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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧: 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡'𝐬 𝐄𝐝𝐠𝐞

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Happiness was a relatively new thing for Allie. She found that happiness was something that elevated the spirit, something that made her forget all the negative things that were going on in her life. She no longer fought the smiles that clung to her face or the elated laughs that fell from her pink lips.

But happiness used to be an elusive feeling in her past. She could sometimes see it in the faces of the soldiers around her when they would talk happily about their hobbies or families that they left at home. But she wasn't familiar with the feeling herself.

She could recognize the emotion but she never actually had felt it. A smile was foreign on her face and laughing was something that she had never done since she was taken from her family. The closest she can remember coming to happiness was either when she was with Erskine or with her first real friend, Mikael.

To others, it would be hard to understand because her past was a far cry from normal. What child isn't happy or laughs? But she wasn't considered a child when she was taken in by HYDRA. She was a soldier in training, and soldiers need to be cold, calculating and merciless.

But now, she ever can't imagine going without happiness again.

She can't imagine not having Peggy, Howard, and Steve as friends. She can't imagine not going on missions with the Howling Commandos. She can't imagine not having Bucky in her life.

Her face lights up when he walks through the door of her apartment when she knows that they have all night to just talk and be happy together. Just being close to him lights her up inside, reminding her of the safe haven that she now has here with her new family. When he's by her side it feels like she is complete, like he is the glue that is holding her together. He creates the newfound warmth in her soul, keeps her jubilant smile on her lips and is the sole reason for the love burning in her eyes. She feels all of this because of that one kiss that they shared almost two months ago, and there's no way in hell she will ever regret that day.

And if you couldn't already tell, she is falling hard for James Buchanan Barnes.

He understands her need for privacy about her past. He doesn't push her to tell him about it but he likes to remind her that no matter what she could have possibly done, he wouldn't leave her. And when she does tell him about small parts of her past, he listens like it is the most interesting story that he has ever heard. His eyes never flicker from her face and not once does he open his mouth until she is done.

She couldn't possibly ask for a better boyfriend.

She remembers the day that he asked her to be her official boyfriend quite fondly. They were through a small park in Florence, Italy.

A slight breeze swept through the park and the air was warm, the beams of sunlight glowing on their skin. Copious types of flowers concealed the green grass, reminding Allie of a painted canvas. The concrete path that they walked on was relatively clean and a few children could be seen playing hopscotch further up ahead.

They walked hand in hand as Allie's laughter filled the air as a result of another one of Bucky's infamous jokes. He looked over at her and admired how beautiful she was. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to have her in his life. She noticed how Bucky wasn't laughing as well so she turned her gaze over to him who watched her lovingly.

"Do you want to be my bird, Allie?" Bucky asked impulsively as he gazed at Allie affectionately.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Bucky chuckled as he looked at Allie's confused face. "Allie, would you do me the favor of being my girlfriend?" He rephrased with a smile and Allie's mouth fell open in shock. He had originally planned to ask her that night when they were supposed to be going out for dinner but they had to cancel due to a new mission. He didn't know when he was going to ask her officially since he got news of the mission but as he walked with Allie through the park, he couldn't help but think that the two of them had never been big into going out for formal dates. Allie even told him that she much preferred going to a pub with Bucky rather than a fancy restaurant because she felt much more comfortable.

He knew that she was much more into casual dates so why should officially asking her to be his girlfriend be any different?

"Buck, I-uh, yes absolutely! " She answered, still in shock. The biggest smile that she had ever seen overcame Bucky's face as he pulled her towards him and pressed his lips against hers. She could almost feel the love and happiness seep from his thoughts and into the kiss. He gently ran his thumbs over her cheeks as they pulled apart, smiling breathlessly. She quickly buried her head into the crook of his neck as Bucky gently whispered into her ear.

"Do you remember when I said that you would always be my forever?" He asks, almost mumbling into her thick chocolate hair. She nods slightly as she pulls herself from his shoulder and gazes into his love filled, cobalt eyes. "Well, our forever starts now." He grins happily and pulls her in for another chaste kiss.

