The rhythmic, soothing shaking of the prison van was not helping Katya's tiredness. She had trouble keeping her eyes open and wanted nothing more than to lean her head back and fall asleep. But that couldn't happen, not now, not when she suspected their fight wasn't over yet. 

It was stupid to hope for some miracle that would get them out of there, she knew that. Hope was dangerous, especially when they were led to their deaths, but Katya needed it to stay alive. 

A little bit of hope is effective, effective in wanting to stay alive and see what comes next. Katya had a weird relationship with hope. When she was first taken from her home and forced into the lifestyle of killing, hope had flared in her chest like a big flame. Someday, she would get out of there and be done with the horror. Live a simple life. 

But the more time passed, the more she saw that flame of hope go out. See, when you keep hoping and nothing happens for days, weeks, years, the more you believe it will never happen. It was also painful to hope, she was just torturing herself by not accepting her reality. 

Katya knew she had to let go of it, and she did for a while, when she got really low and saw no way out. But that little flame was always smoldering and she named that fire the reason she was still alive today.

Also in this moment, it wasn't letting her down. These few days had come with all kinds of surprises and weird turns and Katya suspected it wasn't going to stop now.

She hoped help would come soon though, because Natasha turned paler by the second and had trouble staying conscious. Katya was worried that if her wound wasn't patched up soon, she would bleed out in the van. 

Sam shared worried glances with her, and Katya could sense that he desperately wanted to help Natasha, but he could nothing more than sit and watch. He was the least banged up and confused of them all. Katya thought he didn't fully realize what was happening and the danger he was in. She bet he regretted getting mixed up with them. 

Steve, who sat next to Katya, hadn't moved in a long time and his confusion and worry was radiating off him. He stared at the cuffs around his wrists with an empty look in his eye and the gears running in his head. 

From what Katya had pieced together herself, the Winter Soldier apparently was Steve's old buddy Bucky who had reportedly fallen to his death back in '45. She understood nothing of how he was here today, but she could understand why he turned into the killing machine he is. HYDRA has a way of taking out your soul and replacing it with an animal, completely erasing everything a person once was. 

From what she had seen and heard from the Winter Soldier, was that he was nothing more than the monster they made him. But she suspected Steve wasn't going to give up on his friend so easily. 

He was the first to break the tense silence. ''It was him.'' He didn't look up when he spoke, and Katya thought this was more him thinking out loud than talking to the others. ''He looked right at me and he didn't even know me.''

Sam, who was the only one with the energy to answer, looked away from Natasha to Steve. ''How's that even possible? It was like seventy years ago.''

''Zola,'' Steve said immediately, like he had already figured it all out. ''Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43, Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him and-''

''None of that's your fault, Steve.'' Natasha interrupted him weakly, her voice barely audible. It clearly cost a lot of energy to talk. She could sense Steve's guilt, even if he didn't say it out loud. 

He ignored her words. Clearly, stubbornness was also a big word in his dictionary. ''Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky.''

Katya had heard the conversation, but it was all very vague and distant, like nothing really registered in her head. She wished they would be at HQ already so she could sleep in her cell. If they weren't going to execute her immediately that was. They must have some big plan to do it, make a spectacle out of it. 

After all, they were too dangerous to keep alive. They knew everything about the snakes within SHIELD, where the rest of the world still didn't suspect a thing. If they didn't expose HYDRA, they could continue on this path of destruction under SHIELD's name and that was the last thing the world needed.

Sam's loud voice pulled her back to reality. His tone was different, filled with anxiety and anger, so Katya knew he must be talking to one of the guards who also sat in the back with them. There were two of them to be exact. Both clad in all black, head to toe, with protective helmets and weapons around their waist. 

She hadn't paid attention to them, because there was no way to take them out anyway. Natasha and she were too weak to fight and Steve and Sam were bound too tightly to the van. They couldn't even reach them if they tried. 

''We need to get a doctor here. We don't put pressure on that wound she's gonna bleed out here in the truck,'' Sam tried to reason with the stone-cold guards. It was of no use. They couldn't care less if Natasha bled out or not.

She was about to tell him that, when the guard closest to Sam pulled out their electric rod and pointed it towards him in a threatening way. Everyone was on high alert and Katya sat up straight in her seat, shaking the exhaustion and pain out of her head.

There was a tense moment where everything froze, and everyone waited to see what would happen next. But that annoying little flame inside Katya flared up when the guard turned the stick around and pressed it into the other guard's chest. To say everyone was surprised was an understatement. It got even better when they knocked him out cold with a swift kick to the head. 

The surviving guard reached up to their helmet and pulled it off their head. Only it wasn't a they, it was a her. Katya had never been so happy to see Agent Hill's long, brown hair as in that moment. 

She liked Fury's right hand woman. Hill was smart, straight to the point, tough and all business. Actually, she reminded Katya a lot of Natasha, so it wasn't a surprise they all got along so well. 

''Ah. That thing was squeezing my brain.'' Right and sometimes, Hill had great humor and sarcasm. Another plus.

She gave Katya a smug smile when she caught her eye, before taking a further look at the others, stopping at Sam. Hill looked him up and down in confusion, before turning back to the others. ''Who's this guy?''

