Chapter 8
~Midgard~
Steve and Astral sat in a beige room next to a bed that a woman laid in.
Steve held the woman's hand loosely.
Astral looked on with a sad smile, her boyfriend was facing his past and he was holding strong.
Peggy looked to be on her last legs as she told Steve about her grandchildren.
"You should be proud," Steve said.
"Mmm, I did but my only regret is you didn't get to live yours," Peggy said looking from the photographs to Steve.
"I will now though," Steve said with a sad smile but it stayed.
"What is it?" Peggy asked.
"For as long as I could remember I wanted to do what was right," Steve said.
"But I feel like I don't know what that is after recent events. I don't know if I could fall back in and follow orders," Steve continued.
Peggy weakly laughed, "You are always so dramatic, isn't he?" Peggy said looking to Astral.
"Yes, but it comes with the era," Astral said chuckling.
"Steve, you saved the world. We mucked it all up I'm afraid," Peggy said sadly.
"No, you didn't. The whole reason I joined SHIELD in the first place was knowing that you helped found it along with the crisis at the time," Steve said.
"The world has changed and we can't go back. All we can do is look ahead," Peggy said squeezing Steve's hand.
Peggy started to have a coughing fit and Steve got up to get a glass of water.
"Steve, if you want…I know she's fading and I can give you that dance you never got with her," Astral spoke.
Peggy looked at the woman with wide eyes. "You can do that?" Peggy asked.
"Yes, if that is what you want, the both of you," Astral said looking at the couple.
Steve glanced between Peggy, his old girl, and Astral, his soul mate.
"Please, I want to have the chance to make it up to her," Steve said.
Astral nodded and she walked over to Peggy.
She lifted the frail hand and spoke a string of words in an unknown language.
Peggy gasped as her body rejuvenated.
She stood up slowly and almost fell if Steve didn't catch her.
Astral waved her hand and the room changed to that of an old dance hall.
Steve noticed that he was in his old uniform for off duty and that Peggy was in the Red Dress.
"I guess it's time to have that dance with the right partner," Steve said offering his hand.
Peggy smiled and took it.
Astral watched on with tears in her eyes.
This is what her mate needed for such a long time.
A chance to say goodbye to all those that he had lost.
The music was playing in the background as the couple danced.
Astral sighed as she conjured a image of her other mate, the picture from the museum, only it moved.
Astral watched as the image smiled and laughed at something Steve had said.
Time had passed as Astral would occasionally glance at the couple and then go back to the image.
She felt a tap on her shoulder and saw that the couple had finished the dance.
"Thank you, for everything. I know he is not mine any longer and I appreciate all that you have done for us," Peggy said.
Astral nodded before waving her hand and the dance hall transformed back into the room in the nursing home.
Steve hugged Peggy before she started to turn back into her old self.
Steve smiled sadly as he led the frail woman back to the bed.
"Steve, thank you," Peggy said with a watery smile.
"I couldn't leave my best girl hanging could I?" Steve said trying to keep the tears at bay.
Suddenly Peggy eyes glazed over and then her memories reverted to back before she knew Steve was alive.
Steve answered her questions with a sad smile.
He said goodbye with a kiss to her forehead.
"She isn't going to make it much longer," Astral said as she squeezed her boyfriend's arm.
"I know and that's why I said goodbye," Steve said.
"You at least got to say goodbye, some people don't get that chance," Astral said.
The day came when he did have say goodbye though.
Peggy had died in her sleep the day after they had their dance.
Steve stood in full Captain America uniform with Astral at his side dressed in black.
Friends, family and agents from SHIELD stood around the coffin that was being lowered into the ground.
Steve stood, silent but the tears betrayed him.
He tossed the rose bundle onto the grave.
That day, they had lost two of the universe's strongest women, Peggy Carter and Frigga.
The couple stood holding hands as the last of the mourners left.
Steve placed a single white rose on top of the soil and turned away.
A few weeks went by before Steve took himself to see Sam at the VA office.
Astral begged him to go, he had continuous nightmares every night.
