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P.S: Mature content in this chapter, beware.
Steve's POV: Earlier same day
6 days 3 hours and 54 minutes.
That's how long it'd been since my heart was ripped from my chest. Since the world around me had gone from bright and shiny to dark and empty again. I'd begun to see her in the passing faces. I'd hear a laugh and swear it was hers. At night my body would seek a warmth that was no longer there, a release that could not be satisfied.
I'd become a shell of who I used to be, prone to angry outbursts and snappy remarks. I'd been taking Edie for granted, the luxury of seeing her everyday, touching her everyday. I'd began sleeping on the couch, unable to sleep alone in that big bed that carried her scent. I'd forgotten what it was like to sleep alone, the empty space beside me acting as a reminder of my failure to protect her.
With little contribution from me considering my state, Tony was making headway on accessing SHIELD, well I guess really HYDRAs Intel. When Sitwell was literally snatched from our grasp we lost our pass through the security measures. I wasn't the only one relying on Tony's advanced technology and intelligence either. Fury and the few of his fellow agents deemed "loyal" had taken roost in the safe house as well. But I rarely saw them, to my relief. Because I was finding it increasingly hard to bite my tongue each time Fury reminded us of "the bigger picture" as he liked to call it. Which I understand his point, the mission was to infiltrate HYDRA and halt the launch of the carriers.
But that was their mission.
Mine involved finding Edie and Bucky.
So to avoid any type of insubordination I had begun to spend most of my time alone or with Tony and Dr. Banner in the lower level. Which seemed to be an exact replica of the STARK tower with its labs and countless expensive machines, some of Tony's suits, and even a controlled room for Dr. Banner in case he ever had…an episode. Natasha, with the help of JARVIS, had taken the lead on surveillance. Scanning the streets for any sign of Edie. So here we all were, hoarded in the safe house with our own task at hand.
But then again house just didn't seem to capture the magnitude of Tony's real estate. He'd bought a whole block, lined with shops and apartment buildings, converted the entire inside to a literal block long living space. So to the outside world this was nothing more than a Chinese restaurant, a dry cleaners, a convenience store and several apartment buildings. He even went as far as to hire people to work in these places. Where you'd have to go in, order a specific coded dish or ask for "ticket number 36, please" in order to enter from the street.
We were concealed, we were safe and I was suffocating.
Hoping for a small bit of distraction I broke from the group and slipped into the bathroom for a shower. The burning water beaded against the tension in my shoulders and I inhaled the steam with a deep breath. Allowing myself to relax a moment, I rolled out the stiffness in my neck and slicked a hand through my hair. But sure enough my mind began to wander, memories of Edie just beyond the fogged glass. The thoughts of the last time I'd made love to my wife took over my conscious and soon the stiffness relocated to my lower half.
About a week earlier:
"What was that all about?" I asked with reference to Edie's snarky remark towards Kate just before we filed into our apartment.
"What? I was only trying to set her up, she seems lonely." Lean shoulders shrugged, avoiding my gaze through blacked waves.
"Eddiie.." I sang softly, eyeing her with suspicion.
"What? I was being nice."
I noticed the way she'd began to study her nails absentmindedly. A smirk was twitching on my lips before I could stop it. Swiftly I closed the gap between us and with ease lifted Edie's petite form onto the counter.
"Now you wanna try telling me the truth, Doll?" I craned to catch her eye, knowing her too well.
"Well..maybe I got a little jealous." Edie mumbled to the material of her pencil skirt.
"What's that? I didn't quite hear you." I toyed, enjoying myself.
"Jealous! Happy? I didn't like the way she looked at you. And what lady parades around with her panties on display for any fella to see? She always seems to be doing laundry when you're around." Her words seethed.
I felt my chest begin to rumble at the sight of her adorable expression twisted with annoyance. But I hadn't quite perfected my poker face with Edie yet.
"Are you laughing at me?"
Uh oh, I was caught.
