In Your Eyes // Steve Rogers

4

At the hospital, a nurse directed me to where I was able to watch the operation. I sat with my back to the glass window, tapping my head against it. Focusing on keeping the beat distracted me from thinking about the aftermath of my life, of S.H.I.E.L.D., if Fury wasn't able to be saved.

Natasha Romanoff was the first person to arrive. Steve followed, then Maria Hill. All three remained too distraught at the idea of losing Fury to greet myself, or each other.

"What happened?" snapped Natasha.

"People posed as city cops attacked us. We were almost off the radar, until..." I stopped. I closed my eyes, remembering every detail possible about the man who tried to murder us.

"Until?" pressed Maria.

"This man appeared out of nowhere. Wore a face mask, dressed in all black. He walked with a swagger," I said slowly, remembering. "It was as if—"

"—his left side was heavier than his right." finished Natasha under her breath.

I opened my eyes. "That's exactly it. How did you—"

"You have your portals," she said, diverting the conversation. "Why didn't you use them?"

"I was panicking. I couldn't think," I said.

"Do you mean to tell me he is your fault?" she asked quietly.

"Natasha," warned Steve.

Her hardened eyes flashed to me, a final time, before she refocused on the surgery. I looked away for a few seconds, enough time for her to realize what was occurring inside of the room. She stormed out. After her went Maria, who left with a hand over her mouth and nose.

I didn't need to look at Fury's condition to understand what happened. My head fell into my hands. Emotions churned inside of my stomach, creating butterflies, producing a high feeling of anxiety. Release came from crying, something my eyes refused to do. I reached a level of panic, one that kept me staring into the distance, lost beyond words could describe.

Warm hands settled on the caps of my knees. I lowered my hands from my eyes. Steve raised the corner of his lips, his eyes drooped with an incredibly amount of hidden emotion.

"Clara, I promise you, we'll find who did this to him. Together."

"We won't."

"You can get through this--"

"No, I mean, we can't," I interrupted. I shook my head. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is compromised. The single person who could fix that is now dead. Whoever compromised S.H.I.E.L.D. probably killed him. And we were the last people with him. That means--"

"We're the first suspects," concluded Steve.

Any urge to salvage my job, my life, meant absolutely nothing. Utter frustration made my body tremble. Well, until I realized who was kneeling in front of me.

"Captain America," I said. I repeated his name four different times, in four different tones.

Steve's forehead creased. "Yes. Yeah. That's me."

"You're here. In front of me."

"You're correct," he confirmed, "Are you feeling all right?"

"You're Captain America, y-you fight for what you believe in, against all odds, all circumstances. You would never give up without trying."

"Are you speaking about me or yourself?" asked Steve.

"We're going to fix S.H.I.E.L.D," I told him. "You and I. I don't know how, but if we do it together, we can. And if not, then we stick together. If you want to. I don't know. We're sorta friends. I would count us as colleagues?" I asked. I shook my head and held out my hand to him. "What do you say, Cap?"