Disclaimer: I don't own Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Agents of SHIELD, etc. I own Jamie.

Chapter 21
Search and Rescue

Steve was out getting Chinese food for lunch. Jamie stepped out of the shower, making sure not to open her wounded side. It had been a couple days since the battle at the Triskelion, and with her healing factor, it was almost completely scabbed over. However, any sudden movements, and getting it wet could risk it reopening.

She walked out with a towel wrapped around her thin body and into her bedroom. She lifted her head up as she walked, eyes landing on the dark male sitting on the edge of her bed. She screamed, rushing back into the bedroom.

"What the fuck?" Jamie screeched, looking around the bathroom door. "Fury! What the hell are you doing in my apartment?" She demanded.

"You said if I wanted help, you were free," he pointed out. "

"Yeah, and I expected a phone call! Not you showing up when I'm naked!"

"I'm not saying anything to that," Fury said. He got up off her bed and left her bedroom so she could get dressed. "Get dressed, we're heading out."

"Heading out where?" She asked, coming out of the bedroom. She shut the door before heading to her to her closet to take out her suit

"The middle of the ocean. We're receiving a distress signal on a SHIELD frequency. I think it might lead to Coulson."

Once changed she stepped out of the bedroom, placing her guns in the holsters. "You can't get in contact with Phil?"she asked. "I mean, I know I couldn't, but you?"

"Hey, don't push it," he said.

"Are you bringing Steve and Sam in on this?" She asked.

"Nope, only you," he said. "You're the only one aware of Coulson's true status."

"Because you won't tell them," she pointed out.

"Phil can tell them whenever he wants. I'm not in charge anymore," he told her.

"Mhm, sure." Jamie followed him out, grabbing her go bag she always had packed. "Just let me call Steve and let him know something came up. Can't have the Captain throwing a fit."

"The signal was coming from right around here," Fury thought, looking out the window."

They were over the middle of the ocean. How the hell are we supposed to find the signal in all of this? She asked herself. "Maybe I should get out and look," Jamie thought. "Cover more ground….or water, I guess."

"You know, that's probably for the best," Fury said.

They opened the jet door and Jamie tied her hair back before just leaping out, nearly skimming the top of the water as she surgered the energy thought her, keeping her up in the air. She was faster than the chopper, so she could cover more ground. She turned so that she could pass the craft, checking the area ahead of them.

However, as the time ticked by, the longer she stayed out there, she still didn't see anything that seemed out of the ordinary. She sighed, getting tired. She had never flown that long before over one constant stretch of time. She needed to rest, grab something to eat and recharge. As much as she wanted to keep looking, Jamie turned around and started to head straight towards the craft flying towards her.

Changing her line of sight at that exact second allowed her blue eyes to land on two small things pop out of the water moments after turning around. It took her several more seconds of just floating there to realize they were people. "Oh shit!" She rushed over to them, all the while speaking into her comm. "Turn back! On your six!"

She reached them first, her eyes landing on the figures of Jemma Simmons and Leopold Fitz. And Fitz wasn't moving. "Oh my God," she muttered. Jamie pulled him out first as the craft came over. She brought him in while Fury got Jemma, who was breathing at at least conscious.

Jamie sat on a crate holding her head, her foot bouncing impatiently. Fitz was being looked at and taken care of, but things didn't look good. He was breathing, but that was pretty much the only thing he had going for him. Jemma seemed all right, just in the decompression chamber so she wouldn't get the bends. But that didn't mean Jamie was any less anxious for her to wake up. She hated being helpless when he came to waiting for her friends like that.

"Would you relax?" Fury asked her.

"Sorry," Jamie muttered, running a hand through her hair.

"Dr. Simmons will be just fine, I assure you," he said. "She'll wake up soon."

"I know, I know," Jamie muttered "It's just...who did this? HYDRA obviously, but where were the rest of the team? How could they let this happen?"

"We'll get answers soon," he told her. "Just be patient."

Patient and stubborn were two things that almost all snipers were. And Jamie was ver good at both of those, but being patient and feeling good about what she was waiting for didn't exactly have to mix. She did feel far more relieved when Fury walked up to Jemma's glass container and found she was awake.

"You're in decompression on a jet back to the mainland," Fury told her.

"They told us you were dead," Jemma told him.

"Good," said Fury, sounding rather amused. "We want word to get around on that."

