Frostbite

Fifteen

Once we escaped, Hill had another vehicle waiting for us. She took us to a remote part of the city, to some abandoned dam. A man was waiting for us in the dark hall as we entered through the main gate.

"GSW. She's lost at least a pint," Hill informed him. Sam and I were helping her amble forward.

"Maybe two," Sam added from Natasha's other side.

"Let me take her," the doctor suggested, ready to help.

"She'll want to see him first," Hill told him, so he followed us.

Hill took us to a dingy, open room, pushing through the plastic hangings. We all stood there in utter disbelief at what our eyes were showing us. Nick Fury was lying there, very much alive. Battered, but alive.

"About damn time," he commented. The doctor immediately made Nat sit and started attending to her wound.

"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, one hell of a headache," Fury rattled off, exhaustion evident in his voice.

"Don't forget your collapsed lung," the doctor reminded him.

"Oh, let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good," Fury told us earnestly.

"They cut you open; your heart stopped," Natasha recalled, seeming almost hurt by the lie.

"Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute," he replied.

"Bruce developed that. I guess we shouldn't be surprised S.H.I.E.L.D found a way to get ahold of that too," I snorted.

"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Steve demanded.

"Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful," Hill finally spoke.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead. Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust," he admitted, glancing around at all of our faces.

The doctor helped Fury out of bed after he was finished with Natasha. He changed into regular clothes, and we were all able to clean up a little. We all sat around a table and Hill laid out several files.

Fury picked up a photo of himself and Pierce and scowled, saying: "This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize. He said, 'Peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility.' See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

"We have to stop the launch," Nat declared, her regular determination poking its head out.

"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore," he replied, rolling his eye. He opened the case, which contained three, high tech chips inside.

"What's that?" Sam asked curiously, surprisingly having been quiet this entire time. I'm sure he was just taking in all the craziness that had overcome our lives.

"Once the helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites becoming fully weaponized," Hill informed us, pulling up the images on a laptop screen.

"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own."

"One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational a whole lot of people are gonna die," Hill warned.

"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is Hydra. We need to get pass them, insert the server blades, and maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left..." Fury told us hopefully.

"We're not salvaging anything. We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick, we're taking down S.H.I.E.L.D," Steve argued, his face turning hard.

"S.H.I.E.L.D had nothing to do with it," he retorted incredulously.

"You gave me this mission; this is how it ends. S.H.I.E.L.D's been compromised, you said so yourself. Hydra grew right under your nose, and nobody noticed," Steve said frostily.

"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? I noticed," Fury said ironically.

"And how many paid the price before you did?" I snapped.

"Look, I didn't know about Barnes," Fury said apologetically, looking between Steve and me.

"Even if you had, would you have told me? Or would you have compartmentalized that too? S.H.I.E.L.D, Hydra, it all goes," Steve said, crossing his arms challengingly.

"He's right," Hill agreed. Fury looked at the other two.

"Don't look at me. I do what he does, just slower," Sam shrugged. I nodded as well.

"Well... Looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain."

We all prepared to leave for the Triskelion, the others had only one pit stop to make on the way. I would be with Fury unless otherwise needed as backup to take down the carriers with my powers. The plan was simple but could easily go awry.

I approached Steve outside the building as Sam headed back in. He was looking over the edge, lost in thought. When I came to a halt next to him, he looked up and smiled sadly at me.

"Steve... I'm so sorry," I apologized, touching his arm.

"What are you apologizing for?" he asked in surprise. He turned to face me, his face turning soft as he watched me, but I couldn't look him in the eye.

"I knew this whole time that he was alive. He's your best friend and we could have been looking for him. Maybe we could have avoided all of this if I had remembered sooner. I could have tried harder to access the memories; they were there," I rambled guiltily.

It was true; a specialist had been assigned to me, but I blew her off. I thought then that it was a waste of time and that it was a load of crap. That I'd never get them back, they were gone, so what was the point?

"Mel, you don't have anything to be sorry for alright?" he reassured me, but I didn't respond, so he cupped my chin with his fingers and tipped my head back, so that my eyes met his, "Look at me, baby. There was a slim chance of you recalling everything on your own. So, don't blame yourself. They did this to you. They did this to Bucky. I don't blame you. I love you."

He encompassed me with his strong arms and held me close, running his fingers through my curls. What did I do to deserve him? His compassion was unmatchable. I sighed and kissed his cheek before we broke apart.

"He's the reason I'm here, and I left him trapped. What are we going to do if he's there?" I wondered quietly.

"Well, he remembered before. I'm going to try and pull Bucky out... or else I'll have to stop him," he said, his mouth forming a hard line again. I didn't want to think about the possibility that Steve would have to kill Bucky. It would torment him for the rest of his life.