"No, not at all." I choked to push down the chuckle.
"Steven Rogers!"
I cringed a smirk at the formal use of my name, feeling a delicate hand swat at my arm.
"What? Oh come'on I find it endearing, Doll. I've never had a girl fight over me." I cooed, nursing her wounded pride.
"Don't act all innocent, Mister. Are you forgetting the nice gentleman at the ball game?" Edie raised her manicured eyebrows with conviction.
"No, that was completely different. He was all over you." I quickly rebuked, hands up in defense.
"He was trying to get me to buy a souvenir that was all." Edie insisted but I knew better.
My blood boiled at even the thought of that day. I'd caught him in the very act, though Edie argued otherwise but I quickly had the man up against the wall as soon as I witnessed his lustful stares at Edie's curvy backside. Daring to place a hand on the small of her back before I had him by the collar.
"Well, nonetheless I don't like when someone tries to touch what's mine." I whispered, drawing the bridge of my nose across the softness of her cheek.
"And Gorgeous, you're all mine."
I could hear the breath catch in her throat when I drew back to reveal the dark hunger in my eyes. My palms moved up those thighs, pushing the thin material of her skirt until it gathered tightly around her full hips.
"Mine." I murmured, searing kisses along both sides of her neck as if marking my territory.
"Steve.."
Edie whimpered already breathless as my stiffened member grazed her bare thigh, making itself known.
"Captain." I corrected with authority, lightly coiling a hand around her delicate throat. Something had awakened within and I needed to express it, starving and greedy the beast sought its prey.
But this was new territory for the us, so I quickly checked her expression for any signs of rejection. But I was met with mirroring lustful hunger, signaling Edie was ready to play. Silently she answered, wrapping those lean legs around my waist to draw me closer. Instantly I could feel her wet excitement grinding against my erection. Stifling a groan I watched through hooded eyes as Edie crane upward, pouty lips begging for a kiss. A playful smirk twitched as I read the need blushing across her ivory complexion, withering beneath me with the simplest touch. I lowered my mouth to meet hers at a painfully slow rate, enjoying teasing my little vixen.
"Captainn.." Edie whined with frustration, snaking her hands around my neck with greed.
"Ah-ah, keep those hands to yourself."
I caught Edie's wrists, placing them above her head as she laid back against the countertop.
"Good girl." I purred, trailing kisses along her collar, hands soon finding the buttons of her blouse.
The sudden tearing of material snapped Edie's attention and there was no disguising my devilish grin as I hovered over the valley of her now bare breasts.
"Mine." I growled again.
Listening intently to Edie's soft cry as my words vibrated against the pert nipple between my lips, tongue swirling methodically. She arched into my touch, begging for more. White knuckling the counter Edie's breath quickened when I continued my trek down her body, taking my time until I reached my destination between her creamy thighs. Gripping under her knees, I pulled Edie closer to the edge and caught a glimpse of the soaked material of her panties. The mere sight pulled a groan from my throat.
"Mmmh, look at you. So wet." I trailed a long finger against the dampness, watching Edie's legs quiver with pleasure at the feather like touch. Whimpering breathlessly she bite at her ruby lip.
"I need to hear you say it, baby. Who do you belong to?" I crouched down, hooking a finger to pull the thin undergarment to the side. Licking my lips like a hungry lion at the sight of her glistening sex.
"You. All yours, Captain Rogers." She panted the golden words.
Such a good girl I grinned to myself before diving my tongue between her wet slit.
"Oh God!" Edie gasped at the sudden contact.
Beginning with strong strokes of my tongue the length of her, I quickly found Edie's weak spot and gave it a gentle swipe.
"You taste so sweet." I murmured against her, peering up from the heaven between Edie's legs. I watched the pleasure wash over her; pouty lips twitching, hips rocking slightly to meet my strokes.
