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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭

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Allie had barely managed to blink before Bucky had kicked over the silver canister to Steve. The smokey mist disappearing under his iconic blue, red, and silver shield with perfect timing. Just managing to contain the blast that would have enveloped all four fugitives into a thick cloud of smoke. Leaving them defenceless against the armed forces outside that were willing to take them in dead or alive.

Almost instantly, Allie's survival instinct kicked in. She swiftly slipped out of Bucky's protective grasp and sprinted over to their kitchen table, flipped the piece of furniture in front of the door. Acting as a temporary barricade that would hopefully give them all a few extra minutes to prepare themselves for the fight that was to ensue.

Her anxious eyes flicked over to Bucky's striking cobalt ones, staring at him wordlessly but trying to convey her concern. He stared back at her with equal apprehension, giving her a sharp nod that roughly translated to we've got this, don't worry. But neither of them entirely believed it.

"Watch out!"

Their moment was harshly broken when the task force shot in through the covered windows. The sound of cracking glass echoing into the room as the heavily armed soldiers lifted their guns and aimed at the quartette.

On her left, Bucky didn't hesitate before he sent his glimmering silver arm into the face of one of the soldiers. His poor body smashing into the wall of the kitchen before he crippled to the floor.

By her right, Steve swiftly swept the carpet out of one of the soldier's feet. Leaving the man to pull down the trigger of his gun and send a cascade of bullets into the walls and roof as he fell. Thankfully missing the four fugitives bodies.

Behind her, Melaina hand's were moving in a frenzy, reminding Allie of an addict during a crack hallucination. Balls of pure darkness materializing in the air and flying towards the German soldiers like they were going at the speed of light.

Or darkness should she say.

Hearing the almost imperceptible sound of a person breathing behind her, Allie whipped around and sent her foot flying into the chest of another German soldier who was only moments away from sending a bullet into her head. She grasped ahold of the gun that was clutched tightly in his hands and slammed it into his forehead before she used her powers to knock him unconscious.

Turning to fight another soldier that had made his way in through the now broken window's of their apartment, she felt her body return to its natural state of fighting. Thoughtlessly falling back into the rhythmic routine of attacking an enemy, fighting to win at all costs. Trading in blows that almost exclusively landed on her opponents, never her.

Aided by her adrenaline high, she didn't even feel the stinging in her knuckles when she sent her fist flying into her attacker's jaw. All she felt was the sick satisfaction that hummed in her veins when she overpowered the man that was twice as big as her. A satisfaction further aided by the power that ebbed beneath her skin when she let her eyes turn to their foreign silver hue and momentarily silence her assailant's mind. Winning the fight without even starting a sweat.

But her attention was swiftly broken when she heard the resounding bang of an agent's body colliding with something hard to her right. Whipping her head around, Allie's silvery eyes widened as she saw Steve's large hands grasp at Bucky angrily, curling around his forearm in warning.

"Buck, stop!" Steve hissed, his voice urgent. "You're going to kill someone."

Allie let out a faint gasp as Bucky quickly twisted out of Steve's hold, slamming his once best friend's body into the hardwood floor with malice. She barely had any time to react, her body cemented to the ground as she watched two of the people she loved the most resemble enemies.

"Bucky!" She shouted pleadingly.

But he ignored her call, instead plunging his metal fist into the timber by Steve's head. Dangerously close to his head.

"I'm not gonna kill anyone." Bucky spoke, his eyes hardened and his voice murderously low.

He wasted no time ripping his hand out of the floor, grasping onto the emergency backpack that the two of them had stashed away for times just like this. When their bitter reality would come crashing down on them and wake them up from the dreamlike state they had been foolishly living in. A sadly inevitable fact that they thankfully had prepared for.

Throwing the bag out the window, Bucky kept his heated glare on Steve. His gaze swirling with a concoction of fear and anger, and possibly adrenaline as that was all his body seemed to be running on in that moment. Adrenaline and survival instincts, just as she was.

