Chapter 1
The Howling Commandos had destroyed enough HYDRA bases that it was practically routine. Each one had a generator powered by blue energy they were using, and it was only a matter of setting them to self destruct. It was just getting there that was the hard part. Control rooms were at the center of the base, and heavily guarded.
Steve and Bucky were the ones on the inside today, while the rest of the team was wreaking havoc in the outer layers of the base. The two of them worked in perfect tandem, barely having to speak to one another to communicate.
They reached the control room, taking out the guards without much trouble, and Bucky went to set the charges. Steve stood, his eyes constantly flitting between the two doors into the room.
A fresh wave of HYDRA agents came streaming in through one of them, weapons in hand. Steve sprang into action. He flung the shield in an arc that bounced off of the wall, then took out three enemies at once. He seized it out of the air again in time to block a blast at Bucky from one of the agents who was still standing. Bucky took a moment from wiring the control panel to shoot three bullets into the heads of three HYDRA goons, getting rid of the last of them.
“Are you almost done with that thing?” Steve shot over his shoulder as Bucky returned to the task at hand.
“It’s not like the other ones. They must have upgraded after the other attacks.”
Steve was only half listening, as he saw one of the guards lift his head from where he had been lying, apparently only unconscious. He pulled a huge gun from where it had been strapped to his back, and began to fire a constant barrage of bullets. Steve put himself between Bucky and the guard, shield raised in front of his torso and head.
It took concentration for Steve to keep himself in the path of the bullets as he approached the man. The sound of bullets ringing off metal filled his ears, then fell silent as he fired a single bullet into the guard’s helmet.
“Got it!” Bucky called. “We’ve got five minutes.”
Steve followed his friend out the door and radioed the rest of the team to evacuate. His whole body was buzzing from adrenaline, and he barely even felt the impact of his feet hitting the ground as they ran through the now empty halls of the HYDRA base. A voice was blaring over the intercoms, saying something in German. It wouldn’t do much good, as most of the HYDRA agents had either been killed, or decided it would be a bad idea to stay put any longer, and fled.
Steve didn’t know what he tripped over, just that he was falling. Bucky stopped up short.
“You alright?” He asked as he helped Steve to his feet.
“Yep.” Steve’s heart skipped a beat as he saw a smear of red on the front of Bucky’s jacket. “You’re bleeding.”
Bucky looked down, brow furrowed in confusion. His expression quickly changed to concern, though. “That’s not mine.”
Steve followed his friend’s gaze. He took in a sharp breath as he realized what he was seeing. There were two bullet holes that he could see; one in his stomach, and the other on the inside of his right thigh. Both were leaking blood at an alarming rate.
“Steve.” Bucky put his hands on his friend’s shoulders to steady him. Steve met his eyes, and he saw that they were full of barely contained panic. “You with me?”
Steve nodded. The pain had been hiding behind a dam of adrenaline, but now that he knew it was there, it came flooding in in full force.
“Good, ‘cause we gotta go.”
Bucky put Steve’s right arm over his shoulder, and the two of them began to limp down the hallway. Their progress was agonizingly slow. A voice crackled over Steve’s radio, it was Morita.
“We’re at the extraction point, do you want us to wait for you?”
“No,” Steve said. “Go. We’ll catch up.” He made sure that he wasn’t transmitting anymore before turning to Bucky and saying; “You should go, too.”
“Not a chance.”
“I’m only slowing you down, and we’re not going to make it out before this thing blows.”
Bucky stopped walking. “There’s no chance in hell I’m leaving you behind. I never have, and I never will. It’s you and me, ‘til the end of the line.”
Once Steve nodded again, Bucky looked around, as though he was realizing for the first time how much danger they were in. The voice on the loudspeaker was beginning to count down. He helped Steve into a sitting position against a wall, and began to search for anything that could be used as a shelter.
A small gap in the floor caught his eye. He ran his hand along it, eventually finding a handle. Bucky breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t much, just a storage space, not really big enough for two people, but it was better than nothing.
Bucky nearly had to drag Steve into the hole. His eyes had taken on a glassy look, and the leg of his uniform was nearly soaked through with blood. Bucky pulled the shield from Steve’s back and held it over their heads just as the first wave of explosions hit. For several seconds, there was nothing but the feeling of heat, and the sound of rubble thundering around them.
Ash and dust choked the air. Even beneath the shelter of the shield, Bucky could feel a burn stinging on the side of his face. He allowed himself a breath of relief.
With some difficulty, he and Steve both managed to climb out of the hole and survey the destruction around them. It was practically a maze, with partial walls still standing, and massive pieces of rubble lying every which way. They had survived the most immediate threat, but it was still a long way to go before they would be safe.