The Winter Warrior // Captain America

«Chapter 21»

T H I R D   P E R S O N   P O V

The chip slipped from Anna's hand and fell to the floor. Steve released her limp body from his arms and he snatched the chip from the ground, running to put it in place. There was not a lot of time left, so he had to hurry.

As soon as Steve had reached the floor of the computer where he needed to put the chip, a gunshot sounded through the air and a bullet pierced the back of Steve's thigh. He groaned and sank to the ground, glancing over his shoulder. Anna had woken up and she had gotten a hold of one of her guns again.

As Steve started to climb, she fired another shot, hitting him in the back. He pulled out the chip, but before he could put it in place, a third bullet hit his shoulder. He fell to the floor. 

A trail of smoke came from the barrel of Anna's gun, and she grinned to herself. 

The ground under her feet started to tremble, and she looked up, seeing the helicarriers had opened fire on one another. She jumped aside to dodge a falling piece of metal, only to be smacked down by a steel beam. 

She let out a pained scream as her dislocated arm was trapped under the beam. She couldn't move, and every inch of her body was screaming in pain. The beam pressed on her lungs, and she felt herself get lightheaded. 

Steve let himself fall to the floor she was on because even with a stabwound and three bullets in his body, he was not going to leave his little sister behind. 

He fought to help her lift the beam from her injured body, but even with two people, the beam was heavy. It slowly lifted up enough to release Anna, and she crawled out from under it, feeling relief in properly breathing again.

She caught her breath for a second before her mind switched back to her mission: Killing the man in front of her. 

"You know me," Steve told her.

"No, I don't!" she screamed, whacking him away from her with her metal arm.

"Anna," Steve breathed desperately, hoping to trigger something in her mind. "You've known me your whole life. You know Bucky Barnes." 

Anna panted heavily before punching him in the face, making him fall to the floor. Her body was starting to give in, and her mind was flashing bits of what she thought were memories. 

"Your name... is Anna... Sarah... Rogers," Steve said. 

"Shut up!" Anna shouted angrily, kicking him away.

Steve took off his mask as he stumbled to his feet. "I'm not gonna fight you," he said, releasing his hold on his shield. It fell through a crack in the glass they were standing on and vanished. "You're my sister. My family." 

Anna stared at him for a moment before charging forward, taking both of them down to the ground. Steve's head hung over the edge as she hovered over him, keeping him to the floor. He didn't struggle one bit. He had given up, she realised. 

"You're my mission," she growled lowly before landing multiple punches in his face with her metal fist. His face bruised and started to bleed, but he didn't fight her. "You're! My! Mission!"

She raised her fist and prepared for the final blow. "Then finish it," Steve mumbled. "Cause I'm with you till the end of the line." 

Her breathing quickened and her head felt like it was spinning. Steve. Her brother. Bucky. Her friend. She hurt them.

She slowly lowered her fist as tears filled her eyes.

A piece of debris hit the glass they were on, and Steve plummeted down to the water below them. Anna was in time to hold onto the metal, but upon seeing his limp body hitting the water, she let go and dove after him.

The water pricked her eyes as she swam after Steve. She finally reached him and tightly grabbed the collar of his uniform as she fought her way back to the surface, not letting go of her brother's body.

She kicked and panted to stay afloat as her metal arm wanted to drag her into the deep abyss of the river. She made it to the shore, where she dragged Steve onto the sand. He slowly started to move, but he didn't open his eyes. Anna wasn't going to wait for him to fully wake up. All she knew, was that he was alive.

Her side stung with pain, and she turned around, leaving Steve behind. 

She had no idea where she was, or where she was going to go. She sank down behind a set of bushes and pulled out a knife. The final weapon she had left. She ripped a piece of cloth from her jacket and put it in her mouth before tracing the knife along her forearm. Four inches. Not too deep, but not too shallow either. The small, silver device was revealed, and she quickly fished it out, crushing it in her metal hand. A tracker. 

She anxiously looked around before wrapping the cloth around the wound. She then gripped her shoulder and yanked it forward, feeling her shoulder pop back into place. She groaned and bit down on her teeth, but the pain quickly subsided and left just a dull ache. 

She closed her eyes and rested her head against the trunk of a tree as she caught her breath. She had to get out of here before HYDRA came looking for her. She couldn't go back there.

She fought her way out of her black, leather uniform and left just her cargo pants and a tank top that she wore underneath the jacket. She had to figure out a way to hide her arm. She carefully exited the bushes and entered an empty shopping district. It had probably been evacuated, she figured. 

She snuck to the back of one of the clothing stores and found the backdoor was unlocked. She walked straight into their storage and swapped the bloody and torn clothes she was wearing for black jeans, a black t-shirt and a deep green jean jacket. She also added a matching green baseball cap after putting her hair in a low ponytail that lay flat on her back. 

In her head, she repeated the words Steve had told her. 

Her name, Anna Sarah Rogers.

Her brother, Steve Rogers. Her family. 

Her friend, Bucky Barnes.

She quickly discovered she was in Washington DC and after locating an internet cafe, she logged into the computer. All those years with HYDRA taught her several skills, including hacking and computer programming. 

She opened an internet page and typed, 'Steve Rogers'. Several pages popped up, and she learned he was Captain America. There was an exhibition on him at the Smithsonian museum. 

She wrote the address on her flesh hand before heading in the direction of the museum. She snuck inside without anyone seeing her face. She couldn't risk anything. HYDRA was still out there, and she needed to be careful.

The exhibition didn't really teach her anything, they just resurfaced the memories in the back of her mind that had been trapped inside. She was born on December 28 in 1922. Her parents, Sarah and Joseph Rogers, had passed away when she was young, she had never even known her father. 

Her brother, Steve, was four years older than her. She had been in the army, serving with Peggy Carter, one of the founding members of SHIELD. Bucky Barnes had been her best friend since childhood, and his piercing blue eyes on the picture made her heart flutter.