A/N: sorry the chapter being off.
"Sam but we can do interdiction later. Unless you were just fighting for the chance to kill us." Sam said to Maria breaking the silence. She nodded tossing him a set of keys. She, in turn, worked to get Steve's restraints off. They were large and to some effort to get them free. The moving van didn't make it any easier for them.
"What are you doing here?" Natasha asked her voice weak. Jennifer grabbed her shoulder, applying more pressure to it after Sam had freed them.
"I was sen…" She was cut off by the van stoped. Maria moved quick, pulling out a device and slicing a through the floor of the van and the ground below, revealing a dark tunnel for them to escape. She didn't say anything before dropping into it. Sam was next, and Steve helped lower Natasha down to him. He reached his hand out for Jennifer. She pulled back as if he had burned her. Steve flowed her gaze to the darkness below. The voices outside were getting closer. If they didn't move, they were going to be found. Steve didn't know what to do. He couldn't say anything Rumlow would hear it. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes. This was going to hurt. In a quick movement, he grabbed her wrist, pulling her into his arms. He placed one hand over her mouth and jumped to the darkness below them. When Steve landed, he rolled to the side, clamping his mouth shut as pain filled him. Looking down, he saw Jennifer's red eyes filled with fear. They were looking at him, but he didn't think she saw him.
"Jenny." The quiet voice of Natasha called out, but Steve couldn't think. His muscles had locked up as the pain grew stronger. Black spots started to flash in front of his eyes. She is breathing was getting more panicked, and he couldn't help her. His muscles couldn't move to let her go. Natasha continued to talk to her, but he was starting to pass out. The pain was becoming too much. It was as if it came in waves, almost like a cruel laugh.
"She is Mine," a voice filled his head. Before the blackness took him, Jennifer's eyes flashed a color he hadn't seen before. Causing the blackspots to vanish. Her eyes snapped back to blue. The pain leaving him in an instance. He released her, and she rolled out of his grip gasping for air. Steve leaned his head back as he caught his own breath.
"I'm…" Jennifer whispered out.
"We have to go," Sam said, helping Steve up to his feet. His knees gave out for a brief moment needing Sam to help steady him. Natasha was leaning against Maria, her face pail. Jennifer sat bent over in a ball.
"Leave please." Her voice was quiet, almost as if she wasn't talking to anyone. Jennifer looked to the left a glimmer of relief crossed her face before getting up. She looked over at him with guilt filling her eyes. He held up his hands, stopping her.
"Don't we need to go."
Jennifer worked on Natasha as they drove in the car. Her body was moving, but her mind couldn't focus. The wound was severe, but Maria assured her that there were medical equipment and personnel where they were going. Jennifer wouldn't mind doing it herself if her hands stopped shaking. Steve helped her get Natasha out of the car when they finally arrived. They hadn't said anything since the tunnel. Jennifer was unable to meet his gaze, instead turning to look at their surroundings. It looked to be in the middle of nowhere, but Jennifer didn't have the energy to figure out where. Her head was pounding, and the Monster called to her.
She had lost it and used her powers on Steve. It was for a moment, but how could she do that to him. Steve had grabbed her, and she lost it. She looked over at him; his gaze distant. What was he thinking about her…or Bucky? She had seen Bucky's life before and after his "death". However, who was that man she killed. His face had been lost in the sea of faces filling her mind. She couldn't think about it for too long the Monster was waiting for her. The group walked into the wet tunnel, and Maria called out to a man that was running up to them.
"GSW she's lost about a pint of blood." The man was apparently a doctor.
"Two," Jennifer said her voice raspy. The man ordered Natasha to come with him, but Maria stopped him saying they had to see "him" first. She pulled back a curtain, revealing Fury laying in a medical bed surrounded by medical equipment. He looked up at the four of them.
"About time," He said, causing Jennifer's stomach to twist in a knot. The doctor walked Natasha over to a chair and started to work on her. Jennifer watched him his hands steady. She pulled her eyes away with some effort.
"What happened to you," Natasha asked Fury wincing slightly in pain as he adjusted in the bed.
"Lacerated spinal column, a cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one massive headache." Fury explained to them trying not to move much. Jennifer let a small puff of her lips. Sam glanced over at her then back a Fury.
