A.n : Ipdate ? In just a few days ? My, my, blessed aren't we. In truth, the preceding chapter was supposed to be included in this chapter, but I thought, hey, maybe it'd work better if I just separate both of them. So I already worked on this chapter along with the previous one. Here you go :)
Anyway, thx to Snapesucks and Gabriel Perseus Potter for the stream of support you've given through the reviews ! Also thx to Gabriel for pointing out my mistake. I intended to write S.H.I.E.L.D but some of the letters were erased somehow. I'll fix it ASAP.
And as always, reviews !
A hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.
An hour or two after the assassination of Nick Fury. An hour before Pierce's death.
Inside a room of the hospital, whose glass window facing directly into a surgery room, Steve Rogers stood with his sleepy eyes, sleep was being taken out of him after the latest event surrounding the investigation he led. His gaze was stuck to the sight in front of him; the sight of Fury, whose body radiated lifelessness, a few doctors in their green medical gowns, pacing swiftly with the tools whose name Rogers would probably never learn.
The assassination, and the chase, all barely took fifteen minutes, and that was what needed to put Fury into the gate of the afterlife. He thought it would be harder, it was Fury after all.
Rogers wondered what he could have done to prevent the event from happening. Could he somehow realize the presence of the assassin and prevent Fury from being shot ? Could moving Fury towards the center of his apartment would also prevent that ? And of course, shouldn't Rogers be able to capture the assassin, because God damn it Rogers was so close to knocking the bad guy down ! His shield grazed the man's head by his hair, and if not for the injured biker Rogers probably (probably !) could pace himself up and chase the guy down.
Alas, his experience taught him that playing self-blame and pity would not help in any situation, and the best course of action would be to do the best he could do. But Rogers could do nothing right now; Fury's battle was within the surgery ward right now, not in an open battlefield. Rogers could only watch, from afar.
He watched the doctors moving, now in increasing speed. He watched a surgeon focusedly tending on Nick Fury's left chest, a part of Nick Fury that Rogers couldn't see clearly due to the blurry shadow of green gowns pacing left and right blocking his view. Some other surgeons also tended Fury and some went to fetch utensils, which then passed to the tending surgeons. Their movements were so fluid, like rehearsed, it could convince Rogers that Fury would live another day. The vital monitor still beeped, which meant that the heartbeat detected, but Rogers could see that the numbers were dwindling down.
Then, to his back, the door was opened so violently that the loud creaking sound of the door was soon followed by the sound of the door hitting the wall, the loud thud breaking the silence built surrounding Rogers. Rogers instinctively turned gaze towards the source of the sound. Two figures went into the room : Natasha Romanoff, Rogers' companion in the investigation, running, with Maria Hill following her behind, equally rushed.
Although Romanoff's hair was still as bright, as red and as straight as Rogers always remembered, he could notice that her face was even straighter than the hair. It was quite like the fierce face Romanoff would like to put, but the eyebrows were arched in the wrong direction, and she looked… Sad ? shocked ?
Rogers made eye contact with Romanoff, and there was a bit of twitch in her face, her eyebrows knitted, almost as if she was furious at Rogers. Someone must had told her about Fury being in Rogers' apartment at the time of the assassination. As fast as Romanoff entered the room, she quickly turned her face away and positioned herself next to Rogers and started watching Fury's surgery in a very intense interest. Her arms floated freely next to her sides, her shoulders slumped, not the usual prideful and confident stance Romanoff always used.
Then, the next intense half an hour was only filled with silence as Rogers, Romanoff and Hill watched the surgery continue; no words exchanged between three of them, each with their own thoughts. The surgeons continued working, on their arts of surgery, trying to save a man's life. The continuous silence was only filled with the low whisper of the surgeons, commanding the others to do a lot of stuff, barely hearable from outside the surgery ward. Then the intense silence was broken down upon a single sentence, an almost unheard echo from the surgery ward.
"We're losing him !", a surgeon said, and hell broke loose. Rogers saw a surgeon unveiled Fury's chest, once covered in blue sheet, while another surgeon prepared an equipment which Rogers identified as a "defibrillator". The beeping heart rate on the monitor turned red, indicating that something critical was happening. On Rogers' left, from the opaque reflection of the window, Rogers could see Romanoff's mouth opening and closing, her lips were never too far apart yet never met; like a fish out of water, searching for the last breath before its death, while a steady stream of sweat flowed from her forehead.
