III: The Girl Who Ran: Dirty Hands and Dark Hearts

XXXVIII: Midnight Oil

Sunny/Tatiana - 11:30 p.m.

"Get away from her," Stark's voice was calm, but Tatiana caught the tremor at the end. At least he actually cared about her.

Tatiana put on her cocky assassin face and smirked, adjusting the glass in her hand. Hopefully it wouldn't hurt the red-head as much. She let the real accent come through, "I would, but she is much too valuable as leverage." Her heart ached even as she said the words. People weren't leverage.

"What do you want?" Stark said, abviously trying to find a way to win.

"Only one thing. Midnight Oil," she said. Stark would bend.

Stark blanched slightly, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Tatiana sighed, adjusting the glass again. She watched Stark's eyes narrow, "In 1944, Stark Industries manufactured ten canisters of Midnight Oil. Four were stolen and used in the battle of Finnow in '45. One was taken and used in a Manhattan theatre in '47. Two more disappeared in the seventies. That leaves three. And I know Howard was much too selfish to destroy them. I want all three."

"What are you going to use them for?" Stark asked.

She was losing time. "I was not going to kill darling little..." she looked down at the red-head, "what was your name?"

The woman looked up at her with diamond hard eyes, "Pepper." Tatiana respected her grit.

"Pepper, but I may do so. I do not have to. You could cooperate and I will leave you with Miss Pepper here," Tatiana peered behind him at another man. She struggled to keep her grip on the glass.

"Come on, Sunny, you don't have to do this," Steven said gently.

Stark whirled around, "Cap? How the h***--."

"Not right now, Tony," Steven dismissed Stark.

Tatiana's time was up. She glanced at the fire below. Her skin registered the heat, even from meters away. "Fine. I will have to get it myself." She dropped the broken bottle and hit Pepper hard with the palm of her hand. The woman slumped to the floor.

"You b****! Pepper!" Stark exclaimed.

"Sunny!" Steven ran forward, but she was faster.

Tatiana bolted to the edge of the catwalk and jumped.

Bucky - 11:35 p.m.

A demon came flying through the wall of fire.

"What the h***!" Bucky raised his gun and fired at the shadow. It flew toward him and he toppled to the ground.

Sunny's knee pressed against his throat.

"Sunny," he choked out. He grabbed her arm with his metal hand and threw her off. Her dress was on fire and her feet were bare.

"Yes?" Tatiana answered. She looked around them, her eyes wide.

Bucky stumbled to his feet, but froze when he registered her answer. "What are you doing?"

She limped up to him, her eyes glistening in the firelight. Bucky stumbled back, holding his hands out to stop her. This had to be a trick. He tried to voice his thoughts, "No. No. You've been working with them all along?"

Sunny frowned, her delicate eyebrows furrowing, "No. No, I have not. I can not-- I do not-- you know I can not fight it. I am trying, but I can not."

It took all of his self control not to back up further when she stepped closer. She threw her arms around him, burying her face in his shirt. He froze for a moment before resting his hands on her back. He saw the outline of her spine and her shoulder blades above her dress. He felt her vertebrae through the fabric and counted them.

"Moi izvineniya."

Bucky released her, "What?"

Sunny grabbed his hands, "Tell them I have a plan. Sputnik."

He fell into the dark.

Steve - 11:42 p.m.

He coughed. Smoke would fill the room entirely soon. The alarms were blaring and he couldn't see anything through the smoke.

Nat shrieked, to the left of him. Steve stumbled in that direction, "Nat! NAT!" His throat stung. He squinted through the tears collecting in the corners of his eyes.

Steve heard someone roar a sentence over the alarms and the shouting, "You can not defeat me, fools!"

Glass shattered somewhere in front of him. The relief was immediate. Cold, clean air filtered out the smoke.

"D*** it, Becky! You know how long that's going to take to fix?!" Sam yelled.

Steve could see the outline of a shape in front of him. "Sam?"

"Over here, Steve!" The figure started waving his arms.

"Where's Nat?" Steve choked out when he reached Sam. The man seemed to be fine, besides a scratch on his shoulder.

"I don't know," Sam pointed to the stairs, "but Sunny was up there a minute ago."

"Why are you guys just standing here?"

Steve spun around, "Nat! Are you okay?"

"Of course," Nat's face said something different. Her skin was pale and both corners of her lips pinched them in a straight line. "Widow's Bites didn't do anything to her."

"She threw RedWing out of the window," Sam said sadly.

"I think she's going toward the elevator. Do you think Tony has that stuff in the Tower?" Nat asked.

"Where's Bucky?" Steve asked.

Nat's gaze swept through the still-thick smoke, "I haven't seen him. We've got to find Sunny."

"You two go find her, and I'll come find you in a couple minutes," Sam offered.

Steve nodded. After Sam disappeared into the smoke, he turned to Nat, "I'll go upstairs and you can--."

A shrill, angry scream punched through the air. Sunny.