Winter's Fire. ~Book Three~

Chapter Thirteen: Revealing Bucky.

At Alexander Pierce's house, he was just now walking into the kitchen to get something to drink. As he turned around, he saw the Winter Solider sitting in the dark with a gun resting on the coffee table. Behind him, the housekeeper was getting ready to leave. 
"I'm going to go, Mister Pierce. Do you need anything before I leave?" Reata said as she got ready to leave. 
Pierce shook his head. "No, uh-it's fine. You can go home." He said as he stepped deeper into the living room. 
"Okay, night night." 
"Good night." The moment he heard Reata leave, Pierce poured himself a glass of milk as he started to speak. "Want some milk?" When the solider said nothing in reply, he continued. "The timetable has moved, our window is limited. Four targets, level six." He came over and sat down across from the Winter Soldier. "They already cost me Zola, I want confirmed death in ten hours." 
Reata came back into the room, but it doesn't seem like she's noticed the solider just yet. "Sorry, Mister Pierce, I-" she broke off as she noticed the metal armed man. "I forgot my phone..." 
Pierce sighed as he reached over to grab the gun. "Oh, Reata, I wish you could have knocked." He pulled the trigger and she fell, very clearly dead. 
+++
The moment Sam walked into the house after his run, he heard a knock at the backdoor of his house. With a feeling of concern starting to grow, he went to the backdoor and opened it. He expected something big and bad to jump out at him, but when he saw Steve holding an unconscious and soot covered Levinia, while Red and Natasha held duffle bags, he realized that it was a much worse situation.
"Hey, guys?" 
"I'm sorry about this." Steve said as he looked at Sam with pleading eyes. "We need a place to lay low." 
Red looked up at him as well, a smudge of soot on her face and clothes as well. "And I need to borrow your phone." She shifted on her feet. "There's a lot going on and we'll explain when we can." 
Natasha sighed. "Everyone we know is trying to kill us." 
".... or we'll just give you the summed up version." 
Sam only hesitated for a moment before he held the door open for the rag tag group of misfits. "Not everyone." 
Slowly, the shuffled into the house-with Steve going last because it would take him the longest to get Levi through the door. Sam showed them to different parts of his house that they could use to get showered and changed, even let Red use his landline as he started to cook breakfast for the house. 
Whatever they were all roped into, Sam had a feeling that he's about to be mixed up into it too. 
+++
Red stood in the corner of the kitchen as she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. She had never felt so tired in her entire life, even though she took a short nap on the way to the compound. She couldn't remember the last time she slept throughout the night, but she didn't have the time to be self pitying, she had a job to finish. "JARVIS," she whispered. "Secure the line." 
After a few seconds, he answered with. "Phonelines secure." 
Red breathed a sigh of relief as she punched Tony's number into the keypad and waited for him to pick up. "Come on... please pick up." She begged. 
Finally, after what felt like forever, Tony picked up the phone. "Hey, are you okay?" Hearing his voice and knowing that he was safe was all she needed to be able to perk up. 
"Yeah, I'm fine. We're all fine." 
"Good, where are you guys?" 
"I can't tell you that, just know that we're safe and that we'll be home soon." 
"Alright," he said with a sigh. "Just take care of yourself when you have a chance." 
"I will when the others are okay." 
"Red, I know you think you have to take care of everyone else first but you don't," he paused for a few seconds and sighed before he spoke again. "Please just take a shower and eat." 
"Alright, I'll do that, but don't expect me to do anything beyond that." 
Tony chuckled. "I won't, and you know that I adore you for how selfless you are, but now isn't the time for acting the hero." 
Acting the hero. No, she had never once acted the hero, if anything he was the one who would sacrifice everything to save the world-Hell, he even had more than once. "I'll call you back when I have a chance." 
"Stay safe." Was the last thing he said before she hung up. 
Red would never be able to explain why she got so angry when he told her not to act the hero. She pushed her dirty hair out of her face before she sagged against the wall again. "Don't act the hero," she muttered. "That's a joke coming from Tony Stark." 
"Hey," Sam said gently from behind her as he rubbed her back. "I've got an extra shower downstairs if you need it." He gave her a gentle smile as she raised her head and opened her eyes again to look at him. "And you need it." 
Red chuckled as she pushed away from the wall and stood up as straight as she could. "Thank you for letting us stay here." 
Sam, still smiling, turned back to the stove to finish making them all breakfast. "Yeah, it's no problem." 
Red left Sam to his devices as she flew downstairs, her body was aching too much for her to walk down all of those stairs and into the shower. As she washed the soot and ash and blood and sweat out of her hair and off of her body, she couldn't help but think about what this was all meant for, not only for SHIELD, but also for the Avengers. There wasn't a way that all of them would be able to walk away from this alive. 
