"Ellie, Ellie c'mon, we gotta get to the hospital."

Steve's hands were on my shoulders as I looked down at my vomit that pooled on the ground. I stood up straight, my hands on my stomach looking at the place where the soldier disappeared. 

"Are you okay?" Steve asked. 

"I don't know. Let's go." I said.

~~~

We stood at a glass window outside of the operating room. Nick was on the table. I was holding onto Steve's arm, squeezing tightly to try and relieve my stress. The door opened behind us and Natasha ran up to the window.

"Is he gonna make it?" She asked.

"I don't know," Steve said.

"Tell me about the shooter," Natasha said.

"He's fast, strong," Steve answered. "Had a metal arm." 

I shuddered at the memory. The darkened eyes staring straight at me.

Agent Maria Hill approached the window as well. The tension and fear in the room was heavy. 

"Ballistics?" Nat asked.

"Three slugs, no rifling and completely untraceable," Maria answered.

"Soviet-made?" Nat said.

"Yeah.." Maria looked at her.

"How do you know that?" I asked and before she could answer, loud beeping came from one of the medical equipment.

"His pulse is dropping." One of the doctors spoke. "Nurse, help me with the gauzes, please. BP is dropping. Defibrillator!"

"Charge to 100!" Another doctor spoke. 

A doctor walked over with a defibrillator and they pressed the two panels to his chest.

"C'mon, Nick," I whispered. 

The shock went through but there was no pulse. My grip on Steve's arm got tighter and vapor escaped my mouth.

"Charge to 200. Three, two, one. Clear!"

I turned my head and pressed my face against Steve's sleeve. 

"God, please," I mumbled, hoping that some sort of prayer would help.

"Give me epinephrine! Pulse?" A doctor called out.

"Negative." Another doctor spoke.

The sound of a flatline came to my ears and Steve's arm left my grasp as he walked away.

"What's the time?" A doctor asked. 

"1:03, Doctor." 

"Time of death, 1:03 A.M."

The doctors began taking off their masks and putting away equipment. Maria left the room leaving Natasha and I alone. They took Nick's body out and Natasha and I left the room.

~~~

Nick's body had been cleaned and he was placed on a stretcher in a separate room covered in a white sheet with only his head and shoulders showing. Steve and I stood in the hall as Natasha stood in front of the stretcher looking down at Nick's body. 

Maria walked over and stood next to Steve.

"They need to take him." She said quietly. 

Steve walked up to Natasha and said her name. She put her hand on his head before leaving the room. I followed after her with Steve right behind me. The STRIKE Team was also in the hallway.

"Natasha!" Steve called and she whipped around, causing me to almost run into her. Her gaze jumped back and forth between me and Steve.

"Why was Fury in your apartment?" She asked.

"I don't know." Steve shook his head and Nat looked at me.

"Don't look at me, we came home together," I said.

Did Natasha know that SHIELD had been compromised? Or was Fury lying?

"Cap, Flint." We turned to face Rumlow. "They want you two back at SHIELD." 

"Yeah, give us a second," Steve replied.

"They want you now," Rumlow said firmly.

"Okay," Steve replied with exasperation. 

We looked back at Natasha.

"Steve, you're a terrible liar." She said before turning away.

I began to walk towards Rumlow, but Steve wasn't following. 

"You coming?" I asked.

"You go ahead, I will be there in a minute." He said.

I nodded and walked down the hall and met up with Rumlow.

"Where's Cap?" He asked.

"He's coming," I replied. "Why does SHIELD need us so urgently?"

"You'll find out when you get there," Rumlow said.

I searched his face for any break, something didn't seem right. Rumlow avoided my gaze and I glanced at the other STRIKE members, who were also avoiding eye contact. 

"Let's go." Steve walked up to us and Rumlow nodded.

