Hello, my beautiful readers! I'm dropping off chapter 8 and I'm super excited about it. We've finally started getting into TWS plot :D I won't bother you with boring old author's notes any longer so you can read.
Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel.
On we go...
The Violinist
Chapter 8
Steve barreled towards Georges Batroc, leader of the pirate group that hijacked the Lemurian Star, and didn't stop until he drove the man through a door. They landed on the floor, both grunting from the impact. Batroc was still conscious despite the beat down the Super Soldier was giving him, but that was about to change. Steve drew back and swiftly punched the man square in the face rendering him unconscious.
"Well this is awkward," he heard Natasha's voice and looked over to see her bending over one of the many computers in the room.
"What're you doing?" Steve asked as he stood, his breathing still slightly labored from the fight.
She glanced over at him as he approached. "Backing up the hard drive. It's a good habit to get into."
"Rumlow needed your help," he told her as he gazed back at Batroc to make sure he was still out cold. "What the hell are you doing here?" She didn't answer, but kept working away. He looked over the dozens of screens all showing the same thing. "You're saving S.H.I.E.L.D. intel."
"Whatever I can get my hands on."
"Our mission is to rescue hostages," Steve reminded her, a hint of confusion in his words.
"No, that's your mission," she corrected and pulled the memory stick out of the port. The redheaded assassin straightened up and looked up at Steve coolly. "And you've done it beautifully."
Steve grabbed her by the arm when she tried to walk past him towards the door. "You've just jeopardized this whole operation."
"I think that's overstating things."
They were too busy berating each other that neither noticed Batroc spring up from floor until the sound of a pin being pulled from a grenade caught Steve's attention. He smacked it to the side with his shield before wrapping one arm around Natasha's waist and hurtling through the window of the rooms attached office.
The explosion tore through the room, fire and debris all around them, but they were safe from the blast. Natasha winced in pain; Steve checked the destroyed computer lab while huffing out heavy breaths.
"Okay," Nat said. "That one's on me."
Steve was furious with his fellow agent and the fact that she had almost cost them their lives for some silly bits of information. He had promised Max he would come home, alive and well, but that had come close to not happening. It was chilling to think that he had almost left his unborn child without a father. Steve knew Nat was completely to blame, though. This had Fury written all over it. A few deep breaths with his eyes closed calmed him down just enough to speak up.
"You're damn right." He pushed himself off the floor and left without another word.
"You just can't stop yourself from lying, can you?" Steve asked as he strolled into the director's office. He had just gotten back from the mission a few short hours ago. His leg had bounced in anticipation of talking to Fury all through the mission debriefing.
The one-eyed man sat at his desk, his back to Steve, and his composure appeared more stressed than usual. Steve searched around the room, disappointed at the fact that Max wasn't here. She was probably off doing an errand for her stepfather.
"I didn't lie. Agent Romanoff had a different mission than yours," Fury told him without turning to face him.
"Which you didn't feel obliged to share," Steve snapped. He was now standing directly in front of Director Fury's desk. The man still hadn't spun to face Steve. The more he looked at the director, the more it looked like he was worrying about something.
"I'm not obliged to do anything."
"Those hostages could have died," Steve exhaled.
Finally, Fury faced him. "I sent the greatest soldier in history to make sure that didn't happen."
"Soldiers trust each other. That's what makes it an army, not a bunch of guys running around shooting guns."
"Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye," the black man said as he stood, making his eyes level with the Captain's. "Look, I didn't want you doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything."
"I can't lead a mission when the people I'm leading have missions of their own," Steve justified.
"It's called compartmentalization. Nobody spills all the secrets because nobody knows them all," Fury explained sternly,
"Except you," Steve said, pointing his finger at Fury.
The director shut his eye and sighed. "You're wrong about me. I do share. I'm nice like that."
Steve couldn't help but feel like that was a jab towards his situation with Max. "Where is she?"
"I'll tell you that after I show you something."
Fury followed Steve to the elevator wondering why the man was being so closed-lipped about his stepdaughter. Had something happened while he was gone on the mission?
