Nothing could have brought Karina down from cloud nine after Steve's news last night on top of his warm reception of Wanda aiding James recovery.
With Steve's recovery of important Hydra documents, he was dealing with the team supervising James' stasis. Since Wanda was hopefully going to be integrated into the recovery plan she was also with Steve. There was only the small voice in her head that knew James might not be too thrilled to be woken up early and having Wanda in his head. Karina decided to ignore that fact until it was time to deal with it.
Scott was still sleeping in his bed and his snoring could be heard behind the door. Natasha and Clint had stayed behind to do more spy things. Karina was slightly hurt by their abrupt absence but by Sam's cheeky grin she suspected the super elusive couple had something other than espionage on the agenda.
So that was how she found herself on the couch next to Sam playing Mario Kart on the Wii. She was playing as Koopa Troopa while Sam was Yoshi. They were on Rainbow Bridge, she vaguely wondered if she would ever meet Thor, in a close race of 1st and 2nd, she was millimeters behind Sam, when at the last second she threw a shell knocking him off the bridge that resulted in her victory. She bit her lip as she watched Sam's loud adverse reaction to her dirty move.
"I wonder where you learned this dirty tactic from." Sam muttered as he glared at the screen.
Karina snorted knowing who he was exactly referencing. She had already got the full story on why Sam had a hard time accepting defeat when it came to losing to James when his cart would be "tampered" with. He was still smarting from when James totaled his car on the freeway in Washington DC. He made it very loud and clear that he was still paying for the damages for that, but she believed it was horseshit. She believed being an Avenger paid very well.
"Have you ever thought I am just better than you," Karina drawled as she watched the animation of her turtle accept the #1 trophy in the game.
Sam threw an unamused glance, which certified him as the sore loser of the group, before he threw a pillow at her face never even giving her the chance to dodge it. It only made her erupted in hard belly laughs.
"What game do you want to play next?" He asked her as he got up to switch out the game.
"How about just Wii sports? We can play golf or I can kick your ass in bowling." She suggested with a waggle of her eyebrow while Sam rolled his eyes at her antic. Karina didn't want to brag, but she had the highest score in bowling and surprisingly with golf. Natasha came in second, but the ginger spy barely played the games. Not surprisingly Steve and Bucky were tied in boxing. Tennis was always in a state of flux between Clint and Scott who played that game more than the others. Wanda preferred Mario Kart over Wii sports, so she just watched in these tournaments.
"You're a cocky little thing."
"And you're a sassy little bird," Karina countered back.
Sam opened his mouth to retort, but he was interrupted by a loud blaring alarm that erupted through their living room and presumably the whole building. Karina jumped from her perch on the couch and had half the nerve to clamp her hands over her ears.
She heard Scott yelp in alarm from the noise. Then the whole building went dark, but as her eyes connected with Sam's dark orbs fear ran down her spine as goosebumps erupted over her body. T'Challa's palace was basically impenetrable. It was practically the safest place on her earth for all of them – for James.
With speed and grace, she didn't know she possessed, she jumped over the couch and ran towards their special elevator that would take her immediately down to James' quarters. She prayed that the thing still worked as taking the stairs would have her losing time she didn't have. In the haze of running to their exclusive elevator, her mind was questioning the basis of this invasion. She wasn't stupid. She hazily was connecting the dots that this was causality from the mission Steve and the others went to on yesterday.
The alarms were still blaring while the sleek elevator was encased in the emergency red and thankfully still worked. Her mind immediately wondered back to what happened in Berlin. Karina wasn't even sure if using the elevator was smart. Yet the 10 second trip was happening without interruptions. James' medical bay seemed undisturbed and she thanked the gods the smart lock still worked so she could gain access to his room. The alarms must have meant there was only a breach not a power outage. The steel enforced door slid opened while the automatic lights flickered on. She immediately made her way to find the light switch to manually keep the room encased in darkness besides the flashes of red that made the room look like it was dipped in blood.
She knew the door was coated with vibranium but the walls weren't as she stepped back to James' chamber where he laid asleep unaware of the peril that was surrounding him. She ran to his monitors looking to turn the cryostasis off when she jumped and accidently released a squeak when a large bang resonated in the room from a large object trying to penetrate the door.
It was blatantly obvious that whoever was in charge of attacking the base was here for James.
Karina tried to rack her brain for some sort of contingency plan the group had if they came under attack or really what she should be doing under a situation like this. Her self-defense could only get her so far. She knew even with rushing his thawing that it would take some time for James to become coherent from the abrupt awakening. She remembered distantly how he mentioned in passing how jarring and disorientating it was being woken up where he couldn't even walk. They had to drag him out of the chamber, but this wasn't Hydra and this awakening could be different for him. She knew she needed some diversion tactic if the men penetrated the room before James was conscious and able.
She watched as the ice fog lessened in James' chamber as the pounding outside the room increased in volume and she could hear shouting in from outside the room. Karina ran behind a pillar and crunched down and her hand slipped down into her boot and clutched James' Gerber Mark II he always insisted he have on her person.
She removed her gaze from the unthawing chamber back to the door where the pounding had seized. She could faintly hear voices discussing something in what she was able to decipher what she thought were Persian or even Hebrew.
The room was encased in silence besides the hum of machines that were reading James' vitals that were coming to life before the whole room shook as if an earthquake had erupted. Debris from the blast showered the room and over to where Karina was perched behind the pillar. She had clamped her mouth shut to prevent any noise of surprise and fear to leave her lips as the dust coated some of her body and airways. The blast had turned off the alarms sound system and only the flashing red was still going. It eerily reminded her of the setting at the CIA headquarters in Berlin where she had another encounter with James as the Winter Soldier and survived the whole ordeal. However, she wasn't a cat with nine lives.
