THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SCENES FROM CATWS
Wednesday, 2nd April 2014
Somewhere Over the North Pacific Ocean
The Bus - 04:44 am - Skye’s Bunk
Grant was lying on his side, Skye’s back pressed against his front in the spooning position. His arms circled around her waist - their legs intertwined. They had turned in twenty minutes ago with Skye almost falling straight to sleep as soon as her head it the pillow, which didn’t surprised Grant since she had had a very emotional last few hours. Grant knew that the senior agents would still be going over the game plan in Phil’s office. They would still be in there if Phil hadn’t told them to get some sleep and Skye had been too tired to protest.
Grant couldn’t sleep though, he was too wired to shut his brain off. The last few hours kept playing through his head. Grant hadn’t been shocked with the way the other agents had taken the HYDRA news and discovering that he was a double agent. He had seen the betrayal and disappointment in Agent Barton’s eyes and understood his words of anger towards him until Phil had calmed him down, assuring him that they only knew about HYDRA and threat coming their way because he had told when he didn't have to. Phil had then said to the archer 'he's not the only agent to ever have a haunted past that he's trying to escape' those words had silenced the male avenger.
Grant knew that it would take some time before any true S.H.I.E.L.D agent would trust him again. And that was their right. Grant still couldn’t believe how Skye still had faith and believed in him when he didn’t really believe in himself.
Grant still believed that he didn’t deserve her. She was too good and pure for him, but he also knew that life without her wouldn’t be worth living. One moment it was just him and Skye - two people. Never looking or expecting for anything. And then out of nowhere it happened. All it took was one look, one smile, one touch and caress, one laugh and stupid fight. And the spark was lit. It was only little in the beginning, but over time it grew. And with every look, every touch, every smile, every kiss, every comforting word, every argument and every passing moment they share together - fueled the small spark until it became a burning fire. Grant never really believed love or ‘the one’ was possible until he met Skye and really got to know her. All’s it took was one small spark that when fueled became a burning bright fire. A light. A warmth. A love. Her love. One moment they were just two people and now - soulmates. Skye taught him that it was okay to love and feel.
Grant was pulled from his thoughts when he felt Skye move in his arms. She turned until she was facing him, her head buried into his chest. She swung an arm around his waist and murmured something in her sleep. Grant felt a smile drift across his lips before brushing a kiss across her forehead.
Classified S.H.I.E.L.D Base (British Columbia)
The Bus - 10:03 am - Open Kitchen Area
Jemma and Leo were sitting side by side in the mini booth in the common area just off from the kitchen, two cups of tea in front of them. Leo had his forehead resting on the table, trying to ignore the pounding in his head.
“You shouldn’t have drunk so much,” Jemma sweetly scolded him, rubbing soothing circles across his back. “Don’t you remember the morning after ‘Puzzles’?”
Leo just groaned in response and Jemma released a sigh.
“Morning guys,” Antoine greeted with a friendly smile.
Jemma and Leo gasped at the agents voice. Jemma quickly moving her hand from Leo’s back and placed it under the table while Leo sat up.
“Agent Triplett,” the biochemist greeted, placing one hand over her beating heart while the other reached for Leo’s under the booth table and laced her fingers with his. “Good morning … how are you fairing this morning?” she asked in a chipper tone.
Antoine stopped in front of the booth, folding his arms as his eyes narrowed onto the two younger scientist. He noticed the attractive British woman's cheeks heat as she took a sip from her tea cup. “Better than Fitz by the looks of it,” he commented, easily. The scotsman was leaning back in the booth, looking a little pale - well more pale.
Leo glared at the older Specialist. “Yeah well if we’re comparing the amount of alcohol consumed with our individual body mass than of course you could absorb more and metabolize it quicker.”
Antoine felt a smile lick his lips at the grouchy younger man’s retort. “Sorry man,” he replied, raising his hands in defeat. “I was just making an observation,” he supplied, before turning away and headed into the kitchen.
John entered the kitchen area barefoot and bleary eyed, rubbing the back of his neck. His head was pounding as if someone was playing his brain like a bongo drum. The senior agent glanced around the area, noting the three younger agents that were present. John was curious to where the other four were, mainly Grant but knew he couldn’t be obvious about it.
“Where are the lovebirds?” he asked casually.
“Which ones?” Jemma and Leo enquired with seriousness from where they were seated, before reaching for the cups and taking a sip of their tea’s - concurrently.
