Sorry for the insane delay with this chapter. Thank you to everyone who has Followed and Reviewed. I hope this Chapter isn't a disappointment after such a long wait!

The gentle rhythm thudded steadily in Ava's ears.

She was sprawled on the backseat of the car, her head resting on the chest of the Winter Soldier, trying to find some solace from the freezing air outside. They had put in a call back to base earlier to inform them about the development. Ellis said they were sending out one of the technical vans to survey the area. They'd bring scuba equipment with them and sonar to check what Stark had built beneath the water. It meant more waiting, but at least Ava felt like they were finally getting somewhere. With every step forward the case took, the further she felt she was from getting a bullet in the brain.

As long as the details of her relationship with the Asset remained a secret of course.

She stirred slightly and his hand went to her back, lighting tracing a circle across the back of her jacket.

"Did I wake you?" he whispered.

"I wasn't asleep," she replied, moving her chin to look at him. "It's too cold." She moved as if trying to sit up, and his grip on her tightened, holding her close.

"I miss this," he said. "This closeness. I don't even know how long it's been, but I know I miss it."

"All those memories of being a playboy coming back all of a sudden?" Ava smiled and saw as the corners of his mouth began to turn up. His face was only gently lit by the moonlight, but he looked more serene than she'd ever seen him.

"Only memories of you," he kissed the top of her head.

"Wow, that's a line you've used before," Ava started laughing.

"Prove it," he said, slipping his cold, metal hand under the waistband of her coat and onto her bare back. Ava jumped back, sitting up against the car door.

"Unnecessary!" she snapped, shivering.

"Couldn't resist," he said smugly, pulling his legs back across and sitting up. "Clearly I was an irritating playboy. Irritating playboy to mindless assassin. Who'd have thought?" His gaze darkened. "Or maybe I was always a killer."

Ava slipped her hand into his and squeezed.

"We're doing what we need to survive. All of this. It's all about surviving. We don't know where this is going to lead us-" a flash of bright lights made them both wince. The headlights of the approaching van flashed a few times before turning off. "Don't let them win." Ava said softly, letting go of his hand and getting out. She walked around to the back doors just as they swung open.

The technician barely looked eighteen. He was short and skinny, with thick glasses perched at the bottom of his nose. When he spoke, a strong German accent cut through his English.

"317?" he said and Ava nodded. "The Asset?"

"He's in the car," she said, hopping up into the truck next to him. The bulky computer screens were already up and running and Ava looked over to nod to the driver who was sat silently behind the wheel.

"And it's this body of water over here?"

"Two divers went down about three and a half hours ago. Nobody has surfaced, and given the temperature of the water and the suits they were wearing, I'm guessing it can't be far out. They must have an airlock for access."

"Okay, give me a few minutes, the diving equipment is behind you," the technician motioned to the storage space behind the seat she had perched on.

"I'm going to take them back to the car," she hopped up and grabbed a tank with each hand, feeling her arm muscles strain with fatigue as she lifted them.

When she jumped down from the van she saw the Soldier had got out of the car and was stood leaning against it, one of his hands hovering over his gun.

"Everything alright?" He nodded in reply.

"What's happening in there?" he motioned towards the van.

"They're running a sonar scan of the harbor." Ava said, leaning next to the car beside him. His gaze travelled to the ground and he looked uncomfortable.

"Forget everything I said earlier," he said. "All of it. That's not me anymore." He shook his head and stepped forward, walking off towards the edge of the street. Ava watched him go until her attention was caught by the technician calling her back.

The image on the sonar couldn't be more obvious. There was definitely something underneath the harbor. And it was massive.

"Is it a fixed facility?" Ava asked. "Can you tell?"

"I highly doubt it," the technician pulled a large folder off his desk and thrust it towards Ava. "I grabbed that before I left the headquarters. That's a military plan of the area. If they'd built something permanent it should be on that. So it's either a submarine, or it's something that even the military don't know about."

