The ghosts we hide (Winter Soldier x OC)

Forty three

For a moment my brain is overloaded, too much movement, too many memories, not enough time to think.

But then instinct kicks in and my eyes find my first target, ten metres from my position and closing. I shoot as I run, hitting the soldier from behind with fatal accuracy despite the bounce of my stride.

The Hydra agent hits the ground.

Then the next.

And the next.

I aim for shoulders and thighs, the best chance I have of incapacitating without killing. It might cause life changing injuries, but at least it lessens the chance of more blood being added to my already slick hands.

As I line up the next soldier on the end of my barrel, a bullet whizzes past my ear, missing by millimetres. I turn immediately, ducking as a black gloved hand points the gun at my head and fires again. Bringing a leg up before he can even think to dodge, I kick the pistol from his hand, my foot connecting with his chest in the same movement.

The agent hits the ground with a heavy thud, stunned green eyes meeting mine. I waste no time with mercy. My fist hits his face with sickening force, breaking his nose and knocking him out cold simultaneously.

A hand grips my shoulder for no more than a second before I've flipped the next soldier over me, rolling with him to land with the length of my gun pressed against his throat. The man squirms frantically under me, face turning purple with the inability to breathe as he claws at my arms. I don't move until his eyes roll back in his head and his hands lay still at his sides.

Not dead, just unconscious.

I move on swiftly, the next target in view. My brain is that of a robot, void of all emotion and functioning as if directed by a motherboard.

The battle rages around me. Soldiers swarm everywhere, all shouting as they engage in combat with the various Avengers on the field. I've lost sight of Bucky now, hidden somewhere in the chaos of the fray, but some of the others are visible.

Natasha moves from man to man, incapacitating each with vicious precision and speed as if each target has only had a days fight training. Sam swoops overhead, emptying infinite rounds of ammunition into the battle and helping to pull a swarm of agents off of Clint, who sends arrows through countless torsos with inhuman accuracy.

"There's more than you said there would be Stark!" Nat's voice crackles in my ear, followed by a grunt as she takes out another man.

Gritting my teeth, I tug hard on the arm in my grasp, ignoring the scream of the Hydra agent as I break his shoulder. Breathing hard, I send him a savage kick to the face before I can reply.

"I thought you said seventy. There's at least a hundred here and I bet there's more in the building."

"I said ninety actually." Stark corrects me. I see a flash of red in the sky right above the base, a glowing stream of light erupting from his chest and hitting the crumbling concrete exterior. "They've recruited locals from the cartels, not all of these are Hydra."

Great.

A foot connects with my back, sending me sprawling to the ground. I barely have time to roll out of the way as a fist hits the ground exactly where my face was a moment before. Grunting with the effort, I heave my lower body off the floor, wrapping my thighs tightly around the man's shoulders and twisting. He falls easily to the earth underneath me, expression changing from dazed to emotionless as I knock him out with an elbow to the jaw.

"Cap and I are entering the building now. Nat and Clint follow behind." Stark's voice comes over the comms again as I scramble to my feet.

"And the rest of us?" I ask, breathing heavily.