Antoine chuckled at their joint answer as he switched on the coffee maker. That was friggin adorable, he couldn’t help but think. The male Specialist had heard stories about the famous FitzSimmons and how close they were - often working as one. They had been friends for a decade now, working side by side.
John narrowed his eyes on the two young geniuses and their synchronously. He had read all about Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz. HYDRA were very interested in the pair, but knew they were both loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. John knew when HYDRA revealed itself, the two young scientist would comply with some persuading. The senior Specialist noticed the clonesness between and could tell that they were an intimate. Was everyone on this damn plane a couple? Was it a flying hotel? “Ward and Skye,” he answered after a moment.
“Skye wasn’t feeling well last night,” Melinda supplied impassive as she appeared at the bottom of the stairs, looking towards the group of agents that had gathered for breakfast.
Jemma and Leo gasped once again, startled at the older woman’s sudden appearance. They hadn’t heard her coming down the stairs.
“Oh gosh,” the young british woman expressed. “I hope she is okay? Do you need me to give her a checkover later?” Jemma asked, wondering if it was something to do with her empathic ability.
John glanced towards the younger Chinese woman, standing on the bottom step - stone faced. Was she in the same clothes as last night?
Melinda glanced towards the biochemist and gave a shake of the head. “All’s she need is some rest, Simmons. Grant was up with until the early hours of this morning,” she added, not moving from her spot. “They both probably will sleep for a few more hours yet … nobody bother them,” she ordered before disappearing back up the stairs.
“Damn, she’s like a ninja,” Antoine commented as he picked up a coffee mug filled with the hot black liquid and handed it to his boss before turning his attention back to his own mug.
John chuckled. “You don’t know the half of it,” he shared casually.
(Same Day)
Washington DC, Triskelion - 13:13 pm - Head Councilman Piearce Office
“For what it’s worth, you did your best.” Alexander told Sharon as he noticed Steve coming down the corridor towards them.
Sharon nodded her head even though she felt like had failed her deceased boss. “Thank you, Sir,” she answered, turning her attention to her left upon hearing footsteps coming towards them. She absorbed in the sight of Steve Rogers striding towards her. He was dressed in his uniform.
Sharon began walking away from Alexander Pierce and towards Steve. “Captain Rogers,” she said politely in passing.
“Neighbour,” Steve responded coolly as he passed the young attractive blonde. He was still angry at her for lying to him.
“Ah, Captain … I am Alexander Pierce,” the older man introduced himself, holding out his free hand as he cradled the takeaway coffee cup in the other.
Steve stopped in front of the older man, shaking his hand. “Sir, it’s an honour.”
“The honour is mine, Captain,” Alexander replied. “My father served in the hundred and first,” he supplied, casually. “Come on it,” he added with a guestered of his head.
-o0o-
Five minutes later, Steve was looking down a bunch of photos that Alexander and shared with him. He was currently looking at one of Nick Fury and Alexander around thirty years ago, both dressed in formal wear having a conversation.
“That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met,” Alexander shared, standing several metres from the younger man behind one of the chairs at long table. “When I was in state department in Bogota.” Alexander picked up a file from the desk and began making his way across the room towards the younger man. “ELN rebels took the embassy, and security got me out, but the rebels took hostages. Nick was deputy chief for the S.H.I.E.L.D station there. And he comes to me with a plan. He wants to storm the building through the sewers. I said, ‘No, we'll negotiate. Turned out the ELN didn't negotiate, so they put out a kill order. They stormed the basement, and what did they find? They find it empty.”
Alexander was now seated in a leather armchair in front of the Super Soldier, placing the file down on the coffee table in front of him. Steve sat down a moment later, diagonally across from him. “Nick had ignored my direct order and carried out an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil. He saved the lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter.”
“So you gave him a promotion,” Steve supplied, looking down at the photos.
“I never had any cause to regret it,” Alexander replied.
Steve nodded.
“Captain, why was Nick at your apartment last night?” the world Council leader enquired, his eyes narrowed on the younger man.
Steve hated lying, but he remembered Nick’s words from last night. Don’t trust anyone. He averted his gaze. “I don’t know,” he lied.
“You know it was bugged?” he revealed, hoping to gain some trust.
Steve shot his gaze across to the older man. “I did because Nick told me,” he answered, straightforward.
“Did he tell you that he was the one that bugged it?” Alexander offered, watching his expression.
Steve didn’t respond, but surprised washed over his face.