Jemma was silent for a moment after those words, the events of the past hours coming back to her. "Fitz," she gasped, trying to sit up.

"Easy, easy," Fury said, placing his hand on the glass of the decompression chamber. "His heart's still beating," he said. "Just barely." Jemma sighed. It wasn't much, but at least he was alive. "I have a full med team with him. But you have to remain in this chamber, okay?" She nodded her head. "His brain was without oxygen for a long time, but you saved him."
"It was the other way around," Jemma said. "How did you find us?"

"That makeshift beacon of yours," to hold he. "Good thinking. Led us right to you. Lucky we were looking. Jamie was the one that spotted you. Pulled Fitz out herself and got him to the medics before we even got a towel around you."

"Sorry," Jamie said. "But you were conscious and Fitz was a lot worse off than you were, so I just acted."

"Thank you," she said "But you were looking?" She asked confused.

"For my man, Coulson," Fury said. "I understand you're involved in a dispute I might want to weigh in on."

"Yeah, the idiot doesn't know when to call in for more help," Jamie added. "Always forgets to call."

"We didn't know you were alive either," Jemma said.

"You have anything that might lead me to him?" Fury asked, getting back on topic.

Jemma smiled, meaning she had just that. After giving him the tracker, Jamie pulled up a chair to sit next to Jemma and keep her company until she had to go and get ready to help out whatever Phil had gotten himself into.

"How are you feeling?" Jamie asked.

"As good as can be expected," she told her. "You? We saw the news feeds of the Triskelion, and on the highway."

"I'm healing up. It helps to have a healing factor," Jamie said. "How is everything with you guys?" She asked "I've been trying to get in contact with you guys since everything happened. Nothing went through."

"We've been quite busy ourselves," Jemma told her. "A lot has happened,"

"Tell me about it," Jamie said. "Care to elaborate a little for me before I head in there blind?"

"Ward's HYDRA," she stated right off the bat.

Her eyebrows knitted together in disbelief. "No," Jamie muttered. "Ward?"

Jemma nodded her head. "Him and Garrett."

"Wait, John Garrett?" Jamie asked. "I've seen him around the Triskelion before. He always tells people his stories in the lunchroom. He always seemed so pro-SHIELD. I guess that makes for a good cover, I suppose. Just like how nobody would suspect Sitwell."

"Exactly," Jemma said. "They're following them to try and stop them, but I don't know much more than that. I'm sorry."

"Hey, any little bit counts," Jamie said.

"What exactly happened at the Triskelion?" Jemma asked. "If you don't mind me asking."

"That is a long story I will more than willingly tell you once all of this settles down, okay?" Jamie said. "It's a bit more complicated and starts a couple days before the Triskelion actually fell, so it's best to do over food or something."

Jamie pulled up the crate to sit next to Jemma. "Why don' tyou tell me what happened? How you got down there?"

"We were trying to track Ward and Garrett, and Fitz and I managed to get aboard the Bus, which they took. We placed a tracker, but were found and we got locked in one of the pods. Ward…" She shook her head,not willing to go on about him.

"The seals around the glass in the glass in the containment pods are 4-hydroxy-4-methyl-2-pentanone. We ended up using medical ethanol to burn through it. The outside pressure blew the seal in. Fitz….He made a small oxygen tank with just one burst of air for me. He knew there wouldn't be enough for him."

"A selfless act of heroism," Jamie said.

"Solace! We need you up front!" Fury called to her.

"Why don't you get some rest, okay? You're going to be in there a while and God knows you deserve a nap," Jamie told Jemma. "I'm glad we got you guys, Jemma."

"Thank you, again. I can't thank you enough."

Jamie just gave her one last smiles before making her way back up to the front of the jet.

After dropping Jemma and Fitz off at a secret base, Fury and Jamie headed back out as quickly as they could to get to Coulson. When they arrived at the factory warehouse looking building, it was already chaotic. There were holes in walls, people scrambling about.

"Phil really knows how to make an entrance, doesn't he," Jamie pointe out, her gun in hand as they made their way around the facility.

"Of course he does, I trained him," Fury stated.

Jamie and Fury snuck around large metal vats, guns at the ready as they heard the fighting just on the other side of the room. They both stopped when a body came flying over by them. They landed with a painful thus, starting to crawl to safety saying, "Well, that's new." He kept crawling, not seeing the two individuals standing where his gun had landed.