"Insight Bay," Fury notified the automated elevator system.
"Captain Rogers does not have clearance for Project Insight," the computerized woman's voiced stated.
"Director override. Fury, Nicholas J."
The elevator started moving after the word 'confirmed' was said.
Steve was amazed when he turned to see an underground hanger of enormous aircrafts outside the elevator window.
"Yeah, I know. They're a little bit bigger than a twenty-two," Fury joked after catching sight of Steve's expression. "This is Project Insight. Three next-generation helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites."
"Launched Lemurian Stars."
"Once we get the in the air they never need to come down. Continuous suborbital flight curtesy of our new repulser engines," Fury enlightened.
"Stark?"
"Well he had a few suggestions once he had an up-close look at our old turbines."
They walked to a lift that carried them around the area, under the massive crafts, but above all of the working mechanics. Quinn jets were being hoisted on to all of the aircrafts; it reminded Steve of his time on the helicarrier before the battle in New York.
"These new long-ranged precision guns can eliminate a thousand hostiles a minute. The satellites can read a terrorist's DNA before he even steps outside his spider hole. Gonna neutralize a lot of major threats before they even happen," Fury said, watching Steve.
"Thought the punishment usually came after the crime?" he questioned, meeting the director's eye.
"We can't afford to wait that long," Fury shook his head.
"Who's 'we'?"
There was a small pause before Fury began to elaborate. "After New York I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge in threat analysis. For once, we're way ahead of the curve."
"By holding a gun to everyone's head and calling it protection," Steve sighed, looking away.
"You know, I read those SSR files. Greatest generation? You guys did some nasty stuff."
Steve locked eyes with his superior. "Yeah, we compromised, sometimes in ways that made us not sleep so well, but we did it so that people could be free." He gestured towards the nearest aircraft. "This isn't freedom. This is fear."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be," Fury retorted and stepped towards him. "It's getting damn near passed that time you get with the program, Cap."
"Don't hold your breath," Steve advised. He turned and walked to the edge of the moving platform. "Now, you've shown me what you wanted to. Where's Max?"
Fury scoffed and dropped his eye to the ground. The same look of worry he had had earlier was back. Steve's chest tightened and prayed it was nothing.
"She spent all day yesterday after you left at the Smithsonian working on your exhibit. She wanted everything to be perfect before the grand opening today," he smiled, but it didn't reach his sad eyes. "I got a call about four or so from Dr. Schaffer saying Max had been brought in. She fainted while talking with the woman in charge of the exhibit."
"Wha—is she…Why did she…What happened?" Steve asked hastily. His heart was racing. His brain telling him he needed to see her, touch her, make sure she and the baby were alright.
"She's at the apartment on bed rest for the next couple of days. Dr. Schaffer seems to think that the baby has inherited some of your Super Soldier DNA and that Max's body is having trouble accommodating a partially-superhuman fetus."
Steve couldn't breathe.
"She has assured me, though, that with an increase of food and plenty of rest, Max and the baby will be just fine," Fury finished.
"I have to go," Steve muttered and rushed off to the elevator. He hurriedly changed out of his Captain America uniform and bolted to the garage, hopping on his motorcycle and speeding towards home.
Max should have known when she found out she was pregnant with Captain America's baby that it wouldn't be a normal nine months. Or even a normal baby—not that that fact would change how she felt about her child.
Bed rest wasn't so bad. It allowed her to catch up on sleep, and even a few of the shows she had fallen behind on. It was lonely, though. She had thought Steve being gone would be fine since she could get some work done, keep her mind off coming home to an empty apartment. That had gone south when she woke up in Dr. Schaffer's office yesterday after passing out at the Smithsonian. She could only imagine how Steve would react when—.
"Max!" she heard his voice yell from the living room. Jumping from the bed, Max rushed into the hall to see Steve standing there looking panicked. His eyes found her and he took a step forward. She beat him to the punch by running and launching herself into his arms.
"Max, you're supposed to be on bed rest!" he exclaimed, hugging her tightly to him.
