NOTES: And here we have the hostile takeover! For those who've been waiting for it. ;)
A Woman Of Edges
Part Three
The corridors of the helicarrier are dark when they step out of the auxiliary control room that Lieutenant Hill co-opted as headquarters of the resistance with her last two orders being to 'initiate dogwood state' and 'call the muse'.
"Are you going to give me the background on Gittes, then?" Steve asks as the door locks shut behind the chatter and clatter of the techs trying to regain systems control of the what started as a visit from a US military contingent turned into a struggle for control of one of the most advanced pieces of human technology on the planet.
For a moment, it looks like she's debating whether he needs to know. "Lieutenant Colonel Jonathon Gittes would call himself a patriot," she says at last. "He believes that SHIELD should be a wholly American force, under US jurisdiction and autonomous from any other national or international group, council, or organisation."
Once, Steve might have thought the same. But the America he's woken up in is not the America he grew up in, and the shades of grey grow with every passing day. He's not sure he likes the idea of this shadowy council trying to control SHIELD; on the other hand, having met more than a few modern American 'patriots' after the Chitauri invasion, Steve definitely doesn't want to see them in control of SHIELD.
He believes in America, but he'd fight for all humanity. These people believe that the only country worth protecting is America and the only people worth saving are Americans. Steve can't make that right in his head no matter which way he twists it.
"Is he willing to kill people to make it so?"
"Apparently."
Something in her voice makes Steve glance at her profile. "What?"
"Director Fury's been at odds with the Council ever since the New York incursion when he backed the Avengers initiative."
"You think the Council would put an American nationalist in control of SHIELD?"
She exhales, and the cool mask slips, showing grim frustration and a pained uncertainty. "I think that this is a set up for a double-cross. Gittes and his people make the initial move, and then another player takes them down while they're still consolidating power." The blue-green of her eyes sharpens as she catches his disbelieving expression. "This is an intelligence and counter-intelligence organisation, Captain. I can't discount the possibility."
"I didn't say a thing."
"You don't have to; you're thinking it."
"I'm here, aren't I?"
She glances at him, surprised, and her expression softens into amusement. "And I'm glad of it. You make good cannon fodder, Captain."
"So nice to be appreciated."
She certainly 'appreciates' him, if the next hour of confrontations are anything to go by. Maria Hill seems to have no compunction about using him as bait, a distraction, a rallying point, a bodyguard, and once, as a targeting range-finder.
Steve's had closer calls, but somehow this is at once more exhilarating and more terrifying - relying on the shooting skills of a woman who doesn't even like what he is. "Good shooting," he says as the man behind him collapses.
"Barton gives good lessons." She replaces the clip with a spare stashed in her inside breast pocket, and looks up to find him watching her. "What?"
"I'm trying to work you out," he confesses. "You don't like superpowers, but you'll be the liaison for the Avengers. You took it so coolly when those pilots died in the Alps, but you made sure you brought back Katumi's present for his daughter. You say I'm just a tool, and treat me like cannon fodder, but you were willing to risk your life to keep me out of enemy hands."
He didn't plan on saying quite that much, but the woman is an enigma wrapped up in a puzzle, and topped with a great big red ribbon on top.
Her brows arch. "Maybe I defy definition?"
"You're defying something." Steve says, exasperated and frustrated and confused. "If I could only work out what."
She laughs then - a real, open laugh like he's never heard from her before. But they've been at this for nearly two hours now, moving through the twists and turns of the helicarrier, maintaining comms silence so as not to alert Gittes and his people of their location, taking out Gittes men and the rogue agents who joined his cause, and setting up the loyalists for the attack to take back the main control space. Maybe proximity has softened her edges.
And maybe not.
The next enemy encounter involves a squad of six. Steve only manages to take out half of them; Maria shoots two and punches the third out.
But one of them isn't quite down. "Target Prime located, SV-465—" Her booted foot slams into the side of his head and the voice falls silent.
"That," she says with quiet venom, "is for Annapurna, Goldman, you rat bastard."
"Friend of yours?"
"I keep my friends close and my enemies closer."
