Tsunami (Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter 14

Steve notices the vending machine next to him and nudges Bella. He nods to the snack machine and Bella understands. After a few minutes they are walking back to Rumlow. "Let's go." He says as they reach him.

"Yeah." He replies to Steve. "STRIKE, move it out." He says to the STRIKE team. As they leave get back at SHIELD, Steve and Bella are brought to Pierce who is talking to Agent 13.

"For whatever it's worth, you did your best." Peirce says to the special agent as they approach.

"Thank you, sir." She says. As she turns to leave she sees Steve and Bella. "Captain Rogers. Tsunami." She greets them.

"Neighbor." Steve replies coldly as he walks towards Pierce. Bella just nods at the woman.

"Ah, Captain. Tsunami. I'm Alexander Pierce." He says to them reaching his hand out to them.

"Sir, it's an honor." Steve says as they exchange hand shakes.

"The honor is mine, Captain. My father served in the 101st. Come on in." Pierce starts his rant as they enter Pierce's office where he shows Steve and Bella an old photo of Fury with Pierce. "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. 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." Pierce finished his rant that Bella swears took hm forever to say. She is a teacher but even she has a limit on rambling.

"So you gave him a promotion." Bella says.

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

"I don't know." Steve replies to the question honestly.

"You know it was bugged?" Peirce asked them both this time.

"We did, because Nick told us." Bella replies.

"Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?" Neither of them reply obviously not knowing this information. "I want you to see something." He says as he brings up footage of Batroc being interrogated.

"Who hired you, Batroc?" A SHIELD agent asks the man.

"Is that live?" Bella asks.

"Yeah, they picked him up last night in a not-so-safe house in Algiers." Pierce replies to he question.

"Are you saying he's a suspect? Assassination isn't Batroc's line." Steve asks the first part then states the last one.

"No, it's more complicated than that. Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the Lemurian Star and he was contacted by e-mail and paid by wire transfer. And then the money was run through seventeen fictitious accounts, the last one going to a holding company that was registered to a Jacob Veech." Peirce replies.

"Am I supposed to know who that is?" Steve asks sassily as Pierce hands Steve the file.

"Not likely. Veech died six years ago. His last address was 14-35 Elmhurst Drive. When I first met Nick his mother lived at 14-37." Pierce replied.

"Are you saying Fury hired the pirates? Why?" Bella asks.

"The prevailing theory was that the hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence. The sale went sour and that led to Nick's death." Peirce replies.

"If you really knew Nick Fury you'd know that's not true." Steve says in defense of the man that has tried to make his stay in this new world comfortable.

"Why do you think we're talking? See, I took a seat on the Council not because I wanted to but because Nick asked me to, because we were both realists. We knew that despite all the diplomacy and the handshaking and the rhetoric, that to build a really better world sometimes means having to tear the old one down. And that makes enemies. Those people that call you dirty because you got the guts to stick your hands in the mud and try to build something better. And the idea that those people could be happy today, makes me really, really angry." Pieclrce replies before he hesitates a moment. "Captain, Tsunami, you were the last two to see Nick alive. I don't think that's an accident, and I don't think either of you do either. So I'm gonna ask again, why was he there?" He says as a continuation of his last thoughts.

"He told us not to trust anyone." Bella replies to the man.

"I wonder if that included him." Pierce states. Steve and Bella pause a moment before Steve replies.

"I'm sorry. Those were his last words. Excuse us." Steve says as he picks up his shield, places it on his back and starts to make his out of the office while grabbing Bella's hand to pull her along behind him.

"Captain." Steve stops and looks at Pierce as he got his attention. "Somebody murdered my friend and I'm gonna find out why. Anyone gets in my way, they're gonna regret it. Anyone." Pierce states fiercely but with an edge of warning.

"Understood." Steve replies before he turns and leaves pulling Bella along with him. After Steve leaves Pierce's office he steps into the elevator with Bella. "Operations control." He states to the elevator when the doors start close.

"Confirmed." The computer states but just as the elevator doors are about to close all of the way Rumlow steps in with two STRIKE agents.

"Keep all STRIKE personnel on site." He says to the agent next to him getting affirmatives from the both of them.

"Forensics." Rumlow says to the computer getting a confirmation in return. "Cap. Tsunami." He greets to the two superheroes beside him.

"Rumlow." Steve says while Bella just nodded at him. The elevator doors close and they start riding down.

"Evidence Response found some fibres on the roof they want us to see. You want me to get the tac-team ready?" Rumlow asked the captain.

"No, lets wait and see what it is first." Steve says with a shake of his head.

"Right." Rumlow says with a nod. Bella notices one of the agents touching his weapon suspiciously and reaches for Steve's hand, knowing he noticed too. Bella needed the comfort from him, it was different than when the Chitauri invaded New York, it wasn't people you were supposed to work with behind the guns. The elevator stops and more SHIELD and STRIKE agents enter. She tuned out the chatter between the SHIELD agents and Steve squeezes her hand comfortingly.

"Excuse me." One of the SHIELD agents said to Steve and Bella.

"I'm sorry about what happened with Fury. Messed up, what happened to him." Rumlow says to the two heros.

"Thank you." Feeling something is off, Steve looks at the agents in the elevator and notices one of them is sweating, then the elevator stops and more agents enter. As the elevator doors close Steve realizes they've been surrounded by agents.