Leave Me Bleeding [Winter Soldier] I

Death Becomes Her [Chapter 20]

"How can so much beauty hide such a bruised and steely heart, and why must I love him,"

-Anne Rice's "The Vampire Armand"

               There was a silence that wrapped around her, despite the chaos going on all around her on the other helicarriers. A cumbersome feeling placed itself upon Ophelia's heart, and she laid in her agony. It wasn't the broken ribs or the bullet wounds, it wasn't the aching pain in her head from hitting the glass. No, this was a different kind of agony. She could handle the physical pain better than most, she'd been through so much of it in her life, it was almost an expectation every time she was woken from her icy slumber.

              It was the pain of knowing that she had accepted the most human trait of all, love, and the person she loved was no human at all. 

              As Steve had asked before if she were human, based on the simple fact that she was HYDRA, she knew now that she was never human under HYDRA's watch. They made sure of that, and it was more painful understanding what it meant to be human. 

                The fact that Bucky had not come down to finish the job- Ophelia confirmed this as she had been lying there for a while- made the woman wonder if he was evading the issue and pretending as though she were dead. Or maybe he knew that she was close enough to dead and could not complete the job. 

             She had no doubt in her mind that he went after Steve and Sam next, and she had no idea if Sam was still alive. There were three of them fighting this war, while Natasha, Fury and Hill were tackling the other side of it. But was it going to be enough? HYDRA was obviously aware that Steve wouldn't stand for something like Project Insight with or without Zola's algorithm. Surely they would have prepared for him and many others to fight this; or perhaps they thought it would go over without the hiccups they had faced because of Steve, and relied on the helicarriers to do the work for them. He would be one of the first targets, after all.

                She caught her breath, and spent enough time lying down. Finally able to, she pushed her fragile and broken body up into a crawl position and glanced around. There were no guards around, that was good. But she was at the bottom of the semi-sphere and without her strength there was almost no way for her to make it to the micro-chip location. It loomed over her, as if taunting her.

            Groaning, Ophelia pulled herself into a stand, shakily taking a few steps. The fall that had taken the air from her lungs was probably the reason she was still alive; if the Winter Soldier had seen her rise up after her jump, he would have put a bullet in her head. She glanced up at the destination she had to reach, and regretted it instantly. A cry of pain slipped from her lips; her ribs felt as though they were being ripped right out of her, tearing through muscle and flesh. 

             However, there was a glimmer of hope when she heard the soft footsteps, they did not have that slow, insidiousness to them. Steve had made it to the final helicarrier, and with him he brought the hope that Ophelia needed to aid her pain. Looking up at him, she smiled faintly. He crouched down as she fumbled weakly, dropping to her knees. She dug through her little pouch and pulled out the chip, slightly bloodied from the carnage upon her hands. Her wounds throbbed, her entire body throbbed, but now that Steve was here, Ophelia had hope.

                "Ophelia, we're going to get you out of here, you'll be okay," he said confidently, but Ophelia was not convinced. "Once I put the chip in, I'm going to come back and get you out of here. We won't have more than five minutes before these carriers are blown to bits. We don't have Sam in the air anymore but..."