She wasn't quite sure how long he was gone, but she knew the time seemed to pass much more slowly when James wasn't there. Elle had kept herself busy by playing several rounds of solitaire and pacing her small room. A lot. She had heard a bit of a commotion pass outside her door and was summoned to the safety deposit room not long after.
James was sitting in the chair when she came in, an irritated look on his face. Several guards were re-shelving their weapons and a few were nursing minor injuries as the doctor checked them over. She noticed that there were quite a bit fewer here than had left a few hours earlier. Elle pulled a chair and a small tray with her tools up next to James, who continued staring at the wall. She started looking at the various parts of his arm, waiting for him to speak.
"It was so simple," he finally growled, clenching his right fist tightly. "All I had to do was get the target. He outsmarted me. Got away."
Elle pressed her lips together. She wasn't sure if she was more relieved that whoever the target was had escaped the harm that was sure to be done to them or worried of what Pierce would do to James for failing the mission. Instead of commenting on the matter, she continued working on his arm in silence. Eventually, James relaxed, unclenching his fist and choosing to focus on Elle working. She tapped on the paneling where the chip was inserted.
"How'd it feel?"
James nodded at her. "Good."
She smiled, turning to get a tool to open it. "Glad to know at least one thing went right."
They fell back into silence as she inspected the chip, making notes on anything she thought of. Elle reinserted it and closed the paneling, turning to place the tool on the tray next to her. She opened her mouth to speak but the words died in her throat at the sight of an angry Pierce walking into the room. He came to a halt in front of the chair, his jaw clenching as he stared at James.
"What. Happened," he said through his teeth, crossing his arms across his chest.
James kept eye contact, bracing himself for a slap or a punch or something. "The target got away. It won't happen again."
"You're goddamn right it won't," Pierce said coldly. "Because you're finishing it. Tonight."
After the VA visit, he had gone for drinks with Sam.
"So, what's bugging you?"
"I'm sorry?" Steve questioned around his beer.
"Come on man, I can tell something's up. You've got the whole brooding thing going on. What is it, girl trouble?" Sam smiled before taking a sip of his own drink.
Steve chuckled humorlessly.
"I guess you could call it that."
Sam swallowed before clapping Steve on the back.
"Alright man, hit me with it. What's going on? You take her out and she didn't call back?" Sam let out a laugh before waving down a bartender to request another round.
"More like disappeared off the face of the earth," Steve said under his breath. Sam turned back to him, waiting for him to elaborate. "This girl, she's pretty much my kid sister, is just gone. She practically vanished a few months ago and we were never able to find a trace of her. They claimed she died with her mother in a car accident, but something just never added up about it. I've been trying to figure out what happened, but all my leads have gone cold."
Sam's demeanor changed immediately.
"Oh, shit. I'm sorry, man. Listen, I have a friend in the DCPD, maybe I can pull a few strings and see what he can dig up."
Steve nodded. "I'd really appreciate that."
They had finished their round of beers before departing with a promise from Sam to call when he found something.
Steve pulled up to the apartment parking lot, his head still spinning with the amount of information he had been given today. Fury had shown him just exactly what Elle had been working on the whole time, and it was far bigger than anything Steve could have ever imagined. It was also far more lethal than he wanted to believe.
He greeted Kate in the hallway and her gentle warning that he had left his stereo on made his blood run cold. He changed his course of direction, making his way out towards the fire escape and entering the apartment through the window. Steve grabbed the shield from its spot against the wall and crept around the corner, relaxing when he saw Fury's silhouette slouched in a chair.
"I don't remember giving you a key," Steve spoke first, leaning against the wall.
"You really think I'd need one? My wife kicked me out," Fury explained, grunting as he sat up.
"Didn't know you were married."
"A lot of things you don't about me.
"I know, Nick. That's the problem," Steve said in a clipped tone, moving to switch on the lamp. He narrowed his eyes and felt his mouth drop open slightly. He started to speak, but Fury held up his hand before turning the light back off. He turned his phone screen towards Steve.
Ears everywhere.
"I'm sorry to have to do this, but I had no place else to crash."
SHIELD compromised.
Steve straightened, his posture guarded. "Who else knows about your wife?"
You and me.
"Just," Fury struggled for a moment before standing, "my friends."
Steve scoffed and shook his head incredulously. "Is that what we are?"
"That's up to you."
He had barely finished his sentence when the wall behind him exploded.
James followed the blonde man's eyes, calculating where his target would be. Finding where he needed to aim, he put his eye to the scope and squeezed the trigger once. Twice. Three times.
You're finishing it. Tonight.
