I don't own anything except any original/own characters and any original plot.

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Chapter 7- Secrets and Lies

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"Why didn't you tell me about what you were working on?" Steve asked.

We were walking through the museum together. He had a jacket and a hat on, a classic sway to hide yourself in public I was told. I, on the other hand, had shifted into a random person I saw on the street.

"I thought you already knew about Project Insight," I shrugged, "I suppose I was wrong. Don't worry, if SHIELD decides to use it for something we don't agree with, I can shut it down. Unless they change the system, but, like Fury said, it's very difficult to do so."

We passed by a young boy, no older than twelve. His eyes sparkled with wonder as he stared up at Steve. He was short enough to see under the hat. My form flickered slightly, showing the boy who I was before I was back in my passerby state. Steve and I both put a finger to our lips to silence the child.

After continuing on, Steve had stopped at the small area dedicated to Bucky. Just like the first time we came he seemed familiar to me. I shook it off, taking a hold of Steve's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. He squeezed back.

Fury's orders flashed through my mind. He wanted me to get close to him, and perhaps he had accounted for the probability of us falling for each other.
Knowing him, it was what he had planned from the beginning. 

~*~

"You should be proud of yourself, Peggy," Steve spoke quietly to Peggy, observing the photos she had on her bedside table.

Admittedly, upon hearing Steve's request for me to accompany him to see Peggy, I was more than hesitant. I knew of their past relationship, and I knew he came out of the ice still in love with her. It felt like he had just fallen asleep after all. But he assured me that it would have been better for him to come in with a girl on his arm.
Peggy wouldn't tear him a new one then.

"I have lived a life, haven't I? My only regret is that you didn't get to live yours," Peggy's tired eyes travelled to me, "But you've been given a second chance."

Steve looked down at his hands, silent and somber.

"What is it?"

"For as long as I can remember I just wanted to do what was right...I guess I'm not quite sure what that is anymore. And I thought I could throw myself back in and follow orders, serve. It's just not the same."

"You're always so dramatic," Peggy laughed weakly, "You saved the world. We rather mucked it up."

"You didn't. Knowing that you helped found SHIELD is half the reason I stay."

"The world has changed and none of us can go back. All we can do is our best, and sometimes the best that we can do is to start over," Peggy motioned to me before getting pulled into a coughing fit.
Steve stood up, grabbing her water.

"Steve? You're alive! It's been so long. And you brought a girl. She's a looker. I knew you could find someone else."

"Yeah," Steve cleared his throat of the emotion that was building up, "It was great to see you Peg, you helped me a lot. (Y/n)?"

"Yeah," I followed after Steve. A weak hand grabbed my wrist.

"Take care of him," Peggy whispered, "Be patient. Be yourself. Steve went after you, and moved on from me. You're doing something right."

"It was lovely to meet you Peggy," I whispered to the woman, a kind smile gracing my features.

"Lovely to meet you too. Steve has his smile back."

~*~

"The thing is I think it's getting worse. A cop pulled me over last week, he thought I was drunk. I swerved to miss a plastic bag. I thought it was an IED."

"Some stuff you leave there, other stuff you bring back. It's our job to figure out how to carry it. Is it gonna be in a big suitcase or in a little man-purse? It's up to you."

Steve and I allowed all of the veterans to move past us as they cleared out of the room. Once all of them were gone, we approached Steve's new friend, Sam Wilson. It was interesting, even just hearing the end of the meeting. We didn't really have PTSD on my planet, the lack of wars didn't allow for it.

"Look who it is, the running man," Sam greeted kindly, "And (Y/n) Altovar. Your majesty."

"A pleasure," I bowed my head as a sign of respect.

"Caught the last few minutes. It's pretty intense," Steve stated.

"Yeah, brother, we all got the same problems. Guilt, regret," Sam nodded.

"You lose someone?"

