Buzzkill: The Reckoning

Chapter 29

The next few steps Ruth traveled felt as if she had suddenly stepped into an unknown realm. Each step first taken with caution, her confidence slowly building, crescendoing with her stride. The conductors strapped to her arms could be a time bomb, a foreign piece of equipment that could turn south in a second. But this was Hydra. She didn't need to worry about being nice.

She spotted them, two soldiers loaded with weapons in their arms and strapped to their backs. With her pistol gripped comfortably in her left hand, Ruth used the stacked carts and bins of equipment to her advantage as she took two steps to the top of a crate, jumping onto an incoming soldier's shoulders. In an instant, electricity flowed from her hands. She grabbed onto the side of the soldier's head to slam his skull with volts of energy, taking him out while using the added height to shoot at three more oncoming soldiers before the one beneath her fell to the ground.

The fight ensued with a growing determination. A rush swelled within Ruth that she hadn't felt in a long time. The mastery of her art that took her life to perfect flowed like a melody. The conductors on her skin felt as an extension of her body, the electricity flowing with endless ease. Each Hydra soldier that went down felt like a defiance to who she once was.

The docked ship stood just beyond her now. Using the stacked crates to her advantage, Ruth ran parallel along them, eyeing the ship between the gaps she ran past. Four more soldiers ahead, the rest in the ship. Take them out, blast the ship, help Bucky.

Turning the corner with momentum, Ruth slid to the ground while igniting electricity, sparks traveling along the ground beneath the two soldiers feet. Taking a step, Ruth grabbed the rifle of the soldier closest to her before he fell to the ground and fired bursts of ammunition towards the last two incoming soldiers in front of her.

Lifting the nose of her rifle towards the sky, Ruth jogged assuredly towards the docked jet, her other hand holding the smooth metal of a grenade. Igniting it, she hurled the grenade straight into the open jet loading door, only seconds later the jet blasting into a succession of flames.

Dread hit Ruth suddenly that maybe she had done too much, looking at the smoke and flames erupting in the air. Had she done too much? Is this what SHIELD did?

Ruth's stance shifted suddenly as the ground beneath her fell with a harsh jolt, the entire helicarrier deviating, tilting.

"What's going on?" Ruth called through the comms.

"They must have done something to the engines. We're tilting sideways," Tony announced.

"Make sure we stay in the air," Steve commanded.

Chatter continued through the comms, everyone giving updates on their position.

"I took out the first jet over here on the north side, headed towards Bucky's position now," Ruth announced. She ran across the long, flat stretch of the hull with careful balance, the plane slanted beneath her feet.

Ruth spotted Bucky not too far from her, his hands full with incoming soldiers. He sat behind a stack of crates, using them as a bunker to shoot his rifle from a fixed distance. In a final blow only moments later, Bucky loaded a grenade into his rifle and launched it at the Hydra jet, exploding it into a heap of flames and clouds of smoke.

Ruth's jog slowed as a wave of relief and excitement filled her, Bucky changing the magazine in his rifle.

A shadow appearing as a sudden fog, a rogue Hydra soldier made his way to Bucky as Bucky stepped out from the crates. Catching him from behind, without even a weapon out in his hand, the solider grabbed Bucky, wrapped his arm around and held Bucky's neck in the crook of his elbow and spoke close to his ear.

Ruth watched from a horrible distance as Bucky collapsed to the ground, out like a light.

"Bucky?" Ruth exclaimed as she ran full sprint towards them, bewildered at how this could've happened.

The soldier grabbed onto Bucky's collar, and with all his strength, threw Bucky towards the edge of the carrier, the tilt making Bucky only continue to slide at a dangerous rate.

"James!" Ruth exclaimed louder, desperate to reach him before it was too late. Quickly aiming her rifle, Ruth shot the Hydra soldier who threw Bucky.

Ruth tossed the gun aside, sprinting full pelt for Bucky's unconscious body sliding helplessly towards the edge.

Her heart raced with a dread that sunk to her core. Only a few feet separated them. She was so close. He was so close. The edge of the carrier, the barrier between life and death approached way too fast.

Ruth dove, reaching her arms out as far as she could to grasp even the smallest piece of fabric from his collar. To grab the smallest part to hold on to something she couldn't afford to lose.

Her hands just grasped the back of his coat as her body slammed against the ground, her grip strong as she held onto him for dear life. But the momentum was too fast, the tilt of the helicarrier continuing to hurl both Ruth and Bucky off the edge.

Ruth desperately, quickly scattered her feet across the ground, trying to hang on to something that would keep them aboard. But the edge came too soon, a rush of air pushed towards Ruth's face. Her heart slowed as Bucky's body slid out into the open air, the loud, thundering engines surrounding them. But Ruth wasn't going to let go of him. As they both left the safety of the ground for the helpless gusts of the wind, all that went through Ruth's mind was to hold on.

To hold on no matter what.