Akrasia

Chapter 23

    The Quinjet landed 3 miles away from the Hydra base in a disclosed area. Lainey was supposed to run to the base and give them the signal when they could move in.
    Right before it landed Bucky walked up to Lainey and honestly surprised her. She was suspecting him to tell her not to die and be sappy with 'I love you', but he wasn't. Bucky simply cupped her face in his hands and meant every word as he whispered, "You've got this. I have faith in you." Lainey just nodded, but the look in her eyes told Bucky that she understood.
   "You ready Lainey?" Steve called from the front of the jet.
   "Yeah." She called back. In response Clint opened the hangar allowing Lainey to jump out.
   "Don't forget to signal to us." Steve added right before Lainey jumped out. She knew everyone was concerned for her, but she didn't let the weight settle on her.
   Lainey ran the 3 miles in 16 minutes. The fastest she'd ever ran 3 miles. She assumed it was due to the fear and sheer determination coursing through her veins. When she arrived close to the base she put on a dead calm face and took a deep breath before approaching the front gates.
   Lainey kept her eyes trained on the door making sure her focus wasn't broke. Although, she could still feel every guard staring at her. Most likely word got around that she was with the Avengers, so Lainey would have to put on a good show to make them believe she was being controlled again. One wrong movement and they could have her contained immediately.
   Before she knew it, the front gate was upon her. From her recollection, the guards would normally open it for her. Not this time. She stood there for a good minute without the door opening. Lainey could remember that she didn't interact much or speak to anyone when she was Night Rider, so she had to find away to make them open the door without talking.
   Lainey slowly turned her head and gave the guards at the station a death glare. They didn't budge. Striding towards them Lainey could pick out a hint of fear in the second guards eyes. Perfect. The knife strapped to her side smoothly slide out as Lainey beckoned it to do. Before the guards could say anything Night Rider was upon them. She dug the knife into the table dramatically, and luckily earlier she added red dye to the knife tips just incase. Lainey was very thankful she did.
The guards went wide eyed at her movement as if they realized who they were dealing with. Lainey kept her emotion straight making her pass further. Creaking, the front door lifted allowing Lainey inside. Before she left the guards to their terror she grabbed her knife and walked off.
Everyone in the facility froze at the sight of her. As Lainey suspected, they had all been told that Night Rider was off the grid, gone, stolen. So no expected to find her here. The looks people gave Night Rider told Lainey enough about her current position. She wasn't going to be taken normally around here.
Lainey didn't know how, but she needed to slip a bomb into the middle of the facility. She spotted a young man, possibly a boy, standing alone close to the middle right next to an old fountain. Lainey found her prey. Night Rider stalked up to the boy and as he realized who was coming towards him his face grew a bit pale.
When Lainey was close enough and out of earshot to anyone else she monotonously whispered, "Where's boss?"
The boy swallowed deeply and replied, "captured."
"What." Night Rider growled. "I don't believe you. I'll find him myself." The boy was about to say something but Night Rider strode away before he could.
During that little bit of time, Lainey slipped a bomb with a time of 30 seconds into the fountain. From what she could tell, no one noticed. She kept her pace minimal to make sure the bomb goes off, and as she hoped, it did. Guards ran to the scene to check it out and others screamed as they caught on fire or even died. Lainey had to shove the sounds down and tell her it was for a good cause in order to keep moving.
She reached up to the comm in her ear and spoke. "Head on in. The distraction was made and I'm heading to the control room." In response she heard more shouts from men yelling,
"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!" Lainey knew the Avengers swooped in. Most of the guards would be at the main area or running away. This gave Lainey the opportunity to pick up her pace sense no one would be watching her necessarily.
Lainey had to dig down deep into her memory as she ran the halls to make sure she was heading to the control room. She hadn't payed attention to what went down in this building ever. She never wanted to. So now having to resurface those memories just for this mission was very difficult.
Lainey could tell she was close to the control room so she slowed down and checked each area. The last door she opened lead to a room filled with computers and other technology Lainey didn't care about. The thing she cared about were the three guards and four agents. They immediately stopped and questioned her.
