[Quiet in the Chaos]

~8~

                                    ~8~

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HIS SCREAMS echo in her brain, her mind still scarred with the images of his rigid body being stripped of any memories threatening to spill to the surface. Her own body throbbed mercilessly, having being welcomed back to a beating, after all, she had interfered with their most prized asset.

No matter how much she wanted to, she didn't allow herself to beg for their mercy. She had before, she wouldn't do it again. When he emerged, the troubled and distant gaze in his eyes was gone, Bucky was gone.

All that was left was Winter.

A similar mask to the soldier's is tied onto her face, a result of her outbursts. She had been pushed into a cell as the soldier left to complete HYDRA's mission. Only now does she have time to dwell on the intense pain pulsing through her body.

"Solovey."

Tiredly, she brings her eyes up to meet one of the STRIKE members'. She blinks, unbothered to resist, knowing it would only result in her harm. She allows herself to be pulled onto her feet, his hand on the back of her bruised neck as he guides her forward down the hall.

She blinks, her concussion still playing with her vision slightly. She winces as the sun hits her, the brightness causing a dull throb in her head. She swallows, her mouth dry.

She's lifted into a van, shoved down between two soldiers. Her head hangs slightly as the van starts. It makes sense, she guesses. If Steve and Nat succeed, the locations of HYDRA bases will be released.

She sways slightly as the van moves, purposefully leaning slightly against one of the guards, her eyelids drooping. She lolls forward, a gloved hand reaching forward to grasp her arm.

She swings around, grasping his wrist in her cuffed hands and tugging him forward. She meets his forehead with her shoulder. A slight whimper leaves her lips, pain from her earlier beating screaming through her bones. She bites her lip, tugging a knife from the man's holster, she turns, bouncing with her cuffed wrists to stab his thigh. He cries out, falling to the floor as a blade comes against her neck. She pauses, before throwing her head backwards into his nose.

He breaks his hold and she propels herself backwards, her knife embedding itself in his stomach. At the same time, she brings both boots to meet the first man's nose, rendering him unconscious.

She crouches down to pull the key from his waistband, opening her cuffs. A muffled call is heard from the driver's seat and she curses under her breath. She pulls up the man's gun into her hands, sending her foot into the conscious man's head.