She just hoped that her daughter would be able to walk away and carry on if she didn't make it.
+++
It didn't take long for Levi to wake up when they had finally stopped moving. She had showered last and took her time before she got dressed and sat down next to the window. Levi looked so... shaken up, so scared after everything they had been through the next twenty or so hours. Steve could tell that she wasn't ready to talk about it just yet. 
Natasha was sitting on the bed and drying her hair when Steve turned to look at her. "You okay?" 
"Yeah." She said. 
"What's going on?" 
Natasha sighed heavily as she set the towel back in her lap. "When I first joined SHIELD, I thought I was going straight, but I guess I just traded in the KGB for HYDRA." Her shoulders sagged. "I thought I knew whose lies I was telling, but I guess I can't tell the difference anymore." 
Steve almost smiled as he looked at her. "There's a chance you might be in the wrong business." 
Levinia, who was still looking outside with her chin resting on her knees, suddenly spoke up. "You never really know who exactly you're working for... I mean, I worked  for someone I saw as a father figure, but he's a mad man, and a murderer." 
Natasha nodded slowly along with Levi's words. "I know the feeling." She then dumped her shoulder against Steve's. "I owe you." 
He shook his head. "It's okay." 
There was a long pause as the three of them sat in silence before Natasha spoke again. "If it was the other way around, and it was up to me to save your life-you be honest with me-would you trust me to do it?" 
"I would now," he then gave her a small smile. "And I'm always honest." 
Levi sighed as she finally tore her eyes away from the window. "I keep thinking that they're going to show up again." 
"They won't this time." He said in an attempt to reassure her, but even he heard the lie he didn't mean to say. 
She turned her head to look at him with her eyebrows furrowed. "Steve, we keep telling ourselves that, but they always show up and blow something up or try to kill us or something." Levi took a deep breath as she uncurled herself from her perch on the window seat and got to her feet. "I don't know if I can keep doing this." 
"I know," Steve said before he took her into his arms and held her as he passed a hand through her dual colored hair. "But we're almost done, I promise." 
Levi sniffled as she leaned against him and whispered. "But how do you know?" 
"I just do, okay? He kissed the top of her head before he leaned his chin on her head. "You believe me, right?" 
Levi didn't speak for a long moment before she slowly started to nod. "Yeah... I believe you." 
Natasha smiled at them. "See? He always tells the truth." 
The trio fell silent again as Steve continued to hold Levi. It was at this moment that he realized he had to protect her at all costs, to make sure that, when all of this was said and done, she got to sleep safe and sound. Steve had to make sure that she made it out of this alive. 
Suddenly, the door behind them opened and they quickly jumped apart. It wasn't as if they were doing anything bad, but both of them being awkward ninety year old's, of course they had. The three of them turned to face Sam, who was smirking from the doorway. 
"I made breakfast... if you guys eat that sort of thing." 
Levi was the first of them to leave the room and head downstairs, Nat followed behind her, and that left Steve and Sam, with Sam raising an eyebrow in Steve's direction. "So... your best friend's daughter, huh?" 
"Let's not talk about it right now." He said before he left the room and followed behind Natasha and Levinia. 
+++
 "So, the question is," Nat was saying as they all sat gathered around Sam's kitchen table as they had yet another team meeting. "Who in SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?" 
Red turned to face Steve and Levi. "I mean, isn't the answer obvious?" 
Steve sighed as he looked back at her. "Pierce." 
"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world." Nat said. 
Levi crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned back in her seat. "But how are we going to prove that Alexander Pierce would do it? And we still need a why." She started to bounce one of her legs as she thought this over. "One can't just go around, accusing authority figures of being heads of HYDRA without proof." 
Red shrugged before she started to smile. "I mean, it wouldn't be hard to prove. Zola told us everything we needed to know." 
Levi hesitated before she spoke. "I know he did, but..." She trailed off as her mother gave her a very smug look. 
"Little known fact about JARVIS," she said. "He is always listening and recording." 
"Alright, well, that takes care of that." 
Steve chuckled as he reached over to set his hand on Levi's knee, giving it a gentle squeeze to stop her bouncing. "And he's not working alone, Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star." 
"So was Jasper Sitwell." Natasha said as she scooped up more of her eggs and ate it. 
Steve thumb was rubbing gentle circles into Levi's knee as he took his time looking between her, and then Red, and lastly Natasha. It pleased her that they were at the stage in their relationship where they couldn't bear the thought of not having some sort of contact.
"So, the real question is," he said. "How do the four most wanted people in DC kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?" 
"I mean... they were able to do it when they took Red." Levi offered halfheartedly. "Why shouldn't we?" 
This statement caused Red, Steve and Natasha to all blink at her as Red said. "Levs... they took me in the middle of the night." 
