Guardian Angel | Steve Rogers

6

Arden lingered in the hallway before going in to Sam's room. When she heard the bathroom door open, watching Nat walk out, she peeked in the room.

"Go ahead." Steve insisted, Arden was quick to go in, shutting the door behind her.

She looked in the mirror sighing, lightly squeezing the edges of the sink counter.

"Get it together, Arden." She whispered to herself, letting out a breath.

Once she cleaned up, she walked out into the bedroom, squeezing the water out of her hair while Steve freshened up with the door open. He looked at her in the mirror, seeing she was in a daze.

"You okay?" Steve asked gently, walking out of the bathroom in his beater top.

"Yeah." She answered.

She swallowed, looking back down as she rubbed the towel in her hair. Looking up again as Steve took a seat beside her on the edge of the bed.

"What's going on?" He asked lightly, looking into her eyes.

"You know, when I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. I thought I would be doing something good for the world. I thought I knew whose lies I was telling, but I can't tell anymore." She expressed.

"There's a chance you might be in the wrong business." Steve teased, smiling weakly at her.

"If it was the other way around, and it was down to me to save your life. Would you trust me? Be honest." Arden looked at him seriously.

"I would now." He answered. "And I'm always honest." He smirked.

"You're in a pretty good mood for someone who died for nothing." She added, smirking back.

"Well, guess I'd just like to know who I'm fighting." He comments, leaning back.

"I made breakfast. If you guys eat that sort of thing." Sam appeared in the room, looking at the both of them before exiting.

They were both quick to get up, to ignore the tension that increased in the room between them.

"So who at S.H.I.E.L.D. could launch a domestic missile strike?" Arden changed the subject, leaning against the counter.

"Pierce." Steve answered, shaking his head.

"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world." Nat commented.

"There's no way he's working alone. Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star."

"So was Jasper Sitwell." Arden remembered, looking at Natasha and Steve.

"So, the real question is, how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer in broad daylight?" Steve mentions.

"The answer is, you don't." Sam jumps in, tossing a file onto the table in front of Natasha and Steve.

"What's this?" Steve questions, picking up the file.

"Call it a resume." Sam answered.

Natasha grabbed the file, picking up a picture. "You didn't say he was a Pararescue."

"Is this Riley?" Steve asks Sam, and he nods.

"And there's Arden." Natasha comments, picking up another photo. "You know everyone or what?"

Steve grabs the photo, looking at it closely as Natasha points her out, and looks up at Arden.

Arden glances at Sam before looking back at Steve, nodding. "I was undercover for IMF, as the team's lead tech analyst."