Together - Steve Rogers

Assurance

Tate and Steve enter the lab, although it doesn't look like a lab anymore. It looks, well... like a bomb hit it. The rest of the team are sitting around the room, making sure they're all ok. "Are you guys ok?" Nat asks when she sees them enter. "We're alright, need to patch up Tate's hands though" Steve answers, glancing around at everyone sitting somewhere in the lab. "We aren't gonna find any first aid kits in here, we should go downstairs" Bruce suggests, getting to his feet. "Good idea, let's go" Clint agrees, standing along with Sam. Everyone makes their way out and Steve rests a hand on Tate's arm as he urges her to follow everyone else.

Tate's mind is very preoccupied with the man who just attacked them and is now after her brother. She's worried about Tony. At least for the last 5 years, she's known where he is but now she has no idea and it terrifies her. Especially, when she knows what the man is capable of.

Steve sits Tate in a chair before getting a first aid kit, while Nat gets another. Luckily, no one was severely injured, the worst injury seems to be Tate's hands. Steve pulls the glass from her hands, being as gentle as he possibly can. He wraps her hands before looking up at her to see her staring into space. "Tate" he says gently, holding her hands between his own, catching her attention. She looks up at him quickly. "Are you ok?" he asks attentively. "This is my fault" she mutters shamefully. At least when she worked alone, the only person she was letting down was herself.

"This isn't your fault at all" he tries assuring her. "It is Steve!" she replies quickly while pulling her hands from his and raising her voice, catching the attention of everyone else. "I was breaking through the firewalls and I considered if I was warning them but I thought I could break through before they could retaliate! I thought wrong! And now my brother is out there alone!" she yells, keeping her concerned and teary gaze on Steve. "Tate, listen to me" he replies calmly. "None of this is your fault. You breaking through that firewall has given us a breakthrough that we desperately needed. You protected Tony, now it's his turn to protect himself which he is capable of doing. Don't worry, we'll find him" he assures her confidently but Tate only stares back at him.

"You knew him" Nat states, breaking the silence causing everyone to look at her. "When he came in, he said your name. Said you'd kept yourself hidden" she elaborates and Tate looks away from her. "Who is he?" Sam asks. "I met him when I was on a mission with other Hydra agents. I had to fight him alone. I almost died... He got away and Hydra was not happy about that..." she explains, her mind jumping back to Hydra punishing her for losing against him. "He's dangerous and if he's working for the agency, or worse, controlling it then we need to up our game" she explains, quickly getting back on track and warns everyone. "You have all of us now Tate. We're a team and we help each other. We can stop him" Steve encourages. Tate has always admired his optimism, he remained positive and hopeful even with each dead end they hit in their investigation into the double agent.

Before Tate can respond Clint stands from the desk after typing away at a laptop. "We have a problem" he states as he looks at everyone concerned. "What?" Nat asks as everyone rushes to their feet. "Sharon's gone" Clint answers as he turns the laptop around for everyone to see the security footage of Sharon's cell. A group of men break through the lock system and drag her out, all while the team are busy defending themselves.

---

They all spend the next hour trying to collect all the information they had collected before they were attacked. Suddenly, Jarvis speaks up and catches everyone's attention. "Captain Rogers, I have a message from Mr Stark" he informs everyone and Tate stops everything she's doing to hear the recording of Tony. "Hey guys. I'm alright and at one of our safehouses upstate, I've sent you the location. I've got the laptop and I wasn't followed. I guess I'll see you guys soon" he says and Tate sighs in relief. "We're going right?" she checks as she looks over at Steve. "Yeah, it's a lot safer there than here" he answers before everyone leave to pack a bag of their things and meet in the garage.

Since they packed a lot of equipment and all their research as well as their bags of belongings, they decided to take separate cars. Nat, Clint and Sam take one car, Pepper and Bruce in another and Tate and Steve in another car. The journey has been pretty quiet, Tate's mind is preoccupied with Tony and the agency. "You alright? You're quiet" Steve finally breaks the silence, glancing over at her in the passenger seat. "I'm fine" she replies with a small smile. "It's ok if you aren't. I'd understand if all this is bringing back memories and I'm here if you wanna talk about it" he offers kindly and she sighs deeply, debating whether or not to accept his offer.

"I was actually doing ok until he showed up. It took me a while to recover from what Hydra did after I left but since then I've been doing well. It's just that... that man brings back the worst memories" she says while staring at her hands as she wrings them together. "I told you that I almost died when I fought him" she adds and Steve nods in agreement, not wanting to interrupt her in case it diminishes her confidence and she stops sharing. "Well when I got back to Hydra, they punished me for losing against him. They had never tortured me as bad as that before... I left not long after so they didn't get the chance to repeat it. Seeing him again, needing to fight him again just reminds me of what happened last time" she explains before wiping a tear from her cheek. The torture she endured for losing against him was the worst pain she has ever experienced.

"I'm sorry Tate. If I'd known Hydra was still out there all this time, I would've found them" Steve apologises as he reaches for her hand. "No Steve. You have nothing to apologise for. You sacrificed your life to stop Hydra and ended up here. If anyone deserves an apology it's you" she quickly assures him, turning in her seat to see him better. "If I didn't end up here, I wouldn't have met you" he replies with a smile and she smiles back at him thankfully.

"You know, you can talk to me about anything too. From the war or coming out of the ice or anything else" she says as she squeezes his hand that's holding hers. "Thanks" he replies, smiling at her before turning his focus back to the roads.