Winter's Fire. ~Book Three~

Chapter Fifteen: The Fall of SHYDRA.

Pierce had met the World Security Council as they landed on the launch pad with a smile. "And how was your fight?"
Hawley stepped out of the helicopter with a tight smile. "Lovely. The ride from the airport? Less so."
Pierce forced a gentle smile. "Sadly, SHIELD can't control everything."
"Including Captain America." Rockwell said as the group walked together.
Yen spoke up next. "And Agent North." He sighed. "The two of them have caused a lot of ruckus the last two days, haven't they?"
He led them all to the guard, who was holding a case of pins for the Councilmen. "This facility is biometrically controlled, and these," he explained as the Council Members took their pins. "Will give you unrestricted access."
Once the members were inside and settled in, Pierce poured them glasses of champagne and slowly passed them around as he spoke. "I know the road hasn't exactly been smooth, and some of you would have gladly kicked me out of the car along the way." He chuckled as he turned to look at them. "Finally, we're here and the world should be grateful."
It was all going according to plan, he thought, soon the Insight Helicarriers would be up in the air and he would have won. But his would be victory was dashed when the SHIELD PA systems opened and Steve started to speak.
"Attention all SHIELD Agents," He said. "This is Captain Steve Rogers, with me are Agents Red North and Leivina Lokidottier, you've heard a lot about us the last few days, some of you were even ordered to hunt us down, but I think it's time that you all know the truth." He cleared his throat before continuing. "SHIELD is not what we thought it was, it's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader, the STRIKE Team and Insight Crew are HYDRA as well, we don't know how many more, but we know they're in the building. They would be standing right next to you, and they almost have what they want: Absolute Control." He paused for a few seconds before he continued. "They shot and killed Nick Fury and it won't end there. If you launch those helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way, unless we stop them. We know we're asking a lot, but the price of freedom is high, it always has been, and it's a price we're willing to pay... and if we're the only ones, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet that we're not."
The room fell into a stunned silence as they took in what Steve had to say before Rockwell finally found his voice. "You smug son of a bitch."
Singh whirled as two agents in the room, obviously thinking that they were SHIELD and not HYDRA. "Arrest him."
Pierce sighed, still looking rather smug even though he had just been outed. "I guess I have the floor." 
+++
"They're initiating the launch." Hill told them over their comes as Levi, Red, Steve and Sam walked down a runway. As they got ready to go to their separate directions, she gave Steve's hand one last squeeze before she let go.
"Hey, guys," Sam asked he popped his wings. "How do we know the good guys from the bad guys?" 
"If they're shooting at you, they're bad." Steve said, making a half-hearted attempt at making a joke. 
Red, on the other hand, flashed Sam a grin. "Usually, at least in my experience, the good guys don't try to kill you." 
Levi blinked as she looked between Red and Steve with one of her eyebrows raised. Very seriously, she said. "Where I'm from, the bad guys and the good guys fire at you."
"Apparently, Levi is from some sort of bizarro world." Red said seconds before she flew off with Steve. 
Levinia rolled her eyes as she quickly followed after Sam. The moment they got into open air, the HYDRA agents below them started firing at them, she closed her eyes and winced as the bullets hit her and bounced off of her armor. 
"Hey, Cap!" Sam yelled as they turned a corner. "We found those bad guys you and Red were talking about!" 
"You guys okay?" 
"We're not dead yet!" 
Levi let out a sigh of relief as they approached the first of the helicarriers. "We'll get this over with soon." 
+++
Up in the council room, Pierce watched chaos unfold from the safety of the office. Disguised as Hawley, Natasha fought off a smirk, she knew that this wouldn't be a safe place for much longer. 
Finally, Pierce turned to look at Singh. "Let me ask you a question." That was already a fantastic start to another one of his horrible and signature speeches. "What if Pakistan marched into Mumbai tomorrow, and you knew that they were gonna drag your daughter into a soccer stadium for execution?" He poured Singh another glass of champagne and passed it over. "And you could stop it with a flick of a switch, would you?" He turned to look at the rest of them. "Wouldn't you all?" 