She almost blushes at the memory now as she makes her way into the Allied HQ for a team meeting. Well by 'team', she means Peggy, Steve, Howard, Bucky, and Colonel Phillips. She wasn't even sure why she was invited, typically it was just Steve and Bucky that went to the meetings. But alas, here she is walking down the all familiar flight of stairs into the main headquarters.

The room hasn't changed a single bit since the last time she was here which was almost four months ago. The brick room is barely illuminated by the small lights that hang from the ceiling and all the tables that fill the room are surrounded by soldiers.

She quickly makes her way through the hoard of people that are rushing around in the large underground bunker who are trying to do their jobs, and she walks towards the back table where all five of her 'teammates' are waiting.

"Sorry guys, I'm still trying to work out how my alarm works," Allie mutters, slightly embarrassed, as she takes her place around the wooden table. Peggy and Colonel Phillips stand in front of her on the opposite side of the table, and Steve and Bucky are on either side of her.

"Don't make a habit of it, Williams." The Colonel barks as he turns around to grab a map of the base in Czechoslovakia where their next mission is. For a reasonably older man, he looks pretty good. But she can see that the years of military service has taken its toll on his body. His posture is as straight as a board, his tired eyes often come ablaze in a soldiers anger, and his ever-commanding presence that frequently demands everyone's attention.

"Hey, doll," Bucky whispers into Allie's ear and a happy smile overcomes her lips. She turns her head slightly to look at Buck who is mirroring her smile on his own thin lips. "Hey, Buck." She whispers back. Both Steve and Bucky are wearing similar army green uniforms, with the exception of Steve having a few more medals, they are exactly the same.

"Barnes, Williams, for the love of God, keep the flirting for the bedroom." Colonel Phillips orders which results in Bucky, Steve, and Peggy to start laughing as an innocent smile plays on Allie's lips. "Sorry, Colonel." She mumbles.

"Now onto important business." Colonel Phillips says as he unfolds a map of the base that they will be infiltrating on the table. "We have received word that this base is to be the next one on your hit list. It's a reasonably large base, approximately 10,000 square feet, and a single story. The closest we can land the jet to the base is 500 yards away." He informs.

"Sounds easy then." Bucky jokes which causes Peggy to shake her head dejectedly. Her short brown hair swishes at the action and Allie can almost see the apprehension in her amber eyes.

"I wouldn't say that, Bucky." She challenges. "We have no information on what the building holds or what it is being used for so you guys are going in blind. Other than the basic outline of the base and the exit doors we have no clue on what's inside so you have to make your own way around the building." She continues which causes Steve to give the Colonel an irritated look.

"I'm not sending my team in blind. What happens if this is all just a trap?" He argues angrily. "We will die and I'm not going to risk my friend's lives."

"Rogers, you will take the Howling Commando's to this base and you will take it, do you understand?" Colonel Phillips commands with a gravelly voice, obviously not happy with Steve's outburst. Allie can't help but agree with Steve, this is a risky mission but that's what you sign up for when you go to war. As long as the rest of the team knows the risk of completing this mission, they should be alright.

"Colonel, you can't expect that everyone will be willing-" Steve starts but is cut off by the Colonel's angry voice. "You will take this base, do you understand?" He declares furiously and bangs his fist on the table in anger. The whole room goes silent at the sudden sound and they all turn to stare at the group of them in suspicion.

"Yes, Colonel."Steve mumbles, outraged before Colonel Phillips turns and heads back to his office. "I can't believe him! There is no way that they can do this, it isn't right." Steve grumbles, appalled by their lack of consideration.

"War does not determine who is right, it determines who is left," Peggy responds calmly as she folds up the map. "If you believe in yourself, that you can pull this off, so will the rest of your team, Rogers." She continues with a small smile.

"Steve, we are all here to fight for our country and we wouldn't be very good soldiers if we weren't willing to give our lives up for it," Bucky says, agreeing with Peggy. Steve lets out a dubious sigh before he turns to Allie.

"What do you think, Allie?" He asks with a conflicted look on his face.

