Crossbones

- - - - -

Ana was doing her pushups on the floor of her room. She kept on glancing at the small tablet on her bedside table, waiting for any hits on something to do. She's been locked up in the facility for five months, training, teaching and working all day. Occasionally she would sleep over at Peter's and help him with History and Spanish. She had a feeling he was pretending to have no clue about the subjects though, but that was okay since she loved to teach him.

She needed to get out and do something. She couldn't stand staying in again.

Like the world heard her thoughts, the tablet started beeping and she jumped up. Ana grabbed the device and tapped the buttons to let her read the information. She sat on the edge of her bed and the more she read, the wider her eyes went.

She dashed out of her room and ran down the hall to Steve's, knowing he would be getting ready for the group dinner. It was Bucky, or something that seemed like Bucky. The device was programmed to track any ex-Hydra operatives, and this time it tracked one to Lagos, Nigeria.

Steve had been busy with working with the team and making sure they would be ready for anything. And today might be the day he can bring his best friend home. Well, that is if Bucky is ready.

Ana tapped on the screen beside Steve's door, seeing Sam approach her. He nodded at her, "I got the same intel." He said and the door to Steve's room opened.

Ana and Sam looked at the war hero, "Hey, Cap. Looks like we got a hit. A major one." She said.

Steve motioned them to follow him into the tech lab. No one was inside and Steve nodded at the monitor on the wall. "Throw it up on screen." He said.

Ana connected the tablet to the monitor and soon enough they matched. She pointed at the map that had a trail leading up to Lagos, "What we've got here is some hard intel on an ex-Hydra operative working his way towards Lagos, Nigeria." Ana explained.

Steve looked to them, "How fresh is this intel?"

Sam answered, "Hours."

Steve was quiet as he looked at the monitor. Ana and Sam looked at each other, waiting for his reply. Steve let himself get sidetracked. There's always going to be something that takes precedence, something to avenge. But if the Winter Soldier pops up on radar... he's just not sure he'll be able to stay objective.

Sam faced Steve, "I know this one's personal, but should we assemble the team?" He asked. Steve turned to his friends. He just wished Bucky stayed off the radar.

"Yeah, get the others and suit up."

- - -

Steve, Sam, Ana, Natasha and Wanda all sat in the quinjet as it flew to Lagos. Everyone was quite and Ana sensed they knew how much this mission means to Steve. Ana tugged at her new uniform, she looked over at Nat and Wanda, seeing they were in their casual clothes.

Tony had designed her a new and improved suit for combat. It was a dark grey, almost black suit. Her arms were exposed but her forearms were covered in navy blue armguards that held her two daggers on the inside of her wrists ready for use. Her boots were lightweight that increased her speed when she ran, so now she was faster than the Captain himself.

Ana sighed and looked down at the tablet in her hands. When she left Bucky in Russia, she would've thought he moved somewhere low profile, somewhere off the charts. But Lagos, it was one of the largest and busiest ports in Africa. It just didn't seem like his style.

She, Sam and Steve were to be the ones up high while Natasha and Wanda looked out for anything on the ground. She looked at the tablet in her hands, the map of Lagos on it. All of a sudden it beeped, stating new information as been received.

"Steve? Incoming... some updated intel on our target." Ana let out an unsure sound and Steve turned in his chair to face her, "What's it say?" He asked.

Ana dipped her head, "Turns out it's not Bucky were after. But it is someone we used to know." She said and turned the tablet so he could see it. Brock Rumlow's profile popped up, with pictures of his new attire and alias, Crossbones. Cameras around the area they were heading had read his face and sent it to her tablet to alert her.

Sam rolled his eyes when he saw Brock, turning back to face the front as he mumbled on about Rumlow. Steve gave her a curt nod and also turned to face the front. Ana was relieved, but only a small part. Because unfortunately this meant things will get a whole lot messier.

"Alright, what do you see?"

Ana was perched upon a hotel building in Lagos as she listened to Steve over their radio frequency. She was wearing her enhancement googles, reading the activity on the ground and watching over Wanda and Natasha down at the cafe. She tapped the side and sighed, "Remember your training, Wanda. Not too obvious." She added.

"I got this." Wanda chuckled, before taking a sip of her coffee, glancing at the roads. "Standard beat cops. Small station." She glanced at the two police officers chatting by their car, everything else on the street seemed calm. "Quiet street. It's a good target." She reported.

Ana looked around the streets, walking across the edge of the roof of the hotel building. Her enhanced sight caught signals of security cameras. She crouched and spoke into her ear piece, "There's an ATM in the south corner, which means..."

Wanda subtly rubbed her nose, "Cameras." She finished.

"Both cross streets in one way?" Steve questioned.

"So compromise the escape routes." Wanda replied.

"Means our guy doesn't care about being seen he isn't afraid to make a mess on the way out." Steve added before sighing, "You see that ranger over half way up the block?"

