A Bolt from the Blue

Chapter 20

Fury was in critical condition, surgeons and doctors leaning over him as they tried to keep him alive. Steve watched gravely from the other side of the mirror, stern and mute.

The squealing of the beeping coming from the machines suddenly got covered by the sound of the door behind him being smashed open. Natasha barged in with a blank expression and a haggard and lost look as she stood right beside him, her eyes locked on Director Fury.

Standing still, he slightly turned his head to look at her. Her face displayed an expression he had never seen have before. She looked numb, distressed, confused. It was like she had been drained of all the confidence, boldness and nonchalance that always accompanied her and that she never let go of. He furrowed his brows, concerned to find her so affected, surprised by this twist he hadn't seen coming.

"Is he gonna make it?" she asked.

"I don't know," he muttered almost inaudibly

"Tell me about the shooter," she spoke blankly but with the trail of a shaky voice not diverting her gaze from the surgery room.

The scene from an hour before played out in his head again. Everything had gone so fast. After entering his apartment from the window, he had been taken surprised to find Director Fury sitting in his armchair and in the dark. Fury looked injured, exhausted but most of all incredibly cryptic in his choice of words. EARS EVERYWHERE he had typed on his phone and shown him to justify his odd behavior. And then the shots fired from outside, straight to his chest. Fury collapsed on the floor, choking in pain. He slipped a flash drive into his hand, warning him not to trust anybody before going quiet, physically unable to speak anymore. Then it all rushed; someone broke into the apartment, his neighbor, still dressed in her nurse apparel but looking nothing like one as she entered the room holding a gun up in front of her, alert and confident. She introduced herself as a S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Special Forces agent, affirming her mission was to protect him, on Fury's orders obviously. As she saw her boss lying on the floor, she lowered her weapon and knelt down. She pulled a walky-talky out of her pocket and called for medics. And that was when Steve saw him, the silhouette of the sniper who was responsible for all this.

"He's fast. Strong," he said knowing those two simple words, coming from him, would be far from an understatement. Steve had had to run fast to catch up with him, and the man, hiding behind a dark mask, hadn't had much trouble stopping the shield when he had thrown it at him, using all of his tall, thick body to counter it without losing his balance. He had then jolted it back at him with almost as much strength then jumped off the roof, disappearing into the night.

"Ballistics," Natasha went on, addressing Maria this time to get those technical details.

"Soviet-made," she commented after she had got the description of the bullets.

The sudden continuous beep of the electrocardiogram took everyone's attention back to the surgery room. Steve tensed, anxious that the outcome he dreaded might become true. Natasha watched silently, her mouth slightly agape.

"Don't do this to me, Nick" he heard her murmur.

"Pulse?" the doctor asked.

"Negative," the colleague answered for the second time.

The constant beeping became daunting and soon Maria let out the sound of a soft whimper. Natasha remained strong, impassive but shaken nonetheless.

Steve was unsettled too, perhaps more than he would have imagined but the sight of Fury's lifeless body made his stomach twist. He diverted his gaze and stepped away from the window as the doctor asked for the time of death.

Director Fury had just died and he hadn't been able to stop it.

Less than thirty minutes later, they were allowed in a room to see the body. Fury was lying peacefully Steve could tell from where he was standing, leaving Natasha intimacy to say goodbye.