Remember Me

I sit in the car, my eyes glued to the tablet in front of me as I watch the heat signatures move across the screen. Three figures stand near a door, armed and ready for a breach. I shake my head as I laugh to myself under my breath, knowing they won’t make it out of there alive.

As if on cue, another heat signature enters the screen, slamming through the door. This figure is bigger than the others, overtaking them quickly.

I drop the tablet onto the passenger’s seat beside me, throwing the door open beside me as I pull my gun from the holster, cocking it quickly. I creep along the wall, hurrying to the door. The building is dark, and quickly filling with smoke as I follow the sounds of screams and gunfire. I creep up the stairs, swiftly and silently as I press my back against the wall, pointing the barrel of my gun ahead of me.

I make it onto the floor where I last saw the action, stepping over the three bodies I saw by the door before moving to the next flight of stairs. The gun shots get louder as I move upwards, finally stepping out onto the fifth floor.

“Run!” A man covered in blood says as he crawls towards me. “Get out of here!”

He coughs, a thick sound that produces a spray of red against his cheek. It’s too late to save him. I don’t say anything, simply pointing my gun at his head and pulling the trigger before continuing my path towards the center of the building.

I make it to the fight, flames creep up the walls as smoke billows around the room. Guns fire rapidly as I look around, looking for him.

A flash of metal crosses my vision, and my head whips to the side to follow it as a spray of bullets shoot towards me. I duck, rolling out of the way as I fire my own gun in his direction. His eyes burn as he stares me down, extending his arm to the side to take out another soldier without even looking at him as he takes another step towards me.

“I don’t want to fight!” I call, ducking behind a box as he gets closer.

He doesn’t answer, his heavy footsteps getting even closer.
I roll to the side, risking a glance up at him.

“Bucky, I don’t want to fight you!” I call again, and his entire face twists into a grimace as he begins firing at me again.

I duck back down, a red-hot metal pole falling from the ceiling and hitting my arm as I do, burning through my clothes down into my skin. I cry out in pain, and his footsteps speed up.
“Shit.” I murmur to myself, peeling burnt fabric out of the charred flesh as I work to scoot away from his footsteps.

He turns around the box, looking down at me with his wild blue eyes, his long hair sticking to the sweat on his forehead as he breathes heavily. His face is obscured by his mask as lifts his gun, and I lift mine back.

“James, don’t do this.” I say, reaching my burned arm up in an attempt to lift my own mask away from my face.

“Don’t call me that.” He replies, his voice sounding strained, as though it’s through clenched teeth.

I continue to move my hand, grimacing at the pain shooting through my arm as I reach for the mask.
“Stop moving!” He shouts, moving his gun even closer to me.

I freeze, looking up at him, my gun still pointed at him as he points his at me, our eyes locked in a death match. Our chests rise and fall erratically as the building continues to burn, neither one of us moving as the seconds tick down.

A sudden spray of gunfire sends us both jumping in separate directions, searching for the source of the bullets.
“Everyone freeze!” A male voice yells from behind me, and suddenly a pair of metal hands grasp my wrists, pulling them behind my back.

I scream out in pain as the burn is contorted, and I pull away, trying to free myself from their grasp.

“I got a live one here!” The man behind me yells as handcuffs are slapped onto my wrists to replace the metal hands. “Taking her out!”

I’m suddenly lifted from the floor, thrown bridal style into the man’s arms. I look up, into the face of Iron Man.
“Oh shit.” I breathe, my eyes widening as he looks down at me.

“You know me?” He asks as we fly through a window, leaving the burning building below us.

I nod, groaning as the metal from his suit presses into my exposed flesh, digging into the burn. He lands on the ground near the entrance of the building, setting me on my feet.
“You’re hurt.” He says, pulling the face of his iron suit back, revealing Tony Stark’s face as his eyes scan over the burn. “What’s your name?”

I roll my eyes.
“Don’t worry about it.” I answer. “Can you uncuff me now?”

He laughs, cocking one eyebrow at me.
“Feisty.” He says plainly. “No, I can’t uncuff you. You’re associated with someone we’re very interested in, therefore you’re coming with us.”

I groan again, and he pulls me backwards by the cuffs. He presses something behind me, and I’m instantly magnetized to the light pole behind me.

“Be right back.” He says before smirking at me. “Stay here.”