"You mean the red one. It's cute." Wanda stated and Ana smirked.

"It's also bullet proof, which means private security, which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody, probably us." Natasha said, glancing at Wanda slightly through her sunglasses a few tables to her side.

Wanda squinted as she brought her cup to her lips, "You guys know I can move things with my mind, right?"

Ana sighed and mouthed what Natasha said next. "Looking over your shoulder needs to become a second nature." She's had the same talk when she first became an agent.

"Anybody ever tell you, you're a little paranoid?" Sam asked.

"Not to my face. Why, did you hear something?" Natasha asked, and Ana smiled. "I think that girl that works in our lab department said something, you know the one with the tattoos?" She said.

"Oh, her." Natasha drawled and Wanda giggled, "She's been ogling me for-"

"Eyes on target, folks." Steve interrupted though he was smiling too, "It's the best lead we have on Rumlow in six months. I don't want to lose him."

Ana snorted, "I found that lead, you're welcome." She did a mocking bow, facing Sam who was perched up on the buildings opposite her.

"If he sees us coming there won't be a problem, he kind of hate us." Sam commented with a chuckle, shaking his head at Ana who was pretending to balance on the side of the roof, throwing her arms up like a gymnast would do in the olympics. She was bored.

Down on the sandy grounds, a large maroon truck filled with garbage was beeping and bumping through small market stalls, causing the people to yell at the driver angrily. It was low, almost scrapping the ground, which meant it was really heavy. Ana was too far to get a proper read and jogged forward onto another rooftop.

"Make way, idiot coming through." Ana scoffed at the truck as it almost hit a man, instead it collided with a car and pushed it into another stall. The people were throwing things at it, showing their anger.

"Sam, see that garbage truck? Tag it." Steve said. He had caught onto Ana's thinking. Sam crouched down on the corner of the rooftop he was on and deployed Redwing from his pack, controlling his flight with the monitor attached to his armguard. Ana followed it and hopped down onto the buildings, getting closer to the truck.

"Give me X-ray." Sam told Redwing, tapping on the side of his own googles. "The truck's loaded for max weight, and the driver's armed." He informed the group.

"It's a battling ram." Ana and Natasha both stated as Sam jumped off his roof and flew up with his wings

"Go now." Steve ordered. Ana turned her googles setting to normal sight and ran faster across the buildings, keeping up with the truck on the ground. She jumped forward and clung onto the staircase of a tall office building. She climbed higher after seeing Sam whoosh past her, his smile clear on his face.

"Why?" Wanda questioned.

"He's not aiming for the police."

Ana was running straight ahead and fast. The truck had flipped forward into the barrier of the Institute of Infectious Diseases, breaking through the front gate and trashing the pathway. She waved at people to get out of the way desperately, especially when the shooting started happening. Now, she was not bored. Now, she could do her job. And she loved her job.

Ana jumped up, grabbed onto the metal traffic light pole that stood right in front of the institute and catapulted her body forward, up and over the gate and onto the truck. She landed on all fours and threw her new magnetic daggers at the men in their black tactical gear. Rumlow's men.

"I'm going to need that back." She cheered, pulling her hand forward and watching as her dagger flew out of the wounded man and back into her palm. Stark Tech, only the best. Thanks to Tony, she could now choose to only carry two daggers instead of a whole pouch full of them.

Crossbones watched her, the way she spun and attacked his own men with ease and such allure. "Damn, she's still got it." He mumbled, not thinking anybody would hear him. The men beside him furrowed their eyebrows at him and he glared at them behind his face mask, jabbing his hand behind him at the rest of his group, "Let's move!" He bellowed.

Ana picked her head up when she heard the familiar voice and narrowed her eyes at his white painted black gear. She heard about his hospital break out but instead of finding him like the local police were assigned to do, they completely flaked and she had to go through her tracking system and make a lot of calls. If anyone was going to take him in, it was her.

"Hey, princess!" One of his men called for her and laughed like a maniac, throwing a grenade her way. She widened her eyes and jumped back, taking cover behind a truck. She heard yells and the explosion but also the familiar whiz of Wanda's power.

Ana walked out of her cover area and saw Wanda had contained the blast. She gave the Scarlet Witch a proud grin and and waved her along, both of them running in the direction Rumlow had gone.

"Nice one, Wanda."

"Thank you."

As they rounded the corner, Wanda used her power to lift herself up into the air and over a runway on the second floor that connected to the building. Sam was on the runway and Ana ran forward as Wanda created a shield when one of Rumlow's men started shooting at her.

She took hold of him with her red energy and Sam swooped down when she called for him, lifting him up into the air and as the man fell back down, Ana spun and kicked him in the chest, making him hit the jeep with a cry of pain.

Teamwork, right?

"I make four." Sam counted as he walked forward with Redwing hovering above him. The drone scanned the floors, finding Crossbones easily.