"My wingman, Riley. Flying a night mission.Standard PJ rescue op, nothing we hadn't done a thousand times before, till RPG knocked Riley's dumb ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do. It's like I was up there just to watch. After that, I had really hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?"

"But you're happy now, being back in the world?"

"The number of people giving me orders is down to zero. So, hell yeah. You two thinking about getting out?"

"No. I don't know. To be honest, I don't know what I would do with myself if I did," Steve chuckled, lost in thought.

"Ultimate fighting? (Y/n) I'm sure you'd be popular at birthday parties. They're just great ideas off the top of my head. But seriously, both of you could do whatever you wanted to. What makes you happy?"

Steve and I shared a painstakingly loving look.

"I see. Get married then, live a normal life."

Steve and I both flushed red at the thought of getting married. Our relationship was only a bit less than a year old.

"Maybe someday Sam, but until then, we'll stay in it."

~*~

"Date night Saturday? We could do a Star Trek marathon and you can cross it off of our list."

"I love you, you know that right?" Steve questioned suddenly. I stopped, my foot hovering over the next step to our apartments.

"I love you too Steve, but why now? Of all times?"

"I just...Seeing Peggy. It made me realize that I can't lose you."

"Oh Steve," I whispered, pulling him into a tight hug, "You won't lose me, I swear to Atreya. Royalty doesn't break promises."

After our sweet moment, we finished walking up the stairway, reaching our apartment level. Sharon was there, in scrubs. It was strange, seeing her in something aside from a SHIELD uniform.

"Hey lovebirds," she greeted, basket of laundry on her hip, "I think you left your stereo on Steve."

"Oh, thank you," Steve said casually. After Sharon left we shared a concerned look.

"Window," I stated simply.

We went through my apartment onto the fire escape. From there, we went over the roof to Steve's side, finding a window leading into his apartment. Steve rolled inside, snatching up his shield from its resting place. I tapped my fists together, forming a pair of discs. We peeked around the corner, lowering out guards. Lo and behold, Nick Fury was resting in a loveseat in the corner of the apartment.

"I don't remember giving you a key," Steve crossed his arms.

"You really think I need one? My wife kicked me out."

"Didn't know you were married," I commented.

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me," Fury shrugged.

"That's the problem," Steve flicked the lights on. Fury was really beat up, making me gasp. He held up his phone 'EARS EVERYWHERE'.

"I'm sorry to have to do this, but I had no place else to crash." 'SHIELD COMPROMISED'.

"Who else knows about your wife?"

"Just...my friends." 'JUST THE THREE OF US'.

"Is that what we are?"

"That's up to you-"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three gunshots, all clan through the wall and into vital parts of his body. I leapt forward, throwing up a shield to protect him from any further attempts on his life.
I kept a tight grip on his wrist, pulling him off of the chair and into the kitchen.

"Oh nersh, oh nersh, oh nersh," I cursed repeatedly, searching for something that could help us.

"Don't trust anyone," Fury placed a flash drive in my hand. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his breathing slowed. He was out.

"Captain Rogers? Agent Altovar?"
Sharon barged into the apartment, gun drawn.

"Kate?"

"Agent 13 of SHIELD Special Service. I was assigned to protect you."

"On whose order?"

"His," Sharon motioned to the unconscious Fury, "Altovar did put up a good fight though, the whole making her move thing was a fuss. Foxtrot is down, I need EMTs."

"Twenty on the shooter?"

A flash of silver caught Seve and my attention from a nearby rooftop. It was the shooter.

"Tell them I'm in pursuit," Steve ordered.

"Me too," I added.

A destructive rampage. It was the simplest way to describe the path Steve and I were on. Steve crashed through his apartment window onto the next rooftop.
I struggled to keep up with his pace. Just because I was an alien didn't mean I was any faster than the average human. Well, scratch that, intense training did help quite a bit.

Steve reared his arm back and chucked his shield at the attacker. To our surprise, the man turned and caught it, throwing it back to Steve. I ran to the edge of the rooftop as he jumped, but he had disappeared.

