Flicker ✦ STEVE ROGERS¹ [✓]

26 | THE END OF THE LINE

"HEY, SAM?" STEVE SHOUTED AS HE RAN ACROSS THE LANDING STRIP, OUTRUNNING ENEMY FIRE. "I'm gonna need a ride!"

"Roger," Sam replied. "Let me know when you're ready."

Steve leapt off the carrier just as a HYDRA soldier fired a rocket, the explosion going off where he had just been only moments before. Then, he began free falling, plummeting towards the ground as he yelled, "I just did!"

Steve kept falling, spinning through the air. But Sam then arrived, grabbing his arm and hauling him into the air as he groaned from the effort. They sailed upwards before he dropped Steve off on the landing strip of the last carrier, then landed beside him and folded his wings into his jetpack.

"You know, you're a lot heavier than you look," Sam told Steve with a huff as they walked.

Steve shrugged. "I had a big breakfast."

"Guys!" a voice shouted.

Steve turned around, seeing it was Kato. She was running towards them with a frantic look in her eyes.

"Guys, he's here!" she yelled. "The Winter Soldier is her-"

She never got to finish her sentence, for out of nowhere, Bucky appeared, grabbing her by the neck and flinging her away. Kato landed hard, rolling several feet away before lying still, and Steve barely had time to react before Bucky slammed his shoulder into him, sending him over the side of the helicarrier.

Steve tumbled through the air before landing on the back thrusters. His fingers scraped along the side as he struggled to find something to hold onto, trying to halt his descent. Then, finally, they grabbed the corner of the thrusters, and Steve hung there by one arm, dangling over the edge as the carrier lifted higher into the air.

"Cap!" Sam asked worriedly. "Cap, come in. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm here!" Steve said, pulling himself into a groove on the side of the Helicarrier. "I'm still on the Helicarrier." He began climbing up two more of them to reach the targeting station, then asked, "Where are you?"

"I'm grounded, the suit's down," Sam replied with a sigh. "Sorry, Cap."

Steve shook his head, heading towards the station. "Don't worry. I got it."

Steve climbed the grooves and hauled himself on top of the thrusters, running towards the targeting station straight ahead of him as he pulled the chip from a pouch in his belt as he ran. He was running out of time, so he had to be quick. Then, he ran through the entrance and climbed the ladder to the catwalk - only to stop halfway across the pathway.

Steve was now face to face with Bucky.

This wasn't the man Steve had grown up with. This wasn't the man he had fought beside. HYDRA had stripped him of his old life, trying to rid him of the man he had once been. But Steve knew he was in there. He knew the old Bucky was still there. The look he had given Steve back in the city had proved it to him. And he was determined to get him back.

"People are gonna die, Buck," Steve said to him. "I can't let that happen."

Bucky simply stared at him, his face void of all emotion.

"Please don't make me do this," Steve pleaded.

However, Bucky continued to stare at him, unmoving and unwavering. So Steve scowled. And with that, the fight began.