It either revolved around Bucky or when he dove into the ice.
He would wake up with a yell and a flail of his limbs, sometimes knocking Astral off the bed.
Steve would come to it and help his girlfriend up and profusely apologize.
Astral told him he needed to speak with someone about these nightmares, if even she could not help him.
So that day Steve went and saw Sam in order to get some things off his chest.
Astral opted to stay home at the apartment.
The couple had decided that enough time had passed and had moved in together.
Astral sat on the couch reading one of the new tomes her mother had sent her when the door jingled and an unknown set of footsteps came through the door.
Astral quietly stood with her hand on her hip ready to pull out a knife.
Pained breathing meet her ears and she lowered her hand.
Astral stepped around the corner and saw an injured Nick Fury.
"Norns, the hell happen to you?" Astral said bolting over to catch the man.
"Well the police force was rather on par today," Fury said sarcastically as he wheezed.
Astral helped the man to a chair and went to retrieve some pain relievers.
"So what exactly happened?" Astral tried again.
"SHIELD has been compromised, they sent their dogs after me and they tried to kill me," Fury said before he knocked back the pain killers and downing them with water.
"HYDRA?" Astral asked.
"I think so, there was always rumors floating around, but one could never be to cautious," Fury said.
"There's another thing, the Winter Soldier was there," Fury added.
Astral stopped for a moment and looked at the beaten man.
"How are you even alive?" Astral asked in disbelief.
She had heard the stories of the ghost assassin from agents but he hadn't been around in a while.
"The Hell if I know, I'm lucky I made it this far, you mind turning music on, the walls have ears," Fury mouthed the last part.
Astral looked at the man and rolled her eyes.
"I knew that, they just show boring normal stuff but if it makes you feel any better I'm sure I could get the record player to work," Astral said as she went to the shelf.
Music poured out of the machine and Fury laid his head back and closed his one eye.
Outside the complex a motorcycle was pulling and the rider turned it off.
Steve climbed the flight of stairs and was stopped by his neighbor.
"Hey did one of you leave the record one? It's been playing for a while," the blonde said.
"Oh, I must of left it on," Steve said.
He watched the blonde leave with her laundry before he went out the fire escape and went through the open window in bedroom of his apartment.
Steve silently crept through the house until he saw Astral sitting on the couch.
"Oh, I see ya took the back way," Astral said.
She applauded her mate for being over cautious.
Steve nodded before his eyes fell on the broken man.
"What are you doing here?" Steve asked.
"I needed a place to crash my uh wife kicked me out," Fury said.
He held up his phone though and showed him his phone.
'Ears everywhere.'
Steve looked at Fury in disbelief.
Fury talked about his lie and showed the screen again.
'SHIELD COMPROMISED'
"Who knows?" Steve asked.
"Just my friends," Fury said.
He stood and walked closer, but a sudden bang rang through the room and Astral and Steve ducked as the bullet went right through the wall and Fury.
Steve grabbed his shield and saw a flash of silver from the outside window.
"Stay here, I going after the shooter," Steve said as he sprang into action.
Astral held onto Fury when he passed over a small silver tab.
"Don't trust anyone," Fury told Astral.
A knock sounded on the door and then it opened. Astral whipped around knives drawn.
"Captain Rogers, everything alright I am agent 13," the blonde woman from next door called.
Astral stepped out and almost threw one of her knives but stopped when 'Kate' lowered her weapon.
"On whose authority?" Astral asked.
"His," Agent 13 responded running over to Fury.
She checked for a pulse and then radioed in.
"Do we have a 20 on the shooter?" a voice called through.
"Captain's in pursuit," Agent 13 responded.
Astral teleported to where she saw the shooter and saw her love and another man on the next building over.
Steve raised his shield and threw it at the back of the man.
But the man's silver arm shot out and caught the shield.
He stared at the man and then threw the shield back at Steve and jumped off the roof.
Astral teleported to right where the shooter last stood but saw nothing.
"Who was he?" Steve asked looking up from where he caught his shield.