"Shush, you get my point." 
"Do we?" Natasha asked with a chuckle. 
"Yes." Levi said before she picked up her mug to take a drink of her coffee. 
"Well," Sam said from his perch against the wall beside them. "The answer to all of your questions is: You don't." He then proceeded to drop a very thick file in front of herself and Steve. Red sat up in her seat as Levi leaned over to open the file and, together, the four of them started to read through it. 
"What's this?" Steve asked as he flipped through it. It looked as if they were reading over some sort of odd, pararescue thing, describing all of Sam's missions with a man called Riley. 
"Call it a resume." Sam said. 
Natasha reached over and picked up a picture of Sam and his rescue team. "Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission? That was you," she turned in her seat to look at Steve with wide and excited eyes. "You didn't say he was pararescue." 
Red blinked a few times as she turned in her seat to face Sam. "I am honestly surprised. I never would have guessed that that was you." 
Levi raised her head as she cleared her throat. "Am I the only one who's completely lost?" 
"No, it's not just you." Steve said as he reached over to take the picture from Natasha and showed it to Levi. "Is this Riley?" 
Sam slowly nodded. "Yeah." 
Natasha, who was still reading the file, excitedly said. "I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use?" She raised her head to look up at him. "A chute?" 
"No, these." He turned a page in the file and showed everyone around the table a section called FALCON, with a picture of a winged jetpack sort of thing. Him and his partner, Riley, would literally fly in and rescue people when it seemed impossible for others to do so.
"Holy shit." Levi muttered. 
Steve kissed her temple as he looked back at Sam. "I thought you said you were a pilot." 
"I never said pilot." Sam said with a chuckle. 
"I can't ask you to do this, Sam." Steve said begrudgingly as he set the file back down on the table. "You got out for a good reason." 
Sam chuckled before he gave the group a grin. "Dude, Captain America and Red North need my help. There's no better reason to get back in." 
Levi leaned back in her seat and finally started to relax for the first time since she found out that SHIELD that was trying to kill everyone she knew and loved. "I think with your help, we'll be able to pull this off." 
Red picked up the file again and started giving it another read. "I agree, we just need a few more things." 
"And where can we find one of these things?" Steve asked as he too, leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. 
Levi felt her shoulders slump as Sam gave them the look a person was about to give bad news would. "The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve inch steel wall." 
Steve, Nat and Levi all raised their heads to look at each other, all of them apparently thinking the same thing as they, simultaneously, slowly turned to face Red. There was only one person that Levi could think of that would be able to legally get their hands on this piece of heavily guarded tech. 
Red gave the file back to Sam as she got to her feet and went to the phone on the wall to call Tony. "Shouldn't be a problem." Steve said with a tight smile. 
Levi leaned her head on Steve's shoulder and closed her eyes. Just a little longer and they could all rest. A little longer and they'll have their lives back. A little longer... and they'd be able to save SHIELD from itself.
+++
"Tony, I need you to do me a huge favor." Red had said the moment he picked up the phone. 
Rightfully so, Tony sounded very confused as he said. "Yeah, what's up? Also, this thought just hit me, why aren't you using your phone?" 
"Oh, that got destroyed when SHIELD blew us up." She said nonchalantly before she continued on. "Anyway, I need you to get into Fort Meade." 
Tony sighed heavily. To her surprise, he didn't even question her first statement. "Red, why do you need me to get into Fort Meade?" 
"Glad you asked! I need you to get something from it, it'll be what looks like jetpack with wings, under a project called FALCON." 
"Okay, give me twenty and I'll have them for you." He said. She could hear the faint sounds of him getting into his suit as they spoke. 
"You have fifteen, and JARVIS will give you our location." Red them paused as she looked over her shoulder at the group behind her, who were all starting to get gears up and ready to go. "I also need a laser pointer." 
"Yeah. It'll be useful, I'll see you soon." 
For the next fifteen minutes, the group slowly got ready for whatever could be heading for them next, and Red sat in the bed in the basement as she held onto Bucky's tags. After all of this time, it was still hard for her to do all of this without him, she found herself wishing could tell him how she was really feeling. How scared she was, she missed how he'd hold her when she was scared or stressed or any other sort of emotion that was sort of the like. He always knew how to make her feel better. Always.
Her thoughts of Bucky were broken when there was a knock on the door before Steve poked his head into the room. "Hey... you okay?" 
Red nodded slowly as she let the tags, and her ring, fall back against her chest. "Yeah. I was just thinking." 
He quickly entered the room and closed the door behind him before he sat down next to her. "It's about Bucky, isn't it?" 
She had continued to nod as she tucked it all back under the collar of her shirt. "Yeah... I just... it's hard... shaking this hard in my boots and having to remind myself that he's still not here." 
