After Steve 'borrowed' his uniform from the Captain America exhibit (the security guy was totally getting fired), we drove to a forest near the Triskelion and hiked to it on foot.
Hill had managed to smuggle one of my uniforms out of S.H.I.E.L.D. before she made her escape a few days before. I was glad she did. I moved better in it, not to mention it offered much better protection than my street clothes.
As we moved through the forest, I had time to think.
Well, Steve knew everything now. If the Lord of Time found out, he would skin me alive, and that was no figure of speech. But, for the first time, I didn't care what he thought. I trusted Steve. And he needed to know. He was my best friend. I'd put off the revelations for too long. I regretted nothing. I felt better. I had less to worry about.
I followed Hill, Sam and Steve, and, in no time, the tower of the Triskelion peaked over the trees of the forest from across the water.
Steve halted in his tracks, taking a deep breath. I stepped next to him. "You ready for this?"
"Yeah," he replied. "Just another day at the office, right?"
"Those are truer words than any." I rested a hand on his shoulder. "We'll get Bucky back."
He offered a sideward glance. "I know."
"You lovebirds coming?" Sam called.
Steve frowned at the title. I felt my cheeks heat up. I briskly walked forward so he couldn't see my flushed cheeks.
"I hate you," I hissed as I smacked him on the arm.
"What?" he chuckled. "I didn't do anything! I just called it how it is."
"Oh, sure."
As per the plan, I created a portal to the door to the command center and we all stepped through. It saved having to run around like the secret agents we were. Plus, water. There was lots of it around the Triskelion.
Sam and Hill raised their weapons as Steve pressed a button on the control pad to request access into the control center. The door swung open. The poor guy who opened it looked like he was going to have a heart attack. His job as an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. was long over now.
"Excuse us," Steve said politely as the guy raised his hands, gesturing for us to come in.
As I walked past him last, I patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks a lot, uh..." I looked at his name on his right breast pocket. "...Moore. Now, if you'll be so kind to step into that tiny broom closet with your mates, that'll be splendid."
He erupted into a fit of nods as he herded his work mates into the broom closet with a little encouragement from Sam's nicely polished gun.
Steve took his place at the microphone. Hill switched it on and I flicked every switch for Steve's voice to be heard everywhere in the Triskelion.
Here we go.
"Attention all S.H.I E.L.D. agents, this is Steve Rogers," he began. "You've heard a lot about me over the last few days. Some of you were even ordered to hunt me down. But I think it's time you know the truth."
He shot me a sideward glance. I inclined me head, coupled with a determined frown. They needed to know. It was long overdue.
He licked his dry lips. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is not what we thought it was. It's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader. The S.T.R.I.K.E. and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. I don't know how many more. But I know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you.
They almost have what they want: absolute control. They shot Nick Fury. And it won't end there. If you launch those Helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way. Unless we stop them."
I stepped next to him. I gave him a small nod to encourage him further. He closed his eyes in what looked like disgrace. We'd been working for an organisation that was rotten, from the skin to the core. But S.H.I.E.L.D. had to be stopped. As he said before, it all had to go.
"I know I'm asking a lot," he continued. "But the price of freedom is high. It always has been." He threaded his fingers with mine. "And it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not."
We stepped away from the microphone. It was done. Now the real fun was going to begin.
I carefully pulled my fingers from his. I felt strangely awkward. Perhaps it was one of those not-the-right-time moments. You know, the ones that I always managed to stumble into with Steve coincidentally being there, our hands like magnets craving to meet. Yeah, it was probably just me.
"Did you write that down first or was it off the top of your head?" Sam asked with a smirk.
"He's good at those kind of speeches," I said. "Get used to it, Bird Brain."
And so the real fun began. And it began with a bang.
Cap, Sam and I bolted along the landing strip as the Insight Helicarriers made lift off. We were fashionably late. But the best guests always were, am I right?
"Hey, Cap," Sam heaved. "How do we know the good guys from the bad guys?"
"If they're shooting at you," he replied, "they're bad."
With a reasonable answer at his disposal, Sam outstretched his mechanical wings and took off.
I pulled on my hood as I ran beside Steve. "Here we go again."
"You think you can keep up?" he mocked.
I grinned, and he returned one of his cheeky boyish kind. "You keep up!"
I whipped open a portal and charged through. As I sped out of the other end on the lower landing strip, Cap rolled to his feet after clearing the couple hundred-foot drop above. We continued to run until gunfire urged us to cover.
