IT WAS THE EVENING as Steve Rogers spent most of the day by himself. He parked his motorcycle and made his way into the apartment building.
After looking through the Smithsonian exhibit dedicated to him, he went to visit Peggy again. Afterwards, he went to check out one of Sam Wilson's VA meetings and got to catch up with him.
He figured visiting the Air Force veteran would get his mind off of the thoughts he had after his visit with his love, but that wasn't the case. He still thought about it...his son being out there somewhere.
Rogers didn't know if he was dead or alive...in the ground or as an old man taking a stroll down the park. It ate away at him not knowing, which was what he figured Peggy felt all those years wondering what came of her little boy.
Steve sighed as he walked down the hallway and made his way towards the door. He stumbled upon his neighbor, Kate, who was in her scrubs and carrying a load of laundry while on the phone.
"So sweet. That is so nice." She was speaking, and noticed Steve.
"Hi." He quietly greeted.
"I got to go, though. Okay. Bye." She hung up the phone and spoke to Steve. "My aunt, she's kind of an insomniac."
"Yeah." He replied. "Hey, if you want...if you want, you're welcome to use my machine. Might be cheaper than the one in the basement."
"Oh, yeah? What's it cost?"
"A cup of coffee?"
She smiled. "Thank you, but I already have a load in downstairs, and you really don't want my scrubs in your machine. I just finished a rotation in the infectious disease ward, so..."
He chuckled and raised his arms. "Well, I'll keep my distance."
"Hopefully, not too far." She said with a smirk, then turned to leave but bumped into somebody.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." Y/N, in civilian clothes, apologized.
"It's fine." Kate chuckled. "It's fine." She then focused in for a moment on his face and looked at his eyes.
"Your eyes. They remind me of somebody I know."
"Uh, thanks. They are my favorite part of my head."
Steve rolled his eyes at his remark. A part of him was also annoyed that the girl he just asked on a coffee date seemed to be flirting with his coworker.
"I better get going." Kate bid the two farewell and left. Y/N put his hands in his jean pockets and looked at Rogers.
"So, that's the nurse Nat was talking about?" He asked.
Steve ignored his question. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh...for the drinks."
"What drinks?"
"Are you joking?" Y/N pulled out his phone and showed him the text. "You said to come over and have a few beers. I thought this would be a good time to say sorry about the whole—"
"I didn't text you." Steve interjected.
"Then who did?"
There was silence between them, then Steve heard music coming from inside his apartment. He unlocked the door and went in with Y/N following close behind.
Rogers picked up his shield that leaned against the wall in the corridor. He peeked into his living room, seeing Nick Fury laying down on the sofa by his record player.
"I don't remember giving you a key." He told the director.
"You really think I'd need one?"
"You come over Steve's often?" Y/N asked as he walked into the room.
"You could say that." He answered. "My wife kicked me out."
"I didn't know you were married." Steve replied.
"A lot of things you don't know about me."
"I'd say." Y/N chimed in.
Steve agreed. "We know, Nick. That's the problem."
He turned on the light and the two of them realized Fury was bloodied and bruised. Nick turned the light back off, leaving them in their bewilderment.
Fury held a device and flipped it over to show them the text displayed on the screen.
EARS EVERYWHERE
"I'm sorry to have to do this, but I had no place else to crash." He continued on normally. He then showed the screen again.
SHIELD COMPROMISED
Y/N chose to go on with the act. "Who else knows about your wife, Nick?"
He got up from the seat and showed them the screen once more.
YOU AND ME
Fury only trusted Y/N and Steve with this information.
"Just...my friends."
"Is that what we are?" Steve asked.
"That's up to you."
A bullet suddenly shot through the wall and hit Fury. "Ahh!"
He fell to the floor and groaned. The two soldiers lowered their heads at the sudden attack, with Rogers getting behind the wall.
Y/N went over to Fury and dragged him into the nearby kitchen. He coughed as he opened up his palm and handed him a USB stick.
It was the same drive Natasha used to gather data from the Lumerian Star.
"Don't trust anyone." He breathed out, then closed his eyes and dropped his head.
"Nick?" Y/N tried to shake him awake. "Nick?"
The apartment door was kicked opened, and he heard a female voice call out.
"Captain Rogers? Agent L/N?
Steve peeked out of cover and saw Kate holding a gun.
"Captain, I'm Agent 13 of S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Service."
"Kate?"
"I'm assigned to protect you."
"On whose order?"
She walked over to the kitchen and saw Y/N over Fury's body. She let out a quiet gasp.
"His."
She leaned over his body and communicated over the radio. "Foxtrot is down, he's unresponsive. I need EMTs."
Y/N got up and looked at his body, still in shock of what had happened. He still had the drive in his pocket, an object Fury risked his life in giving him.
"Do we have a 20 on the shooter?" A man on Agent 13's radio asked.
