Falling in the Black

After shooting the last HYDRA agent that was running behind her, Raylee ran through the wooded area hoping to take cover within the trees. She had just watched as the three helicarriers went down, the last one crashing into the building she had just escaped from. Raylee felt lost and confused about what was going on, she had no idea the STRIKE team was rogue within SHIELD and she had been helping them this whole time making her look like she was HYDRA while the HYDRA agents knew she was SHIELD.

Her knee was killing her from the hit it took but she pushed herself to put more distance between her and any HYDRA agents that may be still looking for her. Raylee didn’t know who she could trust anymore after her so called friends turned on her. She had been told that Steve and Natasha turned on SHIELD but Steve had said that the STRIKE team and carrier crews were HYRDA, a group that had been thought to be dismembered a long time ago.

When Raylee felt she was far enough from trouble to stop for a small break she came to a stop breathing hard and wincing in pain. Just as she was about to turn to survey her surroundings a metal hand took a hold of her throat from behind and pulled her back against his body. Raylee froze knowing there was no point in fighting because all it would take was one squeeze and he could kill her instantly. Their last meeting over a year ago was still fresh in her mind and she was lucky to barely make it out of there with her life. She slowly raised her hands in surrender with the gun still in her left hand. The cold metal hand around her throat squeezed a bit harder at the sight of the gun. It wasn’t enough to kill her but enough to make her fear he would.

“Drop the gun!” the Winter Soldier said in a calm but cold voice. “Or I will kill you.”

“I have no intentions of trying to fight you.” Raylee said as calm as she could considering her life was literally in his hand.

She opened her hand and let the gun fall from it, he quickly pushed her away from his body and caught the gun before it hit the ground lifting it to aim it at her. Raylee stumbled forward and grunted from the pain that shot through her right knee from the movement. When she had her footing again she turned with a slight limp to see him holding the gun on her. Raylee took in his appearance and noticed the wet clothes and the fact he was holding his human arm against his body. Then it registered that her back was now wet and it wasn’t from sweating.

“You’re hurt.” She said softly.

“I can still kill you.” He said coldly.

“I know but you haven’t and there is a reason for that.” Raylee said as she limped closer and he raised the gun higher towards her head and she stopped instantly. “Look I’m hurt and have no means to fight the Winter Soldier and god knows I couldn’t win.” She said and he just stood there with no emotion on the small part of his face that she could see pass the hair. “If you let me go I can help you.” She said hoping to reason with him. “Let me help you then we can go our own ways.”

“We need to move, they’re coming.” He said as he quickly looked behind him.

Neither of them were even able to attempt to move when three agents came into sight. Raylee was unarmed because the Winter Soldier had her only gun and she knew running was no longer an option now that the pain had finally and fully set into her knee. When she heard them call him the asset she knew they were HYDRA and she thought she was screwed. It was the agents that were on his side and not on hers. When he shot one agent Raylee gasped in shock as the other agents began firing shots back at them.

The Winter Soldier knocked Raylee to the ground and ran at the other two agents because apparently she only had one shot left in the gun. Raylee was stunned that he had knock her down as he deflected one of the bullets off his metal arm before going after them. It was easy to see that he was in pain because he didn’t use his right arm in the fight but that didn’t matter or stop him. Once the two remaining agents were dead he came running towards Raylee and easily lifted her off the ground.

“More are coming, can you run?” he asked glancing back again as he tried to pull her along.

“I don’t think so.” Raylee said shaking her head as she tried to keep up with his pace while trying to pull her arm from the grip he had. “Just go... leave me.”

“No!” he snapped at her as he yanked her forward and quickly wrapped his metal arm around her waist then practically carried her out of there.

Not a word was said between them as they ran but things quickly started to look bad when they came to a clearing only to see the Potomac River in front of them. They were no longer armed to defend themselves against anyone and they were both sure SHIELD was looking for him and HYDRA was looking for her. The Winter Soldier glanced at the river bank across from them trying to gage whether she would be able to make the swim. Raylee was surveying the area herself when she spotted an empty SHIELD speed boat not far from their location.