She was close, I could tell. Her flushed cheeks and open mouth painted with desire, eyes fluttering as Edie chased her orgasm. Breaking the rule she clawed a hand through my hair, causing me to smirk against her core as I felt her nudging me closer.
"You wanna cum already, naughty girl?" My words hummed against her clit, jolting her forward.
"Yes…please!" Urgency filling Edie's voice.
Naturally I obliged, with heady enthusiasm.
She gasped as my finger slipped into her tight core, giving her sensitive nub a gentle suckle. Back arching, Edie stretched her legs wider. Her walls fluttered around my broad digit that pumped against her most sensitive spot. The rhythm soon drove Edie over the edge, pleasure exploding with a flood of warmth that coated my lips.
Delicious.
I could feel my own arousal growing painful against the confines of my jeans. I desperately needed to feel her, so with a quick motion I was on my feet and working to unhinged my own buttons. It was then that I noticed Edie's lust drunk gaze focused on me, with remnants of her orgasm continuing to linger she slowly eased up to meet me.
"May I?" She asked permission through sweet exhaustion, lacing her hands up my chest to begin the work on my shirt.
Her husky tone only seemed to fuel the need inside me. I studied that gorgeous face that hovered inches from mine, jade eyes brimming with desire as they raked over my body. I could only answer with a nod before pressing a hot kiss against her lips, tongue commanding entrance. With my hands knotted in her charcoal waves, our lips moved urgently against one another. Before I knew it, Edie wasn't the only one naked. My trousers and underwear were pooled at my ankles and Edie's nimble hands danced across his shoulders to push off the remainder of my shirt.
"Someone's eager." I grinned against her mouth.
"I need you."
Was all she could muster, manicured nails ghosting over the muscles of my backside, tugging me in the direction we both sought.
The longing in her voice hit me straight in the groin, stirring my primal instincts. Without another thought I clawed Edie's panties from her waist and was pressed firmly against her entrance. Though old habits die hard the gentlemen in my eyes surfaced, asking permission. A groan erupted from my throat as Edie simply answered with a calculated arch of her hips, delving me into her velvety walls.
"Steve..!" She whined, my pelvis bucking forward to fill her fully.
"Shit, Doll. You're so tight." I grunted against her lips, stealing her breath with each powerful thrust.
God the scene before me was sinfully intoxicating, I couldn't tear my eyes away from her.
Reclined back against the cool marble of the counter, Edie spread her legs wider with the help of my hands as I continued to dip myself in and out.
Taking what's mine with greed.
A mixture of pain and pleasure flooded my senses as those sexy black pumps she still wore dug into the muscles of my shoulders.
"Such a good girl, taking every inch."
I whispered heady praises with each deep thrust I delivered, drawing my panting goddess closer to another orgasm.
Edie was coming unhinged beneath me, pleasure blurring her vision as I refused to halt my relentless pumping.
"Steve…I'm gonna.."
There they were again, those golden words flowing from honey sweet lips.
I could see her release mounting, my own building tightly in my abdomen and I knew what Edie needed. Exactly what she needed. I could read her body like a road map. Silently I snaked a hand down between her bouncing thighs.
"Cum for me, Gorgeous." I coaxed, swiping a broad thumb against her sensitive nub.
"Yes! Oh, please…don't stop, baby." Her breasts heaving.
"That's it. Look at me, Doll."
My thrusts became more urgent, Edie's velvety hold on me fluttered with each swirling movement against her clit. She followed my gentle command, shifting those emerald greens towards me and I too was done for.
Her core spasmed tightly, pulling me over the edge with her. My gritted moan echoed with her labored breaths and I gently collapsed against her.
We were one.
Were.
-0-
"Edie..!"
Every muscle in my body seemed to tighten all at once and a wave of emotions accompanied my release. But it was far from anything like that day.
It was bitter and tainted.
