Steve grabbed Sitwell by the shirt collar and threw him across the roof,
"Tell me about Zola's algorithm," he said while you and Natasha followed behind him.
"Never heard of it," he lied and all three of you rolled your eyes.
"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?" you asked, coming next to Steve.
"Throwing up, I get seasick,"
"Stop with the bullshit." Natasha spat while Steve picked up Sitwell and forced him to the edge of the rooftop.
"Is this little act supposed to insinuate that you're going to throw me off? Cause it's really not your style Rogers," he smirked while Steve brought him back quickly, gently letting him go and patting his arms.
"Yeah, you're right," he said softly. "It's not. But it is theirs."
And almost as if you'd done it a hundred times before you and Natasha both set a direct kick to his gut, launching him off the side of the building.
There was a small silence, only filled by Sitwell's cry for help before Natasha piped up.
"How about that girl from accounting? Laura?"
"Lillian," you corrected, not even sure why you bothered at that point. Maybe that was because a small part of you wondered if he might ask you out for a cup of coffee, but right now dating was the least of your worries.
"Oh yeah, lip piercing?" Steve nodded and you confirmed.
"She's cute, right?" Natasha nodded.
"Yeah, I'm not ready for that." Steve shook his head and you didn't bother to hide a laugh, slightly relieved, while Sam brought a screaming Sitwell back to the roof in the Falcon suit you managed to easily steal from the secure facility where it belonged.
"Zola's algorithm! It's a program... for choosing insight's targets." Sitwell finally said, out of breath, kneeling on the roof.
"What targets?' Steve asked.
"You! All three of you! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City. Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future."
"How can it know the future?" you asked. "As far as I'm aware psychics are still a hoax."
"How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it."
All three of you looked at him in confusion and he sighed.
"Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, e-mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores. Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future," he explained.
"And then what?" Sam asked.
"Oh my God, Pierce is gonna kill me," Sitwell said, nervously inching away before Steve came closer in front of him and angrily said,
"What then?!"
"Then the Insight helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time."
—
"HYDRA doesn't like leaks," Sitwell said nervously while you pushed him back further into his seat.
"So why don't you stick a cork in it," Sam said while continuing on route to the Triskelion.
"Insight's launching in sixteen hours, we're cutting it a bit close here," Natasha noted and Steve nodded in acknowledgement.
"I know. We'll use him to bypass the DNA scans and access the helicarriers directly."
"What?! Are you crazy?! That's a terrible, terrible idea," Sitwell shook his head.
Suddenly a loud sound came from right above you and you looked up, noticing the dent in the top of the car and before you knew it the glass from Sitwell's window broke and a strong metal arm came and grabbed him, pulling him forcefully out of the window and throwing him into oncoming traffic.
You let out a small yelp of surprise, before gaining your bearings and following Natasha's lead. You took care of Steve, hopping into the passenger's seat on his lap and pulling him away from the seat and into you, narrowly dodging a bullet while Natasha pushed Sam out of the way of another one.
You reached around blindly for the gun that had fallen out of your pocket, unable to reach it before the metal arm came crashing through the roof and pulled out the steering wheel right from Sam's hands.
"Shit!" he exclaimed, the car no longer under his control.
You finally grabbed the gun and started to shoot at him, but he jumped off your car and landed on the one behind you. Sam's small sedan started to flow in the direction of oncoming traffic and Steve noticed this, holding onto the car door and his shield.
He reached over and grabbed you, Sam, and Natasha loudly warning,
"Hang on!" and pushed the door off its hinges and all four of you landed on the road, rolling into different directions while being shot at by what you assumed was the Winter Soldier and his men.
Your grip on the gun tightened as you raised it and shot a few times at him, one hitting his dark red goggles.
"(Y/N) get over here!" Natasha called and you ran to her, she covered you while you did so. She grabbed your side and shot a grappling hook on the side railing of the freeway, and you both jumped off, going to meet Steve who had already jumped to the streets below. "He's gonna come after me," she warned. "You go and cover Steve from down here, get civilians out of the way," she instructed.
"And you drag him away, make sure he doesn't get to Steve, you hear?"
