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There's a certain someone who is being held in SHIELD who is having a rather annoying tendency to escape: that's bad for morale, and also tends to get various hero figures killed. So SHIELD is making arrangements: they're moving him to a new, more secure location. Unfortunately, someone found out about the route they were taking — and made the Brotherhood of Mutants a deal they couldn't refuse. Rescue the prisoner, and not only will they get a bunch of Semtex for the blowing up of things (a favorite Brotherhood pastime), but also contacts with a similar organization in Russia. The Brotherhood, going international? Absolutely.
It's high noon and in the streets, the better to blend in, and a plain white van drives in along the street. All has gone to plan, so far. There's two agents in front, and four in the back guarding Bucky. Up ahead, unbeknown to the agents, two cars wait to either side of the street, ready to turn and block the way.
*
The Winter Soldier's finally in an actual prisoner's jumpsuit, dull orange. For some reason, his hair remains uncut….though he's clean and clean-shaven. He's been quieter and quieter the past few days, as if resigned to what he can sense coming. He hasn't spoken an unnecessary word in the past couple days….and he's sitting mutely, hands bound behind him, ankle cuffs just above his bare feet. He's looking dully at the floor of the van, head bowed.
*
As one of the few people who has been able to stop the Winter Soldier more than once, Ava was tapped to help out with this particular mission. It means, for once, that instead of being hidden in her usual oversized coat, she's wearing the modified white fencing jacket with the double red hour-glasses on it, her hair slicked back from her face and pistols and sabers in plain sight. It can be a little unsettling to those more used to seeing her being unobtrusive.
As the van rolls down the street, she sways with each bump and move, fingers twitching next to her weapons and eyes steady on Bucky.
*
In one of the two cars, Josh tilts his head over to Quick, the mutant in the passenger car. His skin is already metallic black, and he's otherwise wearing all black: it's as good a disguise as any, since someone describing his appearance in this look is… difficult. "Here's the plan. Once they give the signal, I'll get out, and you drag me along in as close to them as possible. Then … improveise. Don't kill them if you can avoid it."
Across the way, Stone— ostensibly the leader— sees the van, gives the sign, and both cars rush forward, crashing lightly in and Josh is hopping out.
Stone gets out as well: his nickname is well placed, for his body suddenly looks like its made of marbled red and black stone. With a roar, he leaps over his car and lands with a crunch nearby.
The van skids to a halt—
*
"You got it," Quick says. He puts pedal to the metal when Stone gives the sign, and he says, "Hold onto your hat, man." Because Quick has earned his name. Once the car screeches to a halt, the door opens, and he's got Josh in a one-armed hold, all in one fluid motion that doesn't stop there. He propels himself into motion, and there's a black blur dragging a Josh-shaped blur with him. He gets them right up as close to the van and stops, as a courtesy, before letting Josh go. Then he blurs back away.
*
The sound of the crash has Bucky's head coming up….and the Widow's companions are tensing. Safeties come off weapons, and at least one of them swings to point right between the Soldier's blank blue eyes. Bucky, however, looks genuinely confused….and actually somewhat fearful, shrinking back as much as his bonds permit.
*
Ava curses quietly under her breath in Russian, reaching back to put a blade in one hand and a pistol in the other as she steps toward the door. "What is the problem?" she calls up toward the driver's seat, bracing herself for an attack.
*
Standing just to the side by the side doors, out of obvious eye-sight except in the rear-view mirror, and there Josh waits.
Up front, the driver calls back, "Ambush! Mutants!"
And the reason why Stone was brought along becomes apparent: it takes him longer to run the length of the van, but he grabs the handle and pulls. He's not as strong as he looks, because it takes some time as metal whines and screams.
The passenger up front is quick with his gun, and Stone takes one in the shoulder: it penetrates, but not deeply. But the stone like skin does bleed. So he's not as invulnerable as he looks, either.
But that door does not last. Its ripped open, and there is the big Stone dude ready to play tank and look menacing.
*
Quick is already running around to Stone. After the gun goes off, he slips past and takes it from the passenger in a blur. "Put your hands up." Quick has a gleam in his eyes. "I always wanted to say that. Now, don't make any sudden moves. I got a twitchy trigger finger. Sudden moves make me nervous." He laughs quietly.
*
Well, of course Buck can't. But he looks past the rifle barrel more or less in his face, staring. "What the fuck are you doing here?" he demands, less terrified than kind of outraged, fear transmuted into anger. That's easier somehow. "I told you guys, I'm NOT a mutant!" Like they've set up this ambush just as a chance to hurl pro-mutant slurs at him.
*
"But I am." Normally, Ava tries very hard to hold in the energy that crackles inside of her. But under attack? That's a different story. She already has her pistol up, firing off a blast at Quick first. She has doubts about whether or not Stone is going to be vulnerable to an electric attack - or even a physical one, for that matter.
*
That's when Josh makes appearances, appearing at the side of the door and reaching around to grab the arm of the guard there— and there's a flash of golden glow, and the man slumps, dropping the gun he was lifting up to shoot at him. Stone isn't enough of a distraction that one of the others doesn't shoot at Josh though: he takes it in the shuolder, just shy of his heart. The blood runs free, and he staggers, but the wound is already healing.