I created a golden shield mimicking that of Cap's and ran to cover with him at my side. When a soldier came out of nowhere from around the corner, Cap dealt with him swiftly and snatched a grenade from his belt. He tossed it at incoming soldiers, blowing them off their feet.
I noticed the barrel of a gun stick out from around the corner next to me. I slammed my hand into the soldier's neck as he came around. He gasped as his air way was injured. I grasped his hair and rammed his head into a nearby shipping container, knocking him out completely.
I wanted to use my powers at a minimum. I could need them for something more important than lowly foot soldiers. I didn't want a repeat of the Battle of New York.
The sounds of heavy artillery filled the battle zone.
"Hey, Cap!" Sam yelled over the line. "I found those bad guys you were talking about!"
I looked up. A small flying man was buzzing around the blasting guns of a Helicarrier. My eyes flicked from one to the other. Perhaps I could help.
"You okay?" Steve yelled back.
"I'm not dead yet!"
"Sam, get me up there!" I shouted.
"What?"
"Do it!"
In no time flat, Sam whooshed past. I held out my arm and he grasped it. The speed at which he snatched me from the ground felt like my arm was going to be ripped from the socket.
"Don't look down!" Sam ordered.
And I made the mistake of disobeying. We were very high up.
"Oh, crap!" I gasped. "Crap, crap, crap!"
He shot around multiple explosions from the Helicarrier cannons, me swinging underneath him. I appreciated him trying his hardest not to get us blown up. That was nice.
"Get me in closer!" I screamed over the explosions and wind.
Sam did as he was told, dashing past one of the cannons from behind. I held out my hand and a bolt of golden lightning blasted out of my palm. It hit one of the cannons. Rather than blowing it up, golden electricity coursed around it, indefinitely shutting it off. Sam flew me around the others and we repeated the process for all four of them.
"Yeah!" Sam cheered. "You go, girl!"
"Falcon, status?" Hill called over the line.
"Engaging!" Sam replied.
We soared down to the Helicarrier landing strip. I kicked one of the armed guards and blasted another behind me to dust.
The entrance to the Helicarrier's targeting station caught my eye.
"All right, Cap. I'm in," Sam stated.
And, from the other side of the Helicarrier, a fully armed quinjet appeared.
"You take care of it, I'll replace the targeting blade," I ordered.
"Oh, shit," he hissed.
He let me go and I pulled the tiny pouch with the chip in it from his belt. He dashed away, the quinjet hot on his tail and firing the machine gun.
I blasted open the door and ran through. It was virtually unguarded, so that was a plus.
The targeting station was a gigantic glass dome underneath the Helicarrier. In the center was a massive tube-like device. Four elevated catwalks led to the center. From the direction I was coming from, the device opened up to a small station where the chips could be accessed.
Fiddling with the control panel, I finally managed to gain access to the chips. There were around fifty of them lined neatly in five columns to three shelves. It was a good thing I knew which chip I needed to remove.
I pulled the Insight targeting blade from the shelf. I closed my fingers around it. My palm glowed, disintegrating what lay inside it. Opening my hand, all that was there was black dust.
"Alpha lock," Steve said over the line. He'd replaced one of the blades already.
"Falcon?" Hill called. "Where are you now?"
"I had to take a detour!" Falcon yelled back, coupled with explosions and gunfire.
"I got Falcon's blade," I said. I replaced the Insight chip with my own. "Bravo lock."
"Thanks, Andster!" Falcon cheered.
"Just stay alive, Bird Brain."
"Two down, one to go," Hill sighed.
I heard an explosion from a nearby landing strip.
And then my eyes widened.
I saw the Winter Soldier with a grenade launcher. The men on the strip were fighting back. They weren't HYDRA!
I portalled to the landing strip as he shot down a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with a grenade, tossing it into a nearby quinjet.
I created a portal far away from the Winter Soldier. "Through the portal! Now! Go!"
The men did not hesitate, bolting through the portal to safety. A few remained to fight, but each met a gruesome end. I cringed as the Soldier punched a pilot with such force that he catapulted into the turning engine blades of his jet.
I locked eyes with the Soldier. I froze, my blood running cold, ice coursing through my veins. How could HYDRA do this to Bucky? The look he gave me was not one I used to receive from the man I once called friend. It was cold and unforgiving. But strangely confused.
I watched helplessly as he killed a pilot in his jet, pushed the body out to take the controls, and flew away.
"Guys," I mumbled, dumbfounded. "The Winter Soldier's here. He's got his hands on a quinjet. He's on his way to Cap."
❈Author's Note: Hey, there! If you liked this chapter, please consider giving it a quick vote! Thanks for reading!