“Over there.” Raylee said getting his attention as she pointed to it. “It looks empty but it shouldn’t be that way for long so we need to hurry.” He glanced at the boat then back at Raylee trying to decide if he should trust her. “You have no reason to trust me but you just saved my life back there and I’m trying to return the favor. You shot HYDRA agents so that means both HYDRA and SHIELD are coming for you.”

“Let’s go.” He said as he once again practically carried her to the boat. Once on the boat Raylee limped over to the controls and he tried to stop her. “I’ll drive.”

“No, I will.” She snapped at him. “You can’t drive with just one arm, just get the guns out that locker.” She said pointing at the locker.

Within minutes of being on the boat they were being shot at but it was SHIELD agents this time. Raylee was trying her hardest to get them out of there while bullets whizzed pass her head. She heard him firing back at them and once the boat started she was pulling away from the dock. Raylee heard a metal clink really close to her ear and it shocked her for a moment. She glanced over her shoulder to see that he had deflected another bullet that was meant for her head.

“Looks like SHIELD wants you dead.” He said when the shots had finally stopped because they were out of range.

“Why did you save me?” Raylee asked glancing over at him and he glared at her. “You tried to kill me once before and you killed my uncle… I got you to the boat and you were free, you could have let that bullet hit me.”

“When did I try to kill you?!” he snapped at her.

“Over a year ago… you killed the scientist I was assigned to protect.” She said glaring at him for acting like he didn’t remember breaking her jaw with one punch and leaving her in the middle of nowhere alone and injured.

“You’re SHIELD… you’re a threat!” he snapped lifting the gun again and aimed it at her. “Stop the boat and back away now. Where were you taking me?”

Raylee looked at him in shock as she stopped the boat and backed away from the controls with her hands up. “You knew I was a SHIELD agent.” She said and he looked confused while shaking his head. “We can’t stop here this boat has a tracker and they will find us.”

“How do I know you’re not trying to take me to a trap?”

“You said yourself they want me dead now too, they saw me helping you.” Raylee said as she dropped her hands. “I have a safe house even SHIELD doesn’t know about, I can take you to it.” He looked like he was trying to weight his options and Raylee knew they didn’t have much time. “If you’re going to shoot me do it if not we need to go.”

“Go.” He snapped moving over so she could start the boat again.

Raylee knew she had to be cautious with him because he didn’t seem to be in the right frame of mind. She knew he was a trained assassin for HYDRA and that alone was enough in her book to be insane but something else felt off about him. When they reached what she felt like was a safe point she stopped the boat as close to shore as she could get them. Raylee knew he would draw a lot of attention with his arm and they needed to stay under the radar in order to get away. Raylee grabbed one of the black coats that was in the boat and turned to face him.

“I don’t want this to sound insensitive but you need to wear this.” She said holding it out to him and he slowly grabbed it. “We need to stay off the grid but your arm will make that hard.”

“Ok.”

He was about to put it on but stop when he realized he couldn’t move his right arm. Raylee noticed him looking down at his arm, knowing he couldn’t move it. “I can help.” She said taking the coat back from him and he slid his arm through it and she just laid it over his right shoulder. “We should go now.”

“Can you walk?” he asked in a soft voice.

She was a bit taken back at the softness in his voice, she had come accustom to his cold demeanor in their very short time together. “I think I can make it, it’s just about a mile from here.”

After grabbing whatever guns they could hide out of sight the two climbed out of the boat and walked through a small wooded area coming out by a parking lot. He glanced at the cars and looked over at her when he began to walk over to one of them with the intentions of stealing it, she stopped him. Raylee quickly explain that a stolen car near where they were going would just raise red flags to both HYDRA and SHIELD. After getting him to agree they made the mile long trek to her safe house. The both of them had cautiously entered the small studio apartment and he made a quick sweep of the place as she locked the door and made sure all the curtains were closed.