A moment passed before Alexander spoke again. “I want you to see something,” he shared, before leaning towards the table on the table that controlled the large screen behind Steve and tapped a few buttons, bringing up footage of Batroc being interrogated.
A S.H.I.E.L.D agent on the video asked. “Who hired you Batroc?”
Steve was surprised at what he was seeing. “Is that live?” he asked, surprised.
“Yeah,” Alexander answered. “They picked him up last night in a not-so-safe house in Algiers.”
“Are you saying he's a suspect?” Steve question, his eyes not leaving the screen. “Assassination isn't Batroc's line.”
“No, it's more complicated than that.” The older man revealed. “Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the Lemurian Star and he was contacted by e-mail and paid by wire transfer. And then the money was run through seventeen fictitious accounts, the last one going to a holding company that was registered to a Jacob Veech”
Alexander handed the opened file to the Super Soldier.
“Am I supposed to know who that is?” Steve asked, looking down at the file in his hands.
“Not likely,” the Council man answered. “Veech died six years ago. His last address was fourteen - thirty five Elmhurst Drive. When I first met Nick his mother lived at fourteen - thirty seven.”
Steve looked up from the file with disbelief. He knew what the older man was getting at. “Are you saying Fury hired the pirates? Why?”
“Well the prevailing theory was that the hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence,” Alexander supplied. “The sale went sour and that led to Nick's death.”
Steve couldn’t and didn’t believe what he was hearing. Nick Fury was a lot a things, but he would never turn on his country or agencies. S.H.I.E.L.D was everything to him. He wouldn’t do that to Maria. “If you really knew Nick Fury, you know that's not true.
Alexander could tell that the young man had a closer bond to Nick then expected, mostly likely because of Maria. He knew they were close. “Why do you think we're talking?”
A moment passed before Alexander stood up and walked towards his desk area. “See, I took a seat on the Council not because I wanted to but because Nick asked me to, because we were both realists.” Alexander was looking out at the view out of his large window. “We knew that despite all the diplomacy and the handshaking and the rhetoric, that to build a really better world sometimes means having to tear the old one down.”
Alexander turned his head to see Steve standing in his spot from where they were only sitting moments ago. He was in his ‘Captain’ stance. “And that makes enemies. Those people that call you dirty because you got the guts to stick your hands in the mud and try to build something better. And the idea that those people could be happy today, makes me really, really angry … … Captain, you were the last one to see Nick alive. I don't think that's an accident, and I don't think you do either. So I'm gonna ask again, why was he there?”
Steve just stares at the older man for a moment. There was something about him that wasn’t sitting right with Steve. It was just a feeling that Steve was getting. “He told me not to trust anyone,” he supplied, impassive.
“I wonder if that included him,” Alexander mused out loud.
Steve needed to get out of here and grab that flash drive from where he left it last night. He knew that it was time to bring Maria in on what Nick told him. He knew that without a doubt he could trust her. He just had to find her since she hadn't come home last night. “I'm sorry. Those were his last words. Excuse me,” he supplied, picking up his shield and locking it in place on his back as he started to make his out of the office.
“Captain?”
Steve stopped a few metres from the door and turned his head, looking at Alexander who was currently sitting on the corner of his desk.
“Somebody murdered my friend and I'm gonna find out why,” the Council man voiced. “Anyone gets in my way, they're gonna regret it. Anyone!”
Steve registered the threat, but let it roll of his shoulders. “Understood,” he replied before turning away and walking out of the door.
Classified S.H.I.E.L.D Base (British Columbia)
The Bus - 10:33 am - Phil’s Office
Phil was sitting behind his desk, his eyes glued to the screen above his couch watching surveillance footage from the kitchen area where his two team members and the two Specialist were currently having breakfast and chatting. John was sharing another one of his many exaggerated stories. Phil knew he was exaggerating because the mission he was talking about - he had been on.
“I never would have expected John to be what Ward said he is,” Phil spoke after a moment, glancing towards his partner that was standing beside his desk with folded arms. “The damn Clairvoyant … and HYDRA of all things. Doesn’t he remember the history lessons that we were given at the academy?”
Melinda could tell that her fiancé was upset about the betrayal from the senior agent that was practically his surrogate big brother, just like Dwight. She on the other hand wasn’t that shocked. Melinda never really like the smartass arrogant agent that John Garrett. Even before he was associated with HYDRA, John always rubbed her wrong. Melinda knew that Phil was blaming himself because he didn’t see this coming. She opened her mouth to respond when a yawn escaped.
