The sun shone high in the sky over the busy marketplace in the center of Lagos, Nigeria as shoppers milled about, moving from place to place as they enjoyed a peaceful afternoon. The chatter of passersby hung heavy in the air, although to the pink haired woman sipping tea in the middle of the cafe, it was merely background noise as she observed a means to a hopeful end in sight.

"Alright, what do you see?" Steve Rogers's voice sounded over the intercom as Elysia Sparks raised the teacup to her lips, taking a sip of the bitter beverage.

"Standard beat cops," Wanda Maximoff spoke next, the young woman seated at a table a few yards to Elysia's left, though her eyes continued to scan the crowd around them, rather than risk looking back at the two women placed strategically around the cafe, each of their views covering a different section of the marketplace. "Small station. Quiet street. It's a good target."

"There's an ATM on the south corner, which means?" Steve asked then.

"Cameras," Wanda answered.

"Both cross-streets are one way." Steve continued.

"So compromised escape routes." Wanda finished.

"That means our guy doesn't care about being seen, he isn't afraid to make a mess on the way out." Steve explained. "You see that Range Rover about halfway up the block?"

"Yeah, the red one? It's cute."

"It's also bulletproof, which means private security." Natasha Romanoff's voice joined in. "Which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody, probably us."

"You guys know I can move things with my mind, right?" Wanda reminded them as Elysia spared a glance back over at them, only for a moment.

"Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature." Natasha reminded her.

"Anybody tell you you're a little paranoid?" Sam Wilson's voice joined in.

"Not to my face," Natasha retorted. "Why, did you hear something?"

"There's a rumor going around." Elysia added in. "My money's on Stars and Stripes running his mouth again."

"Eyes on target, folks." Steve reminded them. "This is the best lead we've had on Rumlow in six months, I don't want to lose him."

"If he sees us coming, that won't be a problem." Sam scoffed. "He kinda hates us."

Horns sounded in the distance as a car honked impatiently on the other side of the market, but Elysia let her eyes roam over the crowd in front of her. At one of the storefronts, a family was buying fruit, so carefree. None of them were the wiser to the dastardly events taking place right under their noses, the events Elysia and her team were trying desperately to put an end to once and for all, to finally bring in Brock Rumlow and get an answer to where Bucky Barnes had vanished to the night HYDRA had attacked the Avengers Compound over a year before.

"Sam," Steve spoke up again. "See that garbage truck? Tag it."

Elysia could hear the faint whir as a flash of red moved overhead, and she looked up to see Sam's drone flying over the marketplace, in the direction of the sound of the horns. "That truck's loaded for max weight." Sam informed them after a short while. "The driver's armed."

"It's a battering ram," Natasha spoke up suddenly, and Elysia spared one more glance back at Wanda to see the woman looking back at her, a horrified expression in her eyes.

"Go now," Steve instructed.

"What?" Wanda asked.

"He's not hitting the police," Steve said, but Elysia was already up out of her chair, rushing away from the cafe as a crash began to tremble through the streets of Lagos in the distance.

Elysia raced for where a motorbike lay abandoned on the side of the road, climbing onto the seat and sending a quick shock to the engine, hotwiring it as it roared to life. She zipped through the streets, the wind hitting her face as she dodged vehicles and pedestrians. Dust rose into the air from the accident, the view of the Center for Infectious Diseases coming closer and closer as well as the sounds of the chaos that lay within.

Overhead, Elysia could make out Sam flying the Falcon suit with Steve in tow, letting the super soldier go as he plummeted toward the ground, shield ready to break his fall. Elysia urged the bike closer and closer to the building as the fight ensued, ditching the bike on the side of the road as she hopped off of the vehicle.

"Body armor," Steve's voice sounded over the earpiece. "AR-15s. I make eight hostiles."

Elysia rounded the corner as a blow hit the back of her head, sending her sprawling onto the ground in front of her. She hit the pavement hard, letting out a groan as she pulled herself up to her feet, the static electricity beginning to thrum through her veins at the sight of the man before her, arms up and ready to once again advance on the pink haired woman.

She held her hands up as the soldier advanced towards her again, but this time she ducked, sending a kick to his ribs as he was sent stumbling backwards, and she charged, gaining the upper hand. Her hands went straight to his chest as she emitted a yell, the electric charge moving into the man's body and sending him back to the ground, twitching as the shocks wracked through his body, leaving him stunned.

"Seven," Elysia panted, reaching up to gingerly touch the spot on the back of her head where she'd been hit and grimacing in response to the feeling.

"I make five," Sam's voice echoed in her ear.

"Sam!" Wanda yelled, and Elysia rushed forward to see a hostile shooting at the woman, though she held up a force field to protect herself.

Sam moved quickly from the skies, jetting down towards the attacker and tackling him to the ground. As he lay motionless, Sam rose back up to his feet, dusting off his suit. "Four," his voice soon registered once again over the device.

Elysia moved towards them in the courtyard as Steve met them from the opposite direction. "Rumlow's on the third floor," Sam informed them, his eyes on a datapad hidden in his suit while his drone scanned the upper floors for any sign of movement.

