The Lost Princess

Chapter 8

Anastasia silently opens the door to the apartment and the assassins step inside, the door closing silently behind them. They see the silouhette of a man standing in front of the refrigerator and Bucky positions himself in front of Anastasia. She rolls her eyes and steps out from behind him, looking at the man as he grabs her journal from the top of the refrigerator. 

"Heads up, Cap. German Special Forces, approaching from the south." They hear someone say in Steve's earpiece. 

"Understood." Steve slowly turns around to face the two behind him. "Do you know me?" 

"You're Steve. I read about you in a museum." Bucky tells him. 

"I know you're nervous. And you have plenty of reason to be." Steve says. "But you're lying." He notices the red-head beside his friend reaching behind her slowly and turns his attention to her. "I'm not going to hurt you, miss. Either one of you." 

"That's not the first time I've heard that. So forgive me if I'm not inclined to believe you, Captain." The thick accent is a bit of a shock to Steve but he quickly recovers. 

"What's your name?" The woman remains silent so Steve turns his attention to his friend as the man starts talking. 

"I wasn't in Vienna." He says. "I don't do that anymore." 

"Well, the people who think you did are coming here now. And they're not planning on taking you alive." His gaze flickers between the two for a moment, which is all it takes for him to notice something. She seems to be important to his friend. "Either of you." 

"That's smart." Anastasia hums, glancing at Bucky as he slowly removes the black glove covering his left hand. She hears someone on the roof and glances up. "Good strategy."

"This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck." Steve tries reasoning with him. 

"It always ends in a fight, Captain." Anastasia says. 

"You pulled me from the river." Steve says, looking at Bucky. "Why?" 

"I don't know." 

"Yes, you do." He presses. A grenade crashes through the window and Anastasia immediately kicks it to Steve, who throws his shield down on it, containing the blast. 

There's a bang on the door as the cops outside try to break in and Bucky picks up the mattress, holding it behind him as he shields Anastasia's body with his own, bullets flying through the room. Anastasia grabs the table and throws it at the door, keeping it closed. Cops swing into the room on cables and Anastasia immediately grabs one and cuts the cable with her knife before throwing the cop into the wall, knocking him unconscious, Bucky doing the same thing. 

"Stop!" Steve yells to the two. "You're gonna kill someone!" Anastasia slams Steve onto the floor and punches a hole in the floor right next to his head. 

"We're not going to kill anyone." She says, pulling two backpacks from under the floorboards and throwing them out the window. 

The three all huddle behind Steve's shield to avoid the bullets. Bucky shoves Steve into a cop before grabbing Anastasia's hand and pulling her to the door, using his metal hand to block bullets. Anastasia picks up a cinder block and slams it into a cop's face as Bucky punches through the wall beside the door. 

Anastasia and Bucky fight their way through the multitude of cops in the hallway. Anastasia sees an officer descending the middle of the stairwell from a zip wire and jumps onto him, using him to descend a few floors down. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she unclips the wire and throws the cop into the wall, knocking him out. Buck joins her after breaking the railing and using it to swing to her level and the two continue fighting their way down, Steve joining them after a few moments.