『ᴀʀᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇʟ || ᴀ ᴍᴀʀᴠᴇʟ ꜰᴀɴꜰɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴ

Ch. 17: Lost

Broken.

That's what I felt like.

Standing with Steve, Natasha, and Maria - one of Fury's most trustworthy agents directly under him - in a room filled to the brim with silence.

It's suffocating me. Suffocating them.

Sudden, too.

Maria spoke up, her voice weak and raw, "I need to take him."

Staring at the lifeless body in front of me, my lips quivered as I leaned back against a wall, putting my head in my hands as I stared at him.

Fury. I wasn't there to help him.

No, Nicole- stop beating yourself up over it. You wouldn't have been able to help Fury.

That's a lie.

I could've done something.

I whipped myself to face Maria, my blue eyes clouded and glassy from tears, "Why? Why didn't they let me help?"

"You're not a doctor, Arch-"

"I know I'm not a doctor, but I could've healed his injuries! It would've at least guaranteed his survival!"

She didn't respond, and looked away from me, her own lip quivering as she shut her eyes, tears pushing through her long lashes.

I watched as Natasha and Steve walked out of the room, and I followed after them, ignoring Maria looking after me as I stalked after them.

"Natasha," Steve called after her.

She turned around, looking at him before quickly glancing at me, then back to him, "Why was Fury in your apartment?"

He sighed, shrugging, "I don't know."

"Cap, they want you back at SHIELD," Rumlow, leader of STRIKE, a SHIELD force came from behind me.

"Yeah, give me a second," Steve replied.

"No, they want you now."

I glared at him, muttering things under my breath before walking closer to Natasha and Steve, waving Rumlow off with a flick of my hand and turning back to them. Natasha had a small grin on her face, "You're a terrible liar."

She walked away, leaving Steve and I in the hallway together as we watched her. I looked at Steve with a raised brow before poking at him, whispering quietly, "Fury went to you, didn't he?"

He looked towards me, "What do you mean?"

"Something went wrong. Something really went wrong. He went to you. Question is: why?" I muttered, before turning to look at Steve, a small smile creeping its way onto my face, "Remember- offer still stands. Phone a friend. Make sure you trust them, though."

"What-"

"Seems like you don't completely trust me," I nodded to him, putting my hands into the pockets of my jeans, walking away from him as I left him there.

He wasn't open to telling me what was wrong. I'm fine with that.

. . .

I met up with Natasha later on, since she asked me to meet up with her. Something about Steve and something she found.

She was very, very vague.

I walked into the hospital room she told me about, seeing the door open. I peaked inside to see Steve pinning her against a wall, "Where is it?"