The Mimic

31

The trio eventually made their way up to the tenth floor where Wanda, Sam, and Natasha were waiting. Wanda frowned at the sight of y/n, immediately reaching out to try and wipe at her nose, but y/n just swatted her hands away. Bucky shook his head at Wanda with a shrug. 'No idea' He mouthed silently, causing Wanda to nod as she moved her hands away from y/n, a look of concern still on her face. Y/n moved to lean against the wall beside Bucky, fiddling with the hat she'd taken as a souvenir to distract herself from her pounding headache. Bucky set a careful hand on her back, expecting it to be swatted away, but it wasn't. As long as she wasn't being fussed over, y/n didn't mind. But she wasn't going to admit to how bad she was feeling. 

"We don't need to be as careful now. There are no hostages in this room so there is no risk of life. The only thing we need to do is stop them from stealing that information. There will be guns. The strongest guys will probably be up here, so you need to be ready. Don't be afraid to ask for help, that's what we're all here for. Communicate." Steve commanded seriously, adjusting his grip on his shield. Steve told the team their main plan of attack for the floor, making sure that any exit to the stairs were covered so the hostages wouldn't be hurt.

Once the plan was clear and everyone was in agreement, everyone prepared to break in to the floor. Steve suddenly kicked down the door, ducking behind his shield as the team stormed the room. Bucky stayed close to y/n as they rushed into the floor, he was worried about her, and rightly so. How could she be able to fight a bunch of people if she could barely make it up the stairs without using her powers? Bucky and y/n had their backs pressed up against one another as they stood in the centre of the room. Bucky shot guards with one hand whilst the other threw knives at them, making sure that they couldn't get too close. Y/n mimicked Wanda's powers, blasting the guards with energy orbs so they couldn't get close, but one of them just kept getting closer and closer every time. "Buck, knife please!" She called out over the sounds of crashes and gunshots. Bucky tossed a knife behind himself, which y/n easily caught with her powers, launching it at the stronger guard. The knife stopped inches from the guard's face, y/n smirked as she made eye contact with the guard. She flicked her wrist, causing the knife to press against his throat. Not enough to cut it, but enough to threaten. "Y'know, I could just move my hand a tiny bit and you'd be gone. Do you want that?" She teased, tilting her head to the side. The guard shook his head, his eyes wide with fear as he put his hands up in surrender. "That's what I thought. So how about you come over here so I can see you better." She hummed, watching as the guard slowly stepped toward her. Once the guard was close enough, y/n tossed the knife behind herself, jumping up and knocking the guard out with a heavy punch to the head. Bucky caught the knife that y/n threw just in time to attack a guard that had decided to run at him. He flipped the knife from hand to hand as he fought the man, managing to catch him in a chokehold with his metal arm. Bucky walked with the man still caught in a chokehold until he was pressed against a wall, squeezing with no remorse as he watched the consciousness slip out of him. Once the man fell unconscious, Bucky let go. But, instead of going back to fighting he seemed to hesitate, quickly bending down to check that the man still had a pulse. He didn't want to actually kill anyone, just stop them in what they were doing, and whilst his chokehold was powerful it also brought back a lot of bad memories...

The leader of the group was busy downloading all the information whilst the guards stalled for him, glancing around for his plan of escape. That was when the download hit one hundred percent. He smirked, taking the memory stick out of the main computer and shoving it in his pocket. The team seemed to be completely distracted by the guards, this was his time to go. The leader made a run for it at the window, jumping and smashing through it, landing on a nearby roof as he begun to make a run for it. 