"Right, and what is the distance on that?"

"Not far, it's a couple of hundred yards out, and about fifteen meters down," the kid looked impressed with himself, and Ava couldn't deny him the praise.

"This is good information. Thank you," she flicked through the folder. "Dawn will break in less than an hour, I want to try and get down there before it gets too bright. You guys can head back to base, get some sleep."

"Sure you don't want us to stay a few hours?"

"More conspicuous with more people around," Ava replied. She shook the young agent's hand and hopped out the van again, slamming the door behind her. The Soldier was hovering by the edge of the water.

Ava motioned down to the tanks and scuba gear that was boxed up by the car.

"We need to suit up," she said, more formally than she intended to. Where they parked was secluded enough so she kicked off her boots and dropped her trousers. She noticed the Soldier lingering around the other side of the car, giving her some privacy. Once her legs were in the wetsuit she walked around and thrust his at him. "Come on, we need to be quick." He nodded, starting to unbuckle his belt. Ava turned her back as she slipped off her jacket quickly, pulling off her top and pushing her arms into the wetsuit as soon as possible. He watched as goosebumps spread across her bare shoulders, right up to the point where her pale skin met the edges of the burn that marked her. Ava's arm twisted behind her, trying to catch the cord to pull the zip. The Soldier stepped forward, pulling it up for her, his hands lingering at the base of her neck a second longer than they needed to.

"Thank you," she said, turning around to face him as he finished pulling on his own suit. She returned the favor, her hands ghosting his strong shoulder blades.

"You think these will do much against the cold?" he said, looking at the water.

"These suits are top of the line, I hope," Ava said, tugging on the gloves that came as part of it, and pulling the straps of the tank up onto her shoulders. "Have you used one before?"

"A long time ago," he replied, bringing the mouthpiece up and breathing through it as a tester. He coughed at the strange feeling, but nodded, checking the equipment. Ava walked across to the harbor wall, sitting down and pulling on her mask. "Ready?"

"Ready," he said, taking a seat beside her. They both kicked off, flipping backwards into the water.

It felt like hitting a wall of ice. Ava felt her whole body tense as the chill hit her. Even her mind struggled work and it took longer than it should before she remembered she could breath through the mouthpiece. She gasped into it and a stream of bubbles escaped. As they cleared she saw the Asset opposite her, swimming to her side. He held his hands up in the 'okay' symbol and she returned it. Visibility was terrible, it was dark and murky and so they both set off swimming in the general direction that the sonar had shown the structure.

Ava felt like she may as well have been in space, surrounded by darkness, the cold beginning to wear off as her body got used to it. After what felt like a lifetime of swimming, a dark shadow began to form in the distance of the harbor. It was a submarine. Bigger than anything she'd seen. It looked more like a giant underwater hanger. It was entirely black metal, with no source of light coming off it, not even safety beacons. Ava noticed a lighter panel towards the aft which must have been the airlock. She pointed up.

When Ava and the Soldier broke the surface, she tugged off the mask, looking back towards the shore. They'd travelled further than she thought. They were almost in reach of the current.

"You think we should give the airlock a go?" he asked.

"It's a risk, they're bound to have armed guards the other side, and we have no way of telling how many men are on board."

"You think we need back up?"

"We're not calling back up," Ava said, treading water and slicing her arms back and forth to keep warm.

"Airlock it is. On three. One, two-" a surge of air from beneath them lurched both Ava and the Asset forward, churning them up as the water began to swell beneath them.

"It's surfacing," Ava said, the blood draining from her face.

"You think they know we're here?" he replied. Ava didn't know how to reply. Given the darkness down there, there's no way they could know. And in the cold water even heat recognition would have been thrown out. They must be surfacing for another reason.

"We need to be on top of that thing when it comes out the water."

"You're insane," he said, shaking his head. "We'll be like fish flopping on the deck."

