[a/n: fried chicken wings... yes. That was supposed to be foreshadowing.]

STEVE FLEW back into the wall, Victoria and Bucky remaining on their feet.

Her entire body ached, having been battered for basically 24 hours straight. Her leg was bleeding again, blood trails forming out of four individual holes in her calf. Grimacing, she kicked Tony in the torso with her good leg, only cursing ("Not fucking again") as Iron Man grabbed her leg, hauling her to the side. The Archangel had her fair share of head injuries, but none induced by Anthony Stark.

The wall where her head meant became rocks and pebbles, stained in red as she fell to the ground. Consciousness and the Archangel had never been considered friends, but Victoria couldn't go to sleep. Coughing weakly, she pushed herself off the ground, watching as Bucky held the laser at bay. It had been mere inches from Steve, Steve, who I have to protect, even when he's like this, and she lifted her hand from the floor. Her dark eyes had hints of blue within them, barely visible in the scarce light. She reached up and pressed a hand to the back of her head, pulling away when she felt liquid stain them. The Archangel didn't need to see it to know it was blood.

Bucky was on the offense, pushing Tony farther and farther back until he was on the wall. The Archangel hissed through her teeth, clutching her side as she slowly, quietly, began to approach. At least 3 of her ribs were shattered, and with the blood in the back of her throat, she was sure one of them was poking her lung. I might die here. Can't let Bucky die. No Steve. No Bucky. Her thoughts were short and choppy, only focusing on one particular thing that happened to overcome the surges of pain in multiple parts of her body.

The Soldier held Stark on the wall, trying to dismantle the arc. Neither one knew what it would do, but Victoria could help, because if she didn't help soon she felt like she would keel over.

Bucky, himself, had his hand tightened around the arc. Electrical sparks flew as he pulled harder, Victoria and Steve were hurt and he had to save them, he always had to save them - he yelled a worldly as shout as he pulled again. The blue glinted, shined in his eyes as he pushed against the metal head for support. Victoria was near him, he could smell that impossibly faint scent of copper and something else, something he couldn't remember but he would. "Bucky, Bucky wait!-"

He just barely saw the yellow beam before he felt Victoria's arms barely move him to the side. He just barely heard the scream of metal and the scream of Victoria as he wheeled around, trying to move his arm... That wasn't there.

Bucky pressed his right arm against the floor as he turned his head to see his metal arm... Or lack thereof. He bit back a cry of pain as one of Tony's lasers caught him off guard, sending him rolling to the back of the room. Victoria, Victoria, what? Where is she?

Bucky lifted his head, and nearly passed out.

Victoria stood in the center of the room, like the sun, she felt like the center of gravity. As both of their eyes traveled down to her abdomen, they saw it. There was a hole, straight through her body, and Bucky could even see through it, see the opposite wall through where flesh and bone was supposed to be. It didn't even look like it was healing - it had, it had to heal, she always healed! Bucky let out an inhuman sounding sob, blinking repeatedly because there had to be a mistake!

Victoria, despite the fact she was probably about to die, surveyed the hole in her body with a comical interest. She stuck a finger through it, the pinky not even getting touched by flesh, before pulling it out and With a wet cough, she smiled widely. "For once in my life," she was looking at Bucky, whose blue eyes watery and full of a pain that couldn't even be thought of, "I'm holy. You get it, Jelly? Cause I.. I got- I got a hole..."

She fell, Bucky practically throwing himself across the ground to catch her. Without his left arm, that he swore was still there, this was just a nightmare; he would wake up in the apartment and Victoria would be happy and alive and Steve would still be stubborn and his arm would still be there. He could feel Tony's eyes burn into his own, and Bucky was defeated; he stared back with tired, tired blue eyes and slowly drug himself and the Archangel to the lonely corner.

Her head was lolled back, dark eyes looking like tunnels as he stared into them. "You can't go, Vic, I just got you back," he whispered, ignoring the tears that began to flow. She smiled, again, that smile that he hadn't seen in decades. It was a happy, playful smile, one that didn't show even before the war. "I'm not goin' anywhere, Jelly. I'm just gonna be gone for a little while, you know? And I'll come back, and I'll bring you that flower you always said was pretty. What was it?"

Bucky shook his head, letting a pained smile grace his harsh, tired features. "We were walkin' down Main Street, and Ms. Weiler had these real pretty purple flowers. 'N I said I liked them, so you went up to her and asked what they were. She said verbena, and you swore..." He blinked tears out of his eyes, sharply exhaling, "you swore you would get every one for me."

She nodded, pale skin growing paler by the second. Tony and Steve fought, but he couldn't hear it. He could only hear her shallow, shallow breaths, and could only feel the hole in her body that still wasn't closing.

