DIVINE RETRIBUTION │barnes ²

twenty one

They're still chasing blindly after Bucky, the sunlight shining into their eyes and their hearts pound.

The helicopter has long disappeared and Evgenia is grateful that she doesn't have to dodge bullets - literally. A few metres in front, the masked man jumps into the hole and she hears the sharp parakeet honks of cars in protest. She inhales sharply through her nose, her chest tightening as they near it.

Steve, running closely in front of her, slows down just long enough for Zhenya to catch up and then, without a word, he curls an arm around her torso and launches them both over the wall and then they're...

Falling

Falling

Falling

Until the cars that were once below her are now zooming past with alarming speed and a sense of panic. In the near distance, a lemonade pink siren wails. Her feet land firmly on the roof of a red Toyota, the bionic leg creating an indent in the metal. The driver swerves dangerously and she's almost thrown off her balance. One of the windows roll down and the man sticks his middle finger out.

'Was zeum Teufel? Verschwinde!' What the fuck? Get off!

The Toyota swerves again and Zhenya rolls off the roof of the car gracefully onto the front, sliding off and in hot pursuit of the men in front of her.

The whole setup of this reminds her of the whole highway incident two years ago, albeit without the heavy machine guns and various weapons strapped to her HYDRA suit.

Wailing sirens become louder and Zhenya spares a glance behind her to see a black Special Forces car a metre or two away from her.

'Stand down. Stand down.'

Steve pauses for a second before rolling onto the Forces car, his shield smashing into the glass. Zhenya moves to the passenger side of the car swiftly and pulls the door open with more force than necessary before grabbing the arm of yet another soldier in black and yanking him out of his seat.

She barely has time to sit down properly before Cap kicks the rest of the windshield out with his shield and the car speeds off. Zhenya slumps into the seat and her eyes catch the cat man on the trunk. Apparently Steve has also seen him because he starts swerving from side to side, trying to throw him off.

'Sam, I can't shake this guy.'

'Right behind you.'

'Zhen, you have anything to get him off?'

'Nothing.' She sits up in her seat and peers back at the man nervously. 'I can see five more cars behind us.'

'Shit,' he mutters underneath his breath, swerving between two cars and crashing into a third, the back of the car bumping angrily against the front of a Mercedes but not enough to knock their attacker off.

'There's a machine gun in the back.' It's more of a suggestion than anything and Zhenya reaches out her arm to grab it should Steve agree. 'Could distract him.'

'Won't work.' The car crashes through a series of barriers and dips down onto the opposite lanes and for a moment, they are quickly gaining on Bucky but then a motorcycle whizzes past him and Bucky reaches for the handlebars, knocking the rider off and he lifts and then flips the bike.

'Davay, davay.' Come on, come on.

Her father weaves through the incoming cars effortlessly and Zhenya's stomach turns again. If he got away, she might never see him again.

A quick clammer of feet tells them that the man has moved from his position at the back. He rolls onto the front, blocking Steve's view before leaping onto Bucky's shoulders.

Zhenya reaches for the dagger in her belt and leans forward, her head sticking out of the hole where the windshield was and she hurls it towards Cat Man. The hilt hits the back of his head and Bucky takes advantage of his dazed state to hurl him off the back and onto the road.

Bucky pushes the bike off the ground with his metal arm and accelerates the vehicle.

'Sam.' She mutters into the com.

'On it.'

But he doesn't have a chance to swoop in and snatch the assailant up before the man in black leaps up and wraps his arms around Sam's legs. Cat Man and the Falcon, huh, metaphoric.

Zhenya wishes to hit the man again with her knife, but she stupidly decided to only bring one.

The Captain swerves again as Sam's legs and the black figure brushes the concrete.

And then it all happens very quickly. Sam's wings carry him off the floor and his legs pitch the attacker off. Bucky's arm reaches up to attach a bomb onto the bottom of the overpass. The attacker hurtles through towards the former assassin and at the same time - the bomb explodes, caving onto the road and sending a pillow of dust into the air.

Their car screeches to a rapid halt and Uncle Steve throws open the driver's door, his arm pulling Zhenya out of her seat as he slides out smoothly. Her feet hit the ground and she yells in panic as the car bounces over her head.

Steve rams into the cat man like a rugby player, tackling him to the ground. Zhenya slides in between the two men as more black cars pile into the opening. They've nowhere to go.

The lemonade pink siren is beginning to give her a headache.

Her father squeezes her shoulder. Steve raises his hand towards Bucky, as if warning him to not do anything dumb.

There's a silver squeal of metal as a man encased in dirty grey metal drops onto the concrete, the guns on the back of his suit raise and point at the soldiers behind them. She knows all too well who it is.

'Stand down, now.'

Car doors open behind them and Steve shelves his shield back onto his back. Zhenya rips the mask off her face and let's the straps dangle in her hands.

There's disappointment in Rhodey's tone when he speaks. 'Congratulations Evgenia and Cap, you're both criminals.'

Zhenya sneers as the men come forward and force her hands behind her back. She remembers the wariness in people's eyes when they saw her and the disgusted look in Thunderbolt's eyes when he met her. 'Like I wasn't treated like one before.'

Her eyes meet her papa's and she sees his eyes filled with defeat and shame. She looks away from him, filled with sudden sadness and regret. Zhenya sniffles, desperate not to cry right now - not in front of all these people.

They push Bucky onto the ground.

Cat Man raises his hands and his claws retract. Slowly, he moves his hands up to take off his helmet to reveal a man with dark umber skin and closely cropped hair.

She knew who he was.

T'Challa, the prince (or maybe king) of Wakanda.

'Your highness,' says Rhodey.

And then they're hauled away and shoved into the cars with the lemonade sirens.

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i've recently realised how much i use 'the' at the beginning of each paragraph and it really fucking annoys me so i'm tryna work on that. also this will be the last update for 3 weeks - i'm going away and i won't be taking my laptop.

please vote and comment!