The ghosts we hide (Winter Soldier x OC)

Forty two

I dive behind the nearest tree, catching movement to my right as Bucky does the same.

Bullets shred the forest in front of us, diving deep into the flesh of trunks and sending splinters of wood spluttering through the air. The forest shakes as it continues to take hits, caught in the rain of gunfire.

I press my back against the wood shielding me, my own semi automatic clutched tightly in my hands. My heart rate matches the thundering of the pellets, hammering rapidly in my chest. Squeezing my eyes closed, I force myself to take deep breathes.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Ok.

My eyes snap open and I whirl around, peaking carefully around the wide wooden trunk to aim at the numerous men standing shrouded in the billowing smoke of the detonated mines. Picking a target, I ignore the oncoming gunfire as I have so many times before, instead settling the butt of my weapon against my shoulder.

Focusing through one eye, I line up the barrel with the chest of a Hydra agent.

My finger finds the trigger as naturally as breathing.

Before I can shoot, the man falls to the ground at someone else's bullet.

A shiny red and gold suit swoops along the line of enemies, arm raised and raining down flashes of ammunition. The men fall in quick succession, dead or seriously injured I'm not sure, but definitely incapacitated. In the space of ten seconds, the shooting has stopped completely.

"You're all welcome." Comes Tony's voice.

I scan the smog covered sky for evidence of the other two fliers, catching a glimpse of silver here, a red wing there. The heavens, however, are mostly dominated by churning rolls of smoke, twisting and billowing like some rabid dragon as it attempts to diffuse through the thick layer of mist.

"The base is about 100m in front of us. Tony, Rhodey and Sam go on ahead and start trying to get into the building, the rest us will join you in a minute. Be alert, there are bound to be more troops on the way." Steve shouts into my ear.

I glance at Bucky, who now stands up straight, gun trained on the strip of exposed ground in front of us that once contained mines. He must sense my gaze and looks briefly sideways at me, posture rigid. We both seem to take a deep breath before nodding, moving forward in synchrony.

Like we used to.

As soon as we're out of the cover of the forest my senses go into overdrive, aware of everyone and everything moving around me. I see the rest of the team emerge from the trees out of the corner of my eye, but I don't even spare them a glance, too focused on what could be hiding in the metres ahead of me.

Huge craters dig into the ground around me, gouged deep into the crumbling earth. I step cautiously over scattered debris, trying not to stumble in my refusal to watch where I'm putting my feet, my eyes trained permanently on the tree line ahead.

Every footstep I take I expect a bullet to drive a hole through my flesh.

The heart pounds in my chest as I cross the clearing swiftly, gun up and poised to shoot, tucked neatly between my shoulder and chin. My finger never leaves the trigger.