A Time Traveler's Soldier

A New Friend

Steve, Natasha and Charlotte set out to find more help. Which they needed a lot of. Three people, however powerful, couldn't take down S.H.I.E.L.D.'s forces alone. They needed to stop HYDRA, and find out what they were planning. But that determination didn't leave them feeling less shaken up. Steve barley spoke and Charlotte felt miserable about not stopping the bomb. Luckily, Steve knew a place to go. A friend of his would help them. Only, he was about a day's walk away, and they weren't stealing another car.

Later...

"I'm going to go, Mr Pierce. You need anything before I leave?" A careworker woman called to Alexander Pierce. She was standing in the threshold of his home, and Pierce was completely still, looking at a dark corner.

"No... Uh, it's fine, Renata, you can go home." He answered quickly.

"Okay. Night-night." She said as she walked out.

"Good night."

Pierce walked into his kitchen and opened his refrigerator, very nonchalance considering that a masked man all in black stood in the corner of the room. His light eyes stared out, and his metal arm glinted, even without much light.

"Want some milk?" Pierce asked. The man didn't answer, he was practically muzzled. Pierce went on, 

"The timetable has moved. Our window is limited. Two targets, Level Six. They already cost me Zola. I want confirmed death in 10 hours." He told the man, unknowing that his caretaker stood in the room.

"Sorry, Mr Pierce, I...I forgot my phone." She stuttered.

"Oh Renata," he sighed, "I wish you would have knocked."

Then, he picked up a pistol and shot her twice, point blank in the chest.

The Next Day...

The disheveled trio had finally gotten to Steve's safe place. A handsome man with dark skin and a goatee opened the door.

"Hey, man. I'm sorry about this. We need a place to lay low." Steve explained.

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us." Natasha added.

The man, Sam, surveyed the three.

"Not everyone." He said, ushering them in.

After introductions had been made, and Natasha and Charlotte knew about Sam Wilson, the veteran pilot Steve ran circles around, literally. Then they took some time to clean up. Steve and Natasha were alone, since Charlotte had borrowed Sam's computer and was trying to learn about HYDRA. That, and she needed to be alone. They could tell.

"You okay?" Steve asked Nat.

"- Yeah." She answered, but avoided his eyes and continued to dry her hair.

"What's going on?" He asked again.

Natasha sighed.

"When I first joined S.H.I.E.L.D. I thought I was going straight. But I guess I just traded in the KGB for HYDRA. I thought I knew whose lies I was telling, but I guess I can't tell the difference any more." She gave a small, sad smile.

"There's a chance you might be in the wrong business." He told her.

"I owe you." Nat said.

"It's okay."

"If it was the other way around, and it was down to me to save your life, now you be honest with me,
would you trust me to do it?" She questioned.

"I would now. And I'm always honest." Steve told her.

"Well, you seem pretty chipper for someone who just found out they died for nothing." Nat teased.

"Well, guess I just like to know who I'm fighting."

Sam leaned on the doorway. 

"I made breakfast. If you guys eat that sort of thing." He said.

The five of them gathered in the kitchen. 

"So, the question is, who at S.H.I.E.L.D. could launch a missile strike?" Charlotte asked.

"Pierce." Steve answered.

"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world." Nat added.

"But he's not working alone. Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star, the ship that captured S.H.I.E.L.D. agents like Jasper Sitwell. So, the real question is, how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer in broad daylight?" Steve asked.

"The answer is, you don't." Nat answered.

Sam pulled out a few sheets of information and put it down in front of Nat and Steve.

"What's this?" Steve asked.

"Call it a resume." Sam responded.

"Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you?" Steve gestured to the papers as he spoke.

"You didn't say he was a Pararescue." Natasha said.

 "Is this Riley?" Steve said, holding up a picture of Sam and another man. 

"Yeah." He frowned.

"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use? A stealth chute?" Natasha asked.

"No. These." Said Sam, showing them a photo of what looked like a jetpack with wings.

"I thought you said you were a pilot." 

"I never said pilot." 

Steve put the papers down. 

"I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason." 

Sam smiled and laughed a little.

"Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in." 

"Where can we get our hands on one of these things?" Charlott wondered, fascinated with the tech.

"The last one is at Fort Meade. Behind three guarded gates and a 12-inch steel wall." Sam told them.

"Shouldn't be a problem."

.-.-.-.-.-.

The New Avengers crept through the outskirts of the city, in the roughest neighborhoods. Leo, Jason and some of the others tried to lighten the mood by joking around, but got so annoying that Noor had to tell them to shut up. Tensions ran high, and everyone had the same question on their mind: where could their friends be?

.-.-.-.-.-.

Peggy continued to stay strapped down to the table, planning her escape while also watching Percy. The agents interrogated the young man, and when met with a snappy remark they struck him across the face. Peggy was filled with rage. They threatened brainwashing. Percy was smart and loyal, but also scared. When they asked him if he would comply, he said nothing. Not a yes, but not a no either.

"Don't worry, you don't have to do anything if our asset takes care of Captain America and Black Widow." An agent spoke.

Peggy's ears perked up. These monsters wanted to hurt Steve. The man in a lab coat  turned to Peggy. 

"As for you, agent, since there are no powers belonging to you, you will have to honor of helping us replicate Captain Roger's serum." 

As doctors injected what felt like liquid fire into her, Peggy bit her lip and didn't scream. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction. Bella watched in horror. Peggy struggled and felt as if she was dying. But she didn't. The scientists seemed surprised by that. Someone said that their was only one more step to see if the serum worked. A doctor got a scalpel and cut a red gash into her skin stretching to her heart. A normal person would bleed out. As Peggy wondered if the torture would ever end, her skin started to knit back together. Percy still sat in silence, not wanting to watch but unable to look away. 

"Congratulations, Agent Carter, you are the first person to survive the serum in almost seventy years." 

Peggy looked down at herself. She looked the same, but she felt different. And she was different, now. Very different. And that wasn't good.