Everly || Steve Rogers

13. A Kiss Is Worth A Thousand Words

Jim and Gabe fiddled with the knobs of an old radio as Steve and Bucky looked to the frozen train tracks below. 

"Remember when I made you ride the cyclone at Coney Island?" Bucky asked, the cold wind nipping at his face.

"Yeah and I threw up?" Steve remembered the experience quite vividly. It was one of the few times Everly hadn't accompanied them.

"This isn't payback is it?"

"Now why would I do that?" Steve's eyes followed the cable leading down to the tracks.

"We were right. Doctor Zola's on the train. Hydra dispatcher gave him permission to open up the throttle." Gabe interrupted, holding a headset to his ear. "Wherever he's going, they must need him bad." Steve popped his helmet on and clipped the strap beneath his chin into place as he prepared himself for what was to come.

"Let's get going because they're moving like the devil." Monty lowered the binoculars from his face. Steve took a deep breath and hooked a handle to the cable above his head.

"We only got about a 10-second window. You miss that window, we're bugs on a windshield."

Monty took a second to think about what he had just heard. "Mind the gap."

"Better get moving, bugs!" Dugan yelled.

As Frenchie gave the signal, Steve, Bucky, and Gabe all ziplined down, landing safely on the train below. They made their way across the top of the train and Bucky followed Steve down a ladder into one of the train cars as Gabe stood guard. Bucky slid the door shut behind him and grabbed the gun from behind his back. As they hesitantly creeped through the cars, the only sounds to be heard were their footsteps and the roaring of the train. It almost seemed too easy.

In an instant, a door wedged its way in between them and Bucky started shooting at the guards that had appeared behind him. Steve turned around to be faced with a heavily armored man whose weapons shone a familiar blue.

Buck was able to fend off the Hydra agents in his car, and Steve slammed his shield into the face of his agent. He picked up the man's heavy arm and used the blue weapon to blast one of the doors keeping the friends apart. As he opened the second door, he tossed a handgun to Bucky and rammed a crate on the shelf behind which the final Hydra agent stood. He jumped out of its way and Bucky fired a round into his chest.

"I had him on the ropes." Bucky breathed heavily.

"I know you did." The sound of one of the blue weapons could be heard powering up and the pair turned to see that Steve's agent had come to. 

"Get down!" Steve yelled, pulling Bucky behind his shield. The blast ricocheted off of the shield and blew a gaping hole in the side of the train car. Bucky looked over at Steve who had been thrown across the room and hurried over to his shield. He picked it up, sheltering himself from the next blast. It sent him flying backwards and he was sucked out the hole. Steve collected his shield, throwing it as hard as he could at the armored man who fell to the floor with a loud thud.

"Bucky!" He tossed his helmet to the ground and started climbing along the outside of the train to where his friend was dangling from a side rail, eyes wide in fear.

"Hang on! Grab my hand!" The wind whooshed past them at an unbelievable speed, causing Steve's eyes to water. He felt as if his chest would burst given the rapid beating of his heart against his ribs. Bucky reached out for his friend's hand, only for the pipe he held onto to slip from it's hinges. His eyes housed a look of pure terror as he was sent plummeting to the icy river below. Steve Cried out, watching as his best friend fell deeper into the void.