Hello again, my lovely readers. Here's a nice new chapter for you all to enjoy. It's a full-on Steve chapter and things are getting intense, but you should know that since this follows TWS plot...anyways...
Disclaimer: Marvel isn't mine.
On we go...
The Violinist
Chapter 11
"Where'd she go?" Natasha asked Steve as they raced through the halls of the hospital after Max.
Steve's thoughts were a jumbled mess but he tried to focus on somewhere she would go, somewhere she could be alone and take a minute to breathe. He racked his brain. Suddenly a memory popped up of them on the roof of the Triskelion a few months earlier. She had gone up to the roof to take a break from the stress of being Fury's assistant.
"She's on the roof," Steve answered and took off running for the door leading to the stairs, Natasha right on his heels.
Several flights of stairs later Steve found himself at the door to the roof standing wide open, the bright sunlight spilling onto the floor at his feet. He took a couple of deep breaths before walking out to find Max. Nat hung back by the door to let him approach her alone.
She sat on the edge of the tall building with her feet dangling over. He tried not to freak out at the sight of her so close to falling to her death, but his heart beat against his ribcage from worry. Her fingers were digging into the gravel of the rooftop and he could hear her gentle sobs. The need to hold her was unbearable. He crept up next to her and sat down.
"Max," he whispered and looked at her. Her face was streaked with tears, her cheeks red from crying, her body shaking uncontrollably. She let out a choked sob and fell into his side, his arm wrapping around her waist.
"Please tell me this is one of his silly, paranoid plans where he fakes his death to protect S.H.I.E.L.D. intelligence," Max begged; her words quiet.
Steve pulled her tighter to him. "I wish I could tell you that."
"You saw him before he was shot. He was at the apartment, wasn't he?"
"Yeah, I found him banged up in the living room when I got back."
"So you saw my note?" she questioned, looking over her shoulder to spot the redhead by the door.
He nodded. "How did you know something was going to happen?"
"Nat got a call after we finished eating. They told her to get me somewhere safe and protect me."
They sat there in silence for a few minutes, Max's tears slowing until they stopped. The bad feeling she had in her gut all day was still going strong despite the revelations of the past few hours. She knew that Fury was killed for a reason and that something huge was about to take place. Things were finally being set in motion and she was sure Steve would wind up in the middle of it all.
"I was so scared when Natasha pulled up outside the hospital. She said you were with Fury. I just assumed you were the one hurt. I don't know why, maybe because someone always stabs or shoots you," she sighed. "I don't think I ever saw him with any more than a few bruises and scuffs from a fight. Now he's gone and my brain can't seem to comprehend that."
Steve hugged her tight and looked out at the sun shining before him. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is without a director now. Something about all of this doesn't sit right with me."
"What did he say to you before he was shot?" Max asked and looked up at his worried face.
"He told me S.H.I.E.L.D. was compromised and not to trust anyone."
She glanced down at the ground and nodded, taking his words in. The wheels were indeed in motion on some grand scheme. But who was the puppeteer pulling the strings?
"What do we do now?"
"Keep moving and prepare to fight."
Steve left the roof with Max and Natasha in tow. He was in full-on soldier mode going through all of the information and surveying for any possible threats heading their way. They went back to the floor where Fury had been and walked among the other agents like everything was fine. The three of them came to a stop by a vending machine.
"Why was Fury in your apartment?" Natasha inquired in a low voice.
"I don't know," he answered without sneaking a glance at Max.
Agent Rumlow approached and looked at Steve with his usual blank expression. "Captain, they want you back at S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Yeah, give me a second."
"They want you now," the scruffy agent persisted.
"Okay," he snapped and turned back to the women in front of him.
Natasha wore a pissed-off snarl on her face. "You're a terrible liar."
The redhead went to leave but Steve's voice made her pause, "Keep Max close to you. I'll be back soon."
He walked towards Rumlow and his team. The thought of going back to the Triskelion after Fury's death made him even more concerned than he previously was. Word would have gotten around that the late director had been in Steve's apartment when he was shot. People would want answers.
"Strike team, escort Captain Rogers back to S.H.I.E.L.D. immediately," an agent called out.
Steve glanced down the hallway at the team of agents waiting for him and then back to the vending machine he had been standing near. He reached into the pocket of his jeans and thumbed the USB drive Fury had given him. Taking it with him to headquarters would probably be a bad idea. He looked down at the man restocking the snacks; the door to the machine wide open. Without dwelling on his decision, Steve hid the drive in behind a row of gum and strolled down the crowded hall.
"Let's go," Steve told Rumlow.
