Timeless

Entry #13

Location: S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier

Date: October 02, 2011

"Am I dead?"

"You weren't that lucky..."

Averting his gaze from the blinding lights above, Steve finally realized he was in what appeared to be a hospital room; and that the voice who had replied to his question belonged to Fury, the man standing near his bed.

"Where am I?" he asked, moving to sit up.

His head was throbbing in pain and the whole room was slightly spinning; he imagined that was what it felt like to be drunk or drugged.

"You're on the Helicarrier, in the medical ward. Stark brought you here three days ago and you were unconscious until now."

Looking back up at the dark skinned male, Steve now widened his eyes in shock.

"Stark?"

"Yes..." Fury replied, somewhat puzzled at the soldier's unexpected reaction.

Forcing himself to stand, Steve snatched his shirt from the nearby chair.

"Where is he?"

"What happened out there, Rogers?" Fury replied, narrowing his eye in thought.

"Where is he?!" the soldier asked again through clenched teeth.

"I'm right here." Tony retorted, having just entered the room.

Before he or Fury could react, Steve grabbed the young scientist by his shirt and slammed him against the wall.

"Where the hell were you?" he demanded.

"I was right there..."

"The hell you were! We came looking for you! I'm gonna ask just one more time... where were you?"

Tony's urge to offer a snarky retort was only dissuaded by the unusually furious spark in the soldier's gaze.

"They saw me..." he finally replied. "The same group you followed... I took off and went to circle the mountain chain after they followed me up. I was gonna ambush them and take a prisoner so we could get more information about the exact location of their hideout, how many troops they have stationed there... and I came back only to find you half-dead at the bottom of the pit."

Steve's sudden smile caught him off guard, the sight followed immediately by a sharp pain when the soldier's fist collided with his cheek, rendering him onto the floor.

"She died because of you..." he said in disgust. "Because you just had to withhold information from us. I hope this haunts you for the rest of your life, like it'll haunt me seeing her fall from that cliff."

Snatching his arm from Fury's grasp – given that the male had rushed to restrain him, probably fearing he would continue beyond just one punch – he left the room whilst Tony scrambled to his feet, leaning against the wall and holding his now bleeding lip.

"Stark, get to my office after you clean yourself up." Fury stated. "I wanna know every detail of what happened out there, after you cost me one of my agents."

>oOo<

"Can I trust you not to punch him again, Rogers?"

"Yes, sir..." the soldier replied reluctantly.

"Good. I wanna know what happened out there and I can't talk to him, if you break his teeth."

"With all due respect, sir... you weren't the one out there. You weren't the one who saw that terrified expression on her face as she fell... you're not the one who heard that desperate scream echo all around you... and you're not the one who's gonna have nightmares. And you're just as guilty as Stark is... if you'd told us from the beginning where we were going and what we were getting ourselves into, she might still be alive now."