We continued down the hall towards the exit. "STRIKE, moving out!" Rumlow shouted.

~~~~~

We had changed into our suits at HQ and were sent to meet with Alexander Pierce, the Secretary of the World Security Council. As we walked down the hallway we passed Kate, if that really was her name, who had been talking with Pierce in his doorway.

"Captain Rogers," she said as she passed. "Agent Flint." 

"Neighbor," Steve replied coldly.

We approached Pierce and he smiled when we stopped in front of him. 

"Ah, Captain Rogers." He greeted and shook hands with Steve.

"Sir, it's an honor." Steve said.

"The honor is all mine, Captain." Pierce smiled.

"And Eleanor Flint." He looked at me and we shook hands. "My niece is a big fan. Do come in, both of you."

We entered a conference room and Steve and I stood in front of a screen as Pierce began picking up papers. He had handed Steve a photo of a young Nick Fury and Alexander Pierce. In this photo Nick had both his eyes.

"That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met." Pierce spoke. "When I was at State Department in Bagota, ELN rebels took the embassy, and security got me out, but the rebels took hostages."

As he spoke, I watched him walk around, suspicious of whether Nick's words were true or not. Had SHIELD been compromised? If we can't trust anybody, who's to say that we can trust Pierce? My paranoia was growing, I didn't know what to do. Pierce walked over as he told his story and sat down on an arm chair, Steve and I took the other two free seats.

"He saved lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter."

"So you gave him a promotion." Steve said.

"I've never had any cause to regret it." Pierce smiled. We sat in silence for a moment before he spoke again. "Captain, why was Nick in your apartment last night?"

"I don't know." Steve shook his head.

I continued looking around the room, paranoid that there were cameras or gunman around. My heel began to tap and I folded my hands together in my lap. 

"Flint, do you know?" Pierce asked me and my head whipped back to look at him.

"No, sir." I answered.

"Did you know it was bugged?" Pierce asked.

"The apartment? Yeah, Nick told us." I nodded.

"Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?" Pierce questioned.

I gave a quizzical look. "Why would he bug the apartment?"

Pierce avoided my question and clicked a remote. The screen next to us showed footage of Batroc being interrogated. I leaned forward with furrowed brows. 

"Is that live?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, they picked him up last night in a not-so-safe house in Algiers," Pierce replied.

"If you think he's a suspect, you might be wrong, assassination isn't really his thing." I said.

"No, it's more complicated than that. Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the Lemurian Star and he was contacted by e-mail and paid by wire transfer." Pierce explained as he picked up a file. "And then the money was run through seventeen fictitious accounts, the last one going to a holding company that was registered to a Jacob Veech."

"And that is...?" I looked away from the screen at Pierce.

He handed the file to Steve who opened it.

"Veech died six years ago. His last address was 14-35 Elmhurst Drive. When I first met Nick his mother lived at 14-37." Pierce said.

I scowled, the coincidence didn't seem right to me and by the look on his face, it didn't seem right to Steve either. Nick didn't even die an hour ago and they were already pointing fingers.

"Are you saying Fury hired the pirates?" Steve asked. "Why?"

"Well the prevailing theory was that the hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence," Pierce said. "The sale went sour and that led to Nick's death."

Steve and I glanced at each other, we were finding it hard to believe all this.

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

"Why do you think we're talking?" Pierce asked. He stood and walked over to a window, Steve and I stood as well. "See, I took a seat on the Council not because I wanted to but because Nick asked me to because we were both realists. We knew that despite all the diplomacy and the handshaking and the rhetoric, that to build a really better world sometimes means having to tear the old one down." Pierce looked back at us. "And that makes enemies. Those people that call you dirty because you got the guts to stick your hands in the mud and try to build something better. And the idea that those people could be happy today, makes me really, really angry."

It was then that something didn't feel right about Alexander Pierce, his attitude, the way he spoke. It made me suspicious, but the paranoia could just be talking. 

"Flint, Captain. You two were the last one to see Nick alive. I don't think that's an accident, and I don't think you do either. So I'm going to ask again, why was he there?" Pierce asked, his tone becoming more firm. He seemed desperate.

I looked at Steve, waiting for him to answer, as he always had the best one in situations like this. I tended to answer sarcastically or not give straight answers. I had an attitude. And right now, I could feel a snarky reply coming. 

"He told us not to trust anyone," Steve answered.

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

We stood in silence for a moment, then Steve spoke again.

"I'm sorry, those were his last words." He began to leave and I followed. "Excuse me." Steve picked up his shield and placed it on his back.

"Captain," Pierce stopped us. "Somebody murdered my friend and I'm gonna find out why. And anyone who gets in my way, they're gonna regret it. Anyone."

"Understood." Steve nodded.

"Goodbye, sir." I said.

Steve and I left the conference room and headed to the elevator.

"He seems sketchy," I said. "Alexander does."

"He lost a friend, he's angry." Steve said.

"Come on, you aren't a bit suspicious?" I looked at Steve as we stepped into the elevator. "It seems like they're pulling stuff outta their asses. Too many fingers are pointing and I don't know where to look." 

"We'll leave it to SHIELD to do some further investigations." Steve tried to assure me, "Operations control," e said aloud and a beep came from the elevator.

"Confirmed."

"That's the thing, Steve. Pierce is SHIELD, and I'm starting to get wary of him-" 

I quickly shut my mouth when an arm was held out to stop the elevator doors from closing and Rumlow stepped inside with two other STRIKE members. I stepped back and stood next to Steve to make room for them.

"Forensics." Rumlow said to the elevator.

"Confirmed."

Rumlow nodded to me and looked at Steve. "Cap."

"Rumlow." Steve turned and nodded in reply.

