𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 | 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬

And It All Came Crashing Down

"𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨...𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙧...𝙄 𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜..."

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Steve followed Rumlow all the way to SHIELD dead silent, not having anything to say despite Rumlow's subtle attempts to get him talking. Knowing what he knew now, Steve knew that SHIELD was not the place to be honest. It was infested with liars and moles and double intentions and the worst part is that he didn't know who was who. He couldn't take the chance right now. Chloe was on the verge of a mental breakdown and Seren was only just escaping death now. Natasha was still in the gray area, truthfully.

He got into his stealth suit, his intuition just telling him it was better to be prepared in case anything happened. He was led to Alexander Pierce himself who was talking to a very familiar agent (just another reminder of the lies).

Sharon turned to leave Pierce and regarded Steve politely, even asking him how Seren was doing. Only out of gratitude for helping him save Seren, he answered her. He still kept his tone short and he did not look at her. Luckily, Sharon took the hint and continued on her way.

"How is Agent Soul?" Pierce asked once they were alone.

"Doing better now," Steve replied. She was practically kicking to get out of bed and back to work; she was back to her normal self. Still, he didn't add anything extra. He remembered Seren mentioning that the World Council wasn't exactly fond of her and her work.

"Good, that's good," Pierce nodded, leaving behind the subject soon after. "Well, I know introductions aren't very well needed from your end but I'm Alexander Pierce." He shook hands with Steve.

"It's an honor," Steve said quietly. What else could he say?

"The honor is mine, Captain. My father served in the 101st. Come on in." He led Steve inside his office and soon showed him a photo of himself with Fury. "That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met. When I was at the State Department in Bogota. ELN rebels took the embassy, and security got me out, but the rebels took hostages. Nick was deputy chief for the SHIELD station there. And he comes to me with a plan. He wants to storm the building through the sewers. I said, 'No, we'll negotiate' Turned out the ELN didn't negotiate, so they put out a kill order. They stormed the basement, and what did they find? They find it empty. Nick had ignored my direct order and carried out an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil. He saved the lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter."

Not telling someone what he was going to actually do sounded exactly like something Nick Fury would do. "So you gave him a promotion."

"I've never had any cause to regret it. Captain, why was Nick in your apartment last night?"

Well, at least Pierce was direct. Steve would give him that.

"I don't know," Steve replied.

"You know he had the apartment bugged at one point?" Pierce saw the horrified look on Steve's face and took it as the answer. "Agent Winters made him take it down but Fury only allowed it on the condition that special Agent 13 take up an undercover post next door."

"That I knew," Steve said, "Because Agent Soul informed me once she found out."

"Mm..." Pierce didn't seem that surprised. Steve suspected that Seren's inability to fall in line with the lying part of the job is what made her undesirable in Pierce's mind. "I want you to see something." Pierce picked up a tablet on his desk and showed Steve footage of Batroc in an interrogation room.