Hold On Soldier ✔️ | marvel

35. Sam Wilson

We are silent as we slowly make our way back. Though we are stuck on where to go, Steve seems to have an idea of a place to stop. We stare at the unfamiliar door until we knock sheepishly, "Hey, man." Sam says as he opens the door of his home.

"I'm sorry about this. We need a place to lay low." Steve says softly.

Nat jokes, "Everyone we know is trying to kill us."

Sam pauses before smiling, "Not everyone." Sam let's us enter, and explains we can make ourselves at home. Each of us do our own thing. As I enter a shower I stand nervously. I'm slowly understanding why Fury and everyone stayed silent after my parents death. Was it because they truly didn't know? Or was it because Fury's friends claimed to "not know" the answers. Maybe I was wrong about everything. Hating Hydra was what I should've been doing this entire time. Dammit. I'm beginning to feel regrets and anguish as I clean myself. I step out and dress. I sit confused and sad on the bed Sams home provided. While I finally sit I hear footsteps approach. I know exactly who it is.

"You okay?" Steve's comforting voice returns.

"Yeah." I lie quietly. I haven't spoken this entire time.

"What's going on?" Questions Steve, I give in after hes genuinely worried.

"When I first joined S.H.I.E.L.D again, I thought I was going straight. After everything I truly thought maybe I was headed to a good life. I blamed S.H.I.E.L.D though. Now I find out it's Hydra, and they're the reason my parents aren't alive anymore. But still nothing makes sense. I guess I can't tell the difference anymore." I whisper.

"There's a chance you might be in the wrong business." I smile faintly at Steve's joke. He continues carefully, "May I ask? What was Zola talking about you knowing all about this?"

"He seemed to know me as if we did personally. Maybe that's something but I found some documents a few years ago. It was a hunch but I assumed hydra had something to do with S.H.I.E.L.D." I tell, "That's a big reason why I stayed."

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that on your conscious." Steve whispers, "I should've been there more."

"No, I owe you." I say, "You're the only one I can trust through all this chaos."

"It's okay." Steve shakes off my words. "No need to owe or anything."

"If it was the other way around, and it was down to me to save your life, and you be honest with me, would you trust me to do it?" I question, seriously.

"I would. And I'm always honest." He tells. I remember every time he has proven this.

"Well, you seem pretty chipper for someone who just found out they died for nothing." I say smirking.

"Well, I guess I just like to know who I'm fighting." He responds.

"I wish I knew too. Zola made it seem like he knew me though. I'm starting to think it was a bigger deal then he made." I feel the panic rise from my gut.

"We'll figure this all out. Soon." Steve promises.

"I made breakfast. If you guys...eat that sort of thing." Sam jokes entering the room. We nod at him and then he leaves.

"Shall we?" I smile slightly, Steve had uplifted my mood.

"I am starving but..." A lingering tension enters the innocent air.

"I'm fine, I just need to process." I reply. Steve's close to me now, concern and care in his blue eyes. I've grown comfortable with our silent presence with just one another. Though it grows more and more heat to my cheeks. He traces my face before caressing it. Our lips barely skim each other before Nat giggles.

"Sam sent me a second time cause he was scared you'd be doing something like this," Nat chuckles, "The food will get cold but maybe your passion will heat it back up!"

I curse as I run at her and chase her to where Sam and the food are, "Finally! Y'all are slow."

-

"So, the question is: who in S.H.I.E.L.D could launch a domestic missile strike?" Nat says after we finish eating.

"Pierce." Steve responds.

"Pierce? Is he behind this?" I question slightly angrily.

"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world." Nat nods.

"But he's not working alone, Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star." Steve reminds.

"So was Jasper Sitwell." I remember.

"So, the real question is: how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D officer in broad daylight?" Steve asks.

"The answer is: you don't." Sam slaps a file onto the table, it looks serious.

"What's this?" I curiously question staring at the tan folder.

"Call it a resume." Sam jokes happily. Nat picks up a photo of Sam with his para-rescue team.

"Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you." Nat seems excited and shocked with this. I stare as she questions Steve, "You didn't say he was a para-rescue."

"Is this Riley?" Steve asks scanning the picture.

Sam nods, "Yeah."

"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use, a stealth chute?" Nat asks.

"No. These." Sam hands Steve the file. Steve opens it fully and reads it.

"I thought you said you were a pilot." I chuckle a little bit in amazement.

"I never said pilot." Sam grins confidently.

Steve shakes his head, "I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."

"Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in." Sam is in high spirits, he reminds me of Coulson when the three of us met. I smile at the thought.

"Where can we get our hands on one of these things?" I ask with furrowed brows.

Sam nods at the image, "The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall." Steve looks at Nat who shrugs her shoulders. When he looks at me I tilt my head unfazed.

"Shouldn't be a problem." Steve throws down the file on the table and I see that it's a classified military project called Falcon. So that's what it's called.