The ghosts we hide (Winter Soldier x OC)

Forty four

"He's here alright, just not in the building."

Bucky narrows his eyes at me, confusion painted upon his sweating features. His mouth opens to question me but Stark beats him to it.

"Yeah, Nyx, you're gonna have to elaborate on that one."

"Think about it." I rush out, anxiety building in my veins as the many dark shapes of Hydra agents disappear into the trees. "Why would Ilenova, a man who knows full well we're here for him, hide in a confined space with limited exits when he could hide in plain sight."

In every movie you see, the foot soldiers always look the same, able to be taken out easily and disregarded. We wouldn't even think to start checking the Hydra agents outside when the building is being protected from the inside.

"He's one of the soldiers retreating." Stark realises out loud, finally stumbling upon the same cognizance as I did moments earlier.

"Shit." Steve hisses.

"Uh, hey Rogers, that's a bad language word." Nat's voice comes over the comms, unable to refuse the opportunity to tease Steve despite the grave situation.

"We'd better start rounding up the agents then." Tony grunts, the sound of something exploding echoing in the background. A moment later, the safe house emits a blinding flash as an explosion obliterates the wall closest to me.

I sure hope everyone was out.

"Remember, we need him alive." Comes Steve's warning, but I'm already sprinting toward the jungle, Bucky at my side.

The super soldier is faster than me, but only just. He reaches the tree line a few seconds before me, slowing his pace and readying his gun. We move apart then, opening about fifteen metres between us.

All senses are on high alert, one of my spare pistols clutched firmly in my grip as I scamper as swiftly as I dare through the forest. It's silent all around except for Bucky's footsteps to my left, and even they are quiet.

I'll always marvel at how such a hulking figure can leave behind such little noise.

The lack of bird calls and insects chirping is chilling, betraying the real danger the trees conceal. Animals can always sense these things.

We jog for five minutes before the first shot rings out.

The trunk next to my head explodes in a cloud of splinters, sticking in my hair as I sink to the floor behind another tree. More pellets hit the undergrowth around me, the same with Bucky, though neither get particularly close.

I take a quick breath in before peering cautiously around my cover, spotting two black shapes in the forest ahead then ducking back again as shots pepper the leaves to my left.

Two soldiers - one each.

I catch Bucky's eye as he leans back against a trunk, light machine gun gripped firmly between flesh and metal. His bruised jaw is set in a grim line, teeth clenched firmly.

We nod once in sync.

Twigs dig maliciously into my back as I roll to the right, pistol firing as I go. The bullets aimed at me soon stop as a man lets out a low grunt, my own pellet hitting him perfectly in the shoulder. Wasting no time, I scramble to my feet and charge at the soldier before he can recover from the injury.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Bucky running towards his own target.

The Hydra soldier tries pathetically to aim his gun with his left hand, but it's not use, any success he might have had ruined by the intense pain in his right shoulder. I'm on him in an instant, kicking the gun from his shaking palm and forcing him flat on his back with a knee on his chest.