Chapter 37
Steve Rogers knew something was wrong the minute he got to his front door and there was music plaything though the walls.
Normally, he'd suspect Toni of having hacked his system, to play him something she called "The Music of the Gods" in order to help his musical education. He'd come home often enough to her surprises, and it never failed to put a smile on his face, knowing that even hundreds of miles apart, she was still thinking of him.
But the music was classical; recognizable to even him, who had been out of it for the better part of the last century. The kind of music Toni said her mother loved but the kind she also never listened to herself.
Whoever this was, it wasn't Toni.
He turned around, walking back outside as he looked up at his apartment window. If this was an attack, they'd be expecting him to go through the front door. So he couldn't do that. No, instead, he carefully scaled up the fire escape, popping his window open, as he silently climbed into his apartment. It was during times like these, he knew that the training he did every day paid off. It was why he'd been so insistent that Toni learned how to climb up the rope with Peter. Because she never knew when she'd have to rely on her own strength and not that of the armour.
The music stopped then, changing to something from the 40s. The kind of music one would suspect he listened to, even if they were far off. The kind of music SHIELD had left in his apartment, trying to help him feel at home.
He carefully moved around the corner, before dropping his fists when he saw Nick Fury sitting on his armchair, clearly injured.
"I don't remember giving you a key," he commented
"You really think I'd need one?" he said, leaning forward, "My wife kicked me out."
He frowned at that. Clearly something was off about the statement.
"Didn't know you were married," he said, moving closer to the man.
"A lot of things you don't about me," Fury said, and Steve could have laughed.
"I know, Nick. That's the problem," Steve sighed, as he turned on the light. He winced looking at the man's injuries, as they looked far worse in the light. He started to say something, but Fury raised a hand to silence him. He reached up with his good arm, turning off the light, before writing down on his phone.
"Ears everywhere," he scribbled, and Steve looked around the apartment.
"I'm sorry to have to do this, but I had no place else to crash," Fury said, as he continued to type. "SHIELD compromised"
"Who else knows about your wife?" he asked, raising a brow.
"You and me", Fury wrote, before saying, "Just, my friends."
"Does Toni know?" he asked, needing to know if the man had bothered bringing his girlfriend into the loop or if he was keeping this all under the radar.
"She's never taken too strongly to me," Fury said, shaking his head, "The less people who know about her the better, you know? I don't want to bring too many people into the loop when it would paint a target on all of their backs."
"If there's anyone you could trust, it'd be her," Steve typed in argument. If there was anyone who was capable of navigating through the complex situation that Fury was bringing him into it would be Toni Stark. Who else had the technology and genius of handling such a thing?
"The less people who know, the better," Fury typed out again. "You'd be bringing her into danger if you told her the truth. She's safe where she is. We cannot bring too many people into this mess without having all the facts of who is trustworthy and who isn't. And until we have all those facts, the less people who know about this, the better."
"You can trust her," he wrote back. Because of course they could. She was hardly compromised. Sure, she and SHIELD may never see eye to eye on certain matters, but she was hardly going to tear down the entire agency. Not when it was her Aunt's legacy. Not when it meant everything to her family.
"So just your closest friends then," Steve sighed, feeling a headache coming on. He was far too old for all of this. "Is that what we are?"
"That's up to you," Fury told him carefully, before out of nowhere the wall exploded, as bullets rained through it, hitting Fury in the back. He ran to the man, dragging him aside and out of range of the window.
Fury pressed a flash drive into his hand, gasping for air, as he said, "Don't...trust anyone."
Fury gasped again, before passing out, and Steve reached down, trying to feel for his pulse, feeling one faintly. He was alive, but just barely.
"Captain Rogers?" he heard a voice call out, as Sharon stood in his apartment, raising a gun as she broke in.
"Still here I see," he commented, as he tried to begin CPR.
"I'm assigned to protect you," she said, without flinching. "That's not going to change just because your girlfriend blew my cover. I need you to trust me, Captain. Trust me and let me get help for him."
He wanted to weigh his options out, but he really didn't have the time to argue. He may not have liked that SHIELD was spying on him and sent in an agent trying to seduce him, but clearly that was their MO. And right now, Fury was down, and the man needed all the help he could get.
"Okay," he said, finally. "Do it. Call for help. But if I find out you're lying to me, then I'll make sure you regret it."
She nodded curtly, as she pulled out a radio, "Foxtrot is down, he's unresponsive. I need EMTs."
"Do you have a twenty on the shooter?" the voice over the radio called out. Steve looked out the window then, and saw the shooter moving through the rooftops.
