The Soldier of Summer: Book 1

Chapter 27

Hi sorry for not posting in a while, I hope you enjoy these last few chapters! This one's kinda long.

But then that moment ended when Auriana ran off. I sighed and went into the hangar.
Steve looked at me, eyes full of sorrow.
They were already headed toward the fastest looking plane when I got in there.
"Queens, I need you to get the runway open!" Steve barked.
A giant gate had been dropped down from the ceiling, blocking the exit and the runway.
"Yes sir!" He swung with his webs onto the ceiling and crawled away to a control panel in the corner. I guess they didn't take away his slingers thinking they were just bracelets.
The jet hatch was down, and the rest of the team was piling in. Steve waved me into the plane, and Sam started the engine.
The alarm was beginning to sound like white noise, and the flashing red light barely dazed me anymore.
"Parker how's it looking?" I screamed in his direction. He pulled off his mask and looked at me.
"I can't hack into it, the security is on lockdown. We'll need to raise the gate manually."
He dropped to the floor and ran up to the jet.
"I'm going to need help Mr. Barnes sir. Can you help me for the initial lift? I can do the rest probably."
Steve nodded, and I jumped down to the ground and ran with the kid to the gate. I gripped the handle, ready to pull.
"Okay kid. One, two," I braced myself.
"Three!" We heaved up the gate. We both have all our strength, and it wouldn't budge, until it gave with a jolt. Parker and I fell backwards from the force and the light that blinded us from the other side.
"You got it from here Parker?" I helped him up with an outstretched hand.
"Yeah I'm good! I should be able to get this open on my own now. Go back to the jet, or you know, if you want," he stuttered when he realized he gave me an order. It was funny how much he got flustered. I patted him on the back.
"You're a good kid Parker, go lift the gate," I smiled. But then I thought about my daughter, who was God knows where. And I went back to the plane.
"Buck it's been a few minutes, we have to prepare for the possibility that-"
I cut him off. "Don't say it! She'll be here."
Peter came back. "The gate's up. Now all we need is Auriana."
I paced for another few minutes, and Sam looked at the clock on the dashboard.
"That's minute nine! I'm gonna lift off!"
"No, she's gonna be back, I know it," I demanded that he stay on the ground for just a bit longer.
"No," Steve said. "She put me in charge. We have to follow orders."
I could feel the plane lifting off the ground.
"No, Sam, if you get us one more foot off the ground, I'll pummel you!" I yelled and charged to the cabin. Steve tried to pull me back, and when he had trouble controlling me, he yelled for the kid.
I was desperate, but Peter and Steve were two times stronger than me combined.
"No! Stop Sam! Natasha, come on you gotta help me here,"I started sobbing. Natasha came up to my face.
"Steve's right, Barnes. We have to go." Her face didn't show any emotion.
"What the hell is wrong with you? That's your daughter that's probably in real trouble somewhere. Why don't you care?"
I shook my head before she could answer and turned back around to the hatch. Sam lifted off the ground more and started to move us forward.
Just as I gave up hope that she would come, she burst through the door, panting heavily. She was holding Steve's shield and wearing a backpack.
"Sam stop the plane!" I yelled back.
"No man! How many times have I told you? We have to go!" He yelled over his shoulder.
"No, Sam she's here,"Steve yelled, smiling.
Sam slowed down the plane, but Auriana's eyes went wide.
"No, keep going!" She screamed. "They're coming!"
She started sprinting toward the plane, waving her arm to make us go forward. Sam must have heard her because he started going faster.
This was when I noticed that she was alone. Her friend wasn't with her, and her metal hand was coated in something dark.
"PETER GET THE SHIELD!" She shrieked. Peter perked up and stood at the edge of the gate. Auriana switched the shield to her metal hand, and hurled Steve's shield at the plane, and Peter caught it with his webs, and pulled it in the plane from the air.
"SAM HOW DO YOU WORK YOUR BACKPACK??" She screamed again.
"What?" Sam called over his shoulder. "Natasha fly the plane." He handed the wheel off to Nat, and came to the edge.
Auriana was now struggling to keep up. "HOW DO YOU USE THIS?" She ran harder, but now the jet was picking up speed.
"PUT YOUR ARMS IN THE SLOTS!" Sam yelled at her.
"WHAT SLOTS?"
"THE ONES ON THE SIDES!"
Steve turned to Sam.
"I don't remember you having slots on the suit."
Sam nodded. "It's the manual control just in case something like this might happen."
Suddenly the ground dropped away from under us. Of course we would be in a base right next to a ravine. And to add to the suspense of the situation, an army of HYDRA soldiers burst from the doors and started shooting. Auriana didn't see the cliff. She kept running and running, until she fell.
"AURIANA!" I almost jumped off after her, but Steve caught me.
"No Bucky,"he called, and pulled me back in.
I watched her fall, struggling to activate Sam's flight suit. I watched her fall with horror until I couldn't see her anymore.
A little bit of me died inside as Steve closed the hatch.
"Do you hear that?" Peter asked.
"Hear what?" Sam inquired.
"No, no I hear it too,"Steve held a finger in the air, signaling for everyone to be quiet.
"It sounds like screaming."
"Yeah."
"Wait,"I said. "Open the hatch."
Steve opened the hatch. The air ruffled all of our hair, and I had to pull mine back into a bun.
"Yeah that's definitely screaming," Sam said, looking around.
"Auriana?" Peter called.
"YEAH?" her voice came. I peeked up and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Where are you?"
"I'M ON TOP OF THE PLANE!"
I rushed over to the cockpit and pressed a button. All the cameras came up on a screen in the copilots seat.