Y/N looked in the direction where the shots came from, and saw a glint through the window. The shooter bolted off.
"Tell him I'm in pursuit." Y/N said and started running.
Steve was about to call out to him, but Y/N leaped out of the window and into the next building.
He ran across the room and through door, then sprinted down the hallway. He used his shoulder to take down other doors on his way as he could see the shooter running on the roof through the skylight.
"You're not going anywhere you son of a bitch!"
Y/N leaped off the wall and onto a railing above. He crashed through the skylight and made it onto the roof, chasing the shooter there.
The shooter made it to the edge and was about to leap off, but Y/N tackled him and the two landed on another rooftop below.
They rolled over and got back on their feet at the same time. Y/N didn't even get a chance to look at the shooter before he engaged him in combat.
He swung at him, but the man dodged his swing and tried to land a roundhouse kick, but Y/N evaded that attack and succeeded in landing a hit on the man's abdomen. He kicked him in the chest afterwards and sent him flying back.
The man rolled over and unsheathed a knife then ran at Y/N who evaded his swipes easily. It was weird, as if he already knew the shooter's moves beforehand.
The man stabbed down but Y/N grabbed his wrist and kept it back. The arm that held the knife screeched as the metal started to tighten.
The sound of the metal arm was familiar to Y/N. He decided to finally focus in on the shooter's face, noticing the black make-up around his eyes.
He started to remember.
And so did the shooter.
There were only two people who ever gave him a fair fight, and Y/N was one of them. That's what made the man realize.
"Лейтенант, мы снова встречаемся. (Lieutenant, we meet again)."
The agent was lost in his own thoughts as his brain tried to recollect the exact memory of his first encounter with the metal-armed man. The shooter took the chance to headbutt Y/N and kick him to the floor before making a b-line to the edge of the roof.
Steve Rogers suddenly crashed through a window and rolled onto the same rooftop. He got up and threw his shield at the shooter, but the man quickly turned around and grabbed it with his metal arm.
It was something Rogers had never seen before. The man glared at the Captain before throwing the shield back, in which Steve caught it but slid several feet backwards out of the sheer force.
Steve looked up and saw no sign of the shooter. He ran over to the ledge and gazed upon the city below, wondering where he could have gone.
He walked up to his friend who was still on the floor. "Y/N?" He helped him up. "You good?"
"Yeah..." He breathed out and looked over at the same skyline Steve looked at, wondering where the man went.
But he also questioned...who was he?
• • •
FURY WAS TAKEN into surgery. Y/N, Steve and Maria Hill were in the adjoining room while the two men stood behind the glass watching the procedure being done.
Natasha stormed in to check on what was going on with Fury. Upon seeing him through the window, her breathing hitched.
"Is he gonna make it?" She asked.
Steve sighed. "I don't know."
There was a slight pause before she spoke again.
"Tell me about the shooter."
"He's fast. Strong." Y/N began. "Had a metal arm."
Natasha paused again, as if the statement reminded her of something.
She continued.
"Ballistics?"
"Three slugs, no rifling. Completely untraceable." Maria answered.
"Soviet-made." Natasha said.
"Yeah."
The doctors inside suddenly started to hurry as Fury's vitals were dropping.
"Defibrillator!"
"I want you to charge him at 100."
"Don't do this to me, Nick." Natasha muttered.
"Stand back."
"Three, two, one. Clear."
"Pulse?"
"No pulse."
"Okay, 200, please."
"Stand back!"
"Three, two, one. Clear!"
"Negative."
Natasha didn't want to believe that her friend was dying.
"Don't do this to me, Nick. Don't do this to me."
The doctor dropped his head before looking at the nurse.
"What's the time?"
"1:03, Doctor."
"Time of death, 1:03 a.m."
Steve walked away from the window, leaving the three. Natasha tried to compose herself after the doctor confirmed Nick Fury's death. Y/N put an arm around his friend and caressed her shoulder as a form of comfort, in which she accepted.
They stayed at the hospital until the sun came up. Fury's body laid in a room with a blanket covering him from the neck down. Natasha stood by his corpse as her eyes started to water.
Maria walked up to Y/N and Steve, also holding back tears.
"I need to take him."
Steve nodded and walked behind Romanoff. "Natasha."
She breathed in and placed her palm over Fury's head as a form of goodbye, then bolted out of the room.
"Natasha!" Steve called out and followed.
"Where are you taking him?" Y/N asked Maria.
"He's...always said he wanted to be laid to rest in a special place."
He simply nodded, looking on at his body that laid in front him.
"He's always said you were special. You know that right?" She asked him.
"Yeah..." He replied. "I thought he kept saying that just because."
"No, he had a reason."
She gave a soft smile before walking up to his body and standing there. Y/N decided to give Maria time by herself and left the room.
