Disclaimer: Everything belongs to its rightful owners
"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori"
"It is sweet and right to die for your country"
Wilfred Owen
Chapter One
It had been two years since the Battle of New York, and little had changed in Clara's day-to-day life. She continued her work as a SHIELD agent, but now she took more time off; more trips to see Tessa and the kids, dinners with her sons, and even sometimes holidays to LA to visit Tony. Her relationships with her children, and her pseudo step-child of sorts, had only gotten better since the whole alien fiasco.
Things in her work life had also changed. Fury was placing an ever increasing amount of trust in her, relying on her more heavily for advice and counsel. He trusted in her loyalty to SHIELD, and in her loyalty to him.
Currently, she was taking some time off in between missions, to spend time with her family, which had seen some new additions recently.
"Thomas is gonna drop by tomorrow, after he picks Charlotte up from her mom's" Tessa told her, taking the seat opposite her at the dinner table, "And Will called. Him and Evie have arrived in Paris, seems like their honeymoon's gone off without a hitch. 'Cept for the fact he keeps interrupting their time together to tell us where they are"
"He's being safe" defended Clara
"You spy's and your 'safety'" said Tessa, using her fingers for quotation marks, "You're all paranoid"
Clara bit her tongue, refraining from pointing out the multiple reasons she had to be paranoid. The most obvious one being her profession.
"Nanna, look at my drawing" said Noah, running up to her side,
"Ah, it's very good" she said, taking the drawing from his hands, "I love how you made the truck red"
"It's a fire truck" he proudly announced
"A fire truck, wow, and are there firefighters on this fire truck?" She asked, and he nodded his head, "And does it have a Dalmatian? Because, you know, there's always a Dalmatian at the firehouse"
"Why?" He asked
"I don't know, you'll have to ask your daddy" she said, "Do you want to be a firefighter like him?"
"Yes" he said, fervently nodding his head
The phone in Clara's pocket began buzzing, she looked down to see that it was Fury who was calling her. She looked up apologetically at Tessa, who nodded in understanding.
"C'mon Noah, let's go put your drawing on the fridge" said Tessa, taking her son's hand, and leading him into the kitchen
"Hello" she said into the phone, standing up, and turning her back on the table
"Clara, I need you back in DC" said Fury, "Trojan Horse level"
Her heart hammered against her ribs. SHIELD was compromised.
She had always believed their plans to be just their paranoia taking over them. Never did she imagine the circumstances would ever actually occur.
"I'll be there in four hours, possibly three" she replied
"The Captain will have all the information you'll need" he told her. The USB. Steve had the USB from the Lemurian Star. Or will have it shortly.
"Okay. Stay safe"
"You too"
Clara put the phone down on to the table, placing her hands on it, leaning against them. She closed her eyes, and steadied her breathing. Now was not the time for fear. Now was the time for action.
"Mom" said Tessa, and Clara looked up at her daughter, "It's bad, isn't it?"
"You have to go underground" Clara instructed her, "Call your brothers, then go upstairs and pack bags for a few days. You know what to do" she said, before calling out for her son-in-law.
"Is something wrong?" Pyotr asked her
"SHIELD's compromised, you all might be in danger" she told him, and his expression hardened, and she could see the remnants of his old life, the spy still buried inside of him
"I'll go start getting things ready" he said, before walking out of the room
"Great, now I'll have to put up with a goddam gun underneath his pillow for the next few years" said Tessa, but her attempt at humour failed to hide how shook up she really was
"It'll be okay, I'll make contact when it's safe" she told her
"How are you not terrified?" Tessa asked her, "Because I'm freaking out. That's normal right, to be scared, it's a normal reaction?"
"Incredibly so" said Clara, pulling her daughter into a hug, "I have to go now, say goodbye to the kids for me"
"Stay safe mom, please" Tessa said, a pleading edge to her voice
"Of course" she said, "I love you"
"Love you too mom"
Clara was sure that she'd broken just about every speed limit on her way back to DC, and had spent all of that time going over every possibility as to how SHIELD had been compromised, each more absurd then the next.