Thanks to James and even Natasha's training she was able to distinguish two sets of footsteps entering the perimeter. By the deep baritone of their voices, she was able to decipher they were both male even before she seen them from the corner in their black tactical suit guns placed across their back and strapped to their thick thighs.
They were talking hurriedly amongst themselves and it was clear they were excited about the sight of the Winter Soldier before them, presumably at their will. She was thankful they seemed oblivious to the fact James was being woken from sleep.
The alarms were silent due to the effects of the blast. And due to the security of the place she couldn't hear anything from the upper floors. She watched silently as one man went to the monitors and bent down squinting at the words that were on the screen thankfully in Xhosa and the man released a noise of distress as it seemed he didn't understand the language. And where ever the men came from seemed to not want damage to come to James. She watched the man begin fumbling with his pockets while the other intruder admired James. She could see the pure joy being emitted from his body and eyes at the scene. A part of her was slightly curious as to why they would still even want James and even alive for that matter considering all that he knew that wasn't leaked. She surmised it was arrogance on their part and a part of her couldn't believe Hydra was still a thing or maybe they weren't Hydra. Maybe they just wanted to own James.
The one admiring his discovery was closer to her. With her knife gripped tightly in her sweaty palms, she kicked out her leg hitting the man in his peroneal nerve bringing him down with a loud yelp that drew his partner's attention. With having the element of surprise as her friend, she was easily able to stab the man in his carotid artery. She didn't think about the life she was taking. She didn't think about the warm blood seeping through the man's uniform and that was coating her blade. Her mission was to protect James.
Pulling the knife out, she stumbled backwards sleeping on the lake of blood as the other man stalked forward angrily shouting in his native tongue. Despite the fear that was in her veins, she remembered both her and James telling her to never cry, don't talk, and never scream. She remembered the pained look that came across James' face as he told her those three rules if she ever got caught up in something from him. Natasha was the one who told her about fear: use it to your advantage and never underestimate how much you are scared.
She knew her chances were slim considering she had no weapon besides her knife and the place was free of clutter or anything she could use to her advantage. Her heart was pounding hard against her chest as she looked at her opponent. This man had body mass and multiple guns strapped to his person.
The man had piercing brown orbs that looked black and a scar that cut into his right cheek, it gave him the illusion of a smirk, grabbed her foot which she evaded before she got her bearings and made her move to run. She had her speed and could give him some sort of a chase until she could run back to his dead associate and take a gun off him and stall until James was fully unthawed.
However, the man's gloved hand latched onto her black braid and she felt the strain on her roots as he brought her body flush against his. At this point, her mind and body were panicking. All the training she learned seemingly had evaporated especially as she blindly swung her hand with the knife that managed to nick him in his arm, sadly nowhere fatal, before he got the leverage and was trying to stab her in the throat.
Her arms were straining trying to fight his strength as the knife drew closer to her flesh. The man was laughing in her ear no doubt enjoying seeing her struggle against him.
It wasn't until the knife was steadily coming closer that she felt his hot rancid breath in her ear. His voice clear and in English, "Shame, the things I would do to this little body. The Soldat has great taste I must admit. You might make me reconsider cold pecking even then a little blood never harmed anyone."
Karina brought her head back aiming for his infraorbital nerve. The blow had him stumbling back holding his nose that was leaking red as he cursed loudly from the pain promising to kill her slow.
Karina wobbled back hitting a wall. Her arms tried to steady her body as she clung to the wall. She tried to catch her breath, but her lungs – chest – felt heavy.
A broken cough escaped her lips and like a sneeze a spray of red disturbed the air. The remaining liquid dribbled down her lips and down her chin.
The man looked at her and laughed. He was no longer concerned about his bleeding nose.
Karina looked down. Her knife was protruding from her Tricuspid area. It was sticking out of her chest.
The man was hysterical now as he stalked towards her gloating how she was a stupid bitch. She expected him to pull the knife out which would surely kill her quickly.
Her eyes slid past his form to where James was still resting. The monitors' activity was becoming stronger. She watched silently as the chamber opened up along with James' eyes. She watched his nostrils flare from the assault of the burned building and dust and maybe even of the blood of the man that laid a few feet from his chamber. She saw the confusion color his eyes as he looked around the room before landing on her and her would be killer.
The man never saw him coming until James had already had him in a chokehold.
Karina didn't even blink as James snapped his neck like it was a twig.
He was in front of her in a flash. His metal limb seeming even colder as it cupped her cheeks and forced her to look at him.
She could see his mouth moving. Asking. Talking.
She could feel her shirt becoming damp with her warm blood. It was probably the shade of red like the star that used to decorate his shoulder.
Both of his hands were on her face forcing her to look at his cornflower eyes. He was demanding something, but her ears were ringing for some odd reason.
He was so beautiful, she thought in that moment.
A masterpiece ripped and singed at the edges, but still beautiful. So devastatingly beautiful.
She opened her mouth to tell him something – anything, but a cough erupted from her throat spraying his chest and soiling his white muscle tee. She tried to apologize, but the blood was still seeping out her mouth. Her throat felt raw as if she had a cold. James was trying to shh her.
If she were too die right now she wouldn't complain. She got her final wish of seeing his violent blue eyes one last time.
She smiled at him. Her teeth stained red. Her one hand touched his metal shoulder. Her other hand moved up to his face. Some of her blood, she thought it was hers, and the dust smeared on his cheeks. She felt the stubble and ghosted over his smooth lips. His lips were moving, but she could only hear the loud ringing in her ears.
She thought death would be painful, but it wasn't. It was slow. Quiet. And cold.
She could feel his warmth surrounding her before everything became black.