➢𝗙𝗘𝗔𝗥 𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗦 𝗛𝗘𝗥➢
『How do I win this war alone?
It's like I'm fighting with a ghost
We're two battleships that always miss
And we can't admit
This is the fear of letting go』
―𝘙𝘶𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘖𝘧 𝘓𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘰
⟶𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 11: 𝑼𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚⟵
❝𝐃𝐚𝐝, 𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝.❞
-𝙹𝙰𝙽𝚄𝙰𝚁𝚈 𝟷𝟶𝚃𝙷, 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟺-
𝚆𝙰𝚂𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙶𝚃𝙾𝙽 𝙳.𝙲.
A black car pulls up in front of the hospital, surrounded by police vehicles and an ambulance.
Natasha Romanoff steps out agilely, pushing open many doors that prevent her from continuing forwards.
Through a window of an operating theatre, Director Nick Fury is being operated on for his injuries―many doctors working on stabilizing the man's damaged body.
Natasha runs in, taking in the view of one of her closest friends, a father figure, on the brink of not surviving.
Steve Rogers comes up beside her, his arms resting on the countertop connecting the window to the wall―anxious.
"Is he gonna make it?" the woman keeps her voice steady.
And the man answers quickly, "I don't know."
She swallows thickly, "Tell me about the shooter."
"He's fast. Strong. Had a metal arm."
"Ballistics?" the redhead asks stoically, and Maria Hill comes into view next to her, "Three slugs, no rifling."
"Completely untraceable..." Maria finishes, and to her surprise, Natasha relays, "Soviet-made."
"Yeah ..." She confirms, turning to look at the shorter woman with a gaped expression before the commotion on the other side of the glass gets more intense.
Agent Jasper Sitwell and Brock Rumlow loom closer behind the two females and male, watching as the doctors urgently prepare to use a defibrillator as the beeping noise of the machines increases.
"BP's dropping, Defibrillator!" A doctor yells out and then instructs, "I want you to charge him at 100."
Natasha's mouth gapes open, her voice quivering, "Don't do this to me, Nick."
The first shock is delivered.
"Pulse?" One asks, and there is not one to be found.
"Okay, 200 please," the doctor holding the defibrillator proclaims, then proceeds to jolt more electricity into Fury's chest.
But he doesn't get a response.
"Don't do this to me, Nick, don't do this to me ..." Natasha from next to Steve whispers to herself breathily, and the blonde SuperSoldier hangs his head low when seemingly the inevitable is made clear.
The doctors exchange glances with one another and at that moment it is confirmed.
Director Nick Fury is dead.
The room is silent. All that can be heard are the drowned-out voices from the doctors, who affirm the time of death.
Captain America stands up straight, turning around slowly and walking out of the room.
Agent Hill bites her quaking lip, tears coating the sides of her eyelids and eventually, she begins to trickle away as well, but the Black Widow remains unmovable.
Natasha stares straight ahead, the only one still lingering in the windowed area that her good friend had just undoubtedly died in.
There is one individual missing from the encounter, but her presence severely shivers within a plastic chair just outside the designated operating room―and the shaky breaths being inhaled and exhaled belong to none other than the enhanced child.
Dani Rockland-Rogers, who is extremely perturbed by the events just taking place not even hours ago.
Her fingers mindlessly fiddle together, still having traces of the euphoric feeling from the pieces of the Tesseract on them. Dani's gaze is sullen, and while she looks down at her lap with intent―her mind is elsewhere.
Everything happened so quickly.
Fury getting shot, her anxiety increasing, the ForceField shoving itself outside of the little girl's body―the metal armed man...
The nine-year-old grips heavily onto the arms of the chair she sits in, forcing herself to stop juddering so fiercely.
Steve Rogers, still in his blue jacket and white T-shirt strides out of the hospital door―picking up pace evidently when laying his blue eyes on Dani. She wears an empty, contorted look on her face, heightening the man's concern while also making his heart clench.
"Hey," He kneels down in front of the little girl, bringing his hand to touch the side of her face while the other lingers on her thigh.
Steve's thumb runs over her pale cheek gently, and he presses, "You okay? You good?"
She gets off the uncomfortable chair abruptly, causing the blonde man to stand up.
She asks him, nervously, "Is he dead?"
"... Yes."
Dani intakes a sharp breath, twitching unnaturally at the reaction of the blue aura within her to her current emotion, grief.
