Leave Me Broken [Winter Soldier] II

Broken [Chapter 21]

"I don't think of all the misery, but of all the beauty that remains."

Anne Frank

          Ophelia was no stranger to death; she knew each symptom that arose from believing that she was going to die. The heightened senses always struck her; it was as if everything in front of her became so clear. Ahead the Quinjet sat, untouched and untarnished; the brilliant grey-silver seemed to gleam in the small amount of light that was let in. The crash of the rubble all around Ophelia boomed louder than Scott Lang's voice when he grew to immeasurable size. Each slab of concrete thundered down, each metal beam clattered violently; so loud that it felt as though it were crashing down upon Ophelia's head. In the air there was dust, and it dried the inside of her mouth, making her tongue feel numb, as though she couldn't call out and cry in pain. A combination of dust, sweat, smoke and a faint hint of gas filled Ophelia's nose.

          But these were not the senses of death; when Ophelia focused on what was actually happening instead of all the little things around her, she realized that she was on the ground, with her hands in front of her face to prevent her from hitting her head against the concrete. As she mentally studied each part of her body, she realized that she was not being crushed by the building, but half of her was underneath someone. A shuffle and a groan quickly followed, and she was released from someone's grip. She knew that it was Bucky; she knew that he had been aware that she wouldn't make it passed the falling building in time and so he turned back and grabbed her, and then pushed her ahead. He clambered over her as she rolled onto her back, feeling injured just enough to groan as she moved. But nothing was broken, and she was alive.

         "O." Bucky slid his hand underneath her head to ensure that there was no damage, his knees were on either side of her hips. "Are you okay? O, please."

          Ophelia tightened her eyelids, and then opened them to see Bucky above her. "Just a little bruised."

          He let out a sigh of relief, and grabbed her hand to pull her up. She winced, something was bruised on her left side, but she had suffered worse, and so she straightened up to appear as though she was indifferent to the pain. Ahead of them the Quinjet sat, but even closer to them, Natasha stood. Her arm was held out as it had been before, the electric bracelet pointed towards them. Ophelia knew that Natasha was going to use this against her; panic and fear mingled in her heart.

            But she was fully aware of what Bucky was willing to do to keep Ophelia safe, and if Ophelia was stopped, so was Bucky. She swallowed nervously, and watched as Bucky took a protective step in front of her.

         "You're not going to stop, are you?" she asked Steve as a friend, but there was disappointment in her voice. Whether it was in Steve or in herself, Ophelia didn't know.

          Steve shook his head, and Natasha sighed. "I'm going to regret this."

          The blast rippled from the bracelet, but it went beyond Steve, Bucky and Ophelia, and instead her shot hit T'Challa. The man was right behind them, and everyone was startled upon seeing him there. As he fought the pain of the electricity, but was forced to stop his pursuit to kill Bucky, the trio quickly rushed to the Quinjet. 

         Steve gave a thankful nod towards Natasha; she had seen both sides, and understood when to stop the fight. No one needed to die, no more people needed to suffer, and she saw that. A great swell of respect for her filled Ophelia as she rushed towards the jet. Just because they had fired it up and had punched in the coordinates for Siberia, did not mean that they were in the clear. Everyone else was still fighting out there, but if they were quick and smart about it, they could get out of range before Tony or Rhodes caught up. Once they were out of range, no one would know where they were going.