"It's our only chance to get on board," Ava shouted. Their voices were being drowned out as the water began bubbling more violently. "Unless you have a better idea?" Ava didn't wait for a reply, her mask was back on and she had slipped beneath the water once more. The Asset followed quickly, straining to see through the white bubbles that were coming off the swell. He could see Ava slightly ahead of him, and then beneath her he saw the monstrous submarine emerging.

Ava stopped in the water. It was rising at a fast speed, trying to catch onto it was still going to feel like getting hit by a car. Her eyes scanned the metal exterior, looking for any way of clinging on. On the opposite side to the airlock was another smaller hatch that appeared to be sealed. But beneath it was a slim ladder with several rungs. She pointed at it and the Solider nodded. They began to swim towards it, trying to judge where they needed to be as the dark shadow continued to creep towards them.

In place, they both braced themselves, waiting for the right moment. The churn of the water got more intense and Ava flinched as pain shot through her ears as they popped under the pressure. Her eyes snapped back open as the submarine reached them. Her arms moved to grab the ladder, but it was moving too quickly. She felt pain surge through her hand and instinctively pulled it back to her. Before she could process what had happened she felt the Soldier's human hand grab at the scruff of her neck. He caught a handful of hair with it, but the pain of the hair being torn from her scalp was nothing compared to her hand, which she cradled uselessly to her chest. She looked up to see that his metal hand was gripped around the ladder tightly, keeping them steady as they ascended.

As they emerged, Ava felt her body sag as the support of the water disappeared. She tugged the aqualung from her mouth with her good hand and then helped the Soldier remove his.

"What happened?" he shouted.

"I don't know, my hand," Ava replied. She hadn't moved it, she was too scared of how much damage she had caused. She refused to be stopped. She wouldn't go back to the Training Academy. Whatever it was, it wouldn't slow her down.

After what felt like a lifetime the submarine came to settle on the surface.

"Up the ladder," the Soldier said. "Look," he motioned over the horizon. The sun was rising but visible on the water in front of the spectacle were several black, military speedboats. They scrambled up the ladder, Ava moved tentatively and one-handed, but eventually made it to the top, where they lay down to shroud themselves on the surface of the sub. The speedboats continued their journey, pulling up alongside the airlock. The soldiers on board didn't move, just sat still awaiting orders. The airlock began to whirl as the pressure from inside was equalized. Ava shuffled closer to the edge, trying to get a better look while still keeping herself hidden.

The panel slid away and a metal sheet came out, creating a gangplank down to the speedboats. A couple of crew in dark clothing began unloading crates, before returning to the submarine. A weapons drop. There was no more movement for several minutes until a man started walking down towards the boats. He stopped and lingered on the gangplank, turning to talk to someone still stood in the doorway of the submarine. The wind caught him from behind and he turned his head, exposing his face.

"That's not Regan, or Stark," the Asset said quietly, his lips not far from Ava's ears. She didn't reply, her gaze frozen on the man below. "Do you recognise him from the file?" Again she didn't answer. "Ava?"

"I know who it is," she said, pulling back from the edge. "We need to get out of here. Now."

The Solider had tried to get Ava to explain more, but she was on a mission and had dived off the other end of the submarine before he had chance, pushing one-handed against the water. It had taken them about an hour to get back to the shore, landing on a beach about half a mile up the coast from where they'd left the car. Ava winced as she crawled up onto the shingle.

"Who is it?" he spoke first when they arrived back on land.

"Not here," Ava had replied.

He had returned and got the car, bringing clean, warm clothes back to the beach, and hired one of the small fishing lodges across the road. The man informed him several times that it was out of season, and looked questioningly at the wetsuit. The Soldier spun some story about them being there for the marine life. He wasn't sure if it was believed, but the old Danish man seemed happy enough when a pile of notes were thrust into his hand. He assured the Asset that there was heating and hot water in the lodge. It was worth all the money they had.

