Reminiscing the Past

Chapter 7

Steve's POV

I watched as the doctors operated on Fury behind the glass window. Natasha rushed up beside me putting her hand on the ledge of the window.

"Is he gonna make it?" She asked.

"I don't know," I answered truthfully.

"Tell me about the shooter," Nat said.

"He's fast and strong,"  I answered as Maria Hill walked in beside us, "He had a metal arm."

"Ballistics?" Nat asked.

"Three slugs. No rifling and completely untraceable," Maria said sorrowfully.

"Soviet made?" She asked.

"Yeah," she nodded as Fury's heart machine started to speed up too fast.

We watched the doctors try to operate and their muffled shouts from within the glass as we saw the machine start to flatline.

"Don't do this to me, Nick," Natasha said barely above a whisper as the doctors started a defibrillator charging it twice, "Don't do this to me, Nick. Don't do this to me," she said repeating.

The doctor asked for the time and they pulled a cloth over Nick and I looked down at the flashdrive he had given me. They let us in the operation room and Maria and Natasha stood by Fury with tears streaming down their faces.

"We need to take him," Maria said sadly and Nat stormed out of the room.

"Natasha!" I yelled calling after her and she stopped quickly.

"Why was Fury in you apartment?" She demanded.

"I don't know," I shrugged.

"Captain, they want you back at Shield," Rumlow said peeking his head in the door.

"Yeah, give me a second," I shot back quickly.

"They want you now," he commanded.

"Okay," I turned back to Nat.

"You're a terrible liar," she said before storming out of the room and following

"Strike Team, escort Captain Rogers back to Shield immediately," an agent ordered.

"I told him," Rumlow answered.

I glanced at the vending machine beside me and made a plan before following them.

"Strike, move it out," he commanded.

We headed back to base where I found Kate talking with another man.

"For whatever it's worth, you did your best," he told her.

"Thank you, sir," she turned to leave, "Captain Rogers."

"Neighbor," I nodded.

"Ah, Captain. I'm Alexander Pierce," he shook my hand.

"Sir, it's an honor," I said.

"The honor is mine, Captain. My father served in the 101st. Come on in," he led me into his office where I noticed a picture of Fury and him together.

"That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met. When I was at 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, Pierce told me, "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."