A camera on top of the jet showed Auriana holding on for dear life to a handlebar, the wind whipping her hair out of the braid she had. The wings on Sam's backpack were blowing behind her. I clicked on that screen to enlarge it.
She was starting to slip.
"Okay, Queens," Steve addressed Peter. "When she lets go, catch her with your webs."
Peter nodded and stood by the hatch, ready for her to let go.
"Auriana, I need you to let go," Natasha turned on the speaker system so she could hear her.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?" She clenched her teeth, tired from all the effort.
"Yes, the kid is ready to catch you, you can trust him."
Auriana held on for a few seconds longer, until her fingers finally gave out.
"Peter, she let go!" I jumped up and ran to the edge.
Peter whipped out his webs the same millisecond that Auriana came into view. Luckily, they caught the backpack, and he pulled her in.
Steve closed the hatch as soon as Auriana was safe and in the jet. The wind stopped, and I could hear clearly again.
She lay on her back on the ground. I rushed up to her and helped her sit up.
"How did you do that?" I asked softly.
I decided not to ask her where Clara was. I had a feeling that it wasn't good.
"Are you okay?" Peter looked her over, his eyes resting on the stuff coating her hands.
"Yeah." She took off the backpack and handed it to Sam, who looked in disgust at the webs that coated it.
"I got the flash drive on Clara," Auriana said, still breathing heavily as she pulled out a little rectangle.
Steve took it from her and put it in his own pocket. "Are you sure you're okay?" He furrowed his eyebrows in concern.
"Yeah, I just reopened my stitches, but I think that's it," she winced when she tried to stand up. "Nope, that's definitely not it, everything hurts."
"Here Sam, get the first aid kit." I grabbed the kit from him and threw it open. Peter cleaned up her flesh arm and dried it off, then grabbed a needle and stitched Auriana's arm again.
"It's going to be okay Auriana," he whispered to her. "How are you doing?" Peter knew something was wrong too. Well, more wrong than things already were.
"I'm fine, quit asking me that!" she squeaked out.
"Hey," I tried to console her. "We're just worried about you."
"Yeah well don't. I don't need a dozen people breathing down my neck," she growled as she tried to get up again. However, this time she was successful.
"Where's the other girl?" Sam asked.
All of us turned to him, eyes wide and annoyed. He obviously didn't care about her feelings.
But Auriana just plainly said, "Oh she's dead."
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" Peter asked.
The girl turned around with a look that could kill, and Peter immediately backed away, scared.
"Yeah she's dead for good now, I made sure of that. Nobody talks to me until we get back to New York. I haven't slept in two days." She pulled down a bed from the wall and hoisted herself up with only her metal arm.
As soon as I was sure she was asleep, I turned to Sam and hit him over the head with my flesh arm.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I hissed. "You knew the answer, why did you ask?"
"I did not know the answer, her friend could still be alive, I wanted to know."
"You damn well knew the answer Sam, you did," I grumbled.
He shook his head. "I swear I didn't know, but even if I thought the answer was what it was, wouldn't it be useful to know for sure, just in case she wasn't dead?"
I stopped, unsure how to respond.
"Sam's right Bucky," Steve said softly. "We need to know for sure, so we know what to do with the future."
"Okay, stay here," I said, and headed to the cockpit to speak with Natasha.
She was manually flying the jet.
"What's up Soldier?" she said, trying to imitate a flirting tone. She kept her eyes focused on the sky in front of her. I hated how she always tried to sound so amused.
"I bet you heard everything that we said in there," I said, sitting in the copilot seat.
"Yeah I did. Sam's right."
"Oh my-Who's side are you on?" I would have yelled if Auriana weren't sleeping five feet away.
"I'm not on a side, I just think that Sam is right. We needed to prepare just in case we thought wrong, and we didn't, but what if we did?"
"Clara would be with her if she were alive. Auriana's not the kind of person to leave someone unless they're dead. She's a female Steve Rogers," I gestured back to where Steve was standing, and listening.
"How would you know? She hasn't talked to you the whole month she was at the tower."
"How would you know that she hasn't talked to me? I couldn't find you the entire time, it's not like you were there for her," I emphasized the "you."
"I watched her, and your desperate attempts to try and talk to her. I wouldn't try to talk to her once we get back to the tower either, because she's grieving. She needs to be taken care of, and maybe the best way to do that is to leave her alone."
I looked back at Steve, who nodded. "She's probably right, and I bet Peter can back me up on that."
   The kid looked up from his seat on the floor and took off his mask.
   "What can I do?"
   He was obviously exhausted, and he was still so willing to help us out. I admire his unending enthusiasm and devotion to us.
   "You spent the most time with Auriana since she first got here," Steve gripped his shield after being apart from it for days. "What can you tell us about her coping mechanisms?"
    Peter racked his brain through everyday that they spent together.
   "She was pretty private most of the time. She only just started on opening up before the HYDRA mission, and then when that was announced, she closed back down again."
   He looked back at her sleeping form. " I can't say I blame her. I mean look at what we just went through, and I don't think that was the worst of what she endured."
   "It wasn't," I growled and walked back into the cabin. "That was nothing. I can't tell you how many people I killed in that ring."
   Peter sighed. "Maybe we should give her space. I think then when she wants to open up, she will."