(hold, still writing) 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬 - 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐚 𝐫.

[𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍]

𝐊𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐀

"It was him." Steve was all mopey.

"Who was him?" I asked, breathing heavily. I was losing blood. Quickly. "I need more than that."

"He looked right at me like he didn't even know me." he said.

"You knew him." Natasha realized.

"He was my best friend." Steve snapped.

"How is that even possible? It was, like, 70 years ago." Sam asked.

"Zola." Steve sighed.

"The robot?" I took a deep breath, getting weaker by the minute.

"Yeah... Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43. Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They must've found him and-" he started explaining.

"None of that's your fault, Steve." Natasha groaned quietly.

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky..." 

I let out a small whimper as we went over a bump. Natasha faced me and gulped.

"You ok?" she asked, her voice low.

I nodded, clearing my throat as I tried to stop the bleeding. Sam looked at us and scoffed.

"We need to get a doctor here. If we don't put pressure on those wounds, they're gonna bleed out here in the truck." Sam said and, immediately, a HYDRA Agent took out their electric rod and pointed it at him.

They turned it around and electrocuted the Agent sitting next to them. They kicked the Agent in the face, causing them to fall to the ground.

The HYDRA Agent took their mask off, revealing Maria.

"That thing was squeezing my brain." she took a breath. "Who is this guy?" she asked, pointing at Sam, making me chuckle.

~

We hopped out of the van, Steve and Sam helping us out. We were at an abandoned warehouse.

"GWS. They've lost at least a pint." Maria said to the two doctors running towards us.

"Maybe two." Sam said.

"Oh, I've lost more than two." I muttered.

"Let me take them." he said.

"They'll want to see him first." Maria said and I furrowed my eyebrows, confused.

She opened the curtains and we saw Fury lying down on a hospital bed. Tears filled my eyes as I took note of the condition he was in.

"About damn time." he chuckled.

"Nick?" I whispered.

"That's me." he nodded, smirking. "Lacerated spinal column, a cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache." he explained as the doctor sat me down, tending to my wound.

"Don't forget your collapsed lung." the doctor who was working on Natasha said.

"Let's not forget that." Fury chuckled. "Otherwise, I'm good."

"I thought you were dead, you asshole!" I exclaimed, my voice breaking.

"I know... I'm sorry." he gave me a weak smile.

"They cut you open, your heart stopped." Natasha said.

"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." he explained.

"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Steve asked.

"Any attempt on the Director's life had to look successful." Maria nodded.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead." Fury chuckled. "Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust." that's when I let the tears I was holding in roll down my cheeks.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I snapped, glaring at me as the doctor finished with my wound. "You weren't sure who to trust?" I scoffed. "Natasha and I have been nothing but loyal to you! To SHIELD! For years! And you weren't sure who to trust?" I shook my head. "Go to hell." I got up and walked away, careful of my wound.

"She's right, Nick..." I heard Natasha say.

~

"This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize." Fury said, dropping a picture of Pierce, scoffing. "He said peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility. "See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

"You know what gives me trust issues?" I scoffed. "When the man who I was always there for, who I was trusted enough by to tell me everything about SHIELD lies to me. Lies to two of his most loyal agents. That's what gives me trust issues." I snapped.

"I know I hurt you and I'm sorry. But I'm here now and I'm fine." Fury sighed.

"I know you're here now and that you're fine! But that doesn't change the fact that you lied to us, telling us you were DEAD and then wanting us to trust you all over again!" I exclaimed.

"Enough!" Steve exclaimed. "Katherine, stop it." he glared at me.

"We have to stop the launch." Natasha cleared her throat.

"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore." he opened a briefcase.

"What's that?" questioned Sam, about the objects in the case.

"Once the helicarriers reach 3,000 feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized." Maria explained.

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

"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 HYDRA. We have to get past them, insert these server blades. And maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left-" Nick started.

"We're not salvaging anything!" Steve exclaimed, cutting him off.

"Dude, you really need to learn to tone it down sometimes." I said, earning a glare from Steve and Natasha.

"We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick." Steve continued. "We're taking down SHIELD."

"SHIELD had nothing to do with this." Fury scoffed.

"You gave me this mission. This is how it ends. SHIELD's been compromised, you said so yourself. HYDRA grew right under your nose and nobody noticed."

"Why do you think we're meeting in a cave? I noticed." Fury snapped.

"Yeah? How many paid the price before you did?" Steve asked.

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

"Even if you had, would you have told him?" I asked. "I mean... who knows what you're keeping from us, right?" I was still pissed.

"Would you have compartmentalized that, too?" Steve ignored me and asked his question. "SHIELD, HYDRA, it all goes."

"He's right." Maria nodded.

He looked at Natasha and me and we nodded, agreeing with Steve. He looked at Sam.

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

"Well..." Fury chuckled. "It looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain."