Epiphany 》Avengers

Underground Plan

Fury held Pierce's picture in his hand as we tried to come up with a plan of action. He stared at it sadly and said, "This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize. He said peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility." What a load of crap that turned out to be. "See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

"We have to stop the launch," Natasha stated.

Fury opened the case. "I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore."

I furrowed my brows when I saw three computer chips sitting inside and asked, "What's that?"

"Once the helicarriers reach 3,000 feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized," Hill informed us as she showed us the map. She turned the monitor around and revealed the blueprints to the helicarrier.

Fury continued with the plan. "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."

"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..."

"We're not salvaging anything," Steve argued. "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."

"Too bad it wasn't sooner," I commented. "Otherwise, none of this would have happened."

Fury sighed. "Look, I didn't know about Barnes."

"Even if you had, would you have told me?" Steve questioned. "Or would you have compartmentalized that, too? SHIELD, HYDRA, it all goes." I nodded in agreement.

Even Hill agreed, "He's right."

Fury began looking around the room. Natasha leaned back in her seat and gave Fury a look, meaning she's on Steve's side. Fury then looked at Sam.

"Don't look at me. I do what he does, just slower," he said.

Fury looked around the room once again, hoping that one of us would change our minds. None of us were going to so he finally admitted defeat. He leaned further back into his chair and said, "Well...It looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain."

》》》》

I'm usually not one to comfort people. But that small feeling inside of me is saying to talk to Steve. If we're gonna take HYDRA down then there's a great possibility that Bucky's gonna be on the helicarrier. I'm pretty sure he knows that. And I know Steve's not gonna want to hurt Bucky but he might just have to.

I caught up with Steve, his thoughts completely elsewhere. His eyes were focused on the main road. I stood next to him and leaned on the railing. "You know, he's gonna be there," I opened with.

Steve nodded. "I know."

"Steve, he's your best friend and you care about him, but...you might have to accept that you're gonna need to stop him."

"I don't know if I can do that."

"You might have to. If he doesn't give you a choice."

Steve shook his head. "You wouldn't be saying that if you remembered." He copied my stance and leaned against the railing. "You wouldn't want to fight him either."

"You're right, I don't remember. Because I never met a James Barnes." Steve glanced at me. "My brain has been racking about this. There's never a blank moment in my life I could think of. Mostly because..."

"You were with the Teen Titans," he finished. "If I remember, you told me your friend betrayed you guys and worked for a Slade Wilson."

"True."

"Yet, instead of putting him away like you usually do, you guys brought him back."

"But the difference is, Robin still remembered who we were. And it wasn't like he betrayed us on purpose. He was at that breaking point in his life where he was doubting himself."

"And if he wasn't? Let's say Robin teamed up with Slade for good. He's far gone from even becoming a hero again. Would you have killed him? Send him to jail?" My eyes glanced down. If things were different and Robin stayed with Slade - without the probes in our bodies - then the team and I would have thought about ways to save him. "Please, Raven, help me. Help Bucky."

"And what makes you think I can help him?"

"Because he loves you." My head snapped toward Steve. "You two might not remember anything, but I do, and I know how much you two love each other." Steve grabbed my hand. His thumb began tracing my left fourth finger. "Before we went to save Bucky, before he got captured, he vowed to me that he was going to put a ring on this finger one day. I was happy for both of you. He told me not to tell you, not wanting to ruin the surprise, but things didn't really go exactly as planned."

Not sure why, but the thought of Bucky asking me to marry him, brought a small smile to my face.

"What makes you think I would have said yes?" I asked.

Steve smiled and motioned to my lips. "With the way you're smiling, right now. All though, it does look a bit strange to me because everything you say sounds a bit monotone." Ok, now, I was glaring at him. "I'm kidding."

"Well, after we stop Pierce and get rid of HYDRA, how about we figure out what happened to my memories? All three of us."

"Sounds like a plan," Steve said. He engulfed me in a hug.

"Why are you hugging me?" I asked.

Steve chuckled. "Shut up and take it."