"So this is the end, huh?" he whispered, pressing his forehead to her own. "Death is just the beginning of something else, don't you know?" She laughed shakily, weakly. A moment passed, before he responded.

"I love you, Victoria."

"I love you too, Barnes."

When he pulled away, her eyes were closing. He didn't say anything else, instead closing his own, and hugging her as close to himself as he possibly could without his other arm. Steve's shouting wasn't as distant, something about Victoria and Tony and Bucky. Bucky didn't care, he didn't really care about anything anymore, so he just closed his eyes shut tight and held Victoria Scott close.

--

Bucky was practically lifeless, the only thing signaling his state being the slight rocking movements as he held Victoria. He couldn't even cry, just sit there and mourn.

Under Victoria's torn, dirtied shirt, there was movement. It was so subtle, however, not even Bucky could feel it. Her shoulder blades were contorting, nubs sprouting from her skin. His hands held her lower back, nowhere near the growths. James was too tired to even continue rocking, and instead laid down, his grip on the Archangel's corpse not even wavering. His lungs felt like they were full of glass shards, his legs sore and aching. His entire face throbbed dully, every other moment or so. Bucky was quite sure a couple of teeth had been knocked around in the confines of his mouth, too.

He screwed his eyes shut, turned his head slightly to wear he could hear Steve panting. He couldn't lose Steve, too, he wouldn't have anything else to live for, but he couldn't move. He felt like he was dying, but he couldn't say that. He wasn't supposed to feel pain because he was... Was not, he was not the Winter Soldier and Victoria wasn't the Archangel. They were just two beaten human beings, one more beaten than the other. Bucky groaned in frustration, gripping Victoria tighter.

"She was my friend," Steve growled. "So was I."

The sound of metal hitting flesh only just caused Bucky to open his eyes. He wanted, desperately, to help him, but what could Bucky do? Victoria had been his other half since that first day on the playground. They had been 3 parts of a whole, and with a distant thought, Bucky realized that Steve had lost a part of himself, too.

Bucky couldn't feel, or hear, the growing. Steve and Tony definitely weren't focused on Victoria Elizabeth Scott's corpse. The skin had torn, revealing a gruesome two black stubs. Bucky's consciousness was in and out, barely attached to the real world.

"Stay down. Final warning."

"I can do this all day."

Bucky turned, a sudden movement, and grabbed at Tony's foot. The man wheeled around and kicked him, which didn't really hurt as much as it should've, but it worked. Victoria had slipped out of his grasp, but he was too tired to pull her back in. Her back was revealed, and Bucky nearly pinched himself when he saw it.

There were... Wings? There were wings coming out of her back? What the fucking hell?

I'm going crazy, Bucky thought, closing his eyes again, this is what grief does. This is why Hydra didn't want me to feel.

A metallic clang sounded as Steve pulled the shield out of the suit, panting. The Captain ached everywhere he could ache, the dried blood and wet blood on his face and back and neck only reminding him of the turmoil all 3 had faced. Steve approached Bucky, kneeling down between him and Victoria, who was now on her back. Steve didn't know that she had been on her stomach, at first.

He lifted Bucky up by his remaining arm. Steve didn't want to leave her here, but a dirty, dark, dark part of him wanted Tony to see what he had done, how he had killed a woman who had been tortured and forced to kill for decades upon decades. Steve draped Bucky's arm over his shoulders, somehow managing to support the man. It seemed his arm had taken up a large percentage of his body weight.

"That shield doesn't belong to you. You don't deserve it! My father made that shield!"

Steve, heaving in breaths, barely looked at the damned weapon on his arm. Victoria Scott is dead. He dropped it to the ground.

"Didn't your father ever tell you.. I helped make it?"

Everyone froze. The world felt like it stopped, stopped rotating. Their hearts stopped, their minds stopped, but their ears digested the sound. Not a soul moved, but they had to, because only one human being had a voice like that, an accent like that, had an aura of sass like that.

Steve and Bucky turned around, both men nearly falling to their knees as they witnessed Victoria Scott rise from the dead. Sprouting behind her, damp wings were spread. They were as white as clouds, the purest color possible. But they weren't staying that way. Black seeped through them like someone had spilled ink, starting at the bottom of the feathers and climbing up. Steve, Bucky, and Tony could've swore their hearts stopped. The hole in her body was healing like patchwork - it wasn't a pretty sight, but Bucky would've watched it for years if it meant she was alive.

"You... You were dead," Tony whispered, incredulous. The Archangel shrugged, the wings fluttering in sync with the movement. "I guess I'm a non-dead bird, now ," she responded, still not moving from her her spot.