Whilst on route, she'd gotten a call from Maria, and was now arriving at the hospital. She was surprised she'd even remembered to turn off the car, as she tore off inside, meeting up with Natasha at the entrance. The pair of them didn't speak, as Clara followed her into the viewing room.
"Is he gonna make it?" Asked Natasha, moving to stand in between Steve and Maria by the glass
"I dunno" said Steve, looking down at Clara, as she joined his side, her eyes glued to the glass, watching intently as the doctors worked away on Nick
"Tell me about the shooter" Natasha demanded
"He's fast, strong" said Steve, "Had a metal arm"
Clara's eyes flickered up to him in shock. It couldn't be. It had to be someone else. The Winter Soldier didn't exist. Or, at least, that was what she tried to tell herself for so many years. But she saw him. If might've been from afar, but a metal arm is not a characteristic easily forgotten. Especially given the circumstance in which she saw it.
"Ballistics?" Asked Natasha
"Three slugs, no riflling and completely untraceable" said Maria
"Soviet made?" Asked Natasha
"Yeah"
Just then, Nick's heart rate began to rapidly drop, until all she could hear was the sound of him flatlining. The sound of him dying, as the doctors made their attempts to restart his heart.
"No" she muttered, "Oh God"
Clara turned away from the glass, leaning her forehead against Steve's shoulder. He turned towards her, wrapping his arms around her, rubbing her back soothingly. The doctors stopped their resuscitation attempts, and called it.
Nick Fury was dead.
"We can, go and see him now" Maria told them, but Clara shook her head. She didn't want to remember Nick as just another dead body
"No, I, I can't, I just, need some time" she stammered, avoiding Steve's intent gaze, backing away towards the door, "I have to, go to the bathroom"
All of her next actions were done without her complete mental presence, and took far more time then was necessary. It was like she was watching herself, watching as she went to the toilet. After washing her hands in the basin, she looked up into the mirror. Her appearance hadn't changed much from that of a few hours ago, apart from looking a little run down, which was to be expected considering she hadn't slept since yesterday. Although, sleep remained a commodity that continued to evade her.
Nick Fury was dead.
Her friend, her boss, was dead. And SHIELD was compromised. Boy, had her life changed irrevocably in the past few hours.
So she took one last look in the mirror, fixing herself up, before stepping outside. She needed to keep going. Now was not the time to fall apart. That could come later.
She stopped in her tracks, as she saw the two agents standing on each side of the restroom door.
"What are you two doing?" She asked them
"We've been assigned to protect you" one of them told her, "Since Director Fury was killed, you could be a target"
"I feel safer already" she muttered, before striding off, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee following behind her
She stopped in front of the room where Fury's body was being held. A part of her wanted to go in, to say goodbye. But another part didn't. Because saying goodbye would make it real. It would mean that Nick was really dead. That he hadn't faked it.
The glass of the closed door provided Clara with a reflection of the vending machine behind her, where a USB was nestled behind packets of chewing gum on the top row. And she thought, that Steve was both incredibly resourceful, and awfully lackluster in his ability to plan ahead.
The two agents were still watching over them, and Clara knew that it was time to get rid of them. But seeing as she didn't know how complacent they were in this whole operation, she would do it as gently as possible.
She continued walking around the hospital, until she found a hallway that was completely empty, which was not too difficult given that it was early in the morning. The first obstacle, was the security camera. Even if SHIELD wasn't looking in, she was sure the hospital staff wouldn't be too accommodating to her assaulting two people in their hallway.
Clara splayed out her fingers, causing the security camera to explode. The agents looked up, and she took advantage of their momentary loss of view, to turn around, kicking the gun out from the first agents hand. He closed his fist, and made an attempt to punch her, but she dodged it. She grabbed onto his arm, backing up against his chest, delivering a swift blow to the face with her elbow, before throwing him down to the ground.
