Semper Fi Ch.8 (Captain America: TWS)

The Next Day

  Steve and I sit in the miniplane. Clint is flying it and I stand behind him, relaying our plan of attack to him so he can decide where to drop us. Steve has his hands folded and his elbows resting on his knees, his head low in either prayer or concentration.
 "You alright, Steve?" I ask. Steve nods and looks up at me.
 "A lot on my mind is all." He says.
 "I get it." I reply, "Just stick to the plan and we'll be alright." Steve stands up and starts pacing the length of the miniplane. Clint tells him to stop before he shoots him with an arrow. Steve sits down.

 Natasha is cleaning her gun at one of the seats. She isn't strapped in, but then again, neither are any of us, except Clint. Nat looks up when she sees me standing in front of her and she pats the seat beside her. I remove my pistol from it's holster and start to clean it.
 "You alright Diana?" Asks the spy. I nod.
 "I've been worse." I reply. She rolls her eyes.
 "So are you and Steve...?"
 "God in Heaven no." I say, sheathing my pistol. "He's sweet," I add, and I am very quiet as I speak. I hope Steve doesn't hear me. "But he's... I don't think he's my type."
 "Bullshit." Natasha replied, "He's exactly your type. You're a hardass Marine. You're a damn good soldier. And he's the Soldier."
 "It's more than that. I feel like I'm just... he's too nice. I don't know. He's too nice and I'm not good enough."
 "That's bullshit too." Natasha sighs. "Give him a chance. He's a good guy."
 "I was with Braddock you know. For a while in high school. We broke up when we both got in to the Marines."
 "Is that going to be an issue on this mission?" Asks the super spy. I shake my head and look to Steve who is strapping on his parachute.
 "I have a 'No dating colleagues' policy." I nod to Steve once and we jump out of the plane together.

 I am falling through the air and Steve is beside me. I spot the base and we make our way there; it isn't a long drop and soon we are deploying our chutes. We land silently and I am glad of it, I had a bad feeling about everything right now. I can rely only on myself. Steve had brought me up to speed on his status while I figured out what my enhancements had really done to me. We had a decent lead on the Winter Soldier, but we were told that our primary objective was to secure Braddock. It had to be hard on Steve. We ran through the woods towards the HYDRA base and knocked out the guards at the doors. I kept my pistol raised as we cleared each room. I could hear screams resonating from deeper in the base.
 "That's Braddock!" I yell.
 "How do you know?" Steve questions.
 "I organized his torture training." And with that, I made my way out of the current room and towards the sound of screaming. I waited at the door that seemed like the source of the screams for Steve and we entered the room together.

 Strapped in to a hospital bed was Braddock, with a man beside him. The man had long dark hair and a mask covering his mouth and cheeks. His eyes were wild, hunted and he had a metal arm. His gun shifted from Braddock to me.
 "Drop the gun and put your hands above your head." I order. The Winter Soldier eyes Steve, conflict and confusion evident in his eyes. I feel sorry for this man, trapped in a weapon called his mind. His hand shakes and the gun drops to the floor.
 "Braddock, are you alright?" I ask.
 "Diana?" He asks. I nod slowly and step forward carefully, glaring at Bucky until he backs off.
 "I'm here, Major." I reply. He opens his eyes and gasps in shock, his body convulsing and a scream erupting from his throat. I remove a syringe from my leg pouch and push the needle into his arm. It is an ample amount of liquid vicodin to dull his pain so we can escape. "Captain, I have Braddock if you will secure the second objective." I say, hitting the transmitter at my hip to call in the quinjet.He approaches Bucky and Bucky attacks, fists flying. Steve and he trade blows until finally, Steve catches Bucky slightly off guard and he hits him in the head and knocks him unconscious. I help Braddock to his feet and Steve hoists Bucky over his shoulders. Braddock hangs his head and I keep my pistol trained ahead of us incase we are ambushed. This base, for it's seemingly important stature, was poorly protected. We encountered only a few enemies who were easily dispatched. Our plane was waiting for us overhead and we stepped outside. A gurney is lowered to us when Steve shouts at me. I turn to see at least fifty HYDRA Agents facing us down with guns drawn. Braddock meets my eyes and he grabs my submachine gun from my hip. He stands on his own. He's grown taller and his already well muscled arms look even more toned. He is still weak, but he is fit enough to aid me. I nod to him and raise my pistol.
 "We accept your surrender." Says Braddock. I step in front of him because of my augmented suit and fire. He follows my lead. Steve holds the unconscious Bucky behind him and fires his own weapon. There is return fire from the HYDRA agents, but many of them fall when the guns on the quinjet are activated. I feel bullets bouncing off of my suit but one lucky one bores it's way in to the side of my neck. It hits Braddock, who stands behind me, in the shoulder and his arm jerks back. He shouts in pain and I make him fall back to the gurney. Steve follows suit as more HYDRA Agents come out of the base. The quinjet keeps firing as we pile on to the gurney and are raised up into it.

 Braddock immediately collapses. He clutches his shoulder to try and stop the bleeding. I check for an exit wound and am relieved to find one.
 "Hey," I say quietly. "How are you?"
 "Diana Calhoun. Never thought I'd see you again." Says Clay, "You're taller."
 "They gave me good drugs and I ate my veggies." I reply sarcastically. He smirks.
 "SHIELD... asked me who I thought should be in the Super Soldier Program.  I put your name forward." Clay sighed tiredly and I grab the medical kit. I clean his bullet wound and check for shrapnel. If there is any, I can't see it.
 "I took the offer. When I heard you were alive-,"
 "I know. I saw it on your face when you helped me up. Thank you, Diana. You saved my life. Not just today. But every time we've fought together. No hard feelings about Afghanistan either." With that, he does something shocking. He pulls my lips to his for a kiss. God, I had forgotten how good he was at that. I however, pull away from him, shaking my head.
 "You're drugged and exhausted. We'll talk more when you're at a hundred percent." I look to Steve. "Can you help me with this?" I ask, gesturing to my neck. He nods slowly, and I give him a quick once over to see if he is injured. He's got one small cut but other than that, he's well. Braddock eyes Steve carefully but eventually goes to one of the cots and lies down.

 Steve assesses that I will need stitches for my graze. It was pretty deep, and very, very close to my jugular. Any deeper, and I'd be beyond help. I'd choke on my own blood and drown in it, or bleed out before I could get help. He puts the sutures in ever so carefully. I need three in total.
 "How is Bucky?" I ask once he has finished.
 "He'll recover I think. He has some memory, he will just need time to come back from all the lies HYDRA told him." Steve explains.
 "I was a part of a special organization that dealt in brainwashing and torture. I'd like to offer my help with Bucky. Clay was a part of it too. He can help as well."
 "I'd like that." Steve replies with a curt nod. "So tell me about you and him."
 "We broke up when we found out we were both heading into the Marines." I tell him as I told Natasha. He nods slowly. "He's married. Has kids too."
 "I see." Steve says.