Gone was the warm body to collapse into, to lose myself in. Gone was the delicate hand through my hair and sweet kiss against my temple as she always did. Instead I was welcomed back to earth with a suffocating cloud of steam and I dared myself to peek open my tightly clamped eyes, dropping my hand back to my side with sickened guilt. Soon after washing away the last bit of sudsy regret down the drain I stepped through the crystaled shower door.
When panic began to set in, bringing along its friend Anger. I needed out, the walls were closing in and at any moment I swore I'd put my fist through the mirror, unable to bear the reflection. Throwing on the first articles of clothing I saw, I silently made a bolt for the door and was ready to step out for a walk when Natasha halted me.
"Steve..?"
I turned back and there it was, that sympathetic look again but this time there was a hint of something else.
Apprehension? Dread?
"Um, there's something you need to see."
And soon I was filled with those same emotions, knots forming in my stomach the further Nat led me down to the lower level. But my feet jarred to a stop as soon as I entered, the content on the expansive monitor hard to miss. A video played, grainy and a bit muted but her face was unmistakable.
Edie.
With none other than Johann Schmidt himself, the two matching in uniform and pride.
"Nat, I told you no."
I recognized Tony's voice hiss from the corner but I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. It seemed to be some sort of propaganda film, something I hadn't seen since I'd went into the ice. As if taking a page from Hitler's book, it promoted HYDRA in such a casual way as if offering a vacuum cleaner to a tired housewife. As if it was a necessity that people didn't realize they needed. It was captivating, hypnotic even. My stomach swirled with nausea the further I watched. The sight of Edie in that stark and neatly decorated enemy uniform. Teaching a full classroom of HYDRA youth, who all mirrored her pearly and eager smile.
"He needed to know. What do you expect? To shelter him?" Natasha bit back, igniting a feud between the two as if I wasn't but a few feet away.
"Where did you get this?"
The room just barely registered my sudden voice, unnervingly calm despite the situation. They both took a moment, silently working out who would answer.
"Tony?"
And it was as he looked at me, shifting that usually well manicured face to meet my gaze that I noticed it.
I wasn't the only one suffering.
Tony had gone from his chipper, snarky and pristine self to…well me.
Disheveled and gaunt, a sense of lost detachment swarmed in his dark eyes, emphasized by the hollow shadows beneath. He looked like he hadn't slept and that…Ozzy Osbourne? shirt looked like it had seen better days. With a shallow sigh Tony unhinged himself from the hovered position against the keyboard and faced me completely.
"I was able to finally infiltrate the firewall and once in I bypassed countless dinky little blockers they had. Which I was honestly rather surprised, with it being this top secret and all, you'd think they'd invest in a little more high tech security system. I mean a monke-"
"Tony." I jarred his rambling to a stop, sensing a nervousness suddenly radiating from his usually cool exterior.
"Right, sorry. After hacking into HYDRA's system I immediately started to look for the Hellicarrier blueprints and launch codes when….when I stumbled onto this." Tony motioned towards the looping video behind him, gravely casting a look towards the table.
"And these." Natasha added, sliding forward printed report logs and glossy photographs for my attention.
As if I wasn't already barely glued together, barely making it through with wounded senses. There were the photos. Edie's familiar face carrying out HYDRA tasks. Her handwriting and signature depicting a life that went against the very values I knew she upheld today.
"No, this isn't true. This isn't Edie." I instantly rejected all of it, every bit. It just felt wrong, the very fibers in my being were setting off red flags that this was false.
Not my Edie, not the woman who saved me from myself. Who put herself in harm's way every chance it arised to protect me, to protect all of us.
Not my wife.
But I read the room, and found that my opinion was not in the majority.
"But you think otherwise?" I felt the heat rising in my stomach, a sweat creeping up my neck the longer I eyed the pair.
"I'm just trying to find answers. That's my job, Steve. I have to explore every possible avenue and..I have to admit before this, Edie's file was a bit vague." Natasha spoke up, scanning over the mountain of documents that lay sprawled out before us but not daring to meet my eye.