“What happened to your arm?” she asked walking over to stand close but not too close to him. “I need to know what happened so I could help you.”

“It’s broken.” He said looking up at her. “I need you to pop the bone back in place.”

“It’s going to hurt.” She said as she watched him remove the coat. “You have to get that all off in order for me to do it.” She said gesturing to what he was wearing.

The Winter Soldier unsnapped the holster that went around his chest but didn’t remove it then he went to remove the one around his waist. Raylee stood there and watched as he laid it on the table then began to remove the few guns he had grabbed placing them next to the belt. He went to unbutton the leather when he reached the last snap his metal arm dropped to his side and he looked up at her.

They stood there a few moments quietly looking at each. He didn’t have to voice what he needed. Raylee knew he couldn’t remove the leather without jostling the arm and causing more pain or damage. She limped closer to him and he stepped back from her so she stopped moving giving him a chance to see she was just trying to help. After a few moments Raylee decided to remove all the weapons she had on herself hoping to ease his mind. When she laid the last gun down next to his she moved close enough to help him and he didn’t protest this time.

He stood with his eyes locked on her as she placed her hands on his shoulders and began sliding the leather off. When her hand grazed the scarred skin from where the metal was fused to his skin she felt him twitch. Raylee tried to keep her breathing even so she wouldn’t give him anymore reason then he needed to be nervous around her. Once his metal arm was free to move she let him take the rest of it off the other arm himself.

Raylee limped over to one of the cabinets and his eyes followed her every movement. She grabbed a medical wrap to wrap the arm in after she was done then walked back to him and placed it on the table. Raylee sucked in a deep breath and positioned herself to pop it in. When the bone popped back in place he grunted loudly as he quickly pulled away from her breathing heavy and both of his hands were balled into a tight fist. Raylee got nervous and quickly moved back a few feet to give him space, knowing he was in pain and things could turn bad for her quickly.

When his breathing evened out and both of his hands relaxed he turned to face her slowly while pushing his hair back from his face. This was the first time Raylee was ever getting a good look at him without the hair hanging in his face or the mask he wore the last time she saw him. He looked familiar but she couldn’t figure out why or where she could have seen him before.

“Sit down.” He said sternly to her as he pointed at the couch.

The soft voice from earlier was gone and the cold voice he used more often was back. The couch he pointed at was nowhere near the table loaded with their small arsenal that he clearly was standing in front of. Raylee wasn’t sure of what to do, her knee was in pain and she wasn’t in any shape to fight him but she didn’t get this far to have him kill her now that she helped him. Raylee shook her head no as she tried to side step him to move closer to the weapons but he picked a gun up and had it pointed at her in the matter of seconds.

“What are you doing?” she asked trying to keep the fear from her voice.

“What is your name?” he asked ignoring her question.

“Raylee Matthews, I’m a… I was an agent for SHIELD.”

“You’re a level six.” He said to her and she nodded at him. “I was told to kill two high level agents, a civilian helping them and one level six after I was done with the first three. You were my mission.”

“Why… wait you said were?” Raylee asked in a shock voice.

“I never asked why, I just did what was told to me.” He said ignoring her last comment. “Why are you a threat to HYDRA?”

“I don’t know but if they wanted me dead why didn’t you kill me when you had the chance a year ago?”

“I don’t remember that.” He said shaking his head and she noticed he looked confused again.

“You broke my damn jaw.” She snapped at him and his jaw clinched as he glared at her. “No one believed me that it was you, they said I was delusional and said you were a ghost, they said I took one too many hits to the head.”

“Did I do that?” he asked pointing at her face.

