Chapter 3
I woke up to the window opening, and when I my eyes opened it was dark in the apartment. Sitting up sharply, I cursed loudly when I realized I slept way too long. Then a scent came to my nose, one I was used to but this time there was blood mixed in with it. Instantly my eyes adjusted to the dark and I turned my gaze toward the chair in the corner of the room. Music was now playing, and my eyes landed on Fury. He was beaten up badly, and I got to my feet in a hurry. Silently, he held his hand up and silenced me as he wrote something on his phone.
I'M NOT HERE.
Biting my lip, I nodded my head and went through and got myself a glass of wine. I had no idea where Steve was, so I had no choice and sat back down. I watched over him as he leaned back and tried to rest. Thirty minutes later, the door slowly opened and I listened as Steve cautiously came in.
"Kayden?"
"Yea, I'm in the living room," I answered quietly.
He walked around the corner, carrying his shield, and his shoulders dropped when he saw Fury in the chair.
"Don't think I ever gave you a key," he said.
"Did you really think I'd need one?" Fury asked.
Steve turned on the light and then froze when he saw the condition in which Fury was in. The other man quietly turned off the lights again, moving slowly. I could tell he was in a lot of pain.
"I'm sorry to show up like this, but I had no where else to go. My wife...she left me," he said as he typed something on his phone.
EARS EVERYWHERE.
"I didn't know you had a wife."
"There's a lot you don't know about me," Fury smiled tightly.
SHIELD COMPROMISED.
I froze when I read that, and for a moment the beast in me raged. Now what?! I felt panic rise up in me, but Steve laid a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it tightly.
"So who else knows about your wife?" Steve asked.
"Just my friends," Fury answered as he got up.
JUST US.
"Is that what we are?" Steve raised a brow.
"That's up to you."
Before Fury took another step, a gunshot went off and then three more. I couldn't help the cry that left my lip as Fury fell to the ground, crying out in pain. Steve ran to him, dropping down to his knees and grabbing his hand. Fury gave him something as he was dragged to safety, and I helped him.
"Don't...trust...anybody," Fury gasped, looking at us both.
He was silent after that, and passed out. Rogers stood up, blinking several times and then turned around to gaze out the window. I followed his gaze and saw someone on the roof top of another building. The door suddenly was kicked down, and I listened to the familiar voice of our neighbor.
"Captain Rogers?"
She came around the corner with a gun, armed and ready. "I'm Agent 13, I'm a SHIELD agent. I was appointed to protect you both."
"By whose orders?" Rogers demanded.
As she came to see us, she froze when she saw Fury. "His..."
Everything happened in a blur after that. Steve ended up taking off after the man who had shot Fury, and I helped her get him to the hospital. I tried my best to keep myself under control, but the truth was that I was angry. I wanted to rip apart whoever had done this to him.
I was standing behind the window when Steve ran in to see them operating on Fury. I turned seeing him, and relaxed when I saw he was unmarked.
"Did you get him?" I asked.
"No...he...we're dealing with something...else," he murmured.
When I let out my breath, I realized I was shaking slightly. There had been so much blood in the air and on my hands, that I wanted nothing more than to rip someone to shreds. Looking back into the room, I crossed my arms and stood next to Rogers as we waited. Not much later, Natasha ran into the room with us. She stood in silence, but there were tears in her eyes as she watched them operate.
"Don't you do this to me," she whispered, as Fury flat lined.
I flinched as they tried to bring him back, but it failed. For the last two years, Nick Fury had proved to be a difficult man to kill. The fact that he was now lying dead in front of us wasn't exactly registering. We were moved to a quiet waiting area and I noticed Natasha wasn't exactly looking composed. She was around much more than the others, though I had to say I was missing Hawkeye's sense of humor. It would be useful right about now.
A growl left my lips, and I followed the others once we were able to see Fury's body. Natasha walked up to stand with him, and she spent just a few brief minutes there before kissing his forehead and then leaving. Rogers glanced at me quietly, and then turned and followed her, so I did the same.
"Hey," he sighed reaching out and stopping her. "I'm sorry...I really am."
"Why was he in your apartment?" she demanded, glancing back to me.
Rogers glanced at me and then backed away and gave a helpless shrug. "I don't know," he mumbled.