"Please don't do this to me, Nick." Romanoff whispered repeatedly. A chant, a prayer.
Time felt so slow, as Rogers made the bet : on which attempt would Fury be resurrected ? The shock from the defibrillator went through Nick Fury's body, jolted his body a bit before the body then went limp. Another shock, the jolt and the body then went limp again. Another shock, another jolt and the body went limp again. But, the vital monitor was still red, before the once beating line turned into a straight line.
And Rogers, despite his limited knowledge of medication, knew it was the end when the defibrillator was put back into its place; one of the surgeons checked the pulses around Nick Fury's neck, while the other injected something into that region. Before Rogers knew it, the surgeons were already moving away from the body, one of the surgeons in the corner of the surgery ward already released her mask off while another one seemingly started to clean up the ward.
Nick Fury was dead.
Another room. A few minutes later.
Natasha Romanoff did not move her body, even after minutes of staring intently at Nick Fury's lifeless body, while Rogers watched from behind her, leaning against the wall of the room. The only movement Romanoff made was the occasional twitching of her head. She was looking down, staring at Fury's exposed face, while the rest of Fury's body was covered in a clean, white sheet. Boy, did Rogers want to console her, putting his hand on her shoulder, hugging her, but he decided against it; He'd let Romanoff mourn in her own way.
Steve Rogers was not a stranger to death and pain; as a veteran of the second World War, such scenery was almost too common in his times. He sometimes was forced to go into the hospital wards of the countless barracks he'd visited during war, and he saw too much misery. Men lost their limbs, men lost their optimism. Some died fast, some died in days. So shouldn't he be not too surprised seeing Fury fall down ? In one way, it was just another comrade fell down in his battles against the enemies. A sight Rogers had to endure during the war. He was hardened.
Yet, some deaths were harder than the rest. The death of James Buchannan Barnes, One of Rogers' best of best friends, a man Rogers considered a brother, still bothered Rogers until now. The sight of the helpless sergeant, falling off into the depth of the canyon in the middle of the unforgiving Alps winter, sometimes replayed in Rogers head automatically, a brutal reminder of the bet at stake on the war for the greater good. A very anticlimactic death, yet Rogers at least was comforted that Barnes' name was honored in the Smithsonian. Would Peggy Carter's death affect Rogers much or not, Rogers still wondered.
Seeing the very unusual and emotional reaction of Natasha upon Fury's death allowed Rogers to realize the depth of Romanoff's relationship with Fury. He knew (from Barton) that Fury gave Romanoff a chance to defect to SHIELD from the KGB, which was probably the reason Romanoff was very fond of Fury and very trusting of him. He wondered how Romanoff would describe her relationship with Fury.
Yet, Rogers could not be too trusting towards Fury. Was Fury a good man ? Yes he was, but if the last few days showed Rogers something, it was that there was always something new, something Rogers did not know about Fury. A hidden layer behind a hidden layer, who knew how long the game could keep going ? Rogers still very disliked the idea of Project Insight, the project Fury showed to Rogers a few days prior to Fury's death. The project that Fury declared, almost proudly so, ideated by him and agreed by the World Security Council. Rogers tried to separate the person with her works, but it always seemed to be the case that one's work was a reflection of oneself, and that alone made Rogers acquaintanced with another layer of Fury's personality.
Still, Fury did what he thought was the best, and they were the best of allies if not the best of friends. It wasn't time to divulge into poisonous bickering.
At the last moment of Fury's life, he bestowed upon Rogers two items with the utmost importance, telling Rogers to keep them a secret. Rogers rubbed the left pocket of his pants slowly in a clockwise motion, trying to detect the two objects, making sure that he still kept them with him.
He felt the first object, a box-shaped object with a smaller head on one side of it. It was a flash drive. When Fury gave Rogers the drive, he recalled that it was the drive that Romanoff used to transfer the data during their (double) missions in the Lemurian Star. Nothing odd from the outside except for the SHIELD logo printed on its surface, but perhaps it contained a clue to something much larger.
The second item was a sort of pin. A metal circle with a logo inside it. But that was not a common pin. It was A HYDRA pin.