"I know.." Steve put his arm over her shoulders and have her a gentle squeeze. "But I also know that he's keeping an eye on you, making sure you're safe when he can't be there to do it himself." 
Red smiled as she looked up at the ceiling. "I think you might just be right," she then gave a soft laugh. "God, he would've hated Tony." 
Steve gave a chuckle himself. "Yeah, I can't argue with that. He would have definitely thought you traded down." 
"That's probably because I did... there'll never be anyone as good for me as he was." 
Steve chuckled again before he stood up and helped her to her feet after him. "As much as I'd like to keep talking about Bucky, we have a job to do." 
"Yup. Always got to love saving agencies from themselves." Red said as they walked out of the room and headed upstairs where Levi, Tasha and Sam were ready and waiting for them. She gave a weak and tired smile as she fiddled with her ring. "Sorry it took me so long." She sighed as she let her hands fall to her sides. "Are we still waiting on Tony?" 
Sam nodded as he turned to look at her. "Yeah, but he still has seven minutes." 
Red nodded slowly and turned to look out the living room window. Out there in the city, Pierce was getting ready to do something unspeakable with the might and bulk of SHYDRA behind him. He had full teams and task forces, even had the mysterious Winter Solider, and it was only the five of them up against all of that.
Finally, Tony landed in front of the house and she felt a thrill of relief shoot through her. It felt as if it was days since she last saw him, but she knew it had only been a handful of hours. Red quickly pulled the front door open and ran out to meet him halfway to the door. She threw herself into his arms as she whispered. "You're here. It's you, and you're here." 
"Yeah, I'm here." Tony had dropped the bag he was holding to catch her. He leaned down to kiss her forehead and held her as she shook in his arms. "I've got you, Red. I got you." 
Red could only take a few seconds to enjoy this moment before they heard a set of throats clearing behind them, which was quickly followed by Sam saying. "Hey, sorry to break up a happy moment, but we're on a bit of a time crunch." 
"Sorry, sorry." Red muttered as she pulled a way from him and led the way inside after he had picked up the bag containing Sam's wings. 
"So," Tony said as he set the bag down on the kitchen table. "What exactly happened to your phone?" 
"I told you, it got destroyed when SHIELD attacked me." 
"When all of this is over, I'm getting you a new phone." 
Levi yawned as she leaned against Steve's side. "When all of this is over, I'm sleeping for a week." 
"I second this." Tasha said. 
Red leaned against the counter as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'll give it a third." 
"I guess we'll all be sleeping for a week." Tony said with a chuckle. 
Steve smiled as he wrapped an arm around Levi and rubbed her arm. "Doesn't sound too bad to me." 
"This has been nice." Tasha said as Sam picked up the bag from the table. "But we really do need to go." 
"Yup," Red said as she pushed away from the counter and leaned up on her toes to kiss his cheek. "I'll see you soon." 
"I better see you soon. Otherwise, I'm burning down the entire world." 
"I guess we'll have to survive then." Red turned around and faced the others. "Lets get going, I don't wanna be late for our appointment with Sitwell." 
After they had said their goodbyes to Tony and he was flying off in his suit again, Steve, Tasha and Sam got into Sam's car while Levi and Red got on the motorbikes. 
They made their way to the one courthouse in the entire city that Red knew, or at least suspected, Jasper Sitwell would be. 
+++
Jasper Sitwell was walking out of a courthouse with Senator Stern after a nice lunch, and unbeknownst to him, Red and Levinia were flying Steve and Natasha up to a nearby rooftop before the redheaded Asgardian flew back down to their vehicles. 
"Listen, I gotta fly home tonight," Stern was saying as they walked together. "'Cause, I uh-I got some constituency, and I gotta press the flesh." 
Sitwell gave a rather forced smile as he spoke. "Any constitute in particular, Mister Senator?" 
"Uh-no, not really," Stern said in a rather smug tone. "Twenty-three, kind of hot... real hot. You know, wants to be a reporter, I think, I don't know. Who listens at that point?" 
"Doesn't sound like much of a problem to me." Sitwell said as they continued down the stairs. 
Up on the roof, Levinia shifted uncomfortably on her feet, she seemed disgusted with him and Stern. Did Red really need to send out that drone? 
"Really? 'Cause she's killing my back." Stern stopped himself and Sitwell at the bottom of the stairs as he fixed Sitwell's blazer. "Look, this isn't the place to talk about it." He touched a pin on Sitwell's lapel and smiled, still making a show of fixing Sitwell's collar. "That's a nice pin." 
"Thank you." Sitwell said, still giving that same forced and hopefully polite looking smile. 
"Come here." Stern said before he pulled Sitwell into a very forced looking embrace, he turned his head to whisper into his ear. "Hail HYDRA." He then let Sitwell go and turned around to show him his back. "See? It's right there." 