Lainey knew she'd have to kill these people to access the computer. The sad part was, she found a part of herself wanting to kill these men. They ruined her, so it only made sense for her to ruin them.
   Before any of the guards could make a move Lainey was upon them in a lithe blur. She aimed for the first guard. He pulled out his gun and fired at her as he realized Night Rider was attacking him. Luckily, Lainey's training had payed of. Lainey easily twirled over her right shoulder avoiding the bullet. Without losing speed, she unsheathed the blade at her side and slid to him. Right as she stood up, she turned around the guard trailing her knife along his back. She then sent a kick straight for his head. Her boot made contact with his jaw immediately nocking him out.
   By now the next two guards were prepared and began firing at her. Lainey pulled out two pistols and fired at them too. She hit one in the chest putting him down immediately, but the other dodged her bullet. The guard was about to shoot her again, but instead his gun clicked. He ran out of ammunition. When he realized this he threw his gun to the side and raised his fist. Lainey cocked an eyebrow at his confidence, so in order to make it fair, she placed her pistols in her belt. She then charged him.
    The man punched at Lainey, but she caught his fist and didn't let go. His fist still in her hand, she twirled around him making his arm twist behind him. Lainey then rolled to the ground flipping the man onto his back. His bone snapped at the pressure as his back landed onto of his arm. As he yelled in pain Lainey roundhouse kicked him nocking him out as well.
    She stood up and pulled out her pistol. Just to make sure, she sent a bullet into each of the guards head. The four agents were huddled in the corner with one in the front holding a pistol. Lainey could tell he was inexperienced with a gun, so as she charged him it took her no skill to not get shot. The four agents put up no fight against her, and Lainey decided not to kill them. They'd be killed soon anyways. She only nocked them unconscious.
   After everyone in the room was taken care of Lainey ran to the largest computer. As quickly as possible, she dug out the flash drive and put it into the jack. She waited about a minute before Tony's device hacked into the computer. Lainey would've rather it had been a fingerprint scanner because then she could simply take the agents limp hands and use them. In her mind that would be way more efficient.
   She followed Bruce's directions. Right as she clicked the 'yes' button for search approval, a venomous voice from behind her drawled,
   "Night Rider, what are you doing here?" Lainey recognized that voice immediately and turned around unsheathing two daggers. From the look on his face Lainey knew that he was aware of her little act.
   The short statured man just grinned not caring about the assassin in front of him. "I've missed having you around. It was so fun to torture you when you failed a mission. But it turns out you have a mission of your own right now." He explained pulling out a gun himself.
   "I missed you too, Coltain." Lainey seethed making him grin.
    "I'm proud that you remembered my name." He mused quickly shooting his pistol at Night Rider. Lainey slid to the left quickly avoiding the bullet aimed for her.
   "I wouldn't be proud for the reasons why." Lainey murmured charging him. Coltain shot at her but missed as Lainey twirled around. She was upon him quickly and was able to graze her blades across his stomach, but that didn't stop him. He continuously fired at her. Lainey had enough of his little gun, so she kicked it out of his hands. They continued to fight each making hits on the other. Coltains were very benign, yet Lainey's weren't. Although, right as Lainey ducked his punch and drove her own punch to his jaw, Coltain was able to draw his own blade. Lainey sprinted to his knew position and attempted to turn around and hit him from behind. It didn't work how she wanted it to. Mid turn, Coltain slid his blade along Lainey's thigh making her actually roll to the floor. That made her furious. She wouldn't let this man beat her. Lainey immediately jumped up ignoring the pain in her thigh and kicked him in the stomach sending him flying backwards into a wall.
     She flew upon him punching him square in the nose. His eyes began to water telling Lainey he hit him in the right place. Just for fun she punched him in the kidneys. She enjoyed seeing the pain course through his face. Lainey understands how much kidney punches hurt, so she embraced the fact that she was most likely the first person to ever give him one.
   In the moment, all Lainey could think about was the amount of pain this man gave her. Memories flooded Lainey's senses. All dealing with immense pain as Coltain laughed in the background, barely audible over Lainey's own screams. Those thoughts consumed her. The only thing she felt necessary was to return the suffering back to him. Two knives plunged into his hands grounding him into the floor. Lainey then proceeded to take her other knife and run it down his arms, legs, and face. After, he stabbed him in the stomach enough to make him bleed terribly, but not die on spot.