"Yeah." The agent turned to his men, "Strike, move it out."
"Ah, Captain. I'm Alexander Pierce," the older man greeted him when he entered his office.
"Sir, it's an honor," Steve replied and shook the man's hand.
Pierce took a seat in a cushy chair and Steve followed suit by taking a spot on the neighboring couch.
"The honor is mine, Captain. My father served in the 101st," he said and pulled out an old photograph of Fury and him, handing it to Steve. "That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met when I was at State Department in Bogota. ELN rebels took the embassy, and security got me out, but the rebels took the hostages. Nick was deputy chief for the S.H.I.E.L.D. station there. And he comes to me with a plan. He wants to storm the building through the sewers. I said 'No, we'll negotiate'. Turned out the ELN didn't negotiate, so they put out a kill order. They stormed the basement and what did they find? They find it empty. Nick had ignored my direct order and carried out an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil. He saved the lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter and the man that would become his best friend, Thomas Stirling."
Steve froze at the mention of Max's father's name. He had read about the renowned agent in the file Fury gave him one day after he and Max had moved in together. The fact that Pierce was aware of how close Fury was to Thomas Stirling made him wonder if he knew anything about Max being the late director's stepdaughter. His mind was racing but he kept his face void of emotion.
"So you gave him a promotion."
"I've never had any cause to regret it," the councilman admitted. "Captain, why was Nick in your apartment last night?"
"I don't know."
"You know it was bugged?"
"I did because Nick told me."
"Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?" Pierce asked and waited for a response. Steve honestly wasn't surprised since Fury had set the place up for Max and he to stay in. When Steve didn't answer, Pierce moved on."I want you to see something."
The older man turned in his seat to face a large screen behind them. Footage began rolling and Steve took in the sight of a familiar man being interrogated.
"Who hired you, Batroc?" a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent demanded in the video.
"Is that live?" Steve questioned.
Pierce nodded. "Yeah, they picked him up last night in a not-so-safe house in Algiers."
"Are you saying he's a suspect? Assassination isn't Batroc's line."
"No, it's more complicated than that. Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the Lemurian Star and he was contacted by e-mail and paid by wire transfer. And then the money was run through seventeen fictitious accounts, the last one going to a holding company that was registered to a Jacob Veech," he explained.
"Am I supposed to know who that is?"
Pierce shook his head and said, "Not likely. Veech died six years ago. His last address was 14-35 Elmhurst Drive. When I first met Nick, his mother lived at 14-37."
"Are you saying that Fury hired the pirates? Why?" Steve asked, confused.
"Well the prevailing theory was that the hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence. The sale went sour and that led to Nick's death."
"If you really knew Nick Fury, you'd know that's not true," the soldier defended.
"Why do you think we're talking?" the man wondered and slid closer to Steve. "See, I took a seat on the Council not because I wanted to but because Nick asked me to, because we were both realists. We knew that despite all the diplomacy and the handshaking and the rhetoric, that to build a really better world sometimes means having to tear the old one down." Something about the way Pierce said that made Steve think back to his battle against the Red Skull during World War II. It sounded awfully similar to something Johann Schmidt would have said. "And that makes enemies; those people that call you dirty because you got the guts to stick your hands in the mud and try to build something better. And the idea that those people could be happy today makes me really, really angry," he paused. "Captain, you were the last one to see Nick alive. I don't think that's an accident, and I don't think you do either. So I'm gonna ask you again, why was he there?"
Steve locked eyes with the councilman and spoke, "He told me not to trust anyone."
"I wonder if that included him," Pierce proposed, making Steve take a minute to consider it before responding.
"I'm sorry. Those were his last words. Excuse me."
He stood from the couch and headed for the door. It was only a few steps until he heard Pierce speak out.
"Captain." Steve reluctantly spun to face the man again. The councilman's face had gone dark; his voice full of hostility. "Somebody murdered my friend and I'm gonna find out why. Anyone gets in my way, they're gonna regret it. Anyone."
"Understood," he complied, biting back a snarl.
"Oh, and make sure to send my condolences to Maxine," Pierce purred. Steve froze with ice running through his veins. "Such a hard life she's had to live, losing three parents. Thank goodness she has you to protect her."
Oh snap! Alexander Pierce is just asking for a good 'ole Captain America beating! Max will be back in the next chapter and the good guys start forming a plan to start fixing things up. Hope you guys are enjoying this! Love hearing from you all. I'll work on getting the next update out soon- if my One Direction fanfics stop begging me to keep writing...anyways...
Thanks for all the reviews and favorites!
Sorry for any errors. My bad.
Until next time -KAITi-
