𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗘𝗦 | bucky barnes

SEVEN.

Once armed enough for both her and Bucky to get out of there, Emma began running back toward the procedure room.  She wasn't so sure about what she'd have to do once she got there, but she knew that Bucky would definitely still be holding up, and all the scientists would no longer be in the room.

Once she got to the doorway, she hid by the side of the wall in hopes no one would see her. The only person actually outside of the room was an unconscious guard, lying on the ground. He looked like he had been thrown out of the room. Emma paid no mind to him and instead stepped to the side beside the doorway, so that no one was able to catch a glimpse of her. She picked a small pistol from her pocket and made sure only Bucky would be ready to grab it before she slid it across the room. He seemed to be doing quite well with the knives, though.

Bucky stopped the gun sliding across the room with his foot, looking around for Emma, but not seeing her. She decided it was best to stay hidden until he got out of there. The man Bucky was fighting was too busy dodging his metal arm to even notice the gun under his foot.  Emma stepped to the side wall and shut her eyes, bracing herself for the loud gunshot.  In a couple moments, there was a large POW and a thud, then a couple more, as the remaining three guards were shot dead to the floor.

She heard Bucky's footsteps approach quickly.  He stopped when he reached Emma standing by the doorway.  She gave him a nod, telling him implicitly "Good work," and they continued moving. 

There was only one exit from this place— an lift at the very end of the facility.  It was also where they kept the isolation units, since no one ever went over there, unless they were leaving. The lift went above ground and exited at the edge of a city somewhere in Germany, though Emmeline wasn't sure where exactly.  She knew they'd passed a city coming in, but it had been such a long time ago.  She didn't remember.

There was two ways to the lift— the facility split into two separate hallways and came back around once the end of the hall was reached at the elevator.  They would take the left hall, past Bucky's room, to get to the end.  All they had to do was walk from here.  But they jogged anyway, you know, just in case the guards did come back.  And they were right to run a little, because some of the guards began following them— there were three, and they all had knives. 

Emma and Bucky glanced at each other, wide eyed.  "You go," said Bucky.  "I'll handle this.  Just keep going."

"What if there's more?" she said.  Her breathing was quick.  Her heart was beating too fast.

"You can handle them," he said. "I know you can."

Emma nodded, then ran the other way. She didn't dare look back at Bucky as his fight began, and just kept going. She was running now... but it wouldn't had helped if she'd sprinted. Out of one of the doors that connected to the opposing hall came three guards. Emma was ready, though. She immediately pulled out her pistol and shot one in the shoulder, knocking him backward of shock. And maybe pain. The other two were prepared for when she continued shooting, and got out of the way of the bullets, pulling out their own guns.

Emma was prepared for their actions, too.  She stepped out of the range of their bullets and snuck between them as she stuffed her pistol into one hand and slipped behind one of the guards.  Before he even realized she was behind him, she had him in a hold and held at gunpoint, barrel right up to his temple.  The other guard had his pistol pointed at her— but didn't want to risk shooting his fellow guard instead— or him being shot— so he did nothing. 

Just as Emma thought she had the fight at a stalemate, the guard in her hold grabbed her arm and flipped her over his shoulder.  She landed on her back and her pistol flew out of her hand.  She got up immediately, taking her knife out of her pocket and slashing it toward the guard nearest to her. She made a couple cuts on both of them, but didn't get much progress in before one slipped behind her and grabbed her by her forearms. She tried to get out of his grasp, but he was stronger than her, and his hold was tight. She felt the blood stop coming to her hands and the pins and needles began, but she tried her best to keep hold of the knife anyway.

She couldn't move away no matter how hard he tried— and though she wasn't facing that direction, she was quite sure she saw Bucky getting closer to her, his metal arm shining in the yellow light from above. However, until the guards holding her turned to face him, she did not see that Bucky was being walked over by two Hydra guards. He looked at her, his eyes saying "I'm sorry."

"Welcome back to reality," said a voice behind her, amused. Her father's voice. The guard holding Emma pulled her upward by her arms, forcing her to stand and face her father. She was angry now— his stupid, smug voice had interrupted her determination. She attempted once again to pull herself out of the Hydra guard's grasp, but it was fruitless once again.

How had he done it? Had Zola known? How had so many guards gotten away from Bucky in the procedure room? There were too many for them just to have woken up. Zola had to have some not come to the room when the alarm sounded to have this many here to reprimand them, right? Was it all by chance? Was their plan faulty?

Maybe it's my fault, thought Emma.