Chapter 12 - Fiery Blaze

Harlow wiped the sweat from her brow, glaring daggers at Bucky. Every part of her body was on fire after the hour training session they had just done. Their training sessions were a great distraction from the looming threat of Hydra. The tension between Bucky and Harlow had grown. His touch lingered during moments of the session and Harlow found herself distracted at times causing her to lose balance and tap out. She wondered if he felt the same. If he could feel her breath hitch when he would grab her waist in order to haul her up and throw her down onto the mat. They had promised to talk about what was happening between them but as the session came to a close Harlow found herself nervous."You did well today, you're getting stronger," Bucky said catching his breath."My arms feel like they're about to fall off" she puffed.Bucky shot her a smile and she turned her back on him, ripping the velcro from her boxing gloves."You've improved a lot since we started, be proud of that" He stated, setting down the kick shield Harlow had been battering for the past half an hour."Aw thanks teach" she grinned, unwrapping the tape from her right hand."Thanks for letting me use you as a scapegoat back at the meeting, it was hard seeing the uniform and the shield on that asshole" he admitted with a small smile."It's okay, glad to help"."I feel good when I'm with you. Safe, I haven't felt that in a long time. Just wanted you to know that," he said, barely looking at her now.Bucky was nervous, not something she usually saw. But as he couldn't take his eyes off the ground it was obvious.She smiled at him softly, "Weird, seeing how this all started" she replied. "Whatever happens with John Walker, I've got your back with whatever you decide to do," Harlow said, turning to pack away her gloves in the crate at the back of the training room. It wasn't as grand as Wakanda but it was enough to get by."I'm with you til the end of the line" Bucky whispered to himself."What?" Harlow turned, confused."That's what we used to say to each other, Steve and I, whenever things weren't looking too good, we used to remind each other we'd always have each other's backs" Bucky went silent for a moment, his eyes glassy, "Until he left me behind".Harlow stood staring at Bucky, a bucket of emotions had washed over her but pity had pushed its way through to the top spot."I think I need to go Harlow" he finally spoke again.Harlow didn't even let her thoughts process before she was closing the gap between them and placed her hands on either side of his face, "Don't push me away Bucky, please".Bucky's jaw tightened and after a minute he nodded his head. Harlow looked up into his eyes and smiled sweetly, she could see his pain dancing behind his eyes, he missed Steve.Harlow felt a brief moment of anger towards Steve whenever she saw Bucky like this. None of this was fair."Sorry, hope I'm not interrupting" a voice called out and Harlow and Bucky broke apart to see John Walker standing at the door.Harlow's face dropped and Bucky stared, she could see his metal fist tighten."What do you want?" she called out, stepping forward, almost shielding Bucky from his sight despite him being a head taller than her."We're working this case whether you like it or not and fighting amongst ourselves isn't going to help" John stated."We were doing fine," Bucky said taking a step forward to join Harlow's side.Sam and another man came walking up the hallway towards them. Both looked as happy as if someone had shit in their breakfast. Sam made his way around John, standing off to the side while the other man stood beside John."Really?" John asked, "Is that why Hydra had been able to hide their base of operations in Germany for years or the fact they used the distraction of the summit in Seattle to weave their way into France, and let's not forget that they already have another base here in the US, in the very heart of Washington. The President has been moved to a secure location on my orders but everything is fine according to you!" John raised his voice, rounding out his point.Harlow agreed, to an extent. Things were indeed not fine. Hydra was an ant nest, it might have looked small on the surface but underneath and behind the shadows their numbers were growing and so was their nest. Branching out all over the world, slowly but surely and they were the only ones that were meant to stop them.However, this guy was not the answer, he was cocky and boastful, a shell of what Steve Rogers was. His plan would be to run in guns blazing believing Hydra would throw down their weapons because America told them to like that was meant to scare them."This sneaking around, planting chips in computers is getting nowhere, we need to strike when they least expect it, head-on with no remorse" John interrupted her thoughts.Yep. Run in guns blazing, America fuck yeah style.Harlow almost giggled, she stopped herself worried about what the reaction would be."Not very Captain America of you, Walker" Harlow piped up, confusion acting like a mask but she really just wanted a rise out of him. "Also did you forget the Blip that wiped out half of humanity for 5 years, Hydra has no concern for anyone so while everyone else was sitting around grieving for their loved ones, it was easy for what remained of Hydra to burrow deep into society again" she added, almost grinning."That's a good point Harlow." the man standing next to John suddenly spoke.John shot him a look of annoyance and the man patted him on the shoulder. "Anyway, Hi my name is Lemar, I'm John's partner. I understand there is some tension with what is going on but I know some people that could potentially help us weed out Hydra from France. They're so busy infiltrating the US right now, it would be easy to take back their smaller bases right out from under them" he continued."And leave America defenseless!" John cried out, shocked at what his partner had suggested."For now, yes but like you said the President is safe. Hydra gets their power from having ties, cut the ties and they start to become vulnerable. We can't hit them head on we don't have the numbers, we need to be smart about this" he said, turning to his friend.So this guy is the Jiminy Cricket to Walker's Pinocchio."When do we leave?" Sam asked, slightly agreeing with Lemar at least.