Waving right between the dreadful surgery, Fury's death and Romanoff's understandably furious attitude which was directed at Rogers, a part of Rogers' mind still trying to understand the meaning of the said object. The most logical possible explanation was that Fury knew who was after him, and Fury was sure it was HYDRA.
When Rogers first received the pin, he froze in place. It wasn't that he was afraid of HYDRA, for he could stand all day fighting the lowly and the high officers alike, but it was that he thought HYDRA was gone for good. Dead. All of its traces sunk together with Red Skull and the plane Steve Rogers took down for good. Steve Rogers woke up in a world standing on a fragile peace, but HYDRA was nowhere to be found, and that fact certainly made him very grateful. But, now he was smacked in the face with the pin a few years after.
More so, Fury's last words were : SHIELD was compromised. Don't trust anyone.
If so, would that be the case that Fury knew that HYDRA had made its way into SHIELD ? That was certainly very plausible given the wordings Fury used, but this single idea was really disturbing for Rogers. Mainly, because Fury went to Rogers, and presumably only to Rogers , even after the recent falling out between both of them.; if there was a single person whose allegiance against HYDRA was so ensured, it would be Captain America himself. It probably also meant Fury trusted no one.
Rogers found himself wondering how much Romanoff knew. She seemed to know everything, after all.
Rogers then felt the presence of a woman entering the small room, then put herself on Rogers's left side. Without sparing a glance towards her, Rogers knew that it was Maria Hill. Hill seemed to also take a sight of Romanoff mourning on Fury's dead body, and Rogers could hear the faint sniffing sound from Hill.
"I need to take him." Hill said suddenly, very curtly so. Rogers took a glance at Hill; her eyes fluttering, watery, a small drop of tear on the inner corner of her left eye. Rogers just gave Hill a small node, affirming the request, before making his way towards Romanoff.
Rogers took a few steps, and stopped a step or two behind Romanoff. He did not dare himself to approach her closer, nor to speak any words; he just hoped Romanoff overheard Hill's request or felt Rogers' presence as an indication that she should leave. After a few seconds, Romanoff still did not move, and Rogers decided to let Romanoff know that Hill would take the body, before suddenly Romanoff moved her right arm and put her right hand on Fury's hairless head. She kept her hand on Fury's head for a few seconds, presumably giving her final respect to the deceased director, before releasing her hand and, without even acknowledging Rogers' presence, made her way to the exit of the room.
And the way Romanoff turned, the certainty of her steps when rushing out of the room, the now straightened shoulders of her and the way her red hair swayed in march with her steps convinced Rogers that Romanoff was beyond pissed. Romanoff was outraged, and Rogers was entirely sure about that. So, he decided to confront her.
She was walking towards the end of the corridor outside, presumably going out of the hospital, when Rogers exited the room and caught sight of her.
"Natasha !" Rogers called Natasha. Romanoff quickly turned to Rogers, revealing her face which Rogers had not seen for about half an hour or so; There were apparent black circles around her eyes, due to lack of sleep or just fatigue, her cheeks were red, her lips weren't as red as they usually were, almost looked like being defeated. However, the way she looked at Rogers, the way her eyebrows folded, told another story.
"Why was Fury in your apartment ?" Romanoff asked Rogers; the voice was harsh, poisonous, accusing. She stared at Rogers right in his eyes, as if she would dig all of Rogers' secrets just by judging his eyes. Rogers paused for a bit, trying to decide what he should do.
Should he trust Natasha ? Or should he tell her lies ?
Rogers took a look at his surroundings, trying to assess the people in the corridor. Besides the ordinary nurses and doctors going forth and through, there were also a few SHIELD agents, identified with their blue jackets, SHIELD written on the back of the jackets. Rogers took a look at his back; There were some people in black clothing, some wore a kind of bulletproof vest and put their helmets on, hands holding rifles. The STRIKE team. Whatever Rogers would Romanoff , one thing was clear : they needed to be somewhere safe.
"Not in here." Steve whispered, almost hissing. Despite being furious, she nodded, acknowledging Steve's response. Quickly, Natasha pulled Rogers by the collar of his t-shirt, roughly, and dragged him along her towards one side of the corridor, and now Romanoff's back was against a door to a dark room, presumably unoccupied, and Rogers' face was so close to Romanoff's face, barely inches apart, their body too. Her eyes made a very brief scan to the left and to the right of the corridor, before the door suddenly was opened to the inside, allowing Romanoff to slip inside the room, pulling Rogers with her. When Rogers' body was fully inside the room, he quickly kicked the door, closing it.