Stone gets hit by multiple shots, but again: they wound him but do not penetrate enough to kill him outright. He's slowing, though.
*
Quick is, well, quick. His movements erratic. Until he stands still, gun in hand, laughing like he's not quite firing on all pistons. Then he's jerking as he's zapped. His arm comes up before he can squeeze the trigger. When he does, the bullet goes through the roof of the van. Quick twitches, teeth rattling. Even the twitching is fast, making him blur out of focus with the rapid movement.
*
This isn't good. Whatever they're here for, it has to do with him….and it doesn't look like the SHIELD agents are going to be able to help. Ava can see it happening, that blank fear transforming into something into something colder, calmer. There's a soft sound of metal being wrenched out of place, the slow scrape of plates….he's being held in cuffs designed for humans with two flesh and blood arms. How far can he deform the alloy wrist and hand to slip it out?….farther than one might expect, it seems. Even as he does, his eyes are doing towards the nearest gun - a pistol on an agent's hip.
*
Ava knows that look on Bucky's features. She's seen it far too many times. And it should probably be a warning to the Brotherhood agents that as soon as she sees it, she stops aiming at them. The blade goes back on her belt, the pistol slapped into a holster at her thigh, and then Ava is diving to intercept Bucky's reach for the other agent's gun. "Get clear!" she shouts at the same time.
*
The dark Elixir flings himself into the van. As Ava dives for Bucky, Josh takes advantage and dives for the man who shot him: and for it he gets shot again, this time in the gut, as the gun goes a bit wild after Ava's shout. Josh's hands land upon the man, and there is a golden glow out of his black eyes, and this agent too is dropped into a coma.
The driver finally manages to get out, get his gun trained and starts unloading some bullets into Stone, even as the man heads for him. A shot that might be luck or might be skill takes the tank in the eye, and said tank screams, reaching up to grab at his face. That should have killed him, but instead it maimed and half blinded him. But still. He's out for the moment.
*
Quick ain't so fast when he needs a moment to catch his bearings. He's out still, though not for much longer. The twitching starts to subside, and though he slumps to the ground, he's still got a grip on the gun, and as he gains some control over his features, they twist, and he gets up the gumption to blur to his feet. The guy who shot his friend has very, very little time to react before he's going to get a little quid pro quo.
*
Too late. As Ava gives her alert, the Soldier's hand is shooting out to grab her by the throat. Perhaps he's a slow learner….but in this case, rather than attempt the kind of grapple that'll have her shooting current through contact, he flings her out the open back of the van as fast as he can. Quick enough to add a little whiplash….and then he's blocking an agent's bullets with that metal arm, before reaching down to wrench the restraints off his ankles…..bringing them up as he straightens to catch the agent right in the jaw and cheek. Only then is he trying to pounce for that pistol, again.
*
Electricity sparks between Ava's fingers and over Bucky's arm as he grabs her, but the hold doesn't last long enough for her to strike a real blow. Instead, she goes flying through the air, hitting the pavement hard and skidding a few feet before she manages to twist her body and roll into a crouch at a distance.
She doesn't waste any time, though. If Bucky gets a weapon, people are going to get hurt. People are going to die. Ava launches herself back toward Bucky, a gun in one hand and a blade in the other, already firing bolts of electric energy at the Winter Soldier.
*
The driver falls dead after Quick's attack, and within the van, the last of the agents guarding the Winter Soldier goes down under the powerful low of that metal arm. They're almost through: almost done. Josh is weak from the wounds, the healing incomplete, but by forcing his adrenaline to surge on high he rises to his feet and looks around. "No!" he shouts when he sees Agent Ava take to shoot the target, and he's slipping out the side of the door and rushing towards her, black hand out. Can he knock her out before she takes him out?
*
Quick calls back to Stone, "Hey, what's going on back there?" He zeroes in on the passenger again. "Where was I? Oh, right, keep your damn hands up." He's shaking with adrenaline, blurring his lines of his form. "Oh, to hell with it." He shoots the passenger in the shoulder to keep him occupied, then turns to come around to the back. Whether it was meant to be a wounding shot or a killing shot is anyone's guess.
*
This is going better, relatively speaking, than his previous encounters with the Red Widow. The Soldier's got a pistol, snatched off that unfortunate SHIELD agent. And he's dodging, rolling, and basically pulling every trick in the book to make sure he doesn't get hit full on by those bolts. For someone who was protesting that he's not a mutant, he's sure fighting hard on their side. After all, anything that has him out of custody and free to seek a way out of the country….since it seems like these mutants want him alive, for the moment. Coming out of a roll, he fires at Ava, but it's far from precise as usual.
*
Ava has been focused on Bucky, but she's seen enough of the fight to know that she's suddenly on her own, against at least four attackers. Not the worst odds, but not very good ones when one of them is the Winter Soldier. And the fellow with the black hands? There haven't been enough gunshots to account for the whole team, which means whatever it is he can do, he's been doing it.
