2016 | HYDRA BASE — Steve Rogers kept his promise and came back to her. "We'll get you out of here, okay?" He nodded, staring at Ariel's face, that he missed so much. She looked so different, her normally fiery red hair was lackluster, her ocean blue eyes were equally colorless and her skin was pale and decorated with blue scales. It broke his heart just to imagine what those monsters had done to her. He looked down and saw a dead Strucker, with the left half of his skull missing, but he couldn't feel a single spark of Pity for him. He knew it was Ariel, who did this to him, but at that moment he didn't know what to say or think about it. He was just glad to have her back. The super-soldier also finally noticed the blue book with the anchor symbol, close to a pool of crimson blood on the floor. He picked it up and tucked the small book into a pocket on his pants. He carefully wrapped an arm around Ariel's waist and gave her support. She slipped her arm around his shoulder and let him help her.

It was almost like their very first meeting.

The two ran as fast as they could out the lab door together and were now in the vast hallways of the base. The Avengers have already dealt with most of the agents and some of them have already surrendered. Tony, Natasha, Sam, Clint, Thor and Vision, they all came to help get the three back. After several meters, however, Ariel stopped inexplicably, tore herself out of Steve's grip and stood behind him. There it was again... that sickening shrill sound. It was like a trigger. She covered her ears with her hands in pain and tried with all her strength to stay sane. "AHHH!!" she squeaked, eyes watering, as the noise in her head became unbearable. "AHHHH!!" please make it stop, she pleaded. Steve already had an inkling of what was going to happen next and foresaw the worst. Just before he could even hear her loud scream, he took her back in his arms and protected them with his blue and red shield.

As soon as the scream left her lips, all parts of the ceiling crashed to the ground and there was a huge explosion. If Steve wasn't a super-soldier he would most likely be losing his hearing right now. But even if he did, he wouldn't really care as long as nothing happened to Ariel. There were pieces of stone and dust everywhere, and it was difficult to see anything. Ariel leaned against Steve's shoulder with her eyes closed and he panicked slightly. Without thinking, he picked her up off the ground and carried her out of that base himself. Steve held Ariel tightly against him. Her head rested against his shoulder, her eyes still closed. "ROMANOFF, GET THE QUINJET READY! I GOT HER!" he yelled into his ear-piece. "AND MAKE SURE NO ONE BUT US IS IN THE QUINJET!"

"Understood, Cap!" Natasha replied into her own ear-piece. The two of them were getting closer and closer to the exit, but out of nowhere appeared Agent Ward from around the corner. In his hand a black tape recorder. But then he appeared just behind him – the next person. "Bucky." Steve exhaled and stared at him in surprise. "Who the hell is Bucky?" he replied, not knowing who the man in front of him was. "Hand over the girl!" Of course, the main task of the Winter Soldier was to protect and keep the Siren safe no matter what. Again he had lost Bucky through this damn mind control and it broke his heart again and again to see that his best friend didn't recognize him.

Steve looked at the unconscious girl in his arms and noticed her eyelids moving. She was weak, but he was sure she was responsive. He carefully lowered her feet to the ground, still holding her waist. He propped her up against the wall where she held on weakly with her remaining strength.  As expected, the Winter-Soldier ran towards Ariel to take her to safety on command. Bucky held her securely with his arms to prevent her from falling just as Steve threw his shield at Agent Ward. The shield automatically returned to Steve and he approached the agent. Ward was lying on the floor and right next to him was the black recorder.  He reached out for it but was thrown aside with an uppercut by Ward. Agent Ward lunged at the Captain and hit him several times.  "Is that all you've got?" Ward grinned, gaining the upper hand. Steve's gaze wandered to the left and noticed the device. He reached out for it as best he could and grabbed the part with his fingertips in vain finally reaching it, he threw it against the nearest wall with all his strength.