Singh slowly shook his head. "Not if it was your switch." He tossed the glass to the side and, as it shattered on the ground, one of the surrounding agents handed Pierce a gun. As he pointed it at Singh, Natasha decided that it was that moment to jump into action. 
She pushed Singh out of the way before she quickly, and seamlessly, took the HYDRA in the room out before she leaned down to pick up the gun that Pierce had dropped. As Natasha stood up straight and pointed the pistol at him, she removed her disguise. 
"I'm sorry." Natasha said as she tilted her head. "Did I step on your moment?" 
+++
Hill had been closely monitoring every screen and communication channel, trying to figure out where, and how, she can get her team done with their job as soon as possible when she heard one of the weapon's techs say. "Satellites in range at three hundred feet." 
Feeling her heart lurch painfully in her chest, she got on the coms with them. "Falcon, Levinia, status?" 
"Engaging." Sam said. 
After a few seconds of silence, Levinia finally spoke up, struggling for air as she spoke. "Falcon and I are about to engage the first helicarrier." 
Hill sat up straighter in her seat as she kept a hand on her gun. So far, so good, they were getting this done faster than she thought they would.
+++
Sam and Levi flew down and around the helicarrier when a HYDRA fighter jet had flown down and met them, it had fired at them but Levi was thankfully smarter than whoever was flying it as she threw a bolt of lightning at it, sending it tumbling to the ground. 
He could see why she was useful to the Avengers, she was clearly gifted with Thor's lightning, Loki's ability with illusions, and Red's flight. And for that, he was thankful as they landed and her hands glowed as she started to hide them with her magic so that he could put the chip into the motherboard. 
"Alright, Cap, we're in." He told Steve as they walked, they were nearly covered when another jet suddenly appeared, and they had to fly off again. "Shit!" Sam yelled. 
"Fuck." Levi said as she caught up to him. 
Red's voice, clearly panic stricken as it came over the coms, said. "What's wrong? What happened?" 
Behind them, Levi looked over her shoulder at the jet lurking behind them. "We have HYDRA on our tail." 
"Be careful." Steve said next, sounding just as worried, if not a bit more than, Red. Not that Sam blamed him, Levi was his girl after all.
"We're on it." Levi said. 
He glanced at her as they now flew side by side, both of them turning this way and that to avoid getting shot out of the sky. 
+++
As he and Red fought off HYDRA agents on their way to the motherboard at the end of the ramp of the second helicarrier, Steve saw Sam and Levi passed them as they got shot at, and he silently prayed that they wouldn't get killed by that thing. 
"Red!" Hill yelled, swiftly cutting through his thoughts of Levi possibly getting shot down. "Cap, either minutes." 
"We're working on it." Steve said with a grunt as he caught his shield. 
Red gasped faintly with pain as she punched one of them in the face with her broken arm. "They're giving us a bit of a run for our money." 
Hill sighed at them. "Then run harder, guys. We're running low on time." 
Steve really shouldn't have let Red fight with her broken arm. He lifted his shield as she flew at him and bounced off the shield, using it as leverage as she jumped and soared over them with two jets of fire coming out of her hands. As they scrambled to douse the flames, Red summoned the staff to her hand and, after concentrating very hard, used it to send one last and powerful blast of fire and reduced them to ash. 
Maybe he had made the right choice in letting her come along after all. 
+++
Natasha was furiously typing on the Council room's computer as she hacked into any, if not all, of the file SHIELD and, in turn, HYDRA had. 
Rockwell gave her as stern of a look as he could, and it would have worked if he didn't look so nervous. "What are you doing?" 
When she stayed silent, Pierce took it upon himself to look over her shoulder. "She's disabling security protocols and dumping all the secrets onto the internet." 
She paused for only a moment to give him a smirk. "Including HYDRA's." 
