My Star Spangled Hero

Chapter 10

What is a team? Is it just a group of people you're stuck with? Or maybe it's an unspoken alliance or truce. I'm not really a team player, another thing my brother and I have in common. But if my life, S.H.I.E.L.D's future and the lives of innocent people are at risk I might be willing to make an exception. This team...my team was much more then just a group of agents. They were family.

I woke up in the all to familiar white room and began to freak out a little. I was in a hospital.

"Whoa, calm down" I heard a raspy female next to me. I turned to see Natasha sitting next to my bed. "You scared us half to death" she said.

"Us?" I asked.

"Steve and I. He's outside but I thought we could talk before he came in. What happened?" She asked. I went on to explain the S.T.R.I.K.E teams attack on Steve and I In the elevator. She sat patiently and listened to every word.

"Do you have the USB?" I asked sitting up further. She nodded and tapped her pocket. "I think it's time we used it" I muttered.

"The doctors said that you could go when you woke up" she said. I nodded and looked down at my chest. I could see a bloody bandage but that's all. I stood up slowly and Nat helped me to balance without falling over. She knew how big of a klutz I was. After I was on my feet she let me go.

"Where's Steve?" I asked, trying to hide the fact my head was spinning. I could tell by Nat's expression I wasn't doing a good job at hiding it but there were more important things to worry about. Nat looked outside.

"Gone, probably to the bathroom" she said casually. I nodded and made my way to the door. Sure enough Steve was nowhere to be seen.

"Gimme the USB" I said, holding out my hand. Nat reached into her pocket and pulled out the silver drive. She raised her eyebrows. "Please..." I added. Nat tossed me the USB and being...me...I dropped it. I quickly bent down the pick it up and felt a pain in my chest. I winced and stood up, the USB trapped in my firm grip.

"Maybe you should get some rest..." Nat muttered before I cut her off.

"Is the winter soldier resting? No. He's planning my death. And S.H.I.E.L.D sure as hell isn't going to wait for me to heal to try and kill us all" I said sternly. My rambling went on for a while, Nat just stood there listening. I finally finished with "so I'm not going to sit down while everyone's busy trying to save or destroy the world".

"Are you done?" Nat asked patiently. I thought for a second.

"Yeah, I think so" I said a lot calmer then I was before.

"Good. Because I was going to say that I agree and that if you're up for it, we can get out of here" she said. I smiled as the two of us walked out. "Gum?" Nat offered holding out a square of Hubba Bubba. I look it and put it in my mouth. As we passed the vending machine I could see Steve staring at the display. Right where the gum and USB were. For dramatic effect I moved behind him and popped a bubble. He saw me and turned furious. He grabbed me gently and pushed me against the wall.

"Watch it. I'm shot remember" I said, a little pissed off.

"How did you get it!" He demanded. I couldn't help but scoff.

"Loose change and two packets of gum. I guess I just got the prize" I said with a shrug.

"Where is it?!" He spat. In reply I tapped my pocket.

"Don't worry. It's safe. Why did Fury give it to you?" I demanded. I could feel his grip loosening.

"What's on it?" He asked again, a little less infuriated.

"I don't know. Nat and I agreed that we shouldn't look...Yet" I said. He raised his eyebrows in disbelief. Clearly he knows Tony to well. "The Stark family only pretend to know everything. Now let me go" I said. He dropped his hands and stuck them in his pocket.

"Rogers. Stop acting like an insecure jerk. She's telling the truth" says Nat. Steve scoffs.

"Of corse. You two together. I should have known. It was probably you who set up that attack" said Rogers.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

"Don't play dumb" he snarled. I was taken a back before I responded.

"I know who killed Fury. He's name is the Winter Soldier. A ghost tale some believe. One that's been hunting me for weeks. One that seems to want my head on his wall" I said lifting up my sleeve to show him the gash the killer gave me in the bathroom the day Nick died.

"He's been credited with over 2000 assassinations in the past 50 years" Nat said from behind but Steve didn't turn or even acknowledge her. He was too focused on me.

"So you're saying a ghost wants you dead" Steve said. I pulled out the USB and held it up.

"Sounds about right" I said raising my eyebrows at him. Steve stared at me for a few seconds before taking the USB.

"There's no point going after him. I've tried. He'll come when he wants to. Until then there's no point in tracking him. We'll just waste time" said Nat.

"You two haven't opened this USB?" He asked me, once again ignoring Nat.

"Haven't found the right time" I said. Steve let out a small smile.

"Let's see what this ghost wants" he said before pulling me into a hug. And with that our team grew. We had Black Widow, Captain America and a Stark. We were unstoppable.

Or so I thought.