Katya managed a chuckle and a smile. Hill would have a plan to get them out of there and suddenly, there was some energy back in her body that was fueled by that flame. 

''Please tell me you have a plan to get us out of here,'' Katya said to Maria, who looked a little offended. 

She reached for her belt and held up a black stick Katya recognized all too well. It was a laser torch, one that could cut through almost everything. So something as thin as the steel floor of this van, shouldn't be a problem. 

''I'm offended you doubt me, Petrova,'' Maria said with a smirk before she put all the fun away and turned back to the situation. She grabbed the keys from the other guard and threw them at Sam, who understood what he was supposed to do, while she herself started with burning the hole in the floor. 

Sam freed himself first, before throwing Katya the keys to unlock the others. Sam himself immediately went for Natasha's shoulder and pressed his hands to it the same way Katya had done before. Natasha winced but made no sound as Katya freed herself and then Steve before finally unlocking Natasha's cuffs. 

Katya crouched down in front of her, brushing some hair out of Natasha's face, who didn't even register it. She and Sam shared a concerned look in which Sam could read how helpless Katya felt. There was nothing she could do while she was so weak herself. 

''Don't worry, I got her,'' Sam reassured her with a kind smile, which calmed Katya down slightly. She gave him a thankful nod before turning to Hill and Rogers, who were busy with the laser cutter. Right before Maria completed the circle, she stopped to give them more information.

''We're in the last car, so no one will see us come out. Drop down, stay low and roll away, you know the drill. I'll go first, find a car and get it running.'' She looked at all of them to confirm they understood her. When she was satisfied, she turned the laser back on and finished the circle. 

The heavy piece of steel fell on the floor with a loud noise and Katya prayed that the cars in front didn't hear it. Maria jumped through the hole, clearly in a rush to get out of there. They had to jump quickly after each other, or they would end up scattered too far apart. 

Steve wanted to be the last to jump. To make sure everyone else got out safe. Sam was still helping Natasha stand up from the bench so Katya was second. 

With one last nod towards Sam, who she trusted to take care of Natasha, she dropped down on the floor and slid out the van. 

She knew it would hurt, but that didn't lessen the pain as her body collided with the hard street. The rear wheels came dangerously close to her body so she pulled her arms and legs in best she could. They sped by her head and she was clear from the vehicle. She rolled along the asphalt until her body came to a still and pushed herself off the ground. 

Katya had spent enough time in the city to know that this wasn't a route to the Triskelion. This was a dark part of D.C. with lots of empty warehouses and shady people. She hadn't been wrong with her suspicions about HYDRA wanting to kill them. But that they would do it here and without making a big show out of it, surprised her.

The dark buildings and narrow roads made it easy to find cover, so that's exactly where she disappeared. Hill knew the route the van would make, so she knew exactly where to pick up her colleagues. All there was left to do is wait and stay alert. 

It wasn't long before the sound of an engine came closer and Katya looked around the corner of a wall, seeing an old, dirty van coming her way, Maria sitting behind the wheel. Katya emerged from her hiding spot, Hill spotting her right away and stopping the van in front of her. 

It was one of those vans with a sliding door in the side and no windows in the back. Ideal to transport four fugitives in secret. 

Katya slid the door open and jumped in, taking a seat on the floor. It wasn't a van made for transporting people in the back but that didn't matter. Maria stepped on the gas immediately. After all, there was no time to waste in case HYDRA had noticed their prisoners were missing. 

''Where are we going?'' Katya asked Maria, who swept the streets for any sign of the others. 

''To see an old acquaintance,'' she answered vaguely. 

Katya trusted her with her life, one of the few, so didn't ask further what she meant. When Maria stopped again, Katya opened the door and in stepped Natasha and Sam. The last stop was Steve, who collapsed on the ground too. 

''We're fifteen minutes out,'' Hill announced to the people in the back.

''Fifteen minutes out from what?'' Steve asked confused.

''You'll see,'' she answered him just as vague as she did Katya.

In the meantime, Katya had slid over to Natasha and looked to Sam with questioning eyes. Sam shook his head, indicating that she wasn't doing too well and was losing too much blood. His hands squeezed Natasha's shoulder as hard as they could, but Katya could see the blood dripping down his arms. Her own were still covered in it too.

Katya could see the distant look in Natasha's eyes and knew she was close to losing consciousness. But she couldn't have that yet. She had to hold on for another fifteen minutes and then some more to get it all stitched closed. Preferably, she would also need a blood transfusion, but since Katya had no idea where they were going and what would be available there, that might not be an option. 

It also wasn't an option to go to the hospital. At least not as long as the rest of the world thought they were criminals.

The only thing Katya could do to keep her awake, was talk to her. Talk to her about random things and tap her cheek when she threatened to pass out. 

Her own body wasn't doing so well either, but she blocked all of it out. She blocked Sam, who listened to everything she was saying, even though he didn't mean to. She blocked Steve, whose thoughts about Bucky she could practically hear. And she blocked her worries about where they were going, what was going to happen next and who they were going to see.

Nothing else mattered in this moment than keeping Natasha alive. The rest, they could figure that out later.