"And SHIELD's. If you do this, none of your past is going to remain hidden." Pierce said, trying, and failing, to hide the fact that he was worried. When he saw that she wouldn't be stopping in her quest to hack the files, he asked her a question that he seemed to think would make her stop. "Are you sure you're ready for the world to see you as you really are?" 
Natasha finally raised her head to look up at him with an eyebrow raised. "Are you?" 
+++
Red and Steve had finally gotten to Control Center Apha with the helicarrier now empty save for the ash that was raining down around them.
"Alpha locked." Steve said as the chip clicked into place.
Red held her arm against her chest as they left the helicarrier. "We're heading toward the last one now."
Hill let out a small breath of relief before she turned her attention back to Sam and Levinia. "Falcon, Levi, where are you guys now?"
"We uhh... we had to take a detour!"
"It was a very much needed one." Levinia yelled next.
At least-at the very least-the whole team was still alive.
With Sam and Levinia flying this way and that, trying not to get shot at, heat seeking missiles were sent their way. They looked at each other and nodded before splitting up and making them hit each other. Once the missiles had exploded behind them, they met back up in front of their helicarrier.
"Fuck yeah!" Levinia yelled as they landed on the deck and made their way to the control center. "Hill, we're in." She handed the chip to Sam, who took it and locked it in.
After exchanging a grin, they fist dumped and flew back off and into the air. "Bravo locked." Sam said as they flew toward Red and Steve. "Two down, one to go." Hill muttered. They were so close to being done, but it seemed as if it was so far from being complete.
+++
"Disabling the encryption is an executive order, it takes two alpha level members." Pierce said as Natasha kept trying, and failing, to hack into the rest of the files. 
She didn't even give him the satisfaction of seeing her raise her head to look at him. "Don't worry," she said in a bored tone. "Company's coming." 
And just as she got the last word out, Fury's helicopter landed outside and walking out of it was Nick Fury, and she found herself wishing that she could've taken a picture of Pierce's shocked face. 
"Did you get my flowers?" Pierce asked, but the only answer he got from Fury was a cold and dangerous glare. "I'm glad you're here, Nick." 
"Really? 'Cause I thought you had me killed." Fury said, trying not to look as pissed off as he must have felt. 
Pierce chuckled as he gave a half-hearted shrug. "You know how the game works." 
+++
Fury slowly walked across the room to stand beside Natasha, completely ignoring the stares of the Councilmen. Sure, it wasn't every day that the dead came back to life, but it was even less likely that the man who was ordered to be killed came back. 
"So," he said as he kept his eye on Pierce. "Why make me the head of SHIELD?" 
"'Cause you were the best and most ruthless person I ever met." 
"I did what I had to do to protect people." 
"Our enemies are your enemies, Nick." Pierce said in a bored tone. "Disorder, war... its just a matter of time before a dirty bomb goes off in Moscow, or an EMP fries Chicago. Diplomacy? Holding action, a band-aid, and you know where I learned that?" He asked as he took a step toward Fury. "Bogota; You didn't asked, you just did what had to be done. I can bring order to the lives of seven billion people by sacrificing twenty million." Pierce was trying so hard, too hard even, to pound a point that Fury couldn't let happen, but it was enjoyable to watch him shoot himself in the foot." 
"It's the next step, Nick." He said with a small and confident smile. "You just have to have the courage to take it." 
"No," Fury said firmly. "I have the courage not to." He grabbed Pierce by the front of his jacket and dragged him to the retinal scanner as Natasha picked up a gun and pointed it at him. 
"You don't think we wiped your clearance from the system?" 
"I know you erased my password, probably deleted my retinal scan." As he spoke, he reached up to flick his eyepatch up. "But if you want to stay ahead of me, Mister Secretary, you need to keep both eyes open." 
Forcing Pierce to lean forward, their eyes were scanned and there were a few seconds of dead and painful silence before the computer finally spoke to him. "Alpha level unlocked. Encryption code accepted. Safe guards of removed." 