"Don't forget your collapsed lung." The doctor added, looking up from Natasha's wound. He was making quick work of it. Jennifer crossed her arms. Fighting back the slight jealousy that was filling her. He was able to do what she always wanted to do heal people.
"Let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good," Fury said.
"They cut you open. Your heart stopped." Natasha said.
"Tetrodotoxin B," Jennifer said everyone looked at her. "Slows the pulse to one beat a minute." She had read several of the reports that Bruce had written about it.
"Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him but we found a use for it." Fury explained, but that wasn't the whole truth. After it was proven useless for Banner Fury had turned to see its effect on her. But like Banner, it had only increased her problem. Steve shook his head at Fury's words.
"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Steve asked Fury. His words were curt the Soldier's patents wearing thin.
"Any attempt on the Director's life had to look successful," Maria spoke up answering the question.
"Can't kill you if you're already dead. Besides I wasn't sure, who to trust." Fury said, looking at them.
"I need some air," Jennifer said, walking out of the room. Not able to listen to him anymore. Not after everything they learned.
Jennifer sat in the corner of the room where they were making their plans. But she wasn't listening; she was lost in her mind. Running through her new memories and old ones.
"We're not salvaging anything," Steve shouted, pulling her from her thoughts. "We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick. We're taking down S.H.I.E.L.D." Steve said, placing a hand on the table.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with this." Fury shot back at him.
"You gave me this mission. This is how it ends. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been compromised. You said so yourself. HYDRA grew right under your nose, and nobody noticed." Steve said, letting his frustration show.
"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave I noticed." Fury defended, Steve glanced over at Jennifer.
"How many paid the price before you did," Steve asked him. Nick looked up at Jennifer, who was sitting in a chair looking at her wrists.
"Look, I didn't know about Barnes." He said, ignoring the obvious topic of Jennifer.
"Or would you have compartmentalized that too. S.H.I.E.L.D.
HYDRA, it all has to go." Steve said, standing his ground.
"He's right," Maria added, Fury looked around at all of them. They were all nodding in agreement except for Jennifer. Fury looked over at Sam.
"Don't look at me I do what he does, just slower," Sam said, holding his hands up.
"Well…It looks like you're giving the orders now Captain," Fury said. Jennifer shoved her chair back with such force they all jumped slightly. She stood up, looking Fury in the eye.
"I'm sorry, but you knew…This whole time you knew S.H.I.E.L.D. did this to me...You knew that they murdered my parents. You knew, and you let them take me from…" Her voice squeaked as it grew horse. "I trusted you even after what happened, and you have done nothing but break it. I thought that I was alright with this, but I'm not. How could you keep this from me?" She screamed, and Fury held up his hands.
"I wasn't part…" He tried to explain, but she cut him off.
"I was five and had to watch them kill my parents in front of me. I had to live in a room alone for one year while being tested on day after day. When I was finally given a new family, who was the one standing on the front porch to drag me away from them…You. Don't try and say you were the victim and have trust issues. I was your monster for the past ten years. For what nothing." She turned to walk out of the room.
"Jennifer." Fury called out; she turned around her eyes slowly bleeding to black.
"Don't forget just because you're not the one pulling my strings. Doesn't make me any less the monster you used." She spat, turning, and walking out of the room. No one said anything stunned by Jennifer's sudden outburst.
"I didn't know about Jennifer. The minute I found out that she was alive, I sent Agent Barton to go find her." Fury said, looking to Steve.
"Yeah, then why did you rob her of a normal life," Steve growled out.
"I didn't want to, but it was for the safety of the family. You had seen her powers imagine what they were like when she didn't know how to control them." Fury shook his head, fighting back the screams of a girl pleading for forgiveness. "Agent Shylow was HYDRAS mistake, and I'm the reasons she is not sitting in a cell right now." Steve looked over a Natasha, not knowing what to do.
"Give her time she needs space to cool off. She like the rest of us are having a bad day," Natasha said to Steve.
Steve stood looking over the forest. Natasha had gone to talk to Jennifer. He had wanted to go, but his mind was just as turned around as hers was.
"This isn't a back-alley Steve; this is a war," Bucky yelled at him. Trying to keep Steve from breaking the law just to get into the army.
"I know it's a war." Steve stopped him. They had this conversation over and over again.
