Secrets | Steve Rogers

12

"It was him. He looked right at me like he didn't even know me."

Steve stares at the ground. Still unable to process what happened.

"How is that even possible? It was, like, 70 years ago," Sam says.

"Zola. Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43. Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him and..." Steve says.

"None of that's your fault, Steve," Lauren says, barely able to keep her eyes open.

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky."

Lauren leans her head back as she bites her bottom lip. She tries her best to block out the pain.

"We need to get a doctor here. If we don't put pressure on that wound, she's gonna bleed out here in the truck ",Sam says.

One of the guards stick a cattle prod in his face. But instead of hitting Sam, they hit the other guard and kick them in the face to knock them out. The guard takes off their helmet to reveal an ally.

"That thing was squeezing my brain."

They escape by cutting a hole through the bottom of the van. Maria guides them to the hideout as Steve carries Lauren in his arms. Maris rushes them inside. 

The red headed Russian spy meets them at the gate to help them in.

" Where the hell have you been?" Steve asks.

" Don't worry about it," Natasha responds.

"GSW. She's lost at least a pint," Maria says to the doctor.

"Maybe two,"  Sam adds.

"Let me take her," The doctor says.

"She'll want to see him first," Maria says.

"W-Whose him? Maria... whose him."

Maria leads them to a corner in the hide out and pulls back the dirty curtain to reveal Nick Fury laying down in a hospital bed.

"About damn time," He says.

They're all shocked, but this is somewhat believable.

" I have to check her wounds," The doctor says.

Steve's grip on her only tightens, but he sets her down. The doctor tends to her wounds as everyone else sits down around a table.

"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache," Fury lists off.

" Don't forget your collapsed lung," The doctor says.

"Let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good," Fury says.

"They cut you open. Your heart stopped," Lauren says.

"Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse down to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him but we found a use for it," Fury says.

"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Steve asks.

"Any attempt on the Director's life had to look successful," Maria says.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead. Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust," Fury says.

" Did you know?" Lauren asks her best friend.

" Not at first," Natasha responds.

Later on, Maria brings out files and hard ware.

"This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize," Fury says as he holds up a picture of Pierce," He said peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility. See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

"We have to stop the launch,"  Natasha says.

"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore," Fury says as he opens up a case.

"Once the helicarriers reach 3,000 feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized," Maria says.

"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own," Fury says.

" One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational, a whole lot of people are gonna die," Maria says.

"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA. We have to get past them, insert these server blades. And maybe, just maybe we can salvage what's left...," Fury starts.

"We're not salvaging anything. We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick. We're taking down S.H.I.E.L.D.," Steve says.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with this," Fury states.

"You gave me this mission. This is how it ends. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been compromised. You said so yourself. HYDRA grew right under your nose and nobody noticed," Steve implies.

"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? I noticed," Fury argues.

" How many paid the price before you did?"

"Look, I didn't know about Barnes."

Natasha and Lauren share a look.

"Even if you had, would you have told me? Or would you have compartmentalized that, too? S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA, it all goes."

"He's right," Maria says.

Fury looks over to Lauren and Natasha. All they do is lean back in their chairs. Then he looks over at Sam.

"Don't look at me. I do what he does, just slower," Sam says.

"Well... it looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain."