Daybreak | Steve Rogers

Chapter Fourteen: Fugitives

A general feeling of shock had settled over the Triskelion, everyone had been shaken by the death of Fury. It was almost as if people had become lost, which made sense after the loss of the Director himself. 

Some agents were rushing around, frantically calling into their earpieces. I frowned, nobody had told me about anything new. So I did what every SHIELD agent is supposed to do when walking around a base, I kept silent and I kept my head down. Nobody needed to know that I was there, nobody needed to know why.

As I entered the ops room, I came to a stop, noticing that Agent Sitwell had made his way to the front. "Eyes here," he ordered, "Whatever your op is, bury it. This is Level One. Contact DOT. All traffic lights in the district go red. Shut all runways at BWI, IAD and Reagan. All security cameras in the city go through this monitor right here"

I looked up at the large monitor on the wall, my eyes widening when saw an image of a man on it. Rogers.

"Scan all open sources, phones computers, PDAs, whatever," Sitwell continued, "If someone tweets about this guy, I want to know about it"

One of the agents cleared her throat, I immediately recognised her as Agent 13, she had been working undercover as one of Rogers' neighbours. "With all due respect," she said, "If SHIELD is conducting a manhunt for Captain America, we deserve to know why"

"Because he lied to us," everyone turned to look at Secretary Pierce, "Captain Rogers has information regarding the death of Director Fury. He refused to share it. As difficult as this is to accept, Captain America is a fugitive from SHIELD"

I managed to sneak my way out of the room without being spotted by anyone. Something felt wrong, something wasn't right. I knew him, I knew that he would never do something like that. As much as he might have disagreed with some of Fury's actions, he would never kill him.

As I made my way down a deserted hallway, someone grabbed me by my collar and dragged me into a dimly lit room. The door clicked shut and I span around to face the person, my gun aimed right at them.

Nat chuckled, "That's the worst reaction time so far. I guess you heard about him, huh?"

I nodded, not lowering my weapon. "What are you gonna do about it? Are you going to help them track him down? He's our f... he was our teammate, we know him. We know that he wouldn't kill Fury" I spoke slowly and carefully, watching her carefully.

She scoffed, "You sure about that?"

"I won't let you do anything to him, I won't stand by and let him get arrested. He's innocent"

"Good, because neither will I"

My eyes widened and I put my gun back in its holster, "Really?"

The woman rolled her eyes and gestured to the door, "You've known me for eight years, are you seriously doubting me? C'mon, let's go"

"Where?"

"To find the drive"

——————

I raised an eyebrow as Nat placed a coin in the hospital vending machine, "He seriously hid it here?"

She nodded, taking the drive and a pack of bubblegum out of the tray. I watched as she subtly slid the drive into her pocket, handing me a piece of gum. The two of us stepped into the shadows as a man in a navy hoodie approached the machine, his eyes widening in panic when he realised that the drive was gone.

Nat made her way behind him, blowing a bubble out of the gum before popping it. He span around to face us before grabbing us and dragging us into an empty room. I frowned when he let go of me, shoving Nat against the wall. "Where is it?" he growled, his voice dangerously low.

"Safe"

"Do better"

I huffed, folding my arms as I watched him. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Where did you get it?"

"Why would I tell you?"

"Fury gave it to you. Why?"

"What's on it?"

"I don't know"

"Stop lying!"

The woman shrugged, "I only act like I know everything, Rogers"

He glanced around, making eye contact with me for a second. "I bet you two knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?"

There was a pause. "Well, it makes sense," Nat's voice trembled slightly, "The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so do you"

She tried to push him away but he shoved her back again, "I'm not gonna ask you again"

"Stop it" I snapped, grabbing onto his arm. The man's glare seemed to soften for a moment and he went to speak.

"I know who killed Fury" the two of us froze, staring at Nat in bewilderment. "Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones that do call him the Winter Soldier," my eyes widened in shock as she explained, "He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years"

Rogers huffed, "So he's a ghost story"

She drew in a deep breath before continuing, "Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out my tyres near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out. But the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer so he shot him straight through me" she lifted her shirt to show a large scar on her side. "Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye-bye, bikinis. Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried," she held up the drive, "Like you said, he's a ghost story"

He took the drive from her before glancing at me, "Well, let's find out what the ghost wants"