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30 - A Woman on a Mission

30 – A Woman on a Mission

Did somebody say we're screwed?

Natasha and Steve look at us, laser-focused. Natasha has batons at her side, which seem to be equipped with an electric current. All Steve has is his signature Captain America shield.

"They're not them," I whisper to James. "We need to snap them out of it. I'll take Steve, you take Natasha."

"What?"

"I know you won't hit Steve."

"You're wrong, I'll beat the shit out of him."

"If it was him, sure. But this isn't him. He's not...You could kill him. Or he might kill you. Let me handle him, you get Natasha." James looks at me apprehensively. "I'm not asking whether or not you're good with it, I'm telling you."

"Vick—"

"I won't kill him, I promise."

"Enough talk," Natasha says, walking rather catlike towards us.

James steps forward, lowering his weapon and tucking it away. I watch warily as the two slowly pick up speed, both sprinting for each other, until they both collide. While their fists and batons are flying, I take a run at them. I leap, sending myself over the duo, rolling on my dismount to land in front of Steve.

"Okay, Steve, you and me." I put my hands up in a fight stance. "I don't know how I'm gonna break you out—" I'm popped in the face, sending me onto my back. Okay, monologuing, not a smart plan. I roll to my left when his shield tries to decapitate me. Okay, focus. Get back into the game. I kick out at Steve, and when he brings the shield down on me, I grab it, stopping it from hitting me. I yell as I'm thrown up with the shield, tossed over Steve's head. Past him stalking towards me, I see Natasha beating the hell out of James with her electric batons. Maybe if I can get a decent shot. I pull the gun I had from earlier and take a shot, but Steve's shield catches the bullet, and I duck when I hear it ricochet. I don't need to be the reason I get shot. I've got enough bullet wounds from the last time I got into a fight.

How did James revert back to his old self? Time. How did I? Time. If I can knock Steve unconscious...

I duck under the shield and throw a punch at Steve's gut. I need to get his shield away from him. It'll be a fairer fight. But considering he's swinging that thing around and I can't pry it from him, that's going to be a tough task. I blindly attack him, throwing punches and kicks anywhere that I can get an opening. He only has four limbs, he can't block all my attacks.

Wrong. He can.

I'm sent into the wall, my back hitting first, then my head. My head is ringing, and I can feel vertigo setting in. I howl as my hair is yanked sharply upwards, pulling me up along with it. Growling, I use the airtime to kick Steve in the gut with both. The contact separates his hand from my hair, and causes me to land awkwardly on my right hand. I feel something tweak, or fracture. Son of a bitch.

I cradle my right hand to my chest, kicking at Steve's feet as he reaches for his shield on the floor. I throw my feet at him, but he grabs one leg and throws me to the floor. His hands are wrapped around my neck, and I can only fend him off with one hand. My head rolls back, and from my vision, upside down, I can see Natasha still having an advantage over James.

My eyes are rolling, I can't see anything. I'm coughing violently, a few moments away from falling unconscious. Death by Captain America, who would've thought it?

When his hands release me, I sit up, gasping loudly. Steve has backed off, and continuing to stumble backwards, grabbing at his head. He buckles to his knees, and I don't understand why until Wanda Maximoff enters the scene. Her eyes are glowing bright red, and her fingers are waggling. Her face is twisted in concentration.

"Sam, now!" she yells.

I hear two loud pops, and I see Steve fall onto the floor. For a minute, I'm horrified. Sam Wilson just murdered Captain America.

But then I see a needle stuck in Steve's neck. A sedative.

I turn. Natasha is on the ground, and James is slowly getting to his feet.

"You guys good?" Sam asks, acting as Wanda's flank.

"As good as we can be," I pant, tenderly probing my right wrist.

"Broken?"

"It's at least fractured, or sprained. It doesn't feel right."

"We got to get you looked at."

"I can't leave yet."

"You're joking," Wanda deadpans.

"Look, I've got one thing I need to do. Tell the others we're on our way soon."

"What do you plan to do?"

"Kill Grant Ward. Take off the main head of the damn snake."

"Victoria!" Sam calls after me, but I'm already running far away from him. "Damn it, dude, control your woman!"

I laugh, as he's most likely telling James this.

I pull out my pistol, scouring the areas for Ward. I take out any agents that try and kill me with at least one shot. Oh, yeah, I'm a woman on a mission. HYDRA doesn't know what's hitting them. Ward won't know until it's too late. Where are you? Where are you?

As I round a corner, my face explodes with new pain. I'm sent to the floor, and now my right wrist is screaming in white-hot pain. Yup, now it's officially broken. I spin on the floor, scooting away, as Grant Ward watches me with amusement in his soulless shark eyes.

"Think I'd leave without saying goodbye?" he simpers. "I couldn't do that to the Angel."

"She doesn't exist anymore," I spit through gritted teeth.

"You don't look so good, Victoria." He tuts. "That wrist looks like it hurts, a lot."

