Edge of Night

11

Inside the Helicarrier, Steve was confronted by Bucky and Irina.

"People are gonna die, Buck, Rina," Steve said. "I can't let that happen." Bucky and Irina stared at him coldly. "Please, don't make me do this." Seeing Bucky and Irina wouldn't back down, Steve threw his shield at them and they started battling each other. As they fought, Steve managed to bring up the targeting blade system, but as Bucky and Irina attacked him, the chip fell from Steve's hand.

The three continued fighting, dropping down levels. Bucky and Irina stabbed Steve in the right shoulder and right forearm and he pulled out the knives with a yell.

"Drop it! Drop it!" Steve yelled as Bucky continued to hold the chip, Steve broke his arm and held onto his throat until he passed out and let go of the chip. Irina reached for the chip, but Steve kicked her back. Steve then grabbed the chip and rushed off.

Bucky and Irina shot, shooting Steve in the left leg as he climbed up.

"Thirty seconds, Cap," Hill warned.

"Stand by," Steve said as he got the chip out. "Charlie..." Bucky and Irina shot Steve in the stomach and he fell.

HELICARRIER BRIDGE

Charlie Weapons Tech said, "Target saturation reached. All targets assigned."

Charlie XO instructed, "Fire when ready."

"Firing in, three, two, one." At that moment, Steve managed to get up and place the chip in the Helicarrier's targeting blade overriding the system and locked it down.

"Charlie locked," Steve said as he watched the targets go offline.

"Where are the targets?" Charlie XO asked. "Where are the targets?"

"Okay, Cap, get out of there," Hill instructed as she got the Helicarriers weapon targets to open fire upon each other.

"Fire now," Steve ordered.

"But, Steve..."

"Do it! Do it now!"

Reluctantly, Hill made the Helicarriers open fire on each other. Steve, still inside the Helicarrier, looked at Bucky and Irina below him. Back at the Triskelion, Pierce watched the Helicarriers as they were firing at each other.

Just then, one Helicarrier crashed into a dam beneath the Triskelion.

As the Helicarrier continued to fall with Steve, the Crimson Nyx and the Winter Soldier inside, at the Triskelion, Sam and Rumlow continued to fight each other.

Steve helped Bucky and Irina out from being trapped under some fallen rubble.

"You two know me," Steve said.

Bucky and Irina lashed out at Steve in anger and yelled, "No, I don't!"

"Bucky, you've known me your whole life. Rina, we became friends shortly after you came to New York," Steve told them. Bucky and Irina hit Steve, but Steve chose not to fight back. "Your name is James Buchanan Barnes." He turnedd to Irina. "Your name is Irina Lizabeta Alexeyev." Bucky and Irina hit Steve again.

"Shut up!" Steve took off his mask and dropped his shield out of the Helicarrier.

"I'm not gonna fight you two. You're my friends." Bucky and Irina pushed Steve to the ground.

"You're my mission," Bucky and Irina told him as they mercilessly punched Steve repeatedly across the face. "You're my mission!"

"Then finish it," Steve told him. Bucky and Irina hesitated, holding their fists up. "'Cause I'm with you to the end of the line." He focused on Irina. "The world needs everyday heroes just like you."

Bucky and Irina looked at Steve as if they were starting to remember. The bottom of the Helicarrier fell, sending Steve down into the river below. Bucky and Irina watched from the Helicarrier, then an unconscious Steve was being pulled out of the water and dragged onto the shore by Bucky. When they saw he was still breathing, he and Irina turned and walked away.

HOSPITAL ROOM

In a room guarded by two armed agents, Steve woke up in a bed to hear Marvin Gaye's Trouble Man playing with Sam sitting next to his bed.

"On your left," Steve said and Sam looked at him and smiled.

---

Fury was wearing sunglasses and a hoodie. He met Steve and Sam at a cemetery at his own grave before saying, "So, you've experienced this sort of thing before?"

"You get used to it," Steve replied.

Fury's gravestone bore the epitaph 'The path of the righteous man. Ezekiel 25:17'.

"We've been data-mining HYDRA's files," Fury informed. "Looks like a lot of rats didn't go down with the ship. I'm headed to Europe tonight, wanted to ask if you'd come."

"There's something I gotta do first," Steve said.

"How about you, Wilson? Could use a man with your abilities."

"I'm more of a soldier than a spy," Sam answered.

"All right then." Sam and Steve shook Fury's hand. "Anybody asks for me, tell them they can find me right here." Fury looked at his gravestone and walked away. Natasha joined Steve and Sam.

"You should be honored, that's about as close as he gets to saying thank you," Natasha said.

"Not going with him?" Steve asked.

"No."

"Not staying here?"

"I blew all my covers, I gotta go figure out a new one."

"That might take a while."

"I'm counting on it. Those things you asked for, I called in a few favors from Kiev." She handed Steve two files titled 'дело No. 17' (file No. 17) and 'дело No. 20' (file No. 20) Will you do me a favor? Call that nurse."

"She's not a nurse."

"And you're not a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

"What was her name again?"

"Sharon. She's nice." She kissed Steve on the cheek and turned to walk away. "Be careful, Steve. You might not want to pull on those threads." She nodded to the files. As Natasha walked away, Steve opened the files, which were about Bucky and Irina and the information regarding his Winter Soldier and her Crimson Nyx transformation.

Sam walked over to Steve and asked, "You're going after them?"

"You don't have to come with me," Steve told him.

"I know. When do we start?"

SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM - CAPTAIN AMERICA EXHIBIT

Bucky and Irina, in civilian clothes, stared pensively at the display about themselves, as Bucky's mentioned Irina. Irina turned to her display and stared at it.