Remember Me

The jet lands in a grassy field, about a mile away from the compound we plan to invade. The other jet, Bucky’s jet, lands somewhere else. And luckily, I don’t have to see him as we get out and begin to creep through the tall grass.

Nat and I stand close together, with Tony flying in his iron suit just above us.
“See anything strange up there?” Nat asks, eyeing Tony quickly as we continue our quick walk towards the building.

“Mmmm negative.” Tony says into our earpieces. “Just a bunch of grass and that ugly ass building up there.”

Nat rolls her eyes, and we both duck down a little lower as we get closer. Tony lands behind us, ducking down as well as we near the door.
“I’ll kick the door in.” Nat says, looking between me and Tony.

We nod, standing behind her as she steps up to the door. She slams her heel against the knob of the door, and the wood splinters, sending the door flying open. We run in behind her, only finding the room to be completely empty.

Tony sighs loudly, putting his hands down as the blaster lights fade in his palms.
“Well this was a bust.” He mumbles.

I shake my head, reaching for my gun as I walk quietly across the cement floor.
“Hydra is smart.” I whisper, stepping carefully. “They almost always—”

Steve’s voice crackles through the earpieces then.
“We’re outside, Bucky says check underground.” He says quickly.

Nat smirks at me, nodding for me to continue.
“—go underground.” I say with a sigh, tapping the floor with my shoe gently.

Nat and Tony follow my lead, tapping the floor carefully as we walk around the large building. I make it to the stairs, tapping on the bottom one with my shoe, and finding it to be hollow.
“Guys.” I whisper, turning to face them, pointing at the step.

They both freeze before turning towards me, quietly walking over to where I am. I look around the area, looking for anything that might be out of place to open the door. I finally see a post on the railing of the stairs that looks slightly out of place, and I reach forward, pulling at it slightly.

It opens, causing the top of the stair to fall inward and reveal a second staircase leading down below the floor. Nat steps beside me, and together we walk down the stairs, Tony following close behind.

We pull out our guns as the room gets darker, pointing them into the quiet darkness. Suddenly, the room explodes with a flash of light and smoke, and I choke on the smoke as it fills my lungs.
“They’re here!” Tony calls into the earpiece, telling the team outside so that they can come in to help.

Nat coughs beside me as the smoke swirls around us, but a moment later a loud whirring sound comes from behind us, and a gust of wind pushes the smoke away. We turn to face Tony, and find that he’s used his suit to blow the smoke away from us.

We run down the rest of the steps as the gun fire starts, and we shoot back as we search for the computers to find the files we need to prove what we’ve found. Nat finds the computers, and I stand in front of her, watching her back as people fire at her, and firing back at them as she looks through their files.

I duck and dodge the bullets as they rain down on us, listening to the sound of Tony’s blasters as he fires against them from above.

“Nat are you almost done?” I yell, my fist coming into contact with the nose of a man who managed to creep close enough to us for me to reach.

“Yes just buy me a couple more minutes!” She calls back, her typing becoming somehow even faster than before.

I groan, shooting again as a bullet whizzes past my face. I look out into the chaos, trying to assess the remaining threats. A sharp pain sinks into my shoulder, and I falter slightly as a bullet lodges itself there.

“Liz?” Nat asks, turning over her shoulder to look at me.

I shake my head, firing again despite the burning in my arm.
“Finish!” I yell back at her, and another bullet sinks into my upper thigh.

I breathe heavily, trying to focus on my aim instead of the searing pain across my body. My gun suddenly stops firing, the bullets jamming in the chamber instead of flying through the air, and the people around me start closing in.

I drop the gun to the ground, preparing to fight them off with my hands if I have to, when something hard runs into me, pushing me to the ground and stepping in front of me.

I look up to find Bucky standing over me, his gun firing rapidly as he and Steve work with Tony and Sam to take down or subdue the rest of the Hydra members in the room. As the gun fire ends, Bucky turns to face me, his blue eyes blazing as they scan over my body.

He sighs as he drops to his knees, ripping the bottom of his shirt into strips of cloth before rolling up my sleeve on my shoulder.
“Can you at least try to not get yourself killed?” He asks, looking at the wound on my shoulder.

I roll my eyes, trying to pull away from him, but he stops me with his hand, his eyes silently warning me to sit still.
“I was fine.” I mutter through clenched teeth, as Bucky squeezes the sides of the bullet hole to push the bullet to the surface.

He laughs bitterly, pulling the metal out and dropping it beside me before wrapping the scrap of cloth around my shoulder.
“Really?” He asks, his fingers moving to my thigh, gently looping into the hole in the fabric from the bullet and ripping it open further. “Because it looked to me like you were about to try to fist-fight with armed Hydra soldiers.”

I laugh just as bitterly as he did, rolling my eyes again. I try to form a comeback, but my words are quickly swallowed by a gasp as a burning pain sears up my leg. My hand automatically moves to Bucky’s shoulder, squeezing it tightly as his fingers freeze against my leg.

“I think it’s lodged against your artery.” He says quietly, gently. He moves his fingers away from the wound, leaning slightly closer as he sets his hands on either side of my body. “We need to get you to a doctor.”

Tony’s metal boots clank against the floor beside us a second later, and I look up to him as his mask pulls away from his face.
“I’ll get a team of doctors to the medical wing of the compound.” He says, looking back at me. “Let’s go. Nat, Steve, Sam, finish up here.”

I look back at Bucky, finding his gaze to still be trained on me. My heart stutters for a moment, and Bucky takes a deep breath as he blinks quickly.
“Let me carry you.” He whispers, his eyes asking for permission as they stare into mine.

I nod, reaching my arms out to wrap around the back of his neck as he slowly lifts me into his arms. I wince as my leg is jostled against his body, and he winces at my expression, silently apologizing with every step.

We finally make it back to the jet, and Bucky sits with me in his lap as the engines roar to life. I try not to look at him as he holds me, trying to stay just as cold as he was the last time I saw him.

The jet lands, and Bucky carries me out into the compound. We get to the medical wing, and nurses usher Bucky to set me on a stretcher covered in a white sheet. He does, carefully setting me down before leaning down close.

I look up at him, wondering why he’s doing this if the nurses can handle it now. He slowly pushes my hair away from my face, his eyes flitting over my features as his lips twitch with something he wants to say.

“What is it?” I ask, whispering as the nurses prepare to move me down the hall.

He shakes his head, trailing his fingers along my cheek.
“I’m sorry, Lizzie.” He whispers, and he lets go as the nurses push me on the bed away from him.