And that was when Natasha finally started to dump everything onto the net. 
+++
Up in the command center, Hill paced around the room as she got onto the radio. "Charlie Carrier's forty-five degrees off the port bow." She picked up her gun and aimed it at the door as two HYDRA agents broke in, but they never had the chance to touch her as she fired at, and killed, them. 
"Six minutes, guys." She said as she sat back down. 
+++
One more left, Red told herself as she and Steve ran toward the edge of the helicarrier. One more and this was all over and they can move on to whatever the next thing would be, but in the back of her mind, she knew that soon, they would meet Bucky again.
Red and Steve ran as fast and as hard as their bodies would allow them as they got shot at by a HYDRA agent that was chasing them. As they got closer and closer to the edge, she looked over at him. "I can't carry you with one good arm, Steve!" 
"I know!" He yelled back before he looked up at the sky. "Hey, Sam! I'm gonna need a ride!" 
"Roger! Tell me when you're ready!" 
They just barely managed to jump off the edge of the helicarrier as the agent behind them fired a missile at them and it blew up at the spot they had been only seconds before. While Red flew up and toward the last carrier, Steve plummeted toward the ground. 
"I just did!" He yelled as he fell. 
And then, with Levi flying beside him, Sam caught Steve and the three of them met Red on the deck of the last carrier. "You know, you're a lot heavier than you look." Sam said with a stressed chuckle as he and Levi got ready to take off again.
"I had a big breakfast." Steve said as the group turned around. 
A few feet away from them, just as Red had felt and predicted, Bucky was standing there, waiting for them, causing her heart to ache painfully in her chest. Before any of them could react, Bucky shoved Steve off of the edge. "Steve!" Both she and Levi screamed as the three of them ran to get him. 
Bucky took hold of Sam's wings and threw him back, Levi and Red both threw out their hands and threw a jet of fire laced lightning at him, but he acted as if it didn't even hurt him. Sam flew back into the scene and tried to fire at him, but Bucky had drawn a knife and cut off one of the wings on Sam's suit before throwing him off the edge. 
Red reached up to wipe blood from her nose as it started to trickle. "Levi! Get Sam, I've got this handled." Levi nodded and flew away, thankfully going after Sam without any argument. 
With a shake of her hand, her staff appeared back in her grasp. "James," she said as she looked at him. "I know you're in there." She held her staff at the ready as her fire moved within the cracks in the wood. "Bucky! Please." 
"I'm not Bucky." He said in a flat and dead tone. 
Red shook her head as she walked forward to meet him head on on their battlefield. "You promised me that you'll always come home." She let out a yelp of pain as he took hold of her broken arm. "You promised me!" 
"I promised you nothing." He said as he threw her aside and she flew up before she even touched the ground, fire gathered around her hands and staff as she got ready for the worst fight of her life. 
+++
The moment Levinia had caught up to Sam, he pulled a string on his suit and a parachute flew out and carried him to safety as they both landed on the roof of the SHIELD building. "Cap? Cap, come in. Are you okay?" Sam asked. 
Levi put her hands on her knees as she waited with bated breath to say something, anything that would tell her he was still alive. "Steve, I swear to fucking God-" she broke herself off as she closed her eyes and fought with herself to not think the worst. 
It felt like forever, even thought it had to only have been seconds, before they thankfully heard Steve's voice, however struggled it sounded, over the coms. "Yeah, I'm here! I'm on the helicarrier." He sounded like he was pulling himself back on the deck. "Where are you guys?" 
"Lev and I are grounded." Sam said as he looked around the roof. "The suit's down, I'm sorry, Cap." 
Levi cleared her throat as she spotted the roof access point and jogged toward it. "We're gonna help down here. Red's still up there with Bucky." 
"Don't worry, I've got it." Steve said as Sam followed behind her. 
As Sam helped her open the roof access, Levi looked up at the sky. "Be careful, the both of you." 