"Tell him I'm in pursuit," Steve said, as he smashed his window and ran after the man on the roof. He jumped across the street, crashing into the building across from him, as he stood up, running after the man visible through the glass ceiling.
He used his shield as a battering ram, breaking down doors and glass windows as he burst through the office. He saw the man jump to the next roof and he threw himself over it with his full body weight, before throwing the shield at the man.
Only for him to catch it with what looked to be a metallic arm.
He stared in shock, making eye contact with the shooter, as the man in question threw the shield back at him with the same force Steve had thrown it.
He caught it before it hit his stomach, and when he looked up, the man was gone.
It was as if he'd never been there
Steve Rogers had no idea what was happening, but he knew that whatever it was, it couldn't be good.
And now he needed to decide if he wanted to bring Toni into this mess, or let her remain safely on the outside, just as Fury had asked him to do.
Whatever he decided, he knew he'd need to make his mind up soon, as the Director of SHIELD continued to bleed out on his apartment floor.
Steve stood in the observatory of the hospital operation room, as Natasha burst in, followed closely behind by Agent Hill.
"Is he gonna make it?" Natasha asked, sounding worried.
"I don't know," Steve told her honestly.
"Tell me about the shooter," she said, trying to keep her voice level.
"He's fast and strong. Had a metal arm," Steve said, describing the man.
The room opened again, as Hill and Harry came into the room.
"Ballistics?" Natasha asked,
"Three slugs, no rifling. Completely untraceable," Harry said, slipping his phone back into his pocket. He glanced at the man, wanting to know who it was that he'd just called.
"Soviet-made," Natasha said, not really asking a question.
"Yeah," Hill confirmed.
The operation room began to grow urgent then, and he watched, worriedly as the doctors spoke.
"He's in V-tach!" One of the nurses said quickly.
"Crash cart coming in," A female nurse said as she brought over a machine.
"Nurse, help me with the drape," The doctor ordered.
"BP is dropping," The first nurse said again.
"Defibrillator!" The doctor ordered, and his heart began to race. "I want you to charge him at one hundred."
"Don't do this to me, Nick," Natasha murmured.
"Come on, Fury," Harry muttered to himself.
"Stand back! Three, two, one. Clear!" The doctor said, as they shocked Fury's body. "Pulse?"
"No pulse," the second nurse said.
"Okay. 200, please. Stand back! Three, two, one. Clear!" The doctor said again as they gave him another shock "Give me epinephrine! Pulse?"
"Negative," the first nurse said.
"Don't do this to me, Nick. Don't do this to me," Natasha chanted.
The doctors continued to try to revive him, but Steve knew the truth. He looked away then, as the doctors pulled away from Fury.
"What's the time?" The doctor said finally, as they stood back from the body.
"1:03, Doctor," the second nurse said.
"Time of death, 1:03 a.m.," The doctor declared. He looked down at the flash drive in his hand, wondering what it was that was so important that Fury gave it to him before he died.
"I need to call Toni," Harry said, taking a step back.
He spun around then, looking at the oldest Carter-Sousa sibling.
"I can't let you do that," he said firmly.
"Oh yeah?" Harry said, not backing down, "And who are you to stop me, Rogers?"
"Fury didn't want to bring her in," Steve told him carefully, "We have to respect his wishes. If he didn't want her to know, then he was doing it to keep her safe. Do you really want to bring her into whatever the hell this is? We don't even know what we're up against!"
"That's exactly why we need to bring her in!" Harry argued. "SHIELD is compromised. The only people I fully trust are in this room and Cousin Sharon. If SHIELD is truly as compromised as Fury suggested, then we can't go to them with any of them. That means no tech, no resources, no manpower, nothing. It also means that we need to fight against whoever this is on our own. And I don't know what kind of relationship you have with my older sister, but I've known her my entire life. I trust her with my entire life. If we want to have any chance at going up against this, we need her. So I don't care what you think, Captain. I'm calling Toni and I am telling her exactly what the hell is going on."
He took a step back, feeling as if he'd been slapped in the face.
It wasn't a matter of trusting Toni. Because of course it wasn't. He'd fought with Fury on that very front.
It didn't stop him from wanting to keep her safe any less. She wasn't tangled up in this mess. And honestly, if he'd have to go through another scare of her near-death experiences, he wasn't sure his heart could take it.
But he knew the man was right to bring her in. Because in reality, he had no idea what it was that they were going up against. He had no idea who was behind the shooting or Fury's death. Or who the man with the metal arm even was. But what he did know was that they needed help.
And according to Harry Carter-Sousa, that entailed bringing in the woman he loved to fight alongside them.
