｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
𝐃𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆
CHAPTER FOUR— GOODBYE, OLD FRIEND

          Hope wasn't used to hospitals. She never went to the hospital when it came to her own injuries since she was supernatural and didn't get sick.

It wasn't until she joined SHIELD that she had to go to the hospital and that was to visit her partner's if they ever got hurt(aka Natasha and Clint, especially Clint and his reckless ass, Steve only a few times, and the time that Tony got his arc reactor removed). But being at the hospital while someone she cared about was dying? That was a new experience for her.

Hope was grateful that Lizzie was by her side. The siphon witch was normally not the one to deal with other's emotions, especially since she struggled with her own, but she seemed to always be there for the list of few people she truly cared about.

Lizzie held Hope's hand tightly, not siphoning any of her magic as she did so, while Steve leaned forward against the window. The three were watching as the doctors performed the emergency surgery on Fury.

Hope didn't bother to turn around when she heard frantic footsteps practically running towards them. She could tell it was Natasha, the red-haired agent was informed by Steve over the phone about what had occurred.

Natasha froze when she got to the window, standing between Hope and Steve. "Is he gonna make it?" Natasha kept a stoic expression despite the crushing emotions attempting to consume her.

"We don't know," Steve told her, glancing at Hope to see how she was dealing with this. She and Natasha had been a lot closer with Fury than he had and despite the incident, the other day with him, Hope still cared about the director.

"Tell me about the shooter" Natasha's voice got a lot quieter, eyes never leaving the horrific scene in front of her as she questioned the two agents who had come into contact with the shooter.

"He's fast and strong. Had a metal arm" Hope made eye contact with Natasha, silently telling her that there was something else that she would inform her of later. The red-haired woman nodded slightly.

Maria Hill, another SHIELD agent and one of Fury's most trusted ones at that, walked over to them and watched the surgery through the glass window.

"Ballistics?" Natasha and Hope both asked at the same time. Lizzie rose an eyebrow at this but chose to stay silent.

"Three slugs, no rifling. Completely untraceable" Maria explained to the group, only slightly glancing at Lizzie, hesitating in sharing the information around the non-agent, despite the fact that Director Fury marked her down as trustworthy.

"Soviet-made" Natasha sighed. "Yeah," There's was merely a beat of silence before the monitors started going crazy in the room where the doctors were doing emergency surgery on the Director.

Nick Fury was flatlining, the doctors were scrambling to get the defibrillator. Hope's grip on Lizzie's hand only tightened as she fought back the tears welling up in her eyes in order to see the scene in front of her.

"Don't do this to me, Nick" Hope heard Natasha whisper softly, though barely registering it as they kept trying to shock the man back to life. They weren't getting a pulse, however, and the five standing outside the room watching knew exactly what that meant.

The five were filled with sadness and fear, though Lizzie's wasn't bad considering she didn't know Fury but she knew Hope and Steve.

Steve ended up walking away from the scene once he realized that it was over for Fury. Hope's other hand was now joint with Natasha's, both agents mourning their boss who had done more for them than a normal boss would've.

"Time of death, 1:03 a.m" Hope's memory fell on the flash drive that Fury gave them, one that she gave Steve for safekeeping with a quick spell to keep it secure for him too.

What was so important on that flash drive that Fury literally died for? And why didn't he trust anyone else with it?

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Lizzie stayed in the waiting room while Natasha, Hope, and Steve were allowed into the room where Fury's dead body laid. Steve leaned against the wall, silent as hundreds of questions flittered around in his brain.

Natasha and Hope stood closer to the dead body of their boss, leaning on to each other for comfort as they didn't hold back any emotions. Natasha was so used to hiding any emotions that made her feel weak but she couldn't hold them back at this moment, especially when Hope started to silently cry first.

Hope hated the way that things ended with Fury, the anger she felt against him hours earlier for the secrets of Project Insight. She remembered when he recruited her, how he explained that he knew her mother and kept Hope's supernatural origins a secret. How he, despite his normal cold nature, actually cared about her. And now...he was dead.

"I need to take him" The two agents didn't hear Maria say this to Steve, focused on the fallen man whose body laid in front of them. Steve nodded to Maria before walking over to the girls, not noticing that Maria let a few more tears slip from her eyes once she knew that nobody was looking.

"Natasha, Hope..." He called out their names as he cautiously made his way over. Hope turned her head towards Steve, a somber smile on her lips when she saw the look of concern on his face for the two.

"Nat" Hope repeated quietly, slightly nudging the older agent who looked at her dead boss one more time before looking back at her mentee. "I'll text you" Was all the Black Widow said before strutting out of the room, wiping away any evidence of her crying before leaving the room.

"Natasha" Steve followed her out into the hallway, knowing that she was somehow upset with him. Hope stayed in the room for one more minute, looking at the dead body of Fury one last time. She couldn't hear a heartbeat or a pulse, he was dead and only dark magic would've been able to bring him back to life.

Hope didn't know what to say for her goodbyes, dozens of the things that she wanted to say to Director Fury jumbled up in her mind. She wanted to thank him for keeping the supernatural a secret, for taking her in and giving her a purpose when she needed one, and unknowingly(or knowingly, knowing Fury) giving her a new family. She wanted to yell at him for everything he had done, the infiltration of his own organization that he decided that she and Steve would deal with instead of anyone else.

Hope, instead of saying any of that, softly murmured "Goodbye, Director" before starting to walk away, stopping at Maria who she felt sympathy for. The two shared a mutual look, neither in the mood to initiate physical contact with each other before Hope walked out of the room.

Hope saw the end of whatever went on with Natasha and Steve, the red-haired agent hid her emotions well but even Hope could tell she was frustrated with whatever they had walked about.

"Kenner, they want you and Cap back at SHIELD," Rumlow told her once he saw her enter the hallway, not even giving her a second to breathe. This was one of the few problems she had with SHIELD Agents, a lot of the newer agents especially barely showed much emotion and didn't care for people who were dealing with it.

Steve moved over to her side when he noticed that she was out of the room. "Before you ask, I'm fine," Hope lied before looking around for Lizzie, only to not see her anywhere. Steve realized who she was looking for as she started to panic.

"Lizzie said she had finals today that she couldn't miss" Hope hadn't even realized that they had been at the hospital for that long. Hope slightly relaxed her body, although she was still on guard.

"Steve, the shooter...he was temporarily protected from my powers" Hope spoke in such a quiet voice that only Steve heard it. "By..." Steve stopped himself from saying the next part out loud. Instead, he mouthed the words magic which Hope nodded to.

"Kenner, Rogers, they want you now!" Another SHIELD agent called out to the two, cutting the conversation short. They knew they'd end up talking about it later so they followed behind the other agents in silence, both equally feeling that they couldn't trust anyone apart of SHIELD, not anymore.