"I'd ask what I am, but I'm not sure I want to know the answer." Steve's only half joking.
And now they're hunted, thanks to Agent Goldman. And it seems Gittes certainly believes in keeping his enemies close; the renegades keep coming for them, and, although they make a good team, their luck can only last them so long.
They're ushered ungently into the control room of the helicarrier where a man with silvering hair turns from Fury's customary position. "Captain Rogers, Lieutenant Hill. You've caused my forces a lot of trouble."
The tone is smooth, the expression urbane. If they'd met at one of Stark's functions Steve would think the guy nothing more than one more of the military still trying to persuade Tony back into weapons manufacturing. The dog cage at the end of the walk and the man chained inside it like a beast says otherwise.
Steve's gut locks in revulsion. Even enemies should be treated with dignity; put down like dogs at the worst, not treated like them.
Forced to crouch by the dimensions of the cage, stripped of his clothing and his eyepatch, Nick Fury stares impassively out of one dark eye, uncowed by his humiliation.
"Pleased to be of assistance," Steve tells Gittes, seeing as Maria's not going to answer. He doesn't need to look at her to know she's probably vibrating with rage. The head of SHIELD should be respected for the position if nothing else.
"You know, it doesn't have to be like this. You're a sensible man and a patriot, Captain. You can surely see that SHIELD needs a guiding hand upon it – a strong hand at the controls – not some gaggle of old women who've never seen bloodshed and the cost of war. Fury plays politics and people die; is that the kind of organisation you want to work for?"
"No," Steve says, and knows it for the truth. "But we had a saying back in my day; sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. And, frankly, Colonel, I'd rather work with the disease than swallow your cure."
Gittes nodded and clasped his hands behind his back. "As I more or less expected." He nods at one of the men standing by – a former agent, if his suit is anything to go by. The man draws his weapon and points it at Maria's head. "Unfortunately, you're not as easy to dispose of as, say, Lieutenant Hill, which means you'll be remaining with us as a guest for some time."
"Wait—" Steve begins, but Maria doesn't flinch. Instead, she steps up to the weapon, bringing her temple in contact with the muzzle of the gun.
"Virginia Potts Protocol, code 4119, initiate!"
Cries rise around the room as Gittes' people lose control of the system. There's a buzz and a howl, and an arrow protrudes through the wrist holding the gun at Maria's head, as something else slices through the lock on Fury's cage with a metallic scrape. Gunfire rings out as precision shots from up high take out the agents around the room. Steve seizes the opportunity to take out his own guards.
When he's done, Maria has her gun trained on Gittes. "Try it," she says in answer to something Gittes' snarled at her, her voice infuriatingly cool. "Please."
"Lieutenant." Fury unfolds himself, filling the room with his presence in spite of his nakedness. "Status report."
Steve silently offers Fury one of the weapons appropriated from his guards, and the old soldier takes it with a nod. The scar tissue in and around the ruined eye is distinctly disconcerting, but Steve doesn't look away, according the wound – and Fury - what it's due.
"We have control of the helicarrier thanks to the 4119 protocol; a system check is presently being initiated, and pockets of resistance are being subdued. And someone's bringing you a coat."
"I guess we'll chalk this one up to stupidity, Colonel?" Fury addresses Gittes.
"You can't evade forever, Fury," Gittes snarls. "Sooner or later one of us will get you and the little bitch-pup you've been leash-training."
It takes Steve a moment to realise that the 'bitch pup' in question is Maria, who looks more amused than insulted.
"Considering Lieutenant Hill and her associates took down you and your crack troops without breaking a sweat. I wouldn't be so fast with the insults." Fury doesn't even hesitate as Natasha walks through the doors and around the conference table, her face cool and inscrutable as she holds up a long black coat for the SHIELD director to shrug into. "And you already know I don't keep SHIELD agents on leashes, Gittes. They're far more effective off them."
Steve happens to be looking at Maria at that moment, and catches the briefest of smirks on her lips. More a baring of teeth than a smile, it's bright, just a little feral, and breath-stealingly stunning.
And it's that moment when Steve realises he might be in trouble.
tbc