The Will Of The Free
A/N: So, I'm pretty sure this chapter will be Sharon's first appearance, and Peggy's funeral. Obviously, I'm going to be writing Sharon differently because this story is a romance between Steve/ Captain America and Kagome. Also, just to warn you there's quite a few scene and time changes in this chapter, like there is the movie!
Vision turned to Wanda, "We would protect you." He promised, looking at her intensely.
Natasha held her hands up, "Maybe Tony's right. If we have one hand on the wheel we can still steer, if we take it off…" She trailed off, speaking monotonously.
Sam narrowed his eyes slightly, "Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?"
She pursed her lips, "I'm just reading the terrain here. We have made some very public mistakes, we need to win their trust back."
Tony tilted his head, "Did I mishear you or did you just agree with me?"
She huffed quietly, folding her arms, "I want to take it back now."
"No, no, no, no, no." He smirked, "You can't retract it. Unprecedented. I win, case closed." He turned his attention to Kagome, "You seem to have some very strong opinions about what's good for the team for somebody that was not a part of the team until what? An hour ago?"
Kagome glared at him, "Listen up, buddy. I'm not about to let you make me into an experiment. I've had enough of people controlling me. I like my freedom so you'll have to forgive me for not wanting to give it up so quickly."
Tony nodded, not meeting her eyes, "I can get that. You don't have to become one of my personal science projects, but I'd prefer it if you were. We need regulation, as a team we need somebody looking over our shoulders and making sure we're the best we can be."
Kagome shook her head, "Their agenda is control. They're going to control me, and I'm sick of being told what to do by people who don't have my best interests at heart." She snapped.
The room was silent for a moment, the team couldn't seem to look at each other without fighting for a solution to their problem. The moment of silence was broken by the light buzzing of Steve's phone.
'She's gone. In her sleep.' The message glared at him from the screen and he instantly felt as if his whole world had shattered around him.
Kagome instantly noticed the drop in Steve's normally warm aura, as it morphed into one showing mourning and depression. She looked up at his face and easily spied the sorrow in his eyes. "Are you okay?" She whispered, putting a hand lightly on his forearm.
"I have to go." He announced, rising up and throwing the book on the table. Kagome stood up soon after his sudden exit, following him slowly out of the room, her sadness reflecting his own.
X
He walked down the stairs, only to stop once he got to the end of the first set. He pulled his head into his hands, Kagome could feel the distress and despair emanating off of him through his aura. She watched him lean against the metal railing and push his head into his hands.
Kagome rushed down the stairs to him, her heels clicking against the surface as she did so. "Steve?" She looked up at him softly.
"She's dead," He whispered, "Peggy's dead." He looked at her, pain in his eyes.
Kagome had heard of Agent Carter before, she had become famous after the second world war and started SHIELD, Shippou had explained to her once that he had the honour of meeting Peggy, when he was starting his business and needed to find allies in the US, of which there had been very few at that time with the post-war tension, to help him cement his place in the western world.
"I'm sorry," She told him finally, placing a hand on his shoulder gently, "It hurts to lose someone you care about."
He gazed at her, asking her the silent question: 'how would you know?'
Kagome continued to stroke his shoulder lightly, "When I was fifteen I had the most incredible group of friends I could possibly imagine. There was Shippou, who you've met, Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha. Sesshomaru was his older brother, and they didn't get along well." She smiled sadly as she recounted it, "Our group spent two years together, I lived far away from them so I had to travel to visit my family. I left one day and was unable to return to them. When I reunited with Shippou, he told me that him, Sesshomaru, Koga, some of Kouga's brothers and Kouga's wife were the only ones still alive. Most of my best friends had died and I wasn't even there." She looked down at the ground, "Mourning people you care about is difficult, you feel like you missed out on so much of their lives and you feel like you don't know how to survive without them. I miss them every day, but there are people who understand and can help you through it."
He wrapped his strong arms around her petite frame, bringing her in for an embrace, "Thank you," he whispered into her ear. Kagome quickly returned the hug by wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. "Her funeral's in a few days, will you come to London with me?" He asked quietly.
"Of course, Steve." She replied honestly, relaxing in their shared embrace.
X
It had been a quiet two days, every member of the team had been avoiding each other since the conference, still divided about what to do. Since news of Peggy's death spread to the rest of the team, they offered him condolences, but essentially still left him alone, save for one person: Kagome.
The voices of a small choir rang out in the magnificent church, singing praises and sweet hymns to the congregation. As they did so, the marching began. Six broad men, including Steve, slowly brought an oak coffin draped in a Union Flag to the front of the church. They set the coffin down slowly, Steve lingering for a second longer than he probably should have to gaze at the coffin. He trudged back to his seat at the front of his church, where he sat between Kagome and Sam.
