Love and War Aren't a Game

“So that’s the plan. It’s relatively straightforward,” Steve said after he tapped at the location of the Hydra base on the map. “Any questions?” There was low mumble that showed that everyone was in consensus and I nodded at Steve, content with his plan. Barnes, his righthand man, was looking thoughtful.

“You should put me on sniper duty as well. Stationed here,” he suggested with a point at a second position on the map, not particularly far away from where Steve had placed me. The others were supposed to be on foot behind Steve when he stormed the base, and I had the responsibility of snagging any escapees.

“I’ll handle it,” I spoke up and immediately I felt the mood of the group drop. The anticipation from fighting for what we believed in had disappeared and was replaced with the tension I knew my presence was causing. I could only hope that once they realised that I was a good shot, the stress would disappear and they would all accept me.

“If you have a second gunman here, you’ll be able to take out anyone who flees from this side,” Barnes explained to Steve, blatantly ignoring my protest. “I agree that their best option to leave the base is this way on foot, but if they try to escape over here with a vehicle, they’ll go running straight to Schmidt.” Steve pondered the situation for a few moments and then gave a nod.

“All right, station yourself in the trees and don’t get caught,” he agreed. I then watched the smirk creep across Barnes’ lips. A desire to slap it off his face overcame me, but I only tightened my grasp on my rifle. Clearly he had the most doubt in my abilities, but that only made me more determined to show him exactly what I was made of.

After one last check of our weapons, we moved out. Steve and his footmen headed straight while Barnes veered to the left and I to the right, both of us climbing up a hill to hide amongst foliage. Eventually I arrived near the spot indicated by Steve on his map and I began looking around for a good place to lie down. Now that I was actually here, about to become a proper soldier, my stomach was beginning to toss. Afraid that my nervousness was going to diminish my skill, I took in a deep breath and focused on my task, confident that I could succeed.

I soon spotted a section of flat grass so set up my rifle and then laid down with it. There wasn’t a lot of bush nearby, but I was hoping that I would be high enough for the Hydra soldiers to not see me, and by the time they did it would be too late anyway. The team clearly hadn’t burst into the base and begun attacking yet, so I took the time to scan the area through my scope and memorise where potential shelter was for my enemy.

After a while I noticed Barnes on the hill opposite me. He was lying next to a thick tree and was focused on the base, waiting patiently. Determined more than ever to wipe the smug smirk off his face the next time I spoke with him, I shifted my scope back to the building and pretended that I was back on the farm hunting.

Fortunately for me, humans were much slower than game. In their panicked state, Hydra soldiers fled the base and ran for the cover of the forest. Many of them fell only a few feet outside of the building, gunned down by one of our soldiers inside, but a few had enough luck to avoid Captain America and make it past the fence. I took aim at the first man who stumbled from his landing, dirtying his hands as he regained his balance. The second he straightened his spine I pulled the trigger and he crashed into the ground again. I let go of the breath I had been holding and told myself to relax. I had made the shot, just like I always had. I could do this.

Shot after shot I fired, picking off the fleeing enemy one by one, and watching the faces of horror when the next wave of agents tried to decide whether or not they should continue running forwards or retreat and take their chances with Captain America. I squinted a little and focused on a man as he ducked beside some shrubbery, thinking he was safe. A smirk formed on my lips from the determination to prove him wrong, but it quickly disappeared.

The man’s brains had disintegrated but I hadn’t pulled the trigger. I grimaced and swept my vision up towards where I knew Barnes was stationed and saw him flinging the empty shell from his gun. The bastard. He stole my kill!

Glowering about the situation, I repositioned my aim back to the enemy and took aim again, only to have that kill taken from me as well. Barnes two, me nil. It was on.

For the rest of the time there was enemy escaping in my direction, I counted every single kill I made and subtracted one from that number whenever I spotted Barnes hitting a man. When Steve eventually emerged from the building and gave a few waves at us, signalling that the mission was over, I sighed with relief. I was twenty-three up on Barnes.