"Wanda, just like we practiced." Steve said.

"What about the gas?" she asked.

"Get it out," Steve instructed, jumping up onto a vehicle as Wanda used her powers to send him further into the air, where he used his shield to break into a window on the third floor.

Wanda moved quickly, sending the beams of red light to the other windows in the building, shattering them as she began to pull out the toxic fumes that clouded the air inside. As it funneled out in clouds of green, she pulled them into a cyclone, pushing them up into the air, away from them.

As Wanda worked, Sam and Elysia made quick work of the hostiles still surrounding them, Sam using the Falcon wings to protect the three of them from the rain of bullets while Elysia aimed a shock across the courtyard, pushing it as far as her abilities would allow as it hit one of them square in the chest. The man fell to the ground with a cry, lying motionless as she took out the soldier next to him, and Sam moved back to the datapad, sending a small missile to take out the other two in a cloud of fire and smoke as the green smog dissipated into the atmosphere above them.

"Rumlow has a biological weapon." Steve's voice suddenly came over the intercom.

"I'm on it," Natasha quickly answered.

Elysia raced back for the motorbike, hopping on as she attempted to reach the courtyard on the opposite side of the facility. She raced the bike around the corner on the now-deserted sidewalks, however, before she could reach Natasha and Rumlow, a series of explosions ripped through the courtyard, and she pulled the bike to a stop with a sharp squeal as she attempted to make sense of her new surroundings.

"Sam," Steve's voice came over the intercom once again, the super soldier fighting to catch his breath. "He's in an AFV heading north."

"I'm on it," Elysia said, turning the bike as she once again revved the engine, pushing off the ground as the big truck came into sight in the distance.

As she zipped back through the streets of Lagos, she was soon joined by Natasha, whose bike passed her own in their pursuit of the truck. The chase sent them back to the marketplace, still swarming with civilians, however instead of their shopping, they now moved in a hurry, trying to get as far as possible from the explosions having ripped through the facility in the distance.

"I've got four, they're splitting up," Sam's voice came over the intercom as Elysia followed Natasha off the motorbikes, running headfirst into the marketplace.

"I've got the two on the left," Natasha instructed, and Elysia nodded, taking off in the opposite direction from her friend.

"I've got the right," Elysia alerted the others.

"They ditched their gear," Steve said. "It's a shell game now. One of them has the payload."

Elysia rushed through the marketplace as an explosion tore through the air above them, rocking a few of the stalls in its wake. Screams echoed throughout as civilians began to run away from the scene, but Elysia shouldered her way through them, trying desperately to reach the hostiles still hidden amongst the masses.

A blur flashed to her right, and she looked over to see a man in a black t-shirt's gaze locked on her for a moment before he took off running, and she followed after him, the electricity already beginning to thrum back in her veins. As she chased him into a more open space just outside the market, another flash whizzed overhead as Sam flew by, tackling the man to the ground.

As shots rang out in Sam's direction, Elysia stopped short, but the man simply raised one of the Falcon wings, taking the brunt of the hits as the bullets fell harmlessly to the ground. As Sam advanced on the man with the gun, knocking him aside, the other one rose back to his feet as he was temporarily forgotten by the Falcon.

Elysia ran forward, intercepting the man as he aimed a punch in her direction. She dodged the punch, sidestepping and grabbing his arm before flipping him onto his back. She let the electricity flow through her where her arms were locked around his, sending the shock out of her body and into his. The man let out a cry of pain as he hit the ground, stunned, and Elysia began to search his pockets for the vial, though to her dismay, they were empty.

"He doesn't have it," Sam's voice spoke into her earpiece. "I'm empty!"

"Same here," Elysia sighed, rising to her feet. "Nothing. Nat? Wanda? Steve?"

"Nothing here," Wanda said, though there was no trace of a response from either Steve or Natasha.

"Steve?" Elysia spoke once more, her gaze meeting Sam's from where he still stood next to his own unconscious hostile. "Nat?"

"I'll find Nat," Sam offered. "You go find Steve."

Elysia nodded as more screams echoed from behind them, back in the center of the market, and she took off running, a feeling settling deep in the pit of her stomach that she'd found Steve's whereabouts. Everywhere she looked, people ran in all directions, and she tried her best to dodge them as the sounds of fighting reached her ears, leaving a trail for her to follow.

"Payload secure," Natasha's voice finally came over the intercom. "Thanks, Sam."

"Don't thank me," Sam said.

"I'm not thanking that thing." Natasha said adamantly.

"His name is Redwing," Sam explained.

"Still not thanking it," she insisted.

"Come on, he's cute, go on, pet him." Sam assured her.

"Guys, is this really the time?" Elysia huffed, still running towards the sounds of the fight as they grew closer and closer.

Elysia sprinted through the throngs of people still milling about in the middle of the market, a sea of newcomers mixing into the crowd as civilians tried to get as far away from the fight as they possibly could. She pushed her way through them, finally reaching a break in the crowd to reveal Steve locked in a battle with Rumlow, the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent clearly gaining the upper hand.

