Schism In The Safe Place

Chapter 9

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

"How's that possible?" Sam was as confused as the rest of us. "It was like seventy years ago."

"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..."

"None of this is your fault, dad."

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky." Nat grunted in pain, and I looked over to see blood coating her shoulder.

"We need to get a doctor here. We don't put pressure on that wound, she's gonna bleed out here in the truck." The guards didn't react.

"Sam, they don't care either way," I sighed. Suddenly, the guard next to Nat pulled out an electric rod and struck the other one with it, knocking him out. We all looked at the guard in confusion, and they removed their helmet, revealing that the guard was actually Agent Hill.

"Ah. That thing was squeezing my brain." She and Sam looked at each other, wildly confused. "Who's this guy?"

"Sam Wilson. He's been helping us out." Agent Hill nodded and got up.

"We need to go, now." She pulled out some sort of heating device and carved a hole in the floor of the van, allowing the five of us to crawl out and escape. My father picked up Nat so she wouldn't push herself as we followed Agent Hill to some sort of secret facility. A man ran up to us.

"GSW. She's lost at least a pint," Agent Hill informed us.

"Maybe two."

"Let me take her."

"She'll want to see him first." We all looked at each other in confusion as my father set Nat down and we followed Agent Hill to a room all the way in the back. She looked over all of us before opening the door and let us in. There, Director Fury was laid out on a bed, alive. My jaw dropped and I looked around at the others.

This had been a really weird day.

"About damn time."

"Wha- how?" Doctors came in to start treating Nat's wound.

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

"Don't forget your collapsed lung," one of the doctors reminded.

"Oh, let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good."

"They cut you open, your heart stopped."

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

"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?"

"Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful."

"Can't kill you if you're already dead. Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust." We all looked at each other and smiled. There was a warm feeling to knowing Director Fury could trust us. But I still couldn't get past the fact that I couldn't get into Bucky's mind. It was no different from when I tried to get Banner to calm down when he turned into the Hulk. I couldn't get into his mind because he himself didn't have control over it when he was the Hulk.

Maybe... maybe Bucky didn't have control over his mind, either...

"This man declined a Nobel Peace Prize." I looked over to see Director Fury holding a photo of Mr. 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."

"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore." Director Fury opened up a case that contained three chips.

"What's that?"

"Once the Helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites becoming fully weaponized."

"We need to breach those carriers and replace those targeting blades with our own."

"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."

"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is H.Y.D.R.A. We need to get past them, insert the server blades, and maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left..."

"We're not salvaging anything," my father snapped. "We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick, we're taking down S.H.I.E.L.D."

"S.H.I.E.L.D has nothing to do with it."

"You gave us this mission, this is how it ends," I piped up. "S.H.I.E.L.D's been compromised, you said so yourself. H.Y.D.R.A grew right under your nose and nobody noticed."

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

"And how many paid the price before you did?" Director Fury seemed to know what my father was referring to.

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

"Even if you had, would you have told me? Or would you have compartmentalized that, too?" Director Fury didn't respond. "S.H.I.E.L.D, H.Y.D.R.A, it all goes."

"He's right," Agent Hill confirmed. He looked from Nat, to Agent Hill, and then to Sam, who shrugged.

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

"Well... Looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain." My father stood in thought for a moment before looking down at me.

"I need you to stay away from Bucky, whatever you do." I furrowed my brows and tried to control my temper.

"What? Why?"

"I don't want him to end up hurting you. Neither of us would forgive ourselves."

"That's not fair. He didn't try to kill me. He never even shot at me! He just... looked at me. It was like he didn't want you hurt me."

"Did you make him not see you?" Sam asked. Everyone was intrigued at this point.

"No. I couldn't get into his head. It was like he didn't have control over his mind." I sighed. "Someone else has control over Bucky, and I have an idea of who it is." I looked my father straight in his eyes. "I need you to get me as close to Pierce as possible."