The Last Roger (COMPLETED STORY)

Part 8: I'm Too Old For This

(Song: A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke)

Nat and Steve were on the run from SHIELD but found the flash drive that Nick gave Steve before he died. It led them to the base camp where Steve had trained. Wandering through the buildings of the now-abandoned camp, I drove up quietly before following my tracker on them into one of the buildings. Walking down the steps, I heard movement. "Steve? Nat? It's Mary. If it's not you then I'm getting tired of being shot at today so truce?" Nat came out with a gun first then Steve with his shield. Nat's gun is aimed at my head. "Put down the knives." Bending down slowly, I place the two knives in each of my hands on the ground before standing up slowly. "How do we know if we can trust you?" Steve asks me. I'm taken aback by this. I might have understood from Nat but not from Steve.

"You're kidding me right?" I say putting up my hands above my head.

Neither of them lowers their guard. My frustration starts showing in my tone "I've had to kill a few of my friends today or so I thought they were. How do I know you're not with the other side Steve? You sent me with the strike team that tried to kill me." "I didn't know any of this was going to happen and how the hell did you find us?" "Your compass," I mutter. He reaches for his pocket immediately. Pulling the compass out, he opens it to the picture of Peggy before peeling the picture away from the compass to find a small tracking device made by Tony. "Why did you put a tracker on me?" I glared at him "Because the last time I said goodbye to you I didn't see you for 70 years so excuse me if I take a few precautions to ensure I don't ever lose you again."

Steve pulls out the tracker "Put down the gun Nat." She lets it down slowly as I slowly put down my arms. Steve approaches me slowly "Are you hurt?" I shake my head as I pick up my knives. "I'm ok just...today has been a lot." He pulls me into a hug "Sorry about that." I hug him back "No I understand. I'd do the same thing." He lets go before Nat comes up to me "Smart on the tracker. Were you followed?" I shake my head "I wouldn't have led them here if I was." She nods slowly as we all venture deeper into the building. Steve finds a hidden elevator as we discuss what has happened throughout the day. Nat didn't have to deal with any goons only Steve did. The elevator dings before opening to a dark room "I'm not liking this already." I mutter.

We all walk slowly into the room before it comes to life. All the lights above us flick on, showing the ancient computer set up that surrounded us. "This can't be the data point, this technology is ancient." Nat talks as he looks at her phone, making sure we were in the right place. Upon further inspection of the computer, a relatively new flash drive port laid on the desk "Well that's not." I point out. Nat takes the drive and plugs it into the port. Everything comes to life. The camera on top of the computer moves around as a message displays on the computer. " initiate system?" Nat types in 'yes' before quoting 'War Games'. I chuckle at the reference. It's a good thing Nat is here, I might have gone insane by now. The computer pops up with Dr. Zola in poor green graphics. I don't like this.

"Rogers, Steven. Born, 1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born, 1984. Rogers, Mary. Born, 1922." The familiar voice of Dr.Zola speaks. "It's a recording." Nat says, trying to calm the nerves inside me that scream for me to destroy everything in this room "I am not a recording, Fräulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me, prisoner, in 1945, but I am." So much for comfort. The camera turns to me "Before Agent Rogers had me enlisted into the ranks of SHIELD." Steve and Nat glance back at me "Yeah not my finest moment looking back at it." I mutter as the machine talks on "But was the moment that Hydra needed." I raise my voice to the computer "I either killed or locked away any hydra agents in a hole so deep..." "You are mistaken. You only killed what we wanted you to see and locked away the ones that meant little to us. We have grown deep within SHIELD."

"I'll just have to take out a few more than I thought." My voice says cooley to the computer "Cut off one head, two more shall take its place." Steve places his hand on my shoulder, signalling for me to calm down as my breaths start becoming ragged. Taking a few steps back, Steve places himself in front of me "What's on this drive?" He asks Zola. "Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm." Project insight? The Helicarriers? That can't be good. "What kind of algorithm? What does it do?" Nat asks the very question I wanted to ask. "The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it."

The elevator door closes behind us. Steve tries to stop the doors from closing by throwing his shield but it closes faster than he could respond. Nat pulls out her phone. A sigh leaves me. I am getting too old for this. "We got a bogey. Short-range ballistic. 30 seconds tops." Zola starts up again "I am afraid I have been stalling..." My fist slams straight through the screen, cutting off Zola mid-sentence "Yay he's dead now. Plan?" Steve points to a well below the metal walkway. Throwing the metal aside as we all jump in together as Steve protects our head just as the building explodes. Bits of the building fall all around us as anything flammable catches fire. Everything stops shaking after a few minutes. "Steve?" I call out to him as I blink open my eyes "I'm good. Are you?" He's not looking to me but to Nat who has passed out.

I push him aside "Get us out of here. I'll get Nat." Using the combination of his strength and shield, he makes a path. SHIELD is right on our tails as we run into the night as the realization dawned on me. I caused this. I killed Nick Fury.

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