Steve stood looking over where Fury's body was laid out, feeling a heavy weight in his stomach. How did it get to this? Fury wasn't supposed to die. He was, in Toni's words, the spy. The person who had all the secrets.
And yet he was laying there on the hospital cart, looking as cold as ice.
"I need to take him," Hill said, to him, obviously devastated. He looked over at Natasha, seeing tears streaming down her face.
"Natasha," Steve said softly, and she didn't respond to him. Instead, she tenderly touched Fury's head, before turning out of the room. "Natasha!"
"Why was Fury in your apartment?" Natasha asked him suddenly.
"I don't know," he answered, as her eyes searched his face.
"You're a terrible liar," she said, seeing right through him.
He shook his head at her, not wanting to get into it there. Not out in the open when anyone could hear.
Before she could ask him anything further, his phone rang. He pulled it out in surprise and saw Toni on the other end of it.
Natasha watched him as he answered the call.
"Hello?" he asked, unsure of what she'd heard so far.
"Are you somewhere alone?" she asked him.
"No," he said, "I'm with Natasha. They just took Fury's body away."
"Go to a room and close the door," she instructed, "The call's been encrypted so no one will be able to tap into your phone and hear what we're saying."
"Give me a second," he said, before nodding at Natasha. She looked unhappy at him as he turned and walked into an empty room. "Okay I'm alone now."
"Were you ever going to tell me?" she asked him suddenly. "Were you going to tell me that SHIELD was compromised? Because Harry didn't seem too sure that you'd ever get around to it. Why did I have to listen to my cousin telling me about all of this, then tell me that my own boyfriend wanted to keep be in the dark about all of this because he didn't want me to know?"
"It's not like that," he protested, and he heard her scoff.
"Please, it's exactly like that. I get that you can't tell me about all the super-secret missions you go on, but I thought you at least trusted me enough to bring me in for something like this. But I guess I was wrong, wasn't I?"
"I was trying to keep you safe! If I told you the truth, then I would be painting a target on your back. You would have been in danger, and we're not even sure what it is that's happening," he protested, and she laughed.
"Please, I've had a target on my back for years," she scoffed at him. "Do you know how many times I was kidnapped before the age of ten? Howard always refused to pay the ransom, and I learned the hard way of how it felt to feel pain and any hope of being saved by him drained of me. I've been shot at, stabbed, thrown out of windows, you name it. Do you really think I wouldn't have been able to take whatever it is that is thrown my way? I don't need you to keep me safe, Steve. I'm more than capable of handling myself."
"I know you are," he told her, gently. "That doesn't mean I want you to get hurt either. But I see where you're coming from, and you're right. If there's anyone capable of handling this and helping out it would be you. I was wrong to try and leave you out of this."
"Good," she said softly, "So what do you know?"
"He was assassinated," Steve told her, before looking out the window of the room he was in to make sure no one was nearby. "By a man with a metal arm. He took a shot from the nearby roof and he hit his target with precision. The man's enhanced. He's as strong as me, if not stronger. I didn't get a good look at his face, but whoever he is, he's dangerous. Fury was saying SHIELD's compromised, which means whoever sent the man works for SHIELD. It could have been anyone, and I have no way of knowing."
"Okay," she nodded, "That's something. I'll have JARVIS sweep the web and any available databases for mentions of a man with a metal arm. I can't imagine that there's too many of them around, so that should help us. Give me a bit of time, and I'll get back to you with anything I find. I'll also get JARVIS to sweep the SHIELD servers to see if we can track down where this infestation started and figure out how to contain it."
"Contain?" Steve questioned.
"SHIELD is still Aunt Peggy's legacy," Toni said softly, "I don't give a rat's ass that my father worked there as well. If we can save it in anyway, I'd like to try for her. Purge SHIELD and try and return it in a working state. But that does depend on the damage of course."
He looked down at the drive in his hand, "There's something else," he said softly, "Fury left me something. A USB. And SHIELD can't get its hands on it. I think they suspect I know more than I'm letting on, so I can't bring it back when I go in for my debriefing."
"Pass it to Harry," Toni said immediately. "Or as much as I hate to say this, Sharon Carter. They know that me and her don't have the best relationship, so I'd assume they'd think the same for the two of you. I'm sure she's reported her cover being blown. But I still trust her, and she'll make sure it gets back to me."
"Okay," Steve nodded his head. He looked out the window again to see Rumlow approaching the room. "Someone's coming this way."
There was a knock on the door then, as Rumlow looked over at him. He nodded at the man, as he opened the door.
"I miss you too, Sweetheart," he said, covering the purpose of the call. "I'll be back before you know it."
"Be safe, Steve," she told him in a quiet voice.
