"It was him. He looked right at me like he didn't even know me." Steve finally spoke up after what seemed like hours but really hadn't even been ten minutes.
I knew exactly how Steve felt. Bucky was the other half to us. We had finally come to terms with his death and now he was right back in the middle of the picture again but was being controlled by HYRDA and didn't even recognise his best friends.
"How's that even possible? It was like seventy years ago." Sam states.
"Zola. Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43, Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him and..." I trial off.
"None of that's your fault, you two." Nat groans out still holding her shoulder.
"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky." I admit to the three with me.
I feel Steve nudge his arm with mine, I'm guessing he too longed to hold my hand or at least feel the warmth it brought but instead we were locked up.
I hear Nat groan out again, the wound causing her extreme pain. Sam notices Natasha's wound and looks at the guards.
"We need to get a doctor here. We don't put pressure on that wound she's gonna bleed out here in the truck." Sam raises his voice.
All of a sudden, one of the guards pulls out an electric rod making Sam sit back and us all turn silent. However, they neutralise the other guard and knock him out. The guard takes off their helmet to reveal Maria Hill. I sigh in relief.
"Ah. That thing was squeezing my brain. Who's this guy?" Maria asks looking at Sam.
She soon had us all un-cuffed and we burned a hole through the bottom of the truck allowing us to all roll out unseen.
I helped Natasha along as we came to another vehicle that I'm assuming Maria would take us to safety. I leaned my head against Steve's shoulder on the journey.
He quickly leaned down to give me a peck which I was grateful for. These past few days have been awful and the fight had only begun.
Hill led the four of us through the secret facility we had arrived at. A man rushes towards us as soon as we enter the building.
"GSW. She's lost at least a pint." Maria shouts to the man.
"Maybe two." I state.
"Let me take her." The doctor spoke, reaching us.
"She'll want to see him first." Maria says making us all look at each other in confusion. We continue to follow Maria until we stop at a room. Maria pulls back the curtain to reveal a very alive and well Nick Fury lying in a hospital bed. My jaw physically dropped.
"About damn time." He drawls out.
Yep. He was fine.
"What the fuck Nick?" I shout as I rush over to him. He just smirks at me.
"If you weren't already badly beaten up I'd give you something to cry about." I threaten him.
"I wouldn't think anything less of you Smith." He smiles.
I return a small one and kiss his head.
"You scared me, you bitch!" I say making him laugh lightly.
Later, Natasha's wound is being treated by the doctor and we had all settled in the room to talk to Nick properly.
"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, one hell of a headache." Nick listed off making me roll my eyes jokingly as I leaned into Steve's embrace.
"Don't forget your collapsed lung." The doctor reminded him.
"Oh, let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good."
I knew Nick was in pain but he was honestly fine. As long as he has his sarcasm he's good.
"They cut you open, your heart stopped." Nat said.
"Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it." Nick spoke taking me back to a conversation I had with Bruce about it a year ago.
"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Steve asked.
"Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful." Maria spoke making me nod in agreement. We all had our secrets here and for a damn good reason.
"Can't kill you if you're already dead. Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust." Nick said as he looked at us all pointedly. I smile slightly at him again which he returns.