As the light from the corridor went out, replaced with darkness, Romanoff released her hands from Rogers' collars with a small push and distanced herself from Rogers. She crossed her arms, intimidating, head tilted to the left, questioning, her face was furious as ever.
"So ?" Romanoff asked. Rogers did not answer directly; he was still hesitant. Romanoff waited a bit more, before speaking out.
"You won't tell me ? I thought you trusted me. I trusted you so far, Rogers. Otherwise I won't tell you everything. Didn't our talk back at the riverbank mean anything to you ?" Romanoff asked, her voice harsh. Judging by her tone, clearly she was hurt by Rogers' unwillingness to share his findings. Rogers took a deep breath, finally decided on what he'd tell her.
"I don't - don't - it's complicated." Rogers answered stutteringly, and he let out a small huff at the end of his sentence out of frustration.
"What do you mean ? Explain complicated. Try better." Romanoff said back. Rogers slowly pulled the HYDRA pin from his pocket, then waved it in front of Romanoff.
"This pin. Right here. You know what it is, right ?" Rogers asked. Her eyes stared at the pin instantly, and it was all that was needed to change Romanoff's face. Her face resembled something of a realization. If the situation wasn't so grave, it'd be rather funny because never in Roger's life did he see Romanoff making such a face.
"HYDRA…" She said, whisperingly, to herself. It seemed that just now Romanoff realized how grave the situation was; she never met one, but she knew from stories about how brutal they were. To the Red Room (and surprise surprise, even to Dreykov), even HYDRA could be considered too bloodthirsty, too cruel. Too efficient.
"Now, do you have any part in it ?" Rogers asked, direct. She was taken aback by Rogers' question/accusation, and there returned the frown on her face very quickly.
"Are you accusing me ?!" Romanoff asked, furious.
"I want to know what you are before I can fully trust you." Rogers said.
"Oh, you are suspecting me of being a HYDRA. Well, how about you ?" Romanoff asked, then she raised her right hand and poked her hand on Roger's chest.
"I gave my life fighting it. Over my dead body." Rogers said, flatly.
"Oh, so you can clear yourself just because you look like you're always against it ? Who knows, maybe you're the bad guy all along, hiding under that all-American boy façade. Oh, you want to kill me now ? Go on." Romanoff said, her voice now high but low enough to not be heard from outside the room.
"I'm just asking, you know. I only ask you to be honest." Rogers said, flatly, with no emotion. That seemingly was able to extinguish a part of Romanoff's fiery rage, for then Romanoff took a very deep breath that lasted for almost a dozen seconds, probably trying to control her emotions.
"Right. No." Romanoff said, shaking her head.
"I was a Red Room member, KGB, then SHIELD. Nothing else. I've always been at Fury's side from the time I joined SHIELD until now. Is that what you're looking for ? Can we start to figure out something right now ?" Romanoff demanded.
"He said that I should trust no one." Rogers said. This exact sentence triggered something inside Romanoff; Her shoulder slumped a bit, and the nasty frown in her face transformed into a sad one, her face suddenly lost all the intensity it harbored once. She was quiet for a while.
"Did Fury mention any name ?" Romanoff asked a few moments later. Rogers realized that her face, and the way her voice was lowered, like she was very unsure with her own question, did not only portray sadness; it was also a portrayal of hurt, of betrayal. He realized that Fury's words would hit differently with Romanoff.
"...no, unfortunately. I hope you understand that he's probably not taking chances." Rogers said.
Silence.
"Right…." Romanoff said. She then let out a breath, before she straightened herself up, now seemingly able to finally compose herself.
"Let's just keep moving, then. I'm sure the HQ must be waiting for our report. If you don't trust me, I can go - ." Romanoff said, before Rogers cut her sentence halfway.
"That's fine. Let's… let's just do this together." Rogers said.
Of coursem Rogers and Romanoff were asked to directly report to the HQ after Fury was declared dead; one of the SHIELD officers patrolling the hospital spotted them a few moments after both of them sneakily made their way out of the room.