Jamie just eyes Phil, gun lowered now at just how easy it happened to be to find him. One he got there, seeing the feet, he looked up, his eyes meeting Fury's. "Sir?

"You don't have to call me "Sir." Coulson," Fury said. "Look at me. I'm dressed like I live under a bridge."

"I thought that's where you were living," Jamie joked.

"Not the point," Fury said, and she could obviously tell by his tone he was rolling his….eye.

"What are you two doing here?" Phil asked, getting to his feet.

"Well, Simmons turned me on to that old-timey tracker Fitz left on your bus," Fury answered.

Gunshots were fired, meaning the HYDRA rats were onto theme and closing in. Jamie parted from the boys, moving to crouch down next to one of the very large metal pipes, or whatever it was. She peaked out, seeing several guys and more coming. She leaned out quickly, gun pointed and managed to get three shots out before she had to take cover one more. She managed to get two guy at least.

"I went to great pains to make sure you didn't die the first time," Fury said.

"Well, now's not the best time, but I'd like to have a lengthy conversation with you about that."

Jamie could just make out the door opening, reinforcements coming to join. She leaned out and quickly walked while shooting, taking out three more men as she re-positioned herself behind the machine on the other side of the opening to where she had just been taking cover. They shot at her as she moved, several of them making contact with the machined behind her over by where Phil and Fury were talking.

"It might get loud."

"And I owe you that," Fury said. "But right now, we owe Garrett a punch in the teeth, wouldn't you say."

"This packs a pretty good punch."

"I know what it does."

"Finally done chatting girls? Come to help out?"

"Yup!" Phil said. He walked straight out into the wolves den, shooting away with the blaster he had used on Loki right before he died on the helicarrier. Jamie hadn't seen that thing since she moved it off his lap to put pressure on his wounds. She hadn't even noticed Fury holding it when they walked it, which was rather surprising since she was good at picking up on things.

Phil managed to take out seven men with that thing before it died and needed to recharge. Jamie moved out to join him, gun raised to make sure Phil had backup and protection out in the open. Fury stepped out as well, run shooting off at Garrett. Every shot landed.

Garrett fell to his knees, but there didn't appear to really have much of an effect on him. He had holes in his chest, and a bit of blood seeping out the wounds, but nothing really seemed to affect him, and it didn't look serious at all.

"What the fuck," Jamie muttered. She exchanged looks with Phil and Fury, to which they also looked at one another, completely baffled.

"Fury," Garrett greeted, standing up. "When was the last time anyone saw a tag-team wrestling match with four dead guys, and a dead Avenger?"

"How does he know about that?" Jamie asked. "She had never once told him about her past, then again, he could've found it out online with all the information that they dumped.

"I only see one dead guy in here," Phil pointed out.

"Oh, the power's all on this side of the room, fellas. Phil I'm surprised you'd try and stop me," Garrett said. "Of course, I don't blame you, Nick. You haven't see the big picture, the big bang, the timeless frozen ocean, but Phil here has. We share a bond. We're blood brothers."

"This guys shoots more shit out his mouth than Loki did," Jamie pointed out.

"You didn't tell me he'd gone this crazy," Fury said.

"He's really stepped it up a notch," Phil added.

"You remember that speech you used to give us, Nick, about how one man can accomplish anything once he realizes he can be something bigger?" Garrett went on. "Well, now I am."

"I've never heard this speech, but that doesn't sound like something you'd say," Jamie pointed out.

"A part, a part of something bigger," Fury corrected.

Yeah that sounds more like it, Jamie thought.

"Is that how it went?" Garret asked.

"Not a great listener," Phil stated.

"If you tell me this whole HYDRA path thing you took is because you misheard by damn "one man" speech…"

"I am the key to the future of the universe."

"Yeah, he's definitely more out there than Loki," Jamie muttered.

"I am the origin of all things!"

"You got it, right?" Fury asked Phil.

"Totally," Phi answered. "Loud and clear."

Garrett made the gun symbol with his fingers and pointed at the cyborg man standing next to him, then changed directions to the three standing up on the platform, telling him to shoot. The guy raised his arm, aiming at them. Jamie her own arm, now surging with energy and pointed it at him, shaking her head. "Put it down, man!"

