Fandom: MCU
Pairing/characters: Steve Rogers x reader, Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanoff, if you squint: James Rhodes, Wanda Maximoff
Words: 1011

I can't remember a mission ever being this chaotic. There were arrows and repulsors and shields and bullets and rockets and telekinetic blasts of various colours everywhere. I was too busy dodging and taking out agents to be able to erect a shield around myself, but so far it had gone well. Thankfully these Hydra wannabes were stupidly dressed in bright red uniforms, and all too easy to identify in the chaos. They weren't that skilled either, there was just so many of them. Hundreds...

I blocked two bullets and one arrow coming straight at me and sent them flying back to where they came from, not to kill, just injure, while jumping out of the way from two overenthusiastic agents who barrelled headfirst at me from either side.

These were Hydra sympathizers, fairly young, and operating all on their own. They didn't have the brains that the real Hydra had or the skills for that matter. They didn't even have the ideology right. Steve wanted as few casualties as possible, there might be a chance to rehabilitate these kids.

I turned swiftly around to the two agents as they crashed to the floor and grabbed a bullet whizzing past Natasha's head and another one that was aimlessly heading towards the ceiling and sent them flying into each agent's shoulder, rendering them useless for the moment. An arrow was flying straight at my head, and I ducked down and rolled to the side, hearing the clang as it collided with Steve's shield.

Shame, I thought. I could have cleaved the crossbow it was shot from in half with it. Just as I was clambering to my feet, another bullet was coming straight at me. I took a breath to figure out where to redirect it, but just as I changed its trajectory, someone slammed into my side and sent me flying across the floor. I watched the scene as if in slow motion and barely noticed that my momentum knocked down two red-clad agents. Steve had jumped in to save me from the bullet and it hit him straight in the chest. The sound of the chaos around me disappeared and I heard nothing but his groan of agony and the thud as he fell to the floor.

"Steve!" I screamed and scrambled over to him, stumbling over bodies and rubble, landing on my knees next to him. There was so much blood around him on the floor already. The idiot had gone and gotten himself killed. If I hadn't moved the bullet at all, he would have been fine, but the slight change of direction had caused it to go straight through Steve and I felt like I was going to vomit all over his body when his eyes shot open and his hands grabbed at the side of his chest. "Steve!" I said again, with relief this time, and looking him over, touching his chest, pushing his hand out of the way to see how bad it was.

It had looked like the bullet had gone straight through his heart, but it had grazed his side instead.

"Dumbass!" I slapped his chest and made him groan in pain. Then, I felt danger approaching and just barely pushed us down and erected a shield in time for the barrage of bullets hurtling straight at us. "DUMBASSES!" I nearly shrieked and stood up and spun around, a blind rage seemed to make my skin vibrate and the bullets that had fallen to the ground shot off in different directions taking out each of the agents that had fired them, I didn't care if they killed or injured. I then took a deep breath to calm myself down and activated my comm. "Steve's been shot. I'm taking him out."

"Copy that," Sam responded. "We'll deal with the rest. Do you need cover on the way out?"

"No, we'll be fine." I kept the shield around us as I bent down and helped Steve to his feet. I ducked down under his arm on his uninjured side, but he walked steadily enough on his own. "Keep your hand on that wound."

"I'm sorry," he said meekly, pressing down on the bleeding hole on the side of his chest as we walked.

"I had it," I said. "I was just about to turn it back on him."

The shield kept anything from getting to us, but we still had to navigate through the mess, and I had spent a lot of energy on that last outburst. But we made our way out of the building and past another and down the alleyway, and I could let the shield fall. The city was a ghost town, the fighting barely audible from here. We should be safe.

"Dumbass," I said again, but quietly. Then I called for one of the Quinjets.

Steve leaned back against the brick wall, sweat running down his paling face from under the helmet. "Sorry," he said, but there was a faint smile on his face.

I just shook my head and pushed his hand away to assess the damage. It was still bleeding a lot, but not so much that it made me worry. As long as it was stopped soon. I pressed my hand to it as hard as I could, and he didn't even wince. "If I hadn't moved that bullet, you would have been fine."

"If I hadn't pushed you away, we would have both been fine."

"We're both dumbasses." I leaned against him, my forehead resting right above the star on his chest. "You scared the crap out of me."

"Sorry," he said again.

"Stop saying that, dumbass." I punched his shoulder with my free hand.

"That my new name?"

"Yes."

The hum of the Quinjet was suddenly above us, and a rescue sling was being lowered. I helped Steve into it and then held on to him, before tugging on it.

"My shield," he suddenly said.

I groaned and activated the comm again. "Can anyone pick up the shield when you're done? Captain Dumbass dropped it."