"Ready Buck?"
"Ready as I'll ever be."
The two best friends clapped each other on the back as a sign of support and understanding as they stood on a hill just on the edge of the Triskelion's boundaries. Agent Hill stood next to them as did Sam Wilson, the pair's new best friend.
"Don't worry guys, I'm ready too." Sam piped up. Steve chuckled lightly while Bucky just sent a light glare Sam's way.
"Would you three shut up and get on with it already?" Agent Hill interrupted impatiently. The three men shared a look before they led the way towards SHIELD headquarters. Steve led the way through the maze of hallways until they finally reached their destination: Project Insight HQ.
"Time to work your magic, Hill." Steve spoke quietly as he, Bucky, and Sam all stood at the ready behind the door. Agent Hill nodded before she began to tamper with the tech crew's ear pieces. Suddenly, although not surprisingly, the door flew open to reveal a non-armed tech agent standing behind it.
His mouth dropped open in shock as he stared down the barrels of three different guns.
"Excuse us." Steve asked politely. With a firm nod, the agent moved out of the way and allowed the four of them into the room. Steve strode over to the desk that bolstered a large microphone, one that he knew would allow him to communicate with everyone in the Triskelion by way of intercoms.
"Attention, all SHIELD agents. This is Steve Rogers. 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. SHIELD is not what we thought it was, it's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader. The STRIKE 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."
Steve paused there, not quite sure how to continue. Bucky, however, knew the perfect way to continue. So, he hip bumped Steve out of the way and took his place behind the microphone.
"If you launch those Helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way, unless we stop them. I know that we're asking a lot, but the price of freedom is high, it always has been, and it's a price we're willing to pay. And if we're the only ones, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet we're not."
From across the room, Sam scoffed as he shook his head in amusement.
"Did you two write that down first and practice it, or was it off the top of your heads?" he inquired, an eyebrow arched as he waited for an answer.
"We're just poetic. You wish you could be like us." Bucky replied, a smirk ghosting across his lips before Maria interrupted them.
"C'mon guys, we have a mission. Let's go."
The trio silently followed Maria out into the hall as she led them towards an exit door they passed on the way in.
"This door will lead you straight to the helicarriers. Good luck and don't hurt yourselves." Maria announced as they came to a stop in front of the door. She nodded her head at all of them before she turned on her heel and walked back they way they came.
Once Maria was out of sight, the trio pushed the door open and walked through it into the next hallway. Just seconds after entering the hallway, their comms crackled in their ears as Maria began to speak.
"They're initiating launch."
"Goddammit." Bucky muttered as the three of them picked up their pace to look out the nearest window. Sure enough, they could clearly see the three helicarriers beginning to rise into the sky.
"Now what?" Sam asked, sharing a wide-eyed glance with Steve and Bucky.
"We get on those helicarriers, no matter what. Let's go." Steve commanded before taking off down the hallway with Sam and Bucky quick to pursue him. After running through a maze of hallways, the trio eventually come upon a door that leads them outside, where they needed to be about five minutes ago.
As soon as the sun hits their faces, all three men break into a light jog in order to keep the helicarriers in sight.
"Hey, guys, how do we know the good guys from the bad guys?" Sam asked unexpectedly as they ran across the tarmac.
"If they're shooting at you, they're bad." Bucky answered like it was such an obvious answer.
"Makes sense." Sam nodded his head as he spoke before he opened his wings and took off into the air. Steve and Bucky, however, jumped over the ledge of the tarmac and onto the other below seeing as how neither have the power of flight like Sam does.
As they landed on the ground, Steve rolled across it a few times on his shield before pushing himself into an upright position in order to keep running. Bucky didn't have the luxury of such a thing, so he went the harder way and rolled over the top of one of the jets sitting on the tarmac.
Bucky picked up his pace a little and fell into step with Steve. As the two of them neared the loading and unloading section of the tarmac, they were met with HYDRA soldiers, who as Bucky had stated before, started shooting at them. Steve and Bucky split apart with Steve diving to the right and Bucky diving to the left.
"I'll create a distraction so you can go ahead and get to your assigned helicarrier. I have a feeling we're running out of time, quick." Bucky proposed. He didn't really bother with being too quiet seeing as how the HYDRA agents most likely couldn't hear him over the gunfire anyways.
"Are you sure?" Steve asked, gauging Bucky's reaction.
"Of course. It'll be just like the old days." Bucky smirked while Steve rolled his eyes.
"Whatever you say," Steve paused before he continued to say, "Just be careful."
"Always am."
Steve nodded his head before he pushed himself into a standing position with Bucky quickly doing the same. Bucky glanced around before he nodded to Steve and took off towards the HYDRA agents who, somehow, hadn't run out of bullets yet. Steve waited a few seconds before he jumped onto the nearest set of crates and back up onto a different tarmac.
As soon as his feet were on the ground, he set his sights and angled his body towards the first helicarrier. He hadn't gotten very far when Sam's voice came on over their comm pieces.
"I found those bad guys you were talking about."