Phil turned his chair to face Melinda. He then circled his hands around her hips and tugged her down into his lap.
Melinda turned so she was sitting across in his lap while the back of her head rested on his shoulder against the white wrinkled shirt. She had removed his tie a few hours ago and undone the top few buttons. It gave him a scruffy, sexy look.
“Go rest for a couple of hours,” Phil suggested to his fiancée in a gentle tone. “You’ve been up all night.”
“So have you,” she replied back, a-matter-a-factly. “I won’t be able to sleep while Garrett is awake … I need to protect Skye,” she voiced, stifling a yawn.
Phil’s arms were wrapped around his dark haired beauty. “She’s safely locked in her bunk with Ward,” he expressed in a low tone. “Plus, I am keeping an eye on John. He won’t try anything while you’re aboard. Plus, he doesn’t know who she is and might even take off now that we’ve landed for a couple hours,” he said, placing a kiss to the side of her neck.
Melinda was a little tired, but she was fighting it. She could stay awake for forty eight hours if necessary. A smile twitching her lips as the feeling of Phil’s lips on her bare neck. “I’m good … we’re expecting a video call from Emma soon with an update, anyway.”
Washington DC
George University Hospital - 13:48 am - Corridor
Steve was walking down the hospital corridor dressed in his dark blue sweats, his hoodie up to hide his identity. He had swung back by Maria’s and changed into some sweats that he left at her place in the guest room among a few other items that he stored there a while ago since he’d slept over more than several times since knowing her. Steve kept his head down as he headed towards his destination.
Under a minute later Steve stopped in front of the vending machine that he has stashed the flash drive in last night behind the gum. He looked through the clear glass and shock washed over him. The entire row of gum was gone along with the flash drive. A few seconds later he heard the popping sound of gum behind him with Natasha’s reflection appearing in the glass.
Steve quickly spun around to face her, knowing that the red headed assassin had the flash drive. He quickly rushed towards her, pushing her back into a empty dark room and against a wall.
He removed his hoodie. “Where is it?” he demanded, his face several inches from her as anger washed over him.
“Safe,” she automatically answered back.
“Do better,” he demanded, needing to know where it was. Nick had told him not to trust anyone and he definitely didn’t trust the red headed assassin even if they were friends - sort off.
Natasha was annoyed with the way Steve was treating her, like she was a suspect or something. “Where did you get it?” she demanded.
“Why would I tell you,” the Super Soldier bit back.
Natasha studied Steve for a moment before realization washed over her. “Fury gave it to you … why?” she questioned with intrigue.
“What’s on it?” Steve demanded.
Natasha didn’t appreciate his attitude right now. This was a different side to the Captain that she come to know. “I don’t know,” she answered honestly.
Steve leaned in slightly closer. “Stop lying!” he expressed, harshly.
“I only act like I know everything, Rogers,” she informed him, curious about his strange behaviour.
Steve heard a noise down the hall, quickly turning his head to look towards the open door. A moment later he turned his attention back towards the redhead. “I bet you and Fury hired the pirates, didn’t you?”
Natasha was hurt his question, but refused to show. “Well, make sense … the ship dirty - Fury needed a way in so did you,” she supplied, impassive.
Steve shoved her a little, anger etched across his chiseled features. “I’m not gonna ask you again,” he holding her up against the wall a little.
Natasha was a little scared to why Steve was acting like this. “I know who killed Fury.”
Steve was stunned for a moment as he processed the words from the assassin. He removed his hands from her.
“Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists,” Natasha revealed. “The ones that do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years.”
“So he's a ghost story?” Steve answered.
Natasha rolled her eyes. “Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran,” she divulged. “Somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out. But the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer so he shot him straight through me,” she said, lifting up her shirt to reveal one of her many scares. “Soviet slug. No rifling. Bye-bye, bikinis,” she quipped.
Steve rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now,” he replied sarcastically.
Natasha smirked before turning her expression impassive once again. “Going after him is a dead end. I know, I’ve tried.” She revealed, remembering her conversation with Clint last night after she had informed him about ‘the Winter Soldier’. Natasha pulled the silver flash drive out of her jacket pocket and held it up in front of Steve. “Like you said - he’s a ghost story.”
Steve looked at the flash drive before taking it from Natasha. He still didn’t trust her, but knew that he would need her help since she had certain abilities that he didn’t. “Well, let’s go find out what the ghost wants,” he supplied, stone faced.