I pull against the cuffs as he flies back into the burning building, to no avail. They won’t budge.
“Dammit!” I shout at no one, kicking at a rock within my reach.

I watch as the building continues to burn, and within seconds of Iron Man flying back into the building, a helicopter flies to the roof, hovering just above the smoke. All I can see is the flash of his metal arm as Bucky climbs up the ladder, his hair whipping in the wind of the helicopter blades as he does.

He doesn’t look back as the helicopter flies away.

I slump back against the pole, waiting for someone to come release me. Finally, as the building falls to pieces, Iron Man flies out of the smoke and flames, holding someone else in his arms now.
Natasha Romanov is released from his grip as he lands, and she walks over to me, looking me up and down.

“She doesn’t look like a Soviet.” She says plainly, reaching behind me and demagnetizing the cuffs as she pulls me by them towards a van.

“She’s not.” Tony answers, retracting his suit. “She’s American.”

Natasha turns to look at me with a sideways glance.
“Huh.” She says as she opens the back of the van, getting in first and then pulling me along beside her. I bite my lip as she pulls on my injured arm. “You’ll be interesting to get to know.”

Tony laughs as he climbs in behind us, a horde of sirens approaching the building as he closes the doors behind him.
“Good luck with that.” He says with a smirk. “She seems like a tough one.”

I say nothing, biting my cheeks as I sit back against the chair, and the van starts to move.
“We’ll see.” Natasha says, looking at me again.

The ride is quiet. I don’t say a word, keeping my eyes trained on my shoes as Natasha and Tony occasionally talk about things that I silently file away. My arm aches with every bump, ad I know that it’s the pieces of fabric and soot in the wound preventing it from healing properly.

Finally, we get to wherever they want me, and Natasha unloads me from the van. She guides me by the cuffs into a compound, taking me into an elevator that goes at least half a dozen floors down into what seems to be a prison.

Once the elevator closes behind us, she walks us down a hall and through a series of doors before finally letting me out of the cuffs.
“Don’t fight me.” She says as she unhooks them. “I will win, and you want me on your side.”

I nod, and stretch slowly as she drops the cuffs onto the floor.

“Will you take the mask off?” She asks, looking at me.
I shrug, figuring there’s no reason to wear it now. I reach up, pulling the grey mask down away from my mouth and nose.

“What’s your name?” She asks, kicking a stool to me before walking over to a cabinet and pulling out a first aid kit.
I shake my head, watching her every move.

“Alright.” She says, pulling a second stool in front of me and straddling it as she sets the first aid kit on her lap and opens it. “Let me see your arm.”
I oblige, turning slightly to show her the burn.

“Damn.” She says quietly. “That’s a deep one, what hit you?”

I grit my teeth as she pulls the burnt fabric out of the irritated, pink flesh.
“Metal bar fell out of the ceiling.” I choke out.

She walks over to the sink, filling a small bowl with water and grabbing a white rag.
“Ah.” She says, dipping the rag in water before ringing it out over the wound, washing the debris away. “She talks.”

She winks at me, smiling softly as she dips the rag again and continues the process. I grind my teeth, keeping my hands in fists as she rinses the wound until it’s clean. She then rubs a thick cream over the exposed flesh and tissue before wrapping gauze around the area.

“There.” She says, leaning back. “That’ll be healing up soon.”
I nod, watching her as she stands up and goes back to the sink to dump out the bowl and wash her hands.

“Thanks.” I say quietly, finally relaxing my body slightly as the cream begins to pull some of the heat away from the burn, and my body begins to rapidly heal the area.
She turns to smile at me again before a frantic knock sounds at the door.

“Nat open up, it’s me.” A deep, somehow familiar voice says.

My heart begins to speed as she walks to the door, pressing a series of numbers on the keypad to open it. A large man walks into the room, his eyes falling on me immediately.
My legs shoot up to a standing position before I even have a chance to think.

“Liz?” He asks, stepping closer, his eyes scanning me frantically.

I step closer too, looking up into his blue eyes.
“Steve?” I ask. “How are you—?”

My words are swallowed as his large arms wrap around me, lifting me up and spinning me around as he hugs me.
“How am I alive?” He asks as he sets me down, his hands resting on my shoulders as he looks into my eyes. “How are you alive?”

The doors slide shut behind him as Natasha steps forward with her arms crossed.
“Alright.” She says with a deep breath. “You two have a lot of explaining to do.”