"No matter what you do from this point forward, you're done, Ward. HYDRA is done. You've lost." I laugh breathlessly. "How does it feel, to accept that? S.H.I.E.L.D. is taking what agents you have hostage."

"A poor move on their part."

"Hey, I wanted you all dead." I shrug, getting to my feet. "Especially you." I glance down, finding my left hand empty. The pistol.

Bang.

White noise drowns out all others in my ears. The pistol is at Ward's side, aimed right at me. It's not in my hip that I feel it, but somewhere it hit a rib or two, completely broke through. I don't feel the bullet exit.

I hear James scream in outrage, just barely. It sounds like I've got cotton balls in my ears, how muffled his scream sounds. And he's not the one who got the bullet.

The gunshot sends me to the ground, and my head bashes against the floor. I roll onto my side, feeling my insides burn. The most I can do is crawl along the floor. I howl in pain when Ward crushes my left hand under his foot. Now, both hands are useless.

"I had high hopes for you, when you first complied," he drawls. I feel the barrel of the weapon against my temple. I stare down at the floor, the pain in my body growing rapidly. "But then you defected, just like the Winter Soldier. But now, we've got something much better. A portion of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, fighting for HYDRA."

I chuckle, spitting up blood. "Bad guys don't get fairytale endings. All this will fall. It's falling right now, you're just too delusional to see it."

"The only delusional one here is you, Angel. Thinking your friends will come back to you. You underestimate our technology. S.H.I.E.L.D. always has. Ah, the Winter Soldier. Don't take another step, or she'll die."

"Don't listen to him, I'm dead either way," I hiss under my breath.

"Oh, we're not done with you," James hisses. "You're not making it out alive, Ward."

I start moving my arm slowly, fumbling for a small pocketknife that James had given me a long time ago. If I can catch Ward off guard, James can take him out. I can still do something while I'm still breathing.

"I wanted to keep you both on the team, but since there's no chance of that happening..." The barrel of the gun is pressed deeper into my temple. "Guess I'm left with no other choice."

"What if I just shot you?" James asks.

"I'd kill her before the bullet hit me. Is that worth the risk?"

I want to nod my head. Yes, my death is worth it as long as Grant Ward and HYDRA dies with me. But I doubt James thinks the way I do.

The second I feel the knife hilt, I slam the point into Grant Ward's leg. He shouts, and I feel the barrel of the gun off my head. I duck to the floor as gunfire erupts over my head. James bellows, and I see him throttle Grant Ward to the ground. He's over Ward for a while, and I see a lot of punches thrown.

"James!" I cry hoarsely. "James." I see the metal arm poised to strike, but it doesn't fall on Grant Ward. Instead, he gets off the body and trots to me.

"Hey, hey." I grab onto him. "I'm here. You got to stop getting yourself shot, Vick."

I wheeze. "Sorry, I'm a bullet magnet. Can't help it."

"We need to get out of here."

"What? No on the spot surgery?"

"Don't have that kind of time."

The body ahead moves, and Grant Ward, swollen and bloody in the face, gets on his feet. Damn son of a bitch won't go down! James holds me protectively, like we're prepared to die together. I fumble around James' body. He needs to have a gun somewhere.

"I thought you killed him?" I whisper to James.

"You told me to stop, so I stopped," he murmurs. "You should've let me keep going."

"I should have." I'm taking shallow breaths. "You could've not listened."

Ward picks up the gun, stalks to us. I feel something that's most definitely a gun.

"James," I whisper, "do you trust me?"

"With my life."

"Good." I pull out the pistol, and bang. James winces against me, and Grant Ward stumbles back.

I fire again, and again, and again. Four shots go into Ward's body, and he remains standing.

"Should've pulled the trigger first. Hail HYDRA...you bastard," I say through scarlet lips as Ward's body falls heavily onto the floor. I toss the weapon away, feeling the wet red on my body and bubbling in my throat.

"Vick, hey!" James grabs my face, red smearing his fingers as he runs them across my lips. "Hey, stay here with me."

"Get out of here."

"Not without you." With weakened limbs, James picks me up off the floor. "You need to stay with me, Vick, okay? I'm with you, you need to be with me now, okay?"

"I don't need someone saving my ass."

"Now isn't the time to be stubborn."

"This is the perfect time to be stubborn, James."

"Be stubborn for the right reasons. Let yourself be a damsel for once in your life."

I try and laugh, but it only hurts me more. "Damn it, Bucky, stop trying to make me laugh. You're killing me faster."

"That's not funny."

"We did it," I murmur. "He's dead."

"You did it, Vick. And you're gonna live to tell it a thousand times over, as exaggerated as you want."

I slip under, hearing James' frantic heartbeat and breathing consuming my thoughts.

**I kinda liked Ward, even when he was HYDRA. [shrugs] I don't know why.

Sometimes I'm a sucker for a bad guy.**

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