Winter

Chapter 9

Raptor winced as she was pushed forward and collapsed in the white sand of the beautiful beach. A moment later Bucky fell beside her and she saw the sand beneath them stain red with blood. From behind them came growling along with the sharp jab of a boot as Red Skull strode past them.

"Get back on your feet!" He snarled down at them.

Raptor scrambled to her feet before lunging at him, quickly being taken down by one of the Mutts claws her to the ground. She gave a cry of pain as her remaining metal spike was ripped out of her neck, fresh blood spouted out of her neck and spots went across her vision. Then the weight was gone and more scuffling sand alerted her to Bucky pulling the struggling Utahraptor Mutt away from her.

"I only need one of you to make the trade, if either of you want to have a chance then I would not do anything like that again." Skull told them as the Mutts stopped their attacks to stand by their master's side.

Raptor lifted her head and growled at him before closing her eyes and letting her head hit the sand again. She wanted to get up, she knew she had to get up, but she couldn't. The pain from all her previous wounds and now these were killing her, more so as she felt two people force her back to her feet.

"Raptor, Steve will be there, he'll help you just hang in there." Bucky encouraged her as Loki let him take most of her weight.

Raptor would've laughed if she'd been strong enough to change to her human form. Skull said one was needed... Steve will choose Bucky.

"You don't know that." Her human voice sounded tired, like a whisper. "He must have a plan."

Unlikely.

Hope was gone. It had been gone long before now, but now that she wasn't going to make it out of this deal the hopelessness became prominent. She continued to trudge through the sand, her scaly head low and her amber eyes missing their spark. Several sand dunes later Skull finally came to a stop and motioned for Loki and Mordo to stay back while the Mutts surrounded Raptor and Bucky. She ignored them as they snapped and gazed hungrily at the blood dripping down her neck, nothing she did would help the situation.

"Skull!" Captain America's voice made her gaze stare away from the Mutts. "I'm here now hold up your end of the deal and give them back!"

"Always the noble hero." Red Skull sneered. "But you can't have both. Which prisoner will you save?"

Raptor could see his gaze move away from her as if she weren't even there before landing on Bucky. Just as she expected Captain America stepped forward and passed by Bucky.

"The jet is waiting just around the corner, go there and the others will take you to the base for medical treatment."

Bucky sent Raptor an uncertain look but she looked away from him, when she finally looked back he was almost around the corner. Captain America was placed in cuffs and the information chip taken from him, once he was taken care of the attention turned to Raptor once more.

"Kill the extra." Skull ordered.

Raptor went to the ground faster than she thought possible as the Mutts used their inhuman speed to tear into her flesh and crack her bones. She withered under them and screeched in pain until she grew too weary to cry out. They still didn't stop until a blast from above shot one Mutt away and a blue blur distracted the second.

The Avengers came back? Raptor didn't bother to move her head as she lay helplessly on the ground bleeding out. Probably for their leader...

"Raptor!" She winced as Quicksilver ran a hand gently over the wounds. "Hang on, we'll get you back to base. You're going to live."

She closed her eyes in response and let out a breath. "That would be a miracle."

Something that doesn't happen to us, we're going to die anyway, don't give him anymore hope.

"On your right!" Scarlet Witch shouted to her brother and Raptor opened her eyes long enough to see a Mutt slam Quicksilver to the ground.

She craned her neck as she heard him scream in pain and saw the Mutt standing over him as he cradled his arm to his chest. Raptor gave a challenging hiss to grab the Mutt's attention before rolling to her feet and limping close to the ground. The Mutt turned and quickly clawed her head and neck, though it did lose Quicksilver by the time it turned back around.

Raptor looked around and found the other heroes were busy fighting the other villains, which meant she was now stuck with this Mutt as it closed back in on her. She knew she wouldn't last long in this fight even when Quicksilver came back to her side with disbelief and worry in his gaze.

"Stay out of this, get to the jet." He told her.

She growled in response before flinching back as the Mutt snapped its jaws at her. The attacks kept coming and when she saw Quicksilver defending her the Mutt slashed up his abdomen. Raptor gave a shriek of anger before biting at the soft flesh on the Mutt's throat, she was quickly shaken off and a long claw sank into her chest. Pain flared in her and she thrashed around until her own nine inch claws cut open jagged wounds in the Mutt's body, spilling blood onto her and the disturbed sand. The Mutt gave an agonized cry before backing off and falling to the ground with guts sliding out of its body and onto the beach, from nearby its brother screeched in a depressing goodbye.

"Pietro..." She looked at the man on the ground and shakily got to her feet, nearly falling back down as she limped forward.

Raptor lowered her head and nuzzled him as he tried to press against the bleeding in his stomach, the scent of the blood made her stomach rumble but she refrained from taking action on her hunger. Instead she bit the back of his shirt and started dragging him in the direction Bucky had gone. Half way there she dropped back to the ground and curled around Pietro in case another enemy came for them, a moment later she felt the pain lull her into darkness.

The feeling of someone shaking her roughly forced her to come back to consciousness to see Pietro's hand drop as he got to his feet. "Raptor, get up, we need to keep going."

She hesitated before trying to follow... this time her legs collapsed under her weight and she gave a grumble of pain as she tried again. A fresh wave of pain washed over her as the stability between her forms cracked just a bit more, brining her back down to her side.

"Raptor?" Pietro was at her side again. "No... please, I just got you back."

"Maximoff, let's go!" Tony's voice came from overhead. "Rogers says we need to go."

"Raptor, come on!" His voice was more urgent now. "We can get help!"

Her vision blurred a moment as she forced her legs to hold her weight just a bit more. Together they helped each other towards the jet, Vision and Wanda helping between fighting off remaining attacks. As soon as they reached the jet she collapsed to the floor where the darkness reclaimed her.