"You think this is a good idea? Bucky has only just come round from the last mission we did together." YN asked Steve, pushing a cloth into the barrel of her gun.
"He should be fine, we agreed he would stay as far from you as possible." YN scoffed, rolling her eyes as Steve sent her a blank stare.
"As if!" She exclaimed, making Steve sigh. "He won't even let me microwave my own pasta, he's not going to let me go into a building filled with HYDRA agents, Cap." Steve shrugged, clipping his belt together as YN removed her shirt, pulling a thermal over her head.
"It's what he agreed to, and I trust him." Steve murmured, lifting his shield onto his back as YN pulled some thermal tights over her legs. "The minute he steps out of line, I'll pull him out."
Nodding, YN clipped her tactical belt on and tightened the backpack over her shoulders. "Roger that, Rogers." Steve rolled his eyes at the overused term, the laugh following YN's words painting a smile on his lips.
A few minutes later, they were all standing around a table in the briefing room, YN standing by her captain with her hands on her hips, blatantly ignoring the pair of blue eyes resting on her.
"Okay, YN is going in from below, she has enough oxygen for three hours, but the swim itself should only take half hour max." Everyone nodded, except for Bucky, who kept his scowl furrowed deep on his eyebrows.
"I'll make contact when I'm on the inside. Bucky, Cap and Barton, you'll take the outside agents; Sam and Tony will cover me as I set up the detonator." Steve stepped back as YN moved forward, circling an area on the map in front of them. "Once set up, we'll have three minutes to get out of the building, which should be heaps of time if each of us have a lift." YN nodded to Tony, who smirked and winked.
"Don't worry, princess, I'll catch you." YN stiffened, casting a slightly worried glance at her boyfriend, whom had turned his burning glare onto Tony.
"Great, so that's the plan, Stark has sorted the bomb, so we head off in five." Everyone quickly filtered from the room, leaving YN and Bucky in awkward silence.
"Okay, let me have it." YN sighed as Bucky moved closer, leaning against the table in front of her.
"I think this is a bad idea." YN groaned, tipping her head back. "You don't know for sure what you're walking into. You should let me-"
"No," YN stopped him, placing a hand on his chest. "Here's what we aren't going to do. You aren't going to sit there and tell me this is too dangerous for me. If you didn't notice, I've handled my fair share of shitty situations, much alike yourself, yet your safety is never questioned." Bucky sighed, lowering his gaze. "I'm a super soldier too, Buck. I have the power to do this, and the experience. Let me do this my way."
Bucky leaned forward, grabbing YN's hips and pulling her body against his. YN stared into his eyes, the two having a silent conversation. YN's gaze strengthened, not backing down as Bucky groaned.
"Fine, fine." He sighed, his head falling forward to rest against YN's chest. "If anything happens to you-"
"It won't. I promise." YN responded, pressing a kiss to Bucky's hair. "I love you, bear."
"I love you, angel."
Three hours later...
"Status report, YN?" YN grunted, pulling herself up and out of the water. She looked up, grinning to herself when she finally found the manhole.
"I'm here," YN pressed her finger to her ear, confirming her position. "Hold five while I get in." Hoisting herself up onto the ladder, YN dragged her waterlogged body upward, until she found a ledge to take a breather. "Damn, this ladder is long." She muttered, earning a breathy laugh in her ear from Steve.
Removing her gear, YN slipped on a dry tactical suit, grinning when she remembered her grappling hook. Muttering some words of victory, she stepped forward and shot upward, fisting the air when it landed in the roof, gripping on tight enough for her to hang from.
Pulling the trigger, she flew upward quickly, 'bypassing the heavy lifting', as Bucky would have put it. YN grabbed onto the door handle as she reached the top, unhooking the wire and swinging her legs over the bar. Putting her torch in her mouth, she lifted some bolt cutters and got to work breaking the locks, wincing as the rusted bars under her knees dug in.
Getting it opened, YN inched it open, peaking through to see if anyone was incoming. Noting the empty hall above, YN swung herself in, staying close to the floor as she moved behind a wall, away from direct sight.
"Cap, you there?" YN whispered, hunching low.
"Copy, YLN." YN breathed a sigh of relief, the entire team worried that once she was inside, the line would be disrupted.
"I'm inside, seems eerily quiet." YN felt her skin tingle as she heard footsteps, her breath halting in her throat. "Hold that thought." She murmured, receiving confirmation from the other end.
"Fifteen minutes until we release the nuke. Destination, New York." YN swallowed, her eyes widening in shock horror.
"Cap?" She whispered, her teeth worrying at her lip. "We got a problem."
"What? YN, what is it?" Rolling her eyes at her boyfriend's voice, YN sighed, slipping from her position and sprinting down the hall, taking cover at the other end.
