Winter's End [winter soldier//Bucky Barnes AU]

Chapter Twelve

*Sarah's POV*

I clutched Bucky's dog tags tightly in my hand, rubbing my thumb against the letters over and over again as we trekked through the dense forest. Steve and Natasha were in front of me and Bucky, as we all headed East to the nearest town. According to Tony, who had his fancy computer and JARVIS with him, it was a mile away from our current location.

I wiped the sweat from my brow that was continuing to drip, the heat unrelenting. The sun wasn't even out yet the day was dreadfully hot.

Next to me, Bucky was reloading his guns as he walked. Tony had picked some extra ammunition up at the nearest hunting store, and was storing all extra supplies in little compartments in his suit or backpack. Bucky finished filling up one and hooked it into place on his back, beginning on his larger machine gun, which had much bigger ammo. Don't ask me how he did this while walking.

A quarter of the way through the mile, my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a branch snapping.

Everyone immediately dropped to the ground. Our voices went silent as we listened.

Someone, or more specifically some people, were walking to our right. You could tell they were trying to be quiet, and right away I guessed that they were Hydra agents sent to kill us. Because when has people sneaking around near us ever been good?

They barely made any sound, but from where I was on the ground I could see their feet. The way they were walking suggested they were holding guns.

I glanced over at Bucky, who's eyebrows were knotted together as he thought. I could almost see the gears turning as he formulated a plan. Then, all of a sudden, the footsteps stopped. Everything took on an unsettling silence, and when I looked over at Bucky again, I knew exactly what he was thinking. He nodded at me.

I faced the men once again and held my hand out, concentrating. Ice began to spread across their boots, but not enough to notice. The frost covered their shoes and then began making it's way up to their knees, and I made the frost thicken.

Then, I untangled my other hand from the grass, and shot both my hands towards the men. In an instant, they were frozen.

The team stood up quickly. I took a look at the men and saw four of them, holding machine guns, and now frozen.

We immediately started to move before the ice melted, but we weren't quick enough. Soon, gunfire was raining down on us, from all over the jungle. Cara held her hands out and did her best to form an energy shield around us, as we scrambled to grab our weapons and shoot. Steve's shield began slamming into the Hydra agents right away. Bucky's gunfire came barely a second later, along with Natasha's. Tony and Clint shot at the men, who were surprisingly quick to get out of the way, and I did my best to freeze them or send icy arrows at them.

When I was able to look up again, John was holding his own with one of Bucky's smaller guns. The boy was doing his best to keep up. Peter's webs were grabbing men and flinging them into one another, bringing chaos.

But what worried me the most was that Dr. Banner was lying on the ground a few feet from me, breathing hard, and I could tell immediately that he was struggling to contain the Hulk.

I dropped down beside him in a hurry, holding his face in my hands and forcing him to look at me.

"Bruce, c'mon buddy! Control it! Hold it in, you can do this! Don't let him through!" I yelled, but I could tell that he was losing control fast. We needed to get out of here.

I got up and ran to where Cap and Bucky stood, shooting down every agent I could on the way. They were coming out of nowhere.

"Yo, Steve and Buck!" I yelled, throwing my hand to the right and blocking a bullet from hitting Nat, using a column of ice. She turned and gave me a nod of thanks.

"Yeah?" Bucky called, throwing a roundhouse kick at an agent that had wandered too close. His foot hit the guy square in the chest and sent him flying.

"The Hulk is seconds away from being unleashed!" I screamed, hoping they would hear me over the sudden onslaught of fresh gunfire. I growled and spun in a circle, crying out as I unleashed icy arrows in all directions, aimed perfectly at the agents. At least twelve dropped to the ground.

"Jesus Christ, Sarah. Warn us next time?!" Tony exclaimed, and I sent him a smirk.

Steve and Bucky, who had heard me about Banner, were running towards him now. Bruce's skin was slowly changing from it's pale color to a green pigment; his moans turning more and more agonizing. Everyone stopped once they realized what was happening, and I took charge.

"Keep fighting! Cover for them!" I yelled, glancing at Cara, who was struggling to keep the forcefield up. She was growing tired quickly.

"Cara, keep it up just for a moment please! You can do this, I know you can!" I told her.

She gave a weak nod as the rest of us focused on giving the Hydra agents hell. Luckily, their numbers weren't as large as before; we were thinning out their ranks.

I focused all my energy into my hands, sending ice everywhere to reek havoc. Peter's webs were swinging everywhere, tying men to trees, to each other, to anything. John and Natasha focused on shooting the men that Peter captured.

I lost focus for only a moment as I assessed our situation, and that's all the one it took for one of the men to land a solid punch to my arm. I cried out in pain and reacted fast, spinning around and nailing him in the stomach with a hard kick. He stumbled backwards and then recovered, coming after me and swinging his arm. I ducked and grabbed his arm, using his own momentum against him, and fling him over my shoulder to the ground. He landed with a thud and I didn't wait a moment before knocking him out.

When I looked up again, Cara was laying on the ground, no longer able to keep the forcefield up. Steve and Bucky were watching as Bruce turned into the Hulk before their eyes. Clint was out of arrows, Natasha was out of ammo, and Tony's suit was losing battery fast.

We were so close, yet Hydra was still coming out on top. How did they always manage to do it?

I swallowed as the remaining men came closer, holding their guns up high, aimed straight for our heads. I thought that we were about to be captured again, when suddenly the Hulk roared loudly.

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the noise, but then I saw Bruce (as the Hulk) crushing agent after agent, tossing them around as if they were rag dolls. He ran around snapping the necks of every person working for Hydra he could find.

Suddenly revitalized for a moment, the rest of the team picked up the pace and fired faster, backing Banner up. And eventually, there was no one left to fight.

We all stood in a circle panting, trying to catch our breath for a moment. Bruce shrunk down to normal size (but unfortunately, he was nude, which was awkward to say the least) as Stark ran to his aid, pulling out some clothes from his suit.

I bent down and picked up Steve's shield, which apparently had never made it back to him, and walked over to where Bucky and Steve were standing.

"Here." I said, tossing him his shield. He caught it and gave me a tired nod of thanks. I nodded back, and moved to stand next to Bucky.

"You alright?" He asked, and I nodded.

"For the most part. At least I'm not dead."

Bucky chuckled, and leaned closer to me, planting a light kiss on my head.

"At least."

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-Jordan💕