SAVOR || s. rogers

17 - Reconciliation

"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world," Natasha remarked.

Steve's brow was furrowed in deep thought and he continued, "But he's not working alone. Zola's algorithm was on the Lumerian Star."

"So was Jasper Sitwell." Natasha realized.

Steve leaned back in his seat with a deep sigh. "So the real question is how do the three most wanted people in Washington kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer in broad daylight?"

Sam stepped forward with his assertive stature and slapped a file onto the center of the table. "The answer is, you don't."

"What's this?" Steve leaned forward with interest.

"Call it a resume," Sam replied sternly.

Emersyn blinked slowly and watched Steve get up and hover over the file Natasha was now holding. "Is this Bahkmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you?"

Sam held his stoic expression as they peered over old pictures of him. "You didn't say he was a pararescue," Natasha said to Steve.

There was a pause, and then Emersyn looked up as Rogers' voice softened. "Is this Riley?"

"Yeah," Sam murmured.

She noticed sympathy as Steve's eyes grew wide and immediately could understand that the person they were speaking of had a sad history. The honesty in that blue gaze was so easily recognized by Emersyn, now, and she longed for the comfort it brought even only from a glance.

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

Sam approached them and answered, "No." he offered Steve another file and crossed his arms, waiting. "These."

Rogers' eyes traveled along the paper before they looked up in surprise. "I thought you said you were a pilot."

Sam chuckled. "I never said, pilot."

Brown, curious eyes tried to peek over Steve's large arms to catch a glimpse of the file, but Emersyn could not see, so she slumped back in her chair and pretended she wasn't interested. Still, she watched Rogers look at the images, noticing his brows twitch as he thought of a conclusion. He then shook his head. "I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."

"Dude, Captain America needs my help." Wilson was quick to reply. "There's no better reason to get back in."

Emersyn's lips curved slightly upwards at Sam; she liked him. After a moment's pause of accepting their new teammate, Steve raised the file and asked, "Where can we get our hands on one of these things?"

"The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall," Sam warned them.

Natasha and Steve shared a carefree glance, and the redhead shrugged. "Shouldn't be a problem."

Sam leaned back on his heels and seemed satisfied. The file was slapped onto the table by Steve, and Emersyn finally got a chance to read the big, bold letters on the front: FALCON.

A bit of interest sparked in her, but the absolute exhaustion that was present all over her body soon blew out any sparks of flame. She felt like nothing, no matter how exciting or lovable could make an impact on her. For some reason, the world held no warmth. Only an hour ago Emersyn had been giggling locked away with Steve, but whatever happiness she had was sucked out of her as soon as the prison of her mind caught her again.