____________________________________________________________________________They arrived at the flight carrier, the weather taking a turn for the worse as the sky had opened up, soaking them as soon as they stepped out of the rover.Harlow shivered, taking a seat on the jet while Bucky and Sam settled in the seats in front of her, leaving John and Lemar to take the chairs opposite the aisle of the plane. John shot Harlow a smile before sitting down causing her to roll her eyes and focus on the small window next to her. Harlow could feel Bucky's eyes burning into the side of her face, they hadn't had a chance to speak since their session was interrupted. The tension was thick in the air and the silence felt heavy.An hour into the flight, Lemar broke Harlow's focus on the window and her avoidance of Bucky's stare."So Harlow is there anything you can tell us about Hydra," he asked."Just because she was in Hydra doesn't mean she knows what they're up to now" Sam butted in, clearly not in the mood to hear the two men's input into the situation."Anything would be a big help, seeing how Fury has cleared you as a possible spy" John added but Harlow felt it as prying more than anything."Aw that's nice of him, Shield has a funny way of treating their allies because I never would have guessed that I had been cleared" she answered bitterly. "Is it even called Shield now?" her question pointed towards Sam and Bucky."What use are you to this operation then, you can't provide us information, no special skills, did we need a pretty face to round out this mission then?" John almost scoffed as if he thought Harlow was nothing compared to the rest of them."I'm a fighter" Harlow stated bluntly."Who couldn't even best Hydra's last assassin" John replied."You talk a big game for someone who hasn't fought me" Bucky added, his temper rising."We could always test that theory out then," John said, standing abruptly, puffing out his chest in the process. Bucky laughed standing eye-to-eye with Walker,"Believe me when I say I will throw you right out of this plane, I hope that shield doesn't weigh you down when you hit the water, wouldn't that be a pity" his chuckle was dark, eying Walker up and down. Harlow was surprised the tension could get any worse than it already was."I think both of you need to sit your ass down so I can enjoy what little silence there was on this flight," Sam said, stepping in between the two men, his hand brushing against their chests.All of a sudden, the plane jolted. Throwing them all off their feet. Harlow looked up to see John holding Lemar, his head was gushing from a cut he received from hitting the table. Bucky and Sam tried everything they could to stand as the plane rocked from side to side. She grabbed onto the seat to try and push off from the ground, as she got to her knees she saw that one of the wind turbines had gone up in a fiery blaze, the windows had been blown open, and glass was now in shards all over the plane's floor.Through the fire, people dressed in black gear had landed on the wing of the plane and were making their way to the doors, in their hands were all kinds of equipment, battering rams, and explosives, they were being invaded. Some of the men had already burst through an opening from the initial hit, going straight for Bucky and Sam. Harlow watched on in horror still trying to regain her balance.The plane was descending fast and Harlow was thrown to the ground by one of the men that had come through a part of the plane that had been blasted open behind her. He landed a kick to her face as she struggled to breathe.Harlow's head was ringing and her hearing had become muffled, she saw Bucky fighting off one of the masked men, he sent a hard blow into the man's face and crushed his goggles to pieces.Sam had appeared at Harlow's side, grabbing the man off of her and throwing him into the rest of the seats that remained intact from the blasts, Sam grabbed her limp body around her waist to pull her away from the fighting."Bucky!" Sam yelled, moving them both to an opening of the plane, preparing to jump."Go!" Bucky called out, "Get Harlow out of here, I'm right behind you!" he shouted, landing a punch to a man on his right as another jumped him from behind."I'm not leaving you!" Sam yelled, deploying Redwing to fend off some of the men while his hands were full."Go!" Bucky called out one final time.Sam had no choice but to obey his wishes as John and Lemar had already fled from the condemned aircraft, Sam picked Harlow up and rushed to the opening, giving Bucky one last look before leaping out of the plane, his wings deployed at the last couple seconds before hitting the water making the impact a bit more bearable.Harlow shot up gasping and choking, nearly hitting Sam in the process. Luckily the plane had been passing a small island when it went down."What happened?" she gurgled through bits of seawater. Sam sat at her side on the wet sand looking worried."The plane was attacked, we needed to jump" he murmured to her but his eyes were fixed on John dragging Lemar to shore and then looking towards the wreckage that was their plane sinking into the water. Two more jets hovered above the wreckage before taking off, Harlow suspected that's how the men were able to board their plane."Bucky?" she asked.He didn't reply, his gaze still set on the wreckage."Sam! Where is Bucky?" she yelled, despite being so close to him. She turned in terror to watch the plane sink."Harlow" he whispered looking at her with wide eyes. "He hasn't come to shore".Harlow started to shake her head, tears threatening to break through to the surface."I don't know where he is" he swallowed hard.