"Fury was teaching us something you didn't want to hear, John!" Phil said. "'Cause you only think about yourself. That's the difference between your side and our side and why we're always gonna win."

"What lesson, Phil?" Garrett asked. "Please, enlighten me."

Jamie narrowed her eyes as the guy turned and looked at Garret. He glared, turning and shooting off at him instead. He went flying across the room, crashing into the wall. His skin was burnt, smoking even. "Okay, I didn't expect that," Jamie muttered, lowering her hand. "Was that part o a plan or something?'

"Yup," Phil said once more.

"You can't do this, Mike," Garrett said, as Mike slowly started to stalk towards him. "I order you to stand down!" He noticed a gun in one of the dead soldiers hands, and tried his best to pull himself toward it. "You must obey me! You need me to translate the words of creation. You don't want to do this, Mike." He finally managed to grab the gun, but Mike was right next to him. "Tell him, Phil!"

"Mr. Peterson's free to do whatever he wants," Phil said.

Mike Peterson lifted his foot and yelled as he stomped down on Garrett, killing him, putting an end to all of that.

"You think he learned his lesson?" Fury asked.

"He learned something," Phil muttered.

Once they got reinforcement there, the United States Marine Corps in fact, to help transport the goods and the prisoners, another member of their team, a new one, joined up while they were telling Phil about Jemma and Fitz. Phil looked rather pleased to see him, patting him on the shoulder in greeting.

"Director Fury, it's good to see you're alive," the African American man greeted, shaking their former leader's hand.

"Agent Triplett, good to see you weren't on the side of your deranged CO," Fury said.

"Seems like he was the only one," Jamie said, moving to stand next to Fury. "Still a bit shocked that Ward HYDRA."

"Oh my God, you're Solace," Trip gaped, eyes wide. "It's an honor to meet you, Ma'am."

"Oh, the last person to call me ma'am was born in 1918 and wears red, white and blue. And I even scolded him on that. Please, it's just Jamie," she introduced, holding out a hand to shake the young man's.

"You really know Captain Rogers?" He asked.

"I do, but I know him as Steve," she said. "But really, honor is all mine, Agent Triplet. Anybody Phil here respects and trusts is a friend in my books."

"Please, it's just Trip," he said.

Jamie went on to ask Phil exactly what was going on there, once they finally were free and had a moment to do so. "What were they doing here anyway?" She asked.

"The Centipede project," he told her. "They were trying to make super-soldiers."

"Oh, of course they were. That's what they're always trying to do, isn't it?" Jamie grumbled, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.

"Without regular injections, they're just men," Phil went on. "Once doctors remove their cybernetic eyes, they'll be essentially back to normal."

"Minus an Eye, of course," Trip said.

Agent May walked in with two guards, escorting Ward. They stopped him in front of Phil so he may address him. "You got a chance to express all your feelings?" Phil asked May first.

"Is he still breathing?" May retorted.

"I guess she kept some of it to herself," Phil said.

May moved away from Ward and to stand between Jamie and Phil, nodding in greeting to the Avenger. "He's having trouble speaking," May said. "I think I fractured his larynx."

Jamie snorted, covering her mouth to try another and make a scene. She stepped back, biting her lip as she tried not to laugh to stand next to Trip. She space a shrug to Trp before turning her attention back to Phil and the traitor.

"Oh good," Phil said. He took several steps forward to address Ward finally. "Your attempt to cross off Fitz and Simmons failed, but Fitz may never be the same again. So I'm going to invent new ways to ruin the rest of your life, and we'll do whatever's necessary to get HYDRA intel from you But your torture, that's going to be internal."

"And a little bit external," May added.

"Sure, some of that," Phil went along. "But you devoted your entire life to a deranged narcissist who never gave a damn about anyone, and now he's dead. You've got the rest of your life to wrestle with the question:who are you without him?" Phil stepped back, nodding to the guards. "Take him away."

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, and cruel, and very stupid!"

Jamie just rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms over her chests, slouching down in the love seat she was resting in inside Coulson's office on the Bus. She figured Phil would have a broader vocabulary after hearing that he really had died on the helicarrier and they had brought him back to life with alien DNA from the TAHITI Project. It was a shock, but honestly, not as shocking as she would've found it before she started working with SHIELD.

Jamie was just glad he was alive and well, and not going insane like Garrett had ate getting injected with that stuff.