"We got Stern." Levi muttered. It was an unneeded comment, they all heard what she heard. 
"I just saw that. Yeah." 
"Should I get it checked?" 
"I think you should." 
As Stern walked away and got into his car, Sitwell turned to leave but his phone started to ring. Upon taking it out of his pocket, he would see, thanks to them, that it was Alexander Pierce calling him. He turned to look at the guards that were standing beside him. "I need a minute. Bring the car around." The moment he was alone, he answered the phone, hoping that he wasn't about to be given bad news. "Yes, Sir?" 
Sam, sitting at a cafe that resided across the street, smiled as he said. "Agent Sitwell, how was lunch? I hear the crab cakes here are delicious." 
"Who is this?" 
"The good looking guy in the sunglasses, your ten o'clock." 
Sitwell turned to his far left but saw no one. Red brought the drone back to her as Levi got ready with the laser pointer in her hand. 
It's almost time.
+++
"Your other ten o'clock." Sam said with a sigh and a roll of his eyes as Sitwell struggled to find the correct ten o'clock. He almost smiled when Sitwell finally spotted him. "There you go." 
"What do you want?" 
"You're going to go around the corner, to your right. There's a gray car, two spaces down." Sam took a sip of his tea as he leaned against his seat. "You and I are going to take a ride." 
"And why would I do that." 
"Because that tie looks really expensive, and I'd hate to mess it up." Sam nodded toward the roof where Levinia was shinning the laser pointer right into Sitwell's chest. 
Sitwell slowly looked down and nodded as he saw the glowing red dot on his suit front. Very stiffly, he made his way down the alleyway where he'd find Red. 
Sam got to his feet and headed to a bathroom to get his falcon suit on.
+++
The moment Agent Sitwell rounded the corner, Red pushed away from the car with a small smirk on her face. He suddenly stopped walking when he realized that he was looking at someone who, up until now, was missing and presumed dead. 
Her grin spread wider across her face. "Good afternoon, Agent Sitwell," smugness was dripping from her tone. "You look as if you saw a ghost." 
"You're supposed to be dead." 
"Damn, and here I was, feeling pretty good for a dead woman." Red slowly walked up to him with her head tilted to the side. "Now, you're going to come with me and we're going to have a little chat, and no," she added quickly as he started to speak. "You don't get a say in it."
He let out a defeated sigh before he slowly walked over to her and let his shoulders slump forward. "Is this what happens when a ghost comes knocking?" 
"This is exactly what happens when a ghost comes knocking." Red said as she took a hold of his arm. "And unfortunately for you, I'm one pissed off ghost." She flew up to the roof and threw him down in front of Steve, Levi and Tasha before she landed behind them with her arms crossed over her chest. 
"Tell us about Zola's Algorithm." Steve said as Sitwell got back to his feet. 
"Never heard of it." Sitwell said he dusted himself off, but it didn't take much to tell that he was lying. Jasper Sitwell was many things, but a good liar was never one of them. 
"Now, that's some bullshit." Red said, keeping her eyes on him. She made no effort to conceal the fact that her rage was starting to boil up inside her. 
Levi sighed as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "It really is." 
"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?" Steve pressed. 
But Sitwell only glared at him. "I was throwing up. I get sea sick." 
Steve suddenly took hold of Sitwell's suit front and forced him to the edge of the roof, holding him there as he got ready to shove him off as she, Levi and Tasha followed. "Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're going to throw me off of the roof?" He said, looking not even scared as he looked up at Steve. "Because that's not really your style, Rogers." 
"You're right," Steve said with a dangerous smile as he fixed up the front of his blazer. "It's not. But it is hers." 
Tasha suddenly jumped into action and kicked Sitwell of the edge, sending him falling and screaming toward the ground. 
"You know, Levi might be right, when we get done with this, we should get pizza on the way." Natasha said as they waited for Sitwell to come back. 
"Do you think we'd be able to take that to go?" Levi asked as she looked over the edge and took a step back. 
"Yeah, I don't see why not." Red said with a shrug. 
Steve smiled as he turned to look down at her. "I was thinking, when this is over, we should get dinner." 
Levi perked up with a bright smile on her face, but was able to say nothing as Sam reappeared with Sitwell in his arms and tossed him back at their feet. He was still screaming for dear life. 
"Zola's Algorithm is a p-program-" Sitwell stammered as he sat up on his knees, still trembling as he spoke. "For choosing Insight's targets." 
"What targets?" Steve asked. 
Red bent down to Sitwell's level, still with her head titled to the side as she spoke. "And you tell us exactly who these targets are, or else your body won't be found," she then gave another one of her tight smiles. "And you know I don't make empty threats, Sitwell." 