"Vague?" I repeated dumbfounded, unable to fulling wrap my head around her statement.
"What do we know about Edie? I mean of her past. Her SHIELD file shows her enlistment documents and some medical records. But that's it and then this surfaces. These reports tell of her involvement, her hand in carrying out HYDRA's plans under a division called the Chameleons. After what happened on the bridge, it just... " Natasha pealed through the stack of papers in front of her, oblivious to my rising anger at the sound of her doubting tone.
"Choose your next words wisely, Romanoff. We are friends but that is my wife you are talking about. Don't forget she's saved both of our asses on multiple occasions. Risked her very life for Tony. She took a bullet to the chest that day, a HYDRA bullet I may add. Have you forgotten that?"
To say I was fuming would be a sore understandment, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. They'd turned on her, after everything that Edie had done. I dared not look at Tony, who'd grown uncharacteristically quiet, because I knew I'd surely lose the already loose grip I had on my composure. Natasha read a new emotion gleaming in my eyes as my temper flared. Rage, accompanied by the bitterness ringing in my words. With a deep breath through her nose she reflected my guarded stare.
"I'm thinking that attack on the bridge was an extraction mission by HYDRA. They sent the Winter Soldier to retrieve the Chameleon, it got out of hand but I believe...Edith Rogers is a double agent for HYDRA."
Natasha's words erupted my rage like a spark to dynamite, her stony expression faltered with panic as a loud blow vibrated through the air. I hadn't realize my action until the steel table crumpled like a plastic bag under the weight of my fist. The muscles in my back constricted with each quicken breath, shoulders hunched with tension.
"Take it back." I growled in a tone alien to even my ears, moving to close the gap between us. It was then that Tony found his voice, just in time to intervene between Natasha and I.
"Cap! Steve look at me."
His tone was calm and hitched a bit with concentration as he chartered each word with much consideration.
"Now you know what Edie means to this team, what she's sacrificed hasn't been forgotten. But I'm a facts man, cold hard evidence is what I plant my flag in and, you have to admit there's a hell of a lot of evidence here. Is it possible that Edie was originally contracted with HYDRA before going into that ice and...maybe it was love that turned her. Joining the team, meeting you. And after the attack on New York you know as well as I do our lives were never the same. We were broadcasted everywhere, all over the world and maybe it was that publicity that unearthed this documentation, shed light on her past that even Edie thought was buried deep and it fell into the wrong person's hands. Pierce. Who is now using this to his advantage. I think we just need to be very careful here, we don't know who we can trust-"
"And by who, you mean Edie. We can't trust Edie." I corrected with venom dripping with each syllable. It would seem that SHIELD wasn't the only thing that was being compromised this week. Friendship and trust had begun to crumble with it.
"I'm just saying we have to go at this with a cautiousness. Limit the amount of people that know, to just us until we can sort everything out. We get her back, we handle this quietly, just us." Tony coaxed, an assurance solidifying his words. And just as I had come around to the very shaking situation, Natasha voiced her opinion once more and the anger returned with a vengeance.
"And Fury."
Tony and I both snapped our head to face her in disbelief at even the mention of telling the Director.
"Absolutely not. Are you nuts, Red?" Stark rebuked, dark eyes narrow with confusion.
"He's my boss. Our boss and I have to report this, he obviously is unaware or else he may have never recruited Edie. It's my duty as a SHIELD-"
"Steve where are you going?" Tony called after me as I moved toward the stairs, halting Natasha's self righteous speech quick in its tracks.
"The hell out of here! I can't listen to another minute of this. So quick you are to find your loyalty to SHIELD, when it's been nothing but a puppet for HYDRA. The very evil my family risked their lives for: Edie, Bucky, the Howling Commandos. But as soon as "evidence" arises against one of them, loyalty is a foreign word to you. Don't worry I'll figure this out on my own."
Their voices died against my back as I bolted up the stairs and towards the door. I chanted a mental prayer that the fresh air would clear my head. Separate me from the dead ends and constant failure that seemed to be my shadow lately.