Tears threaten to burst from the child's eyes, and Steve quickly takes action.
Engulfing her into a warm hug, his fingers generously move to swipe away the few amounts of water that roll down the nine year old's cheeks, his purpose through it all being that he could hold onto her. To comfort her. He is trying to be there, despite the horrifying circumstances that would need much talking through and closure to move on from, maybe even from a professional―Steve wants to be there for his adopted daughter.
But the little girl is rattled, "S.H.I.E.L.D is compromised." Dani whispers, trembling in the Captain's arms and he hugs her as tightly as he can without hurting her.
"We'll be okay. Everything is going to be all right ..." He responds softly into her hair, swaying gently.
Her broken-sounding voice brings a wince to the man's expression, "Dad, I'm scared."
Steve grows incredibly rigid, "You don't have to be. We'll figure this out."
She looks up to him, green eyes piercingly staring into his blue ones, "You promise?"
His hand remains around her head, resting against him and he looks back down at her, "I promise. Just trust me, Sweetie."
Dani does.
Pulling away from each other, Steve lifts up the flash drive given to him by Fury.
The brunette glances at the chip, "What's on it?"
The blonde furrows his eyebrows, "I'm not sure. But it's important."
Suddenly, Natasha Romanoff strides out of Nick Fury's hospital room and past the father and daughter, ready to take off.
But Steve calls out to her, "Natasha!"
The woman whips back around, her light eyes dryer now.
"Why was Fury in your apartment?" She tilts her head, questioning.
Steve shrugs a great amount, "I don't know."
"Cap," Rumlow catches the man's attention, "They want you and your Kid back at S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Yeah, give us a second." Steve answers.
Rumlow replies quickly, "They want you now."
Steve stares at the Agent, knowing that he was a part of the compromised acts of S.H.I.E.L.D. before nodding firmly, "Okay."
All the hairs stand up on Dani's back as the Black Widow tells the SuperSoldier matter-of-factly, "You're a terrible liar."
She walks away, and Captain America places his hands on his hips as an immense sigh seeps through his gaped lips. He then glances over to the vending machine being worked on, Dani watching the woman leave briskly before pulling on Steve's arm.
"Why did you lie to Natasha?" She asks him curiously, with confusion.
To which he responds flatly with, "Because I don't trust her."
Dani freezes, pursing her lips in perturbation, "But you're going to trust the corrupt S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents?"
"Steve, we can't go with them." She tells him urgently, and he turns to her.
The Captain enlightens her vastly, "They don't know that we know they're corrupt, that's why they're interrogating us." He informs her, causing her face to sparkle in realization.
An extreme 'ohhhhh' moment for the little girl.
"So, what's the plan?" she questions next, and the man gestures to the object now securely lodged into the machine being put back together.
"To make sure they don't find out about this."
Dani nods, cooperating immediately and preparing to let her Dad handle all the talking and problem-solving. He was good at that. Steve gives one last comforting look, skin around his eyes softening in one last attempt to overall soothe the child's nerves from earlier, and after tightly linking their hands together―the both of them approach the Agents for questioning.
"Let's go." The Captain affirms to Rumlow, who mutters a simple "Yeah" in reply.
❀❀❀
Steve Rogers much later, in his Captain America uniform with his signature red, white, and blue shield attached to his back, maneuvers down the hallway of S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters while indefinitely making sure that his daughter is as close to him as possible.
Dani Rockland-Rogers immediately recognizes 'Kate' from across the hall, who speaks with a man before walking past the two.
"Captain Rogers." She addresses him awkwardly, unfolding her hands in front of her.
And he doesn't hesitate to snipe back monotonically, "Neighbor."
The nine-year-old can't help but shiver at her caretaker's sharp, low tone of voice, and her boney shoulders subconsciously bunch up when turning to look back at the nicely dressed blonde lady―who demonstrates a serrated reaction to the man's remark before continuing to walk.
"Oh, Captain," the older individual wearing a pair of glasses acknowledges, extending a hand for Steve to shake while introducing himself, "I'm Alexander Pierce."
Dani rocks on her heels as the uniformed SuperSoldier next to her remains polite, "Sir. It's an honor."
"The honor's mine, Captain. My father served in the 101st. Come on in."
His facial features falter when noticing the presence of the small child, and an arm then goes out to her when she tries to follow Steve, "I already have someone coming up to look after the child. So, she can wait out here."
