"I guess that's just part of loving people: You have to give things up. Sometimes you even have to give them up."

-Lauren Oliver's "Delirium"

           There was a placid moment before it all started; the calm before the storm that always seemed ominous, never truly feeling like a moment to catch ones breath. With people on either side, many of them with conflicting partnerships on the opposing side, there was a clear moment where everyone knew this was not going to end here and now. The fight was about to come, the odds evened out a bit more now that each side had an almost equal number of people. Even if it had only been one on one, the horrid feeling of fighting against someone you should be fighting beside made everyone uncomfortable. 

         In her mind, Ophelia focused on Tony Stark; he refused to listen, refused to believe that Bucky could possibly be a good person. She focused on him, wishing that she had made him suffer when she had been in his head, but also not wanting to stoop to a level that would match that of HYDRA.

          It was not a fair fight but she had to fight fair against these people.

          "What do we do?" Sam asked loud enough for everyone on their side to hear.

          "We fight," Steve confirmed.

           Steve began to walk, and so did everyone else. On the opposing side, they too came closer, each foot fall echoing through the concrete like an earthquake built up of despair. The pace was picked up by one side, matched by the other. Raised, matched. Over and over again until everyone was either running as fast as they could, or flying through the air. A phenomenal crash boomed through the entire airport- though there was no one close enough to hear it- as everyone met with someone else to punch, kick, shock, stun, brought to their knees. It was a senseless fight, but one that needed to be fought. Ophelia found herself face to face with Natasha, and the redhead studied the gear that Ophelia was wearing.

            "So you're going to fight me with my own gear?" Natasha began with a raised eyebrow, bringing her hands up to protect her face in case Ophelia made a move. 

           Ophelia brought her own hands up, not bothering to retort against a woman that she respected, but had to fight in hand to hand combat. She crouched down and swept her leg out to trip Natasha, but the redhead jumped out of the way and brought her foot down to kick Ophelia back. Ophelia rolled backwards, her hands landing on the concrete to protect her head, and her back rolling over the concrete. She landed in a crouched position with her hands in front of her, and she pushed herself off from the ground. With the power behind her, she came at Natasha, fists landing blows upon Natasha's blocks. With each hit she landed, Natasha would give one back, and the two of them danced as if it had been practiced to perfection.

            "Ophelia, get down!" Clint yelled and Ophelia dropped into a plank position and rolled away from Natasha's stomp that was coming down.

            Natasha yelped as she had to duck away from an arrow, tumbling forward gracefully and avoiding the arrow that would have stunned her for a few minutes. She sent out a jolt of electricity back at Clint, both Clint and Ophelia had to jump out of the way of the blast.

            With a growl, Ophelia locked onto Natasha's mind and began to dig through her memories; she would never not be surprised with some of the things she found inside the Avenger's heads. There was so much remorse and guilt, the struggle to remain the good guy that appeared in front of the world, the public image. There was so much stress to remain that person, particularly in Natasha's head, Ophelia found, because of her violent past.

           Ophelia was ripped out of Natasha's mind when the very woman came at her with two batons. There wasn't time to stay inside Natasha's mind, as Ophelia had not worked upon this new skill of hers long enough to be able to fluently use it. There were issues, there were times where she couldn't focus on the memory and lock onto it while she was fighting for her life. Clint stepped up beside her and it was the two of them against Natasha, and Natasha wanted Ophelia out of the way. Ophelia could see it in her eyes as she came at her, and so she put her skills to the test. Thinking about everything she had learned in her life, how to fight and protect herself, she began landing punches relentlessly upon Natasha. With Ophelia and Clint teamed up, Natasha was overpowered. Clint flipped Natasha onto her back and Natasha groaned.

            "We're still friends, right?" she asked in a good humour that made Ophelia struggle to process how everything was going to be when this ended. Would friendships still prevail? Or would they crumble and shatter into pieces that could never be put back together?

           "Depends on how hard you hit me." Clint grinned down at Natasha, but she used that moment to kick the man off of her. Ophelia rushed in to bring Nat down, but she was about to kick Clint while he was down before Ophelia even got close.

            The familiar red energy swirls wrapped around Natasha's foot and the woman's kick was ceased mid-air. Natasha looked up at Wanda, who was standing a few meters away, and Natasha was unable to say anything before Wanda twisted elegantly and Natasha was thrown against a luggage truck. She hit the truck, and then fell to the ground. Ophelia could hear her groans of pain, but turned her attention to Wanda. She was still utterly fascinated by Wanda Maximoff, and truly wished that she had gotten the chance to meet her brother, Pietro.

           "You're pulling your punches," Wanda told Clint.

            The fight raged on, but nothing was going anywhere; they had to get to that jet. Bucky made the announcement, everyone could hear it over their ear pieces. "We have to go; that guy's probably in Siberia by now."

            "We need to draw out the flyers," Steve stated. "I'll take out Vision. You get to the jet."

             "No, you get to the jet!" Sam shouted over the ear pieces, his own fight still being battled above. He was flipping through the air, avoiding blasts from both Rhodes and Stark. "Both of you; the rest of us aren't getting out of here."

