The Man My Father Always Talked About • A CAPTAIN AMERICA STORY

7

~7~

     The helicarrier shook as the side of it exploded. Some were thrown in different directions in the lab while some fell through holes in the floor. In a moment of pure instinct, Steve threw himself over Clara in an attempt to be a human shield. He held onto her waist as he hit the ground, grunting in pain before letting go when he felt it was safe. Clara lay coughing and Steve went over to Tony who gripped his arm to try and steady himself. "Put on the suit!"

"Yep!" Tony huffed as Steve helped him stand. Clara started to get up, but was soon lifted to her feet by Tony. "Clar..."

"Not the time," she coughed. She knew he was about to apologize, but she also knew it wasn't the time. The three of stumbled out of the lab onto the uneven floors of the hallways. People ran the opposite way of the three as they tried to find the cause of the explosion. Clara turned the first corner and almost fell out of the helicarrier due to the massive hole sucking out anything it could. Tony grabbed her hand and pulled her back to safety before pointing in the direction of an engine room. "Go find engine three. I'll meet you there."

"I'll go with you," Steve said and followed Clara down the broken hallways until they came across a big metal door. Clara tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. Steve came over and pushed it open with his strength. As soon as it opened, sparks shot out, making Clara cover her face before bending down to see what was wrong. "Is it okay?" Steve asked. Clara shook her head.

"I think..." she was going to figure out how to fix it, until she saw a large chunk torn out of the side. "Well..."

"Stark, we're here!" Steve said through his comm.

"Good. See what we got." Clara heard Tony reply. He flew up in his Iron Man suit and landed next to Clara before retracting his helmet and bending down beside her.

"I gotta get this super conducting cooling system back online before I can access the rotors and work on dislodging the debris." Tony said. Before Tony could do anything, Clara began looking at and fixing cords before she pulled on one of the stuck rotors.

"I need you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position." Tony tells Steve before he flew away.

Clara looked at the place she needed to jump to then glanced at Steve. "You first," Steve hesitated before jumping to the other side of the broken railing. When he got there, he held out his hand for Clara to jump. As she was about to jump, the helicarrier shook, throwing her off balance as she jumped. Before she could comprehend she was about to fall from the sky, a strong hand caught hers. Steve lifted her back up onto the balcony, her body up against his.

"Thanks," she stuttered out. Steve didn't let go of her. They stood there longer than they should have, only to be interrupted by Tony.

"Guys? You there yet?" He asked.

"We're...we're on our way." Clara stuttered out. Steve quickly let go of her hand. "We uh...we need to go." She almost whispered.

"Yeah." Steve stuttered out and the two headed to the control panel.

"What's it look like in there?" Tony asked Clara over her ear peace.

"It runs on some form of electricity," Clara said. "I can't tell which one though."

"Well, you're not wrong," Tony agreed. "It's bad, but still fixable." Clara tried her best to work on the panel.

"The relays are intact. What's our next move?" Steve asked Clara.

"Even if Tony clears the rotors, this thing won't re-engage without a jump," Clara sighed.

"So?" Tony asked her.

"You're gonna have to get in there and push." Clara mumbled. After saying it, she tried to take it back. "Don't do it Tony. It's way too dangerous."

"Calm down Clara, it'll be easy," Tony said.

"Tony if that thing gets up to speed, you'll get shredded!" Clara protested.

"Then stay in the control unit and reverse polarity long enough to disengage mag..." Tony started.

"Speak English!" Steve yelled.

"See that red lever? It'll slow the rotors down long enough for me to get out. Stand by it, wait for my word," Tony instructed.

Steve and Clara hung onto the railing by the red lever, clinging onto it as the high winds threatened to push them off. While they were waiting for Tony's signal, a few men began entering the port side.

"Did you call for help?" Clara asked. Steve shook his head. Before they could react, the men started shooting at them. Steve pulled her down, covering her over the gunfire. Clara tried to shield herself as much as possible, having no armor or protective suit to conceal her from a gunfight. When the firing stopped, it was a chance to fight. Steve and Clara jumped down to the next ledge to fight them off. Clara punched one of the men in the jaw before kicking him down. She grabbed his gun and began shooting at their approaching attackers. Steve jumped to a lower level and began to fight as Clara shot from above.

Steve looked up when he heard a cry. Distracted, Steve lost the upper hand and slid off the railing, but grabbed onto a loose cable. Clara rested on the side of the jet, hair flying in all directions as she raised a hand to her shoulder. She pulled her hand back and saw blood. The sight of something red and blue caught her eyes and she noticed Steve was dangling out of the ship. She lifted the gun up and hissed at the pain in her right shoulder. Lucky for her, the bullet only grazed her, but it still hurt like hell. She ignored it and propped the gun up, shooting at the soldiers, hitting both of them before dropping her gun. As she finally remembered Steve, he was already by her side. He looked over her worriedly as her head leaned back in exhaustion.

Suddenly the helicarrier seemed to be flying smoothly, having leveled itself out with the help of Tony. "It doesn't look too bad," Steve said as he knelt beside Clara. She turned her head to face him. "You won't need stitches."

"Lucky me," Clara huffed. Steve helped her up and the two made their way back to what was left of the control room. They met Tony along the way, who's eyes widened at the sight of blood on his sister's shirt.

"Shit Clara, what happened?!" Tony's big brother instincts kicked in as he took her from Steve. "Were you shot?!"

"No shit Sherlock." Clara huffed. "I was grazed." They brought her to a room where Tony began to fix up her arm. He cleaned the blood and started to bandage her arm. Clara listened in on the comms when something struck her. "Tony, stop," she pleaded. With hesitation he stopped, his attention turning from her arm to the audio.

Phil Coulson was down, and it wasn't looking good.
A few minutes of silence later, Fury finally broke the tension. "They called it."

Tony looked over at his sister as she closed her eyes. A few tears began to fall down her cheeks before she quickly wiped them away in an attempt to hide them. Steve leaned on the wall with his arms crossed as he watched Tony placed his hand on one of Clara's shoulders. It was never supposed to be him. Coulson was never supposed to die in any scenario. How would they protect the world when they couldn't even protect their own man?