He plasters a smile onto his face that ultimately freaks the young girl out, knowing what she knows about S.H.I.E.L.D.
Dani gulps nervously, and a sense of difficulty to breathe hovers dangerously over her, but fortunately Steve contests, "That won't be necessary, Sir. We were together for the majority of last night. She's seen as much as I have."
"It's just for additional information, Captain ... You'll see her again shortly," Pierce states with conviction, but it didn't matter, the father strongly disagrees.
They are not going to interrogate his nine-year-old, no way in hell.
Not without him by her side.
Steve Rogers stands straight up, chest expanding as his assertive nature blends perfectly with the urge to protect the little girl in his care, and he acclaims, "With all due respect, sir, after everything we've been through, she stays with me."
"I understand, Captain," Pierce immediately backs off, tone lighter as he insists, "my apologies."
Dani doesn't utter a single word, quietly following behind her Dad into the room and eventually sitting down in one of the black chairs inside. Steve still remains close by, hovering over the photos of Nick Fury laid out on the coffee table.
"That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met when I was at the State Department in Bogota..." He explains, "E.L.N. rebels took the embassy, and security got me out, but the rebels took hostages. Nick was Deputy Chief of the S.H.I.E.L.D. station there, and he comes to me with a plan."
Pierce removes his jacket, grabbing multiple files, "He wants to storm the building through the sewers."
"I said, 'No, we'll negotiate.' Turned out, the E.L.N. didn't negotiate, so they put out a kill order."
The suit-dressed man eventually joins the adoptive father and daughter, placing the packet of papers on the coffee table, "They stormed the basement and what do they find? They find it empty."
Steve glances at him while the petite brunette keeps her head down, "Nick had ignored my direct order, and carried out an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil, and saved the lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter."
"So you gave him a promotion?" The Captain questions in an inquiring tone, both of them sitting down now.
"I've never had any cause to regret it," Pierce states truthfully, the younger blonde nodding lightly in agreement.
The other man blinks, before pressing the younger man smoothly, "Captain, why was Nick in your apartment last night?"
Steve's gaze falls, and he gives a simple shake of the head, "I don't know."
"Did you know it was bugged?"
"I did," he responds again, explaining, "because Nick told me."
Pierce questions him next, sparking an unusual amount of silence to overlap the room.
"Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?"
Confusion manifests inside Dani.
"I want you to see something ..." He then projects a video of a man being sat in a chair, on the screen.
Steve furrows his brows, "Is that interrogation live?"
Alexander continues to inform them of the man's whereabouts, and the recent mission led by Captain Rogers.
Eventually, the SuperSoldier is in disbelief, amusement dripping onto his tone as he asks, "Are you saying Fury hired the pirates? Why?"
"The prevailing theory was that the hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence. The sale went sour and that led to Nick's death."
The room is silent for a moment yet again, and with a strong sense of judgment, Steve says, "If you really knew Nick Fury, you'd know that's not true."
Despite not really understanding the entirety of the situation―as she was far too young―Dani's lips fold together in an amount of contemplation, bewilderment... that the scary but relatively nice eye-patched man was someone to commit an act like that. It just didn't sound like him at all.
"Why do you think we're talking?" Pierce replies swiftly, rising from his chair to walk over to the window of the office as he takes in the landscape.
"See, I took a seat on the Council not because I wanted to, but because Nick asked me to ... because we were both realists." He claims, going on as his tone subtly gets darker, "We knew that, despite all the diplomacy and the handshaking and the rhetoric, to build a really better world sometimes means having to tear the old one down."
"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."
His bold words send another shaky shiver down the spine of Dani Rockland-Rogers, and she represses herself from view by right away hiding behind her father's tall figure. Steve Rogers has his hands rested on his belt, his blue eyes narrowing ever so slightly when a similar feeling settles in his stomach judging by his adoptive daughter's actions―and he looks up at Alexander Pierce, whose expression has become tight.
He continues off of his earlier words, words in defense of Nick Fury, "And the idea that those people could be happy today makes me really, really angry."
The girl feels her skin begin to burn from the pressure of the ForceField as the suited man continues questioning the two, "Captain, you and your daughter were the last ones 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 breathes for a moment before answering honestly, "He told us not to trust anyone."
"I wonder if that included him?" Pierce adds.
And Steve apologizes, "I'm sorry."
"Those were his last words."