              "Not without O!" Bucky added, his voice straining as it was clear he was unsure if Ophelia was going to be able to make it. No matter what, he was going to ensure she made it out of that airport. 

             "As much as I hate to admit it, if we're going to win this fight, some of us might have to lose it," Clint said, looking at Ophelia. He turned off his ear piece and Ophelia did the same, and turned his attention to her while they had a moment of fragmentary peace. "I know what I'm sacrificing by losing this fight, I also know that it'll work out for me in the long run. But you can't get caught here to day."

           Ophelia blinked. "If it means Bucky and Steve will get out, I'll make that sacrifice."

           "No." Clint said, "Get to Steve and Bucky. You end up in a prison and I can promise you, you'll never get out. Not someone like you."

         "Someone like me..." she repeated quietly to herself, but she knew that Clint was right. They wouldn't understand someone like Ophelia, someone who had been raised within a HYDRA facility without an inkling of who she really was. She was a fugitive who had been hiding from the law and the entire world for years, helping hide Bucky as well. Clint was right, but it still didn't sit right that some people were going to sacrifice their freedom so that she could be free. She reached up and turned her ear piece back on, only to hear Scott Lang talking to them about a distraction. 

         "I got something kinda big," Scott said, "but I can't hold it very long. On my signal, run like hell, and if I tear myself in half, don't come back for me."

           "He's gonna tear himself in half?" Bucky asked, his voice hardly carrying over the ear pieces. Ophelia and Clint had split up, and she had spotted Bucky and Steve leaned against a wooden pallet. As she darted over, trying to remain as unseen as possible, she caught Bucky's attention. Suddenly his eyes widened, and Ophelia knew that she had made a mistake of running out in the open; the electricity that jarred her body brought her to her knees and she cried out in pain. She knew that it had been Natasha who did it, but she couldn't fight the electricity pulsing through her.

           Terror ripped through her as she remembered all the times the electricity had stolen her memories. Had made her a mindless soldier for HYDRA. She whimpered, her mouth opening to plead. 

            Ophelia strained but looked up at Bucky in pain, and the man was already running towards her as fast as he could. Natasha was standing beside Ophelia, her arm outstretched as she went to fire another blast of electricity, this one was meant for Bucky. Slowly, the electricity that was pulsing through Ophelia was fading, and she was able to move once again, but the pain still lingered. 

          Bucky was able to avoid the blast and shouldered Natasha; the woman went flying and crashed down on the concrete below. But she was not done yet; she held out her arm again and sent another blast. By then, Ophelia was recovered, and she scrambled to her hands and knees, gripping Bucky's arm as she pulled herself to her feet. Natasha's shot missed, and Ophelia used her own version of the bracelet against her. Natasha was on the ground, just about to get up, when Ophelia fired a blast at her. Natasha writhed on the ground just as Ophelia had seconds before, and both O and Bucky distanced themselves from her.

           Ophelia didn't have time to think about the terror she felt anymore.

            Overhead, something amazing appeared; Scott Lang was no longer tiny, nor was he the size of a normal person. Scott's big distraction was exactly that; he had grown to the size of a giant, towering over the planes, standing taller than the building itself. Everyone was astounded, staring in absolute shock, but there was hardly any time to marvel at the sight as his booming laugh shook the very ground they were standing on. 

            Bucky placed his hand upon Ophelia's back and pointed at Steve. Steve waved them over; they had a small amount of time where everyone was distracted by Scott. They had to make it to that jet before someone realized that it was their goal. Surely someone had pieced it together by now, but they had to hope Scott's distraction was going to be enough.

           "Are you alright, O?" Bucky asked as they joined up with Steve and began running beyond Scott, the plane, the fight, and towards to Quinjet.

           "I'm fine," she replied through gritted teeth forcing back the panic that was swelling inside of her. Leaving behind all these people who had helped her, who had seen her as part of the team instead of a failed HYDRA weapon, it didn't sit right with her. She knew it didn't sit right with Bucky either, but that was a conversation for another time.

           They were only a few hundred meters away from the hanger where the Quinjet was when a blast blew through the tower standing tall. The building crackled and crumbled, and suddenly it began to fall. When it landed, it would block their way in to the hanger, and climbing over would take too long. They would be caught, stopped, and they wouldn't make it to Siberia. 

          It was Wanda -someone Ophelia instantly respected the minute she met her, someone that Ophelia would want to get to know better if even given the chance- who stopped the building from crashing down in front of them. All three of them glanced back at her, and it was clear that she was struggling to keep the heavy building from falling. They only had a few seconds, and they had to close that gap; running as fast as they could, Ophelia trailed behind ever so slightly.

            Suddenly Wanda's grasp on the building was released, and it began to fall once again. They were so close they could taste it; but that building was going to crash down. Ophelia wasn't going to make it, she wasn't as fast as Steve and Bucky. But she didn't stop; her legs throbbed, her feet pounded hard on the concrete below. 

           Closer and closer, she was just underneath the falling building when she realized that she wasn't going to make it, but Steve and Bucky were. That was enough, though their chances against the Death Squad would be minute, at least they had a better chance at surviving than she did. She felt a hard shove against her body, knowing that the building was crashing down on her.