They were dressed appropriately for the occasion, Sam and Steve both in black suits while Kagome wore a knee-length black dress that hugged her figure nicely at the top and flared out slightly at her hips.
As he sat down in the pew next to her, she could feel the heavy emotional weight on his aura, the kind of crushing sadness you feel after the death of someone you care about. She put a tender hand on his shoulder, trying to ease his anguish. The hauntingly beautiful voices of the choir stopped slowly, letting out one long last note.
The priest, dressed in a black robe, addressed the mourners, "And now, I would like to invite Sharon Carter to come up and say a few words."
Sam nudged Steve, who was looking at his hands, to silently tell him to look up.
A woman with short blonde hair, wearing a black trench coat, walked slowly up to the alter to speak. She took in a deep breath before beginning, "Margret Carter was known to most as the founder of SHIELD. But I just knew her as Aunt Peggy." Her eyes darted around the church, looking at the congregation that had gathered for the funeral. "She had a photograph in her office. Aunt Peggy standing next to JFK, as a kid, it was pretty cool. Now that I'm older, it's a lot to live up to. That's why I never told anyone we were related. I asked her once how she managed to master diplomacy and espionage in a time where women were supposed to do neither. She said compromise where you can, and if you can't then don't. Even if the whole world is telling you that something wrong is something right, even if the whole world is telling you to move. It's your duty to plant yourself like a tree and tell them, 'No, you move.'
The funeral passed rather quickly after that, none of the other speakers stood out quite like the first, Peggy's niece.
Sam left the church, leaving Steve to mourn alone. Kagome reluctantly did the same, realising he would need time to mourn her loss.
"You're not alone, Steve." She told him quietly, before following Sam outside. That left Steve alone in the church, hands stuffed in the pockets of his suit, his mind swimming with despair.
He stood there, alone, contemplating the time he had with Peggy for quite some time. The only thing that snapped him out of his trance-like-state was Natasha, walking quickly through the centre of the church to get to him. Steve turned to her and started to speak, leaning against a dark wooden pew, "When I came out of the ice, I thought everyone I had was gone. I was so lucky to have her."
Natasha smiled sadly, "She had you back too."
Steve brought his mind back to the biggest issue facing the Avenger's in an effort to avoid thinking about Peggy any longer. The Sokovia accords being forced upon them by the government. "Who else signed?"
"Tony, Rhodey, Vision," She listed them.
"Clint?" Steve asked, the majority of the team still didn't know what had been going on with him.
"To be determined, he's considering retirement. Urgent business was his retirement plan being interrupted, he had to sort things out with Fury and the council." She sighed, "I'm off to Vienna after this for the signing. There's plenty of room on the jet."
Steve sighed and lowered his head.
Natasha lowered hers too, "Just because it's the path of least resistance doesn't mean it's the wrong path. What matters is that we stay together, not how we stay together."
"What are we giving up to stay together? I'm sorry, Nat." He mumbled, "I can't sign it."
"I know, Steve." She conceded, accepting that it was not in his nature to sign accords like the ones the governments want them to sign.
He looked up at her, "Why did you come?"
"I don't want you to be alone," she confessed, rubbing his back to reassure him.
X
The two of them exited the church, Steve joining Sam and Kagome in silence while Natasha quickly disappeared into the crowd. He spotted Peggy's niece, and nudged Kagome lightly, "I'm going to go talk to her."
Kagome nodded, "I'll stay with Sam." She told him quietly, smiling sadly.
Steve walked over the cobblestone path in London to reach her, glancing up at the cloudy sky quickly. The smaller blonde girl turned around, and Steve went to greet her.
"Hey, I'm-" He started.
She cut him off quickly with a wave of her hand, "Mr. Rogers. Aunt Peggy used to talk about you all the time. I'm Sharon, Peggy's niece."
"Sharon, I-I'm sorry for your loss," He apologised solemnly.
She nodded slowly, "And I'm sorry for yours, I knew she meant a lot to you."
"Thank you, ma'am. It was an honour to meet your aunt." He noticed the clouds in the sky grow darker, it looked like the heavens would open any minute.
"It's just Sharon, please. The weather doesn't look great, I should probably go." She half-smiled, bowing out of the conversation, to head towards her family members.