Raylee lifted her hand the movement caused him to grip the gun tighter but he realized she was just tracing the scar he questioned her about. “No, someone else did this.” She said softly as she remembered Clint’s arrow slicing her cheek open. “You honestly don’t remember what you did to me?”

“My memories… I don’t remember a lot.” He said shaking his head.

“What did they do to you?” Raylee asked in a soft voice.

“Nothing!” he growled at her. “Sit down.”

“No, I am not going to sit down.” Raylee said shaking her head as she crossed her arms over her chest. “I am so tired of playing this game of cat and mouse, if you’re going to kill me just get it over with already.”

“I’m not going to kill you. If I wanted you dead you would not have made it this far.” He said glaring at her and she was having a hard time believing him.

“Can you put the gun down then?” she asked and he made no move to lay it down. “If you’re not putting that down then I’m not sitting down.”

Raylee shifted her weight to relieve some of the pressure off her knee and he watched her with calculated eyes. Without saying a word he began walking towards her with the gun still aimed. Raylee began to get nervous so she took a couple of steps back. The Winter Soldier continued his advancement on her and with every step he made she made one of her own back. Once he saw that she was exactly where he wanted her he took a large step forward and quickly swept her good leg from under her and Raylee fell back onto the couch while letting out a squeal.

“You asshole.” She snapped at him.

Once again without a word he turned around and walked back to the table finally placing the gun back down. Raylee watched as he lifted the medical wrap and wrapped his arm then he put the leather he had back on. His back was to her the whole time but she didn’t bother trying anything stupid, there really was no point. Raylee adjusted herself into a more comfortable position when she realized it was going to be a long night.

Whenever she made a move he would glance at her over his shoulder then he would go back to putting his things on. When he was done he pulled one of the chairs away from the table and sat down facing her. He had positioned himself to be on defense, the weapons were to his back and easily accessible if he needed. Raylee was directly in front of him and the only door was to her left. There were a few well placed mirrors that made the blind spots of the place visible to him. The windows in the apartment were the only thing that made him nervous. Even though they were on the third floor it wouldn’t stop any bullets from entering. Being this high up wouldn’t have even kept him out if he needed to get in.

Raylee stood up and before she could even stand fully straight he was back on his feet with a gun in his hand. “I just need pain pills.” Raylee said putting her hands up. “You have all the damn weapons behind you… you can relax.”

He slowly sat down but didn’t bother putting the gun away instead he just laid the gun on top of his leg still gripping it and watched as she limped to the bathroom. Raylee grabbed a bottle of pills out of the cabinet and ran the water to get a drink. When she lean forward to drink from the faucet she reached for the gun she stashed behind the toilet tank and quickly slid it in the waist of her pants then pulled her shirt over it. A few minutes later Raylee came back out and when she looked over at him she raised her eyebrow at the fact that he still had the gun in his hand.

“Make yours visible and I’ll holster mine.” He said in a calm knowing voice.

Raylee closed her eyes in defeat and slowly pulled the gun out as she sat down, she laid it on the cushion but still had it within arms reach then he holstered his own. “Do you have a name?” she asked as she got comfortable again and he shook his head no. “What do I call you then?” he just shrugged his shoulders. Raylee was getting irritated with the silent treatment he was now giving her.

The sun had set hours ago but they had still sat there watching each other silently in the dark. He watched as her body moved closer to the gun she had close by. He quickly stood on his feet with his own gun in hand but she didn’t move. He stood there quiet listening that’s when he realized her breathing was slow and even. Knowing that she fell asleep he glanced around the dark room as he holstered the gun again and spotted a blanket not far from where he was so he grabbed it and placed it over her.

When he went to step back the glint of the gun she had caught his eye and he reached his metal hand out for it but stop when his fingers grazed the gun. After sucking in a deep breath and slowly releasing it he stood up straight and walked back to his chair and sat down. He didn’t know how long they would be safe there for or how long he would be safe with her. He knew he just needed some time to get his memories straight and his head clear before he could plan his next move.