Dark Desires (Bucky Barnes) ((Steve Rogers))

Chapter 21: Get Him Out of Here!

Her eyes frantically searched closer, finding other figures lining the perimeter of the glass ceiling around him. Cara looked back at Bucky, her face changed now, he knew that something was up.

"What? What is it?"

"Someone's on the roof with a rifle, there are others with them. We need to find the target."

Bucky looked up from her and searched around the room frantically. Then he spotted it, standing her back up from the deep dip that ended their dance as he spoke.

"Cara it's the mayor."

She turned to see a faint red dot barely visible sweeping his body toward his chest waiting for a good shot. Instinctively Cara let go of Bucky, sprinting in the mayor's direction as Bucky told everyone to move, directing them off the floor, asking them to remain calm as well as alerting other members of the team. The mayor turned to look at Cara as she rapidly approached him, confused. She tackled him just as the shot broke the glass, the bullet grazing Cara's arm and landing in a column behind them. She sat up in a crouched position, protectively in front of the mayor, he looked from her now bleeding arm to her in shock.

"Come on we need to get you and the other dignitaries out of here." She said grabbing his arm.

"Oh my god, you- you saved my life!"

"You can thank me later Mr. Mayor, right now we have to move!" Cara said as she stood, picking him up with her.

The glass ceiling shattered completely, causing screams and a panic to break out. As Cara ran covering the mayor, his two body guards flanked him and a third lead the way talking into a closed circuit radio giving instructions. Cara glanced back, seeing men descending from the roof on ropes with guns, down into the main atrium. Their mystery shooter still standing above, she watched him leap down without a rope, landing in what she referred to as a super hero pose on the ground before standing up. Clearly he was another enhanced human of some kind. He was completely masked, the eye holes of the mask were a mirrored material, hiding his eyes, and he wore a red and black suit, the red octopus with a skull for a head was unmistakable.

"God damnit." Cara said out loud. "Why can't we get rid of these guys!"

They ducked down a hallway leading to the stairs. The plan was to take the mayor up to the balcony surrounding the large open atrium of the museum, and out the second floor back office windows to a small side roof where a helicopter would get him. Cara watched the other Avengers spring into action, trying to get the other heads of state and a couple foreign dignitaries to safety while also fighting the masked man's entourage of men, what looked like 50 or more. The guard to the right of the mayor dropped, a bullet in his head and Cara spoke into the earpiece they all had secretly put in as the guard to the mayor's left dropped, another head shot.

"Guys we have Hydra men, one enhanced, in my pursuit! I have the mayor taking him for extraction!"

The voices in her ear began overlapping some confirming, Tony answering Bucky saying he had eyes on Cara. Cara saw the masked man jump up to the walkway from the ground floor, hurdling the railing effortlessly. She turned pulling the gun from her concealed holster under her dress. Quickly she fired two shots at the man the first on hitting him in the shoulder, the second one missing him, making him take cover.

"GO! Take him to the extraction point! Keep low I'll hold him off!"

The guard grabbed the mayor forcing his head down as they ran. Cara watched carefully, ducking behind a column when the Hydra soldier popped out with a handgun firing two shots at her the first on missing, the second one going through the column hitting her in the shoulder. Suddenly she stood popping out from behind her cover and the two went hand to hand fist fighting backwards down the walkway toward the offices. Cara swept his legs out from under him but as he fell backwards he kicked her in the gut sending her flying. She hit the wall hard barely hitting the ground before he grabbed her by the throat lifting her to her feet landing several punches before Cara got her bearings. Pulling a knife from no where, he slashed at her. She blocked the first strike, cutting both of her arms before disarming him.

Suddenly her legs were swept out from under her while at the same time he twisted, driving a second knife into her un-shot shoulder. Without hesitation he headed through the office toward the extraction. Cara jumped to her feet running in her heels just as he raised his rifle toward the helicopter. She leapt, landing on his back throwing him off balance, his shot missing the Mayor and the helicopter as they took off to safety. Knocking the rifle away with a kick from a foot that was wrapped around his body, she took her other knife landing it in the top of his back on his shoulder before choking him. He easily flipped her over him, slamming her to the ground he then straddled her choking her. He was definitely another one of Hydra's toy super soldiers. He didn't speak or make any sounds when hurt, and he was impossibly strong. As a last resort she kneed him in the groin causing him to let go of her throat. As his head dropped Cara head butted him, causing him to fall back off of her.

Blood began to run down her forehead, she was cut somehow. When she got up to her feet ready to fight again, the man also stood, his rifle on his back again. He turned to look at her and Cara froze. The breath in her lungs stuck. Glancing back at her, she had broken one of the mirrored lenses covering the eyeholes in his mask. She stood up straighter now, out of her fighter stance, not able to focus to fight. Glaring menacingly back at her through the broken eyehole, was a strikingly intense blue eye. One of two blue eyes she could never forget in a million lifetimes.

"St- Steve?!" Cara said shocked, unable to find air.

The Hydra soldier straightened up turning toward her out of his fighting stance, the look in his eye turning to an almost scared-confused one, keeping his distance from her, ready to flee. Cara could hear a stealth jet engine closing in, no doubt for his extraction.

"Who the hell is Steve?" The soldier asked.

Cara closed her eyes, the voice was unmistakable, she felt numb, throwing her knives she had snuck into her hands down and dropping to her knees. Steve raised his pistol at her, just as she opened her eyes she waited for the shot, staring into his one exposed blue eye, pleadingly. He hesitated and started to lower the gun. Just then Bucky burst through the unopened window, diving into a roll to stand between Cara and the Hydra soldier. Glaring again, he instantly pulled the pistol up and shot. Bucky caught the bullet in his ribs. As he landed hard on the low roof, Cara scrambled to him, rolling him over and holding him against her legs in her arms as he gasped, groaning. When she looked back up, Steve was hanging onto a rope, rapidly ascending into the clouds, gun still in hand staring down at her, or at least she thought it looked like he was.

She tended to Bucky, tears flooding her eyes flowing down her cheeks, the pain from her wounds suddenly beginning to hurt. Stopping Bucky's bleeding by tearing some of her dress, knowing it would manage until they got back to the tower. Bucky opened his eyes looking up at her, the look on her face told him everything, he had seen it before. Her grief was there, her guilt, panic, heartbreak. Every emotion he had helped bring her out from under was washing back over her face. He propped himself up wincing, noticing the knife sticking out of her clavicle near her shoulder joint, both her forearms bleeding, the bruises starting to form around her eye and cheek, the blood from her forehead streaking down her face, the graze wound on her arm and another bullet wound that was in her back on the other shoulder. He had seen that one happen. None of this was what was causing her emotion though. He noticed her clutching the broken eye pieces from the soldier's mask in one of her hands now and looked at her again, but she had never looked away from him.

"It's Steve, Buck. The Hydra soldier is Steve."