BLACK PHOENIX | S. ROGERS

four

LAIKYN WALKED OVER TO THE GLASS AND STARED OUT OVER THE CITY. "Operations control," Steve said taking his place next to the woman. Before the elevator doors could close, Brock and a few other members of the STRIKE team entered. The two supersoldiers turned around simultaneously. They stood next to each other. Shoulder square and heads held high.

"Cap, Greer," Rumlow said greeting the two.

"Rumlow," Steve nodded in acknowledgment. Laikyn didn't respond. Her face blank of any emotions. She was visibly pissed. She didn't take being threatened lightly. Her past had caused some trauma. Her superiors didn't call them threats. They called them promises, and they kept each and every one of them.

"Evidence Response found some fibers on the roof they want us to see. You want me to get the tac-team ready?" Rumlow asked.

"No," Steve replied, his tone firm and demanding, "Let's wait and see what it is first."

"Right."

Laikyn crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her neck to one side and then the other. She did it to calm herself down. The elevator stopped again and more agents got in. Laikyn's copper eyes narrowed and she stepped closer to the super-soldier next to her. She really wanted to be out of this building.

"I'm sorry about what happened with Fury. Messed up what happened to him," Rumlow spoke once again.

"Thank you," Steve responded shortly.

Then, the elevator stopped again and doors welcomed more agents. Laikyn could tell something was off. Subconsciously, she reached for her gun but they had stripped her suit of all of her weapons before she and Steve met with Pierce. Her eyes glanced around from agent to agent and she noticed how a few of them were overly sweaty for being in a heavily air-conditioned building. They were nervous. This was an ambush. Laikyn rolled her eyes, SHIELD... whoever they were would have to send more than a few agents to take down two of the best soldiers in history.

"It's cute," Laikyn spoke, her accent thick, "What you guys have going on here."

She made brief eye contact with Steve and gave him a nod before he said, "Before we get started, does anyone wanna get out?" A short moment of silence followed him before the greasy-haired agent turned around and shocked the blonde. Meanwhile, the agents behind Laikyn grabbed her from behind and placed metal magnetic cuffs on her wrists. They were trying to do the same things to Steve as well.

Another agent pushed the woman against the elevator, her back against his front. Using as much force as she could, Laikyn threw her head back into the man's forehead and spun around kicking him again in his groin, making him double over in pain. She then used that to her advantage and elicited another kick to his head, knocking him out. Quickly, another agent was on her and knocked her into the elevator wall. A wave of dizziness came over the woman but it went away just as quickly as it came. Using all of the strength she could muster, she broke apart the magnetic cuffs and threw a punch at the man in front of her. He caught her fist, but she then swiped her leg under his and delivered another punch, knocking him out.

By that time, all that was left was Rumlow. "Whoa, big guy. I want you to know, Cap, this isn't personal," He said lunging at Steve. Laikyn only rolled her eyes as the blonde threw him up against the ceiling.

"It kinda feels personal," He responded as he flipped his shield into his hands.

"That was fun," The copper-eyed girl said, sarcasm laced in her accented voice.

"You and I have very different ideas of fun," Steve grunted as he pried open the elevator door.

"Drop the shield! Put your hands in the air," a voice said. The two super-soldiers were greeted by a small army of SHIELD agents. All of them trigger happy and ready to make a statement. Steve quickly shut the elevator doors and cut the wires on the glass box. His long arm wrapped around Laikyn's waist tightly as they waited for the elevator to stop. Once it did, the blonde opened the elevator again only to be met with more agents. He shut the doors once more and let out a sigh.

"Please tell me you have a plan," Laikyn pleaded.

Steve only glanced at her momentarily, before bending down to grab one of the abandoned guns. He held it out to the dark-haired girl and she took it gratefully, securing it in her holster. "I do, but you're not gonna like it." His eyes looked down to see how far up they were.

"I am not jumping out of this elevator, Steven," Laikyn hissed. He knew she was serious but he wasn't going to leave her here.

"I don't care, Liz," Steve answered. He wrapped his arm around her waist once more and she glared at him. "I'm not leaving you here."

Before she even had time to protest, Steve had jumped straight through the glass. Steve's grip tightened around her as they neared the ground. They hit the ground painfully, the blonde taking the brunt of the impact. Laikyn let out a pained groan as she rolled off Steve. A distant ringing and the screams of SHIELD agents filled her ears. She looked over to Steve who slowly pushed himself off the ground and she did the same.

"You alright?" Steve grunted as they took off towards the garage.

Laikyn only gave him a nod.

"They're gonna shut down the bridge," The dark haired woman said as she sat behind Steve on his motorcycle. She wrapped her arms around his waist and he took off.

"We're gonna be fine," He yelled back just at the doors to the garage closed behind them.

A loud rumbling sound traveled from behind them and Laikyn looked back to see a Quinjet. "We just can't catch a break."

"Stand down. Stand down."

Steve only went faster and soon enough a string bullets were fired in their direction.

"You wanna do something about that?" Laikyn asked.

"You know how drive one of these things," Steve questioned referring to the motorcycle.

"That should be the least of your worries," Laikyn informed, "Go!"

Steve did what he was told and took down the Quinjet by himself with a little help from his shield. He soon caught up to Laikyn and hopped on the back of the bike.

"We can't stay in these clothes," Steve said.

"I know," Laikyn replied, "I got a place we can go."

Once they were out of the city, they ditched the bike and took off into the woods. They ran a few miles before Laikyn slowed down as she approached a cabin.

"Who lives here?" Steve questioned.

Laikyn knocked three times on the door. "You'll see."

A few moments later the door opened. "Laikyn?"

"Hey, Clint," She greeted. The man pulled her into a hug, one of which she gladly returned. "I'm sorry to bring you into this, but we need some new clothes."

He looked around warily before giving them an understanding nod. "Yeah, come in."