Cosmic [s.r.]

1:8

 As Steve and I waited in the hallway he pulled something out of his pocket to show me. The USB I retrieved when we were on the mission.

"He gave it to you," I stated.

"He wanted to give it to you, told us not to trust anybody." I nodded at Steve's words as he pulled me in for a comforting hug, but managed to slip the USB into my denim pocket. One of the doctors met us in the hall and lead us to a room where we could say our goodbyes to the Director.

I watched as Natasha stood there in silence. This broke my heart watching Natasha be so broken down. I know that Fury was important to her, I just didn't know he was this important.

"I need to take him," Maria said sadly as she walked up to our sides. I walked forward and gently wrapped a hand around Natasha's arm.

"We gotta go," I muttered softly. But she yanked her arm out of my grip and stomped out of the room.

Steve bolted out and I was last due to exhaustion and blood loss. But I don't think I really missed anything by the stubbornness of Nat that radiated the same as when she was in the room.

"Natasha!" Steve called out.

"Why was Fury in your apartment?" She demanded as she quickly turned around.

"I don't know." Steve shrugged to make his point.

"Cap, they want you back at S.H.I.E.L.D." Brock Rumlow spoke out from down the hall. "You too, Callisto."

"Just give us a second, please," I spoke up, turning back to Nat.

"They want you now." He corrected.

"Okay." Steve nodded sternly, which basically meant the same thing I said.

"You're a terrible liar," Nat smirked before walking off. I looked over to Steve and motioned at my pocket with an unsure look. He looked over to the vending machine. This is a shitty idea.

We made our way down the hall and nodded to Brock who called on his S.T.R.I.K.E. squad to move out and head back to S.H.I.E.L.D. or whatever it is now. Once we suited up we made our way to Alexander Pierce's office, only to run into Agent 13, or who we once thought was Katie.

"Captain Rogers, Callisto." She nodded as a greeting.

"Neighbour," Steve muttered.

"Ah, Captain, Callisto." The man spoke up. "I'm Alexander Pierce." The two of us both shook his hand.

"Sir, it's an honor," Steve spoke respectfully.

"The honor's mine, Captain." He smiled. "My father served in the 101st. Come on in." He invited.

We were shown a picture of a younger Nick Fury and Alexander Pierce. But one thing I noticed was how stressed Fury was in his last days compared to then. It's almost like he had the weight of the entire world on his shoulders.

"That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met when I was at the State Department in Bogota," Alexander explained the context. "E.L.N. rebels took the embassy, and security got me out, but the rebels took hostages. Nick was Deputy Chief of the S.H.I.E.L.D. 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 E.L.N. didn't negotiate, so they put out a kill order. They stormed the basement, and what do they find? They find it empty." He told as he walked over, the three of us taking a seat, Alexander on the chair and Steve and I on the two seated couch. "Nick had ignored my direct order, and carried out an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil, and saved the lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter."

My heart clenched at the story. Nick Fury was a man of many stories, which all of them seemed to end up good.

"So you gave him a promotion," Steve noted.

"I've never had any cause to regret it." Alexander nodded at Steve. "Captain, why was Nick in your apartment last night?" I looked up to Alexander from the picture, then over to Steve.

"I don't know." Steve shook his head.

"Did either of you know it was bugged?" He asked the two of us.

"I did because Nick told me." Steve continued and I simply nodded.

"Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?" Steve and I both gave the man a look of confusion. "I want you two to see something." He pulled up a screen.

On the screen was Georges Batroc, the French pirate who we had encountered on the ship. He was under some sort of questioning.

"Who hired you, Batroc?" The officer asked.

"Is that live?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, they picked him up last night in a not-so-safe house in Algiers," Pierce answered

"Are you saying he's a suspect?" Steve questioned.

"Yeah, I didn't think assassination was apart of Batroc's specialties," I added, my eyes glued to the screen.

"No, no. It's more complicated than that." Alexander shuffled through some papers on the little side table. "Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the Lemurian Star. And he was contacted by email and paid by wire transfer, and then the money was run through 17 fictitious accounts. The last one going to a holding company that was registered to a Jacob Veech." He said as he passed Steve the papers.

"Am I supposed to know who that is?" Steve asked as him and I skimmed over the papers.

"Not likely. Veech died six years ago." Pierce said flatly. "His last address was 1435 Elmhurst Drive. When I first met Nick, his mother lived at 1437."

"Wait are you implying that Fury hired the pirates? Why?" I shook my head, not understanding.

"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." Pierce explained simply.

"If you really knew Nick Fury, you'd know that's not true." Steve butted in. When Pierce looked to me I shrugged.

"Sorry, I'm taking Steve's side on this." Which only made Pierce nod at my answer.
"Why do you think we're talking?" He asked the two of us before standing up, motioning for us to follow. "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, to build a really better world sometimes means having to tear the old one down." He tore his gaze from the window back over to us. "And that makes enemies." He turned back around to face us. "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." He paused, scanning us up and down momentarily. "You two were the last ones to see Nick alive. I don't think that's an accident. And I don't think you do, either. So, I'm gonna ask again. Why was he there?"

"He told us not to trust anyone," Steve spoke up.

"I wonder if that included him."

"I'm sorry." Steve apologized. "Those were his last words." He said before excusing the two of us and grabbing his shield, placing it on his back.

"Captain, Callisto," Pierce called out to us, making us turn at the door, "somebody murdered my friend and I'm gonna find out why. Anyone gets in my way, they're gonna regret it." He paused. "Anyone."

"Understood." We both nodded before turning and leaving.