A/N. Hello again! Here's chapter six. With how fast things are moving along, this story may end up being shorter than the other ones. Hmm... I guess we'll see. Enjoy :D

Disclaimer - I don't own a lot of things. Captain America and the Marvel characters, locations, dialogue, etc are some of those things.

Chapter Six

When they emerged, Tania was surprised to find that it was daylight outside. They had spent the entire night at the hospital. She checked her phone. It was just past six in the morning.

The agent (Steve whispered to her that his name was Brock Rumlow) escorted them to a sleek black Lexus and offered to drive them to the Triskelion, but they declined in favour of taking Steve's bike. Neither of them spoke the entire way. Tania was getting accustomed to the silence. She felt as though it had succeeded in suffocating her and now it was just always there.

When they arrived at HQ, they changed into their work clothes because the outfits they were wearing were bloody and rumpled. Steve wore his navy stealth suit (which looked really hot on him and she had told him so on several occasions) while she wore her catsuit. They both had their weapons strapped to their backs. She usually kept her staff baton-sized and hung over her shoulder like a quiver.

Rumlow told them to visit one of the highest floors; the one reserved for Secretary Alexander Pierce, head of the World Security Council. This guy was even higher up than Fury had been. Everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. knew about him. Pierce was former Secretary of Defense and a close personal friend of Nick Fury.

Tania couldn't help but think that this wouldn't end well.

They entered the elevator in more silence. "They should play music or something," she commented.

Steve laughed. She missed his laugh. They really needed to talk about what happened before Fury broke into their apartment. They hadn't really spoken to each other much beyond necessities since the incident and she was dying to talk to him. She needed to apologize for keeping something from him, especially since it was partly done out of spite.

The elevator ride was long and quiet, but she couldn't bring herself to speak. Steve stared solemnly out the window and she didn't want to disturb the peace. She was afraid that if she started something now, it would ruin the unspoken truce they had. But maybe that would be better than the uneasy feeling of being on the edge of something… dangerous.

She twisted her engagement ring around her finger.

After what felt like hours later, the doors opened and they spotted Pierce himself talking to a blonde woman-

Kate. Or, wait, no, Sharon. Agent Sharon. Agent 13. Or whatever.

Sharon stiffened when she saw them and made to walk past them. "Captain Rogers. Agent Banks."

"Neighbour," Steve returned coldly.

Sharon's heels paused in their clacking, but Tania didn't turn to look.

"Ah, Captain," said the man in the doorway. He was old and wrinkled, but his hair was blonde. He wore big, black glasses and a grey, three-piece suit, pressed to perfection. He held a steaming mug of coffee in his hands. What Tania wouldn't do for a mug right now, she thought as she smelled the drink and wished fervently for its caffeine to be in her system. Pierce held out his hand for Steve to shake. "I'm Alexander Pierce." He nodded at Tania with a smile that was not quite warm. "Agent." He shook her hand as well. The movement was firm and almost clipped. Maybe even a bit threatening.

"Sir," Steve greeted cordially. "It's an honour."

"The honour's mine, Captain. My father served in the 101st. Come in."

They both made to enter.

"Oh, actually I was hoping to speak to the both of you alone. One each." He smiled again, shifting his glasses with his cheeks.

Tania stepped back, suspicious of… something. "Alright. I'll be out here then."

"Would you like me to pull out a chair from my office?" He offered.

"No, that's okay. Thank you, though."

Pierce nodded and waited for Steve to enter the room before closing the door. What to do for the next several minutes? Tania spun on her heel and ran down the hallway toward the staircase, where she heard Sharon's shoes still clacking.

"Sharon!" She called, her voice echoing in the staircase.

The clacking stopped. "Yes?"

"I'd like to speak with you."

The clacking started again and Sharon came into view around the bend. Her face was expressionless. "What about?"

"Did you approve of your mission?"

"I'm sorry?"

"To go undercover as our neighbour. Did you approve of it?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"I'm asking you if you thought it was a good idea."

"It's always a good idea to live near back-up."

"But you lied to us and created this whole persona of Kate when you could've just been yourself. Why pretend like you were a civilian? I don't understand."

"Fury thought you would prefer a more civilian setting."

"Yeah, well apparently our apartment's been bugged, so…"

Sharon looked away awkwardly.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. had it bugged, didn't they?"

She nodded.

"Why do they have to keep such close tabs on us? What makes us so special?"

"You're arguably S.H.I.E.L.D.'s greatest assets. Fury wanted to keep you safe."

"But why all the lies?"

"He didn't want to take the chance that you'd disagree with his ideas."

"And if we did?"

"He'd have found some other way."