But Allie was so consumed in the horror of the scene playing in front of her that she failed to hear the echoing of footsteps that made their way up the staircase. She didn't even register the faint sounds of ziplines hastening their way onto the ledges of the windowsills just outside where she stood.

She failed to hear the sound of her oncoming doom. But thankfully Melaina held some sense of awareness.

At the sound of a large thump behind her, Allie whipped around and just caught sight of a single German police officer that had managed to crash in through the window. Her eyes flew wide open as he opened fire on the four fugitives. But luckily for her, Melaina flew in front of Allie with unforeseen speed and crafted a shield of darkness that protected them both from the hailstorm of bullets.

Effectively woken from her stupor, she let her eyes return back to their infamous moonlight silver and instantly rendered the guard feeling the pain of a thousand cuts. The gun slipped from the soldier's hand as he wailed in pain, dropping to his knees as tears fell from his forcefully shut eyes before Allie knocked him unconscious.

"Focus, earthling." Melaina smirked as she sent a ball of darkness flying towards another soldier that tried to enter the room. "I wouldn't want to have to carry you out of here like a damsel in distress."

Allie, mid eye-roll, caught sight of another soldier that was moments away from sending a bullet towards Melaina's body. Hastily pushing Melaina out of the way, both women managed to dodge the bullet before Allie sprinted towards the soldier, dropping down and swiping her leg out to send the soldier landing on the floor with a thump. Finishing the job, she slammed her fist into his shielded head and rendered him unconscious as well.

"Guess I could say the same." She teased in return.

Tipping her head, Melaina grinned comically. "Well played."

However, their moment was quickly brought to an end when Allie saw Bucky throw Steve's body outside and into the body of a German soldier. Suprise and anger engulfed her body, but she had no time to voice her protest before another soldier started firing at Bucky.

Luckily Bucky managed to lift his vibranium arm up in time to deflect the bullets. Stalking towards the man and his assault rifle, Allie watched in horror and she saw a glimpse of the man that was the Winter Soldier, the person that Bucky had tried so hard to bury, briefly surface and slam the soldier into their wooden cabinet. Scrambling up to his feet, Allie felt terror seep into her bloodstream when he clutched at a slab of concrete, his grip tightening as he raised it towards the soldier, mere seconds away from sending it into his body.

But before Bucky had the chance, Allie let the soldier's mind slip into unconsciousness, his body falling to the floor and out of Bucky's murderous path.

"Will you please stop!" Allie cried out, desperation coating her words as Bucky's cobalt eyes met hers. "You don't need to kill them!"

But he willfully ignored her pleas, instead stalking over to her and gripping her forearm protectively.

"C'mon, we need to get out of here." He grumbled, pulling her over towards their front door.

Allie opened her mouth to respond but she was swiftly silenced by the resounding boom of bullets being fired into the hinges of the door. Jumping back in shock, she felt Bucky's hold tighten on her instinctively before letting go. The moment that he heard the bullets come to an end, he slammed his metal fist through the door, pummeling straight into one of the officer's heads and knocking him out instantaneously.

Before she had time to react, he replaced his grip back around her wrist and pushed open the wooden door. Almost immediately they were launched back into another round of fighting as they entered the corridor that was completely overwhelmed with the dark khaki uniform of the German officers. Barely managing to dodge punches and bullets sent their way and returning with their own hurtling hits and attacks.

Ducking behind one of the soldiers, Allie just managed to avoid another onslaught of bullets that came from an officer ziplining through the ceiling. Pulling a random soldier's body in front of her own, she used him as a shield to protect herself from the bullets. Feeling the vibrations as the shots hit his bleeding frame rather than hers, blood seeping from his body just as quickly as her hope for a casualty free battle disintegrated.

Fighting the urge to throw up, she quickly discarded the body of the soldier. Leaving Bucky to deal with the other shooting German still attached to the zip-line.

But she didn't get to reach her next opponent. Instead, she felt an arm wrap around her throat and tighten with deadly force, trying to strangle her. Immediately she sucked in a breath and sent her elbow pummeling into her attacker's chest, feeling as he gasped before she threw him over her shoulder and down the stairwell. Not bothering to see if he was knocked out before she lept over the previously discarded body and fought her next target.