"I think you made your point," Fury interrupted.

"Why bring me back in the first place?" Phil pressed. "Clearly, I didn't think it was the best idea! I warned you about people losing their minds."

"Agent May was on top of the situation," Fury explained. "She says you're fine. Aren't you? It was a "Break glass in case of emergency" situation."

"Yes, but that emergency was supposed to be the fall of an Avenger!" Phil stated.

"Exactly,"Fury said, leaning forward.

Jamie stood up, making her way around May who stood next to her in front of the couch. "Phil, you've spent your whole life looking up to heroes: to Steve. You've been trying to be like them and to do as they would do. What you don't realize is while you've been trying to do that, you've been everybody else's hero the whole time.

"You are the Avenger. The only reason any of us managed to work together. It's because of you, that we were able to do what we did. Not because it was the right thing to do, not because lives were on the line, but because you were the one that believed we could do all of that for those reasons. You are out reason, our hero, Phil. My hero."

Phil stared at her for a good deal, a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"And I'm damn glad I did it too," Fury said. "When you want to build something, you need a strong foundation. Now, you know how few people I trust, Coulson."

"You can count them on one hand," Phil said.

"And I'm not afraid to cut off fingers," Fury went on. "The principles SHIELD was founded upon was pure."

"Protection," May said.

"Protection," Fury agreed. "One , to protect one man against himself, other times to protect the planet against an alien invasion from another universe. It's a broad job description."

"No need to tell me," Phil said.

"But the belief that drives us all is the same, whether it's one man or all mankind," Fury went on.

"That they're worth saving," Phil finished.

Fury stood up and walked towards Phil. "That truth lives inside you, Coulson. Before it was torn apart, SHIELD was a lot of moving part. But guys like you were the heart. Not, you'll be the head," he said, holding up a small black and silver box no larger than the palm of Jamie's hand.

Phil took it, looking at it. "What is it?" He asked.

"A toolbox to help you build it back up," Fury said.

"You want me to start over, rebuild SHIELD," Phil asked.

"From scratch," Fury stated. "Take your time. And do it right." He moved to leave the roo, but stopped at May. "You'll still have his back."

"Of course," he said.

He before the doorway and looked to Phil. "There's no one else I trust with this," he said.

"Thank you, Sir," Coulson said. "How do you...How should I proceed?"

"That's up to you…" Fury answered, he lifted his hand to shake, "Director."

He turned once more to leave, but stopped when May addressed him. "And you, Sir, where are you heading now?"

"Well, I'm trading in my bird's-eye view for two solid feet on the ground," he said. "This is the last time you'll be seeing me for a stretch."

"You're going to disappear, nowhere to be found," Phil said.

"Nowhere?" He scoffed and chuckled. "You know me better than that, Phil." He pulled his glasses down, showing both of his eyes: the good and the blue bad. "I'll be everywhere." He pushed them back up, looking towards Jamie. "You want a ride home?"

"No thanks," she said. "I want to see how Leo and Jemma are doing, if that's okay?"

"Of course," Phil said. "You're always welcome here."

"Goodbye then," Fury said.

"Take care, Nick," Phil said, one last time.

I'm really iffy on this chapter, because I wanted Jamie to get involved so she knew about Ward and what happens to everybody, but it was just sort of weird. Also really wanted that last scene where Jaime tells Phil that he's a hero, and it was the perfect time. So part of the chapter I'm happy with, the others not so much. Hope you guys enjoyed the read though!

Thanks go to the following people for their reviews on the previous chapter:

animelover78861- No, they are not. I'm sorry.

KnowInsight- Yes, yes they are that stubborn.

xenocanaan- I hope this was exciting and what you hoped would come next!

Jo- lol, I love the idea of Sam and Taylor. Both sarcastic and funny.

PrincessLinaMarie- Sorry!

CJ/OddBall- I think it's so funny that everybody is waiting for them to get together when I've actually already written the scene. I don't have everything else in between done, but I do have them getting together, as well as some other fluff filler things. And actually, the Stalker Arch if the good one...everyone's going to bereally pissed with the other one. And as of right now, Jamie and Steve's song is One and Only by Adele.

Queen of Erebor- I promise, there will be interactions between the two.

Jedi Jelsa777- I know, I can't wait! I might go to the midnight showing!