"And do you think this was a good idea? The lying? Was it necessary?"

For a long moment, Sharon didn't say anything. They stood there in the staircase, staring each other down from above and below. Eventually, Sharon broke the silence. "No. I don't think it was necessary."

Tania's features softened. This didn't mean that she trusted Sharon, but she liked her a little more. It was all that she'd wanted to hear. "Thank you, Agent 13."

She nodded curtly. "See you around."

"See you."

Sharon continued down the stairs and Tania made her way back up. She paced the hallway as she waited. Maybe she could take a nap? Sleeping on the floor outside the office of the former Secretary of Defense was probably a bad idea. She checked her phone. There was a missed call from Tony. She dialed her voicemail and waited.

"Can you believe that guy?" The message started. "J.A.R.V.I.S. just told me that Fury booked me for a birthday party next week. He somehow managed to slip it into my schedule without my noticing. J.A.R.V.I.S. must be plotting against me. Anyway, you tell him that I'm not going to any kid's birthday party – especially if they're related to him. I'd tell him myself, but I feel like if I tried to talk to him, the only words that would come out would be expletives. Thanks, Piggy Bank. You're the best." Beep.

Oh, Tony. He didn't know. No one did. Not yet. The news wasn't public yet. "I wish I could tell him, Tony," she whispered. "I really do."

Did this have anything to do with what was going on? It seemed totally random to send Tony to a birthday party. Maybe it was a mission that he wanted Iron Man to go on? Maybe it was an encrypted message?

She sent Tony a text to look into going to the party and slipped her phone back in her pocket. It wasn't long after that before the door opened and Steve stepped out, followed by Pierce. Steve walked up to her while Pierce retreated into his office. "I'll wait for you," Steve declared. "But if you take longer than five minutes, I'm leaving. I want to talk to Director Hill." While Fury was gone, Hill had temporarily taken his place as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. until a new order could be established.

Tania couldn't tell if Steve was teasing. It sounded like he was teasing… but he didn't look to be in the mood for such a thing. Maybe he was still mad at her. "Alright." She entered the office and closed the door behind her. It felt more final than it should.

"Beautiful day, isn't it, Agent?" Pierce asked casually, making his way over to the coffee machine on the counter.

"Yes, Sir."

"Coffee?"

"Please."

He poured her a mug and brought it over to the couch, where he sat down and placed the drink on the coffee table. "I want to tell you a story." Alright-y then. "Take a look at these pictures." He gestured to the ones lying strewn on the table.

Gingerly, Tania sat down on the opposite end of the couch and picked up the photos. They were of Pierce and Fury in their younger days, discussing something very enthusiastically.

"That was five years after Nick and I met. We were both stationed in Bogota, Columbia. ELN rebels took the embassy. Security managed to get me and Nick out of there, but the rebels took hostages. One of them was my daughter. You can imagine my state of mind at the time."

She could. She imagined that it would be very chaotic. If someone had taken Graham hostage… She shuddered at the thought.

"Nick comes to me with this crazy idea: storm the building through the sewers. I tell him, 'Nick, that's crazy. We have to negotiate.' But the rebels didn't want to negotiate so they threatened to start killing. Turns out that Nick got to the hostages first. He had gone against my orders and conducted an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil. Saved a lot of lives."

"Including your daughter's."

Pierce nodded. "Including hers. So I gave him a promotion. Since then, I have never regretted it." He shifted on the couch. Tania could tell that things just got extra serious. "Agent, why was Nick in your apartment last night?"

So this was an interrogation. If he was asking her, then that meant that Steve hadn't told him. If Steve hadn't told Natasha, one of their most trusted friends, Tania doubted that Steve would tell Pierce. "No idea," she answered, shaking her head.

"Did you know it was bugged?"

"He told us that before he… passed."

"Did he tell you that he was the one who bugged it?"

"No. Agent 13 told me."

Pierce hummed. "You, Captain Rogers, and Agent 13 were the last ones to see Nick alive. I don't think that was an accident. Do you?"

Tania fidgeted. "I think we were the only place close enough that seemed safe. I mean, we're Avengers. If you can't trust us, who can you trust?" Lighter mood, anyone? No? Fine.

Pierce stared at her very seriously, fiddling with his glasses in his hands. She hadn't noticed him take them off. "Why was Nick in your apartment?" He asked again, staring her down with unnerving blue eyes.

Tania swallowed. "I really don't know. I'm sorry."

It was evident that Pierce didn't believe her. She wouldn't believe herself either. She would have to ask Natasha to help improve her lying skills. "Is that your final answer?"