She gave him a slightly disbelieving look when suddenly one of the SHIELD men caught his attention. Brock Rumlow was a trigger happy dickhead, and was a least favorite of mine. He had given Steve nothing but problems since he had started at SHIELD. I didn't like the man, and he usually left me alone.
"Cap, you're wanted back at base," he said urgently.
"All right, give me a minute," Rogers acknowledged with a wave of his hand.
"Now," Rumlow said sternly.
I tensed at the tone, and reached out quietly with my senses. Something was wrong but I couldn't quite place it. Steve slowly turned around and gave the guy a leveled look.
"Okay," he said, his voice flat.
"You're a bad liar," Natasha said quietly, glancing at us both.
She walked away without another word and I crossed my arms quietly and joined his side. Steve looked down at me and sighed again.
"Something isn't right," I muttered.
"I know. Listen, go back to base and stay alert," he nodded to me. "Don't worry about me."
"You are a trouble magnet, forgive me but I wouldn't dream of not worrying about you right now," I snorted with a chuckle.
"Cap...now," Rumlow grunted.
"Go," Steve nodded.
I hesitated for a second, my instincts screaming at me to stay with the man. A low reptilian rumble left my throat, and I glanced up at Rogers. He gave me a grateful smile, obviously seeing my struggle. Laying a hand on my shoulder, he patted my cheek and pressed a kiss to my forehead. When he leaned back, I was looking at the Captain. He was preparing himself for whatever was going to happen next.
"That's an order," he said, the command in his tone.
Giving him an irritated look, I nodded. "All right. But...I'm watching. I'll be there if you need me."
Turning, I walked off and slowly made my way back to the SHIELD building I was familiar with. I kept my senses open, and noticed I had a small group of people following me by the time I got to the first floor. Quietly, I made my way to the cafe they had there, knowing that it was a bit harder for them to attack me if it came to that. I knew that not everyone was aware of what I was, but I wasn't sure I wanted to take my chance.
I ordered a coffee and a muffin before taking my seat. The waiter delivered them to me, and I gave him a nod of thanks. Doing a quick scan with my eyes, I noticed the team that was on me consisted of four men. No doubt they were going to send their best somewhere else. Amusement flooded my body, seeing that they didn't realize I was the bigger threat.
Taking my time, I ate my banana muffin and sipped on my coffee. I took a drink of the coffee and sighed happily at the taste of it. Keeping part of my attention on them, I focused on where Captain Rogers was in the building. He was far from me, but not too far. The only reason I ever listened to him was because he was a legit commander. It was easy to follow him, and the beast in me was content with that. I was willing to protect him with my life if need be.
"Ma'am?"
Taking my eyes off of my phone, I looked up at the strike team member that had approached me. He was suited up in armor that they'd normally use for missions. That amused me, but it also worried me. What was going on that made them suit up for this? Fury had said SHIELD was compromised. Did that mean we couldn't trust anyone? From the looks of it, I decided trusting this group was a no.
"Yes?" I asked, appearing confused.
"You need to come with us," he rumbled.
I didn't move from my seat. "Why?" I asked, tilting my head.
"Captain Rogers requested your presence, you'll be debriefed on the way," the man answered shortly.
"No, he told me he'd meet me here, so if you don't mind, I'll just stay here and wait," I shook my head. "I haven't even finished my coffee."
"Things changed, he said he'd appreciate it if you met him," he answered, his fingers twitching.
Arching my brow, I sighed and slowly got to my feet. They were all slightly nervous when I got out of the cafe, and I wasn't sure if it was because they knew what I was, or if it was because I was a woman. It didn't matter to me either way, because they weren't going to get me. I let them walk me down a large hallway, and I focused on the building when I heard something. There was a struggle going on in the main elevator and when I listened I could hear Roger's voice in the mix. They were fighting. I stopped dead in my tracks, knowing this was a trap. The men escorting me stopped as well, and I noticed they glanced at each other.
"How many men did you think it would take to contain little old me?" I asked, blinking innocently.
"Two, but they told us four just in case," one smirked.
I smiled wide, and my eyes went red. "You're going to need more than a hundred to take me on," I snarled, fangs forming in my mouth.
They instantly went for their weapons, but I moved quicker than they did. I elbowed the man who had spoken to me, and then ran for it. They wouldn't be able to catch me anyway with the speed I was moving at. I heard something break in the elevator and I was outside before anyone could stop me. I watched the elevator fall down at least ten floors before managing to stop. He was still at least fifty stories in the air. While I knew that the fall wasn't going to be a problem for him, leaving here was. I could see teams already mobilizing, ready to take him out.