This seemed to be enough to get the answers they wanted as he yelled. "You guys! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Under Secretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City. Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange-" he took a deep and shuddering breath as he looked up at her. "Anyone who is a threat of HYDRA, now or in the future." 
"The future? How could it know?" Steve asked. 
Sitwell started to laugh as he turned his gaze to Steve. "How could it not? The 21st Century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it," his eyes scanned their faces-the four of them matched identical faces of mixed confusion and fear. "Your bank records, medial histories, voting patters, e-mails, phone calls-your damn SAT scares, Zola's Algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future." 
"And what then?" Steve asked as the other three took in what they were just told. 
"Oh my God." Sitwell muttered to himself. "Pierce is going to kill me." 
"What then?!" Steve yelled. 
Red braced herself as she aimed a kick at his ribs. "Answer him Sitwell!" 
After Sitwell that cried out in pain, he coughed and answered him. "Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time." 
Red raised her head to look at her companions as shock turned to fear and fear turned to horror in her expression. "We..." She cleared her throat. "We can't let that happen." 
"That's why we won't." Levi said as she matched her mother's gaze. 
Tasha nodded, slowly at first before she snapped out of her daze. "Let's get going." 
Red quickly made her way to the edge of the building that led to the alleyway. She got on the coms with Sam-who had been keeping watch while they spoke to Sitwell, "Sam, get him in the car. Levi and I will follow behind." 
Sam quickly flew up and grabbed Sitwell, before flying him down and shoving him into the car. Levi and Red brought Natasha and Steve down with them and soon, after everyone had gotten in, they got back on the road and headed toward SHIELD. 
Red made sure to have JARVIS keep them on their coms as they drove, she couldn't imagine not staying in communication with her small team. "JARVIS," she said as her and Levi's gear formed over their bodies. "Give us a clear route to SHIELD." 
"I believe the route through Triskelion is the fastest and clearest." 
"Sam, you heard him." Red said as she glanced over her shoulder to make sure that they weren't being followed. 
"Headed that way." 
They traveled as fast as traffic would let them, and as glad as Red was that she could hear her friends talk, she had started to regret the decision as Sitwell started to speak. She found herself thinking about all the ways she should have killed him. 
"HYDRA doesn't like leaks." Sitwell said. 
"So why don't you try sticking a cork in it?" Steve asked as he turned to look over his shoulder at Red and Levi. 
Red scoffed at that and slowed them down as Sam did. "I agree, so shut the fuck up, Sitwell." 
Levi sighed as she turned to look behind them again. "How much longer do we have until we get there?" But she suddenly pulled to a stop behind them. "Shit." 
They had hit traffic, and had realized too late that they needed a plan B. 
+++
"We'll be there soon, we just need to get past this traffic." Sam said as they slowly crawled down the road. Behind them, Red looked around them, trying desperately to find a way around it, but even when JARVIS failed them, she cursed under her breath. She looked over her shoulder again, but still saw no one coming for them. 
Beside her, Levinia kept her eyes on what was going on in front of them. If anything was going to come for them in that direction, Levi would be able to see them coming and jump into action. 
"Insight's launching in sixteen hours, we're cutting it a little close here." Natasha said anxiously. 
"I know." Steve said as he glanced behind him again and at Levi, as if to make sure that she was okay. "We'll use him to bypass the DNA scans and access the Helicarriers directly." 
Suddenly, and thankfully, the traffic sped up again and Sam was back to driving as fast as he could, which meant that Red and Levi were too. "What?!" Sitwell yelled. "Are you people fucking crazy? This is a terrible, terrible idea!" 
"And that is exactly why-" Red suddenly screamed as she spotted the Winter Solider standing on the roof of a nearby truck with a missile launcher aimed right at them. 
Before either Red, or Levi, could react or get out of the way, the missile was fired at them and it blew up between them, causing them to be thrown off their motorbikes and onto the road. 
With their ears ringing, Red and Levi both rolled to their feet and flew toward the Winter Solider, but they were too late. He had already pulled Sitwell out of the car and into oncoming traffic on the other side of the highway, he had died instantly. 
Sam slammed on the brakes of the car as they started getting shot at, and the Winter Soldier jumped back down to the street as another car hit Sam's. 
Red and Levinia looked at each other and nodded before they flew off, both going in different directions. Red went off to face the Solider while Levi went to the car to protect Steve and the rest of her friends. 
+++
Red shook her hand and summoned her staff to her hand as she flew forward to try and fight the Winter Soldier, but almost every single one of her blows barely stuck. She spun her staff in her hand and got ready to to hit him again, but he grabbed her arm with an oddly familiar robotic one. She froze as he jerked her arm to the side, and even as she heard the snap and felt the pain and gritted her teeth to hold back a scream, she could only think the distant memory of Bucky screaming for her as she was shocked...
