowing green, bright, the whites of her eyes changed to black instead.

I walked down the street, towards a Hydra camp. My plan was to walk straight in there. It was crazy, I knew it was but it was the only way that I could possibly get the attention of Alexander and maybe Jack, causing them to meet me head on.

There were four Hydra guards standing in front of a makeshift gate, guns on their backs, their bodies standing at different angles, watching all sides. Each one looked more nervous than the next, which made me wonder if they were anticipating my return or appearance. Maybe they were.

As I approched one of them caught sight of me and raised his gun up, pointing directly towards me.

"Hands up and drop your weapons!" the man shouted. I kept walking straight towards them. I knew they wouldn't try to hurt me. I was their last sucessful experiment that didn't end up running off or infected with a dangerous disease.

"I said put your hands up and drop your weapons!" he repeated to me. I pulled a gun out from my boot and quickly aimed it at him, firing directly at his leg. He crumpled to the ground and the other guards raised their weapons. I fired quickly, hitting each one's leg at exactly the calf. It wasn't enough to kill them but it was enough to keep them from running to tell someone that I was there just yet.

I pushed the gates open, armed guards immediately started swarming. I fired, dropping my gun when it ran out and picking another off the ground from a fallen guard. This felt all too easy and all too familiar to me. I was on a mission and had only two real targets, everything else wasn't a priority.

Ahead of me was a large tent and Jack ran out to the front, his eyes dark and enraged. I pointed my gun directly towards his leg and fired, he fell to his knees.

"Ah!" Jack cried out and I walked straight over to him, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him out into the open, throwing him to the ground flat on his face. I pressed my foot into his back and touched the gun to the back of his head.

"Miss me?" I asked him.

"I thought you died." Jack spit out.

"Lucky for you I'm still shooting." I said. "But it's also unfortunate how this is how we part ways."