Watching through the window, he waited until he saw the target getting dragged behind a wall by the blonde before picking up the rifle and the shell casings. He strapped the rifle to his back and shoved the shell casings into one of his pockets, quickly scanning the area as he did so. When he was satisfied that there wasn't any evidence of his presence, he turned and began his descent to where the handlers were waiting for him.
I don't want any trace left behind.
He heard glass crashing in the distance and knew the blonde man was following him. Sprinting over a rooftop, he glanced through glass paneling and confirmed the suspicion. He pumped his legs harder, faster. Seeing the end of the building, he leapt forwards, falling into a roll before getting back on his feet. He heard the window behind him shatter and then a grunt from the man. There was the sound of something slicing through the air and James skidded to a stop as he turned, catching the shield the man threw at him. He kept eye contact for the slightest moment before hurling the shield back towards him.
I know you won't disappoint me.
He dropped towards the street below, cracks spidering in the concrete from his landing place. He made his way toward the rendezvous point, pinpointing the van that was waiting for him. A handler shut the back door behind him and he kept himself steady as the vehicle lurched forward. They made their way back to the base, the air thick with silence.
Another handler barked at him to get out as the van came to a stop, and James complied silently, making his way out of the back door and into the shipping area of the bank. Four handlers - two in the front, two in the back - escorted him towards the familiar room. One of them shoved him towards the chair with the barrel of his rifle, ordering him to sit. He complied, pulling off the mask and uniform he had on so the doctor could look at him. In the middle of James' physical examination, Pierce arrived.
"Mission report."
"Target eliminated. Three shots fired. Evidence disposed of."
Pierce nodded, a gleam in his eye. "Good. Very good."
He motioned for the doctor to continue the examination while sending an agent for Elle. The engineer arrived shortly after, her curls sloppily pulled back as she rolled up the sleeves of the sweater she was wearing. She dipped her head in greeting at James as she checked over the outside of his arm. He nodded in response, patiently waiting for her to open the panels. She checked each one carefully, working her way up the same way she had last time.
"Judging by the lack of angst on your face, I'm assuming your mission went well," Elle said with a smirk. "Flex your fingers."
He obeyed, clenching his hand into a fist then stretching out each digit. She nodded in approval before moving to the next panel.
"I got it done. It could have been better," he said, shrugging his right shoulder while Elle continued to inspect the paneling.
She scoffed. "I'm sure it could have, but – bend your elbow – I think you're allowed at least one off day, given the circumstances."
Elle pried open the last panel. Nothing was sparking or smoking, which was always a good sign. She adjusted a chip that looked out of place. "Try to move your arm above shoulder level."
James did as she asked, but she noticed that his arm started whirring when it got past his ear. She frowned, grabbing a tool before shifting the parallel circuits.
"Try again." The arm reacted as it should this time, and Elle nodded with satisfaction before closing the last panel. "Alright, you look good to go. Unless you want to tell me more about the super-secret mission you went on or have any questions for me?" She quirked an eyebrow at him.
He tried to think of something to ask, if for nothing else than the purpose of getting her to stay a few seconds longer. She was the only person in the facility that encouraged him to ask questions rather than stay silent. When he said nothing, she looked disappointed and turned to put the tools away.
"I'm pretty sure I killed someone tonight," he blurted. He would wonder later why he had said that, but it was the only thing on his mind. Elle froze.
"What?" Her question came out as a whisper.
He swallowed hard before answering, "That was the mission. Elimination." Pierce had assured him that the mission was for the good of the world, for the order of the world. Something in the back of his head, a niggling little thought, had made him question that reassurance. Now Elle's reaction had his head swimming in doubt. Why had he told her?
Elle steadied herself against the table. Pierce had sent him to murder. While she'd be lying if she said the thought had crossed her mind a few times, hearing confirmation of her fear was worse than not knowing what the mission was. She had thought the brainwashing was bad enough, but this new revelation sparked a rage in her that she could not understand.
"You've got to be kidding me," she whispered to herself before straightening and turning to the door. James watched her go, knowing that her leaving was the natural thing to do. He silently berated himself again for telling her.
Pierce saw her walking towards him and entered the room. "Ah, Miss Berkley. How is the soldier?"
"You son of a bitch. How dare you? How the hell do you live with yourself?! You take away everything he has, and for what?! So you can have him kill for you?" She stopped for a breath before sneering at an indifferent Pierce. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you have to get someone else to do the dirty work. After all, you're a goddamn cow-"
She was cut off by Pierce's right hand striking her.
"I don't appreciate your tone, Miss Berkley," Pierce said, leaning towards her. "And may I remind you what happened the last time you acted up? Or maybe you need a refresher."