"Then why are you so keen to fight? There are so many important jobs." Bucky pressed, needing Steve to say it out loud.
"What would you have me do? Collect scrap metal in my red wagon?" Steve said, fighting back the frustration at how small he was.
"Yes, why not?" Bucky didn't understand he just wanted Steve to stay safe. Steve was like his little brother. It was his responsibility to keep him safe since everyone else in Steve's life was gone.
"I'm not gonna sit in a factory. Bucky come on there are men laying down their lives. I got no right to do any less than them. That's what you don't understand. This isn't about me." Bucky glared at him.
"Right cause you got nothing to prove."
"He's gonna be there you know," Sam said, pulling Steve out of his thoughts.
"I know," Steve said.
"Look, whoever he used to be the guy he is now, I don't think he's the kind you save. He's the kind you stop." Sam said, walking up to him. I'll be with you to the end of the line.
The words Bucky had said to him since they were kids filled his head.
"I don't know if I can do that." Steve continued to stare out into his memories.
"Well, he might not give you a choice. He doesn't know you." Sam reminded him.
"He will." Steve defended.
"Look at what happened to Jennifer. I don't think that's a mind that can be fixed." Steve looked over at him.
"I have to try." He replied, shivering slightly at the memory of Jennifer using her powers on him.
Jennifer was sharpening her knives alone in one of the side areas. Natasha walked up to her giving her plenty of space.
"How are your stitches holding?" Jennifer asked, not looking up from her work. Her voice had mostly returned to normal. Natasha looked down at her bandage, taking a step closer.
"You could have done it better. Do you want to talk about what happened in there?" Jennifer shrugged her shoulders.
"It's been a long three days Natasha. I need this to be over, I haven't used my powers this much or like this in a long time." Jennifer pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to fight back a pounding headache.
"Jennifer, you know that you can't keep going like this," Natasha said, walking to the other side of the table. Forcing Jennifer to look at her. "You are not a monster." Jennifer opened her mouth to say something, then shook her head.
"This is such a mess, and I can't take it." She turned back to her work. "I have spent so much time trying to prove that I'm not a monster and in one moment I throw it all away. Just to yell at Fury." Natasha laughed at that.
"If that was you losing control, then, by all means, lose control. I thought you were going to actually use your powers on him," Natasha said. Jennifer shut her eyes leaning over the table. "What is it," Natasha asked, noticing the change in her friend. It was like a tremendous weight had landed on her shoulders.
"I used my powers on Steve." Natasha looked at her.
"Steve knew the risk he took that's not what's bothering you," Jennifer set her things down.
"I saw him, Natasha. I saw Bucky when I grabbed him. He is so lost. If I just had more time, I might be able to bring him back." Natasha shook her head at that statement.
"No…I don't want you thinking that way, and I especially don't want you telling Steve that. He is in the way of us saving millions of people, and I don't want you to hesitate," she snapped. "Are we clear," She asked, looking Jennifer in the eyes. Jennifer slowly nodded.
"Let's get this thing over with."
They walked through the woods that ran up against S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Jennifer was quiet; she didn't want to talk to anyone. Natasha had tried to cool her down, but her mind was so fogged she couldn't focus on anything other than the mission. Fury and Natasha were getting into the building by other means. This left Sam, Steve, Maria, and Jennifer to make their way in through the back. Steve glanced over at her. He was wearing the old uniform that he had stolen from the Captain America exhibit at the museum. He and Sam had gone there to get some of Steve's old gear since they had to ditch his normal one. S.H.I.E.L.D. had put tracking equipment in it.
"Are you alright." He asked, plainly. She gave a small nodded, not trusting her voice. "I need your head in this Jennifer can you do that." She raised her left eyebrow.
"I could say the same about you. Especially after what I did to you." Steve took a deep breath.
"Jennifer, I knew it would happen. You didn't mean to do it, I trust you. It was a bad situation, and your body felt trapped. Now I need you to stay with Maria." Jennifer jerked back at that.
"But you need me." Steve grabbed her arm, stopping them so the others couldn't hear.
"I need someone to stay on the ground in case things go bad. Maria can't because she had to monitor the computers." She wanted to argue but instead nodded.
"I will, but if this starts to go south, know that I will be there in a heartbeat." She said, causing Steve to smile.
"I would expect nothing less."