Is This Love?

Chapter 18 - Mission Accomplished

Steve's POV

We slowed down as we neared the jetty in order not to draw attention to ourselves. I made sure that my earpiece was secure, glancing at Nat one last time, nodding to her, and taking off in the opposite direction.

We had been on enough missions together that we could convey plans to each other without even speaking, which was something that greatly helped our efficiency. She knew that my plan was to split up, take down the guards, and then meet in the middle to seize the minerals.

I turned another corner and was immediately met with 5 armed guards. I readied my shield and then proceeded to fling it at their heads, taking them all out in a matter of seconds. By the sounds coming from my earpiece, Nat had also met some guards and was currently in the process of taking them down.

She suddenly spoke up, "Steve, they know that we are here. Be careful". I didn't have time to reply as I was met with another 20 guards, all firing at me. 10 minutes later I had taken down countless amounts of guards and I came to the end of the jetty where a boat had just docked.

I silently took out the two guards that were guarding the entrance of the boat and boarded. Everything about the ship didn't feel quite right, it was crawling with guards; too many for just a bunch of criminals. If I didn't know better I would have said that these criminals were a part of a much larger organization, like Hydra, though that had been taken down years ago when they tried to take over SHIELD.

I continued to walk quietly throughout the ship, looking for any indicators of where the minerals might be held. Then I saw it, a metal door that was guarded by 6 people. No other door in the ship was so heavily guarded, this has to be the one.

I ducked back around the corner and out of sight of the guards.

"Nat? I think I have found where the minerals are stored. I am on the ship at the moment." I reported using my earpiece. "Ok, the buyer has just turned up, it is definitely the same guy that we saw this morning. Wait until they move the minerals and tail them until they are out of the ship. There is no point in trying to take the minerals when you are inside the ship. There are way too many people." She answered.

"Copy." was all I said as I heard a noise coming from the place where the minerals were held. I peaked around the corner again and saw that the men were now shifting what looked like a large wooden crate out of the door. That has to be the minerals.

Nat's POV

I had just taken down like the one-hundredth guard that night. I mostly just knocked them out as SHIELD had instructed however there were a few that accidentally ended up getting severely injured or killed in the process.

I had just seen the buyer turn up and alerted Steve. I just hoped that he was doing ok. From the spot where I was, I could see that the ship was crawling with guards and crew. I knew that Steve was perfectly capable of handling them on his own, but there was a little part of me that still worried. I guess that is part of being a girlfriend.

My train of thought was interrupted when I saw a large wooden crate being carried out of the ship onto the jetty. This must be the minerals. I then saw that the buyer had exited his car and was making his way to a hooded person that was walking beside the men carrying the crate.

I had to wait until the perfect moment to attack. Too early and I would gather too much attention and would be outnumbered. Too late and I risked losing one of the people involved in the sale. A dark blue and white figure caught my eye. Upon further inspection, I realized it was Steve hiding behind a crate also waiting to attack.

I let out a breath I didn't even realize I was holding when I saw him alive and seemingly well. The dealer and the buyer shook hands and I readied myself to jump in. I was going to take out the guards of both the men and then capture the leader and the buyer to take back to SHIELD for questioning and apprehension.

Deciding that now was a perfect time, I loaded my guns and ran out, shooting the guards surrounding them. Steve realized what I was doing and jumped in to help me, throwing his shield around like a boomerang, knocking many of the guards unconscious.

Once all of the guards were taken care of we both turned back to the buyers. They both looked shocked as they stared at us with their mouths agape. I threw a widow bite at the buyer, electrocuting him unconscious, and then turned to the leader of Raydh and pointed my gun at his head.

He immediately put his hands above his head and got down on his knees. Steve walked over to the crate and opened the lid whilst taking a peek inside. His eyebrows furrowed together and he looked at me quizzically.

"Fury didn't happen to mention what form these minerals were taking did he?" He asked. "It looks like some form of a serum, which is totally not what I was expecting the minerals to be." I quickly shot a widow bite at the leader, knocking him unconscious, and then walked over to Steve to inspect the minerals.

He was right. There was some kind of red serum inside rows upon rows of glass vials.

"Look Steve the lid, that symbol.... it looks familiar. I wonder why?" I said as I started to rack my brain for where I had seen that symbol before. "Anyway." I continued brushing it off. "We need to get these back to SHIELD for analyzing. The agents should be here any minute to take the minerals and these idiots back to SHIELD headquarters." I was interrupted by the sound of a jet nearing the jetty.

I looked up and instantly recognized it as a SHIELD jet. It lowered onto the beach beside the jetty and out-poured dozens of agents who quickly made their way onto the ship to take any guards that were there away.

Coulson and 2 other agents that I didn't recognize came over to Steve and me. The two agents quickly handcuffed and took away the buyer and the leader whilst agent Coulson greeted us. "We'll get these minerals and take them back to SHIELD. Mission successful you two. Good job. Go back to the villa, rest, and we will send a jet to pick you up in the morning at 7 sharp." He informed.

We both smiled at him as he turned to leave, too exhausted to say much else. We turned and left, walking the short distance back to the villa in silence. Once we arrived back, we both took turns having showers and getting ready for bed.

Once we were both ready we climbed into bed with each other.

"You did great out there Nat," Steve said quietly as he kissed my forehead making me smile on instinct.

"You too," I whispered back, too tired to say much else. I then snuggled closer to Steve's chest as he turned off the lamp and I closed my eyes. Part of me never wanted to leave this place. Our perfect little bubble of happiness, away from the judging eyes of the rest of the team and public.

But another part of me knew that we had to go home and life had to move on. I knew it would be ok, however, because I had Steve by my side. Together, I felt like we could accomplish anything.