"You told me you wanted to move," Steve panted, looking over to me.

"Is this the time for an argument?" I questioned, crossing my arms.

"Is everything a lie?" Steve asked rhetorically, turning to run back to his apartment.

My heart panged at the memory of turning into Peggy. The guilt was slowly growing. I had never really felt it before, not as strong as this. There was no need for me to feel guilty on my planet. I hated it.

~*~

"Is he gonna make it?" Nat walked up behind me and Steve.

Fury was currently in a private room for surgery. Several doctors were frantically trying to save his life, but the monitor told me it wasn't going very well.

"I don't know," Steve mumbled. I scowled in frustration. One awful thing after another. Steve had barely spoken to me on the way to the hospital on top of everything else. He was questioning our relationship in its entirety.

"Tell me about the shooter."

"Fast, strong. Had a metal arm."

A memory flashed through my mind. I blinked a few times, pinching the bridge of my nose. It was blurry, vague, as if I was drunk. But I couldn't get drunk off of Midgardian liquor, it was extremely weak compared to the Asgardian stuff I had started on.

"Informație. Acum."

Vision going in and out, my sight wavered as I blinked slowly, looking up at the person who was speaking Romanian. Romanian. I had to learn it for a mission two years ago. A small flash of silver. Arm. Silver arm.

"Nersh juh,"I slurred. That was entirely my language. What would make me speak my own language in front of someone?

Thinking back, I didn't remember much of that mission. I remembered getting there, the beginning, getting the information I needed. There was something else, one final piece. A flashdrive maybe Someone I had to talk to! That was it. A party, there was a drink-

Beeeeeeeep

"Time of death. One oh three A-M."

~*~

Was Fury really dead? My eyes didn't seem to be deceiving me. Nat had pulled me into the viewing room soon after the doctor called it I was too messed up from whatever episode I was having.

I looked over to Nat. She was crying. I had only seen her cry twice before. Once was after a particularly bad mission the two of us were assigned to, a lot of casualties. The second was when she randomly appeared at my apartment. I didn't really ask questions then. I didn't have to, she told me herself that she was having nightmares about her past.
"Nat?"

As soon as I said her name she turned and left the room. Steve and I instinctively followed after her.

"Why was he in your apartment?" She questioned, stopping inside of an empty room.

"I don't know," Steve lied.

"Captain, Agent Altovar, they want you back at SHIELD."

"Give us a minute."

"They want you two now."

"You're a terrible liar," Nat scoffed. She glanced over to me, "What about you, huh? Princesses aren't supposed to lie, are they?"

I stayed silent, my lip quivering in guilt. Nat chuckled, hurt. "You've been away from your throne for too long."

Nat stepped in between us and left. Nat's departure drew my attention to the vending machine just outside of the room.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" I glanced over to Steve.

"Hard to tell."

I huffed in frustration. Fishing the drive out of my pocket, I waved my hand, sending the small device into the machine behind the Hubba Bubba bubblegum.

After that, Steve and I jogged to catch up with Rumlow. He insisted that someone drive us to headquarters, but Steve and I were against it. We needed to be alone at some point to work out what we were going through. Eventually he gave in. A car would be in front of and behind us instead.

Once we were inside the SHIELD provided car, I tapped my fingers against the steering wheel, waiting for our first escort car to pull out. My eyes kept flicking over to Steve, yearning for him to say something, anything, to break the silence.

"Explain everything," Steve had his Captain America voice on, telling me how serious our problem was.

"When you were brought to the helicarrier before New York, Fury told me to gain your trust, get close. We were both newer to this world than anyone else, I could use that. I talked to you as much as I did back then because of that, but I really didn't plan on starting to get feelings for you."

The car in front of us pulled out. I pressed on the gas, following after out onto the street. When I glanced up in the mirror, I saw the SHIELD car behind us as well.

"After New York, Fury ordered me to move in next to you. Both of us have targets on our backs, and it would be easier for us to protect ourselves, and for him to keep an eye on us, if we were close."