Ava was still sat on the beach, her lips blue and teeth chattering when he returned to her. He helped her to the cabin, just down the beach, and slammed the door behind him, feeling the rush of heat from the large gas heater.

"What was that about?" he didn't mean to sound as stern as he did, but he wanted answers.

"That man," Ava said, fighting back tears. "That was my Uncle."

The last time Ava had seen her Uncle was the night their house had burned down. He had been to visit her father and stayed for dinner. He had been British military intelligence, just as her father had been. He must have moved up through the ranks significantly in the years since the massacre, he'd only been reconnaissance when she was a child. In the early years at Hydra she used to lie in bed, dreaming that one day he'd burst in through the door and rescue her. He must have known her body wasn't in the building. He must have known she was still alive. But he never came.

The Soldier knew better than to ask more questions at that time.

"I need to look at your hand," he said, motioned to the gloved appendage that Ava still had curled against her. She slowly moved it, wincing and stretching it out.

"Let me take the glove off," she said, tentatively pulling at the waterproof material. She shouted out as it got to the knuckle and ripped the rest off in one motion. Her middle and ring finger were badly dislocated. They'd already started to go black. The only blessing was that the cold had stopped some of the swelling.

"I've got to reset them," he said, ushering her over to him. He slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him to keep her steady. She was trembling through the wetsuit.

"Just do it," she said, resting her face against his shoulder and bracing herself.

"Bite down," he said. She looked at him before biting down into his shoulder. The pain tore through her like a knife as he snapped them back into place and she felt him flinch as her teeth cut down into his shoulder. "And breathe," he said, pulling back. "I'll find something to splint them with."

He opened the door to the bathroom.

"In the meantime, you need to warm up," he said, motioning to the shower. Ava didn't need to be told twice, she walked through, turned on the stream of hot water and ripped off her wetsuit without even shutting the door. The Soldier watched as her pale body slipped into the cubicle and disappeared into the steam. He began to look through the cabinets, working out if any food had been left by previous tenants or if there were any first aid kits lying about.

Ava stared at the wall in front of her as the water streamed off her. Everything was making sense. Why, after so many years of exile, Pierce had been so determined that she serve on this mission. Why, even after her cover was blown in London, Roper had transferred her to Copenhagen and not replaced her. They knew. They all knew her Uncle was involved. They were using her to get to him. She used her good hand to punch the tiles. Not full power, but enough to be satisfying. A few spots of blood washed down into the drain.

She turned the shower off and stepped out, wrapping a towel around her. Without stopping she walked out and straight for the Soldier. He spun as she hit him, her hands going to his shoulders, her lips violently smashing against his. The towel fell away and his hands instinctively went around her naked waist. She put pressure down onto his shoulder, forcing him down. He let her lead him onto the floor, where she crawled over him, straddling his waist.

In seconds she had practically torn the wetsuit from him, grinding her warm, wet body against his. He felt himself harden, groaning into her touch. She didn't say anything, continuing to kiss him, clashing her teeth against his before dragging them firmly across his lip. She lowered herself onto him and as he felt her warmth engulf him he moaned harder into her mouth. He was tempted to flip them over, but he let her lead, let her take complete charge of him.

Ava rolled her hips quickly, setting a relentless rhythm, her hands braced on his chest, her head tilting up. The Soldier let his metal hand trace her breasts, circling her nipples before slipping up to her neck. Her grabbed her chin roughly, forcing her to look at him. As they made eye contact her energy faltered. His hands went to her waist and he took over, thrusting up into her, maintaining her speed. He wasn't going to last long but he could feel her losing control on top of him. She started moving again, meeting his thrusts with her own and then let out a silent groan as she shuddered on top of him. He thrust a couple more times, until he felt himself coming inside her. He continued to roll his hips through his orgasm, but slowly drew her closer, laying back onto the wooden floor and pulling her down on top of him, resting her head on his chest.

"We're going to work all this out. Together. I promise," he said, kissing the top of her head.