In her moment of distraction, he aimed a punch to her stomach and ribs, and she felt a couple of her ribs break as she took hold of his arm and let her fire seep into it, but it did nothing and he grabbed on to her broken arm before he used the leverage to hoist her up and flip her over onto her back. 
Thank God her gear protected her body from any life threatening injuries, even if the wind was knocked out of her. Wheezing, Red looked up at him and wondered why, when this man was trying to kill her, she felt at home when she looked into his eyes.
+++
While Red fought off the Solider behind her, Levinia flew After, Steve, Natasha and Sam. She had to keep them from driving off of the road. She threw herself onto the roof of the car, lightning gathered around her hands and into her gear-powering up her suit as she gave the car just enough of a power surge to stop it for a few seconds so that Sam could regain control. 
Sitwell was right, they were going to die in an attempt to stop HYDRA. 
+++
Shaking away the feeling she got when looking into his eyes, Red coughed as she finally got air back into her lungs and started to get back to her feet, knowing that if she stayed on the ground, she would die. 
As she was about to get up, the Winter Solider took hold of her hair and dragged her to her feet. As her tech was starting to form over her head, he slammed her face into the road guard, and this time Red did yell out in pain as she felt her nose break. She reached up and grabbed onto his non-metal arm, her fire leaking from the tips of her fingers and finally burned him, causing him to let her go with a kiss of pain. She hurt him. 
With blood pouring from her nose, she put as much power into her boots as she could as she crawled away from him and stood up. Her fire gathered around her body and she centered it all on him as she flew at him. He calmly walked to meet her, and took hold of her broken arm again and threw her back down to the ground. 
This was going to be a long day. 
+++
As Levi stood on the roof of the car, and after having gotten one thing out of the way, she turned to face the Winter Solider and Red, who was currently getting her ass handed to her. She summoned more lightning and threw it at him, but nothing seemed to happen. Levi could feel her eyes burning as they started to glow, but he was barely taking any damage. 
"That's not normal!" Levi yelled as she threw another bolt in his direction. 
"Really?!" Sam yelled. "You don't say!" 
Levi jumped down from the roof of the car, Red couldn't keep fighting on her own, she'd die if Levi didn't do anything about it. "Drive, Sam! Drive!" 
And then she flew at him, trying to keep him away from her mother and, in turn, her friends. She ducked and weaved to avoid getting hit by his bullets. She suddenly stopped flying and slid between his legs, trying to knock him off of his feet as she relentlessly threw electricity at him, but even that failed. If either fire or lightning was hurting him, he didn't show it. 
The Soldier turned around, picked her up and flipped her over onto a car behind them. She whimpered and wheezed as she rolled back to her feet and held her side. 
As Red joined her side and they turned to get back to the car, she realized that-even if they got back to the car now-they would be too late. Together, they after after the Winter Solider and, in turn, Sam's car. 
+++
As Sam finally regained control over the car, he saw Natasha try to reach for her gun, which had fallen at her and Steve's feet when they had gotten hit. Behind them, Red and Levi were chasing after the Winter Soldier, to try and get his attention back on them. 
He shouted as the Soldier landed on the roof of the car and Sam slammed on the breaks, causing him to fall off of the roof but he still held onto the hood of the car and shot out the windshield, Sam ducked at the last moment with a shout of, "shit!" And he jerked the wheel to the side to try and throw him off. 
But instead of flying off of the car like he wanted, the Solider grabbed hold of the steering wheel and yanked it out of his hands and out of the car. He yelled louder as his car crashed into one of the concrete barriers. 
He looked into the rearview mirror and saw Red and Levinia flying toward them in a desperate attempt to save them from the Winter Solider. Beside him, Natasha finally got her hands on his gun and fired at the Solider as he approached them, but it didn't stop him. 
Steve quickly got out of the car and Sam and Natasha followed after him, scrambling as Red and Levi finally joined them. It was only then that Sam realized that Red had blood pouring down her face as she awkwardly held her arm against his chest, she couldn't keep going on like this, and he wouldn't have time to attend to her wounds until after this fight... unless they died. 
"I'll get you a new car!" Red yelled as she spun her staff in her hand. 
Sam almost chuckled, but could only manage an amused scoff. "Now is not the time!" He took hold of Levi's hand and the two of them took off running in one direction while Red, Steve and Natasha went in to two other directions. 
Sam decided that he had to keep Levi safe while Steve and Red were dealing with these HYDRA people. 
+++
As the five of them split up from each other, the Winter Solider is joined by a mix of HYDRA and STRIKE agents, all of them still shooting at the group as they run away. The Winter Soldier turned to speak to his agents as he gave a sigh of annoyance and watched Natasha run. "She's mine. I'll take care of her, find the others." 
