For you, I'll risk it all

III

The past few days had been monotonous. Everyone was preparing for something, but what exactly, they didn't know. Tony and Steve spent most of their time in the office, either with government agents or alone, collecting data and tracking Hydra's movements. They also organised everything they knew about "Project Gold Fox," but apart from what Zemo shared, they couldn't find any other information about it. They did find some intel on a girl who was acting somewhat like a vigilante around the world, but they weren't sure if it was her.

While Tony and Steve worked in the office, the others trained and tested new equipment that Stark had made. But truly, everyone was waiting for news. They didn't care if it was good or bad, they just wanted to know if they were stuck or making progress. Honestly, even Steve didn't know where they stood.

Bucky had been silent since Zemo's visit. He'd never been a talkative guy, but something was obviously bothering him more than usual. Perhaps he was trying to remember. He was trying to remember her, but with no face or voice to hold on to, Bucky's memories were just a blur.

"Hydra is approaching PIADC at Plum Island. We don't know why. Source incomplete," Tony's voice interrupted Steve's thoughts. He stood up immediately, nodding at him. JARVIS repeated the message throughout the whole building.

Within minutes, they were all on the jet: Steve, Bucky, Natasha, Clint, Tony, and Sam. Wanda and Bruce were still out of the compound, having gone to Wakanda to speak with Shuri, apparently, she created something that could be useful for them to avoid hurting Bruce in case one of his transformations went south.

They arrived in the streets of New York and intercepted some of Hydra's agents. Their mission was to find the higher-ranking ones and bring them in alive.

Steve launched his shield with precision, striking an agent square in the abdomen. The force of the impact caused the man to double over in pain, and he dropped to his knees. Swiftly retrieving his shield, Steve spun on his heel, landing a punch in the abdomen of another nearby agent. The man crumpled to the ground without a word.

He paused for a moment, taking in his surroundings. His eyes found Bucky in the midst of the chaos, handling himself with ease. He saw no need to intervene. A few meters to his right, Nat was keeping herself occupied with three men. Though someone might say that the odds were against her, he had seen Nat handle far worse. He knew she would have them on the ground in a matter of minutes.

Meanwhile, Sam and Tony had flown off towards the federal research facility. They had a suspicion that this might just be a distraction, a diversion from something far more significant.

As Steve's gaze returned to Bucky a few arrows were shot from Clint, but that was not enough to cover for his friend. He was about to rush to Bucky when he heard a sound behind him. He didn't have enough time to turn around before something hard and metallic hit the back of his neck. The blow sent him sprawling on the ground. He managed to turn his body slightly and saw the man now pressing a metal bar onto his neck. He choked, gasping for air, his fingers scrambling for his shield, but he couldn't find it. He tried to push the man off him. His vision began to blur. Despite being a super soldier, his body still needed oxygen.

They had been led to believe that these were low-level, unskilled Hydra Agents. Now, as he struggled for a breath under the weight of a bit too strong agent, he found himself questioning why he had only let Tony check the source of the tip.

Suddenly, his shield whizzed through the air, hitting the man and sending him flying to the ground. He looked up in surprise and saw her. She was standing a few feet away, her right arm still in the air from the throw. She was dressed in a black, hooded tunic that clung to her muscled arms and curves. Tight, stretchy pants hugged her legs, revealing the outlines of the knives she hid. Her face was partially concealed under the hood, but her light brown eyes were clearly visible. They were locked onto him, an unreadable expression in their depths.

A loud crash snapped him out, Tony and Sam had landed, their suits making a hell of a noise at the impact. He turned his head for a second, and when he looked back, she was gone. Vanished as swiftly as she had appeared.

—(back to the compound)—

"It was an ambush. Nobody was actually going to the facilities," Clint said.

"At least we got three men. A few agents are questioning them right now," Natasha added.

"She was there," Steve said, talking almost to himself.

"What do you mean, she was there?" Bucky asked.

"JARVIS, pull the footage from the street"

On the screen behind him, they saw the footage moving faster and faster until it stopped. There she was, retrieving Steve's shield and throwing it back at the man who attacked him. And then she was gone.

She climbed to the first floor of the building at the corner of the street and she entered one of the windows. She looked back and then she was gone.