The doors shut and the elevator began moving down as we stood in awkward silence.

"Evidence response found some fibers of the roof they want us to see." Rumlow said to Steve. "You want me to get the Tac-Team ready?"

"No, let's wait and see what it is first." Steve answered.

"Right." Rumlow looked away.

Something didn't seem right in the way he was speaking. He seemed nervous, hysterical, even. His breathing was a bit uneven as well. I've known Rumlow on missions and out of missions, he usually wasn't this anxious. I looked at the two other STRIKE members and I saw that one of them had their hand on the gun in their holster. I furrowed my brow and glanced up at Steve, he was also looking at the gun. 

The elevator stopped and different men began filing in, some of them STRIKE members, others were just agents with briefcases. Steve and I stepped closer together, my back was practically up against his torso as we made room for the newcomers.

"Excuse me." One of the agents passed us and Steve put his hands on my shoulders and began pushing me forward until we were standing in the middle of the elevator.

I looked around at the different agents as they talked quietly. Something definitely wasn't right. 

"Uh, I'm sorry about what happened with Fury." Rumlow said to us. "Messed up, what happened to him."

"Thank you." Steve said.

Steve began looking around too, he also felt that something was off. Everyone seemed tense, unnerved, and jittery. I glanced up at the agent next to me and noticed a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead. 

The elevator stopped once more and Rollins stepped in with two more Strike members.

"Records." He said.

"Confirmed."

The elevator doors closed, I shook my hands slightly and glanced around at the number of people in the elevator. I looked up at Steve and he looked back at me. We both knew what was going on.

"Before we get started," Steve began. "Does anyone want to get out?" 

I held my breath, waiting for something to happen.

Rollins spun around with an taser rod and held it out to shock Steve. I kicked his arm making him drop the rod and the agents grabbed Steve's arms and held him against the wall. Someone pressed the emergency stop button. My arms were grabbed from behind and I watched as two agents removed the handles from their briefcases, which were actually magnetic cuffs and began to strap Steve's wrists to the walls. They only strapped one cuff before Steve began kicking the agents and flinging the second cuff to the other wall. 

The person who had grabbed me from behind shoved me forward and held me against the other wall. I jerked my head back, hitting the agent's nose behind me and spun around to kick his chest. 

Steve had already knocked out a few agents and was now fighting with Rumlow, who was wielding the taser rod. 

Rollins approached me and went to grab my arms, I deflected his hands a few times before another agent came up and pinned me to the wall. Rollins took out a syringe and held it out to my neck. I shouted and kicked up, hitting him between the legs, he keeled over and I kneed his forehead. The syringe shattered on the floor and fluid spilled out. A cold rush flooded my arms and frost spread from my arms to the agent pinning me. He quickly let go, giving me time to hit him in the temple, knocking him out.

I looked over at Steve who had just knocked out two other agents after detaching the magnetic cuff from the wall. Rumlow stood up with two taser rods and held them out to me and Steve. 

"Woah, you two. Just want you to know, this isn't personal!" He shoved the rod into my torso and electricity surged through my body. 

I cried out in pain and fell down to my knees. Rumlow took the rod away and attacked Steve.
As they fought, Steve was electrocuted twice before he grabbed Rumlow, threw him to the ceiling and letting him fall to the ground, knocking him out.

"It kinda feels personal." Steve said before walking over to me and helping me up. 

Steve picked up his shield and used it to break the cuff off of his wrist. I breathed heavily, white vapor came from my mouth and Steve pressed the elevator panel. The doors opened revealing a line of agents armed with guns.

"Drop the shield and put your hands in the air!" 

Steve grabbed my arm, pulled us to the side and swung his shield against the glass breaking it and cutting the elevator cords. The vessel dropped at alarming speeds and the emergency breaks were activated, slowly stopping the elevator. It stopped at the bottom of a door and Steve pried them open only to see more armed agents running for us. Steve shut the door and looked around.

"Steve, what are we going to do?!" I asked. 

He looked out the window at the glass roof below us that was above the entrance to the Triskelion. 

"No." I shook my head, knowing what Steve was thinking.

"It's the only way." He picked me up and took my legs to wrap them around his torso. "Hold on." I wrapped my arms around his neck, becoming a koala clinging to a tree.

Steve backed up, held up his shield and ran for the window and jumped, breaking through the glass. He curled around me, holding the shield below us. I closed my eyes as we broke through more glass and hit the ground. There was a clang from the shield and the sound of glass shattering, as well as people screaming.

Steve moved next to me and groaned. I remained still, waiting for some sort of terrible pain from a broken bone. Surprisingly, I began to move my limbs and let out a small cry of pain. Steve stood up and lifted me off the ground.

"Can you run?" He asked.

I regained my balanced and my eyes darted around, my breathing quickened and my ears were ringing. The adrenaline was kicking in.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Good." Steve said before we began running towards the garage.

~~~

I jumped through the closing doors of the garage, shooting patches of ice out in front of me and skating while Steve rode beside me on his motorcycle. 

Ahead of us the gates of the bridge began lowering their arms and tire spikes rose up from the ground. A Quinjet flew overhead and hovered in front of us.

"Stand down!" A voice echoed over a microphone as a gun lowered from the jet's belly. "I repeat, stand down!"

"Ellie, projectiles!" Steve shouted as he sped up. 

The gun began firing and I skated out of the way before creating a blade of ice and throwing it at an engine. Steve threw his shield and jumped off his bike, landing on the jet and using his shield to damage the jet in any way he could. I stopped as the jet crashed to the ground and Steve jumped down to continue running. I continued skating along side of him as we left SHIELD HQ.

As of now. We were under attack.