She froze for only a moment as Rumlow pinned Steve against a building, before once again finding her footing as she tried desperately to reach her friend. "This is for dropping a building on my face," Rumlow said to Steve, and with a flick, a blade jutted out from the part of the suit covering his wrist.

Elysia launched herself forward with a yell, landing on Rumlow's back and locking her legs around his waist as she began to pull him away from Steve. "And this," she panted, "is for putting a bullet in my back."

Elysia threw them both backwards, giving Steve just enough space to grab onto Rumlow's suit and pull, the arm piece coming off with it as Steve tossed it to the ground at his feet. Elysia let go of Rumlow as she neared the ground, moving into a backwards somersault and vaulting herself back onto her feet as a blade jutted from his other arm, narrowly missing the young woman behind him. He turned back to face Steve as the super soldier advanced on him, and Elysia seized the opportunity to grab Rumlow's bare arm, sending a shock through his body. The man emitted a yell in pain before Steve sent a roundhouse kick to his helmet, sending him flying into a table a few yards away from them.

Rumlow slowly pulled himself up into a kneeling position as the two Avengers slowly approached him, his back to them as he reached up to pull off his helmet. Civilians cowered around him, but Steve grabbed him by the front of the suit, yanking him upright as he cried out in pain. As Elysia caught sight of the man's face, she couldn't help but gasp at the disfigured scarring that marred him, leaving him nearly unrecognizable to the man she'd seen in photos from his years at S.H.I.E.L.D., no doubt the product of the day the organization had fallen, its allegiance to HYDRA made public to the world.

"I think I look pretty good, all things considered," Rumlow chided, in response to the expressions on both of their faces.

"Who's your buyer?" Steve demanded.

"You know, he knew you." Rumlow said, Elysia's eyes furrowing together in confusion as she glanced back at Steve for a moment before turning her gaze back to the man kneeling in front of them. "Your pal, your buddy, your Bucky."

Elysia's heart dropped into the pit of her stomach as the name came out of his mouth, the electricity in her palms beginning to fire up in response, but she quickly clenched her firsts to push them back down, eager to hear the rest of what he had to say. In response, Steve pulled him closer. "What did you say?" Steve spat, venom lacing his tone.

"He remembered you," Rumlow explained, before his eyes moved from Steve over to Elysia. "Both of you. I was there. He got all weepy about it, his best friend and his girl. 'Til they put his brain back in a blender. He wanted you to know something."

"Where is he?" Elysia fought to keep her tone even, though everything inside her screamed to get as much information out of Rumlow as possible. "Where's Barnes?"

"He said to me... 'please tell them, when you gotta go... you gotta go.' And you're both coming with me."

Without another word, Rumlow quickly pressed a button hidden inside of his suit, before either Steve or Elysia could react. Flames instantly burst forth from within his suit as it began to self-destruct, and Elysia held up her hands instinctively to guard herself as the heat started to reach her face. However, rather than engulf the two Avengers along with Rumlow, the fire was instead contained, keeping him inside a bubble of his own.

Elysia turned around to see Wanda standing behind them, a red glow emitting from both of her hands as she fought to keep the explosion contained, a strained look crossing her face at the effort of keeping control. She moved her hands as she let out a strained cry, sending what was left of Rumlow up into the air, as far from them as Wanda could get before she lost control of the force field.

As Wanda lost her grip on Rumlow, the self-destruction slipped through the cracks of the force field, the explosion ripping through the upper levels of a nearby building. Elysia braced herself as the windows blew out from the building, her blood turning to ice in her veins as the screams began to echo from inside, as well as the civilians still surrounding them on the ground as thick clouds of smoke began to rise into the sky. Wanda watched the scene before them, bringing a hand to cover her mouth as her eyes welled up with tears.

"Sam," Steve spoke into his earpiece, the metallic ring of his voice on the intercom echoing inside Elysia's own device. "We need Fire and Rescue on the south side of the building. We've gotta get up there."

"Wanda!" Elysia exclaimed, running over to her friend and placing her hands on the girl's shoulders as she began to hyperventilate. "Wanda, we have to move, now."

"I-I did that," Wanda stammered, her eyes never once leaving the wreckage as she watched it with a frantic expression.

"Wanda, listen to me." Elysia said, and she watched as the woman's eyes hesitantly met her own. "It's not your fault."

"It is my fault." she insisted.

"No," Elysia said adamantly. "But right now, there are people still inside that building that need us, and what we can do is help them get out. Yeah?"

"Y-yeah," Wanda said, nodding, though as she attempted to look back towards the crowd that was beginning to back away from the Sokovian woman in fear, Elysia urged Wanda's eyes to remain on her, rather than the civilians surrounding them.

"Okay," Elysia assured her. "Come on,"

Elysia slowly backed away from Wanda, leading the girl in the direction of the building as they ran headfirst into the wreckage, into the chaos that was only the first of many strings about to unravel before them.