She barely had any time to check up on Bucky, to see if he was managing with the onslaught of soldiers that were attacking them. She was too caught up in her own fights to worry about anything else other than her own survival. Having no other choice than to focus on the rhythmic nature of each attack that she used to take down the soldiers. Duck, punch, weave. Punch, powers, move on to the next one. It was an endless cycle and one that was starting to tire her.

She was right in the middle of her weave when she caught sight of a familiar marron shirt and glinting silver arm flying down the middle of the stairwell. Immediately her eyes flew wide open in shock as she saw Bucky's body openly freefall down the stairway. His name tore from her mouth as she watched in horror as his vibranium arm just reached out in time to clutch onto the rail two floors below her, a pained grunt escaping from his lips and echoing throughout the building.

Swiftly giving up on fighting fair, Allie momentarily silenced all the soldier's minds that were on the floors around them. Sending them into a brief bout of unconsciousness before she ran down the flight of stairs towards Bucky. Her body flying into his arms that gripped her tightly as his now humane cobalt eyes glanced down at her worriedly.

"Are you okay?" He hurried out, eyes briefly sweeping over her body in concern.

"I'm fine." She replied honestly. "Are you?"

Bucky gave her a decisive nod in response before pulling her towards the emergency exit. Without as much as a thought, he kicked down the door and ushered Allie through it towards a balcony that overlooked a typical Bucharest street.

The slight hope of Allie's that she wouldn't have to jump off the building was swiftly extinguished when she felt Bucky give her a hurried push.

"Go, go, go!" He shouted, following close behind her as they sprinted towards the edge.

Swearing beneath her breath, she took the death-defying leap. The cold air rushing past her as she descended further and faster towards the building below. She hated the feeling, but at the same time, she had never felt more alive.

But that vitality was as short lived as her drop.

When her feet come into contact with the cement roof, Allie let out a hiss of pain. Her body soon following and colliding with the concrete as she tried to deflect the force of impact by rolling. But despite saving her from breaking her bones, it didn't save her from pain entirely. It felt like needles were threading their way through her muscles, tearing apart the fibres carelessly.

Her pain was briefly numbed when she felt a soft hand find its place on her hip, slowly helping her up into a standing position.

"Doll, I know it hurts but we have to go." Bucky murmured into her ear softly as he quickened their pace.

Nodding, Allie forced oxygen into her lungs and began to run by his side. Willing herself to ignore the burning ache in her bones because she didn't have time to sit and contemplate the pain, she had to keep moving.

She had to keep Bucky safe.

They had barely made it a few feet before both Allie and Bucky noticed a strange shadow descending upon the two of them. Neither of them had any time to react before they felt the presence land on top of Bucky's body, sending the both of them collapsing to the ground again.

Within seconds, Allie was up to her feet, her metallic eyes swirling as she took in the... cat man?

She didn't know what this thing's gimmick actually was but from the sleek black design with silver detailing, the cat ears and weaponised claws, she took an educated guess and thought it was a feline animal. Not that it really mattered because she was going to make sure that its 7 lives didn't last long.

With a sharp cry, Allie darted towards the feline assailant, sending a powerful punch its way that it narrowly managed to avoid. But whilst she managed to evade the cat's equally powerful quick, Bucky, who had just joined the fight, wasn't as fortunate.

Enraged, Allie lept the cat's way again and sent her foot hurtling toward's the person's chest. But the cat predicted her attack and grabbed ahold of her leg, his claws piercing her ivory skin and forcefully discarded her body against an old generator.

She collided against the scrap metal with a loud bang, her body once again left feeling that fiery blaze of agony erupt under her skin. The pain seeping into every crevice of her being.

But she couldn't focus on that, she wouldn't allow herself to. Not when Bucky was in danger.

She forcibly pushed herself back up to her feet right as the cat slammed his knee into Bucky and sent him flying into a wall. Horror encapsulating her body as she watched his silver claws swipe at the section of the wall Bucky's head had been not even seconds prior. Thankfully, having the reflexes to roll out of the way.