"There's a nuke headed for New York in fifteen minutes. They have it on the top floor." She said, once again moving down the hallway, toward her target destination.
"The bomb we've set up should absorb that blow, we just have to get it done soon." Tony said as YN stepped into the room, her eyes taking in several agents confused faces. "Stay hidden, YN."
"Yeah... About that." YN whispered, wincing as she heard weapons drawing. "Change of plans-" YN grunted as someone attacked her, the two bodies landing on the ground. As YN fought for freedom, all she could hear was her lover's panicked words in her ear, the sounds heart breaking as his own fighting grunts followed.
YN finally freed herself, letting several bullets fly into oncoming men. She slid under a table as she approached the detonator, messing with the wires until someone pressed a cool metal against the base of her neck. As she opened her mouth to speak, it soon disappeared, the sound of a gunshot making YN flinch.
She glanced over her shoulder, sighing in relief as Sam and Tony covered her, the two of them taking on the agents as more and more filtered into the room. Before long another group of footsteps joined, and YN had to hold back a groan of annoyance as she heard Steve yelling at Bucky to fall back in line.
"My girl is in there Steve!" He shouted as he entered, surveying the room. YN heard him quietly thank the lord as he caught sight of her, still rearranging the wires of the detonator.
"There's about fifty agents headed your way!" Barton said through the earpiece and YN smiled as the last wire slotted in. The smile was soon wiped as she watched in disbelief, the countdown refusing to budge.
"Shit, Stark. The ticker is faulty!" YN shouted, dodging a flying knife that buried itself in the wall behind her head. "Clear the room! Barton, get out of the building!"
The team did just that as Clint responded with a brief 'copy that.' Once the room was clear of any conscious agents, the team barricaded the doors as the thought of a plan.
"I'm going to have to detonate the bomb manually." YN finally spoke up as the group spoke over each other, her words making them fall silent.
"Don't be stupid-" YN lifted her gaze to meet Bucky's, her eyes threatening to fill with tears as he stared at her with a look of hurt and betrayal. "YN, no. No fucking way."
"Bucky, a nuke big enough to wipe New York off the map is about to leave this building unless we do something." YN said, stepping forward to grab his hands. "There's no way we can defeat over one hundred agents and discharge the nuke in under ten minutes. I need to do this."
"No, no. You don't. Let someone else do it. Let me do it." YN shook her head, forcing herself to remain determined, even though her insides were screaming in fear and sadness. "YN, you promised-"
"This is my mission, Bucky. It's my decision." She stepped back, nodding to Steve to grab Bucky's arm as he started to thrash. "I'm sorry, bear. I love you."
"Get the fuck off of me, Steve!" He screamed, tears racing down his cheeks. "YN, baby, please we can do this together." YN turned as Steve gripped him, the captain's eyes filling with tears as he glanced back at his life-long friend. "Get off of me! No!" Sam grabbed the both of them, flying from the room with a parting nod of respect.
"You sure about this, kid?" Tony whispered, his face shield lowering as his reactors fired up. "I can do it-"
"Go home to your wife, Stark. This is the job." Tony nodded, sighing in his suit as he flew away. YN finally let the tears fall as she stared at the red button in her hand. She took a big breath, still able to hear Bucky's heartbroken sobs through her comms. "I love you, Bucky." She whispered, pulling the earpiece out and crushing it beneath her boot.
YN closed her eyes, breathing in deeply and pressing her finger down as she let the breath out. YN waited... and waited... before she frowned, looking around the room and scowling.
"Fucking Stark!" She screamed in annoyance, leaning down to grab her gun and running toward the door.
Bucky sat on the floor on his knees, sobbing into his hands as everyone stood by silently, Steve standing close to Bucky in case he tried to make a run for it... for the tenth time. Blood seeped through his fingers from his nose, that was most definitely broken. Tony had landed at least two punches to try and keep the super soldier from slipping past them, and it nearly hadn't worked.
Steve and Sam shared a look of somber as they stared at the building, the breath held still in their throats. Finally, with an almighty bang and a heart wrenching scream from the brunette super soldier, the building exploded before their eyes, each of the men's eyes dripping with remorseful tears.
That was until they spotted a body running toward them, turning every now and then to take down three final agents before stopping in front of them, covered in blood and sweat. Bucky jumped to his feet, eyes wide with shock.
"How-" YN stormed close to Tony, lifting her fist and landing a solid punch to his face, watching in satisfaction as the billionaire stumbled back.
"How can one make not only a faulty detonator, but a faulty bomb in general!" She shouted, spitting a heap of blood onto the ground.
YN quickly turned to Bucky, rushing forward and wrapping her arms around him as he returned the bone crushing embrace. "Oh, my God." Bucky sobbed, pressing his face into YN's tangled hair. "I thought-"
"I know." She muttered, squeezing Bucky harder. "I know."