But I quickly learned the city gave me no solace. Edie haunted me around every corner, memories blooming with each stride. It was as if I was on autopilot, consumed in a haze I just kept walking. Though I denied every accusation, every shred of "evidence" they said they had I couldn't stop my mind from wandering. Combing through every situation and memory Edie and I shared now with a small budding sense of suspicion.
Had all those stories been lies? Had those countless warm smiles and sweet words of comfort been fake? Surely the shaky tears that stained her cheeks at the sight of Zola where real...But because of the hell he'd put her through, not because she was worried he'd out her...right?
It wasn't until a stranger's voice called out, gripping my sleeve with a sharp tug that I registered my surroundings.
"Whoa, there young fella!"
I was brought back to reality by an elderly gentleman, halting my unintentional walk into ongoing traffic. I'd been oblivious to the angry red light that signaled us to wait.
It was then that I recognized the building. My subconscious had directed me back to our apartment with a surging pull that seemed to grow the longer I idled. I needed to go there, I needed to surround myself with the comfort only Edie could give me.
I needed to go home.
"You alright, son? You're looking a little green around the gills." The man adjusted his glasses against the bridge of his nose, looking me over and I was suddenly aware of my disheveled appearance.
Aware but not embarrassed.
This man, who was closer to my age more than anyone around, seemed to read me.
"You lost?" He asked, hinting to more than my sense of direction.
I could only nod before a commotion snatched my attention. Across the street a glossy SUV revved impatiently and a group of armored men were struggling to move something. Or rather someone. And it was just as the sun broke through the smear of gray clouds that I caught sight of that someone's face.
Her face, for real this time.
Black hair wild as Edie thrashed from the broad men's grip. Her name formed on my lips but Edie beat me to the punch and the familiar sound of her voice seemed to breath the very life back into me.
"Steve!"
Soon my legs were moving on their own, sprinting through the busy traffic towards them. It was then that I noticed a second struggling figure, metal arm bound tightly behind his back.
Buck?
They were both being hauled from the stairwell and further down the sidewalk, towards the open mouth of the idling car. It wasn't until I neared that a new pulse of anger ripped through me. These weren't HYDRA agents as I'd assumed. They were Fury's loyal followers, men I'd just seen a few hours earlier.
Natasha, I concluded with betrayal.
My heart clenched and that tiny seed of doubt vanished as quick as it appeared. Suddenly everything else fell away. The accusations, filed evidence and looming suspicion that followed evaporated the moment those emerald eyes found me.
"Edie!" I pushed through the thick crowd along the sidewalk, jarring faster as they both were harshly pushed into the awaiting car.
"Not this time." I vowed, catching the door handle just as the engine roared to life and made a break into traffic. Soon I was met with the shocked faces inside as the door was ripped from its very hinges.
A familiar hand snuck from between the armed men when Edie urgently reached for me before the driver floored it. A tinge of dejavu struck me as I began sprinting after the vehicle on foot, makeshift shield in hand.
A faint grin graced my lips when suddenly one of the men was catapulted from the gaping door with an electrical shock and out popped Edie's beautiful face, ready to make a jump for it with Bucky's help.
They were working together now? Something wasn't right.
Oh but how many times had I dreamed of that face? Edie had such an effect on me, my heart was beating again with her help. But soon my day dreaming was dampened when Edie erupted a sudden warning
"Steve lookout!"
Edie extended a calculated hand to kill the second black SUV's engine that appeared behind me through the sea of traffic. I lunged out of the way and was kissed by the harsh concrete below as the vehicle tumbled in a flash of mangled metal. But the gritty teeth of the road paled in comparison to the pain I felt when I rebounded to find no trace of them.
Gone. Slipped through my fingers. Again.
It wasn't until I began dusting myself off, degrading my failed actions thoroughly that I noticed the crumpled ball teetering near the gutter. Swooping it up quickly I recognized the photo.
