Dancing with Embers - Book Two (Winter Soldier)

1. Secrets Within Secrets

Chapter One:

*If I really was a bitch, I would make your life a living hell. Instead, I'm just going to sit back and watch you do it yourself.*

~~~~~~~~~~

Three hours later I had landed in D.C, met up with Natasha and Steve, gotten a full run down on our mission, and had boarded a Quinjet that was headed out into the middle of the Indian Ocean.
Steve, Natasha, and I were accompanied by the STRIKE team, led by Brock Rumlow. Rumlow was a man that I hadn't personally met too many times, but Fury trusted him, and because of that I did too.

I stood next to Steve as we watched Rumlow give us the run down on the details of our mission. Earlier, Natasha had told me that we were to rescue hostages from SHIELD after they had been captured by pirates on this ocean. I knew that was what Steve was here to do, but I also knew that Natasha was here for a separate reason.
Fury had called me halfway through my flight to D.C and filled me in on what Agent Romanoff was going to be doing. I was to help Steve as much as I could, but I was also to be Natasha's cover and watch her back as she completed her own mission.

"The target is a mobile satellite launch platform: The Lemurian Star."
Rumlow's deep voice drew everyone's attention to him and the computer screen he was pointing to. He was swiveling a computer generated picture of the Star around so we could take in everything it had to offer.
"It was sending up their last payload when pirates took them, ninety three minutes ago."
"Any demands?" Steve asked.
"A billion and a half." Was the answer. I flicked my eyebrows up in surprise.
"Why so steep?" I questioned.
"Because it's SHIELD'S." Rumlow said. "So it's not off course, it's trespassing." Steve sighed quietly and looked at Natasha and I as if he was asking us why the Star was trespassing, like we would know.

"I'm sure they have a good reason." Natasha's thoughtful voice tried to reason with Steve.
"You know, I'm getting pretty tired of being Fury's janitor."
"Relax." I said airily. "It's not that complicated."
Steve brushed off our comments and looked back at Rumlow.
"How many pirates?"
"Twenty five." The STRIKE leader tapped on the screen again and a man's profile was pulled up.
"They're tops mercs, led by this guy, Georges Batroc. Ex-TGSE, action division. He's at the top of Interpool's 'red notice'. Before the French demobilized him, he had thirty-six kill mission. The guy has a rep for maximum casualties."
"Hostages?" Steve didn't even blink at Batroc's profile, or his description.
Rumlow turned back to the screen and this time pulled up the hostages' profiles.

"Mostly techs. One officer, Jasper Sitwell. They're in the gallery."
I frowned at the name Rumlow had said. I looked up at Steve.
"What's Sitwell doing on a launch ship?" I asked him quietly. He seemed to have had the same thought, but he didn't have an answer for me.

"Alright, I'm going to sweep the deck
Aand kill Batroc." The Captain quickly went into his leader-mode.
"Nat, you kill the engines and wait for instructions, Kindle, go with her, watch each other's backs. Rumlow, you sweep aft and find the hostages, get them to life pods. Get them out. Let's go."
"STRIKE, you heard the Captain! Gear up!"
As Rumlow and his team were getting ready, I stood with Nat by the tail of the jet where we would be dropping from.
"We'll kill the engines quickly." She was telling me as I strapped on a parachute.
"Then we need to make it to the control room where we can secure the hard drive."
I nodded and handed her a parachute.
"Copy that."

Our quiet conversation was cut short when Steve walked over with his shield.
"Secure channel seven." He said into his radio.
"Seven secure." I said from besides him. "You do anything fun Saturday night?"
"Well, all the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, so...no, not really." Steve smiled at me as he fixed his radio into his ear. He probably already knew where this conversation was heading.
When Rumlow informed us that we were coming up in the drop zone, Steve slammed his fist into the red button by the jet's tail doors, causing the doors to slowly open, letting the cool wind whip in.
"You know, if you ask Kristen out from Statistics, she'll probably say yes."
"That's why I don't ask!" Steve said, backing out from the jet as he pulled his helmet on.
"Too shy or too scared?"
"Too busy!"