Sharp Edges

Chapter Four

After planning their heist for several days, Yelena and Bucky put it into action. It seemed rather simple; break in, get stuff, get out. The getting in part was easy, Bucky's strength was useful in that way. They worked quickly, filling the van they'd... borrowed. They had weapons and lots of them now. Gear, tactical supplies, you name it. They were almost free and clear... almost.

The building was empty, they'd checked for heat signatures before entering. What they didn't know was that the bar owner lived above and had noticed the security cameras going out. He grabbed an assault rifle and descended the stairs, stopping as he heard movement. Someone was in the back room. Someone was stealing from him.

Yelena walked back into the back room just to gather a piece of gear so that they could disappear, but that was when she heard it. Bang, bang, bang. Then she felt it... pain. It was hard to breathe all of the sudden and she hadn't even realized that she'd been shot several times. Collapsing onto the floor with a thud, she held onto the fact that Bucky would hear the gunshots.

Turning at the loud sound, James rushed into the building. When the man cocked his gun at him, he lifted his metal arm and blocked the shots while he quickly hoisted Yelena over his shoulder. James ducked and ran, quickly getting Yelena into the truck before shutting the doors and driving off, his heart pounding.

She groaned as her body collapsed into the seat and she did her best to try to assess herself, looking down at her suit as it darkened with blood. "Shit," she seethed, finding one hole in her chest, another in her abdomen. There could be more, she didn't know, but what she did know was that it was hard to breathe. As hard as she could, she put pressure on the bullet wound in her abdomen, unable to cover both areas but her abdomen would bleed worse.

"Hey, you're alright," James insisted. With one hand, he tore a piece from his shirt and pressed his hand against her chest. "We need to find a safe place now. I can't take you to a hospital."

Yelena groaned again as he tried to stifle the bleeding in her chest. "Just leave me, I'll slow you down," she said, her breathing sounding shallower than she liked. As she tried to take another breath, she began to cough, and bright red blood projected out of her mouth and onto the dash.

"Fuck." James turned and pulled underneath a bridge, away from prying eyes. He turned and ripped open her shirt. "Your lung is collapsing."

She nodded in silent reply. He was right, her lung was collapsing. She knew what needed to happen, but she couldn't do it herself. "Find some kind of tubing, or something hollow that would allow the air to refill," she instructed, coughing again and covering it with her hand. "I need to...lay flat..."

James nodded as he turned and began to rummage through the truck. "I found a metal straw..." he got out of the truck and let Yelena stretch out in the cab. Quickly walking around, he opened the passenger side door and put his shirt beneath her head. "What now?"

She stretched out the best she could and took as deep of a breath as she could, the taste of iron filling her mouth. This was not good. Without a hospital, they'd have to act fast. "Okay..." she said, feeling herself growing weaker. She was losing a lot of blood. Raising her arm above her head, she used her free hand to point to an area on her side between two ribs. "You have to just...jam it in there. It has to pierce the lung to let air back in," she explained, her body starting to tremble out of shock. Yes, this would hurt like a bitch, but if she didn't want to drown on her own blood it was what she had to ask him to do.

James' eyes welled with tears as he lifted her shirt and found the spot she told him to. "I'm here," he whispered before kissing her forehead just as he firmly pushed the straw into her body.