Chapter 29- Escape and HYDRA must fall
Yelizaveta ducked behind a door, shivering at the cold air in the bank. Banks and churches always struck her as cold and freezing. In a church she almost understood as the cold air would keep people from falling asleep during the priest's sermons, but she never could get why a bank had to be cold. Banks usually made her think that a graveyard had more cheer in it. She made a mental note to watch "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" when she got out of this. She always cracked up when Gimli said that about Rohan in the movie.
Yelizaveta licked her lips as footsteps went past the door and she held her breath. She hoped it wasn't Bucky or Rumlow. Granted if it was Rumlow, she could grab her sword back from him, but fighting her father wasn't something she would have liked doing. Having him hugging her and kissing her forehead was different than fighting him. Yelizaveta felt tears come to her eyes as she thought of all the pain she must have caused her father and mother, but she just couldn't join Pierce and his project.
The footsteps faded and Yelizaveta opened the door. She didn't see anyone in the corridor and she walked in the shadows. Being with HYDRA as an assassin had taught her the importance of not being seen and it didn't take long to find a set of stairs leading to a exit door. Yelizaveta stepped out onto the street that was dark from the sun already setting for the evening. Yelizaveta fished into the deep pocket of her dark brown cargo pants and scrolled through the numbers. Clint was the first number on her phone to be followed by Fury, Natasha, Maria Hill, and Steve. She wasn't about to put Clint in danger and with Fury dead, Maria was the next number to call.
"Hello?" Maria's voice said on the second ring.
"Hill, it's me. Elizabeth Barnes," Yelizaveta said, using her real name for the first time.
"Liz?" Steve's voice then came over the line in happy shock.
"Steve?" Yelizaveta asked as she ducked into a alley just a few feet from the HYDRA base.
"Liz, are you okay? Where are you?" Steve asked.
"I'm okay. Dad didn't hurt me and I just got out of the HYDRA base in the bank," Yelizaveta said.
"Bank? What bank, Barnes?" the sound of Fury's voice came over the line, shocking Yelizaveta.
"Fury? Dad didn't kill you?" Yelizaveta asked, the shock being replaced by relief.
"Your father didn't kill me. Now what bank, Barnes and tell us where we can pick you up," Fury ordered.
"The Ideal Federal Savings Bank. It has a HYDRA base in it and my father and mother are both there," Yelizaveta said.
"Stay where you are. We'll come get you, Liz," Steve ordered.
"Okay," Yelizaveta said, disconnecting the line and waiting for about 40 minutes.
Yelizaveta woke up bleary-eyed the next morning in what looked like a camp cot at a abandoned water plant. After eating the night before she had crashed. A doctor had said that her body was reacting to the drugs her father had pumped into her to sedate her. Yelizaveta had weakly said that Bucky hadn't been trying to kill her with the drugs. He was protecting her from Pierce and he had thought that if she was asleep then Pierce couldn't hurt her. Yelizaveta felt tears come to her eyes as she thought of her father's warm hugs, his flesh hand pressing her face into his chest as he tangled his fingers into her hair and pressing gentle kisses to her forehead.
Yelizaveta stood up and entered what looked like a planning room. Fury was sitting and Steve, Maria, Sam, and Natasha was standing. Steve smiled at her as she came in. "Good morning, everyone," Yelizaveta said as Steve came to her and hugged her tightly.
:Morning, Liz. You okay?" Steve asked, cupping her face gently as he looked into her eyes.
"I'm fine. Still feel a little sluggish from Dad's drugs, but a cup of coffee should fix that," Yelizaveta said, going to a coffee pot.
"You really shouldn't drink coffee, Liz. Your dad would kill us if he knew we let you," Steve said.
"Dad's not here right now, is he? So what's our plan?" Yelizaveta asked as she stirred cream and sugar into her cup.
"We're taking down the helicarriers, Liz," Sam said as Fury picked up what looked like a picture. Yelizaveta looked over to see it was a picture of a much younger Pierce.
"This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize. He said peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility. See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues," Fury said.
"We have to stop the launch. People are going to die and Pierce wants my father to make sure it happens and he wanted me to help Dad accomplish that as well. He threatened to kill Clint if I didn't. I said no as Clint wouldn't want me to sacrifice my morals and what I know to be right for him," Yelizaveta said.
"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore, Barnes," Fury said as he opened a briefcase with three computer blades inside it.
"What's that?" Sam asked.
"Once the helicarriers reach 3,000 feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized," Maria Hill said, opening her laptop to show what would happen with the helicarriers.
"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own," Fury said as the computers showed where the blades would be installed.
"One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational, a whole lot of people are gonna die," Maria said.
"We have to assume then that everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA," Yelizaveta said.
"Yes. We have to get past them, insert those server blades. And maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left-" Fury said before Steve interrupted him.
"We're not salvaging anything. We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick. We're taking down S.H.I.E.L.D.," Steve said.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with this," Fury said.
"You gave me and my brother's kid this mission. This is how it ends. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been compromised. You said so yourself," Steve said.
Yelizaveta stood. "HYDRA grew right under your nose and nobody noticed. They also kidnapped me from my parents and my father has been damaged by them," Yelizaveta said.
"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave, Cap, Barnes? I noticed," Fury said.
"How many paid the price before you did?" Yelizaveta asked, feeling Steve's hand resting gently on the back of her head and stroking her hair gently.
"Look, I didn't know about Barnes and that he was your father, Elizabeth," Fury said, in a low voice as he looked at the table.
"Even if you had, would you have told us? Or would you have compartmentalized that too? S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA, it all goes" Steve said.
"He and Barnes are right," Maria said and Fury looked around at all of them.
"Hey, don't look at me. I do what they do, just slower," Sam said, indicating Steve and Yelizaveta.
"Well, it looks like you and Elizabeth Barnes, the Winter Soldier, are giving the orders now, Captain," Fury said.
Steve and Yelizaveta left the room, Steve's hand still on the back of her head. "Liz, I didn't know until I saw Buck and the way he looked at you," Steve said in a low voice.
"It's okay, Steve. I didn't know either. I should have figured it out at the Smithsonian and we were in front of the film footage that you and Dad took or even his picture, but I didn't," Yelizaveta said, stopping and turning to look up at him.
Steve touched her cheek gently. "It's not your fault, kid. I should have realized it when I first met you and now I think you look like your grandmother, Elizabeth Barnes and your Aunt Rebecca when she was fourteen. You also look like your father when you smile," Steve said.
"Really?" Yelizaveta asked.
"Yes, really. You are not Yelizaveta Markova. You are Elizabeth Barnes. Your father was like my brother and that makes you my niece," Steve said as he gathered her into his arms and hugged her tightly.
"Can I call you Uncle Steve then?" Yelizaveta whispered against his neck as she hugged him back.
"Nothing will please me more. Like your dad, kid, I am with you to the end of the line. Your dad said that to me when my mother died and I now say it to you," Steve said, kissing her through her hair.
"Thank you, Uncle Steve," Yelizaveta whispered softly, his hand stroking her hair making her feel sleepy.