Viper

Chapter 4: Dead...

(Steve's POV)

I've been standing here watching them try to save my "boss." I hate all of this secrecy, but I'd do anything to keep my sister safe. But now, I may have failed. Nat walks in.

"Is she going to make it?"

"I don't know."

"Tell me about the shooter."

"He's fast. Strong. Had a metal arm."

Hill and Fury walk in, and Natasha focuses on what they have to say.

"Ballistics?"

"Three slugs, no rifling. Completely untraceable," Hill says.

"Soviet-made."

"Yeah," Fury agrees with Natasha's statement.

The nurses bring out a crash cart, and I deflate inside. My sister is going to die, I feel, but I have to hide my emotions since "I haven't known her very long."

"Don't do this to me, Liza— Don't do this to me, Liza. Don't do this to me," I can hear Natasha whisper. I walk out trying to cover up my tears. Maria follows shortly as does Nat. We are brought into a viewing room. Nat is by her body, and I am by the wall observing the drive. Fury walks in.

"Maria and I need to take her."

I nod and walk over to Nat.

"Natasha."

She places her hand on Liz's forehead, and she walks out. I quickly follow.

"Natasha!"

"Why was Jones at your apartment?"

"I don't know."

"Cap, they want you back at SHIELD."

"Yeah, give me a second."

"They want you back now."

"Okay."

"You're a terrible liar."

Nat walks away, and I turn to follow Rumlow. I hide the drive in a vending machine as I pass it.

"Let's go."

"Yeah."

"STRIKE, move it out."

I get to the top floor of the Triskelion just as Agent 13 is, apparently, leaving.

"Captain Rogers."

"Neighbor."

"Oh, Captain. I'm Alexander Pierce."

"Sir, it's an honor."

"The honor's mine, Captain. My father served in the 101st. Come on in. That photo was taken five years after Liz and I first met, when I was at State Department in Bogota. E.L.N. rebels took the embassy, and security got me out, but the rebels took hostages. Liz was Deputy Chief of the SHIELD station there, and she comes to me with a plan. She wants to storm the building through the sewers. I said, 'No, we'll negotiate.' Turned out the E.L.N. didn't negotiate, so they put out a kill order. They stormed the basement, and what do they find? They find it empty. Liz had ignored my direct order and carried out an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil, and saved the lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter."

"So you gave her a promotion?"

"I've never had any cause to regret it."

"Captain, why was Liz in your apartment last night?"

"I don't know."

"Did you know it was bugged?"

"I did, because Liz told me."

"Did she tell you she was the one who bugged it? I want you to see something."

"Is that live?"

"Yeah, they picked him up last night in a not-so-safe house in Algiers."

"Are you saying he's a suspect? Assassination isn't Batroc's line."

"No, no. It's more complicated than that. Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the Lemurian Star. And he was contacted by email and paid by wire transfer, and then the money was run through seventeen fictitious accounts. The last one going to a holding company that was registered to a Jacob Veech."

"Am I supposed to know who that is?"

"Not likely. Veech died six years ago. His last address was 1435 Elmhurst Drive. When I first met Liz, her sister (A/N: Becca Barnes in case you're wondering) lived at 1437."

"Are you saying Jones hired the pirates? Why?"

"The prevailing theory was that the hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence. The sale went sour and that led to Liza's death."

"If you really knew Elizabeth Jones, you'd know that's not true."

"Why do you think we're talking? See, I took a seat on the Council not because I wanted to, but because Liz asked me to, because we were both realists. We knew that, despite all the diplomacy, the handshaking, and the rhetoric, that to build a really better world sometime means having to tear the old one down."

I roll my eyes. Liz has never been like that. I've watched videos of her from all the years I've missed.

"And that makes enemies. Those people that call you dirty because you got the guts to stick your hands in the mud and try to build something better. And the idea that those people could be happy today makes me really, really angry. Captain, you were the last one to see Lizzie alive. I don't think that's an accident. And I don't think you do, either. So, I'm gonna ask again. Why was she there?"

"She told me not to trust anyone."

"I wonder if that included her."

"I'm sorry. Those were her last words. Excuse me."

"Captain, somebody murdered my friend, and I'm gonna find out why. Anyone gets in my way, they're gonna regret it. Anyone."

"Understood."