Captain America purses his lips together, as he too, painfully, is still trying to grasp the fact that Nick Fury was dead.
His snap back to reality however is provoked by the shaky breath emitted from the child behind him, and he puts a warm hand on her back before interjecting, "Excuse us."
Dani walks in front of her father while on their way out of the office, Steve grabbing hold of his shield and placing it back behind his shoulders.
The City Councilman sits on the corner of the computer desk, watching them go while vocalizing, "Captain, somebody murdered my friend and I'm gonna find out why."
He makes eye contact with the nine-year-old briskly, who although is trying not to show it, looks near-to petrified, "Anyone gets in my way, they're gonna regret it."
"Anyone."
Steve nods, "Understood."
And he and Danielle leave.
❀❀❀
Dani a few minutes later, looks out at the view from the Triskelion while waiting for the elevator to open as her Dad does the same.
His arms are crossed, and it's only a few seconds before the doors slide open and Steve lets the child go in first―instructing, "Operations Control."
The voice in the elevator responds eloquently, "Confirmed."
Captain America leans over on the railing of the elevator, continuous struggles of grappling the most recent events floating above his stance like white clouds―and Dani replicates his stress. It was heightened for her, because of the words exchanged at the hospital. That she is scared.
She is involuntarily spooked for a moment when Brock Rumlow and several more men abruptly enter the elevator.
"Keep all S.T.R.I.K.E. personnel on-site." Rumlow announces, earning many agreements, and then directing the contraption, "Forensics."
"Confirmed." The voice responds and the elevator full of many people begins to move.
"Cap," Steve's head turns around.
The SuperSoldier acknowledges, "Rumlow," and his half-gloved hands place themselves firmly on Dani's shoulder as he moves the both of them to the side of the small space, the petite brunette now directly in front of the blonde.
She breathes in as a fairly calm facade takes over, mimicking the stoic position that her father strongly carries―undeniably believing at the moment she too looks intimidating.
But no, she just looks like a dainty nine-year-old, with a rather puckered expression that anyone would find pretty cute―if not already in a situation like so.
Rumlow speaks to the Captain once more, stating, "Evidence Response found some fibers on the roof they want us to see. You want me to get the tac team ready?"
Steve remains firm, "No, let's wait and see what it is first."
"Right." Rumlow replies, turning his dark head of hair back to looking forwards, and that's when Steve realizes something is wrong.
One of the men shifts the gun that is secured on his leg, and the blonde knits his eyebrows together―gaze drifting upwards.
Dani's sea-foam green eyes widen ever so slightly when the grip her Dad currently has on both of her shoulders, tightens, and instantly she knows something is up.
But what?
A beeping noise occurs and more people file in, causing Cap and his 'Kid' to be in the middle of the elevator, filling up with more Agents. One's that look strong.
"I'm sorry about what happened with Fury. It's messed up what happened to him," Rumlow says after a moment, and Steve raises his head.
"Thank you."
The nine year old's heart begins to beat out of her chest, gaze solely trained on the collection of weapons that a taller man known as Agent Rollins, carries when walking in―some sort of electric prodder held in each of his hands.
It was then that her Dad's touch on her alters once more, softens, and his gentle fingers trace one last circle of reassurance on her green jacket built to keep her warm―before Steve moves Dani to the side, and his expression tilts upwards.
And she now understands what was about to go down, that her father had all intentions of defending himself―protecting her.
There is going to be an ambush, and the Captain is aware.
"Before we get started..." the blonde remarks in a low, intimidating voice, "Does anyone want to get out?"
The cow prodder is released and launched at Steve but he knocks it out of Rollins' hand, while at the same time being pinned against the wall by three different men. Another man holding what was presumed to be a suitcase rips off the handle and uses it as a restraint―placing it over the Captain's wrist who struggles to break it free.
Horror etches onto Dani's face, and she immediately lunges at the men who are roughly holding back her Dad, only to be grabbed harshly by the hair.
Rumlow as the culprit, his fingers enclosed with brown locks, uses the momentum to yank the child elsewhere onto the other side of the elevator. Dani's tiny body slams against the metal railing, her head making contact with the surface in the process, and a shrill gasp of pain emits from the young girl―feeling the side of her forehead coat with blood.
Steve grits out an angry yell, immediately delivering harsh blows to each of the men that charge at him, knocking some of them out while still being held in a headlock position.