   "Revenge is nice isn't it." Coltain drawled sending chills down Lainey's spine. In response, she punched him in the mouth and smiled back at him. She was proud of this bloody masterpiece in front of her. She did this. She returned the favor. She was inevitable.
   Content with Coltain, who was hardly recognizable due to the damage laid upon him, Lainey stood up and walked away. She paid no attention to her thigh because she was tolerating no distractions. When she approached the computer it showed that the flash drive still had 10% left to transfer. As she waited, Coltain was mumbling nonsense. Eventually, it got on Lainey's nerves so she unlatched her pistol, again, and raised the gun behind herself. Without even facing his direction she pulled the trigger, and the sudden silence was enough for Lainey to know that she shot him in the head.
    After a minute, the computer dinged and a box in the left corner asked to eject the flash drive. Lainey quickly clicked no and put the flash drive into her belt pocket. Before she left the room she looked over her shoulder to glance at Coltain. She was right. The bullet hit him dead in the forehead.
    Lainey then ran off. She struggled a bit with her thigh, but she still sprinted as quickly as possible. Halfway to the back exit Steve came in on the comm,
    "Lainey are you almost done?" She could head him grunt on the other end of the line, so she picked up on the fact that they were still fighting agents.
    "Yeah. Almost out." She replied breathing heavily.
    "Okay, Tony's ready to fire the missile." He stated.
   "I'll let you know when I'm out. You guys just go."
   "No."
    "Yes, I'm almost out."
    "Almost, not completely. We're not leaving until you're outside and safe." He said ending the line not changing his answer. Lainey huffed in annoyance at Steve's heroic morals. She decided to sprint even faster as she ran down multiple turns down corridors and hallways before she finally found a door. Above it was a broken, dirty exit sign. Lainey sprinted the rest of the way and launched herself through the doors. Without stopping she put herself back on the comm and said,
    "I'm out. Tony, fire." No one answered her, but she knew they heard her. Lainey continued to run away from the building because she didn't want to be close when Tony rained hell upon it. She was probably 100 yards away when she heard the thundering of the missile coming in contact with the Hydra facility. It shook the ground making Lainey trip and roll. She quickly regained her footing and began running again.
   "Where are you? We will pick you up in the Quinjet." Clint asked on the comm.
    Out of breath, Lainey replied "Behind the base probably 100 yards away at the least."
    "Got it, we are coming."
    "Good." Lainey said as she started running again. After about 5 minutes she heard the engines of the Quinjet. There were no trees around so Lainey was positive that they saw her. She even decided to sit down and wait she was so tired.
    The Quinjet landed quickly and the hangar door was open. Lainey stood up and walked into the hangar still out of breath.
    "Are you okay?" Steve asked greeting her at the door. All he got was a thumbs up from the exhausted Lainey. She immediately sat down on the chairs lining the side before answering people.
"Please tell me you got the information." Tony said sarcastically leaning against the opposite side. Lainey just pulled out the flash drive and tossed it to him. Tony walked away to put it in a safer compartment for Fury.
"Your welcome." Lainey heaved down another breath.
"You look really tired." Steve commented.
"I wonder why. Maybe it's because I've been sprinting for the past 20 minutes straight." Lainey looked at him as if saying, great observation. Bucky came up to her and suggested,
"Why don't you take your mask off. It might make you feel better." Lainey did just that and it felt amazing to get out of that heavy mask. Natasha walked over and scanned Lainey head to toe. With her mask off, you could pick out few bruises here and there.
"You look pretty beaten up. What happened?" Nat asked making everyone look towards Lainey.
"I ran into some complications. Speaking of complications, can someone look over my leg? I'm too lazy and tired to do so." Lainey explained leaning her head back against the wall. Bucky immediately looked to her leg and ran his fingers over it. Lainey sucked in a breath as his fingers slid over her thigh. Bucky couldn't tell a thing because her suit was making it difficult and the blood surrounding it had dried.
"Jesus Christ Lainey." He muttered. "What happened?"