The group of agents split up, one going after Red and Steve, whole the other went for Sam and Levi. Meanwhile, Natasha was ducking and weaving between cars as she got shot at. Both Steve and Red stopped running to look for their friends, both of them calming down only slightly when they were spotted. 
"Go!" Sam yelled as he and Red met eyes. "We got this!" 
Beside him, Levinia was floating up and into the air as lightning gathered in her hands. "We'll be okay!" 
As Steve and Red turned to continue their retreat, they got surrounded and they knew that they had to fight their way out of this in order to stop Project Insight from launching.
+++
Natasha hid behind a car, listening to her own recorded voice while she waited for the Winter Solider to come and find her. As glad as she was that she had a shot to kill him after all these years, she hated that the odds were against her. If she engaged now, she would die. 
"I make an LZ, twenty-three hundred block of Virginia Avenue. Rendezvous two minutes. Taking fire, above and below expressway. Civilians threatened. Repeat, civilians threatened." 
Natasha closed her eyes as she heard him roll a bomb under a car, she felt her heart stop for a moment, fearing that he guessed the car she was hiding behind. When the car she left the recorder under blew up, she let out a breath and waited a moment to let his mistake sink in before she ran out of her hiding spot, jumped and landed on his shoulders. She got a few good hits in as she wrapped her legs around his neck and started to try and bring her body back to flip him over, when he took hold of her and threw her off of him and on the ground. 
Natasha got to her feet and started to fun down the street. "Get out of the way! Stay out of the way!" She yelled as she ran before she was shot in the shoulder. Turning around, she saw that he was catching up to her. 
This was where she was going to die. 
+++
Red and Steve were running to save Natasha, and thankfully Red's armor had finished fully covering her body and he had his shield in his hand. He quickly threw it at the Winter Soldier while Red sent two streams of fire at him. 
The Soldier turned around and caught the shield, then threw it back at them. Steve covered Red as it flew over their heads and into the van behind them. Above them, Levi flew down and got the shield out of the van as Red summoned her staff to her hand, her face still plastered in now drying blood. 
Steve and Red looked at each other and she gave him a small nod before they both burst into action. He gave Red a boost and as she kicked him in the chest, Steve kicked at his legs and blocked an attack from him. 
But as he was blocking another punch, the world around them seemed to slow down as Red spun around and hit him in the face with her staff, knocking his mask off. They both froze as they looked into the face of the Winter Soldier. 
He hadn't aged a day, he looked the same as he had when he fell off of the train. This was the face of his life long friend, Bucky. 
"Bucky?" 
+++
Red felt the blood drain from her face as her heart dropped to her stomach. His face... she'd dreamt of his face nearly every night for seventy years, and it suddenly dawned on her why she had felt warm and at home when she looked into his eyes. 
"Oh my God..." She whispered. "James." 
James is here, her heart sang as it ached. James is alive and he's here. And he's going to kill me if I don't move. But she was locked in place as she stared up and into her world. 
He clearly had no idea who either of them were, it was clear as he looked back at them. It was something she didn't even know she feared until that very moment. "Who the Hell is Bucky?" 
Red couldn't move as he took aim at them, and was barely aware of Sam and Levi flying down to give them give back up. She had a flood of memories, of her sitting in a run warehouse, surrounded by equipment as she looked through a window and at him as he screamed and yelled at her. Bucky had been there when she was kidnapped and tortured, fighting desperately to get to her. 
And even as he disappeared into the smoke, she stood there with tears streaming down her blood stained cheeks. When she had pictured seeing him again, she thought it would be when she died and got to meet him at the bridge between this life and the next. It was never supposed to be like this. Not like this. 
Levi and Sam landed next to them as the small group were surrounded by mixed HYDRA and STRIKE agents, with Rumlow at their lead. Drop the shield, Cap!" When did Steve get his shield back? "And the staff, North!" He then pointed the gun at Levi and Sam. "Get down!" Steve dropped his shield and raised his hands as Red unsummoned her staff and raised her hands and fell to her knees. Red glanced to her right and saw that they already got Natasha. 
"Get on your knees! Down!" Rumlow yelled as he kicked at Sam and Levi the backs of their knees. 
Red turned her head to look at her daughter as the surrounding agents took aim at their heads. She managed to mutter an 'I love you', smiling as Levi nodded and whispered it back as she gave Red a sad and scared smile. 
As they're cuffed, Red heard a chopper fly over them. Rumlow looked at them and up at the chopper that was flying over them. "Put the gun down. Not here." He said. "Not here!" 
They hauled the five of them to their feet and shoved them into an armored van. Red leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, if they weren't getting killed in the street, they were going to be killed somewhere worse.