+++
Red and Bucky fought back and forth with Red being the only one trying to fight as non-lethally as possible. She grabbed hold of his arm as he aimed a punch toward her face and pilled him closer to her as she brought her knee up and into his stomach. 
From the corner of her eyes, she saw Steve climb up and make his way to the motherboard, and she tried her best to keep Bucky distracted, but even her attempts weren't good enough as Bucky spotted him too. 
She couldn't keep this up much longer. 
+++
Inside the building with agents and other personnel running this way and that to try and escape as soon as possible, Rumlow shot and killed as many as he could before a member of STRIKE team got on the coms with him. 
"Sir, Council's been breached." 
"Repeat dispatch." Rumlow said as he turned on his heel and up a stairway. 
"Black Window's up there!" 
"Headed up." As he started to run up to get to the Council room, Hill spotted him on one of the monitors.
"Falcon? Levi?" She said into her radio. Was it even working? 
"Yeah?" Sam asked. 
"What's up?" Levi said as the two of them made their way around another corner on the stairwell. 
"Rumlow's headed for the Council." 
"We're on it!" Sam yelled as they started running down the stairs, taking them two at a time. 
"I owed him a date anyway!" Levi sounded bitter at the thought. 
+++
"People are gonna die, Buck. We can't let that happen." Steve said as Red backed up to stand beside him. Bucky was following behind her, clearly ready for the next attack, and silently, Steve readied his shield and held it up. "Please don't make us do this." 
He glanced at Red, who looked nervous and ran down, but she nodded anyway, silently telling him that she was ready. he suddenly threw his shield, and as it flew through the air and at Bucky, Red opened her hand and a wave of fire left her hand and surrounded Bucky. 
The moment he walked out of it, Red dismissed it and their next fight started. They moved together with ease as his shield and her fire danced and bounced around them. She ducked to avoid getting hit in the face and hit Bucky in the stomach with her staff as Steve hit him in the face with his shield. 
In all the chaos, Bucky grabbed Red's broken arm and twisted it around her body, causing her to scream out in pain as he picked her up and threw her at Steve. 
He easily caught her and set her back on her feet. "You okay?" 
"Yeah, I'm fine." She muttered as she awkwardly held her arm against her chest. "Get that chip in, I can handle this." Red spun her staff in her hand, charging it with her flame as she looked ahead of them, down the ramp and at Bucky. 
Steve wasted no time as he climbed up to the chip holder, all while hearing Red struggle to keep Bucky busy behind him. As he got to his feet in front of the motherboard, he took the chip out of his belt and got ready to set it in place, when he heard footsteps running toward him and he's tackled, causing the chip to fall out of his hand and to the glass floor below them. 
Steve watched Red dive for it as he took his turn with Bucky. 
+++
Natasha almost smiled as she finished getting everything she could get her hands on uploaded to the internet. "Done." She said as she picked up her phone, smiling wider as it started to blow up with notifications. "Oh, and won't you look at that, it's trending." 
Suddenly, Pierce set something off and the pins on the other Council members' chests went off, burning holes into their chests and they fell, all clearly dead, to the ground. He smirked at them as she and Fury held up their guns and took aim at him. 
"Unless you want a two inch hole in your sternum, I'd put that gun down." Pierce said with a sigh as Natasha silently refused to back down. "That was armed the moment you pinned it on." 
Together, she and Fury reluctantly lowered their weapons, both of them seeming to know that they can't risk anything when they're this close to getting it done. 
+++
As Red dove down to get the chip, Bucky grabbed her ankle and threw her back down against the railing, she grunted as she felt something pop in her ribcage and knew, or at least suspected, that more of her ribs had broken. 
But she got back to her feet and flicked a piece of bloody hair out of her face as he stabbed Steve in the shoulder. As the helicarrier tilted, she let herself slide across the ground as she ducked low and kicked Bucky's legs out from under him before she slid the rest of the way and hit the glass belly of the carrier, with him following behind her. She needed to get to that damned chip. 