"I think that the whole team needs to know about the risk and if they agree, good. If they don't, so be it." She answers nonchalantly before she looks over to Peggy. "At the rate that we are going, do we stand any chance of winning the war?" She asks, somewhat dreading the answer to her question.

Peggy looks to the ground and lets out a desperate sigh. "If we get this base down and the other large one in Austria, we'll stand a chance." She replies and bites her ruby red lips in concern.

"And if we don't?" Bucky asks as he looks down to Allie who is shaking her head slightly.

"Then we lose." Peggy almost murmurs and the whole groups goes silent as they think about what losing would mean. If they lose then the world would be HYDRA's playground, they would be able to do whatever they wanted to whoever they wanted. The world would be doomed.

"I don't know how we are going to win, I just know that we aren't going to lose," Steve says confidently, interrupting the thick silence. The group nods slightly, deciding to not let fear deter them from their greater goal.

"Well then, we better get to work."

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"Williams, Dugan, Dernier, are you in position?" They hear Steve ask through their earpieces as they crouch down in the bushes at the southern entrance of the base. The group decided that they would take the risk in infiltrating the Czechoslovakian base so here they are, a few hours later, hiding in the treeline ready to attack.

"We're in position, Cap," Dugan answers as the ends of his mustache move slightly due to the harsh wind that whips at their faces. His pale face is pulled into a stern frown as he crouches down by her side. He swings his rifle around from his shoulder and wipes at its cool surface with his callused fingers. She can see the tension in his muscular upper-body as he awaits the orders to attack.

Allie looks over to Dernier who gives her a small nod in acknowledgment. His slender face shows fearlessness, especially in his deep brown eyes. His tan skin is dirty from the long walk in the forest when the wind hit especially hard and flung dirt up into their faces as a result of its sheer force. His lanky body is also crouched down, but there is no urgency in the way he stands.

"Alright, all teams are a go." Steve orders and they immediately jump into action.

"Dugan, Dernier, you two take those two men over there." Allie orders as they sprint through the treeline and into the soldier's line of sight. The two men quickly race off to do what she said meanwhile she lifts her gun up and fires a single bullet that hits the HYDRA guard on the forehead. She quickly notices another guard coming from around the corner and before he has the chance to aim, she sends two shots into his chest which causes him to collapse onto the ground.

"Dugan, Dernier, are you clear?" She shouts as she runs towards the opening in the fence.

"All clear!" She hears Dernier shout back in his thick French accent as the two men meet her at the gate. Together, they run across the damp grass and up towards the huge military base. The outside is painted a deep grey and on this entire side, there isn't a single window in sight which means that nobody will see them entering. It was an eery looking place, much like every other HYDRA building. They race over to the large steel doors that are shut and the trio quickly stops to talk about their game plan before they enter.

"Just like Steve said before, we have no clue how many men are in there. So stick together, have each other's backs and use anything that you can as a shield." Allie reminds them hurriedly and the two men nod at her. "Alright, let's go boys." She declares and walks over to Dugan's side as he begins to open the door.

And the second that they open the door is when Allie realizes that something is amiss.

Ten HYDRA soldiers are reaching for their guns as the three enter the room. Allie quickly shoots down three of them before she rolls and hides behind a small desk. Gunshots boom loudly around her, cutting through the air and ripping into whatever is in their path. The once sicking sound of a bullet penetrating skin can be heard and she hears a loud 'thud', indicating someone's death. There was a time where she would have felt remorse or guilt when she pulled the trigger, but not anymore.

Allie quickly peaks around and spots a single HYDRA soldier left. But before she has the chance to shoot, he is already falling to the ground dead. She listens for a few seconds to make sure that they are all dead before calling out. "Dugan, Dernier?" She shouts, still crouching behind the wooden desk.

"We're good." She hears them shout back and she slowly raises herself back up to her feet. She counts the bodies that litter the floor, 10 bodies. The sight of crimson blood doesn't faze her anymore, neither does looking at the now lifeless bodies that are lying on the floor. They're sights that she was forced to get used to quickly.