The second agent aimed his gun at her, now that his partner was out of the way, but she flicked her wrist, sending the gun flying. He then drew his knife and advanced on her. She dodged his swing, grabbing onto his upper arm and wrist, forcing them in opposite directions. He let out a cry of pain, as his bones cracked, the knife falling from his grip. She grabbed ahold of the back of his neck, forcing his body downwards, his chest colliding with her bent knee. The agent groaned, but was still conscious, so she banged his head into the wall, just hard enough to knock him out.
"What the hell happened here?" She heard Natasha say, looking up to see her standing at the entrance
"They were following me, it was a bit suspicious" said Clara, grabbing onto the feet of one of the agents, "I'll hide them. There's a vending machine just outside the viewing room, inside will be a USB, get it"
"The one from the Lemurian Star?" Asked Natasha, "What's on it?"
"I don't know, but it's important" she said, "And Steve did an incredibly shitty job of hiding it. I would have gotten it myself, but Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dee here didn't give me much of a chance to do it covertly"
"Gotcha"
After hiding the two unconscious agents in the cupboard, locking them inside, she quickly, but calmly, walked back to the viewing room. Just as she turned the corner, she saw Steve grab Natasha, and pull her into one of the rooms. She quickened her pace, listening in to their conversation.
"Where is it?" Asked Steve
"Safe" replied Natasha
"Do better"
"Where did you get it?" Asked Natasha, before realisation dawned on her face, "Fury gave it to you, why?"
"What's on it?"
"I dunno" said Natasha
"Stop lying"
"I only act like I know everything, Rogers"
Clara quickly slid into the room, shutting the door behind her and flicking the lock. Steve stepped away from Natasha, to shoot her mistrustful look.
"Did you know Fury hired the Pirates?" Steve asked them both
"I was the one that suggested it, actually" said Clara, and Steve's glare intensified, "In casual conversation, and then Fury took the idea and ran with it, worked out the kinks, put it into action"
"Why?" He asked indignantly
"The ship was dirty" Clara shrugged, "Fury needed a way in to get the information. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but it has something to do with Project Insight. That, I learned after the fact. I never would've suggested any course of action had I known it was to do with Project Insight"
Steve was looking at her disdainfully, but seemed satisfied enough with her answer. Though he was far from pleased about her revelation.
"I know who killed Fury" said Natasha, pulling them out of their staring contest,
"You recognised it too" said Clara, taking a few steps forward, "He's called The Winter Soldier, though most people don't think he exists"
"He's accredited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years" said Natasha
"So, he's a ghost story" said Steve
"Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out my tires near Odessa, we lost control, went straight over a cliff, I pulled us out" said Natasha, "But The Winter Soldier was there, I was covering my engineer, so he shot him, straight through me"
Natasha lifted up her shirt, to reveal a bullet scar, "Soviet slug, no rifling, bye bye bikinis"
"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now" said Steve, causing Natasha's lips to quiver into a grin, before turning to Clara, "I'm guessing you have your own story"
"In 73, I was sent to Russia to take out a KGB agent. Instead I...we" she tried to explain, taking a deep breath, wanting to approach the topic in the gentlest way she could, "We...went rogue together. He'd been tracking the activity of the Winter Soldier, and, I guess that made him a threat" she said, "Because after only a week on the run, the Winter Soldier tracked us down, and shot him. He died, right in front of me"
That whole explanation was a vast understatement of what had actually occurred. But she didn't really want to relate to them the whole story of how she fell in love with the man she'd been assigned to assassinate, or how she cried over his dead body. She'd made a different call, that had gotten him killed, and she'd almost gone with him.
"He didn't shoot you?" Asked Steve, his eyes softening, recognizing her loss
"Guess he didn't find it necessary, even though I saw" said Clara, "I wasn't his mission. So, I lived, and Alexander didn't"
"Going after him's a dead end. I know I've tried" said Natasha, bringing them back on topic. Clara had already told her the full story, and Natasha knew it was a sore point with her. She pulled the USB out of her pocket, before continuing "Like you said, he's a ghost story"
"Then let's find out what the ghost wants" said Steve, taking the USB out of Natasha's hand
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