𝓲𝓷𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓷𝓲𝓪𝓬 ❖ 𝓫. 𝓫𝓪𝓻𝓷𝓮𝓼

C H A P T E R (38) - A N G E L

Cassie didn't question it when Steve, Sam and Natasha left with a mission and returned with Jasper Sitwell.

She sat in a car with them in the backseat next to Sitwell, eyeing him suspiciously. He turned his head in her direction before opening his foul mouth.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" He smirked.

"Yeah, let me get it," Cassie said as she leaned towards him and punched him in the nose, "Got it."

The man slouched in his seat, using his hands in handcuffs to wipe away the blood around his nose. Steve looked in the mirror and gave a look to Cassie which she shrugged off, she didn't care. She had known Sitwell and worked alongside him, and all this time he had been HYDRA. She would punch him again, but her knuckles needed a break.

Natasha leaned over and placed the cold metal of her gun against her knuckles, cooling them down.

"It'll help." She shrugged.

"Thanks.." Cassie answered reluctantly, she didn't often accept help, but Natasha seemed to be an exception. She was being nice to her now, maybe because of their small and interrupted prior bonding session.

A thud on the roof was what brought her attention away from the metal on her knuckles, and Natasha brought the gun away to shoot at the thing on the roof. Soon enough, an arm smashed through the window and grabbed Sitwell, pulling him out and throwing him into oncoming traffic. Cassie watched him die, now understanding that the winter soldier was after all of them.

Cassie threw her legs out of the smashed window, and bringing her hands to the outside, hauled herself out and landed on the car roof. Both Sam and Natasha looked bewildered as Steve just gave a small smile, like he was used to Cassie's dangerous actions. Sam turned to where Steve sat and struggled to find the words to describe Cassie, none in particular could perfectly do so.

"Man, your sister is insane!"

Cassie dropped her head down next to Sam's window and smirked, "I don't know if that was meant as a compliment, but I'll take it as one."

She then brought herself back to the roof of the car, spying the man she had seen shoot Fury clinging onto the roof of the car that was tailing them. This time, his eyes were covered and he was still wearing the mask - he was still attempting to hide his identity.

Just as the man she now knew as the winter soldier raised his gun in her direction, she moved her head, but he still shot anyway. The bullet fired close to the hand she was holding on with, causing her to pull it away and lose her grip. She rolled down the window shield, watching as fear spread across Steve and Sam's faces. She managed to grip onto the bottom of the window and pull her legs up to avoid being run over and smiled at the men in front of her.

"How's it going?" She asked casually.

Steve shook his head as Natasha crawled forward and into his lap, noticing Cassie attached to the front of the car. She gave her a look she couldn't decipher as she saw the winter soldier raise a gun again, this time not filled with bullets. She recognised the gun from when she was in the car with Fury, and knew what it could do.

"Steve, get them out of the car." She spoke, lowering herself down.

Steve looked at her cautiously before grabbing onto Sam and Natasha and pulling them close. Just as he did so, Cassie lowered herself all the way down, her hair scraping dangerously close to the road. She finally was on the underneath on the car, gripping onto the mechanics beneath with everything she had - if she let go too early, the fast moving road would kill her, if she let go too late, she would be killed in the explosion.

She saw how the car lifted off the ground, meaning the winter soldier had already fired his gun. Waiting until the car behind them was now beneath her, she saw the other three scraping across the road, balanced on a singular car door. Sam lost his balance on the door and rolled off, but Cassie knew he was okay. She waited a few seconds before letting go, and things seemed to go in slow motion as she fell.

Her slow-mo soon ended as her side made hard contact with the car below. She groaned as the car braked harshly, throwing her from the hood. She rolled across the road until she hit the side, out of the way of any oncoming cars. She opened her eyes slowly and rubbed a small amount of blood from her forehead, wiping it onto her thigh.

Sam was the one to pull her out of her trance, "Cassie, you good?"

She nodded slowly, the ache in her head slowly fading away. Sam helped her to her feet and nodded in the direction of the armed HYDRA agents. She returned the nod, looking over the side of the bridge. Sam turned his head for a moment to look at the agents before turning back to where Cassie was stood.

"What's the-" He stopped as he realised she was no longer stood there and saw her jumping over the edge, "...plan."

Cassie positioned herself to land on her right shoulder as she hit the ground below the bridge, rolling onto her back when the pain faded. Natasha's shadow was the only thing to make her open her eyes, looming over her body on the floor.

"Are you alive?" She asked with a playful poke to her face.

"I think so, or are you an angel?"

"Definitely not." She laughed as she helped Cassie to her feet.

The pair ran through the street and stopped behind a car, Natasha peering over the hood to see if she could spy the winter soldier. She returned back to Cassie's side and shrugged helplessly, she couldn't see him anywhere. Cassie shifted uncomfortably where she sat, the pain in her side pulsing. She tried to ignore it, leaning her head against the car's wheel.

"Are you hurt?" Natasha asked, concerned.

"No, of course not." Cassie said with a fake and painful laugh.

Natasha sighed as she went to move Cassie's sleeve out of the way, but was stopped when her hand grabbed her wrist with a tight grasp.

"Don't, please." The look in Cassie's eyes was one of fear and pain, and with a clenched jaw she released her grip on Natasha's hand.

"I know what it's like to not want help-"

Natasha's voice was interrupted by sounds of fighting and groaning, causing both of them to look over the car they had been hiding behind. They shared a concerned glance as they took in the situation - Steve was fighting the winter soldier with his shield, whereas the soldier had an endless supply of knives and guns.

Cassie watched on as the shield was torn from Steve's hands and thrown into a nearby van, getting lodged in it. Steve was thrown to the ground, and before Natasha could stop her, Cassie was already running into the fight.

She stopped a few feet away from the soldier, watching as he eyed her curiously. She could now see the colour of his eyes because he wasn't wearing the goggles, yet still no emotion. He tilted his head at her slightly before pulling a knife from his thigh, twirling it in his hand before stepping towards where she stood.

Cassie knew she had no weapon, her only option was to fight the way Fury had endlessly trained her to. So she took a deep breath and took in her opponent and his crouched stance, and a quick look at Steve's hurt state gave her all the motivation she needed to start her run towards him.