James' chest felt inexplicably tight when he saw Pierce's hand land on Elle's cheek. He had felt that hand before, had the pain blossom in the same location. He ached to move, feeling an unexplainable need to protect her. Pierce had seen him shift and motioned to Rumlow, the burly man training his gun on James while he watched helplessly as two guards dragged Elle away from the room. She screamed, thrashing her legs about, trying to find any way out of the mess she had just made for herself. Pierce cleaned his glasses as he followed behind them.
"Agent Rumlow, your team will be needed soon. I suggest you gear up."
"Understood." Rumlow slowly lowered his gun, waiting to see if James would make a move. When he stayed still, Rumlow called to one of the guards in the hall.
"Keep an eye on him. We'll need him soon enough." He holstered the gun and stalked out, followed by Rollins and three other guards.
James didn't remove his eyes from the hallway Elle had just been taken down.
Elle knew she had screwed up. The deafening silence that had blanketed the room after Pierce's threat told her that much. She had tried to mask her fear, but when two guards had taken a hold of her, she could feel the anxiety rising. Pierce had followed her down the hallway, typing on his phone. The guards pulling her came to a stop outside of her room and she was unceremoniously tossed inside. She crawled backwards as Pierce calmly stepped towards her.
Her back hit a wall and she glowered up at him, breathing heavily. He crouched down in front of her. Elle set her jaw as they stared at each other, neither one backing down. He raised his arm so quickly that she had barely seen it before pain exploded underneath her eye. Strands of hair fell around her face as she blinked rapidly, trying to gather her senses. Pierce's expression remained blank as he grabbed Elle's chin, forcing her to look at him.
"You really do need to learn when to keep your mouth shut," he said to her, tossing her aside. "And as much as I wish I could teach you that lesson myself, I have some things I need to attend to. Gentlemen, I'll leave her in your capable hands. Have some fun now, but not too much. We'll need her soon enough," Pierce said as he stood and left the room.
Elle swallowed hard at the evil look on the guards' face as they closed the door behind them and the click of the lock echoed through the small room.
"Alright, I have a question for you, oh, which you do not have to answer. I feel like if you don't answer it though, you're kind of answering it, you know?" Natasha said, fumbling around her words as she tried to figure out a way to properly formulate the question she wanted to ask.
"What?" Steve asked irritably.
"Was that your first kiss since 1945?"
Steve let out a low, humorless chuckle. "That bad, huh?
"I didn't say that," Natasha responded defensively.
"Well, it kind of sounds like that's what you're saying."
"No, I didn't. I just wondered how much practice you've had," she smiled, watching Steve for his reaction.
"You don't need practice."
"Everybody needs practice."
"It was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm ninety-five, I'm not dead," Steve retorted, shaking his head.
Natasha gasped, "Was it Elle?"
Steve turned his head towards her rapidly, his hands gripping the steering wheel tighter at the question. "What the hell? No, it was not Elle! The kid's practically my baby sister!"
Natasha let out a laugh, a real one. The humor slipped from the atmosphere of the car.
"Has she… Have you…"
Steve sighed.
"No. Pierce mentioned that her name had come up when they traced the wire to Batroc, but I don't think that it's possible. I know Elle. She wouldn't have been involved in that."
"I don't think so either, but you have to admit that it's strange she went missing just a little bit before S.H.I.E.L.D. started sending us on more retrieval missions. Especially since all of those missions now seem connected to whatever the hell is going on here," Natasha said, choosing her words carefully as to not sound accusing.
"So, what, you think she's part of this mess?" Steve tried to keep a cap on his temper, but he was high-strung after the last few days.
"No, I just…" Natasha trailed off. "Have you thought about calling Tony? Maybe he has some new leads or ideas that-"
"I'm not calling Tony. Fury said not to trust anyone. Right now, that means everyone outside of this car is a potential enemy. I don't know how deep this goes yet."
Natasha just nodded in answer, turning her gaze out the window. Steve released his overly tense grip of the steering wheel. He just needed to find out what the hell was on this flash drive, and then he could go back to finding Elle. He blew out a breath and slowly brought the car to a stop in front of the fort's gates.
"Let's go."
A/N: Okay, so new chapter comes up much quicker than last time! This one used a lot of pieces from the previous version of Short Circuit, so my apologies if it seems repetitive to older readers. It kind of jumped around timeline-wise, so I'm sorry, but I'm trying to speed it up a tad so that we can start getting into the important parts of the movie. IF it doesn't seem to flow well, please let me know in the comments so I can add that to future things to consider while writing. And, as always, please leave a review letting me know what you think! Onto guest reviews:
SunnySides: Honestly dreading writing that scene. Breaks my heart every time. And yes, I agree that Bucky should keep the attachment rope veerrry tight ; )
.2018: Thank you so much! Hope you enjoy the chapter : )