Silent Night • An Avengers Story

Harm-Part 3

"Are you sure it's okay for me to be out here?"

"Yea...kind of. They said you weren't allowed toward major populated cities. I'm pretty sure this isn't majorly populated. I'm pretty sure this is deserted, actually." Steve said as they trudged through the snow.

Trish wrapped her arms around herself, not for being cold but for comfort as they were out here with seemingly nothing but the white blankets surrounding them.

Steve noticed her stance. "You cold?" He asked in surprise, stopping to bring her closer. Trish smiled at his gentlemen nature when he rested his arms on her, she supposed as a way to help of his assumption she was cold.

"No. Just a little...nervous." She explained and Steve nodded. "Don't worry, I won't let anything harm you, doll." Trish smiled again at the nickname the super soldier had already attached her to so quickly as he reached his hand out to her, completely ignoring the other word that once made her mind flash rapidly to her days as a killer.

The former assassin took it and they continued trudging up the hill of snow, their hands not once letting go throughout the trek.

~

"I think this is it."

Trish squinted through the snow flurries, brushing them out of her hair, huffing quietly.

The two super soldiers had been walking for about an hour and luckily with the serum running through their veins, they weren't quite affected by the cold yet.

But that still didn't stop Trish from the thought of a nice hot shower.

Trish almost immediately recognized the doors as the ones she once was forced to call home and she grew nervous, looking up at Steve.

"Don't worry. SHIELD cleared it out and secured it as one of our own. They just haven't had the chance to go through to look what HYDRA left behind." Steve explained as they approached the door, Trish's hand squeezing his harder.

Steve looked down at the former assassin. "You don't have to come in if you don't feel comfortable. JARVIS can help me navigate to find what we need quickly so you wouldn't have to wait for too long." Trish thought about the offer for a brief moment, her mind racing with her memories of the haunting place before shaking her head.

"I think it would be better for me to face it rather than run." She said and Steve smiled lightly. "You're brave, you know that?" He said and Trish shrugged.

"Says the one who's punched Adolf Hitler over 200 times."

Steve cracked a bigger smile as he squeezed her hand lightly. "Let's get to looking, doll."

~

Trish stuck close to Steve, her hand usually resting on him somewhere as he searched through files upon files in the base.

"Hey, here's something...I think." Steve said after an hour or two of searching. He turned the file toward Trish, her eyes popping open a bit more as she touched the image of her face on the front of the paper.

"Do you wanna open it?" He asked and Trish hesitated before nodding. Steve stood behind the former assassin's shoulder as she slowly opened it, eyes scanning the page slowly.

"Wow, you're old as hell."

Trish shot Steve a look. "Pot call the kettle black." She signed and Steve cracked a smile. "1922 isn't that bad. Mine is 1918." Steve said and Trish rolled her eyes.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing to tell Bruce and the others so we can have it on record." Steve said as he scanned over it. "April 17th, 1922." He repeated out loud before turning to look around some more.

"Guess we could at least explore a bit more while we're here. We got some time to kill." The super soldier said as he turned his head toward Trish again. "Is that alright with you, doll?" He asked nicely and Trish gave a small smile and nodded before Steve wandered off.

Trish searched through files, recognizing a lot as targets HYDRA had, some she had even helped them threatened but nothing interesting.

Until a file of one man came up.

She stared at it, not even knowing how long she was staring at it without even opening it when a tap on her shoulder made her jump out of her trance.

"Shit, sorry. Are you okay?" Steve asked as she looked up at him. He frowned deeply. "Why're you crying?" He asked, making Trish wonder why she was crying.

"I don't know." She signed as she looked back down at the file. "I think I knew him." She said, running a hand over the picture. Steve looked at it then back up at the former assassin.

"Do you wanna take it with us?"

Trish thought for a moment, about to answer before the door to the room busted open with a loud 'bang!' and Trish jumped into a fighting stance faster than light it seemed, the file dropping to the floor.

"Get down on the ground, now!" A SHIELD agent yelled as he was followed by about ten others, guns pointing at the former assassin.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, she's with me!" Steve said, immediately jumping in front of Trish with his arm reaching behind him to hold onto her as he pushed her behind his own body.

Trish was panting heavily, her fist still up slightly and clenched tightly that she felt blood trickling from her nails sinking into her skin.

"Captain Rogers, step away from the subject."

"I'm not doing that, and she's not a subject."

"Alright, where's the—" The black man in a trench coat that walked through the agents stopped when he saw Steve standing into front of Trish, her wide eyes peering over his shoulder.

"Motherfucker—"

"Oh, hey Fury."