Divided |2|

thirteen

They ran into the chamber and found a withering man in curled into a ball.

"Help me. Help."

"For the love of— Get up."

Victoria picked him up gently, but Steve grabbed him from her and shoved him against the wall.

"Woah, Cap!"

"At ease, Vic." Sam placed a hand on her shoulder. "He is the one who framed Bucky."

"Who are you?" Steve demanded. "What do you want?"

"To see an empire fall."

Bucky appeared out of nowhere and swung his fist at Sam. Sam ducked and the solider's fist smashed through the wall. Victoria swung her baton and hit his back, but the action went unnoticed by the shoulder. She threw the useless weapon down and sighed.

"Told you I'd need my bow!"

Bucky grabbed Sam by the jaw and shoved him into the broken pod. Steve jumped into the fight and Victoria watched as they fought to the elevator. She watched as Bucky punched the elevator door and Steve fell to the bottom. Bucky started to walk away when Victoria ran after him.

"Bucky!" He ignored her call and she tried again. "Yo! Dude with the metal arm!" He sent her a deadly look and she held her hand up. "I mean... Winter Soldier?"

He swung his arm back, knocking her off of her feet and onto the floor. She hit her head so hard that she passed out, the last thing she remember was Bucky walking away and out of the door.

When she came to, she saw Pietro frantically looking around. She sat up coughing, and his body spun to face her. He rushed over and helped her up.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." She waved him away and brushed herself off. "Where's—Where's everyone else?"

"Running around, the doctor escaped. Some are in pursuit of Bucky."

She looked around and remembered Steve falling into the elevator shaft. She ran over to the gap and peered inside. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw only Steve's jacket inside, and no body.

"You are surely not going to go after them, are you?"

"I have to."

"Says who? Your place is not with a bunch of criminals, Victoria."

"And who gave you the right to decide that?"

"I am your boyfriend—"

"—Were. You were my boyfriend, Pietro. But after all the shit that's happened over the past couple of weeks, I don't think you deserve that title."

Victoria ran off, without Pietro following, and found herself in the cafeteria. She spotted Bucky holding Natasha down by her throat, the female assassin struggling. Victoria ran towards him and with all her weight rammed into him.

"Get off!"

They both fell to the floor but Victoria was quick to gather herself and stand. Bucky stood as well, and for a moment he just stared at the girl – not wanting to hurt her. Victoria raised a hand pathetically and panted.

"We're trying to help you, Buck." T'Challa popped up and started to attack Bucky. Victoria sighed and placed her hand on her hip. "Well, I'm trying to help you."

She followed Bucky who hurried up some stairs but he was cut off again by T'Challa. Victoria narrowly escaped the pair as they roll down the stairs. She tried to pull T'Challa away from Bucky but T'Challa landed one last leg sweep that sent Bucky over the railing.

Victoria looked over it—T'Challa leaping after him—but finds the reception empty. "Now look what you've done!"

The prince sent her an exasperated look and she shrugged before running off. Victoria ended up outside of the building. She shoved her way through all the fleeing staff and spotted Sam among  madness.

"Sam!" He turned and spotted her, waving her over. He held a jacket in his hands. "Did you get him then?"

"No. Where's Steve and Bucky?"

"I was hoping you'd know that part."

Suddenly, the air was filled with the sound of a chopper starting up. Victoria runs ahead to a railing by the lake and looks up. She sees Bucky in the chopper with Steve holding onto it.

"Holy cow! Steve is freaking strong!"

"Only because of that damn serum," Sam muttered begrudgingly.

The pair watched as Bucky crashed the chopper into the building. Sam shielded Victoria from any falling debris with his jacket, and she coughed out all the dust. She glanced up again as the chopper began to fall off of the edge.

Her eyes widened when she saw her Captain fall with it. "Shit!" She pointed it out to Sam as the chopper crashed into the water. "Steve!"

Sam prepared to jump into the water to help him out, but halted when he saw Steve drag an unconscious Bucky out of the water. Victoria let out a breath and ran over to them.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but we need to get off of the streets." He set Bucky down on the ground gently. "Sam, get us a vehicle, and quickly."

"On it."

Sam ran off and Victoria placed her hand on Bucky's chest. She focused her energy on getting the water out of his lungs and turned him on his side to let it out. Steve sent a nod of appreciation to her and glanced around.

"We have maybe ten minutes to get out of here and get to a safehouse."

"Which is where?"

"There's an abandoned factory about two miles from here." He pointed to the West. "We'll wait there until the craze is over."

"Will he be okay when he wakes up?" Victoria frowned. "You know, not all wanting to murder everyone, okay?"

"I don't know, I've never seen him when he comes back out. But we'll take measures in case it hasn't worn off."

"What did the doctor want, Steve? Why did he go through all this effort just to wreck some havoc?"

Steve sent a painful glance to her. "I really don't know, Vic."

Sam pulled up next to them and Steve hauled Bucky into the back and sat down beside the soldier. Victoria hopped in the front of the car and Sam turned to their Captain.

"Where to, Cap?"

***
a/n

hii guys. im really sorry about this super late update. thing is, i've been so sick lately and currently i have contracted chicken pox (for the first time ever). so i haven't had much motivation to write and on top of that school is keeping me occupied. and i start my preliminary exams next week (while so sick).

on that note, im only gonna be writing properly again by start of August – as my holidays start then for the whole month of August. so expect a boatload of reading as your task for August.

question: do you guys enjoy how im writing Divided? im enjoying it and i hope you guys are too.

p.s. i have a slight idea in mind for a spin-off/sequel to this – involving a Steve love interest. buuuut i really want to incorporate your ideas into it. so pleaseee leave some ideas (subplots, character ideas, etc.) below in the comments.

all the love / please vote and comment. xx