Right as the black cat when to swipe at Bucky again, Allie interrupted the action by punching him in the face. Revelling at the sickening crunch she heard as her fist came into contact with his mask. And whilst he was dazed from the hit, she slammed his legs out from underneath him and watched as he crumpled on the floor.

But the person's catlike reflexes got the better of her.

Instead of falling to the ground and giving Allie and Bucky a moment to get away as she had hoped, the black cat managed to stop his fall and rebound up to his feet quickly. Easily returning a punch to Allie's stomach before swiping at her forearm while she tried to block his hit.

Stumbling away from him, Allie hissed in pain as she grabbed at her now bleeding arm. The scarlet substance coating her fingers and dripping onto the concrete floor. Eyes wide as she watched paralysed as the black cat stalked towards her murderously.

I'm done for now, she thought to herself.

But before the feline assailant had the opportunity to come her way again, Bucky slammed into him with astounding force. The two of them falling to the floor in a heap, with Bucky throwing punch after punch at the person in a frenzied attack.

But whoever this person was, he was very skilled. Somehow, he managed to flip on top of Bucky and escape his wrath. Instead, tearing at Bucky's body with his elongated silver claws whilst Bucky tried to hold him off with a copper metal pole.

Having had enough with this person, Allie let her eyes transform into their incandescent pools of silver as she focused on his oscillating brain patterns. Imagining that he felt the blazing agony of a thousand claws tearing their way through his skin, a torrent of torture that left him stumbling away from Bucky as he cried out in pain.

"Karma's a bitch." She mumbled satirically before running over to Bucky and swiftly pulling him up to his feet.

They took off towards the edge of the building, ignoring the bullets that rained on them like deadly hellfire. Without a slither of hesitation, the two of them jumped off the side of the building, feeling the wind whip at their ivory skin as they scaled the concrete walls.

The second their feet came into contact with solid ground, the two of them sprinted as if their lives depended on it, which it currently did. She pushed her legs to run further and faster, to keep by Bucky's side as they tried to outrun the black cat thing and the helicopter that continued to spray bullets down at them aimlessly.

"We're running out of sidewalk, Buck." She managed to shout over everything that was going on.

"We'll have to take the freeway." He yelled back.

"What!"

"Trust me." He replied loudly, taking ahold of her hand and pulling her towards the edge of the bridge.

Grumbling beneath her breath, she followed him towards the overpass. Her heart was pounding in her chest, thumping harder each time she heard the innocent civilians around her scream as the chopper continued to fire at them. But she knew she couldn't help them, her focus was solely on surviving this with Bucky and Steve. On making it out of this alive.

That belief was what fueled her to jump down onto a busy freeway after Bucky. Landing smack bang in the middle lane as cars swerved out of their way, horns ringing out into the air in shock. She didn't even have time to worry about the chance of being hit before off they were again, barreling down the freeway amongst the traffic.

Looking over her shoulder, she could see the dark, feline silhouette of their attacker following closely at their heels. Weaving between the speeding cars just as easily as Bucky and she did. Fear clawed at her chest as she began to realise that maybe they couldn't escape him, he showed no sign of surrendering and she wasn't sure if they could escape both him and the police.

"C'mon Allie!" Bucky called out, noticing that she was falling behind.

Pushing her legs even harder, she raced back up to Buck's heels. Trying to ignore the way both Steve and the Black cat were chasing after them, one ready to kill them whilst the other was prepared to kill for them.

"We need to get off this freeway!" She shouted back, barely discernable over the symphony of sirens that boomed behind them.

"I don't think we have much of a choice!" Bucky yelled, his eyes widening as their paths were cut off by a herd of black SUV's and their flashing red and blue lights.

Swearing beneath his breath, he grabbed Allie's forearm and pulled her towards the opposite lane. The two of them leaping over the barriers and narrowly escaping the breaking vehicles. But now they were faced with an additional problem, trying to outrun the traffic that was driving towards them at speed.

Noticing an incoming motorbike heading their way, an idea popped into Bucky's head.

