Daybreak | Steve Rogers

Chapter Twenty-One: Captured

"It was him," Steve muttered as he stared blankly at the large cuffs on his wrists, He looked right at me like he didn't even know me"

Wilson frowned, "How is that even possible? It was, like, seventy years ago"

The man's gaze hardened into a bitter glare, "Zola. Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43, Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him and..."

"None of that is your fault, Steve" I murmured, noticing that my words were slurred.

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky"

Nat let out a quiet gasp as the vehicle shuddered. I frowned as I noticed a dark patch of her shoulder that was soaked in blood. Wilson must have noticed too, because he turned the guards sat with us, "We need to get a doctor here. If we don't put pressure on that wound, she's gonna bleed out here in the truck"

One of the guards held up their taser, brandishing it at him for a moment before jabbing the other guard in the chest with it. They then kicked him to the ground, watching to make sure that he was unconscious before removing their helmet.

"That thing was squeezing my brain," Agent Hill groaned before glancing at Wilson, "Who's this guy?"

Once she had used a laser to burn a hole in the floor of the vehicle, she motioned for us all to jump out. I stumbled forwards, feeling myself stagger into the wall. A pair of hands caught me and I looked up to see Steve staring down at me in concern, "You okay? You don't look so good"

I shrugged, wincing at the stiffness in my neck. "I'm fine" I managed to say, slowly lowering myself down before dropping through the hole.

I waited for a second to make sure that the vehicle was gone before sitting up. Steve rushed over to me, helping me to get up from the ground. I opened my mouth to snap at him, to insist upon being fine, but I decided to just give him a grateful smile.

——————

The new van that Hill had transferred us onto pulled up outside a dam. My head had started to spin again and my vision blurred. I took a shaky step out of the van, my knees buckling underneath me. I felt someone catch me before I could hit the ground, beginning to carry me.

There were a few distant shouts, and the person carrying me leaned forwards a little. "C'mon, Rory," the voice called, "You gotta stay awake"

I tried to nod but I could only gasp in pain as my neck became stiff and achy again. My eyes drooped shut and I felt my head slump, resting against the person carrying me.

When I woke up, I was lying on a couch. The room was dimly lit and a quiet beeping noise came from the corner, making my head hurt. Someone knelt next to me and I looked up, seeing those sky blue eyes anxiously watching me. "Thank God, you're okay" Steve sighed, chuckling softly.

"Where am I? The hell happened?" I huffed, reaching to the back of my neck to feel a warm, damp towel on it.

I went to remove the towel but Steve reached over to stop me, "Don't. You got some whiplash or something from the fight, you need to rest and keep it warm. We're in a secure location, but there's someone you'll want to see"

I frowned and looked up, my eyes widening in shock when I saw the person lying in a hospital bed nearby. "Fury?" I murmured, trying to sit up straight.

The man nodded slowly, wincing at the movement.

"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache" Fury listed off, his voice sounding quiet and tired.

"Don't forget the collapsed lung" added the doctor who was sat next to Nat, still trying to treat the wound in her shoulder.

"Let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good"

I frowned and examined him in confusion, "They cut you open, your heart stopped"

He nodded, "Tetrodotoxin B, slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it"

"Why all the secrecy?" Steve cut in, "Why not just tell us?"

Hill sighed heavily, "Any attempt on the Director's life had to look successful"

"Can't kill you if you're already dead. Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust"

Fury scoffed as he examined an old picture of 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"

Nat sighed heavily, "We have to stop the launch"

I hummed in agreement, pausing when the Director began to speak. "I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore" he chuckled darkly.

We all watched as the man opened a case to reveal three small chips. Wilson took a step forwards to get a better look at them, "What's that?"

"Once the helicarriers reach 3,000 feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponised" Hill explained, showing us the blueprints on a laptop.

"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own"

"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"

I averted my gaze from the chips, choosing to stare at my feet instead. It made me feel sick to even think about what would happen if we messed things up. Fury spoke after a few moments of tense silence, "We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA. We have to get past them, insert these server blades. And maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left"

Steve huffed in indignation, "We're not salvaging anything. We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick, we're taking down SHIELD"

"SHIELD had nothing to do with this-"

"You gave me this mission. This is how it ends. SHIELD's been compromised, you said so yourself. HYDRA grew right under your nose and nobody noticed"

"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? I noticed" Fury protested, trying to keep calm.

The blond shook his head, "How many people paid the price before you did?"

There was another pause and I made eye contact with Steve, giving him an apologetic look.  Fury sighed, "Look, I didn't know about Barnes"

"Even if you had, would you have told me? Or would you have compartmentalised that, too? SHIELD, HYDRA, it all goes"

The Director looked to Hill for help but she shrugged awkwardly, "He's right"

He continued to look around at us and Wilson chuckled, "Don't look at me. I do what he does, just slower"

"Well..." Fury sighed in defeat and leant back in his chair, "It looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain"