"Are you okay?" Elizabeth quickly asked Ava as they both hid under the dining table. The sound of gunshots left just as quick as they came.

The sound of silence filled the cold air as she peeked her head out from under the table. Elizabeth listen closely incase there was a round two. When she was sure that nothing else was gonna happen, she ushered Ava out from under table.

"What's happening?" She asked her in between heavy pants. "Oh god, are we gonna die?" The teen cried out worriedly as her breathing quickened.

Elizabeth put her arms around the girl and quickly calmed her down, sensing her panic and worry. "It's alright," she soothed, watching as Ava's breath went back to a slow and steady pace.

She brought Ava toward the open door and peered out, making sure it was safe for them to leave. The place was empty except for the sound of some talking from Steve Rogers apartment.

Crouching down so she was eye to eye with Ava, she began to speak. "Listen very carefully," Ava nodded, signalling she was listening. "You're gonna go downstairs and find someone to stay with till your mom comes back, okay? There will be plenty of people outside as well, I'm sure they heard the gunshots too. Understand?"

"Yes," she responded her mouth in a grim but determined line. Elizabeth had taken all of the young girls fear and panic and turned it into pure determination, making it easy for her to do what was told.

With her arm still around Ava, Elizabeth walked them both out the door. Sending a reassuring smile, she watched as Ava ran down the stairs and out of her sight.

Without wasting any time, Elizabeth sprinted to the end of the hallway ready to help however she could. When she got to the door she sensed that there were three people inside instead of the two that she expected.

She crept into the apartment and watched from behind a bookcase as two familiar blonde heads were bent over a body laying in the ground.

"We all good in here?" She announced her presence as she went out from behind thevbookcase.

Sharon Carter spun on her heel as she held her gun up to the unfamiliar figure. She squinted as she tried to remember who the woman before her was.

Steve quickly dropped his shield to the ground and pushed Sharon's gun down. "The kid okay?" He asked Elizabeth as she nodded in return.

Sharon went back to crouching over the figure on the ground. She kept a hand on what looked like a bullet wound that had a steady trickle of blood poring out.  "Foxtrot is down, he's unresponsive." She muttered into a pager as she checked for a pulse. "I need EMT's."

Elizabeth walked over to see a man laying on the ground as he slowly bled out from multiple wounds to his chest. An eye patch covered his left eye and he was dressed in a long black trench coat that fanned out around his body. In other words he looked like he was going to a Matrix/Pirate themed costumed party.

"Do we have a twenty on the shooter?" A muffled voice asked from the pager.

Both Steve and Elizabeth looked up in time to see a flash of metal on the roof of the building across from them. The dark figure ran back into the shadows, but not before the two caught sight them.

Steve looked back down to the body of Nick Fury. Unsure whether to leave him. But a quick nod from Elizabeth was all he needed to know that Nick Fury was in safe hands.

He picked up his shield as he spoke to Sharon. "Tell them I'm in pursuit." Was all he said before jumping out of the window, leaving pieces of broken glass in his wake.

"He needs to stay conscious," Elizabeth told Sharon as she tried to help apply pressure to whatever wounds she could find. Her hands were quickly stained a dark red as she pressed down.

Elizabeth concentrated hard enough that Nick Fury gasped awake and thrashed until he realised what had happened. She erased all want of sleep that the man before her had, making sure to make him keep his eyes open as long as possible.

"What the hell," the man exclaimed when he caught eyes of Elizabeth. Trying to move out from under her, he groaned in pain realising that it was a bad idea.

"More like who the hell," Sharon corrected with a wary glance toward Elizabeth. Unsure of how the woman managed to wake up her boss without barely touching him.

"I'm Elizabeth," she stated tensely. All of her focus on keeping the man in front of her awake. "I'd shake your hand but I'm trying very hard not to let this pirate guy bleed out."

"Then don't take this the wrong way, miss," the man started between grunts of pain. "But keep those hands on me."

***

Elizabeth shut the door behind her quietly, carful not to alert her housemate. Her efforts were proved useless when Sam turned on the lights in their living room.  He leaned against a wall with his arms crossed. A look of annoyance in his face that quickly turned into worry when he saw the state she was in.

Her coat and front of her shirt were stained a dark maroon. As she dropped her bag on the floor, Sam caught sight of the blood on her hands. Rushing over to her, he grabbed her face in his hands and examined her closely.

"Are you okay?" He asked worriedly as he turned her around, checking for any major injuries. "Who's blood is that? What happened?" He blurted out his questions all ah once.

Untangling herself out of his grip, she went over to the couch and plopped herself down. "Calm down," she told him as she put her head in her hands. "Your feelings are very loud."

It was true. He was feeling so many things all at once that it was overwhelming her. Making her feel scared and worried when she had no reason to be, all of these feelings were Sam's not hers.

"Damn right they're loud," Sam snapped as he knelt down in front of her. "You didn't answer my question, are you okay?" He repeated.

She closed her eyes tightly before opening them, coming face to face with Sam's worried gaze. "I'm fine," she answered. "The blood isn't mine."

"Then whose is it?"

"Some pirate guy," was the only explanation she gave before grabbing the remote on the nearby table and turning on the tv. Just as she suspected, the news was on.

Sitting down beside her, he shot Elizabeth a confused glance. That was the thing with her, she only gave answers when she felt like it. There was no other way to get them out of her.
As if sensing his oncoming question -which she probably did- she pointed to the tv, signalling him to watch.

"Here we are at the apartment building where a targeted shooting has just took place," the newscaster reported as she stared into the camera intensely.

Behind her showed the building where Elizabeth was just at. The only difference was the massive amount of cop cars and ambulances. The ambulance that took the man she helped had long gone since then, she should know, she watched him get loaded in.

"Sources say that there was only one reported casualty, Nicholas J. Fury." The newscaster continued. On cue, a picture of the man who Elizabeth described as a pirate appeared on screen. "The head of the worlds most top secret organisation, SHIELD has been severely injured and is now undergoing immediate surgery."

"That's where you were, he's the pirate guy?" Sam asked in disbelief. Elizabeth ignored his question and jutted her head at the tv, telling him to shut up and watch.

"The owner of the apartment where this event took place is none other than Captain America himself, Steve Rogers. Now-" the tv shut off and she snapped her head toward Sam who held the remote in his hand.

He ran a hand over his face before he spoke. "How'd you even get into this mess?"

Elizabeth shrugged, "Right place, right time."

"Isn't that where the kid you tutor lives?"

"Bingo," she pointed a finger at him with an exaggerated smile. "God, poor kid." She let out a big sigh that she didn't know she had been holding in.

"Isn't she lucky you were there," Sam teased as he pinched her cheek affectionately. She shoved his hand away as he continued, "My own superhero, fighting alongside Captain America."

"Stop it," she whined as Sam kept going.

"Hey, maybe we'll both become Avengers. And fight aliens like they did in New York."

Getting up from the couch she laughed lightly. "Dream on Bird boy," she patted his shoulder. "I'm gonna take a shower."

As she walked up the stairs to her bedroom she heard Sam call after her, "You got blood on the couch!"