"That's all of them." She tells Dugan and Dernier who swiftly come up from their own hiding spots. "Why are there ten soldiers manning a research room?" She mumbles to herself as she quickly takes in the room that she is in. The walls are filled with bookshelves and there are only five desks in the room. So why were there ten soldiers?

"Let's keep moving," Dugan says, breaking Allie from her train of thought. She nods in agreement and follows the two men who silently exit the room. They pull open the wooden door and are greeted with the sight of an empty hallway. The three of them make their way down the hallway, pushing open every door they see and in every room they see nothing.

Allie is starting to get nervous, they have only come across ten men in a building that could hold up to a couple thousand. There's no way that they have come across all the men that work here which means that this is either a trap or HYDRA found out they were coming. And both those options are very, very bad.

Right as they are about to near the end of the hallway, they hear Steve's voice yell through their earpieces. "We need backup in the central corridor now!" Steve shouts between pants, obviously trying to fight off one too many soldiers.

"You guys go, I'll search the other rooms," Allie tells Dugan and Dernier who nod and quickly run off to help Steve.

The second that they are out of sight, Allie quickly makes her way over to the door on her right. If she can search these rooms quickly, she'll be able to go back and help the others and get out of here. She holds the gun up as she leans against the door, checking to see if she can hear any voices. When she doesn't hear any, she pushes the door open and holds her gun up ready to shoot.

And when she sees what is in the room, she realizes that there is something really wrong going on.

In the center of the room is a large staircase that leads down to some sort of basement, and besides that, the room is empty. This base was supposed to only be one story, and she knows that HYDRA doesn't have small basements.

Allie stands at the top step, debating what she should do. There could potentially be a whole army sitting down in that room, and if she went down there her death would be an absolute certainty. But there could also be prisoners down there which she is obligated to free. She couldn't possibly imagine the guilt of leaving behind men, women, and children to suffer at the hands of HYDRA when she had the opportunity to save them.

Ultimately, the reward outweighs the risk. She made a promise and she is going to keep it.

So she cautiously makes her way down the stairwell, clutching her gun tightly in her hands. When she nears the steel door, she rests her ear on it and tries to pick up any noise from the other side. After a few moments of silence, she takes a deep breath and pulls open the doors.

When she opens the doors she sees two soldiers hovering over a small child with various types of medical equipment in their hands. When they notice her in the room, one reaches for the gun on the steel doctors table and the other rushes to press the panic button in the corner of the room. Allie quickly sends two bullets their way which embeds themselves in their foreheads.

The second that their bodies fall to the ground, Allie rushes over to the small child who is strapped on the steel table. As she nears she notices that it's a young boy who has silent tears falling from his blue eyes. His pale white skin almost looks green and whether that's the lighting or the chemicals, she isn't sure. His curly brown hair clings to his forehead as he has little beads of sweat dripping from his forehead. Allie almost faints when she nears his side and actually sees what he looks like.

"Mikael?" She splutters as she looks down at the young boy.

"I don't know who that is but can you please get me out of here! Please!" He begs with a thick English accent and pushes against his restraints. Allie quickly nods as she begins to cut at the leather bonds with her trusty throwing knife and curses at herself. Mikael is dead, and even if he was alive he wouldn't be that young anymore.

It doesn't take very long for her to saw through the restraints and when they fall away from the boy's limp body, she hastily begins to help him up. "Do you think that you can walk?" She asks the boy as she helps him to his feet. The boy gives her a short nod and she walks with him towards the staircase. She has to bend down slightly so the boy can hold his arm around her neck.

Together they make their way up the staircase, one step at a time as the boy struggles to find his footing. Right as they near the top stair, a loud gun sounds from behind them. Allie groans as she feels white-hot pain burst across her back. She falls to the ground, out of sight from the shooter that she can hear running up the staircase. She hurriedly reaches for her own gun that she stashed back into her coat, biting her tongue to stop the strangled scream that threatens to fall from her lips.

