When the EMTs and other agents arrive, Elsie tells them what happened before Sharon got there to call for help. Now that the news of her and Steve were together, Elsie was given a few stares from the other agents, but she tried not to care. She was too shaken up from the last thirty minutes and wanted her boss to be okay.
She couldn't stop shaking as she and Steve arrived at the hospital. He tried to calm her, but her breathing wouldn't slow down. All Elsie could do was watch as the doctors and surgeons worked tirelessly to save Fury from the other side of a glass window. Steve grabs her hand and holds it, which calms her a little; but she still tries to take some breaths, realizing how close she was to being in the same position Fury was had Steve not been there.
Nat then bursts through the door and rushes up next to them.
"Is he going to be okay?" she asks calmly as she also witnesses the operation.
"I don't know," Steve replies, not peeling his eyes away.
"Tell me about the shooter." Nat was in investigative mode now. It didn't matter if someone was dying or still alive left with trauma. If something happened, Nat was going to get to the bottom of it.
"He's fast. Strong." A beat. "Had metal arm."
Agent Hill is the next one to enter, and without taking her eyes off of Fury, Nat asks, "Ballistics?"
Hill shakes her head. "Three slugs," she answers, "no rifling. Completely untraceable."
"Soviet-made."
As if out of a nightmare, Fury's vitals begin to flatline, and a defibrillator is rushed in.
"Don't do this to me, Nick," Nat whispered, her voice shaking as if she were about to cry.
Even with the doctors' efforts to revive Fury, it was no use. Steve turned away and was out the door before the time of death was called. Elsie followed him out as she tried to keep her tears from falling down her face.
She wasn't exactly close with Fury, but she did know him through her uncle. However, she wasn't sure why she was upset. Was Nick's death a shock? Yes. Is it sad? Of course. But was Elsie sad because of it, or was it because her training hadn't quite prepared her for being so close to what was now clearly an assassination? Whatever it was, she was going to be brave for Steve.
The room was eerily quiet. Steve, Natasha, and Elsie stood in silence as they looked over the now deceased Nick Fury. Even as Elsie held Steve's hand the entire time, the air was just still and cold. She wanted to give Natasha a hug and tell her everything would be alright. However, none of them knew what was going to happen now the Fury was gone.
"I need to take him," Agent Hill says upon entering the room.
Steve then slowly goes up to Natasha, and she eventually walks out, the couple trailing behind her.
"I'm gonna go find something to drink," Elsie informs him before going to search for a vending machine with drinks. Hopefully, some water or soda could help calm her nerves.
"Okay," Steve nods before following his fellow team member.
"Natasha," he calls after her. She quickly turns around, looking at him as if he just grew cattle horns out of his temples.
"Why was Fury in your apartment?" Natasha questioned him.
Remembering what Fury had instructed, Steve just shrugged. "I don't know," he lies.
Natasha then spots Elsie coming back with a water bottle in hand. "Okay, then why was Stark's niece there?"
Before Steve could try to come up with an excuse, Agent Rumlow, a buff man with a stubble, approaches. "Cap, they want you back at S.H.I.E.L.D."
Steve turns to him and says, "Give me a second."
"They want you now," Rumlow insists. "Same with Agent Walker."
"Okay."
Natasha then puts two and two together. She knew he was going to spill his guts sooner or later.
"You're a terrible liar," she smirks when he turns back around.
Without another word, Natasha walks away, and Elsie returns to his side.
"Everything okay?" she asks Steve.
He meets her eyes with a worried look, unsure of what's going to happen now that Fury was dead and their relationship couldn't be kept a secret anymore.
"They want us at S.H.I.E.L.D.," he simply tells her. "You may want to call your uncle just in case."
Before they walk towards the S.T.R.I.K.E. team, Steve hides the thumb drive behind some gum in the vending machine before the man restocking it returns. Elsie knew she was in danger of knowing about the item, however, she refused to give into her fear. It was time to put her training to use.
Hand in hand, the couple exits the hospital with the team. Elsie shoots Tony a text saying that she was okay but they needed to talk soon. Once at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, she was brought into questioning by another agent in a separate room, but they released her since she was a witness. Elsie was then handed some fresh clothes as Steve changed into his suit to meet with Alexander Pierce. She waited outside for him patiently but not without exchanging glares with Sharon.
Waiting for Steve was no fun, either. Other agents would give her looks or whisper to each other while staring, and Elsie even picked up some of the things they were saying. It did sting a little knowing some of her friends from work were calling her every name in the book like the mean girls from middle school. However, she was too tired and hungry to do anything about it. If they wanted to start rumors, that was fine with her.
Thankfully, she didn't have to wait too long as Steve was out of the meeting within about twenty minutes.
"How'd it go?" Elsie asks him once he exits the room.
"I have more questions than answers," he replies as they head to the glass elevator at the end of the hall. "Did they say anything to you?"
She scoffs. "Does listening to a bunch of your coworkers call you a 'slut for sleeping with the captain' behind your back count?"
He gently holds her hand. "I'm sorry," he whispers.
Elsie shrugs and yawns. "I've been called worse for simply being related to Tony Stark. But in all seriousness, I'm just a witness to the whole situation."
"Well, the good news is that we can maybe crash at Sam's to rest and eat until the apartment is cleared. I just need to check something first."
"Your running buddy?" she remembers, and he nods.
All she thought about now was eating some pizza or a burger and a long nap. After the initial shock from the night before, her nerves had stopped going haywire, the adrenaline coming to a calm.
