Frostbite

Sixteen

Fury and I climbed into the helicopter; everyone else was long gone. The pilot started flipping switches and easily lifted us up into the air. I was ready to face Pierce, ready to look in the eyes of the man who had caused me so much pain and had taken so much from me.

"I'm sorry Stark," Fury apologized, guessing where my head was. I smiled at him and clicked my tongue.

"You didn't know. Hell, no one knew or even suspected. Can't blame you, that would be irrational," I shrugged. He made a small noise of amusement and turned to look me dead in the eye.

"So is blaming yourself for Barnes."

I scoffed and stared out the window. There was no doubt that it wasn't my fault, I knew that deep down, but I still owed him a debt that I could never repay. He had a chance to escape Hydra, and he had used it on me instead. How could anyone repay that?

"Pierce told you to recruit me, didn't he?" I finally spoke again. It made sense if he had a hand in it. Fury glanced at me and nodded.

"He did actually. Was adamant that you joined S.H.I.E.L.D, not that it was too difficult to recruit you," he smirked. I rolled my eyes.

"He wanted to keep an eye on me in case I remembered," I realized, "that way he could take me out if I caused any problems. Probably would have been easier to just kill me."

"Maybe not. You were still under his leash; we all were. Plus, Tony made it too difficult for that to happen. It would have drawn too much attention to Hydra with Tony keeping tabs on you," he disagreed, adjusting his position again.

"He did what now?" I asked in outrage. I didn't know why I was surprised. It was Tony we were talking about.

"He put a stop to it after the attack on New York. Probably figured you could take care of yourself, seeing how well you handled yourself then."

I shook my head and glanced out of the window again. We were approaching the Triskelion quickly; D.C. was beneath us, along with the innocent people who were unaware of how much danger they were in. Fury lightly touched my knee, which was bouncing up and down in anticipation.

"Are you ready for this?"

"Oh yeah- more than ready," I replied with confidence. There was no telling if I'd lose control once Pierce was in my sight, but I wasn't going to give anyone a reason to doubt me.

The helicopter touched down on the landing pad located on top of the building. Pierce, Natasha, and the council were all where they should be. They all watched the landing in surprise.

"Well then let's take down this son of a bitch once and for all," he declared as we climbed out of the helicopter.