When she feels the cool metal on her fingertips, she swiftly pulls it out and sends a bullet flying into the forehead of her shooter. The man falls to the ground, a scientist that obviously can't shoot because he had an open shot and missed all her vital organs.

She is lucky to be alive.

The pain in her back grows as she pushes herself against the nearby wall. The second that her back touches the wall, a guttural cry pushes past her lips. Pure agony blinds her as she screams out for help. But no one hears her.

She takes in a few deep breathes, hoping that it would alleviate some of the pain. It feels like she has a hundred knives stabbing at her back, all at the same time. She almost forgot what this type of pain felt like, it has been that long since she has been at HYDRA.

"Come on, Allie. We have to get out of here." She mumbles to herself. She can't afford to stay here or else she really will die. So she readies herself, holding both her hands against the cold concrete floor, and she pushes herself up. She bites down hard on her bottom lip to prevent her screams from filling the air. Her shoulder aches badly and as she gathers her balance, she looks down to where she was sitting and sees a crimson pool of blood on the floor.

I'm loosing too much blood, she thinks inwardly as she turns her gaze back to the door and begins shuffling her feet in that direction. She leans lightly against the wall as her head becomes light from the loss of blood.

As she nears the entrance to the hallway, she cautiously pokes her head out to check that the hallway is clear. There's no way she can take on anyone in her current state especially since she left her gun back on the floor inside and she is in too much pain to go back and get it.

As her eyes focus on the hallway, she sees the little boy that she helped running out of the base. "Smart kid." She grumbles as she begins to slowly make her way through the hallway. She pushes one foot in front of the other, creating a rhythm that she tries to focus on to distract herself from the pain. Step, step, step, stumble, step, step, step, stumble. A rhythm that becomes harder to focus on as the blood seeps from her body.

Her sight comes in and out of focus, and the hallway begins to swirl and spin right in front of her eyes. It's hard for her to tell how close she is to the door because she can't quite see where it is. Her ears buzz and she can faintly hear the sound of her name being called but she isn't sure where the voice is coming from. She staggers along the wall and she tries to turn her head to find where the voice is coming from but instead, she is greeted with a feeling of nausea. She quickly turns her head back towards the door which she can faintly make out, it seems like its only a few steps away.

She reaches one hand out in front of her as she walks, trying to feel for the door, and she is almost ready to give up when she feels the freezing metal against her pale skin. She feels around for the handle and when she grasps it, she pulls it open slowly, trying not to aggravate her wounds any further.

And then the icy cold wind whips at her face, causing her to stumble back slightly at the sheer force of it. She grips the handle tighter before she let's go and makes her way across the grassy field and into the forest line.

"Allie!" She hears a familiar voice shout as she wanders. She isn't quite sure if she is even heading in the right direction but she keeps walking anyway.

"Steve, is that you?" She mumbles almost incoherently as her vision begins to fade away.

"Allie! Where the hell are you?" She hears another voice murmur, or perhaps he was shouting, she isn't quite sure anymore.

"I've been shot, I'm outside near where I entered." She replies as her mind begins to swirl. Her breaths are becoming more and more shallow and she almost feels like collapsing in a heap on the grass.

"Shit, Allie! We're coming, just stay there!" The voice says but it begins to fade into a buzz as he keeps talking. She thinks that it was Bucky talking and a grim smile pulls at her lips as the world fades into black. And with one more step forwards, she crumples to the ground like a puppet released from their strings. She lays there, as still as a corpse, as she quickly fades into unconsciousness.

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A/N - Hey everyone!!!

Quick life update: I haven't actually told anyone that I was writing a story and today I decided to tell my mum. She was really supportive and happy for me (which I did sorta expect) but she is also glad that all this time I haven't just been watching Netflix in my room lol.

ANYWAY, HAPPY 'STRAYA DAY TO MY FELLOW AUSSIES OUT THERE!!! Go get yourselves a bunnings snag bc u deserve it xx

Now onto the questions!!!

1. What did you think of the chapter?

2. What do you think is going to happen?

3. What is your favorite song?

4. How has your day been so far?

- Grace xx