H A I L H Y D R A || J. B. Barnes

f i f t e e n

The Winter Soldier was hiding in a bar when it happened.

She hadn't thought anyone had seen her there but as she looked through her scope, it felt as if someone was watching her. The hair on the back of her neck stood and her instincts were never wrong. Suddenly, the asset pulled out her pistol and stood, turning to face the intruder.

A man stood there. He was jacked, his muscles barely contained inside his army uniform. He had black skin, a buzz cut, and a rifle in his hands.

The man surveyed Winter slowly, seemingly calm. "So, you're the one causing all the fuss out here?" He asked causally, not deterred by the gun pointed at him.

Winter was silent before charging straight for the man. She gave him no warning and no response. "Not much of a talker, are you?" He asked sarcastically as he threw his arms up in defence.

She thought it would be an easy fight. It usually was. But he was different.

The girl was surprised, they were going toe to toe. He was just as strong, if not stronger than her.

Each soldier got punches in on the other, they exchanged blows as the man hit Winter in the side and threw her against the bar.

He went for her again before she grabbed him by the neck. She strained and threw him as far away from herself as possible. The only advantage Winter had was her arm.

After another couple minutes of intense fighting and a knife that nicked the super soldier, Winter tried to run, lead him into another building where she could surprise him.

As she went for the stairs, the soldier caught her metal arm. Winter pulled as hard as she could and tried to use the metal to help her escape but he was angry.

He grunted and yelled with effort as Winter grabbed onto the railing to keep herself from falling. The man pulled as hard as he could on her metal arm with both of his. There was nothing she could do.

Winter yelled, feeling the force pulling at her shoulder. Each soldier was pulling in either direction when she felt her arm coming apart at the elbow. The metal was making clicking and bending noises as it was being pulled.

There was a mechanism built in for this. The man, thinking he was winning, pulled harder and suddenly he fell backward with the lower half of the Winter Soldier's arm.

Wires and sparks flew from the end of the arm, it twitched slightly. Winter, now free, ran upstairs. She ignored the intense pain in her shoulder, the burning of the nerves. Without the arm there was no way in hell she was going to win this fight. The sudden loss of the weight she was used to threw her off.

The man was just getting up as she saw an exit. There was a flag outside of the second story window. She knew her extraction was just across the line.

Winter heard the other soldier running up the stairs and pulled out her pistol. She shot the window out in front of her and then laid down cover fire behind, slowing the soldier down.

She dropped the gun and vaulted out of the broken window, grabbing onto the flag and using it to slide to the ground.

As soon as her feet landed on the ground, Winter braved a look up and saw the soldier looking down at her. Without wasting anymore time, she steadied herself and took off, getting a head start.