The Kind You Save

Chapter 11

I walk home in the dark, sobbing as I try to follow the GPS on my phone, the emotional toll from the day's events coming out in waves. I'm sure to anyone passing by I looked like a deranged woman, wandering the dimly lit streets. The sight of my apartment is a welcome relief after being left to find my way around the unfamiliar city alone. Just outside my front steps a small figure, cloaked in dark clothes and a hooded jacket, steps into my path. I stop short, unsure.

"Are you Kelsey?" a woman's voice asks.

I'm silent, still weighing my options. I'm unsure if I should speak, not knowing whether she's a friend or foe. Realizing my hesitation, she pulls her hood off to reveal her face. It's Natasha Romanoff a.k.a. Black Widow.

"You're the girl who sent a message for Steve?"

I nod my head, then signal for her to come in. "We can talk more inside."

We step into my apartment and before I realize what's happening, Natasha is at the back door, letting in Steve Rogers and the man who was with them earlier on the bridge. 

Steve nods his head in greeting. "I assume Nat introduced herself, you already know me and this is Sam." He gestures to the third in their group, who waves a dark hand at me. I wave back and force a small smile, ignoring the fact that Natasha didn't bother introducing herself.

Steve seems to notice my puffy, reddened eyes then and steps toward me, concerned. "Are you alright? What's wrong?"

I shake my head, trying to wave him off. "It's just been a really hard day," I say, my voice tight. I don't feel like delving into a whole explanation.  "So is anyone going to tell me why you're all here?" I ask them, changing the subject. 

Before Steve says a word the three of them search my home. Looking for bugs, I realize, after a moment of confusion. I assume my apartment is clear as Steve begins to talk.

"You sent that message about Bucky, right?" I nod and he continues. "You warned me before I was attacked at S.H.I.E.L.D. too. You know a lot about the situation we're in, I assume, and we need your help."

I stare up at him, a little stunned. "What on earth could you need my help for?" 

Natasha speaks again, "You work for Alexander Pierce and have direct access to his schedule and contacts. We need you to help us infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. Get us in any way you can without being discovered."

The group fills me in on everything they know. They reveal that Nick Fury isn't dead, only in hiding and waiting for his chance to overthrow Mr. Pierce in order to stop his plans; to wipe out millions of people to further his "better world" agenda.

My mind immediately goes to the sublevel of the Triskelion, where I was loaded into the car earlier. It holds all of the aircraft belonging to S.H.I.E.L.D. and I'm sure whatever Hydra is planning to use for their horrific plan is down there. I tell Steve as much.

"It's Project Insight. The World Security Council's protection plan for the planet." I look to Steve as the revelation hits me. "Mr. Pierce is going to use the helicarriers to wipe people out, not to save them." 

"You catch on quick." Natasha raises an eyebrow, apparently impressed.

Steve placates my rising worry. "Fury already has it figured out and we're going to stop it. But, it'll make it easier with any bit of help you can give." He assures me they have a plan to stop it. "We can't let you in on all of it though." He continues at my confused look, "For your own safety. If you get questioned, you won't have any information for them to try and get out of you. Just us being here already puts you in danger."

"I think I've already done a fair bit of that for myself," I joke, albeit humorlessly, as I rub a hand on my arm. "But I understand." After a few seconds of thinking through any information that could aid them, I meet Steve's eyes. "Mr. Pierce has a meeting with the World Security Council tomorrow."

Natasha shrugs. "And? He has meetings with them all the time."

I cut my eyes at her before continuing. "The meeting is specifically to launch Project Insight with the council in person, not holograms this time. Councilwoman Hawley phoned early this morning to tell me that she wouldn't make it but I have yet to inform Mr. Pierce of her absence."

They all nod, catching onto my idea.

The mostly silent Sam speaks then, looking to Natasha, "Can you make that work?"

"Of course I can," she scoffs at him.

They fill me in just enough so that I won't be entirely in the dark at the meeting. Natasha will disguise herself as Councilwoman Hawley and pave the way for Nick Fury to make his appearance. What Sam and Steve will be doing during all of this is on a need-to-know basis, and apparently, I don't need to know.

As they're getting ready to leave Steve pulls me aside. "What all do you know about Bucky?"  New tears form in my eyes at the mention of his name. Steve's eyes are worried, questioning.

I wrap my arms around myself, against the shiver making its way up my spine at the thought of what torture Bucky Barnes has been through over the years and at the things I witnessed today, forever burned into my mind.  "He's still in there, I've seen it," I assure him. The questions in his eyes about my association with his friend are evident, so I fill him in on our connection.

"You've been helping The Winter Soldier? The most dangerous assassin on the planet? I don't know whether to say you're brave or just stupid," Natasha quips, obviously eavesdropping. 

Steve's eyebrows knit together, wholly ignoring her. "Did he choose it?"

"No one would choose what he's been through," I answer with utmost certainty. "It's horrible, Steve. Tonight, I saw what they do to him." My eyes are far off as I talk to him. "He remembered you, he knew me; fought back when he saw me there and they tortured him for it...for that little spark of memory."

His hand comes to rest on my shoulder, comforting me. Sam overhears our conversation then and makes his opinion known.

"I don't know Steve, I'm still not sure he's the kind you save. His long path of destruction is hard to ignore." He shakes his head at the both of us.

The defensiveness in my voice even surprises me as I reply. "I assure you that man is a victim, not a villain." I ignore the knot in my chest at the memory of the abused man I saw tonight, not quite understanding the things I'm feeling for him.

"Alright, alright. I get it," Sam says gently, holding his hands up in surrender.

 Sam, Natasha, and Steve are soon gone, leaving me alone in my apartment to stew in the thoughts of all I felt and witnessed today. I stay up later than normal, hoping in vain for a visit from the sad-eyed soldier even though I know he's not coming. They'll be keeping him on a tighter leash after the scene that played out tonight, but I still wait until I can't hold my eyes open any longer.