Unexpected

XXV

"Nina," a voice said, bring her back to reality. Nina looked over at Natasha calling her. "Are you okay?" Nina saw her shoulder was bleeding. Bucky had shot her. Or had it been Bucky? No, it had been The Winter Soldier. Bucky wouldn't do such thing. Nina nodded at her, and then went back to staring at nothing.

"We need to get a doctor here," Sam told the guards once he realised how bad Natasha's injuries were. "We don't put pressure in that wound she's gonna bleed out right here in this truck."

Suddenly, one of the guards pulled out an electric rod and electrocuted the other guard, knocking him out. The guard revealed to be Maria Hill as she took off her helmet.

"Ah!" She exclaimed. "That thing was squeezing my brain!" She replaced her hair behind her ear. Sam looked in confusion at Steve. "Who's this guys?" She asked Steve.

They managed to escape the truck, getting in another car that drove them to a secret lair. Once they got inside, there was a doctor waiting for them. Nat stumbled on her way in, so Steve passed an arm around her waist to support her.

"GSW," Maria informed the doctor. "She's lost at least a pint."

"Maybe two," Sam corrected.

"Let me take her," the doctor suggested.

"Then take a look at Nina," Nat told her with urgency. Natasha's face was now pale very pale, in exception for her bloody red lips.

"They'll want to see him first," Hill told the doctor.

They walked into a room full of medical stuff. In the middle was a hospital bed with Nick Fury still alive on it.

"About damn time," Nick commented.

"Of course," said Steve, not even surprised. "Of course you would have lied about that too," he said through his teeth.

Later, the Doctor was taking care of Natasha's wound. Steve, Nina and Sam were standing up around Nick's bed as she was sitting down on a chair.

"Lacerated spinal column," Nick started explaining after ge was asked about his injuries. "Cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, one hell of a headache."

"Don't forget your collapsed lung," Maria Hill reminded him.

"Lets not forget about that . Otherwise, I'm good."

"They cut you open," Nat remembered. "Your heart stopped."

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

"Why all the secrecy?" Steve asked. "Why not just tell us?"

"Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful."

"Can't kill you if you're already dead," Nick added to Hill's explanation. "What happened to Nina?" Steve frowned.

"What? Nothing happened," he guessed. Nina looked at him sorry. She should have told him. She should have told him everything about herself and Bucky in that God forsaken place.

"Kellner was out there," Natasha told Fury.

"I'm fine," Nina insisted. It had been her first word in a long time. Usually, Nina was always the one talking and explaining things no one but she understood. She was definetly not fine. Her face was pale and she still looked very out of it.

"No, you're not, that's why I asked the doctor go check on you," Nat said, passive aggressively telling the doctor to go check on her.

"What happened exactly?" Nick asked, wanting to know more. Honestly, all he wanted to know was: could he still trust Nina? "Are you okay?"

"I'm not compromised in any way, if that's what you mean," Nina said angrily. She was done with people like Fury. He lied his way around, asking people to trust him, and he only trusted people who never lied. How can you expect someone to trust you like that?

"Okay, fine, I believe you," Fury said, even if now one knew if he was being honest or not.