"Oh, well Coltain was able to actually get a decent hit on me with his knife. It just slid down my thigh. I don't think it's anything major." Lainey explained.
"Coltain?" Steve questioned really concerned for Lainey.
"I'll explain later." Lainey breathed.
"Natasha, get Bruce." Bucky said and Natasha walked off.
"Hey Bruce, we need you to look over Lainey." Nat said approaching Clint, Wanda, and Bruce all in the front cabin area.
"Is she okay?" Wanda asked concern laced in her voice.
"I don't know, that's why we need you Bruce." Nat said touching his shoulder.
"Okay. I'm coming." He said standing up. Bruce went over to Lainey and Bucky while Natasha and Steve just watched. "So what happened?" He asked putting his glasses on.
"This dude was able to drag his knife down my thigh." Lainey said quietly on the verge of falling asleep. Bruce looked closer, but had the same problem as Bucky.
"I'm going to need to cut your suit to check it out. Is that okay?" Bruce asked beckoning Bucky for a knife.
"Totally. I don't care about this suit one bit." She replied. Bucky looked at her sympathetically because he understood her reasons. Bruce gently cut through the suit giving him a decent space to inspect her. He still couldn't see well with the blood clot so he asked Nat to get him a wet rag. After he got one he cleaned off the blood and was honestly surprised.
"Is it bad?" Lainey asked.
"Not horrible, but worse than I thought." Bruce replied making Natasha and Steve look closer too. It was deeper than Bruce suspected. "I might have to stitch it up when we get back. It's not a wide cut by any means, but it's pretty deep which sometimes calls for stitches. Well, we will see how you do."
Bruce continued to patch up Lainey. All he did was wash out the cut and wrap it to make sure pressure stayed applied. Nothing he hasn't done before.
"Lainey, did you run with your leg like this?" Steve asked.
"Yeah. Does fighting make you slow to catch onto things?" Lainey responded sarcastically. This made everyone snicker and Steve just felt shameful.
"Well I was going to say your very tough for doing that." Steve said with a grin.
"Thank you." Lainey called after him.
"Why don't you sleep? You need it." Bucky said.
"Sounds good to me." Lainey responded and right after she yawned and laid across the seats. Of course, she used Bucky's thigh as a pillow. This made him smile. Everyone but Clint and Bruce, who were managing the ship, and Tony, who was off doing his own thing, were sitting in the back on the seats.
No one was talking, just thinking. That was until Lainey started to stir. Bucky immediately reacted and began to run his fingers through her hair to calm her down. It didn't help. She began to murmur stuff no one could understand, and at this point everyone was worried. You could see the amount of fear on her face from whatever she was dreaming about.
"Wanda?"Bucky asked even though he didn't want to need help. Wanda understood what he meant, everyone did. Red wisps flowed around Lainey, but then they were gone. Wanda had lost her focus but quickly regained it to give Lainey peace. With a flick of her fingers Lainey's state of panic left and she was sleeping peacefully.
Everyone looked to Wanda for answers and she simply said, "Today took a toll on Lainey. A lot of old memories resurfaced."
"What did you do?" Bucky questioned watching over Lainey.
"I gave her a good memory. Hopefully it will help her be at peace till we get back." Wanda smiled.
"What was the memory?" Steve asked just as curious as everyone else.
"I don't think it would be right for me to tell." Wanda replied even though she wanted to tell them so bad. The memory of Lainey's she put her brain made Wanda smile so big. She wished it could make everyone else too, but she knew that wouldn't be fair to Lainey.
Bucky began to stroke Lainey's head again wanting to give Lainey the best sleep as possible. He knew that it would be difficult for her today, and he was so proud of her. Making sure she was happy and comfortable was the best he could do.
"Hey Natasha, how much longer till we get back to the tower?" Bucky eyes Natasha who was eyeing him.
"I don't know exactly. Could be 3 hours." She replied.
Bucky let out a sigh of relief. "Good. That means 3 more hours Lainey gets to rest."

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Hey guys! This post got pretty late for me, so I didn't review it. I'll probably do that tomorrow, so that's why there might be updates. I'm also sorry that if was posted so late, I was procrastinating a lot today!