Brother America (A Captain America Story) WATTYS 2015

Chapter 20~Man Down

☆Steve's POV☆

I try to push my way through the doors into the detention level, where Callie had been headed. I had been held up by a few hostiles, but they were obviously nothing to worry about.

Panting, I run through the door, only to see Callie crying over a body.

Coulson's body.

I stand there for a moment, too shocked to do anything else. Loki did this.

I have a feeling he is responsible for the whole mess in this room, physically and mentally. I see Callie's body start to rack with sobs, and she loses it. I run over and wrap my arms around her so she doesn't kick Coulson. She struggles for a minute, but she realizes who I am and she goes limp in my arms, as if the events of that day have just snapped her.

Nick comes in, kneeling down besides Coulson with a few EMT's. He bows his head, heaving a big sigh. He glances at me holding Callie, who has stopped struggling and just sits in my lap, looking at Coulson. Fury's face of coolness cracks when he sees Callie, and I have a feeling he can see her broken self. Fury reaches his hand up to his earpiece to break the news to the entire ship.

"Agent Coulson is down," he says, trying to keep his voice from cracking. I hear it from both his mouth and through my earpiece. I think about the moment Callie, Coulson, and I had when we were walking down to suit up for Stuttgart, how I said I would sign his trading cards. The man didn't deserve to die. He had his whole life ahead of him.

"The medical team is on its way to your location," an unidentifiable voice speaks in my ear.

"They're here," Fury assures. "They called it."

I hang my head, upset, angry, and bothered that someone would take another man's life like that.

Out of cold blood.
The world has changed, I think sadly, standing up and helping Callie gain her feet. She wipes her nose, tears falling silently. Fury gestures for me to meet him at the bridge, so I guide Callie through the hallways, past fallen soldiers and enemies.

We reach the table on the bridge and sit down. She puts her head in her hands, taking a deep, shaky breath to calm herself. I can't blame her for the way she's acting. First her parents, now Coulson. This is too much death for a young girl like her.

I remember way back before I had become a super soldier, when I had gotten the letters confirming my parent's death. I had been in Callie's state when I heard about it. Then, when Bucky fell off the train on that mission into the HYDRA base. That broke me, but I had learned to hide how I really felt.

Now, Callie is in the same position as I had been, except about ten years younger.

She finally glances up, the sun glinting off her wet face.

"I'm sorry about my actions back there," she apologizes. I brush it off.

"You're in shock, don't apologize," I assure her. She shrugs, then pain crosses her face again.

"Steve, I...I felt him leave, I felt it," she begins to cry softly again, putting her hand on her chest, as if trying to squish her heartache. "I-"

"Hey, it's ok, calm down," I soothe, rolling my chair closer to hers. I can't think of anything else to say.

"Do you think the Force has anything to do with it?" I ask after a silence. She pauses for a moment, thinking it over.

"Yes," she confirms, tears gone as quickly as they appeared. Tony walks in, cut slightly from his encounter with the engine, and he sits a few seats down. Agent Hill stands off to the side, eyes on the floor.