Getting back onto her feet as quickly as possible, three other men grab onto Danielle only to regret it moments later when the pieces of the Tesseract react irrationally, trickling out of her skin and painfully electrocuting the ones who dare to touch her, causing them to hiss in pain.
Then one by one, Captain America kicks, punches, and flips each man over that comes his way.
Although being outnumbered, the Super Soldier successfully fights them off.
Brock Rumlow kicks the other restraint that had fallen on the floor at Steve's hand that chains him to the wall, leaving the man dangling.
He then proceeds to shove the cow prodder at the blonde, missing once but then successfully jabbing him in the side―the electricity making a sound and Steve clenches his teeth.
The Spangled Man elbows Rumlow off of him, and Dani closes her eyes before using her stinging abilities by placing a hand on the other two men who try to zap her Dad.
Her instead giving them the zaps.
With one movement, the blue energy of the ForeField immerses inside the two men, knocking them into the wall and out cold.
The little girl heaves heavily in exhaustion, backing up in a slower motion only to be grabbed by her long wavy brown hair again... by Rumlow―who sports many cuts and bruises from Captain Rogers.
Steve jumps up onto the wall, using his whole body to rip the wristband he has on, off and does a backflip―elbowing and then uppercutting two more agents―throwing one as he turns to Rumlow, who grasps fist fulls of his daughter's brown hair.
His neck twitches angrily.
"Woah, big guy," Rumlow breathes, pushing a hand out in front of him while the nine-year-old he terrorizes lets out a high-pitched scream in protest.
Steve's expression flares angrily, his tone of voice deadly, "Let go of her."
Rumlow smiles at the rile brought out the blonde, the reason being for the torment brought onto his daughter, and the man trails off, "I just want you to know, Cap, this isn't personal―!"
He lunges at the blonde who fights him off, Dani being shoved back into the wall again as she groans a little.
The dark-haired man jabs the prodder twice into Cap's side, who aggressively throws him into the ceiling and he crashes into the lights―falling down in front of the two.
"It kind of feels personal." He mutters to himself before kicking his shield back onto his arm and using it to break off the restraint on his wrist.
All while each of the men who came after the father and daughter, lay unconscious on the floor.
The little girl exhales loudly, squeezing her eyes shut as she touches the brim of her forehead―a medium-sized gash appearing. Her shoulders are suddenly grabbed and the next thing she knows Steve Rogers is desperately checking her over for any other injuries, giving an exhale of his own when he doesn't find any.
Dani reopens her green eyes to look into his blue ones, full of concern, and anger.
When he tries to touch the wound on her head, she winces abruptly, backing away.
"Just let me see it, does it hurt?" the SuperSoldier asks her worriedly, and she shakes her head.
"No," the little girl replies quickly, "It'll be fine. I'll heal."
But his large hands continue to push the recently aching pieces of hair out of her face, until Dani grabs at them, pulling them down gently.
"Dad, I'm okay, really." She tells him sincerely, trying to bring the man out of the protective paternal state because she knows that there are more important things to be dealt with.
Like getting out of here.
Like right now.
The blonde presses the pad of the elevator that opens the door, only to view more men all dressed in black gear―aiming guns at them.
"Drop the shield and put your hands into the air!"
Steve does a spin move in response, breaking the glass to the left of him which sends the elevator down abruptly―Dani gasping as she grabs onto the railing.
When the glass box stops moving, Cap and his Kid run forward to pry the doors open.
Well, the Super Soldier doing most of the work.
And to their luck, more men spot the two and begin to run at them―forcing Steve to push them back shut.
The young girl gives in to the panic, "What do we do?"
And the man looks over the railing to see a building below him, and formatively tightens his grip on the red, white, and blue shield.
He then approaches the shaky nine-year-old, lifting her effortlessly up onto his hip in one movement as she wraps her arms around his neck in response.
Steve glances at her, "Do you still trust me?"
Dani nods, tilting her head to the side, "More or less."
Agents are heard yelling from the other side of the door, "Give it up, Rogers! You and your daughter have nowhere else to go!"
"Hold on tight," He says breathily, before running at the window.
Danielle's stomach lurches, and she rapidly shoves her face into the crook of his neck.
Why did she tell him that?!
Cap and his Kid break through the glass of the elevator, falling through the air for a few seconds before plummeting through the building of the Triskelion and onto the floor.