"Operations Control," Steve says once they step onto the elevator, Elsie leaning against him and holding his hand.
"Confirmed," the PA says.
Before the doors could close, they're opened again by Rumlow followed by another team member.
"Keep all S.T.R.I.K.E. personnel on site," he commands as the two enter, Elsie standing up a bit straighter.
"Yes, sir," the other man replies.
Rumlow requests for Forensics and the elevator PA confirms it.
"Cap," he greets with a nod. "Agent Walker."
"Rumlow," they acknowledge him.
It's an awkward silence for a few seconds as they descend until Rumlow speaks again.
"Evidence Response found some fibers on the roof they want us to see," he informs the captain. "You want to get the tac team ready?"
"No," Steve replies, refusing to look him in the eye, "let's wait and see what it is first."
"Right."
The elevator stops on a floor, more agents and security piling in all carrying identical metal briefcases and requesting varying floors. When the contraption moves again, the couple moves to the center.
"I'm sorry about what happened with Fury," Rumlow apologizes in a monotone voice. "It's messed up, what happened to him."
"Thank you," Steve says.
He looks over at a man mumbling something to himself, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face. Another stop and three buff men enter the elevator requesting Records.
Something didn't feel right. Elsie squeezed Steve's arm, her usual way of telling him she didn't feel comfortable or safe. He had already picked up on the fact that the first two men with them were suspiciously holding onto their concealed weapons. They weren't leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. without fighting their way out.
"Get ready to duck," Steve whispers in her ear.
After a moment of silence, he says, "Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?"
That was her cue to get down, and just in time before one of the buff men attacked Steve with an electric rod. The other agents started to hold Steve down with some magnetic cuffs, a few attempting to do the same to Elsie. Before they could succeed, she and Steve kicked the men back, the cuffs going flying as they battled. Elsie had taken self-defense, so she used that to her advantage before punching a few noses. Rumlow managed to hold down Steve's right wrist and attack him with the electric rod that was concealed within a faux briefcase, but Elsie grabbed his pistol and struck him in his back, knocking him to his knees. A few more agents went in for the attack but electrocuted each other. Elsie fired the pistol at the cuff, freeing Steve and denting the glass wall before she had to fight off another agent and knock him out.
"Whoa, you two," Rumlow croaked as he stood again, a rod in each hand. "I just want you to know, this isn't personal!"
Rumlow took another swing at them, Steve pushing Elsie out of the way. He received a few shocks before punching Rumlow's knee and tossing him up, knocking him out cold from hitting the ceiling.
"It kind of feels personal," Steve growls.
Pulling herself up, Elsie steps over the fallen men and towards him.
"You okay?" Steve asks as he helps her.
"Yeah," she nods, catching her breath while he kicks up his shield. "You?"
"For now."
Pressing the emergency stop button again, the doors open, but they're met with more S.T.R.I.K.E agents, their guns pointing toward them.
"Drop your shield and weapon and put your hands in the air!" orders the commander.
"Hold on to me!" Steve orders Elsie just before he cuts the elevator power lines with his shield.
Holding onto each other, the elevator drops several floors at high speed, nearly triggering her motion sickness. Thankfully, she didn't vomit once they came to a stop.
As they were stuck in between floors, Steve pries open the doors to the floor above but quickly closes them once he sees more agents rushing towards them. They were trapped.
"Give it up, Rogers!" an agent demands. "Get the door open! You have nowhere to go!"
"What do we do?" Elsie panicked, her hand gripping the stolen gun. "They're practically on every floor waiting for us."
Steve steps back before breaking into a run and grabbing her by the waist and using the front of the shield to break the glass as they jump through. Elsie held onto him for dear life as they fell through ten stories of air, and if that didn't wake her up, she didn't know what did. She lets out a scream as they fall through the glass roof of the headquarters' main floor, Steve's arm breaking her fall.
A few agents who witnessed their fall either gasped or ran away. It took a minute for the two to recover, a few grunts of pain and Elsie's arm bleeding from the shattered glass. They had no time to get medical treatment, so they continued to run. They didn't stop until they were in the garage and hopping onto his Harley.
Putting his helmet on for him, Elsie gives him a kiss for the road.
"We can do this all day, Captain," she encourages as she holds onto him.
Just as Steve began to drive and pick up speed alarms blared loudly, and the steel garage doors began to shut in an attempt to trap them. Elsie ducks, but they make it out in time.
However, a jet flies out and turns towards them, a machine gun being discharged as a voice from the engine commands, "Stand down, Captain Rogers. Stand down. Repeat, stand down."
Steve didn't listen. He only sped up, and Elsie cocked her gun and pointed it at the jet.
"Fire at the engines," Steve instructs her.
Before she could pull the trigger, the jet opened fire, bullets speeding at them and bouncing off the concrete and coming closer to them at lightning speed. A bullet knocked the gun out of Elsie's hand, burning her fingers in the process followed by her squealing in pain. Steve immediately throws his shield at the engine, and it's a hit.
"Elsie, jump!" he commanded, and she jumped off the bike, landing on her shoulder and rolling until she was almost at the edge of the bridge. Steve jumped at the same time she did, but he landed feet first on the jet to do more damage to it as the bike rolled away.
Steve then jumps off the jet before it crashes and rushes over to Elsie. He scoops her up in a bridal style and begins to run from the building.
"My hero," she sighs in admiration for her boyfriend, her energy draining as she lays her head in the crook of his neck.