Lexi POV:
"I don't know what Sam was thinking, I've had better pizza in Brooklyn," Steve says as we walk up the stairs to our apartments.
"Honestly, I think I've had better pizza anywhere but there," I laugh. "It was pretty bad. But what I could use right now is a good movie. I'll get Connor once I show you how to get it up."
Steve's about to respond when we hear a voice on our floor. One that I actually recognize.
"That's so sweet. That is so nice. Hey. I gotta go, though. Okay, bye." Steve and I walk up our final steps to see Sharon......sorry Kate the "nurse" across the hall. She smiles at the two of us before speaking. "My aunt, she's kind of an insomniac."
Steve smiles at her and she looks down. "Yep."
"Hey," Steve speaks up. "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?" She questions and Steve shrugs. "A cup of coffee?"
She smiles a little more. "Thank you, but um...I already have a load in downstairs, and, uh...you really don't want my scrubs in your machine. I'm just finished orientation in the infectious diseases ward, so."
"Ah, well, I'll keep my distance," Steve says, backing off.
"Well, hopefully not too far." She says and Steve looks back up, a little hopeful.
"Oh, and I think you left your stereo on," Sharon says before walking off.
Steve nods, before pausing for a moment and getting his key. "Oh. Right, thank you."
"Steve?" I say. "You okay?"
He looks back at me. "Lexi, I didn't turn on my music today."
My eyes go wide with shock and he quietly unlocks the door. He shuts it behind us and grabs his shield. I will my bow and quiver out and grab and arrow, nocking it as we creep. We both turn the corner ready to fight.....to find a battered and bruised Director Fury.
Steve and I sigh in relief and I put my arrow away.
"I don't remember giving you a key," Steve says, resting against one of the walls.
"Do you really think I'd need one?" Fury says. "My wife kicked my out."
I raise and eyebrow.....he doesn't have a wife........or does he?
"Didn't know you were married," Steve says.
"There are a lot of things you don't about me." Fury counters.
"I know, Nick. That's the problem." Steve says, turning on a light. Fury shakes his head and turns it off. I look at Steve and meet his confused glance. Fury holds up his phone and types out a message.
EARS EVERYWHERE
He then deletes that and types out something that makes me sick to my stomach.
SHIELD COMPROMISED
Steve furrows his eyebrows. "Who else knows about your wife."
JUST US
"Just...my friends." Fury says.
"Is that what we are?" Steve asks.
Fury shrugs, getting up. "That's up to you two."
I would love to give some clique response that I somehow knew what was going to happen, but I didn't. All I could make out in the moment I guess was three gunshots.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
The next thing I know, Fury's on the ground and Steve and I are dragging him to safety. He hands a flash drive to Steve and manages to speak.
"Stick together. Don't....trust anyone." He sputters before passing out. I look over and Steve terrified before I start freezing ice over the gunshots to stop the bleeding.
Someone kicks Steve's door in and we both hear a voice. "Captain Rogers? Agent Carson?"
"13!" I yell. "In here!"
Steve looks between us confused as Sharon comes around the corner, gun raised. "Captain, I'm Agent 13 of SHIELD's Special Service."
"Kate?" Steve says, still confused.
"I'm assigned to protect you two."
"On whose order?" Steve question as her face goes slack at Fury's condition.
"His." She whips out her radio and kneels by me. "Foxtrot is down, he's unresponsive. I need EMTs."
"Do you have a twenty on the shooter?" The agent asks from the radio.
Steve and I look up at the window and I see a flash of metal disappear as quick as we noticed it.
"Tell them I'm in pursuit," Steve says before taking off.
I look between the door Steve sprinted off and Fury. "I'm following him," I tell Sharon before sprinting in the direction that Steve ran in.
I follow the trail of wreckage and make thin ice "slides" as I jump in and out of buildings.
Why don't I ice skate like I did back at camp? Well turns out the DC area isn't very humid and there isn't much water vapor in the air and I've stopped breaking commercial and residential plumbing for water. So let's just say, at the moment, I'm glad I've learned how to keep up with Steve.
By the time I get to him I see the assassin throwing Steve's shield right back at him and looking me dead in the eyes. And my heart starts to beat a million miles an hour in recognition of the man in front of me. Suddenly I'm that eleven-year-old girl again in the car. Staring at the man who would be and is responsible for my mom's death.
"You again." I growl.
He hasn't changed a bit. Same dead stare in his eyes. Same black smeared around his eyes. Same muzzled face. Same metal hand. Then, anger and fear fuel me forward as he jumps off the building. But by the time I get to the ledge, he's gone. Like a ghost.
I can feel Steve pulling me away from the ledge, I know I'm in a car to the hospital, I can feel Connor hold me by the waist. But everything feels like a blur.
"Lexi, please say something." He says, pulling me close. But I can't. I just look down and remember the feeling of seeing those eyes again. And I have a bad feeling I'm going to be seeing them again.
Connor POV:
She's really scaring me right now. She hasn't said a word since I've seen her and she's got this distant look her eyes.
I was in our apartment when I heard the gunshots. I grabbed my gun and ran down the stairwell toward the commotion.
I saw Agent 13 kneeling next to a darker figure, one that I soon recognized as Director Fury. "EMTs on their way?" I had asked.
"They'll be here in five. Captain Rogers and Agent Carson went after the assailant."
I remember the two of us getting him on a stretcher and watching the ambulance drive away. I turned back around and saw her. Steve had an arm around her until he finally saw me. I made my way as quickly as possible to her before wrapping her in a hug. A SHIELD car pulled up next to us to drive us to the hospital.
And here we are. Steve in the shotgun seat, the two of us in the back. And not a word was said between any of us.
We pull up to the hospital and find our way to Fury's surgery room. The three of us stand there in a painful silence as the doctors try to save him.
Natasha arrives a little while later and stands next to Steve. "Is he gonna make it?"
"I don't know," Steve responds.
"Tell me about the shooter," She demands.
"He's fast and strong. He had a metal arm."
"Ballistics?" She asks as Agent Hill joins us.
"Three slugs. N-" She starts.
"No rifling and completely untraceable?" Lexi says and Hill nods. "Would make sense, just like last time," she mutters.
"Soviet made?" Natasha continues to question. Another nod.
"Last time? You mean that you've met this guy before?" Steve asks.
Lexi looks solemn and I almost immediately know what she's going to say. "He's the man that killed my mom and......" She says before noticing something in the surgery room. Then all we can do is watch as Fury's condition deteriorates and the doctors frantically rush around to save him.
"Don't do this to me, Nick," Natasha says. "Don't do this to me, Nick. Don't do this to me."
And just like that....he's gone. Nick Fury is dead.
Was this late? Yes
Do I have an excuse? Nope
Was I being lazy and busy at the exact same time? Heck yeah.
So sorry about the insanely late update, this should have been out sooner but it's kinda difficult to find time these days.
Anyway I hope you liked this part and and if you did vote and commment and follow me if you haven't already!
I'll see you guys in the next part!
Shoot Straight!
StraightOuttaArrows