He saw Steve on his way out of the hospital with S.T.R.I.K.E team officers. To his left, he saw Natasha walking the other way.
"Nat!" He called out. "Nat!"
She stopped and faced him, wiping away the wetness on her cheeks.
"Look, I'm sorry." He began. "I know you two were close...having more history than I had."
"He believed in me...just like he believed in you." She exhaled. "And now he's just...gone."
Y/N was also hurting. The first man whoever spoke to him and gave him a chance after waking up was now dead.
Murdered in fact.
Killed.
And he was going to avenge him...somehow.
He reached over and offered a hug, in which Natasha took and embraced him. He rubbed her back and sighed.
"Where did Rogers go?" He asked as they parted.
"Pierce is calling him back for questioning. It won't be long until—"
Y/N's phone rang, and Natasha knew who it was.
"...they want to question you too."
He checked the phone and noticed it was from the Triskelion.
"Why were you at Rogers's place? With Nick?" She abruptly asked.
He was immediately going to tell her about the text from Fury pretending to be Steve, but thought for a moment after remembering what he told him.
Don't trust anyone.
Surely he didn't also mean Natasha. Right? He struggled with the thought before ultimately deciding to keep it to himself. It was probably for the best.
"Wrong place, wrong time. I guess." He replied.
She simply looked at him and studied his expression, then gave a nod and bid farewell.
"You better get going, Y/N."
She walked away and left Y/N in the hallway alone. He sighed as he reached into his pocket and looked at the USB drive Fury handed to him. If he was going to speak to S.H.I.E.L.D, he needed to keep the drive safe.
The man loading the nearby vending machine got Y/N's attention. He chuckled, knowing exactly where to hide it.
• • •
FREEDOM FIGHTER ENTERED the conference room. He wore his suit albeit without the helmet and looked around the empty space. He expected people to be there already.
"Uh...Secretary Pierce?" He called out, half expecting him to come through the other door. He went towards the table in the middle of the room and sat down, tapping his fingers on the wood as he waited.
Two S.H.I.E.L.D agents came into the room holding clipboards. Y/N gave a soft smile but they didn't give one in return, simply sitting down with him. An agent sat in the corner next to Y/N and the other sat directly in front of him.
"Okay, Mr. L/N. We should start with the beginning." The agent to his right began. "Why were you with Captain Rogers at 11:26 PM?"
"Just meeting up with a coworker."
He simply nodded and jotted down the information alongside his colleague. He asked a couple more questions in which Y/N gave straight answers.
The agent continued. "Before Director Fury passed, did he say anything?"
Y/N paused for a moment before answering. "No."
The agents didn't seem convinced, but before they can further question him the alarm within the Triskelion sounded.
"What the...?" Y/N muttered.
The agent in front of Y/N got an alert on his phone from his superior and looked at the text.
ROGERS IN THE WIND.
TAKE BACK THE ASSET.
He looked at his colleague, who knew it was now time.
"What's going on?" Y/N continued asking about the alarm.
"Must be just—" The agent next to Y/N took out a syringe and stabbed down at Y/N's resting hand, but the soldier was quick to avoid it.
"The hell?" Y/N exclaimed as he flinched back.
The agent then took out a taser gun and aimed, but Freedom Fighter rolled out of his chair before tossing one of his batons at him. The second agent didn't have time to react as he was hit with the second baton.
The clubs retreated back into Y/N's hands, but wasn't able to fully comprehend the situation as several S.T.R.I.K.E team officers stormed into the room with electrified batons.
"What is the meaning of this?" Y/N asked.
"Stand down, Lieutenant." The lead officer exclaimed before charging him.
Y/N blocked his attacks with his own baton before grabbing his arm and hitting him in the stomach afterwards.
He threw the officer aside and spun around to block the attack of another. He grabbed his arm and noticed the first man getting back up and swiftly kicked him away again.
He continued holding the man and elbowed his face before throwing him across the table.
Three men remained. Y/N connected his two batons and activated his staff, ready to continue the fight.
"So...who's ass am I going to kick next?"
They all charged him, but Y/N was able to deal with them easily. He spun his staff around to block their attacks and also hit them. Ultimately, he kicked one into the bookshelf before striking another man across the face.
The third officer swung at Y/N, who bent backwards to avoid the attack and simply tripped him with his staff. He jabbed his face with the weapon and knocked him out.
The leader got up and ran at Y/N again while swinging his electrified baton. Y/N deftly dodged his attacks, memorizing his movements before locking batons with him. He looked at Y/N as he clenched his teeth.
"Time to come home, Taskmaster."
Y/N narrowed his eyes before kneeing him in the abdomen. He grabbed the officer and flipped him onto the table, breaking it and taking the man out. Y/N panted as he sheathed his batons and looked around.
Taskmaster?
He didn't have time to dwell on the name. Freedom Fighter stormed out of the room to try and find a way out of the Triskelion.