"That was the Winter Soldier," Astral responded.
The ride to hospital was tense.
Steve and Astral stood near emergency as they watched Fury get patched up or what it looked like was trying to get Fury stabilized.
Agent hill and then Natasha strolled in.
"Tell me about the shooter?" Natasha asked.
"Strong, fast…had a metal arm," Steve answered.
"Ballistics?" Natasha asked.
"No rifling, three slugs," Hill replied.
"Soviet made," Natasha whispered, horrified.
The group watched on with heavy hearts as the doctors responded to the sudden beeping.
"Losing him," one of them shouted.
"Don't do this to me Nick," Natasha spat out.
They watched with sorrow stricken faces as the doctors tried to save him but to no avail.
Hill watched as Natasha pulled Steve away.
Astral followed watching the red-headed woman, Nick said she couldn't trust anyone from SHIELD, did this include Natasha?
Astral felt a growl in her throat when Natasha whispered yelled at Steve.
"Back off," Astral warned.
"I need to know why he was there?" Natasha said anger rolling off of her in waves.
"I don't know," Steve answered.
Someone walked over, "Cap you're needed back at SHIELD."
"Ok one moment," Steve responded.
"You're needed now," Rumlowe said urgently.
"Ok, Astral I'll see you at home?" Steve asked.
They had planned on going to the park in hopes they could find Sam.
Nothing was safe.
"Yes, I'll see you," Astral said.
She waved her hand and Steve stood in full Captain America uniform, well the stealth version.
His shield was strapped to his back.
Steve gave a grateful smile before following the STRIKE leader.
"Moving out STRIKE," Rumlowe ordered.
Steve felt that his lie or his straining of the truth was only getting him so far.
He left Pierce's office with an itch. He felt the hair on his neck stand on end when he entered the elevator.
The door closed and went down a few floors before it opened and some agents came on.
Another few floors and some more came on and some scientists took the elevator down to the next level.
When the door closed, Steve glanced at the men around him.
He could see the sweat roll of one agent's eyebrow and saw the hands on weapons.
"Now, before we get started, would anyone like to get out?" Steve asked in a deathly calm voice.
A hair second later sizzling of electricity rang through the air and chaos ensued.
A fury of arms with batons and Steve protecting himself were the next things that occurred.
Steve felt himself get pulled back and restrained.
He managed to hit the emergency stop button and groaned to get free.
He roared when someone zapped him with the electricity baton.
Steve felt someone clamp a restraint on his hand and then it started to pull him to the door.
A magnetic handcuff that was a new one.
Steve battled to get his arm away from the metal door and then suddenly kicked out knocking over several agents.
A fury of calculated moves had Steve released but his hand snapped back against the wall.
Struggling to get his hand off the wall, Steve battled his way against the onslaught of electricity coursing through him.
Rumlowe smacked the baton against Steve with anger while Steve yelled in pain.
He continued to struggle against the magnet but also tried to knock Rumlowe out.
"I want ya to know Cap, this isn't personal," Rumlowe said before he attacked.
Steve managed to beat the man before looking down at the unconscious or broken agents.
"It kinda feels personal," Steve says.
He steps on his shield to pick it up.
He tries to think of a way out.
Steve opens the doors, but sees more agents on their way.
'ASTRAL I NEED HELP!' Steve called out, hoping it worked.
'NOT ENOUGH ROOM IN THE ELEVATOR GET TO A FLOOR OR THE GROUND I'M LEAVING NOW,' she replied.
Steve looked at the ground outside before he took a step back and leaped.
He fell through the glass ceiling and fell through on to the ground.
Steve managed to get to his bike before Astral showed up.
A quinjet blocked their exit.
"Stand Down," A voice said.
Steve threw his shield and it jammed the engine before coming back.
Astral clutched his arm and teleported them.
Natasha stood outside where Astral had teleported them.
"What do you know?" Steve asked.
"I don't act like I know everything," Natasha replied.
"Quit lying," Steve demanded.
"Why did Nick give her the flash drive?" Natasha said jutting her chin out at Astral.