Bucky stumbled forward, not even caring if he couldn't hug her right. He just.. He had to feel her, make sure she was real and this wasn't another sick game of Hydra's. Victoria engulfed him, literally, wings folding around the two like a cocoon. The man didn't even get to mutter out a word before she pressed her warm lips to his, and Bucky became liquid in her arms. She held him, though, she always supported him, even when she couldn't do that wit herself.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, once they pulled away. "It's okay," he whispered back. There was a sharp pain in his chest, causing Bucky to tighten his grip. Victoria's wings fell behind her, a newfound weight as she glanced over at Steve. He looked back at her, blue eyes wide, before nodding. Steve limped over to her, laying an arm over her shoulders.

The Archangel spread her wings, before all 3 disappeared into thin air.

--

T'Challa was waiting at the jet, the helmet lying at his feet. On the ground next to him, was a tied up Doctor. Her wings fluttered loosely, giving away her nervousness. Bucky and Steve were draped over her shoulders, both only leaning partially. However, she was still strong enough to hold up her boys. She had to be.

"I take it you know, then?" Victoria called, raising her voice over the still howling winds. T'Challa nodded, glancing at the tied up man. "I can not let vengeance control me. That is the lesson I have learned today," the King called, glancing at him and then at her. There was a brief moment of tense silence.

"Well, are you going to turn us in, Your Highness?"

"I was considering not doing so, until you called me Your Highness, Archangel," T'Challa called back, a small smile on his face. The Archangel nodded, a fleeting grin appearing on her face. "My name is Victoria, King T'Challa," she said after a moment, before dragging the two forwards. Bucky had tensed against her, obviously untrusting, but Steve had dutifully come to trust the Archangel's judgement. Trudging through the snow, the King stepped aside to allow them entry.

"I see you've gained a new asset."

"I'd rather not talk about the fact I just became a pterodactyl, T'Challa," she responded curtly, the smirk on her face negating her sass. The Black Panther raised his hands in defeat, deciding to merely study the steadily growing black wings. They were folded to her back, nearly fitting the curves. At least that might help them be inconspicuous, T'Challa thought to himself.

"Where will you go?" The Black Panther asked, suddenly. Bucky gave a half hearted shrug, resulting in him grimacing in pain. Victoria immediately turned to him, face etched in concern.

T'Challa looked at the three, battered and broken. These people were the ones that were victims, if anythings. They were just... Misunderstood.

"You can take harbor in my country, if you wish."

Steve, not missing a beat, rejected almost immediately. "We couldn't, that would bring heat onto you-" "It is my decision, Mr. Rogers. I can handle the consequences," T'Challa interrupted calmly. Victoria remained silent, only opening the hatch with focused blue energy. The Panther noted that she still had her other powers.

"F-fine," Steve said after a moment, teeth beginning to clatter from the cold. The Archangel sighed in relief. At this point, she probably would've knocked Steve out if he had persisted. They were wanted worldwide, and any chance at a safe place, they would all have to take.

"Can you two get on by yourselves? I'll fly," Victoria murmured to the two, dark eyes hooded as she spoke. Bucky knew she was hiding something, but was much too tired to be concerned of exactly what. So instead, he nodded, pulling away from Victoria and latching onto Steve. The uneven metal and wires no longer held heat, instead drained of it.

The two hobbled up the ramp, and the Archangel promptly chose to ignore the sound of multiple objects clattering to the ground and Bucky's loud cursing ("SHIT") that happened to follow. The Archangel, instead, chose to speak with the Black Panther.

"I have to admit, I was surprised when you recognized me that day in Wakanda. I hadn't seen you in years."

"I doubt I could forget a person like you, Ms. Scott," T'Challa responded carefully, voice quiet.

"You were younger, back then, Your Highness. It wasn't really you who pursued me," Victoria responded, almost immediately.

"Do not worry if I have remaining... Thoughts, about our time during the younger years, Archangel. I simply wish for us to be friends. We cannot seem to best one another in combat; only coming to a tie."

"You could beat me if you wanted. You had more than enough time to strategize my every move. My every counter move," Victoria responded easily. The King only shrugged in response, gaze turning to the tied up man. The former assassin's did, as well, eyes narrowing.

"I will turn him in before I return to my home country, I assure you," T'Challa told her, reaching down to haul him over his broad shoulders. The Archangel nodded, loosely moving her wings. She could feel almost every feather, the brush of wind against them. It was unnerving, being a bird. She couldn't wait to slap Sam with one of her wings.

"I'll clear your jet for passage into our country, Ms. Scott. Until then, there are medical supplies in the jet. I assume you know how to work them."

And with that, T'Challa left her standing by the open hatch of a jet, but this time, she wasn't as heartbroken.

A/N
Two chapters left of Hellfire. I like to think this was better written than the previous chapter, but please, leave feedback!