My words got caught in my throat when I thought about bringing up what happened with Peggy. I couldn't do that. Not now. Not when one of my closest friends has just passed away. Not when I felt like my relationship was falling to shambles.

"When you asked me out...I thought about saying no," I admitted, "I couldn't see myself having a relationship. Not when I was hiding myself from the world. Not when I was so focused on helping the world. But I said yes. And, I've had the best year of my life. There are things I've lied about, but being in love with you isn't one of them."

Steve sighed, his fingers running through his hair as we entered the Triskelion's parking lot. The car in front of us parked, and I did the same next to them. I gripped the steering wheel tightly, turning to look at Steve.

"I love you," Steve mumbled, "But SHIELD is making this relationship really difficult."

"After all this, do you wanna get out? Stay with the Avengers, but...Get away from all of the lies, and secrecy?"

"I do," Steve nodded, "I don't want this to happen again."

Rumlow tapped on the window, scaring both of us. As I was stepping out of the car I shifted into my uniform. Steve was going to change as soon as we got inside.
With a team surrounding us, we walked up to the building. Someone handing Steve a case with his uniform and he stepped away to change.

With everything that had been going on, I was on high alert. My eyes flitted from person to person. Did they know what was going on? Were they in on it? I didn't know, and it was killing me.

"Let's go," Steve stepped out of the bathroom.

The Strike team finally stepped away from us. They had their own business to attend to. Together, Steve and I took the elevator up to Alexander Pierce's office. I had only met him once in my time at SHIELD, and there was something really offsetting about him.

"Captain Rogers, Agent Altovar," Sharon nodded to us, leaving Pierce's office herself.

"Neighbor," Steve said simply.

"Ah, yes. Captain, I'm Alexander Pierce," Pierce held out his hand for Steve to shake.

"Sir, it's an honor."

"The honor is mine, Captain. My father served in the 101st," Steve curiously picked up an old photo of Pierce and Fury, "That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met. I was at State Department in Bogota, people stormed the ELN Embassy there. Security got me out, but they took hostages. Nick came to me with a plan, go up through the sewers. I said negotiate. Turns out the ELN didn't negotiate. They put out a kill order, stormed the embassy. They found the basement empty. Nick had ignored my direct order and had sent in the team anyway, saving at least a dozen political officers. Including my daughter."

"So you gave him a promotion."

"I've never had any cause to regret it. Why was Nick in your apartment last night?"

"We don't know," I feigned confusion.

"You know it was bugged?"

"Yeah, Nick told us."

"Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?" Both of us stayed silent, "Let me show you something."

Pierce pulled up a video of Batroc being interrogated.

"Is this live?" Steve questioned.

"They picked him up last night in a not so safe house in Algiers. Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the Lemurian Star. He was contacted through email and wired the money, and the money was run through seventeen fictitious accounts. One by the name Jonathan Veech. He died six years ago. He used to live on 1437 Watercrest Drive. When I first met Nick, his mother lived on 1436."

"Are you saying he ordered the attack on the ship?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Prevailing theory is that the hijacking was a cover for the sale of intelligence. The sale went sour and that led to Nick's death."

"If you really knew Nick Fury you would know that's not true." Steve said surely.

"Why do you think we're talking? I took a seat on the council because Nick asked me to. We knew that despite everything to build a better world means having to tear the old one down. Those people that call you dirty because you have the guts to stick your hands in there to build something better.

"And the idea that those people could be happy today makes me really, really, angry. You two were the last to see Nick alive and I don't think that's an accident. I don't think you do either. So I'm gonna ask again. Why was he there?"

"He told us not to trust anyone." I mumbled.

"I wonder, if that included him," Pierce stated.

"I'm sorry, those were his last words, excuse us," I tugged on Steve's arm to pull him out.

"Agents, somebody murdered my friend and I want to know why. If anyone gets in my way they're gonna regret it. Anyone."

"Understood."