Kagome watched him stand there, on the cobblestones, as the rain started to come down. Other mourners had sought shelter from the downpour in nearby shops, but Steve just stood there, staring at the sky. Kagome couldn't blame him, she felt like the whole world was burning and all she could do was watch when she reunited with Shippou and found out that Inuyasha, her first love and eventual best friend had died. She knew that it felt like you were in insolation, that nobody could possibly understand your pain. But she understood, she understood all too well. She made her way over to him slowly, making no effort to avoid the rain. She came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder tenderly, "I know it feels like you're drowning, but trust me, you'll learn to swim."
X
Natasha had taken the quinjet alone to Vienna, with Vision, Tony and Rhodey having already signed the document. The nine hundred and fifteen mile journey flew by in just under an hour and a half. On the flight she had changed out of her black, funeral attire and into a purple blazer and skirt to wear at the signing.
She now stood proudly at the signing in the UN building in vienna. A woman in a grey suit called for her, "Miss Romanoff! I need your signature here!"
Natasha quickly scanned the paper, before taking the pen and scribbling her signature onto the dotted line at the bottom, "Thank you."
She turned around again quickly, her ginger hair brushing lightly over her purple blazer as she heard somebody else start to speak to her. A man that she quickly identified as the prince of Wakanda, T'Challa, had turned around from staring out of the window and into the streets. "I suppose neither one of us is used to the spotlight," He grinned.
They walked towards each other slowly, "Well, it's not always so flattering." She responded, smiling.
He nodded, "You seem to be doing alright so far. Considering your last trip to Capitol Hill I didn't figure you'd be comfortable here."
She shook her head slowly, "I'm not."
"That alone makes me glad you are here, Miss Romanoff." He said, meeting her blue eyes.
"Why?" She raised one eyebrow, "You don't approve of this?"
"The accords, yes." He sighed, "The politics, not so much. Two people in a room can now get more done than a hundred."
His father, king T'Chaka, walked up behind Natasha and smiled, "Unless you need to move a piano."
"Father," The prince greeted, cracking a smile.
"Son," He smiled back, "Miss Romanoff." He acknowledged her with a nod of his head.
"King T'Chaka, please allow me to apologise for what happened in Nigeria." She bowed her head, her ginger curls gliding over her shoulders.
"Thank you, thank you for agreeing to all this. I am sad to hear that Captain Rogers will not be joining us today." He sighed.
"Yes, so am I. I still have faith the others can be swayed with time." She nodded.
A voice rung out over the speakers, "Will everyone please be seated, the assembly is now in session."
The three shared a nod, Natasha and T'Challa returning to their assigned seats as the King of Wakanda made his way to the stand.
"When stolen Wakandan vibranium was used to make a terrible weapon, we in Wakanda were forced to question our legacy," He started, speaking with confidence and wisdom, "Those men and women killed in Nigeria were part of a goodwill mission, to help us reach out to other countries. People were injured, civilians, our citizens, and I have heard even a member of the Avenger's team itself was caught in the blast. We will not let the misfortune of this event drive us back, we will continue to strive for a safer world. I am grateful to the Avenger's for supporting this. Wakanda extends its hand towards peace." He smiled at his audience.
T'Challa gazed out of the window again, looking down at a news van. He frowned as he noticed the police dogs start to bark and the policemen themselves start to run from the van.
He rose from his seat and ran desperately towards his father, his pulse beating rapidly, "EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" He screamed, as the deafening blast went off.
X
Sam walked over to the two standing in the rain, a sombre look on his face, "There's something you guys gotta see."
Kagome and Steve turned to him, concerned. Sam's phone had been buzzing crazily with urgent news reports flooding in.
"What is it, Sam?" Steve frowned.
Sam pulled out his phone quickly, opening a video of a news report. The reporter spoke quickly, images of a raging fire coming from a building filling the screen.
"A bomb hidden in a news van ripped through the United Nations building in Vienna. More than 70 people have been injured. At least 12 are dead, including Wakanda's King T'Chaka. Officials have released a video of suspect James Butchanan Barnes, the Winter Soldier, who they believe to be behind the attack. Barnes is an infamous HYDRA agent, linked to numerous political assassinations and various acts of terrorism."
Steve gulped, "Bucky," he whispered slowly.
Kagome looked up at Steve, before turning her attention to Sam, "What now?"
"We get to Vienna," Steve told her firmly, his resolve hardening.
Kagome only nodded in response, 'seventy people injured, twelve dead. I can't let anyone else die, it hurts so much to see this happen so often. The world has new evils, and I'm going to be there to destroy them.' She thought, her mind racing with determination.
X
A/N: wow, I've been updating everyday so far, that's pretty damn good! Sharon isn't going to be given as 'big' a role in this story as in the films, just so you guys know!