Bound By Purpose

I Saw the End of It All

As I put the car into park and my passengers disembark I bow my head low over the steering wheel as Steve finishes hi speech to the masses. "The price of freedom is high. It always has been. And it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not." As if departing a prayer I left my head as Steve's words echo through my head. I'd driven Nick and two trusted agents to an air strip that'd been off the grid for many years. Allies had supplied us with weapons, a helicopter an intel on the impending attack. This is where I am to leave them. I'm needed on the ground, to infiltrate the base if I can, but if everyone else should fail I would be the last resort. I am of course a dead woman of several decades, they'd never see me coming. Hopefully it won't come to that though. I salute Nick from my seat as they start to levitate off the ground. Natasha would hopefully be where she was supposed to, along with Steve and Sam doing their jobs. 

I'm alone in the van, wearing an old SHIELD uniform and a bullet proof vest. I look up into te rar view mirror and see my tired eyes glaring back and then the violence starts. Comms are full coming from our people in the air, on the base and the ships. Looking up I can just start making out the shape of one carrier. I throw the car into drive and find myself going in the exact direction I was told not to go.  I know I shouldn't and I know that I'm the final defense if something happens and everyone else get's caught or killed. SHIELD, whether I like it or not, was at one point my family, my home. I see it as if I were burying it. I want to see Hydra dead and gone so if that means SHIELD has to go to than I suppose that has to be okay with me. I fought for SHIELD against Hydra and the thought that it's now become a breeding ground for their ideas to fester and grow, I know that it's time to let it all die.

I grip the steering wheel as I come closer to the river and to the base itself. I lost contact with Steve and the others about 5 minutes ago. Since then it's been radio silence with nothing to give me any indication of their well being. I look up once again as I hear a large explosion, they've started to align in a way where they can all have perfect aim at the other. Looking back in front of me I have to slam on the breaks so as to not go straight into the barrier of the curving bridge. I'm mesmerized by the sight as I pull the keys from the engine and pop outside. I can't keep my eyes off of the light show now on display, it's only as one starts to rapidly loose altitude that I come to my senses. "Steve? Natasha?" I say starting to go into a jog down the freeway, towards headquarters. I have no idea what I could possible do when I get there, but the need to help is stuck to me and I can't shake it. If I can just save one.

"This is Hill." I breathe in a sigh of relief.

"Are you all safe?" I say looking up again.

"Nick, Nat, and myself are exiting the building now."

"No sign of Sam or Steve?" I say breathing harder now, eyes fixed on the aircraft.

"Steve's still up there." My heart stops. I put my hands against the stone barrier, I feel suddenly as if I might faint. It's impossible to see anything down here. 

Suddenly I hear Sam's voice from my ear. "PLEASE TELL ME YOU GOT THAT CHOPPER IN THE AIR!"

"Sam where are you!" This comes from a much calmer Natasha.

"41st floor, north-west corner!"

"We're on it, stay where you are!" At this I silence my communications by tossing it out onto the pavement. Everyone is accounted for... everyone except for Steve. Just as these horrifying thoughts cross my mind I'm distracted from the ones in the sky by a mangle screech of metal on metal and glass breaking. The first carrier has crashed into SHIELD headquarters, effectively causing it to collapse. With that option gone I turn my attention to the bank along the river. Maybe he jumped? He's alive I can feel it. Refusing to believe he could already be a victim I let the want of him blind me from any kind of logic, I sprint back the way I came in my car and then down the wooded slope to the muddy bank of the Potomac.