Sergeant Barnes: The Last Mission (COMPLETE)

Chapter 59: Maria

    We really ought to have anticipated coming across cyborgs, but the grenade definitely caught us off guard.

Romanoff, Nick, and I had just gotten up to the fifth floor when a band of men in HYDRA suits filed out of a doorway on our right that was clearly destroyed. They turned when they heard me speaking to Agent Raven in the elevator, and launched a small hand grenade our way. We barely got out of the doors before it went off, destroying the lift and sending it down the shaft.

Romanoff and Nick were both unconscious from the blast, but I managed to stay awake enough to pretend that I was out. I heard them walk towards us, and a minute later, a blue light passed over my closed eyelids. Scanner. They were checking for life signs.

The scan turned up positive, apparently, because they started activating weapons and aiming for all three of us. We would have been dead, but I heard gunfire coming from the opposite direction, and seconds later, all of the cyborgs followed the sound and left us alone.

I didn't move for a solid 30 seconds afterwards. That was a really stupid move, even for HYDRA. You don't leave people alive, especially not the director of SHIELD. Then Agent Raven's words spoke in my ear again (not literally, my earpiece had fallen out), "They aren't fighting in units."

Maybe she did have a point. They all chose to go for the greater threat, at the present, and left us here to clean up later. All of them. They didn't divide and conquer. That was the only way we could beat so many of them.

I pressed to my knees, cautiously and slowly. I opened my eyes and looked over at Romanoff and Nick. He was fine, if not a little bruised, but Natasha was probably going to need a long time to recover. She had taken a lot of hits lately. I dragged her as carefully as I could to an office nearby, and hid her behind the desk in the corner.

I went back out to get Nick, but I couldn't help but noticed the trashed room that the cyborgs had come out of. I walked towards it, gun cocked and ready, and I peered in.

It was a complete disaster. The windows were shattered, and I could see Stark and Parker fighting more cyborgs outside. The table was on its long side and riddled with bullet holes, and glass was all over the floor. No less than 10 cyborgs were lying on the tile, some with bullet holes through the eyes, and some with arrows lodged in melted heads. The girl.

I looked back outside, and noticed the med kit and the laptop by the doorframe. Both destroyed, but tell-tale signs that Agent Raven had been here recently. I looked back at the cyborgs, and decided that if that girl lived through this, that I would evaluate her myself.

An explosion from the fight outside shocked me back to the present, and I noticed more incoming cyborgs. I went back out into the hall, grabbed my earpiece that was lying on the ground, and pulled Nick to join Romanoff in the office. No sooner than I did did footsteps come from the disaster room. Another wave incoming.

I didn't do anything, but listened for which way they went, if they had no influence. They all started going to the right, away from the elevator and the office I was hiding in. I breathed a sigh of relief. If we didn't give them a reason to come this way, they wouldn't come, according to Raven, who I was beginning to trust.

I closed the door, for good measure, and went back to Romanoff and Nick. I could help him, since he wasn't that hurt, but Romanoff was bleeding again. Her wounds had reopened, or new ones had been made. I tore off what was left of her left sleeve and used it to wrap around her midsection. It was the best I could do without proper medical supplies, but I still wished I could do more.

More footsteps were coming from the hall. I reloaded and cocked my gun and aimed for the door (not that I thought it would do much good). The steps stopped right outside the door, but instead of breaking down the door, I heard a quick triple knock. I crept to the door and knocked twice, and the person on the other side knocked four times. Either the cyborgs knew our methods, or they were safe to let in. I held my breath and opened the door.

I pointed my gun out the door, but Raven was so short, that it wouldn't have hurt her anyways. She slipped in and I shut it, and I put my gun away again. "A warning would have been nice."

She replaced her own gun and replied, "I didn't think you were on coms. I hadn't heard from you, Agent Romanoff, or Director Fury for almost 5 minutes." She held out something in her hand. "Do you need this?"

It was the damaged med kit from out in the hall. I took it and walked over to Natasha's side, where I knelt down. I opened it, and found everything I needed to stitch up Romanoff.

"I can take care of this, but she isn't going to be able to fight for the rest of the day, at least."

She nodded. "The cyborgs are coming in waves of 10. Every five minutes or so, another wave comes. After the next one, we can get them to the elevator and down to the vans."

I shook my head. "The elevator's shot. Grenade. We can't get off this floor without risking someone's life."

She pressed her lips together and looked at her teacher. "Then we can't move from here. If we stay here, they won't come, but they see us, and it's over."

"I'll stay put, but you need to get out there."

She looked up at me, expressionless. Probably learned that from Romanoff.

"I saw what you did in the other room. Go and help the others. Find the soldiers, or try to get to the rooftop if you can. Keep these things out of here."

She nodded, and went to the door and listened. A minute later, she opened it and left.

I returned to Romanoff, and started stitching her side up. I worked silently, but in my head, I prayed she wouldn't kill me when she came to.