Gold to Airy Thinness Beat

Chapter Forty-Three

In the end, Stephanie cleared out the entire ship.

Hydra kept coming at her, and she kept putting them down. The first wave was the easiest. Whether they simply didn't realize she was back in control, thought she was confused, or some combination of the two she didn't know.

It worked in her favor either way.

They ran right at her. She sent the shield at them with a viciousness completely unlike her but very much in line with the monster Schmidt had turned her into, and watched with at least some satisfaction as it carved a path right through the oncoming soldiers.

The path lined up with the fissures currently blistering their way through her heart and soul.

She'd barely survived when she'd thought Bucky was dead.

She wasn't going to survive at all now that she knew it.

She couldn't, not now, not with her emotions back in full force when she hadn't felt them in true depth for so long. Not when her mind still felt fractured; her memories still scattered and chaotic. Not when the guilt and horror of everything she'd been forced to do while under Schmidt's control was screaming at her.

Not when she had a bone deep terror of Schmidt retaking control when she knew Bucky was the only one who had any hope of reaching her, or stopping her.

He wasn't just the other half of her soul anymore. He was her surety, the only thing keeping her grounded in the face of what she'd been forced to do, and could still be forced to do.

She couldn't make it without him.

She didn't want to make it without him.

Part of her wanted to give into the waves of grief cresting over her, just curl into a ball and forget about everything.

Only a part of her though.

The rest couldn't accept the idea that doing so would mean allowing Hydra, the organization that killed her husband, to win.

In front of her, the remaining soldiers had finally wised up and taken cover.

It didn't save them.

The gun in her holster was empty and she didn't have any ammunition on her but, fortunately, the bodies sprawled about her had plenty of weapons and ammunition.

It wasn't long before the only one left standing on the ship was her.

And one other.

***

The bridge appeared empty.

Stephanie wasn't stupid enough to believe it really was.

She stood still, listening. Her shoulder felt like it was on fire, pain radiating out in waves. She'd paid little attention to it during the fight below and was paying the price for it.

She didn't care.

It was nothing compared to the pain of Bucky not being there. She'd taken a few hits in her battle, some of which she could feel bleeding even then. The worst wound, however, was one no one could see. That was the gaping hole inside where Bucky had been, and she was slowly bleeding out from it. It might not be a physical wound but the end would be the same.

She didn't cry.

If she did, she would never stop.

A footstep, and she turned as Schmidt moved out from behind a pillar, a weapon clutched in his hand.

"Longing," he said shortly and she sneered even as her heart jolted with fear.

"You have no idea." She threw the shield, the disc obliterating the weapon in his hand and knocking him back against the wall. It rebounded off a nearby pillar and came back to her, the straps sliding easily onto her arm. "You know," she said conversationally, walking up the steps to where Schmidt was getting back to his feet. "You really should have made that list shorter, because I'm going to kill you before you get all the way through it."