6:00pm, Saturday, March 8, 2014
Steve is driving his kids back to the apartment after the field trip. They all took the news of Peter finding out very well, and they were glad that he approached Ronnie about it because she gave away just enough information to keep him happy while also making sure to not give him any information that could put him in danger. He wasn't badgering them all night like Ned would've done. They had also done the rounds so the triplets were happy to report that nobody else figured anything out. No photos were taken of Steve with the kids either. So all in all, the trip was a success. Steve even managed to control his anger around Flash.
He's getting ready to head to DC when Xander comes into his room. Steve slows his movements, but keeps packing anyway.
"Hey bud, what's up?"
"Salk just sent me in here to remind you and Mom that you have a SHIELD checkup coming up. Of course we can always do it and hack the system. For a government agency, their medical files aren't protected very well" Xander offers.
Steve laughs and shakes his head. He does have the sense that Xander didn't come in here just for a reminder, or in other words, his Dad sense was tingling. "Why are you really in here?"
"I just-" Xander sits on his parents' bed "I just feel like I was doing something, helping someone. I don't want people to get hurt for me to help them, but I do miss it. Just feeling like I was making a difference. I want to feel like that again. I know that you'll say that it's not ok, that I should only be worried about keeping myself and Ronnie and Henry safe, but I want, I need to do more than that"
Steve goes to sit down next to his youngest child. "As you know, that's how I felt until I got the serum, but I've never had to not use my strength or speed when I've had them. I know that you want to protect them because of your abilities, but it's not your job. I can't pretend to know exactly what's going through you and Ronnie and Henry's heads, but if that's what you want to do when you're older, I'll support you.100 percent. Me and your Mom just don't want you to feel pressured to be like us. Are we? I need a little bit of feedback with this parenting thing." Steve admits.
"No, you've given us the possibility to do whatever we want. You and Mom have given us everything we could ever need and more."
"Thanks. I just feel like I'm in open waters, I told you when we first adopted you that I have no idea how to do this. Well, I still don't."
"Well you've been doing a great job in my opinion." Xander pauses in the way that tells Steve that one of his siblings is communicating with him. "Ronnie needs me to come to the kitchen, I better help because I don't like burnt nachos. Thanks...for everything, Dad." Xander smiles at his dad and walks out of the room, leaving Steve in a comfortable silence. He waits a few minutes to absorb Xander's confession. It sometimes scares him how much his kids can change in just a year. The boys have gotten more protective of Ronnie, and he's not entirely opposed to that, but it annoys the heck out of her. He for one feels glad that his kids all get along very well and they're not constantly fighting. The scientific debates could be a little much though.
Steve grabs his backpack and turns off the light in his
"I love you guys and I'll be back as soon as possible." He promises his kids. He wants to stay with them but he needs to deal with the director of a government agency sending his grandkids on a mission for him. "Remember, no video games."
"Yes Dad" they answer. "We love you too, please bring Mom when you come back"
"I can't promise that, sorry. Please don't get into any trouble if I'm not here to handle it. And remember, me and Natasha are so proud of you three. Without you, I wasn't myself, always remember that" Steve gives his sons a hug and his daughter a kiss on the forehead. He says goodbye again and heads out. He can hear the kids fighting over the nachos as he walks out. It's such a them thing to do that it doesn't bother him now that he is feeling slightly better about his parenting after that talk with Xander. He gets in his car so quickly that he doesn't think twice about the car that pulls up behind him. He drives away, hoping that Natasha didn't get too hurt on the Lemurian Star mission.
Steve pulls up outside of him and Natasha's DC apartment. It was a fair bit smaller than their one in New York, but they didn't usually have the kids here. He sent Natasha a text when he went though Maryland and she was apparently out with Bobbi, trying to help her with the drama. She does wish that she was with Steve instead, but the Hunter-Bobbi drama makes even her interested.
He runs up the stairs because apparently the elevator annoyingly needs maintenance every two weeks. He and Natasha always have to be careful since Agent Sharon Carter lives downstairs. They know that she is related to Peggy, but whether she knows about their relationship or not is a mystery. They're almost never at the apartment for her to find out. He approaches his slightly cracked door, surprised to hear Natasha's ballet music on since she was out of the apartment, maybe she left it on, no, she wouldn't do that.
He's about to get his shield from the wall but it was dark so he approaches the music. To his surprise he sees his father-in-law/boss sitting on one of his recliners. Fury is looking a little worse for wear so Steve decides to humor him. "I don't remember giving you a key."
Fury grunts, trying to sit up. This caught Steve's attention as something being wrong, Fury doesn't wince from just a bruise. "You really think I'd need one? My wife kicked me out." He speaks clearly but hushed at the same time, sending a chill down Steve's spine.