"Rumlow's on the third floor." Sam told Steve as the Captain approached them, wrapping one of his wings in front of him for a shield.

Steve looked to Wanda, "Wanda. Just like we practice." He said.

"What about the gas?" She asked beside Ana as she stood back and watched Steve get ready to jump up.

"Get it out." He replied before Wanda used her power to lift Steve up into the air and directed him gently into the third floor of the building. Ana was impressed, the younger brunette was getting stronger.

Sam and Ana turned around and covered for Wanda as she used her energy flares to collect the gas inside the building. Ana threw her daggers as Sam shot at the men hiding behind the cars. He took her into his arms and turned around as his wings created a temporary shield. He tapped onto his monitor on his arm and soon enough, his pack shot out two explosives that it their targets.

Ana raised an eyebrow, "You couldn't have done that earlier?"

Sam rolled his eyes, "I hate you."

She grinned in response before looking up at the cloud of green gas with red pulsing energy surrounding it as it ascended up into the sky, finally disperses harmlessly into the atmosphere.

"Rumlow has a biological weapon." Steve called in.

"I'm on it." Natasha replied. Ana saw Brock and his men run toward their escape car, immediately tailing them. She saw Nat barrel in with a motorbike, abandoning it and letting it smack into the men before jumping up and throwing herself at two men, using one of their outstretched arms as a stop and kicking her feet out and nailing the other in the chest.

Ana joined her partner and flipped forward, taking care of the one coming up behind Nat's back. She wrapped her legs around his torso and placed her hands on the ground, swinging him into the ground head first. She grabbed his batons strapped in his back and fought off another incoming hostile.

She dodged his knife, bring their weapons into the air before kicking him in the stomach. He fell back with a scream and she jerked forward when another one had striked her across her face with a rifle. She lifted her hand and felt the blood escaping from her cheek, before looking straight at him.

He gulped and she glared. "Bitch." She muttered and punched his jaw, sending him down.

Brock had Natasha in his hold on top of the jeep as Ana fought off his men and dropped her into the car through the hole. He then removed a grenade and took off the pin, "Fire in the hole." He gruffed out and let go before locking her inside.

Ana went to get Natasha out, the handle of the back door just in reach before armoured hands clamped down on her wrists and forced her back. She let out a strained cry before wrapping her hands around his forearms and head butting him.

Bad idea.

Brock was laughing as she cried and pulled back, grabbing her head. He knocked on his face mask, "This stuff is really strong, baby. Stronger than your skull." He mocked.

Ana blinked away the dizziness, not feeling this way since the bomb in Siberia. She took out her daggers and slashed at him.

Again. Bad idea.

His armour was impenetrable. All it did was leave minor scratches and then there was a loud boom, before he ran off toward another jeep that had driven close to collect him. Natasha had used a downed body to shield herself from the blast from the grenade and landed on the ground outside when the doors flew off their hinges, coughing violently.

Ana helped her up and groaned, "My head hurts." Natasha gave her a dry look.

"You're kidding me."

- - -

"Rumlow's in a humvee heading north."

Ana and Natasha broke into a sprint, the former speeding through the market streets a lot faster. She activated her goggles, squinting her hazel eyes when the tech started up. It was reading all the faces around her, but she couldn't get a larger size. So she flipped up onto the parked cars and followed the targeted mercenaries.

"I got four, they're splitting up." Sam reported over the radios.

"I got the two on the left." Natasha said.

Sam flew overhead and Ana looked at the other two on her right. "Guess that leaves the others to Sam. Nat, I'm joining the party." She said, switching her direction and following Natasha on her motorbike.

"Then hurry up, Warrior. I'm about to break out the gifts."

Ana shook her head at her cliche statement.

"They ditched their gear. It's a shell game now. One of them has the payload." Steve said. Ana frowned, this just got a whole lot dangerous.

"Well, shit. They could release the bioweapon right now!" She stressed, pushing herself further and jumping off the large truck she was on and dashed after Natasha in the packed market stalls.

Ana weaved in and through the stalls, dodging under low poles and jumping over large crates on the ground. There was a clearing she just skidded into and her chest heaved. Her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. Where was Natasha?

"What the-?"

A bulky arm wrapped around her throat roughly and she gasped when they squeezed. She was forced around and she saw Natasha with her gun pointed at one of the men, as he had his gun pointed at her, and the one with Ana in his arms had the bioweapon pointed at her throat.

"Drop it." He seethed, squeezing Ana's throat. She froze in her spot, feeling the cold tube of the bioweapon at the base of her throat.

"Or I'll drop this on your friend." He said, forcing her jaw up and jabbing the tube into her skin.

Ana held her hands up in surrender, "Hey man, we can work this out like civilised people." She breathed out, glaring when he clawed into the skin of her neck in warning.

Redwing silently hovered behind Ana and the man that held her. The Warrior heard the familiar sound.

"Drop it!"

"He'll do it!"