Currently, her eyes were fixed to the two items inside her hands. The two items Fury gave Rogers back at the apartment. As soon as they found themselves a ride , Steve gave the two items to Romanoff, telling her to try to think of why Fury gave the two items, before Rogers started driving towards the HQ. All along the way, she played with those two items, turning them left and right, twirling them slowly with her delicate fingers, as if she could figure out the meaning of all the things happening just by rubbing the two items.
Since their last conversation back at the hospital, Romanoff had not said anything. Not a single word. Her eyebrows were strained, mouth frowned, far from the usual relaxed emotion she had. There was a reflection of light on both of her cheeks, the light coming from the lamp along the road. Rogers wasn't sure whether the reflection was due to her wet cheeks or it was just a natural feature she had.
"I'm sorry about Fury." Rogers said, turning his head a bit to Romanoff, trying to break the tense silence and deliver the undelivered condolence. Romanoff did not react to Rogers' words, however; she simply continued her activity with the items, and probably already drowned too deep in her thoughts.
"He must mean a lot to you." Rogers added. Still no reaction from Romanoff. Rogers decided to give up and continue focusing himself on driving.
"He gave me a way out of the KGB. I honestly did not know what he saw in me." Romanoff suddenly said. Rogers looked at Romanoff, whose eyes were still down, hands still busy with the two items.
"Defecting from KGB was the best decision I've ever made, the best offer someone has ever given to me. I owe him that much." Romanoff added.
"You worked a lot with Fury, right ? You seemed to be very close with him." Rogers asked.
"Yeah, since the day I turned to SHIELD. With Barton too. Because.. you know.. me under SHIELD, so it follows. I can say we're quite… close. I can consider them the best of my friends, and I didn't have too many friends back then. I was trained to kill people, so it was quite easy to.. you know… not letting yourself be attached to someone." Romanoff explained, now facing Rogers.
"That sounds...tough." Rogers said sympathetically.
"We all have our challenges. The upside is, I found it much easier to move on from things like this. Got to keep myself prime for the game, right ?" Romanoff said.
"It's okay to mourn...you know. No one forbids you here, so don't bottle the whole thing up. Cry if you want, I won't judge or tell anyone. Pinky promise." Rogers said, a hint of humor in his tone, smiling mischievously at Romanoff. Romanoff just let out a sharp and short laugh, almost like a snort or a bark.
"Thanks. I'll need that." Romanoff said, returning her eyes to the items on her hands. She then started twirling the items again for a while, silence descended into the car once again.
"Sorry for lashing out at you. Should not have done that." Romanoff suddenly said.
"No problem." Rogers said. He was sincere; Romanoff was probably in a very undesirable situation right now. Probably in the same state when Rogers lost Barnes; trying one's best to control his/her emotion on a high-stake mission.
"So…did Fury say anything more to you ? Back in the apartment ?" Romanoff asked.
"No. I told you everything I heard." Rogers answered.
"And then he gave you these two things ? Only these two things ?" Natasha raised the two items , waving it to the right of Rogers. Rogers took a quick glance at the items, and he just gave Romanoff a quick nod. She probably found herself unsatisfied with Rogers' answer, for she then elaborated her conclusion, trying to discuss it with Rogers.
"He must've found something inside this thing, something inside this flash drive, something related to Project Insight, and goes into the conclusion that SHIELD is compromised. And… he was sure it was HYDRA. That's what I can gather for now. Anything you'd like to add up ?" Romanoff elaborated.
"No… I arrived at the same conclusion." Rogers answered. She just let out a breath and let her body fall into the comfy seat of the car; all the tiredness she felt would be reduced if she could get a bit of sleep right now, and so she involuntarily closed her eyes, but she could not find herself going to sleep; not with Fury declared dead, a fat chance of SHIELD being compromised, and two fugitives not captured after days of chase.
"When I warned you about the mole, I didn't think it would be this big. I wouldn't think it would be HYDRA." Romanoff huffed, eyes still closed.
"So ?" Rogers asked.
"What so ?" Natasha asked back.
"What do we do ?" Rogers asked. Upon the question, Romanoff straightened herself up again in wonder.
"You're asking me ? Shouldn't it be the other way around ?" Romanoff asked back.
"Yes, I'm asking you. No, it shouldn't be the other way around." Rogers said.
"I don't think I should lead on this one." Rogers added.