The moment her hand closed around the chip, Bucky landed behind her and grabbed her, picking her up and off the floor with her feet barely touching the ground as he held onto the front of her jacket. He punched her in the face and threw her back down at the ground, but her grip on the chip stayed true. 
A glass floor had never felt more comfortable her entire life, she saw her vision start to blur, but she blinked and shook it off as she got back to her feet and looked up at the catwalk above them. She had to get up there. 
As she was getting ready to fly up again, Bucky grabbed her broken arm and broke it again, this time at the elbow, and she screamed Steve's name louder than she had ever screamed it before in her entire life. The chip fell from her hand as she fell to the ground, her knees thudding painfully against the glass as she fell. 
Just then, Steve jumped down, grabbed Bucky around the throat and threw him down on the ground. He pinned his arm down and against the ground as she collected her thoughts. 
"Drop it! Drop it!" Steve yelled as he tried to get Bucky to let go of the chip. She didn't even realize that he picked up the chip in her moment of blinding pain. 
Red ducked down to try and pry it out of his grip with her good hand, but he tried to hit Steve and kicked her aside. As she slid across the floor, she heard Steve break Bucky's arm, but he still didn't let go of the chip. 
Red flew forward, she hooked her limp arm around his and kept trying to pull his fingers open. "Come on, Bucky! Give us that chip! Please!" 
Steve tightened his grip around Bucky's neck and as he started to pass out, he finally dropped it. Red picked it up and tossed it to Steve. "Hurry, we don't have much time!" Steve caught the chip as he got to his feet and ran to get to the center of the carrier. She held her arm against her chest as she stayed next to Bucky. 
Her head was swimming and her body was screaming for a break, but she fought off the exhaustion, knowing that she couldn't black out when they weren't close to being done yet. 
+++
They finally caught up to Rumlow on the stairwell corridor that was feet away from the Council's chambers. They heard him start to round the corner as he spoke into his earpiece. "I'm on forty one, headed toward the south-west stairwell." 
As he rounded the corner, she threw an arm out and hit him in the throat with her forearm, and she grinned as he fell down a few of the stairs before both regaining his footing and his breath. "Sorry, dear," Levi said as she and Sam stepped around the corner and her lightning gathered around her hands and over her arms. "I know that this isn't the first date you wanted." 
"But it's the first date you're getting!" Sam yelled as their second fight started up. 
She and Sam ducked and moved together with the ease and practice that Steve and Red had as they punched and kicked at him, and they were slowly, but surely, getting the upper hand on him. It was only going so slow because Levi was saving the last bit of her energy in case they needed it for something bigger than Rumlow. 
Rumlow whipped out his favorite electrical rod and looked down at them as they were knocked over. "This is gonna hurt, there are no prisoners with HYDRA. Just order, and order only comes through pain. You guys ready for yours?" 
Levi made a noise of disgust as she and Sam looked at each other and got to their feet. "Man, shut the fuck up." Sam said. 
"I really couldn't have said it better myself." Levi said before they threw themselves at him. 
+++
"One minute, guys." Hill told them as Steve finally climbed up to the targeting system. Red started to relax as she realized that they were almost done, they were about to be home free... of course that was before she noticed Bucky was starting to wake up. 
She quickly threw all of her weight onto his arm as he drew a gun and pointed it at Steve, a shot still went off and hit Steve in the shoulder. He was still thankfully able to get to the targeting systems. "Thirty seconds." 
"Stand by." Steve said in reply. 
Red scrambled to get back to her feet as Bucky got to his and turned his back to her. "James!" She yelled, her voice cracking and horse from all the screaming she'd done. "You don't have to do this. Please look at me... listen to me." She slowly limped forward and set a hand on his shoulder. "It's me, it's Red... I'm your Little Fire, remember?" 
This, thankfully, caused him to pause and turn around to look at her. She could see the faint glint of recognition in his eyes, he knew it was her, and she hoped that this was enough time for Steve to get that damned chip in. 
