The Same, Just Deadlier (Book 3)

1.3

June 16, 2014

Steve held my hand as we watched Fury get operated on. We didn't know if he was going to make it. No one was confident in his recovery. The worst part was that I was the one that was going to have to call Natasha, who was on a mission somewhere in the world, and tell her that Fury died. If he dies. I was having difficulty having hope in this moment.

But it wasn't just Fury. I couldn't get the shooter out of my mind. His eyes. His blue eyes seemed so familiar. But I had never met him before. I was sure of that. The answer was on the tip of my tongue but I had no idea who he was. I sighed as I looked back up at Fury, watching as his heart monitor flat-lines. I sigh, looking down. He's gone. "What's the time?" The doctor asks.

"1:03, Doctor." One of the nurse's replies.

The doctors move the body into an open room. Maria Hill walked in, looking at me and Steve before sighing. "I need to take him." Both Steve and I nod at her, stepping out of the room. Before Steve had a chance to say anything Rumlow came up to us. "They want you two back at SHIELD." He told us. I nodded following Rumlow. Steve catches up to me after a minute, grabbing my arm.

"Are you okay?" He asks me. I look up at him and sigh. I didn't even know the answer to the question. Was I ok? People who were like father figures to me kept dying. First my actual father, then Howard (in his later days he treated me more like a daughter than a friend), Coulson and now, Fury. when I didn't answer, Steve sighed and kept his hand in mine for support. I needed a friend now more than ever.

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When we got back to SHIELD HQ, Rumlow led us into Alexander Pierce's office. He was a close friend and co-worker of Fury. but other than that, I didn't know much about it. Pierce was finishing up a conversation with Sharon when we walked in. When she turns around to leave, she sees me and Steve, giving us both a nod and small smile. "Captain Rogers. Agent Williams." I gave her a small smile back but Steve looked at her coldly.

"Neighbor." He replied curtly before, introducing himself to Pierce.

"Ah, Captain. Agent Williams. I'm Alexander Pierce."

"Sir, it's an honor." Steve replies as we both shake his hand.

"The honor is mine, Captain. My father served in the 101st. Come on in." We enter Pierce's office where he shows us an old photo of Fury with Pierce. "That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met. When I was at the 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." Steve and I look at each other and then back at Pierce.

"So you gave him a promotion." I assume, finishing Pierce's thoughts.

"I've never had any cause to regret it." Pierce then turns back to us. "Why was Nick in your apartment last night?" He asks us, a sudden serious look on his face.

"I don't know." I replied, shrugging my shoulders.

"You know it was bugged?" He asked us, both Steve and I nodding in the process.

"Fury told us right before he died." I answered.

"Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?" Steve and I looked at each other again, neither of us knowing the answer. "I want you to see something." Suddenly, he brings up footage of Batroc being interrogated.

"Is this live?" Steve asked, turning back to Pierce.

"Yeah, they picked him up last night in a not-so-safe house in Algiers." Pierce told us. I turned back to the footage.

"Are you saying he's a suspect? Assassination isn't Batroc's line." I reply, still watching the interrogation video.

"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." Steve and I looked at each other again, neither of us knowing who that was.

"Are we supposed to know who that is?" I ask. Pierce shakes his head, handing Steve a 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." I stopped watching the video, standing up straight.

"Are you saying Fury hired the pirates? Why?" Steve asks him. None of this sounds right. Fury said not to trust anyone. I don't think Pierce is an exception to the rule.

"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 explains.

"If you really knew Nick Fury you'd know that's not true." I told him. Steve and I shared a look. Both of us knew not to trust Pierce.

"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 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." Pierce hesitates for a moment, looking at the two of us. "You two were the last one 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?" I bit the inside of my cheek

"He told us not to trust anyone." Steve replied.

"I guess Steve and I are just a bit too trusting." I answer, a small chuckle coming from Pierce.

"I wonder if that included him." Steve and I looked at each other, knowing it was time to leave.

"I'm sorry. Those were his last words. I think it's time we leave." I pick up Steve's shield, handing it to him before, nodding to Pierce, the two of us scurrying out of his office.

"Williams, Captain." Pierce called out, grabbing our attention. "Somebody murdered my friend and I'm gonna find out why. Anyone gets in my way, they're gonna regret it. Anyone." I nodded, understanding. Then we left.