Dani whines insufferably upon impact, picking herself up from previously laying on top of Steve, and her hands carelessly place themselves onto his chest in the process―"I didn't know you were going to do that!"
When the blonde suddenly begins to make sounds of pain at her putting all of her weight on him, the girl immediately retracts, apologizing, "Oh! Sorry, Dad!"
He pulls himself up almost directly following the child's movements, and an echo of surprise quickly escapes from her when she is swept onto her feet and the crowd of people watches as the duo make a break for it towards the exit.
"Lockdown the bridge." Jasper Sitwell instructs and the metal walls crunch together just as Captain America speeds out on his motorcycle, his Kid latched onto him from behind.
As the helmeted man steers the vehicle straight ahead, a S.H.I.E.L.D aircraft flies in front of the two, a voice verbalizing, "Captain Rogers and Cap's 'Kid', stand down."
Steve increases the speed on his ride, persevering through as the immense wind picking up flows through Dani's wavy―and as of late, grabbable―hair. A gun appears from underneath the jet and begins firing, instantly being blocked by the blue aura that cloaks the father, and is emitted from the daughter.
The motorcycle continues to propel the two forwards, the helmeted man now tossing his shield towards the aircraft in front of them―damaging the side of the jet.
The still bundled up girl keeps her ForeField on display, then is sure to knowingly readjust herself so that her small body is now in the place of the Captain's shield, on his back.
Her father then abandons his ride, and him and the nine-year-old flip onto the carrier―the SuperSoldier recollecting his weapon of choice and tossing it into the other weak point of the jet, causing it to malfunction.
From there the young man uses the momentum of his body to force the Quinjet down to a landing and then athletically jumps off of it, Dani still wrapped around his back as the blue energy begins to fade away―back into the child.
Using his shield to break the landing, Steve gives one last look before setting off into a sprint―still giving the little girl a piggyback ride as they now find themselves, on the run.
❀❀❀
Steve Rogers doesn't know how long he's been running for, but the outline of the hospital Nick Fury had died in hours ago coming into view sends a rush of relief throughout his entire body.
Now they could get that flash drive.
His big arms still covered by the tightness of his uniform, reposition themselves underneath the small legs belonging to none other than Dani Rockland-Rogers as she remains on his back, who from use of the sustainable energy source inside her―passed out temporarily.
It was obvious that the induced sleep wasn't exactly wanted from the little girl, knowing by now that she was only helplessly susceptible to witnessing and/or reliving the triggering episodes of her past if she closed her green eyes.
And unfortunately, that was what she caught glimpse of.
Steve feels Dani joltingly shudder while leaning against him.
He waits to see if it was just from slowing down his pace before spiraling into antics of worry, but that was proven to be rather useless at this point―as anyone could tell his watchful instincts were already severely activated since she told him that she was scared. Back at the hospital.
But to the blonde's dismay, the nine year old's head shoots up almost a millisecond later, her eyes adjusting to the light of the outside as a few heavy breaths are released.
"You all right, Munchkin?" He asks the little girl, turning his helmeted head as much as he can to look at her.
And she responds rather quietly, "Y-Yes," before insisting, "I feel better now, you don't have to carry me anymore."
The Captain stops moving his feet, agilely lowering himself towards the ground and carrying out the girl's request―unhooking his arms so that she could climb off of him.
Dani touches her forehead with one of her dainty hands, expecting to feel a gash, but doesn't.
As it had healed while she slept.
Steve stands up and the girl promptly walks to be next to him, grabbing onto his gloved hand.
"Dad, it healed." She tells him with such innocence as always, purity.
And it's―as always, too―a nice break from all that had just gone down, that being the reason for the man to develop a very small simpering smile―replying, "Good."
Once reaching the hospital, her Dad ushers them both into a random hallway, coming across a pile of clothes on a table. She watches with a careful gaze as he rummages through the clothes, finding a pair of sweatpants, sneakers, and a blue hoodie that looked around his size.
And the girl registers for the purpose of discarding their current uniforms/signature wear.
They are 'fugitives' for the moment and need to disguise themselves accordingly as they are currently being looked for.
Her green eyes snap up and out of a middle of daydreaming to look at a concentrated Steve Rogers who holds many shirts up to her, his brows furrowing when trying to determine which ones will fit her petite body... A bit of frustration seeping into him with the realization that the girl's very tiny and skinny form would have to make do with whatever child-designated items he could find at the moment.