"I'll talk to you later," he responded, as he hung up the phone.
"Women," Rumlow smirked at him, "Good to know that even Toni Stark can be as needy as the rest of them. Man with that demeanour she puts on, I'd have thought she'd be a cold bitch."
It took everything in his power to not punch the man.
He shrugged instead, "It is what it is," he said, not wanting to engage any more in the conversation.
"They want you back at SHIELD," Rumlow said, knowingly. "Now."
"Okay," he said as he followed him out of the room. He noticed Sharon over in the corner, talking on the phone. "Just let me quickly thank Sharon for the rescue."
Rumlow gave him a look which made him feel dirty, but he shrugged it off as he headed over to where the woman was standing.
"I wanted to thank you," he said to her as he approached her, "For the rescue. But it really wasn't necessary. I had it under control."
"Did you now," she said, neutrally. "And what was your plan for handling the situation?"
"Catching the man responsible," he said, as he carefully slipped her the drive. "Pass my regards onto your cousins if you see them."
"Will do, Captain," she nodded, pocketing the item.
He turned then, as Rumlow met him at the door.
"Let's go," Steve said, knowing fully well that he was walking into the belly of the beast.
"We may need to get to Washington," Toni said, as she typed on the terminal in front of her. "I'm not sure how much we can accomplish from here. Especially if SHIELD is onto Steve. They're going to need all the help they can get with the situation.
"I don't like this," Ava said, pacing back and front in front of the computer. "Harry and Sharon have worked for SHIELD for years, and never once have they suspected that something could be wrong. And if they had no idea, how are we going to be able to find anything?"
"They didn't think anything was wrong," Toni reminded her, "So they didn't read between the lines. And neither of them have our hacking capabilities. If there's anything on SHIELD's servers which suggest they've been compromised then we'll find it. And we'll expose it to the world."
She paused for a moment, as an incoming memo came in, addressing all SHIELD agents. Her eyes skimmed it carefully and she let out a startled gasp.
"Well shit," she swore as Ava read it as well.
Captain America had just been labelled a terrorist by SHIELD. Accused of attacking fellow SHIELD agents and withholding information regarding Director Fury's death. Alongside Natasha Romanoff and Harry Carter-Sousa, the three of them had an issue out for their immediate apprehension and arrest.
"What are we going to do?" Ava asked worriedly as she looked at the screen. Toni pulled out her phone then, and immediately began sending messages to the three of them, wanting to know that they were safe.
She began typing to Steve.
"Are you safe?" she typed.
A few seconds later he responded, "Got out with Natasha and Harry. Have the drive. Will plug it in. Natasha says to connect to it and find out what's going on."
She read over what he said, before typing back "I'm ready when you are. Let me know if you need anything; secret accounts, false identities, anything. Be careful, Steve"
Her phone buzzed again, "I will; I'll talk to you soon, Sweetheart."
Ava was watching her carefully and Toni nodded at her cousin.
"They're safe. They're going to plug in whatever was on that drive as soon as they can and when they do we're going to get to work. We're going to uncover every last secret that SHIELD is keeping from us and find out exactly what's going on, one way or another," Toni promised her. "We'll bring them home safe."
"Why couldn't any of you have chosen safe careers," Ava sighed to herself. "I can't handle all of this, knowing that everyone I care about is constantly in danger. If you at least were still just CEO of SI then that would be one thing. But you fly around in the suit. Harry's constantly on undercover missions, and Bruce is more often than not involved in Avengers business.
"I know, Darling," Toni soothed her carefully. "I know. But I know you also understand why we do this. Why we have to do this. It's the same reason you help me out with Avengers business, whether it's being my girl in the chair, or helping with upgrades. Because you have to do it too. Because you're in a position to help, and you can't sit back and watch innocent people get hurt when you know you can do something to help. That's exactly how we all feel, and why we have to do this."
"I'm just worried," she said, shaking slightly. "That one day one of you won't come home. I don't think I can handle that. I'm not strong enough. If I lost any of you, it would destroy me. You're my family, and I can't imagine a world without any of you."
"I can't promise we'll always be safe," Toni warned her, "But I can promise that we'll always do our best to come home."
"Okay," Ava sighed softly. "Okay. Just be careful, please? Don't put yourself in unnecessary danger if you can help it?"
"I will," Toni told her firmly. "Now, let's see what else SHIELD is hiding from us, shall we?"
"Wait in the car," Harry instructed Steve as they parked at the shopping complex.
"I can come," Steve insisted, and Harry rolled his eyes.
"You're Captain America," Harry told him, "One of the most recognizable faces in America. You cannot come into the shopping mall with us. Not if we want any chance of finding out the truth of what's happening here."