It was now or never, and I chose now. Pushing my transformation into a smaller dragon, I leaped into the air with a roar. Twenty feet wasn't even close to my real size, but at least it was still impressive. It was big enough to notice, and Steve noticed. He broke through the glass with his shield and I pushed myself up quickly. Tilting at the perfect time, I caught him with my claws and got him onto my back.
"You okay?!" he cried.
"Yes," I rumbled, as he held on.
A jet came after us, and I let loose a tongue of fire that melted most of the aircraft in a single breath. Nothing was hotter than dragon fire, it would melt or destroy almost anything. Snarling, I lifted up into the clouds and disappeared quickly. We didn't stay to make sure the jet was down.
"We have to get back to the hospital," Steve said, once I safely landed on top of a building.
"Let's grab a change of clothes, and go," I nodded.
I pushed myself to my human form and shook the feeling from my limbs. Steve took note of where we were and we rushed down to the floor level of the apartment building. We had to walk one block through the alleyways before I found a store to buy some clothes. I changed into a pair of pants instead of my skirt and threw on a new shirt. Grabbing some glasses, I put on a headband and walked out with Rogers once he was ready. I grabbed his shield, and strapped it safely in a hiding spot once we got to the hospital.
"What are we here for?" I asked lowly.
"I stashed something," he said quietly. "I need to get it."
He stopped at a vending machine, and when I looked to see what he was looking at, I noticed something was missing.
"You know, you're really bad at hiding things."
Natasha walked out of a room, making us both turn. For a second, rage flared in Rogers, and he grabbed her by the throat and shoved her into the room and against the wall.
"Where is it?" he demanded.
"It's safe." she replied.
They went back and forth for a moment, and he tried to get her to be straight. I felt my eyes turn red, and I almost grunted when Natasha finally sighed and looked at him right in the eye.
"I know who killed Fury," she said quietly.
"What?" Steve and I both asked.
"Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years," she answered.
"So he's a ghost story?" Rogers asked.
"Five years ago I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, somebody shot at my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over the cliff, I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me."
Natasha lifted her shirt to show us the scar on her hip and I arched my brow at it. She gave us a look and sighed quietly as she pulled her shirt back down.
"A Soviet slag, no rifling. Bye-bye bikinis," she sighed.
"Yea, I bet you look terrible in them now," Rogers snorted, making me suppress a chuckle.
Natasha gave a hint of a smile, and shrugged a little. "Going after him is a dead end. I'd know. I've tried. Like you said, he's a ghost story."
She held up the flash drive for him and he took it and glanced back at me. "Well, let's see what the ghost wants."
I gave him a full smile and tilted my head at the spy that was in front of me. "There was one thing you didn't have five years ago."
"Oh?" she arched her brow.
"Me," I shrugged.
"Kayden can track anything, and anyone," Steve answered quietly. "We can figure out what's on this flash drive while she goes out and tracks him."
"It'll be a bit easier, just in case," I nodded. "They'll have to divide if they come after any of us. And I don't mind making a public appearance. You two need to lay low. I'll keep my phone on me, and try to keep them off you. Especially Rumlow."
Steve nodded, and Natasha walked out of the room, obviously ready to get this moving. I ran a hand through my hair and gave a quiet snort when he looked at me.
"What?" he asked, not amused.
"Never thought I'd be helping humans the way I am," I smiled, clearly amused. "Please stay safe. You are one of my favorites."
"Well, I haven't met any dragons, so I gotta say you're pretty swell yourself. And I will be. Hopefully you can find him," Steve nodded.
I hummed a little, and patted him on the chest before walking out and going in the opposite direction of him. I went straight for the roof, easily slipping out of sight. Looking up at the sky, I took note of the clouds and then focused for a long moment. I pushed myself into a dragon form the size of a hawk.
As the world had changed, I needed to as well. My magic had changed, and advanced in ways that I never thought possible. Spreading my wings, I flew off toward the apartment. Landing in the place that I had seen the figure that had killed Fury, I took in a big breath. His scent was different. Metal, mixed with the scent of bad shampoo and ice. Ice? That was odd. Snorting out smoke, I followed it all over the city. The man was good at covering his tracks, I had to give him that. A few times, I lost his scent and had to back track to find it again.
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