"Of all the things I know about you, I know that you're not married." Steve knows that Fury's not married, he spends too much money on his grandkids to have a wife.
"A lot of things you don't know about me." Fury takes something out of his pocket and begins typing.
Steve wants to talk with Fury about what happened so he goes to turn on the lamp, "that doesn't matter, what matters is-" Fury turns off the lamp and holds his index finger to his lips. He types out 'ears everywhere' and shows it to Steve.
Steve looks around his apartment, they do routine thorough searches to make sure that nobody is able to get anything. If they can get past Ronnie's firewalls and Natasha's eyes, there's no telling exactly what information they have.
"I'm sorry to have to do this, but I had no place else to crash." Fury shows Steve his phone again 'SHIELD compromised'. It all pieces together for Steve now, that's why Fury didn't want any actual agents going on that mission because it was sensitive.
"Who else knows about your wife?" 'You, me, and they know a little' Fury stands up slowly, walking closer to Steve to give him the drive.
Fury puts his hand on Steve's shoulder "Just...my friends"
Steve huffs out a laugh, "is that all we are?"
"That's up to you." Fury begins to give his very encoded apology but three large bullets shoot through Steve's wall. Fury can feel the blood pouring out of him while Steve drags him over past the other wall. With the last bit of his strength, he hands Steve the drive "Don't...trust anyone." He gets out before falling unconscious. Steve pats his chest, trying to get him back when his door comes crashing down.
"Captain Rogers." He can hear Sharon call out. "Oh my..." she trails off. She pulls out her walkie-talkie. "Foxtrot is down, he's unresponsive, we need EMTs."
"Do we have a 20 on the shooter?" the man on the other end asks. Sharon looks at Steve, he nods. "Tell him that I'm in pursuit."
Steve grabs his shield that was until then mounted on the wall. He crashes through his now open wall, he was going to have to sue whoever was behind this to fix that. He crashes through another window of the building across from his. Using his shield, he charges through some of the doors. He runs through the building, stopping only for a second to make sure that he didn't break his shoulder when he smashes through a wall.
He approaches the terrace outside of the office windows, crashing through them, he spots the shadow. He throws the shield at it in hopes of knocking it out. It goes flying towards it but an arm reaches out and catches it. Steve stares in shock for a minute. The arms gleams in the soft moonlight, metal.
What? The shadow throws it back at him, making him push back. In a millisecond, the shadow is gone. Steve races to the ledge and peers down, nobody there. It was quick, fast, the metal had shone in the sky, but why would a bounty hunter or something of the like have that?
Not minding that too much, he had more pressing matters to worry about. He runs back into his apartment, the ambulance workers are making their way up the staircase while Sharon kept trying to keep Fury breathing. Steve rushes into his and Natasha's bedroom to press the button that they use whenever anyone comes over. It hides her clothes, their photos, and any childish items. The thought of making sure that Sharon wouldn't tell anyone was at the back of his mind. She was Peggy's niece, no real danger there.
Everything was hidden by the time that the workers came to get him. Since it was his apartment, Steve was allowed to get in the back with Fury. He texts Natasha, not knowing if Fury was going to make it or not. Whoever thought it was a good idea to shoot Nick Fury in Captain America and Black Widow's apartment is in for a rude awakening.
The soldier sits in the seat that he always does, where they either tell him his next assignment or they put him under. Not the best environment, but it was the only one he knows. He's aware of the brainwashing that makes him forget everything, but he can never remember. It's like a hole, a never ending one. It feels like you're just blanking. You could know something, know that you know it, and never be able to remember. The soldier knows that there are some parts of his past that he's probably subconsciously happy that he doesn't remember. He does wish that he knew his name. The codes 'soldier' ir 'asset' grow old after a while.
"Soldier, from what we can tell, your mission was a success. You will be training until Pierce needs you for the next one" the soldier's handler tells him. The soldier is escorted to a cell-like room where he's locked in. The soldier has almost forgotten how to sleep by now. The trainers he had always woke him up in the middle of the night and cryo wasn't exactly like sleeping as much as cold. Cold, that was the one word that relates to him. Cold heart, cold name, cold atmosphere, cold living quarters, cold personality, cold everything. Having it's arm be a different temperature than the rest of its body bothers it sometimes, but complaints were not something appreciated by handlers. Cryo was probably in the future after so many missions, but cryo was better than the memory machine.
Sorry, I know this chapter isn't great but i didn't have a lot of time because my parents wanted me to help set up xmas decorations. the next one will be better (and more dramatic).