He wanted to roll his eyes at the righteous look in Steve's eyes. The naivety that things weren't as black and white as he wanted them to be. Life didn't work that way. It was filled with ups and downs and no one was ever explicitly good or evil.
"Steve, you need to stay here," Natasha reaffirmed his statement. "Keep an eye out for the STRIKE team. But you'd stick out too much if you come with us."
"Fine," Steve threw his arms up, "But I don't like it."
"You don't need to," Harry shrugged. "We'll connect the drive and let Toni access it. See what she can dig up."
"We won't have long," Natasha warned them. She and Harry carefully got out of the car, and slipped into the mall.
"Go slowly," Natasha told him as he moved towards the Apple store. "We're trying not to get caught."
He gave her an unimpressed look, "I've been a spy my entire life. I think I know how to keep a low profile."
"Low enough that SHIELD barely knew about your connection to Toni Stark," Natasha said, without giving away anything.
"Family secret," he said with a shrug. "It's was more important not to disclose it. Mom wanted her out of SHIELD affairs. Howard wanted her out of SHIELD affairs. But then Fury went and dragged her into this mess."
"She dragged herself into it with that suit of hers," Natasha said, as they approached one of the free computers. "We would have left her alone if she didn't insist on suiting up and trying to save the entire world."
"She's doing what she thinks is right," Harry defended his cousin, "How much time to we have?"
"Call Toni now," Natasha informed him, before plugging in the device. "We have exactly nine minutes."
He pulled out his phone, dialing his cousin.
"Is it in?" She asked, as Natasha changed the settings on the computer to allow Toni easy access into it.
"It's in," Harry confirmed, as he watched Toni take over control of the system.
"The drive is protected," Toni said, a bit strained, as she typed away, "Looks like some sort of AI. Not JARVIS advanced, but advanced enough that it keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands. JARVIS, take over, counter-override any of their commands before they even make it."
"STRIKE is here," Steve said, over their comms. "They just pulled in and are loaded. Get out of there."
"Need more time, Cap," Toni told them all. "I'm going to trace where the signal is coming from in the meantime. At least then we'll know where to look for the source."
"Can I help you guys with anything?" an employee came up to them then.
"Oh no," Harry watched as Natasha put on a sweet voice, "My fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations."
She wrapped her arm around his waist then and Harry gave her a fake soft smile, "We're getting married."
"Congratulations. Where do you guys thinking about going?" the employee asked, and Harry looked down at the screen as Toni's trace completed.
"New Jersey," Harry said, a bit surprised.
"Oh?" The employee asked, looking a bit confused.
"I copied the program to a confined local server," Toni informed them, "I'll keep trying to crack it. Get out of there now."
"My family has a beautiful country home there," Natasha said, as Harry carefully pulled out the drive. "Gorgeous property. Besides, we don't plan on leaving the house much, if you know what I mean."
The employee blushed as Natasha slipped her arm through his.
"We really should be going," Harry gave the man a nod, "We have dinner plans."
"Have fun!" the employee said, backing off then.
"Looks like our nine minutes are up," Harry said, gesturing to the men searching the mall for them.
"Wheaton, NJ," Toni told them as they made their way out of the mall.
"I know where it's coming from," Steve said over the comms.
"We're on our way back," Harry said, Standard tac-team. Two behind, to across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you hit the south escalator to the metro."
She simply rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up and put your arm around me, laugh at something I said."
"What?" he asked in surprise, as she began laughing. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, laughing as the agents approaching walked right by them. They got onto the elevator, and he spotted Rumlow coming down it.
They were going to get made.
"Kiss me," Natasha said firmly. "Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable."
He pulled her in for a kiss then, as she wrapped her arms around his waist. They passed by Rumlow, who looked away from them, giving them the chance to get away.
"If you wanted to kiss me, all you had to do was ask," Harry smirked at her.
"In your dreams, Carter-Sousa," Natasha rolled her eyes at him. They quickly ducked out of the mall, and back into the car.
"Well, for what it's worth, I'd happily kiss you again anytime in the future," Harry said with a grin, "With or without the threat of apprehension hanging over us."
"You know we're all still on the line right," Ava said then. "I definitely do not want to listen to my brother trying to pick up a girl.
He flushed then as Natasha shot him a smirk. As they approached the car, Steve shook his head at the both of them, but didn't say anything about it. Good, because even if it was a necessity to kiss the Black Widow, it didn't make it any less enjoyable.
"You have the coordinates?" Steve asked him then, deciding to spare him any embarrassment. He nodded, as he programmed them into his StarkPhone.
Looks like they were going to New Jersey.