And as expected, the device had an impact on Ariel and the sounds reverberated in her head.  "AHHH!!!" she squeaked painfully. The cold metal arm's grip tightened, but she wasn't afraid of the Winter-Soldier. Steve was just as certain that Bucky wouldn't harm her, which is why he asked Ariel himself in his Winter-Soldier's state. Slowly she opened her blue eyes and finally realized what was happening in front of her when she saw Steve on the ground fighting Ward while she was in the mind controlled Bucky's grip. She forced him to look into her face, breathing deeply in and out screaming his name.

The winter soldier's steely gaze has been replaced by a softer and more insecure expression. Was her scream really strong enough to snap him out of his mind manipulation state? The soldier's grip relaxed as he finally realized who was standing in front of him. "Siren?" he asked as the corners of his mouth turned down. She had already closed her eyes again and he turned his gaze from her to the two fighting men in the hallway. "Steve?" he exhaled and faintly recognized a blond super-soldier he knew.  "Stay where you are." He said to his friend and angrily walked towards them both. He grabbed Agent Ward's shoulder from behind and yanked him away from Steve. "GET HER OUT OF HERE! I'LL TAKE CARE OF HIM!!!"  With his metal arm, Bucky grabbed Ward and pinned him against the nearest wall while Steve grabbed Ariel and carried her outside.

Something was wrong, however. Ariel kept hearing those shrill noises in her head and they didn't seem to stop.  As soon as the two reached the hidden Quinjet, another scream fell from Ariel's throat. "What's wrong with her?!" Natasha asked, at the controls of the Quinjet, ready to take off. "She won't stop screaming!" Shouted Steve and laid her gently in a bed that was on board. Luckily, Natasha wore strong noise-cancelling headphones that protected her to some extent. "All right Cap, Stark knows what's up and will meet us at the compound!" she yelled from behind the wheel, accelerating as she rocketed up into the night sky. "The rest are still over there taking care of the rest."

Ariel gritted her teeth and mouth and tried her best not to make another sound. But the noise in her head was already causing salty tears to flow from her eyes. Steve always stayed kneeling at her side and held her hand, trying to calm her down somehow. He drew small circles on the back of her hand with his thumb and stroked her forehead with his other hand. "AHHHHHH!!!!" She squeaked again, squeezing Steve's hand as tightly as she could.

"You can do this." He tried to calm her down and hoped she could hear him. "We'll be right there!"  Ariel tried to defend herself with all her strength, but the noises in her head became louder and louder. What she heard resembled sharp fingernails constantly and non-stop scratching a blackboard only 10x worse. She wanted to tear her ears off, it hurt so unbearably. Her heart started racing too and she narrowed her eyes. A loud but short scream left her mouth and shook the Quinjet. "STEVE CAN YOU KEEP HER QUIET?!?!?!" Natasha bleated, startled by the brief fall. "WHAT DO YOU THINK I'VE BEEN TRYING TO DO HERE?!" He defended himself in panic.

"You'll get through this, you hear me?" At that moment, Steve wasn't sure if she could hear him at all. Nevertheless, it was important for him to have said those words to her. "You can do this!" He felt her hand relax in his, her thumb making a small circle on the back of his hand. Her breathing became calmer, her gaze softened. "Listen to my voice, Ariel." He continued to distract her. He needed to tell her. "You're so brave and-... and strong, that's why you have to hold on longer for a while, okay?!"  He tried to tell her anything just to keep her going. He still wanted to tell her so much. For so many years he had told himself he wouldn't develop serious feelings for anyone ever again, afraid of loosing someone he loved over and over again. "We'll find a way." He promised her, pausing for a moment and getting lost in those ocean eyes that looked vainly into his. "Together."

AUTHORS NOTE! — Yayyyyyy Chapter 31! I hope you guys liked this chapter! Sorry for the not uploading lately, my dad was in the hospital and I wasn't really in the mood and right condition to be active on wp.

Anyways Love you all and stay safe
- love Nini💕