Schism In The Safe Place

Chapter 5

 "He gave me a chance," I whispered, back in my father's grip. "I killed and I destroyed... and he made me part of the Avengers. He gave me my family, and a chance to start over. I owe him a universe of gratitude." Agent Hill came in.

"I need to take him." My father approached Nat to get her to move.

"Natasha." She uncrossed her arms and stormed from the room. "Natasha!"

"Why was Fury in your apartment?"

"I don't know," my father lied.

"Cap, Elanor." We turned around to see Rumlow leading part of the S.T.R.I.K.E team. "They want you back at S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Yeah, give us a second."

"Okay." We turned back to Nat.

"You're a terrible liar."

"S.T.R.I.K.E Team, escort Captain and Elanor Rogers back to S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters for questioning."

"I told them." My father took my hand and we obeyed orders.

"Let's go."

"Yeah."

"S.T.R.I.K.E, move it out."

A strange man entered the room to question me as I chomped furiously on a piece of gum.

"Elanor Rogers, I'm Alexander Pierce. It's a pleasure." He extended his hand out for me to shake, but I just glared at him. "Ah, they warned me that you're stubborn."

"Sorry I won't be of much help, then," I shrugged. He sighed and pulled out a set of pictures, handing them to me. The first one caught my eye: this man- Alexander Pierce- and Director Fury shaking hands.

"That photo was taken five years after Nick and I 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. Nick was a Deputy Chief of the S.H.I.E.L.D station there, and he comes to me with a plan. He wants to storm the building through the sewers. I said- I'm sorry, can you spit out the gum?" I laughed and sat back in the chair.

"I guess they haven't told you much about me. I chew this gum, I stay calm. I can move and kill things without anyone knowing it was me. Trust me when I say the chewing is the least of your problems." He straightened slightly and continued his story.

"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 did they find? They find it empty. Nick 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 him a promotion."

"I've never had any cause to regret it. Elanor, why was Nick in your father's apartment last night?"

"I don't know," I shrugged.

"Did you know it was bugged?"

"Nope." Mr. Pierce rolled his eyes and pulled up some video feed. A man was interrogating that stupid pirate we'd stopped on the Lemurian Star the other night.

"Who hired you, Batroc?"

"Is that live?"

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

"Are you saying he's a suspect? Assassination isn't in 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." My eyes went wide. "The last one going to a holding company that was registered to a Jacob Veech."