Audelia Motter's eyes moved along the keyboard before her, her eyes flicking back and forth as she moved through the various security systems of the Triskelion, trying to pinpoint the exact launch point of the ships to try and shut them down remotely from her end.
"Wilson, status update?" she called out over the comms.
"Found those bad guys Cap was talking about!"
"Yeah, I can tell," she retorted, hearing the sound of the gun fight in the background. "Natasha, pieces in place upstairs?"
"Just stepped on his moment. Prepare for the data dump,"
"Ready when you are, keep me posted," Audelia called back. "Steve, we're down to eight minutes get moving."
"Working on it. Thanks for asking so nicely,"
The sound of footsteps outside the door caught Audelia's attention as she slid backwards in her chair. She jumped to her feet, grabbing one of the metal tables in front of the door and wedging it between the handle in the wall just as she heard the consistent banging begin on the outside. Deli let out a curse under her breath, knowing that the HYDRA agents were here and looking for her.
"Steve? Need a status update quickly!"
"Alpha locked, Deli. Sam?"
"Bravo locked! Had to take a detour!"
Audelia ran back to the screens, pulling up the connection lines between the two ships in the air and locking them into place, securing them as her own as she uploaded her own security system firewall to the ships system, securing them as theirs.
"Two down, one to go," she reminded the pair. "Running out of time, get that last ship in my hands. Charlie Carrier's forty-five degrees off the port bow and you're down to six minutes."
"Motter, Alpha level confirmation is a go," Maria Hill's voice now flooded the comms. "Natasha is sending the dump confirmation."
"Just got it," she called back as she slid back into the chair, confirming the dump as all of SHIELD's files hit the internet all at once, a notification going off in the corner that had her raising her eyebrows. "And look, it's even trending. Sorry Nat."
"Don't apologize to me, start your apology to Tony," the red head called back. "He knows there's only one super genius out there with the power to dump highly classified information like that. Should probably prepare for the angry phone call."
Audelia froze for a second, swearing under her breath as she realized her friend was right just as the metal door across the room busted open. Deli's eyes went wide as she ducked under the metal table to her left as the shots rang out, the four HYDRA agents flooding the room.
Taking a deep breath, Audelia grabbed the gun holstered to her hip and rolled out from under the table, swiping out the legs of the agent beside her and disarming him, popping up and shooting at the other three agents across the room as she held the now unconscious agent in her hands out as a shield. She tossed the body across the room, knocking down two of the guards immediately and she scrambled for her briefcase by the window.
The woman let out a cry as a fist grabbed onto her hair, tugging her backwards to look up at him. Audelia grit her teeth and reached her hands back, grabbing his head and knocking their foreheads together before kicking him in the knee, sending him to the ground before she allowed her knee to collide with his head, sending his body flying to the ground.
The two agents across the room that had been knocked down by their comrade scrambled to their feet, only to freeze in their tracks. Audelia stood on top of her briefcase as the last gears of her suit encased her body, the helmet coming down over her face as the suit came to life. She fired two shots at the agents before either of them could shoot, their bodies falling to the ground before her.
"Motter? Audelia, you there?"
Audelia allowed her suit to canopy as she stepped out of it, rubbing the back of her head in pain as she switched her comms back on, stepping over the bodies on the ground.
"I'm here, Wilson. Where's Steve?"
"Alone, I'm grounded,"
Audelia got back into her seat, pulling up the live feed of the HYDRA comms using one of the walkies off the bodies on the floor.
"Rumlow is on his way to the Council. Do me a favor and detour him,"
"On it,"
The woman let her eyes close for a minute, taking a deep breath as she tried to alleviate herself of the pain coursing through her skull. Her phone buzzed incessantly on the counter as she looked over, seeing Tony's caller ID popping up before her. She cursed, looking up to the ceiling before reaching over and muting her phone, flipping it so she could no longer see the screen. Yeah, she had an earful coming her way.
"Steve," Audelia called out as she focused on the task at hand, moving through the information on the screen as she pulled up Charlie's countdown clock. "Steve, we're down to one minute. Get that ship under control."
Audelia felt her heart stop for a moment as she didn't hear Steve respond on the other end. Alarms went off on the screen as she pulled up her security systems on the other two ships, cursing as they were broken through.