He passes her a yellow hoodless sweatshirt that could practically swallow her whole, and the only other thing in the pile of clothes that might fit her―alone from the white shoes he also gave her, a pair of light-washed overalls.
"Put these on." He folds them together, handing her the fairly stylish outfit that she had never dreamed of wearing before, and the girl complies.
Steve throws the hood over his head, and immediate fears surge through him that the sneakers on his feet will fall off if he tries to run in them.
Dani comes into his view seconds later, the sweatshirt actually fitting the child quite nicely and the overalls―which are indefinitely too baggy, are unclipped, and the Captain right away notices his kid's expression of both irritation and confusion.
"I don't know how this works."
She cocks her head sideways, brows quirking and the blonde makes his way over, kneeling to her height and efficiently securing the top of the overalls over her shoulders. The white shoes oddly seem to fit as well, luckily, like they weren't going to fall off, and Steve walks back over to the door―looking outside to see if anyone was coming.
Dani watches him scan the table for any more articles of clothing for the girl, and then that's when he lays his eyes on a beanie. One that was red.
"Uh," the little girl starts, before the hat is spontaneously pulled over both of her ears and now staticky hair, "...Oh."
The disguised father and daughter speed walk through the halls of the hospital, both of their hands shoved into their pockets.
When they reach the vending machine, their gazes slowly fall when the chip given to Steve by Nick Fury, is not behind the pack of gum that had originally been covering it.
"Where did it go?" Dani whispers.
As if on cue, Natasha Romanoff is seen through the glass of the machine―blowing a bubble with the piece of gum guarding the flash drive.
Steve turns around quickly, standing tall and then harshly gripping onto the woman's arm, forcing her out of the hallway.
"Dad!" Dani blurts out nervously, her father pushing the redhead up against a wall and he rips off the hoodie used to disguise himself.
"Where is it?"
"Safe," she responds.
Steve's tone turns threatening, deadly once again, "Do better."
She looks into his blue eyes, "Where did you get it?"
And he bites back into her light green ones, "Why would I tell you?"
The child looks up at the ex-assassin and Captain, slowly beginning to back away from the commotion―feeling the tension in the room and disliking it very much. Not to mention the blue abilities within her reacting to the anxiety, making her restless.
"Fury gave it to you. Why?"
"What's on it?" He repeats himself.
She shrugs, "I don't know."
"Stop lying." Steve grits his teeth, fed up with people not being honest―something he strived to always be.
"I only act like I know everything, Rogers." Natasha states and the door jingles behind them, causing Dani to jump back forwards and Steve to look in that direction―settling when he doesn't see anyone.
The little girl ultimately decides to move away from the corner and closer to her Dad, who still has the young woman pinned against the wall as he continues to question her, "I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?"
Natasha's mouth gapes open before saying matter-of-factly, "Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in―so do you―"
"I'm not gonna ask you again!" Steve growls out, and Dani from behind steps forward.
"Please, Natasha," the nine-year-old begs, "We've already been tricked so many times today, and whatever you know―you must tell us!"
Both the adults find their expressions breaking for a moment, at the words of the young girl.
Who is caught up in this ordeal as well, and shouldn't be.
Natasha's green eyes soften at Dani's, and she tells them both, "I know who killed Fury."
A breath hitches in the child's throat and she swallows, trying desperately not to relive the memories of the Director's death.
The redhead shakes her head, "Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists."
"The ones that do, call him the Winter Soldier."
"He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last 50 years."
Steve's eyes narrow, "So he's a ghost story?"
Natasha nods, continuing, "Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. 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," the redhead lifts up her shirt to reveal a nasty scar, one that traces across her abdomen, "Straight through me. No rifling."
"Bye bye bikinis." She remarks in a low voice, smirking as a tinted red brow raises.
"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now." He responds monotonically, and Steve tilts his blond head slightly.
Natasha shakes her head, "Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried."
But Captain America lets go of her, and his gaze flickers between the two females, one being the Black Widow, and the other his adoptive daughter. Dani. His enhanced adoptive daughter.
And he affirms, "Well, let's find out what the ghost wants."
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Hehe, happy April also it's now the beginning of another month & one more closer to my birthday so yay I guess, you know considering the circumstances and all.
Love you guys though & thx for reading and all your support it means so much to me.
I've always wanted to write a series like this and your reads and votes I am so thankful for, so thank you!
It's been a pleasure,
-Alessandra ❤️