so bad guys can't see me bleed

•tape nine•

The door in front of us opens, and I see who Cap told us is Sam. "Hey, man," Sam says to Cap.

"I'm sorry about this," Cap says to him. "We need a place to lay low."

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us," Nat says.

"Not everyone."

—

"You staying out here?" Sam asks me from the kitchen while I sit on his couch.

I nod. "I can barely stand the two of them when their in the same room together. They're amazing, but goddam."

Sam chuckles and nods. "I know that Steve can be a handful, and she seems like a bit much too, yeah?"

"A bit," I say, nodding. "Sam, I'm not one to say I'm sorry, but I am sorry for us dropping in like this. S.H.I.E.L.D. was compromised, and we were almost blown to bits. Well, not like I could—actually be blown to—bits. Whatever. I hate sappy shit, so just forget I said anything."

"Wait, what?" he asks, almost choking on his orange juice. "You can't be blown to bits?"

"Well, I'm kind of like my dad. He's invincible. He got blown up once, and he still lived. I'm basically like that, but I'm just less tolerable to it, right? I'm not entirely invincible. My body just heals faster than others. Understand?"

"Not really, but that's pretty cool, Cher." He sighs. "How does biscuits and gravy sound?"

"Amazing."

"Great. But you gotta help me make it."

"Dammit."

—

"So, the question is, who at S.H.I.E.L.D. could launch a domestic missile strike?" Nat asks as Sam hands me a plate of biscuits and gravy, and I say thank you. He gets his own plate, and we start eating.

"Pierce," Cap says.

"Mm," I hum. "Isn't he that dick that tried to get you to admit to Fury's murder?" Cap nods.

Nat stands up and start pacing. "Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world."

"But he's not working alone," Cap says. "Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star."

"So was Jasper Sitwell," Nat says.

Cap nods and looks between Sam and me. "So, the real question is, how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer in broad daylight?"

Same nods, walking over to him before dropping a file on the table. "You don't."

"What's this?" Cap asks.

"Call it a resume."

Cap stands up, and Nat grabs the file, looking at it. "Is this Bakhmala?" she asks. "The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you? You didn't say he was a Pararescue."

Cap grabs the photo at the top of the file. "Is this Riley?" he asks.

"Yeah," Sam says.

"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs," Nat says. "What did you use? A stealth chute?"

"No. These." He hands Cap another file and crosses his arms.

Cap opens the file and reads the first page. "I thought you said you were a pilot."

Sam chuckles and shakes his head. "I never said pilot."

Cap shakes his head. "I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."

"Dude, Captain America needs my help," Sam says. "There's no better reason to get back in."

Cap clicks hit tongue. "Where can we get one of these things?"

"The last one is in Fort Meade," Sam says. "Behind three guarded gates and a 12-inch steel wall."

Cap glances at Nat, and she shrugs. He looks at me, and I wave him off. "Shouldn't be a problem."

—

Sitwell grunts as Cap tosses him out the door and onto the ground of the building's roof. He rolls and grunts some more until he gets into an upright position. "Tell me about Zola's algorithm," Cap says, walking after him with Nat and me behind him.

Sitwell hurriedly stands up and puts on his glasses, walking backwards to try and get away from Cap. "N-Never heard of it," he stutters.

"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?" Cap asks.

"I was throwing up. I get seasick." He runs into the edge of the roof and almost falls off, but Cap grabs his blazer and lifts him up to eye level. "Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw me off the roof?" He smiles and shakes his head. "Because it's really not your style, Rogers."

"You're right," Cap says, putting him down on the ground before taking a step back. "But its theirs."

"You wanna do this?" Nat asks.

I shake my head. "Nah, go ahead."

"All right," she says before walking forward. She kicks her leg up, and it comes in contact with Sitwell's stomach before he screams and falls off the roof. "Oh, wait," she says, turning to Cap. "What about that girl from Accounting, Laura..."

"Lillian!" Cap says. "Lip piercing, right?"

"Yeah, she's cute. What do you think, Red?"

I shrug. "I like her. She's my type. Come on, Cap, if you don't shoot your shot, I might have to."

Cap shakes his head. "I'm not ready for that, you know. Shoot your shot, Cher."

Sitwell's screaming becomes less faint, and Sam drops him on the ground, so he rolls. Sam drops on the ground, and his wings go back into the device on his back. The three of us start walking toward Sitwell again.

He puts his hand up and tries not to cry. "Zola's algorithm is a program," he rushes out, "for choosing Insight's targets."

"What targets?" Cap asks.

"You!" Cap furrow his brows a little. "A TV anchor in Cairo, the Under Secretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City, Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA. Now, or in the future."

"In the future?" Cap asks. "How could it know?"

Sitwell laughs. "How could it not?" He starts to stand up.

"Stay down, asshole," I snap, and he cowers down some more.

"The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it. Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, emails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores! Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future."

"And what then?" Cap asks.

"Oh my God, Pierce is gonna kill me."

"Well, buddy, I'll kill you before he can get to you, so stop being a whiney little bitch. It's annoying as hell," I say to him.

"What then?" Cap asks again, advancing on Sitwell more.

"Then the Insight helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time."

I bring my foot up and hit him directly in the nose, hearing a groan and a satisfying crunch.

"Oh, that felt good."