She could feel every beat of her pounding heart as if she could reach into her chest and grab it. Her skin felt paper thin and her ribs vibrated with every thump. "Yes." If Steve didn't trust Pierce, then neither did she. "May I go? Please?"

Pierce gestured towards the door. Tania got up to leave. She was almost there when she heard his voice. "You'll regret lying to me, Agent Banks."

A shiver jumped up her spin, but she didn't turn around. "Understood." She needed to find Steve. She needed to get to that USB. She needed to figure out what the fucking hell was going on before Pierce made good on his promise.

She speed-walked out of Pierce's office and into the hallway only to see the elevator doors close. Damn. Had it been five minutes? Paranoid, she shuffled toward the staircase and began descending. It was a long flight of stairs to her department, but the elevator wasn't going to come back any time soon.

She made it maybe six flights when the door above her burst open and a group of rambunctious, young, male agents in full gear entered the staircase, yelling and laughing to each other. If she didn't know any better, she'd think they were drunk. Darn interns, she thought as she continued on her way, the interns following her down.

Another two flights later, the doors opened a floor below her and two more agents flooded the staircase. Tania did a quick headcount. Three above, two below. The laughter ceased. The two below her stared. One of their hands twitched. Behind her, she heard a click.

Pierce worked fast.

Tania grabbed the railing and launched herself over it onto the set of stairs across the room so that she would be in front of both sets of agents. She landed awkwardly on the balls of her feet with each foot on a different step. Immediately, the agents converged behind her and gave chase. She ran for the closest door and yanked it open, but the agents were fast and the closest one threw himself into the door, slamming it shut.

She spun away from the wall and tried to run down the stairs again, but the closest one grabbed her wrist and pulled. She stumbled backward, but caught her footing and dropped to a crouch with all of her weight pulling on his hand. She kicked his knee and heard the bone snap as it bent backward. He screamed and she flipped him over her head. He was sent tumbling down the stairs.

Two more threw themselves at her. One wrapped his arms around her from behind in a bear hug while the other tackled her legs. She couldn't move. She squirmed and wriggled, but the guy holding her legs swung them upward so that they were both carrying her. She opened her mouth to scream, but a fourth shoved a gag between her teeth and she struggled harder, twisting and turning.

The fourth agent produced an electric rod. Tania's heart was racing. She couldn't let herself be captured like this. She couldn't let Pierce kill her. She used her wrists and palms to feel the torso of the agent behind her and grabbed his belt. She tugged and he jerked forward. She pressed both feet against the torso of the agent holding her legs and pushed as hard as she could.

The man behind her hit the wall and loosened his grip. She broke her arms free and her torso fell. She caught herself in a sort of handstand with her legs still caught by the one agent. She shoved her feet into the agent holding her feet and knocked him into the railing. While he was stunned, she kicked her legs free and swung them into the other agent's face. The kick was enough knock him out.

She then kicked her feet up and swung her torso upward, landing in a crouch. She bent backward into a bridge and pressed her hands into the floor again as she kicked her legs upward. Her right foot caught a third agent in the jaw, which she heard crack! Her legs swung over her head and landed on the higher platform of the stairs so that she landed in a position that reminded her of Spider-Man.

She lunged from the platform and wrapped her arms around one agent's neck, swinging her legs around to trap another one's head between her ankles. This was a very new move that Natasha had only taught her last week, but she was pretty sure that she could pull it off. She hoped. Tania rolled towards the floor and brought them both down with her. She smashed both of their heads into the tile, knocking them out. During the fall, her elbow and knee bashed the floor, which was going to bruise later.

Well, she mostly pulled it off.

Skin stinging, she pushed herself to her feet. The last one took out his own electric rod. She was fairly sure that those things were used for torture. One hit from one of those and she'd be done for. She reached behind her and pulled out her baton. She pressed a button and it popped open to its full length.

The blonde agent brought down his weapon and she kicked his wrist away. She shoved the blunt side of her staff into his face and broke his nose. He stumbled backward and she followed, swinging her staff. He ducked and threw his boot into her stomach. She gasped and bent forward. She heard electricity crackle and raised her staff in time to block the rod from coming down on her head. As they battled for dominance, she found herself grateful that her staff didn't conduct electricity (somehow).

She pressed her foot to his knee and used it as a stepping stone to bring her other leg up. Now devoid of leverage to push any harder, she yanked her staff back and flung her head back. Her foot slammed into his jaw and she flipped backward, landing on the platform while he stumbled down the stairs, somehow managing to keep his footing.

Blood dribbled down his face, most prominently from his nose, and he looked pissed. Tania unclicked her staff into two batons and twirled them, ready for a fight. She was on the higher platform, so she decided to jump. She swung her batons down to divert the electric rod and rammed her shoulder into his jugular. They both slammed into the wall, but he got his bearings faster than her.

