Artemis (Book 1)

Chapter Two

The car soon arrived at Steve's apartment building, Thea rushed out the car and ran up to Steve's floor. She passed Agent 13 who was waiting on the stairs, the Agent had been ordered to watch over Steve. She silently opened the door and found Steve talking with Fury. Fury was suddenly shot and Steve and Thea pulled him out of the way, in case there were anymore bullets. Steve went to find who had shot Fury but was stopped when Fury grabbed his arm and held out a USB stick. "Don't trust anyone." He said looking at both of them.
"Fury, hang in there." Thea muttered, hearing a banging at the door.
"Captain Rogers?" Agent 13 said entering. She spotted Steve looking around the corner. "Captain, I'm Agent 13 of SHIELD. Special Service."
"Kate?" Steve questioned confused.
"I'm assigned to protect you."
"On whose order?"
"His." Agent 13 revealed before approaching Fury's side. She pulled out a walkie talkie. "Foxtrot is down, he's unresponsive. I need EMTs."
"Do we have a 20 on the shooter?" Dispatch questioned.
"Tell him I'm in pursuit." Steve ordered, talking off.
"Sharon, what do we do?" Thea questioned.
"There's not much we can do. Does Captain Rogers have a first aid kit here?"
"No. He heals quicker than normal, he doesn't use one." Help soon arrived at they rushed Fury to the hospital. Thea gave herself the task of informing Natasha, wanting a distraction. "Hey Nat."
"Thea, what's wrong?"
"It's Fury. He visited Steve and was shot. He's being taken to the hospital now. I thought you should now, I don't think it's looking good."

Thea stood with Steve looking into the operating room when Natasha came rushing in. "Is he going to make it?" She questioned.
"I don't know." Steve replied.
"Tell me about the shooter."
"He's fast. Strong. Had a metal arm." Steve explained.
"Ballistics?" Natasha asked, having the same thought as Thea.
"Three slugs, no rifling." Maria Hill replied from beside Natasha. "Completely untraceable."
"Soviet-made." Natasha added.
"Yeah." Hill confirmed looking at Nat.
"He's in V-tach." A nurse said from inside the room.
"Crash cart coming in." Another nurse commented.
"Nurse, help me with the drape." The doctor ordered.
"Bp's dropping." The first nurse informed.
"Defibrillator!" The doctor called. "I want you to charge him at 100."
"Don't do this to me, Nick." Natasha muttered.
"Stand back." The doctor ordered. "Three, two, one. Clear." They shocked Nick but there were no positive changes. "Pulse?"
"No pulse."
"Okay, 200, please. Stand back! Three, two, one. Clear! Get me epinephrine! Pulse?"
"Negative."
"Don't do this to me, Nick. Don't do this to me." Natasha whispered.
"What's the time?" The doctor asked.
"1:03, Doctor." The second nurse informed.
"Time of death, 1:03 am." The doctor called.

Steve, Natasha and Thea were in a room where they could say their final goodbye to Fury. Thea and Natasha were stood next to his body, whilst Steve leaned against a wall. Hill walked in and stopped beside Steve. "I need to take him."
"Natasha, Thea." Steve said as he approached them. Natasha quickly left, trying to contain her emotions. "Thea." He said but followed Nat when he got no response.
"Thea, I have to take him now." Hill said, approaching Thea.
"I should have done something." Thea muttered, with tears building in her eyes. "I should have gone after the shooter. I would have made that bastard pay for what he's done." Thea noticed the veins on her wrist glowing red and quickly pulled down her sleeve, to cover them. "I still might." Thea stormed out the room and saw Steve looking at the vending machine. "You okay?"
"Yeah. I put it in the vending machine behind the gum." Steve whispered. "I have to go back to SHIELD for questioning, you okay."
"I will be. I have to get away from prying eyes. My secret is almost about to be revealed."
"Go." Thea was quick to leave the hospital, making sure to avoid all SHIELD agents.

Thea met up with Steve later and he was explaining what happened at SHIELD. "I talked to Alexander Pierce and everything seemed fine. As soon as I was in the elevator, more people kept enter in then they attacked me. A STRIKE team was waiting outside the elevator when I forced the doors opened. I had to jump through the glass to the ground. They sent a quinjet after me."
"ASH keeps me up to date with everything that happens in SHIELD. Jasper Sitwell was ordering the STRIKE team. Pierce just recently told everyone that you're a fugitive to SHIELD. They've put a manhunt out for you. We need to be very careful with what we do next."
"I can't ask you to come along with me."
"Good thing I wasn't asking for permission." Thea followed Steve threw the hospital to the vending machine. The USB was gone, but they noticed Natasha's reflection in the glass, blowing a bubble.

Steve forced Natasha into a room and pinned her against the wall. "Where is it?"
"Safe." Natasha answered vaguely.
"Do better."
"Where did you get it?"
"Why would I tell you?"
"Fury gave it to you." Natasha deducted. "Why?"
"What's on it?"
"I don't know."
"Stop lying."
"I only act like I know everything, Rogers."
"I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?"
"Well, it makes sense." Natasha said after hesitating. "The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so do you."
"I'm not going to ask you again."
"I know who killed Fury." Natasha revealed.
"We both do." Thea added from where she had been watching.
"Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists. The ones that do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last 50 years."
"So, he's a ghost story."
"Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out. But the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer so he shot him straight through me." Natasha revealed showing her scar. "Soviet slug. No rifling. Bye-bye, bikinis."
"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now."
"Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried." Natasha held up the USB. "Like you said, he's a ghost story." Steve took the USB.
"Well, let's find out what the ghost wants." The trio left the hospital, keeping a low profile. "How do you know about the Winter Soldier?" Steve asked Thea.
"When I first joined SHIELD I wanted to finish what you and the howling commanders started, I don't believe that HYDRA is dead. I suppose someone didn't like what I was doing, sent him after me. I managed to keep up with him but he was getting the upper hand. I distracted him long enough to disappear. I saw his eyes and something about them...I can't place where I've seen them."
"His eyes?" Natasha questioned.
"Yeah. They're like this piercing blue and I know I've seen them somewhere."
"That's odd." Natasha commented.
"I know."

They arrived at a mall and decided that Steve and Natasha would go in and Thea would keep watch outside. Thea had given Natasha an ear pierce so she could let them know if she sees anything. She approached a group that were hanging outside the mall. The group was a mix of male and female but mainly women so she decided to play scared and defenceless hoping they would help her. "Hi, I'm so sorry to bother you." Thea began, acting panicked as she scanned her surroundings. "This guy has been stalking me for a while, can I please stay with you guys? It will just be until my friends come to pick me up. Please."
"Yes, of course." One of the women said.
"Thank you." Thea mixed in with the group to hide from sight. She noticed the STRIKE team pulling up outside the mall. She kept her head down as they passed. "Nat, STRIKE team are here. Watch your back. Find a car and get me from the front."
"Okay." Natasha simply replied. Thea talked with the group whilst keeping an eye out for Steve and Natasha. She soon saw a car pull up outside but no one get out. "I see you made some friends. We're in the car that just pulled up."
"Guys, my friends are here. Thank you so much for helping me." She acted before making her way to the car. She climbed in the back and Steve immediately began driving. "That was horrible. I had to act defenceless and like I couldn't protect myself."
"Why were you with them?" Natasha questioned.
"I pretended some creepy guy was following me and I had friends coming to get me. STRIKE team wouldn't think that we would be around people like that."
"That's good thinking."
"I could have done more." Thea sighed and the car ride soon became quiet. Thea always felt like she never added as much as everyone else. The truth was that she didn't fully accept herself, therefore she could never reach her full potential.