"Oh ? Why not ?" Romanoff asked, seemingly unsure of Rogers' answers.
"I have a hunch that this is not the fight I am familiar with. Usually I know who my friends are, who are my enemies, know where to shoot and where to not to, you know what I mean, but this ? This is not my game. I think you're the one much suitable to lead." Rogers explained.
"You'll let me do that ? For all I know, I can lead you to your death. You said something along that line yourself about a few minutes ago." Romanoff asked.
"...Yes, I'll let you. You'll lead." Rogers said. Romanoff seemed to be a bit hesitant on how to respond to Rogers' answer.
"Fine by me, but we'll play by my rules, okay ? Here's how it will go : We'll do what SHIELD wants us to do, stay low profile until we can map out whom we can trust, then we can try to infiltrate SHIELD. Hopefully we can do the mapping part very briefly, and we can quickly take down SHIELD before they realize we're into something. Also I need you to know this...maybe playing spies will not be too comfortable for you - " Romanoff responded.
"No, it sounds like a solid plan. I'll let you know if something bothers me." Rogers cut off Romanoff, smiling at her.
"Right...Glad you liked my plan though." Romanoff said, smiling back, then she put the two items on her hand into one of the pockets on her jacket and leaned herself against the seat again, now her arms crossed on the back of her head, acting as a pillow for her pounding head. Her eyes were on the verge of closing, again, before something popped up on her mind.
"Just curious though : If you lead us to continue, to whatever direction we can go, what will you do ?" Romanoff asked, peeking at Rogers one-eyed.
"Nghh… I'll probably just rush right into Triskelion and well.. maybe have a speech or two ? Try to cancel anything HYDRA tries to do. Seems to be the right thing to do." Rogers said. Romanoff let out a snort.
"Pfftt.. Seriously ? This is not just you being too self-aware ?" Romanoff asked.
"Half serious, though. Might need to find a few allies first." Rogers said, trying to defend his reasoning.
"Right…. If you want to do that, I'll go with you. That idea does not seem to be too terrible." Romanoff said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Oh, really ? Not trying to be cautious ? That's weird for you." Rogers asked back.
"Just kidding. That's possibly the worst idea I can ever imagine." Romanoff said, winked at Rogers.
"No offense taken." Rogers said. A comfortable silence descended into the car.
"So, this HYDRA thing, I take - oops, sorry, urgent message." Natasha asked abruptly, but her sentence was interrupted with her phone ringing. Quickly she opened her phone, seeing what message arrived on her phone. A few seconds later she jumped off in a jerking manner, leaving the comfortable seat behind.
"Steve, pull over. You need to see this." Romanoff said, her sentences hurried.
"What happened ?" Rogers asked. Rogers quickly turned the car to the shoulder lane of the road and stepped on the brake pedal, the car slowly lost its speed before halting.
"Pierce was...murdered." Romanoff said. Rogers gripped the steering wheel harder, his eyebrows furrowed, eyes opened in disbelief.
"When ?" Rogers asked.
"Just a few minutes ago. They can confirm that the killer is the same guy who shot Fury. Our fugitives. Wow. And….someone from HQ sent me an image. Look at this." Romanoff said, showing her phone screen towards Rogers. Rogers squeezed his eyes to have a better look at the said image.
"It is an image taken from the crime scene." Romanoff added.
It was assumedly the photo of the murder scene, still in dark. Probably captured seconds after the murder. The lower part of the photo, which probably contained Pierce's death figure, was blurred, but Pierce's blonde hair wasn't blurred. A man smart enough could match that hair with Pierce's hair and made the connection.
The middle and the upper part of the image contained a writing. The writing was in red , written on the white wall of the crime scene. SHIELD IS HYDRA, it said. The writing was highlighted by the camera's flashlight, the light reflecting off the smeared blood on the wall.
Rogers held his breath, shocked at the image presented on the screen.
"I… do not expect that." Rogers said, wary in his voice.
"So do I.. And.. this image is public. Someone spread this on purpose." Romanoff added.
"Public ? As in ?" Rogers asked.
"On the internet. You know what 'Internet' is, right ?" Romanoff asked rhetorically.
"Natasha, really ?" Rogers answered.
"You get the point. It looks like we get ourselves a whistleblower here." Romanoff said.