Y/n glanced over and noticed the leader escape the building, cursing quietly when she realised nobody else had realised. She had to chase him, nobody else was. Y/n begun to make a run for the window, but she was suddenly yanked back by a metal arm. "Y/n! What're you doing?" Bucky said with wide eyes, keeping a tight grip on her arm. Y/n tried to wriggle out of her grip, she needed to chase that guy before they lost him. "He's just escaped with the information! I need to catch him!" She called out over the sounds of gunshots. But Bucky didn't let go. A look of concern and worry plastered across his face. Y/n's nose hadn't stopped bleeding, and even if she hadn't noticed, he had. Something was going on and he didn't want her hurt. "No! Steve can get him!" He said seriously over the noise, shooting at a few guards that tried getting close. Y/n shook her head, hopping up and down on the spot with adrenaline. "Bucky, let go!" She exclaimed, trying to tug her arm out of his grip. But Bucky continued to refuse. Over and over. He didn't want her hurt. Y/n hesitated, she knew what she had to do, and she felt terrible for it. Y/n pushed her spare hand out, using Wanda's powers to force Bucky's hand to loosen and let her go. "I'm sorry." Y/n sighed. She then blasted him to the other side of the room, making sure that he didn't get badly hurt, but enough to stop him from chasing. 

Y/n quickly turned around and bolted toward the smashed window, landing on a nearby rooftop. She could just about see the leader just a few rooftops away. Y/n cursed to herself as she ran, everything felt like it was spinning and floating, a rooftop wasn't the best place for her to be, but she had to keep going. Y/n mimicked the super soldier strength to run as fast as possible, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. As she ran, she accidentally smashed her shoulder into the wall of a nearby building, but she had to keep running. Y/n winced in pain, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her shoulder. She didn't even want to look at it and check how it was. She was only focused on catching the man. A news helicopter was above her, seeming to document her every move. Whilst it was nice to be getting attention, now wasn't the time. She could barely see from her dizziness, and the sound of the helicopter definitely wasn't helping her headache. 

Y/n managed to catch up to the leader, not thinking twice as she quickly tackled the man, sending her and him flying off of a tall rooftop and hurtling toward a river below. Y/n quickly reached into the man's pockets, snatching the memory stick and shoving it in her own pocket. That was when she realised they were falling, her eyes widening slightly. She knew it was water, but the impact was still going to hurt, and she was too exhausted to think of the right power to mimic to stop herself from falling. 

Y/n and the leader soon crashed into the river, with a loud splash. Her whole body tingled with pain from the impact and all her injuries. The cold water mixed with the hot adrenaline from her body seeming to fight to see which one would take over. Y/n slowly sunk to the bottom of the river, her body seeming to finally catch up with her. She knew she had to swim up, but she couldn't. Her body was just shutting down out of exhaustion. Y/n's eyes slowly drifted shut, enjoying the peace of being underwater and the cold against her aching body. She slipped in and out of consciousness, her lungs screaming for air but her body not seeming to be in any hurry to get to the surface. She just lay on the bottom in silence, bubbles coming from her nose and mouth.

That was when an arm suddenly grabbed the front of y/n's shirt, yanking her up to the surface with speed. Y/n was snapped back into reality, gasping for air and coughing up water. "I've got you, I'm right here." Bucky wrapped an arm around y/n's waist, holding her close to his body as he swum back to shore. Y/n was soon laying on the ground beside the river, trying to catch her breath as she stared up at the sky. Completely exhausted. The rest of the team rushed over, standing on the bridge a few feet away as they tried to figure out a way to get down to where y/n and Bucky where. Y/n slowly reached into her pocket, grabbing the memory stick and holding it up in the air with a weak smile. Natasha's face of shock seemed to change to a smile at the sight of the memory stick, shaking her head fondly. "Idiot..." She laughed. Sam chuckled, patting Steve's shoulder. "She's the only person after you that would throw herself off of a building for a tiny thing like that."

Bucky rolled his eyes with a smile, glancing down at y/n from where he was stood. He took the memory stick from her before holding out a hand for her to take. "C'mon, let's get you back to the compound." He smiled fondly, hoisting y/n up. Y/n wrapped an arm around Bucky as they begun to walk back to the quinjet with the team. Almost needing to close her eyes due to the dizziness. Both of them were dripping wet, but neither seemed to care. 

"Can we get cheeseburgers on the way back?"

"Of course we can."