Our wedding day.
Edie had escaped and went back to the place she knew. A safe space: our home.
Had Bucky followed and tried to extract her back but was caught by Fury's men? Was Natasha right, were the two working for HYDRA? How had Edie gotten out unharmed? Questions swarmed my mind like angry hornets but one thing I knew for sure was Edie had been taken from me for the last time.
Mine.
-0- Safe House, same day
In a flash Steve sprinted back through the city, a new found fuel lighting his steps. Making it back to the house in record time, a mere jog for the Super Soldier. Bursting through the doors without hesitation Steve questioned the first face he saw.
"Where is she?" He demanded towards the agent, who stood idly in the kitchen
"Captain, you can't go in there. Captain!" The guard insisted, his hand a meager restraint against the Super Soldier's massive chest.
"They are beginning a de-briefing, you can't just-" The guard's voice caught in his throat, pinned under the Captain's iron grip his back thudded against the wall.
"Where. Is. My. Wife?" Rogers gritted, his adrenaline consuming him and his usual calm demeanor.
"Third door on the left." The Agent gasped, body dropping limply as Steve raced down the hall. Everyone turned at the sound of the door jarring open.
"Rogers! We are-" Director Fury's words mere mufflers when Steve's eyes locked on Edie then to the cuffs binding her tightly to the table.
"Steve." She whispered breathless with tears.
Steve quickly crossed the room, no one daring to step into his path, and found a place kneeled before Edie. The soldier hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath until the tender touch of Edie's forehead rolled over his. As much as she wanted to, the iron cuffs prohibited Edie from lacing her arms around her husband, burying herself in that comforting embrace and never letting go. And as much as those restraints infuriated him to his very core Steve wasn't about to let that dampen their reunion.
It had been too long. Far too long.
Swiftly wrapping Edie's petite form in a bear hug, Steve silently vowed to never let go. Tears muddied his sapphire eyes as he inhaled Edie's familiar scent, relishing in simply holding her. Something he'd dreamed of since she'd been taken. The whole world fell away and it was just them. Their mouths found each other in a dance of overdue kisses. Whispering urgent 'I missed you's and 'I love you' s against the warmth of the others lips.
"Captain, we need resume our debriefing." Fury spoke up from the corner of the room.
"You mean interrogation." Steve corrected with a combing hand through Edie's hair, never tearing his gaze from her.
"Where's Bucky? Please don't hurt him. He saved me, he's the reason I'm here." Edie begged with a pleading glance around the room.
"But Edie he..he took that day. You were his target." Tony reminded with caution.
"That wasn't him, he didn't mean to do it." Edie insisted.
"He didn't mean to track you down? To corner you and get you shot? Get the team caught?" Fury questioned, watching the unease ripple across Edie's expression.
"I..well I mean-it wasn't his idea. You have to believe me. HYDRA is behind this." Edie could sense the suspicion rising in the room's atmosphere, clouding everyone's view of her.
"Steve, you believe me. Don't you?"
Edie shifted her attention back to the man by her side, a flicker of hesitation could be seem behind those baby blues. But before Steve could answer Fury stirred the pot.
"From what we've heard, you are HYDRA."
Edie felt sting of the accusation across her pride.
"Me? What are you talking about? Steve are you hearing this? Don't you..don't you remember what they did to me?..to Buck?" Edie's voice dropped in volume for only Steve's ears.
And it hit Steve like a hard slap to the face. Everything that they'd been through together. Every sleepless night he'd held her, coaxing Edie down after a war torn nightmare woke her in a pool of sweat. And the grievous day she'd finally had the nerve to find out what happened to her family after she'd gone into the ice. They'd visited the cemetery, Steve beside her every step of the way. Strong arms helping her up from the damp ground where she collapsed in overwhelming grief. Was he to believe that all those emotions were lies? An act?