"Charlie-" Steve said before Bucky suddenly turned around and shot Steve in the stomach. Red yelled as she gathered whatever energy she had left inside her as she slammed the end of her staff on the ground and surrounded herself and Bucky in a wall of fire. 
"Red-" Steve sounded worried. 
She kept her eyes on Bucky as wind and ash and fire blew around them. "I'll be fine." She said calmly as blood slowly started to trickle out of her nose and over her lips. "Get that chip in." 
+++
Hill watched with sickening horror as Project Insight, equipped with Zola's Algorithm started to launch. They targeted the White House, the Pentagon, Avengers Tower, and steven thought other people and places. 
Tears swam in her eyes as she listened to them start to fire, only it didn't go off. Steve's voice sounded over the intercom system. "Charlie locked." 
Red let out a relieved breath as she let the fire down and held a stitch forming in her side as blood continued its steady drip out of her nose. With her eyes suddenly going very wide, she looked up at the targeting system and at Steve. "We need to get out of here." 
"We're not done yet." He said as he climbed down to get back to Red and Bucky. Up in the command center, Hill got to work changing the targets to the three helicarriers. "Okay, guys, get out of there." 
"Fire now!" Steve yelled.
"But Steve-" Hill said, trying to argue against it. 
In the stairwell, Levinia felt her heart drop to her stomach. This can't be happening, not after she had just confessed her feelings for him, not after she just got Red back. She can't lose them so soon. "Guys, there's gotta be another way." 
Red's voice appeared next, and she sounded eerily calm compared to the situation at hand. "We'll be fine. Hill, fire now, that's an order." 
Reluctantly, Hill pressed the launch button and the helicarriers started to fire on each other. Inside the third helicarrier, Red and Steve looked at one another, keeping eye contact as the helicarriers took fire. 
+++
Fury and Natasha watched Pierce as he witnessed the helicarriers take each other out of the sky. "What a waste..." He whispered. 
"You still on the fence about their chances?" Natasha asked as she took a step closer to him, she was most likely trying to find a way to take him out. 
He grabbed her by the arm and spun them around as she gave Fury a look at said to keep him distracted for her. "Time to go, Councilwoman." Pierce said as he gestured to the door that led the way out to the landing where Fury's chopper rested. "This way, come on. You're gonna fly me out of here." 
"You know," Fury said as he watched them. "There was a time I would have taken bullet for you." 
Pierce paused at the doorway and turned both himself and Natasha around to face him. "You already did, you will again when it's useful." 
Suddenly, in Pierce's moment of distracted, Natasha activated a small disc that emitted an electrical charge through her body, giving Fury the chance to take two shots at Pierce and through the glass window behind him as Natasha fell to the ground. 
Fury rushed to Natasha's side as she laid on the floor, she seemed to be unconscious. "Romanoff." He said as he gently shook her shoulder. "Natasha! Natasha, come on." He started to tap her cheek. 
After a few seconds, her eyes fluttered open. "Ow." She muttered. "Those really do sting." 
Fury chuckled quietly as he helped her to her feet and looked over at Pierce, he was still slowly breathing as he bled out, his eyes on the helicarriers outside as they fired at each other and crashed into one another. "Hail HYDRA." He whispered before he died. 
As Fury and Natasha made their way to the helicopter, he kept his eyes on the helicarriers as they crashed into the dam below them, knowing that two of his best were still on one of the damned things. 
+++
As they fought, they left the stairwell and entered an abandoned office type room, and Levinia was barely able to duck out of the way as Rumlow swung the rod over her head. "You're out of your depth, kid." He growled at her. 
Levi, let her emotions take over. She let herself get angry for the first time during their fight as she slowly rose up and into the air. "I am not a child!" She yelled at she threw everything she had left at him. A loud and anger-filled scream left her body as a wave of lightning flew at him and knocked him back as a helicarrier crashed through the roof. Rumlow was caught in the destruction. 