"Hold on," Bucky spoke. "I have a plan!"

Without a seconds' hesitation, he reached out with his vibranium arm and grasped ahold of the handlebars of the bike, swinging it around in the air before pushing the rider off. He jumped on top of the bike before turning around and offering his arm to Allie.

"Quick! Get on!" He nearly screamed.

Wasting no time, Allie leapt on the bike and wrapped her arms around Bucky's broad chest, clinging on for dear life as he stepped on the gas. Sending the motorbike roaring down the freeway, weaving around cars at what felt like 200 miles an hour. The world was flying past her but all she could feel was dread seeping down her spine, the feeling becoming heavier as she noticed the black SUV trailing them with their feline attacker hooked on its roof.

"Bucky, he's still after us." Allie screamed over the harsh wind that was whipping at her face.

"Shit." He murmured as he angled the bike to zoom past another car.

But Bucky didn't have time to think of a plan before the man was flying in the air towards their motorbike. Claws outstretched and ready to sink into both of their hearts given the chance.

Thankfully, Allie just managed to lift her arm up in the air and catch their attacker by the throat. She tightened her hold around his windpipe and crushed it with all the force she could muster, using all of her strength to keep him off the ground.

But the man had other plans.

Somehow he had managed to use the wall of the freeway to leap over Allie's head, nearly pulling herself off the bike, and of course, taking Bucky with her. Allie was sure that she would have become roadkill if it hadn't been for Bucky reaching out with his vibranium hand and forcing the bike from falling.

"Shit!" She cursed, loosening her grip on the assailant.

"Allie!" Bucky screamed at her as sparks flew from the friction of his metal arm and the concrete floor.

"I know! I'm sorry!"

Swiftly delivering a kick to the man's abdomen, Allie managed to free themselves from immediate danger by sending the man flying. Allowing Bucky to push them back away from the ground and speeding down the highway again.

"Grab a grenade out of the bag!" He called out.

Nodding deftly, Allie reached into the backpack on Bucky's back and dug her hand in the bag, searching for the small, circular weapons that they had been keeping for emergencies. It wasn't long before her fingers curled around the smooth metal of its exterior and she ripped it out of the bag.

Noticing that they were coming out towards another underpass, Allie activated the grenade and threw it onto the edge of the roof. Watching as they drove past the flashing bomb that connected with the edge of the freeway and on impact, blew a massive hole into the roof of the underpass.

She saw the concrete tumbling towards the ground, creating a barricade of safety for them. Separating their assailant and the police from herself and Bucky. And for a split second, she thought that they had made it, that they had managed to escape with their lives.

But they weren't so fortunate.

Shock overwhelmed Allie's body as she watched as their feline assailant flew out of the rubble. His metal claws elongated and striking the back wheel of their bike. Taking with it her hope for survival.

In a flash, the ground came out from underneath the wheels and a massive smash of metal on harsh earth roared in her ears. Her body was flung into the air before it collided with the rough asphalt of the road. Everything around her faded as white hot pain overtook her body, pulsating in every single one of her cells vehemently.

She didn't even feel her body roll away from the bike or see her attacker hovering over her pained body only to be thrown away by Steve. She didn't even hear the pained whimpers of Bucky calling out her name a few meters away as he tried to push himself up to his feet.

Everything was spinning. She couldn't differentiate between the grey bricks of the road or the ruby red substance that it had now been stained with. She was fleetingly aware of the metallic taste of blood in her mouth but everything else faded into her periphery. All she could focus on was the pain.

"Hey, hey Allie!" Bucky pleaded softly as he rushed over to her mangled body. "It's okay, you're okay."

"Bucky?" She grumbled, her head spinning as he slowly tried to help her into an upright position.

"C'mon doll, you need to get up." He murmured, pulling her arm over his shoulder and carefully hauling her up. Visibly wincing at the soft cries that escaped her scarlet stained lips. "I know, I'm sorry doll. I'm so sorry."

The sounds of sirens continued to wail around them as Steve stepped in front of Bucky and Allie protectively.