"Well these tell otherwise, tell a whole lot of things none of us knew about. Now do you care to share where you've been for the last week or would you like to take a stroll down memory lane?"
Edie's body jumped with a startle as the heavy file thumped against the table, punctuating Fury's words with a fan of photographs and documents foreign to the Healer. It was in that moment that Steve remembered the day Fury revealed project Insight. The idea of 'getting ahead of the threat'. Any shred of evidence that could be viewed as a hazard would be bulldozed no matter what the circumstance or who it may be in the name of protection.
"Those are lies. Are we to suddenly to believe everything that SHIELD has hidden? For God's sake, HYDRA was living around us this entire time. They tried to kill Edie when we were held at the Triskelion building. If all this was true why would they try to kill their own agent?"
"Because she refused to give you up. They gave her the option: Turn on you or be branded a traitor. She chose the latter." Agent Hill made herself known, a rainbow of colors reflecting as the CD she added to the pile caught the light.
Steve cast a furrowed brow towards Edie's profile, studying the confusion clouding her eyes. He could practically see the gears churning and the question formed before he could stop it.
"Doll, is that true? Did they try to get you to turn on me?"
Edie fought to remember that day, finding it difficult to think passed the very moment in front of her. The events were there but seemed just out of grasp. Met with nothing but a wall of haze.
"I..I can't remember."
Her lacking supply of answers only seemed to heighten the rooms' doubt, Steve being the only one that refused to give up.
"Convenient." Nat murmured before a quick jab from Tony met her ribs.
"Very well. Agent Rogers, care to explain your involvement in HYDRA? Does the group the Chameleons ring a bell? Records show you were their most elite member. No?" Fury pelted Edie with accusations, elaborating with aggression when Edie's confusion only seemed to grow. Flipping open the heavy envelope, Fury display an array of papers.
"See this number here. That number, is your known record of confirmed kills for HYDRA. And this is your total of people you helped round up, people who didn't share the same radical ideals as the group. Their blood is on your hands, Agent. How convenient that you can't remember one bit of it."
"That's enough." Steve growled a warning, shielding Edie's face in the crook of his neck as he felt her begin to shake from what he had assumed was fear.
"Now tell me how it got there! Admit your involvement and tell us why you've come back! What is your mission, Agent?!"
"I said enough!"
Soon the Super Soldier was toe to toe with Fury, their gaze an intense battle of raw anger. Both Natasha and Tony attempted to intervene, squirming between the towering men's squared stances as they spit venom. But all the while no one was keeping an eye on Edie.
From miles away, sitting comfortably in his office a silver haired puppet master activated the chip. Malicious smirk twitching as he watched the clouds rolling in over the spanning city view.
Isolate target.
A thought not her own entered Edie's mind, bringing with it a slow and sickening pulse of energy. With little control, Edie's gaze locked on Steve. Through blurred tears she studied the perfect curve of his jaw, the strong slope of his neck and striation of muscles flexing in those massive arms, all the while gauging the soldier's every weak spot.
Engage mission.
Everyone's attention was focused on keeping Cap and the Director from tearing each other apart, that was until a dark whisper broke from Edie's lips.
"Steve."
The room seemed to freeze, a nerve piercing quiet blanketing them all. Naturally everyone halted and shifted towards Edie.
She stood now, cuffless and white knuckling the metallic tabletop. Her petite form heaved with ragged breaths and a sudden tension filled her shoulders, but black waves hid the planes of her face. Unbeknownst to the team Edie was fighting an internal battle, struggling to ward off the burning surge of energy and dark comanning thoughts that spread through her body and began to consume her senses. A sharp jerk bolted through her body and Steve instinctively took a step forward at the sound of her gritted hiss of pain. But the Captain soon felt the air escape his lungs at the slow reveal of Edie's face. The beaming glow of her whitened eyes locked on him like a hunter on its prey. With the last shred of consciousness Edie had left, she rumbled a warning growl through strawberry lips.
"Run."