"And try not to die," she added.
"Yeah, try not to die." you nodded and split off, running towards Steve who had crashed into a bus, running through it and avoiding machine gunfire.
While no one was paying attention to you, as you had grown used to, you used it to your advantage and shot the man operating the heavy artillery. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well for you, because the man who came to replace him seemed to only have you in his line of sight and directed the fire in your direction and away from the Captain who had just barely managed to get out of the bus.
"Uh, Steve, I might need a hand!" you yelled as you ran for cover and he saw you, running quickly to your aid, pulling out his shield and grabbing you when he reached you, holding you close so you were both under its cover. "Sorry, now that I think about it that might have not been the best move," you admitted.
"You think?" Steve cracked a smile and shook his head, pushing against the heavy fire, getting closer and closer to the large gun. "I got the gun, you get the guy?"
"Hell yeah," you nodded and when you were close enough, you split off to one side, shooting the man in his side, incapacitating him enough for Steve to use his shield to smash the gun to a point where it wouldn't be usable.
Steve then looked around, trying to figure out where everyone was.
"I've got you from up here!" Sam called and you nodded back at him while Steve noticed Natasha, lying wounded next to a car, the fabled Winter Soldier getting ready to shoot her.
Steve bolted there quickly, catching him off guard, pulling the gun out of his hand and tossing it to the ground.
You came in shortly after, and slid down next to Natasha, taking off your T-Shirt, leaving you in a tank top, and ripping off a large piece of the fabric to wrap around her bleeding wound.
"You're gonna be okay," you looked at her while she grimaced in pain. You tightened the wrap and her face contorted even further and you frowned.
"Steve, help Steve," she insisted. "I'll be fine, go."
You stood up from behind the car, grabbing your gun and one that a fallen HYDRA agent had dropped on the street, heading towards Steve and the Winter Soldier.
After taking quite a few hard punches to the gut Steve finally managed to grab his assailant's hand, twisting it around, partially incapacitating him while Steve took the chance to clock him firmly in the face, causing his mask to fall off.
When he stepped away and took a moment to look up Steve froze. His eyes carrying that same look they had in New Jersey. Except instead of nostalgia, there was pain. So much pain behind those beautiful eyes.
"Bucky?" he breathed out heavily, still catching his breath.
The soldier frowned and raised his gun at Steve, "Who the hell is Bucky?"
Before he could make his next move Sam kicked him aside while Natasha had managed to pick up the grenade launcher and shoot it at him, and while he disappeared in the smoke of the explosion you could hear the sound of the sirens slowly growing nearer as the flashing blue and red lights surrounded you.
"Drop the shield Cap! On your knees! Now!" Rumlow shouted while getting out of one of the heavy STRIKE vans.
Steve didn't do anything for a moment. Still in shock. Not registering what was happening.
"I said now!" Rumlow screeched. "All of you! Drop your weapons! On your knees!"
Steve finally dropped his shield, defeated and you could feel the anger boiling up inside of you as one of Rumlow's men, someone you recognized from the elevator, pushed a gun to Steve's head.
"Don't you dare shoot him!" you yelled. "Don't you fucking dare! Not while the world is watching! Don't do this!"
Rumlow looked at you like he was about to retaliate, but noticed the news helicopter in the air and bayed his men to stand down while the rest cuffed you and threw you in the back of one of the vans.
—
"It was him," Steve sighed. "He looked me in the eye like he didn't even know me."
"How's that even possible?" Sam asked. "It was like what, 70 years ago?" he asked.
"Zola. Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43, Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him and..."
"None of that's your fault, Steve," Natasha assured him.
"Even when I had nothing I had Bucky." Steve bit his lip and shook his head.
You noticed Natasha's shoulder's continued bleeding and piped up from your silence.
"We need to get a doctor here. We don't put pressure on that wound she's gonna bleed out here in the truck," you said.
One of the guards pulled out their electric rod and you all backed up, expecting to have it used on one of you, but the guard turned to their partner and neutralized them before pulling off their helmet.
"Ah damn, that thing was squeezing my brain."
"Maria fucking Hill," you chuckled relieved. "Took you long enough."