Then suddenly, a silver and black suit landed between the men with a resounding boom. Allie watched as the Iron Man look-a-like lifted his arms threateningly and aimed his weaponized palms towards them.

"Stand down, now." The man in the suit warned.

Allie immediately recognized that the Iron suit wasn't Tony's, it was missing the ostentatious gold and red synonymous with Iron Man. But the design of the suit was almost identical. She guessed that this person must have known Tony, or perhaps had bought the suit from him.

Turning her gaze to Steve, she soon came to the conclusion that he too, knew this man. The swirl of familiarity in his cobalt eyes were evident. But he still chose to angle his body to shield both herself and Bucky. So she suspected that maybe this man wasn't on their side either. That he was also her enemy.

Breaking her train of thought, she felt Bucky's hold tighten around her waist as she let her eyes trail over the mass police force that all had their guns aimed at their foreheads. Every single one of them holding their fingers' dangerously over the trigger. Ready to fire on them without hesitation or remorse.

"It's okay," Bucky murmured to her reassuringly. "We'll be okay."

But she wasn't sure who he was trying to comfort with his words. Because judging on the way his hands were quivering, he had to be just as fearful as she was. That the doubt that they wouldn't be okay was more powerful than the figment of hope he let himself believe. Because they both knew that things weren't okay, not anymore.

Glancing over at Steve again, Allie watched as he slowly clipped his shield onto the back of his suit. His own eyes nervously flitting between the army of police and the knock-off Iron Man before he cautiously raised his hands in the air. Surrendering.

"Congratulations Cap." The man spoke again. "You're a criminal."

Signalling their defeat, the police instantly swarmed the trio. It wasn't even seconds before Allie felt rough hands curl into the material of her shirt, tearing her away from Bucky forcefully. They slammed her body onto the concrete ground and sent her head spiralling into another wave of agony. All she could feel was fists curling tightly around her forearms and multiple different body weight's pinning her to the ground.

But then they forced her head up.

She tried not to resist, to be as cooperative as she could. But when she felt that all too familiar feeling of a collar being hastened around her neck, all rationale hastily abandoned her.

"No!" She yelped, her body writhing against their hold in a vain attempt to shake the machine off her body. Trying to escape the pain that was to come. The pain that had plagued her nightmares ever since her escape from HYRDA. A fear that she had only just started to overcome.

"Please don't! Please!"

But she couldn't escape it.

"Hey! Get that off of her!" Bucky yelled as he tried to fight off the police who had restrained him. But his actions were quickly stifled when he felt the cool barrel of a gun being pressed against the back of his head, a violent warning to stop.

"Rhodey stop them!" Steve roared, anger flaring in his darkened blue eyes as he pulled against his own restraints. "Get that collar off her now."

"You are no longer in the position to be making any demands, Captain." Rhodey replied monotonously.

Allie let out a cry as one of the police slammed their gun into the back of her head in an attempt to stop her resistance. This only incited Bucky further, who began to scream at the police despite the weapon held to his head.

"Get off her! Let her go!"

"Please, stop! I'm surrendering, please!"

"Rhodey! Do something!"

That was the last thing she heard before she felt the electricity surge throughout her body. Before she felt every single one of her nerves being razed by the torturous currents. The radiating pain pushed all other thoughts from her head, ultimately forcing her into unconsciousness, her body's only reprieve from the pain. Being unable to cope with the agony.

Unable to hear Bucky and Steve's screams.

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... hi everyone

i know what you are thinking, yes i'm sadly alive.

i would like to profusely apologise for the 8 month delay in an update which i'm sure you guys hate me for. i was experiencing really bad writers block and i needed some time to focus on myself away from wattpad which i hope you all understand (which i'm sure y'all will because you are all amazing people).

however, within that time that i have been away, tricks has somehow managed to get 145 thousand reads. i'm literally at a loss for words. there is no way for me to express how grateful i am for you all except saying thank you from the bottom of my heart and i love all you beautiful people.

i can't promise a quick update but i do promise that you will hear from me eventually.

Until next time,

Grace xx