"Screw bed rest. I missed you," she whispered into the crook of his neck. He chuckled and swung her legs up so that he was carrying her bridal style.
"I missed you, too," he said as he walked back towards his bedroom. "I think you should do as the doctor says, though."
Steve deposited her on the bed and went around to the other side, climbing in beside her. "You talked to Fury then?"
He nodded, grabbing her hand. His eyes focused on that because he couldn't look at her just yet. "What happened?"
"I wanted to get some work done on the exhibit, keep myself busy while you were gone, and I guess I pushed myself too far. I was helping Jasey, the girl in charge, get things in order with the Howling Commando costumes. It was taking a long time and I didn't eat. My body didn't like that," she explained, picking at one of the loose threads on the comforter.
"Max," he sighed.
"I mean, how was I supposed to know the baby had your superhuman DNA? All I knew was that I was sleeping a lot more than normal and snacking more. Plus, you cook enough to feed an army so I didn't think too much about I was eating. I don't know," she shook her head. "I'm just glad you're home."
"I'm sorry," he breathed.
"For what?" Max asked, her voice low. He still wouldn't look at her. "Steve, look at me. Tell me what's wrong."
He let out a shaky breath, kept his eyes down and squeezed her hand. "I can't stand that I'm the reason this happened to you. It's my DNA that's causing the problem, not yours."
"Look at me," she ordered. He gave in and raised his troubled blue eyes to hers. "We didn't know this any of this was going to happen when we slept together; the baby, living together, and now this DNA situation. I think we've been handling it all quite well. Besides, I only passed out yesterday because I didn't eat enough. As long as you keep me fed, it shouldn't happen again."
The corner of his mouth lifted in an attempt to smile. She could tell he was still blaming himself. It was understandable; she would feel the same if she was in his shoes.
There was a knock at the door and Steve raised an eyebrow, confused. "I ordered pizza before I knew you were going to be here."
He left and went to retrieve the food. A minute or so later he came back carrying two pizzas and a couple of water bottles. They settled on the bed and dug into their food.
"So how'd the mission go?" Max inquired.
"It was…rockier than expected," he replied.
"I think the word you're looking for is explosive," she smirked.
He grinned, "I guess you heard about that, huh?"
"Nat is my best friend, of course I heard," Max revealed. "And she feels awful about it. Just in case you cared."
"I planned on talking to her tomorrow. I was more upset with Fury than her anyways."
"That works out nicely. She's coming over tomorrow for lunch. I plan on telling her I'm pregnant. Fury said it was a good idea to let her in the loop. He's worried something is about to go down. Something big," Max informed him.
"I think he's right. And we're going to need to be prepared," Steve agreed.
They finished in silence. Max was beyond happy to have him home. Even though he'd been gone one day, it had been a scary twenty-four hours. It had been so terrifying to go through everything yesterday without him there to keep her calm. Nothing made her happier than waking up this morning to a text saying Steve and the other agents had returned.
She peered over at him eating his pizza and watching an old rerun of Law & Order. If her stepfather was right about something big happening with S.H.I.E.L.D., nights like this would become a thing of the past—a good memory to look back on as they ran from their enemy. So she took in everything about him and how she felt in that moment eating pizza with him, committing it to memory.
He started to scoot off the bed sometime later after the food was all gone and the lights had been turned out. Max had been nodding in and out, but woke when she felt the shift in the bed.
"Stay," she called out to him. "Just tonight so I can have some company. It was lonely around here without you last night."
"Okay," he obliged and laid back down. They were on their sides facing each other, just staring. It seemed that both wanted to be in each other's company after the events of the previous day. Steve smiled at her and whispered, "You're wearing my sweatshirt."
"Yeah," she admitted. "I told you, I missed you."
AWW they missed each other! How sweet :) The next chapter will be Steve visiting the Captain America exhibit and maybe some Peggy...I haven't decided. I hope you enjoyed and will continue to enjoy it. THANKS to everyone who has followed/favorited. And thanks to all of you for reading. PLEASE REVIEW! I love hearing from you guys!
Sorry for any spelling/ grammar errors.
Until the next time -KAITi