He grabbed both of her wrists and sunk his knee into her gut. She gasped and her knees wobbled. She dropped all of her weight and he fumbled with his grip and the newly acquired weight distribution and she twisted out of his grip, spinning out of reach and bouncing back to her feet behind him.

She shoved her boot against his spine and he tumbled down the stairs, somehow landing on his feet. She jumped off the higher platform again, this time aiming a kick for his head, but he grabbed her leg and used her momentum to throw her into the wall. Her bones rattled and she fell the floor, sufficiently bruised and disoriented. The colours faded just in time to watch the rod come down towards her stomach. Her batons shot up and she blocked it just in time. Her batons crossed with his rod in a series perpendicular lines. He pushed down and she struggled upward, groaning and grunting. He added another hand and the rod descended two inches closer. It could almost catch her scarf.

She brought her knee up and threw it into the agent's elbow. It bent accordingly and she shoved the rod into his chest. He spasmed for several seconds before he convulsed and fell unconscious on top of her. She yanked the rod from his grasp, panting.

She couldn't afford wait for more of them to arrive. She pushed herself to her feet, blood rushing to all of her limbs and time moving twice as fast as usual. After shoving her staff back into its holster, she raced down all of the stairs, not thinking about how many flights there were until she burst into the lobby, her calves burning. Adrenaline still pumping through her veins, she sprinted for the exit-

CRASH!

She threw her arms over her head as the glass ceiling shattered.

BOOM!

Something heavy landed a few meters away and she threw herself in the opposite direction, rolling out of the way of any more glass. When she looked up, she saw that the something heavy was a person.

"Steve!" She yelled, horrified. She ran to him and slid to her knees to help him up, cutting her legs on the glass. He groaned and pushed himself up. What happened to her must have happened to him.

"Tania," he grunted, "we have to run."

"I know. Come on." She tugged on his arm and together, they ran for the doors that led to the garage, where they could get to Steve's bike and get out of here. Steve was ten times faster than her, so he held on to her wrist tightly and refused to let go. It was like they were fused together and she was just fine with that. They sprinted to the garage attached to the main building and practically tackled Steve's bike in their crazy attempts to escape their workplace-turned-madhouse.

Steve revved the engine and they sped toward the wide open doors which were quickly closing from above and below. They looked like giant teeth getting ready to chew them up and spit them out. Tania squeezed Steve as tightly as she could and prayed while he pushed them faster. He pushed down and then up and then they were flying. The doors slammed shut behind them and they landed somewhat safely on the road outside.

Tania was not at all sure that she wasn't hyperventilating.

A quinjet zoomed above them and turned to face them, blocking their way. It activated its guns. This was crazy. S.H.I.E.L.D. was trying to kill them!

"Stand down, Agents! Stand down! Repeat, stand down!"

Shitshitshit-!

"When I tell you to jump, do it!" Steve shouted at her.

"What?!"

"JUMP!"

She let go of him and shoved off of the bike with her feet. She soared and swung her knees up over her head in a backflip before slamming her feet into the ground. They slid against the gravel, the soles of her shoes seemingly smoking. She looked up just as the quinjet began firing at Steve, who sped up even more. She watched as Steve swerved to avoid the bullets and vaulted his shield straight into one of the jet's turbines. He then applied the brakes and the bike flipped forward. Steve went with the momentum and leaped forward onto the jet's window, continuing the motion in a handspring.

Tania stopped paying attention and ran for the bike. It skid across the ground and screeched as it did so, coming to a halt just beneath the hovering jet. Tania knelt beside it and waved away the smoke as best she could. It was too heavy to lift over the spikes. Well. Too heavy for her. The spikes were too wide to jump over and the switch to deactivate them was on the other side. Where was Clint when you needed him?

Mind racing, she reached down and ripped off one of Steve's mirrors. "Sorry, Dear," she mumbled. He really loved that bike. She'd get him a new one for Christmas. Well, she'd ask Tony to get him a new one for Christmas. She hurled the mirror at the button. Bullseye! The spikes retracted. Thank you, Clint, for all your target practice!

She turned just in time to see Steve land next to the motorcycle, the jet crashing behind him. "Impressive," she panted.

"Yeah," he grunted back, not really listening. He knelt by the bike, inspecting it. "Damn it," he breathed, standing up. "Come on. Let's get to the hospital."

"Are we going to run there?" She asked, half-joking.

He scooped her up into his arms. She wanted to protest, but it would probably be faster this way. "Yup. I guess you can run everywhere."

They took off down the street.