Recovery || Bucky Barnes

06 | Nine

Девять

"where there is anger, there is always pain underneath." – Eckhart Tolle

★★★

The roar of her bike was being drowned out by the wind in her ears. She weaved between the oncoming traffic, trucks blaring their horns as she raced past. Her earpiece was connected to the police radio, they had sighted Steve and Natasha on the highway fighting a group of men, one had a metal arm. She knew that description well enough to remember that he had killed Fury. He was their assassin.

Tess had to find him.

She watched as a gunman on a car was rapidly shooting using heavy artillery. The gunfire was increasing in volume as she lifted her legs onto the seat of the bike. She put her hands by her side, lighting her hands with fire to thrust her up on to the highway where the HYDRA agents were stationed. They didn't fire at her and she realised that they had expected her to turn up. Only, they didn't know that she wasn't going to be fighting on their side.

Sam was attacking another agent trying to make his way down to join the fight against Steve. She ran towards another who had just dropped and grabbed the wire pulling it roughly back and wrapped it around his neck twice. She slid over the car and ran towards another man, drop kicking him as she twisted back to land on her front.

Tess looked up and saw Sam aiming the gun he had taken at her. He didn't recognise her at all through the mask and the hood. She held her arms up and slowly reached towards her leg holster.

"Down!"

Sam ducked as she shot the man behind him. She ran towards the edge and side vaulted back to the ground. The impact of her feet hitting the concrete thundered through her legs, though it didn't hurt as much as she had expected. She could see Steve watching her as her arms grabbed her bike and revved the engine. She caught his eyes, his brows furrowed in a mix of confusion and anger as she rode past. She couldn't let HYDRA kill him, she wouldn't allow it. Mostly, so that she could feel no more guilt than she already had from her actions that had led to this event. And because she couldn't allow herself to become the very thing that HYDRA had trained her to be – their puppet. Her mind was tuned into the earpiece as she realised the police units had been dispatched. Which meant more guns, and more pain in the ass for her. How was she going to get out of this one? She let a string of curses, pulling away from the area and towards the sounds of screams.

Glint of silver caught her eye and she felt her adrenaline spike. Everything around her seem to slow down, her ears cutting out all the sounds as she braked hard to the left. Her leg supported the bike as she breathed heavily, her eyes desperately grasping every detail. This was the man that had killed them.

Anger was etched on the visible top half of his face and his eyes emanated rage. The metal appendage was marked with a familiar red star. Where had she seen that before? There was something mesmerising about him as she stared at him curiously. A sharp feeling tugging in her chest as she watched him. His gait was heavier on the left as he walked, reloading the grenade launcher he had at hand with a loud click.

She started up her bike and heard the tires screech as she turned it around so her back was towards him. She narrowly dodged the police car he fired with the grenade launcher, looking back to see it collide into a line of parked cars. It only took a flick of her wrist to smother the flames into a flurry of black smoke. Tess could hear him loading up another round and she realised she would have to abandon her bike with the number of cars piling up and people running and screaming.

"Move!"

She shot a few rounds into the air as she vaulted over cars. The civilians dispersed instantly at the sound, afraid that they would get caught in the crossfire. An empty car was heading her way, she stepped onto the bonnet and flipped over until she was back on her feet facing the trunk. She threw her hands forward, using the flames to propel the car towards him. In the small amount of time she had bought herself, she circled back around.