The back of a S.H.I.E.L.D. Van
ELLIOTT'S POV
My eyes stayed fixated on Natasha, she looked pale, I probably looked as bad as her but I don't care about myself at this point, only her.
"It was him" I finally looked away from her, Steve sat in front of us, his gilt ridden face, a lot is probably going through his head right now, seeing someone you thought was dead is not easy to digest.
"He looked right at me like he didn't even know me"
Sam spoke up from my left side. "How's that even possible? It was, like, 70 years ago" Sam questioned.
"Zola, Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43. Zola experimented on him. What ever his did helped Bucky survive the fall, they must of found him and..." Steve said quietly.
"None of that's your fault Steve" Natasha spoke for the first time we were in here, her voice not having much into it, the loss of blood kicking in.
"They used Cryo-freezing Chambers, they put us to sleep until they needed us, we don't age when we're in there" I explained groggily, the lightheadedness from blood loss making everything spin, it felt like I was going to vomit up all my organs.
"Even when I had nothing I had Bucky" Steve mumbled.
Sam turned his head towards me and Natasha, noticing the blood going down Natasha and my shoulder, if I wasn't enhanced i probably would of been dead by now from my 3 gunshot wounds. Sam turned back to the guards. "We need to get a doctor here. If we don't put pressure on their wounds, their gonna bleed out here in the truck—" Sam was cut off by the guard starting up it's electrical baton.
"Good try man" I thanked Sam.
What took place next surprised the hell out of me, that same guard plunged the baton into the others guards chest then kicking him in the head nocking him out. "Well I'll be damned" how did I not notice the persons sent.
When the guard removed its helmet, it was none other then Maria hill. "Ah. That thing was squeezing my brain"
Maria looked between me and Steve, I'm guessing she doesn't know about Sam, and i also noticed a shift in Sam, dose he like her? Oh this'll be fun.
"Who's this guy?"
I shrugged. "A turtle" she didn't look to amused. "Okay forget I said that, just please take off this damn collar and get us outa here"
_________________________________
Undisclosed area
A water dam
"GSW. They've lost at least a pint" hill yelled loudly.
"Maybe two" Sam added.
"Maybe five" I mumbled groggily, Sam was helping me keep my balance, while Steve was helping Natasha.
a man ran up to us. "Let me take them!"
"They'll want to see him first" hill responded.
Him? Who's him. "Who?" I raised an eyebrow.
Maria ignored me and continued to lead us down the hallway until we made it to a small room and in that room...well damn, I guess he can't die. "About damn time" fury was alive.
"Over here" the doctor led Natasha and I to a seat, we sat down next to each other hand in hand. I told the doctor to work on Natasha first saying that I'll be fine for another hour at the least, a perk of being an enhanced human.
"So what the hell happened to you?" I asked fury, the shock settling in that he's alive.
"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache" fury explained his wounds, damn that doesn't sound like a fun night. "Don't forget your collapsed lung" the doctor added along to that list.
"Let's not forget that, otherwise, I'm good" fury sighed.
Natasha looked up to fury, her eyes full of Curiosity. "They cut you open. Your heart stopped"
"That's the real question with no simple answer—"
Fury cut me off. "Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so grate for him, but we found a use for it"
"Well I was wrong" I nodded pressing my lips into a thin line.
"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Steve asked standing to my right.
"Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful" hill explained.
"Can't kill you if you're already dead, besides I wasn't sure who to trust" fury added.
"Even if we trust someone, there's a Lot to be Learned from That person" I said. The doctor finished with Natasha's wounds, along with mine.
I placed my hand onto Natasha's shoulder giving it a light squeeze. "You feeling any better?" She looked up to meet my eyes, her lips pulled into a smile.
"Always" she placed her head on my shoulder, nuzzling into my neck.
"We really need to have a serious talk about your, almost getting killed fetish" I joked as I messed with her red hair.
A small laugh left her pink lips. "Well can we talk about the adventures of Elliott and Steve jumping out of an elevator to their death?" Her eyes flicked up to meet mine.
"Not letting that one go anytime soon are we?" I chuckled.
"Never" she whispered into my ear, her breath against my neck. "You'll regret that" I said playfully.
She scoffed. "Sure"
I placed my hand onto her cheek. "Oh you will regret ever making fun of me" someone cleared their throat a few feet away from us, I looked away from nat noticing Steve was still standing their, his body language showed he was very uncomfortable. Fury, Sam, and hill were gone. Wait when did fury get up?
"Fury wanted to Uh talk" Steve said trying to act like he didn't just see what he saw. I nodded in understanding. "Cool" he quickly walked away from us. I chuckled at caps embarrassed demeanor.
after that Natasha and I made our way to the different room, we sat at a wooden table with fury, briefcases scattered around the table.
I stood next to Sam, behind Natasha who sat down on one of the chairs, my hands placed softly on her shoulders. Steve stood across the table next to hill.
Fury held a picture of pierce in his hands. "This man declined the noble peace prize. He said peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility" he threw the picture onto the table, he leaned forward onto the table. "See it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues"
"We need to stop the launch, if we don't it could end very badly" I spoke, if they get going with this, millions of people will die.
"I don't think the council's accepting my calls anymore" fury opened on of the briefcases reveling 3 micro chips. "What's that?" Sam asked.
"Once the helicarriers reach 3,000 feet, they'll triangulate with insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized" hill turned over a laptop showing a grid of the carrier's and satellites.
"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own" fury added on.
"One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because even if one of those ships remains operational—"
"A whole lot of people are gonna die"I finished hills sentence, she nodded, agreeing with me.
"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is hydra. We have to get past them, insert the server blades. And maybe, just maybe we can salvage what's left—" Nick was cut off by a Steve using a loud stern voice. "We're not salvaging anything, we're not just taking down the carriers, Nick. We're taking down S.H.I.E.L.D."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. Had nothing to do with this—" again he was cut off by steve. "You gave me this mission. This is how it ends, S.H.I.L.E.D.'s been compromised. You said so yourself"
"Steve's right sir, hydra grew right under your nose and nobody noticed" I said, this earned a glare from fury. "Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? I noticed"
"How many people payed the price before you did?" Steve questioned him.
"Look, I didn't know about Barnes" fury answered.
"Even if you had, would you have told me?" I noticed Steve also looked at me. "Or would you have compartmentalized that too?"
"I didn't know you knew winter, if I did I would of told you first thing when I met you" I said quietly, Natasha placed her hand on top of mine.
Steve looked back to fury. "S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA, it all goes"
"He's right" hill spoke quietly, she agreed.
Nick looked around, he looked at each one of us, Sam was the only one to talk when fury's eyes landed on him. "Don't look at me. I do what those two do, just slower"
Fury looked back to steve, fury sighed, leaning back into his chair. "Well. . .it looks like your giving the orders now, Captain"
Steve looked around at us. "You got it man" I smiled, I agree, Steve is one hell of a leader.
He nodded before he turned on his heels, leaving the room. Sam took off to follow him.
I groaned softly in pain, the burns from a few days ago still hurting, add that with 3 gun shot wounds, it's not fun.
"So Miller, you knew Bucky Barnes?" Maria asked.
"I knew him, the real him, this thing they turned him into isn't Bucky" I confirmed. They made the brain washing a lot worse since I left.
A few minutes later steve came back down, and boy oh boy he wanted to do some more dumb stuff. "So let me get this straight, you want me to help YOU, get your old uniform from the Smithsonian?"
Steve shrugged. "Yeah, basically"
I sighed. "Ah what the hell, I've done worse"