She slumped against Sam as he took hold of her arm and they started running away as the floor, and the building itself, started to collapse. "Please tell us you got that chopper in the air!" 
"Sam, where are you and Levi?" Nat asked. 
"Forty-first floor, north-west corner!" He yelled back.
"We're on it. Stay where you are." 
Together, Sam and Levi looked over their shoulders, the building was still crumbling just inches away from their feet. "Not an option!" They yelled as they threw themselves out a window. As they fell, Sam took her into his arms to protect her from whatever they might crash into. Levi clenched her eyes closed as the helicopter appeared and managed to catch them. 
"Forty-first floor! Forty-first!" Sam yelled as Fury righted the damned thing. 
The moment Sam let her go, she rolled to her back and closed her eyes, but she still reached over to grasp his hand. It was like they both needed to reassure themselves that they were both alive and here on the floor of the chopper. 
"It's not like they put the numbers on the outside of the building." Fury called back to them. 
Finally, Sam helped her to her feet and they both looked out the window to watch the helicarriers as they continued to fall toward the ground. 
"Hill," Natasha said over the coms. "Where's Steve and Red? You got a location on them?" 
"They're still on the carrier." Hill said. 
Levi slowly turned to look at Sam. "This is going to end well, right?" 
"I hope so." 
Levi turned her gaze back to the destruction unfolding outside, waiting for one of them to say something or leave the helicarrier. 
+++
Red and Steve had been trying to get Bucky out from under a fallen beam as their helicarrier fell toward the lake. It took them a few tries, but they were finally able to dig him out and he was standing before them again." 
"You know us." Steve said. 
"No I don't!" Bucky yelled as he landed a blow to Steve's face. 
Red raised her hand. "James, you trust us. You always have." 
"I don't!" He repeated as he aimed another punch, this time at Red, but neither of them backed down. 
Beside her, Steve gave up the physical fight with a sag of his shoulders. He was clearly getting tired too. "Bucky, you've known us your whole life. Your name is James Buchanan Barnes." 
"Shut up!" 
Steve took off his helmet and let it fall with his shield out of the helicarrier and into the water below them. "I'm not gonna fight you... you're my friend." 
Red felt her head starting to swim again, and saw the blackness as it started to creep into the edges of her vision. She couldn't stop herself from falling to her knees and onto her side. Her body had finally given up on her. 
+++
Bucky pushed the man-Steve-to the ground and started to hit him wherever he could touch. His face, his neck, his chest. "You're my mission!" Bucky yelled as he kept hitting Steve across the face. "You are both my mission!" 
"Then finish it." Steve wheezed, causing Bucky to hesitate in delivering another blow. "'Cause we're with you, 'til the end of the line." 
As Bucky let Steve go and he fell through the glass, he turned his attention back to Red, who was struggling to stay awake. Her staff had disappeared, but he saw an odd looking ring on her finger, resting just below the one he had given her, and with another fragment of memory, he remembered that her staff turned into a ring when she wasn't using it. 
He quickly caught her before she could fall through the glass as well. "Red..." He whispered, worried as he brushed her blood stained hair out of her face. He knew her, he realized, he knew her. 
Still, she could barely keep her eyes open as she reached up to touch his cheek. Suddenly, he was being shown dozens of fragments of memories, of himself, Steve and Red walking down the street, laughing together. Of Bucky and Red dancing in a small living room, of them kissing, fighting together and for one another, of saying saying 'I love you' for the first time. Of how he loved the way she said his name. 
"I love you, James." Red managed to whisper before she finally passed out in his arms. 
He quickly gathered her into his arms and held her protectively against his chest as he jumped down and into the water. Bucky was able to find Steve easily and dragged them both to the shore of the lake. 
He knelt down beside Red and held his tags for a moment before he let them rest back against her chest. Bucky leaned up down and pressed one last kiss against her forehead and walked away.
He needed to fix himself before he could finally come home to her.