"Steve!" she cried out, seeing the countdown clock. "Thirty seconds!"
"Deli...stand by,"
Audelia held her breath, just as she was sure that everyone else was, as the timer ran out. The ships hit three thousand feet, and the targets were being locked.
Across the screen, she watched as everyone was targeted. The President and his entire cabinet, the Pentagon, various world leaders, herself and everyone here. She held her breath as she watched her father's name show up on the screen, followed by Tony's and even Nathan's.
The wind was knocked out of her when Aurora's name popped up as well.
But a second later, all of the targets went away.
"Charlie locked," Steve wheezed out, Audelia's face softening in concern when she heard the pain running through his words.
She moved quickly, linking the three ships together as their weapons turned to face one another.
"Steve, it's set. Get out of there, now!"
"Fire it now,"
Audelia stopped in her tracks, swallowing the lump in her throat as she shook her head.
"No, no I'm not going to. Steve, not until I know you're safe. You have to get out of there-"
"Do it! Do it now!"
Audelia stood still for a moment as a single tear slipped down her cheek. She shut her eyes, reaching down with a shaky hand to press the launch key, the sound of explosions outside rocking the building she stood in.
Without a moment to waste, Audelia turned away from the screen, stepping into her suit as it closed around her once more. As the boots activated and she flew into the air, Audelia took one last look around the room before flying through the window and out into the sky.
She flew around the building and up into the air, watching as the three ships fired at one another, pieces falling into the water below as HYDRA fell with it.
"Deli, we need assistance," Natasha's voice flooded the comms, the sound of the helicopter behind her voice. "Wilson is trapped on the 41st floor, not sure we'll make it in time."
"On my way,"
Audelia flew through the air and through the wreckage toward the main building. JARVIS got a lock on the helicopter just a few feet out from the building as part of one of the ships moved through it, coming out the other end. JARVIS got a lock on Sam Wilson as he busted through the window, his body falling through the air.
Flying after him, Audelia was able to grab onto one of his arms as she flew past, tossing him into the helicopter as it flew right past her. She stopped midair, turning to flying alongside the helicopter as Natasha steadied Sam.
"41st floor!" he cried out, looking at Fury and then to Audelia in her suit. "I said 41st floor!"
"The floor numbers aren't on the outside of the building, Wilson," Deli shot back as she hovered beside the helicopter, looking around at everyone inside. "Where's Steve? Tell me someone has a location on Steve."
Everyone was silent as another tear slipped down Deli's cheek. She flew away from the helicopter immediately, ignoring Natasha and Sam's calls as she flew up into the air, directly above the wreckage in the water.
"JARVIS, do a scan immediately. Find Steve,"
"Initiating scan,"
The digital screen within the suit lit up as she looked around the wreckage, before a solid red outline of two figures along the shore lit up her display. Within a second she was flying at light speed across the water, landing beside Steve's unconscious and wet body lying in the sand.
She ripped her helmet off, holding her hand over Steve's body as JARVIS did a scan, informing her that a heartbeat was detected. Deli let out a sigh of relief, letting her hand rest on his chest as she looked up into the haunted eyes of James Buchanan Barnes beside her.
She could see all of the pain, everything that he had gone through in his eyes. It was all laid out before her, hidden in his eyes as he looked back down at Steve.
"I knew him," Bucky had no idea why he said it, what about the woman prompted him to say it, but he did. He looked back up to the woman he didn't know, and all she did was nod.
"You did," she told him. Her eyes stayed on him as he turned, walking away before he stopped in his tracks as she spoke again. "The Smithsonian. You'll find your answers in the Smithsonian."
Bucky didn't say anything else, just disappeared into the smoke along the bank until she could see him no more. Audelia closed her eyes, sending a signal through her suit to Hill with a location of where they were, and that Steve was alive.
In her moment of peace, Audelia didn't even think twice about answering the phone call that came through her suit.
"Audelia Motter, I swear to god, if you are where I think you are I will disable that damn suit of yours,"
"...hi Tony,"
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Oh hello there my lovely readers. What's this? JUST AN UPDATE WOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
I should be back on a pretty regular update schedule now. Bridge to the Multiverse is either going to be late December or sometime in January, still have A LOT of writing to do before then but I'm doing my best!