"You okay?" Steve asked as he continued his pursuit of the giant flying ship.
"Not dead yet." Sam replied before the comms went silent again. Steve was within twenty feet of the end of the tarmac and his helicarrier. He allowed himself to smile a lightly. However, no sooner than he thought getting there would be easy, something heavy rammed into his side and knocked him off his course.
Steve landed hard on his side, the force of his landing knocking the wind out of him. He quickly rolled to his back and jumped into a standing position. As he looked up from the ground and at the person who stood in front of him, all the air he had just brought back into his lungs was expelled as he let out a strangled gasp.
Her blonde hair flew in the wind, free from the ponytail she had been wearing it in when they first met. Her mask and eye piece were gone, whether it had been her idea or Pierce's Steve wasn't sure. But she was still dressed in the same uniform as yesterday, except now she had new weapons attached to her.
"Charlotte, listen to me, please. I'm your big brother, Steve. Remember me?" he spoke slowly as he watched her face for any sort of reaction. To his disappointment, but not surprise, she didn't give him any sort of physical reaction.
"My name isn't Charlotte." she snarled before she moved herself into a fighting stance. In her eyes, all he was to her was a red, white, and blue moving target. Nothing more, nothing less. She knew what he was saying couldn't be true.
Or could it be?
The soldier shook her head to clear the thought. There was no way it could be true, she had never seen him before in her life up until their fight yesterday. With one last glance over her target, she launched herself at him.
Steve only had a split second to process what was happening before she had knocked him onto his back again. Expecting her to be as light as she used to be back in the forties, Steve attempted to pick her off of him by the waist. When she didn't budge, Steve's eyes widened in fear. He was going to be in for a tough fight, especially since he really didn't want to be fighting his little sister, the person he had sworn to protect ever since she was born.
Steve brought his feet up into the soldier's stomach and finally heaved her off of him, allowing him to scramble to his feet yet again. Before the soldier could regain her composure, Steve attacked her. All he wanted to do was incapacitate her, not kill her. So, he attacked her from behind and grabbed her arm.
Steve used his extra weight to throw her over his shoulder and onto the ground on her stomach. She wasn't the light woman he had known in the forties anymore. Now, she was pure muscle. Along with what Steve assumed to be a heavy, metal arm. As the soldier hurried back to her feet, Steve took the time to try and convince her to stop fighting him.
"Charlotte, please. Let me help you. I-I miss you and I love you. Please, don't do this." Steve pleaded with her. Tears began to form in the corner of his eyes the longer he stared at the broken form of his little sister. She didn't know him, there was no hint of recognition and that broke Steve's already broken heart.
"Charlotte, please...come back to me."
"STOP!" the soldier exploded as a confused expression crossed over her facial features. Her hands began to shake the longer they stood still, so she rushed forward in a hazy panic and in a whirl of black and blonde, she had Steve in a choke hold.
With a strangled gasp, Steve's hands flew to the metal arm wrapped tightly around his throat. His attempts to release her hold on him were futile, she was too strong. Slowly, Steve began to see black spots cloud his vision.
"Прости(forgive)." the soldier muttered as she released her grip on Steve's throat. Steve inhaled as much air as he could before he looked for his sister. She seemed to have remembered him, if only for just a moment. But at least it was a step in the right direction.
Steve shook his head and took a few more deep breaths before he stood up and headed towards the helicarrier once more. Before he took a leap of faith towards the wing of the gigantic flying hunk of metal, Steve spoke into his comm piece.
"She's remembering. I'm not sure how much or if it was just a one time thing, but she didn't kill me when she could have. That makes her all the more dangerous so be careful everyone." Steve warned before he began his running start towards the helicarrier. With a good leap off the edge of the tarmac, Steve easily landed in the middle of the wing.
"Alpha locked. Thanks for the heads up, Cap." Sam spoke through the comms as Steve tried to assess the best way into the helicarrier. Quickly, he spotted a window and raced over. With the edge of his shield, Steve easily shattered the glass and slipped inside.
Once on the inside, Steve scanned for any threats before he began to make his way towards the control panel of the helicarrier. It didn't take Steve very long before he reached his destination. As he stood and assessed the best way to get into the internal system, he absentmindedly reached towards his neck to rub it.
But as soon as he touched the skin there, he pulled his hand away and hissed in pain. There would definitely be bruises there if there weren't already. Instead of focusing on that, however, he finally found a way to get into the hard drive of the helicarrier. He quickly ripped out one of the many chips already in place and replaced it with his own.
"Bravo locked."
~
Okay guys, quick update about my normally hectic life. School starts back up in a week and a half, but it'll be my senior year and I will be swamped with AP classes and homework. Not to mention the fact that I will also be trying to balance out my social life, school work, and my job at the same time as I begin the hectic search for colleges and scholarships to apply for. I will try my very best to get out an update at least once a week, but I wanted to forewarn everyone before hand so there wouldn't be any surprises come the start of school. Also, I appreciate every single one of you who vote and comment. These brighten up my day and further encourage me to update so a sincere thank you to all of you!