"Oh I'm sorry who's apartment did he show up at?" Astral responded.
"Well in any case, we need to find out what's on it and why," Steve said.
He didn't need the two woman to have a row.
"I have a place we can go," Astral said.
"Really? I wouldn't have guessed," Natasha said.
"Hey easy, she is trying to help Tasha," Steve said in an angry voice.
Astral glared at the woman before transporting them to a safe house.
"Alright we have about 9 minutes after we plug this in before they find us," Natasha said.
She spotted a computer in the corner of the room.
"They should not be able to enter here, only those that know the coordinates can enter," Astral said.
"Good, so when we find out what's on it and then we can figure out if it was the Winter Soldier who attacked Nick," Steve said.
He went to grab some water and came back when Natasha said she found coordinates.
"I can't exactly get into the flash drive, it's set up that you need to go to the place of origin to open it," Natasha said unplugging the flash drive.
"Great, where is it?" Astral said.
She waved a hand over herself to get herself ready for battle.
"New Jersey?" Steve said looking at the map.
"Looks like it's back to old stomping grounds for you," Natasha said.
She gathered her weapons and the group prepared to leave.
The group arrived at an abandoned complex in a blink of an eye.
They searched around for any Intel but saw that most of the buildings were empty.
Steve stood still as he looked at the old flag pole. He got a flashback of when he got the flag down.
Steve saw himself, well more his scrawny self, look back at him.
"There's nothing here, no active tech, no heat signatures, nothing," Natasha said.
"That buildings new," Steve said leading the group over to a building.
He opened the lock by bashing it with his shield.
There were framed pictures on the wall and an old SHIELD logo.
"Huh, I guess this could work," Natasha said.
"Hey Steve, is this Howard?" Astral asked.
"Yeah Howard Stark," Steve said.
"Who's the girl?" Natasha asked.
Steve ignored it though in favor of looking at a shelf that was slightly cracked open.
"If you are already working in a secret lab, why do you need a secret elevator?" Steve asked.
Soon the group was going down the elevator and the door opened to complete darkness.
Steve flipped on the switch and the sight that met them was interesting.
Old and outdated computer equipment was everywhere.
"This can't be where the USB came from, the equipment is outdated," Natasha said looking around.
Astral strolled over to wear the keyboards were at and turned the computer on.
"Look again Natalia, there's a port," Astral said waving her hand. Natasha tilted her head in confusion before inserting the USB.
The computer booted up and Astral typed a 'yes' on the screen.
Soon green lines appeared before a voice spoke up.
"Rogers, Steven born 1918, Romanoff, Natalia born 1989. Lokidottir, Astral unknown," the voice spoke.
"Do you know him?" Astral asked as an image popped up.
"Zola, a German scientist, worked for Red Skull," Steve said looking around the room.
"Correction I am Swiss," the voice said.
"How are you here?" Astral asked. "
SHIELD recruited me and when I was dying the stored most of my brain and thoughts into these databases. I have never felt more alive," Zola responded.
"HYDRA died with the war," Steve said.
"No, Red Skull died in the war. Our numbers dwindled, after the fall of Red Skull SHIELD was founded. They hired me looking for top scientists, but HYRDRA grew like a parasite inside SHIELD," Zola spoke.
"That's impossible, SHIELD would've stopped you," Natasha said.
"Accidents happened, if something was not to our liking we eliminated," Zola said as he flashed images on the screen of the Starks, Fury and pictures of an assassin.
"Once INSIGHT has been activated, the world will be wiped clean and HYDRA will rule. We won Captain, you ended up with zero sum," Zola gloated.
Steve, in a fit of rage, punched the computer screen.
It shattered, but a new one flickered on.
"As I was saying, the logarithm is what I needed, though you will be to dead to see the outcome," Zola said.
"Steve there's a missile on its way here," Astral said.
"Who fired it?" he asked. "SHIELD," Natasha answered.
"Astral get us out," Steve said.
Astral blinked and they were out a second before the missile hit.