As Josh moves to intercept her, Ava drops to her knees, sliding low and striking upward with a blade that crackles with high-powered electricity. She keeps pressure on Bucky with more shots from the electric pistol, but she has her eyes on another downed agent…and their live ammo gun.
*
Really, its the gunshot to the belly that got him. Josh stumbles, and falls, and tries to roll into a cool, suave sort of way, but utterly fails at that, so grunts and flops a bit. There's golden light as he concentrates, waiting precious seconds there to heal the muscles that were torn open in his stomach, and then he's slowly rising to his feet, his black expression grim. He's gotta make it to Ava before she offs their target, but he's not doing so well!
*
Nothing like an unhinged speedster to take a delicate situation and screw it up. Fast. He whips around to the back of the van, gun in hand. A blur, then a man standing there pointing the gun at Ava, then Bucky, then back again. "Let him go," he tells the Agent. Then, "Lix, get up." It's how he shows concern, more or less.
*
One bolt takes Bucky in the leg, and he stumbles, swearing in Russian. As if that were the mother of all charlie horses. But he's not off his feet….and now he's taking his time aiming. If he can just knock Ava down before she takes him out…or these mutants turn their attentions to him. Who's it gonna be, Ava? The Soldier or this speedster?
*
Ava has to let go of her blade to take the live ammo gun from the downed agent. That takes a heartbeat. Then she aims. Another heartbeat. And in those two heartbeats, both Josh and Quick are headed toward her. Ava has one more heartbeat to make a decision. One heartbeat to weigh the wishes of the man in the alley, the soldier in the cell, who told her to end him before she let them take him again. And whether or not these people are the Red Room or someone else, if the Soldier isn't in SHIELD's hands, then he's a risk. And that's what James Buchanan Barnes asked her to stop.
One the third heartbeat, the gun aimed at Bucky's head fires.
*
Josh is *slow*. At least, compared to Quick, compared to bullets. He sees the gun rise and he saw the bullets reload, and all he can do is get a step closer. He saw her move her finger, and all he can do is get a step closer. By the time the next step is done as he reaches out for Ava, the bullet has already fired. Before he can touch her shoulder and send a thrill of power into her body to try to send her into what will later be remarked upon by Doctors as being remarkably similar to a medically induced coma, the bullet has long since crossed the space between her and her target. If he can get hands on her, she'll still see the outcome of her shot before passing out. Josh for all his power, is useless trapped between moments as he is.
*
Quick snarls and shoots at Ava a beat after she pulls the trigger. The bullet hits, and the question of his earlier shot is answered: it was an intended kill shot, he just tends to jerk to the right, hitting the shoulder instead of the heart. "Get him! Let's get out of here!" On the off chance the metal-armed bastard managed to survive that somehow.
*
There's a spray of scarlet mist and darker matter, his head lashing back with the impact. A moment where he's balanced between forward momentum, a half a step before the peripheral nerves catch up and go dark….and then he's collapsing forward and to the side, like a runner stumbling at the finish line, the gun slipping from his hand to go clattering onto the asphalt.
The entry wound's a discreet little circle of blood, but the exit….far messier. Not a survivable wound, not with so much missing. He shudders once, makes a little spastic motion with the metal hand….and then he's still. The last thing Ava sees before that coma descends is blue eyes gone blank and empty, the light dying out of them as she watches.
It's as he told her, in SHIELD HQ. She'll be the one able to boast that she killed the Winter Soldier.
*
Ava isn't going to be boasting about anything for a little bit. Doubtless the Director will have guards on her hospital room when - if - she wakes. Her body jerks as Quick takes his shot, the bullet slamming into her shoulder. That fencing jacket is designed for blades, not for bullets at close range. But the force of it knocks her back into Josh's hand, which drops her into the black. It's for the best; right now, she doesn't want to think about what she's done.
*
Despite all the violence, when Ava falls against him and Josh knocks her out, he lowers her to the ground gently. A hand goes to her bullet wound, and he hesitates. He sounds frustrated, "Sorry." he says to the unconscious woman, "I'd heal you but then you'd suspect I could heal him." He instead goes over to Stone, lifts a hand up to the big guy's head and holds it there, healing his eye before he cocks his head, "Go get his body. I'll bring him back at the safehouse." He nods to Quick, "Good work. This better be worth it. We're on the government's radar too much already."
*
"You'll see," Quick says, and he flashes Josh a too-bright smile. "We're going international after this." He offers a hand to Josh to help him up. "Let's beat feet, though. The heat's be here any minute now."
*
What's left of Bucky is an utter mess, of course. There's blood pooled around his head, a dark halo. Stone picks him up by the sodden collar, dragging him a foot or two before he picks up the Soldier's corpse, holding him in two hands before him…..all the better to keep some of the blood off him.
*
Ava's had her share of injuries from going up against the Winter Soldier. The bullet wound might be worse than the broken ribs and the dislocated shoulder. Or it might be about the same in balance. The knowledge of what she's done? That might just be the bigger wound once she's awake to think about it again.