Steve was using his body as a wall, shielding Nellie from the rest of the team, or better yet, shielding him from them. As they travelled at high speed back to Washington, Nellie's anger had been slowly subsiding whilst Steve's had been building.

The Batroc brothers had escaped by the skin of their teeth, a speedboat had collected them with no trace left to follow. A secondary team was following up, the issue no longer critical enough for Nellie and Steve to take part in. These factors were what had Nellie so fired up in the first place, not to mention the grenade and distraction caused by Natasha.

Moments after the explosion Nellie was hard to console... the mission had partly failed. They were sent to clean up yet another of Fury's messes and it was evident that Fury did not trust them. Worst of all Natasha had lied, Nellie did not want to seem naive, but she thought herself and Natasha were closer than that.

Inside her head it was chaos. She wanted to scream at Natasha, to blame her for the Batroc brothers escaping. An effective team leader would reprimand her, but in this case, Nellie wasn't a leader, and neither was Steve, because Fury had been pulling the strings all along.

As time passed Nellie tried to collect herself, hiding behind her wall of Steve. She had moved herself to the corner of the Quinjet and pressed herself into the seat against the wall. She felt the gazes of the team, not sure if they felt sorry for her (which she hated), embarrassed for her (which she loathed), or she wondered if they had knowledge of Natasha's side mission before theirs had even started (they did know it was a Shield vessel before Nellie and Steve after all). The simmering blonde decided to try and keep herself to herself, basking in Steve's warmth and loving touches, keeping her eyes on him and only him. It helped.

Steve, on the other hand, had started off quite calm but behind his very impassive demeanour the rage was bubbling up inside. The small victory was that all hostages were now safe, and a large number of mercenaries had been captured which could help towards finding the brothers, but Fury had sent them on a mission and not told them all the facts.

For Steve, the tip of the iceberg was that Nellie could have been seriously injured. If she hadn't got that force field up in time who knows what damage could have been done. He regretted diving for Natasha, he should've put Nellie first, but his instinctual faith in his girlfriend was sky high and he just assumed she would've dealt with the problem. She did of course, but the 'what if' remained.

Eventually, when the jet touched down in Washington just after three in the afternoon, Steve wasted no time in stomping out of the aircraft as soon as the hanger doors were open. Reluctantly he tore himself away from Nellie's side, brushed past Natahsa whilst ignoring her concern, and headed straight across the tarmac towards the Triskelion entrance. Nellie blinked at his retreating figure, a little stunned by the ferocity of his anger before she stood too and followed after him.

"Nellie!" Natahsa said hastily, catching Nellie's bicep as she forced her to stop. Nellie's eyes darted from Steve's muscular and tense back and then to Natasha's worried face. "Look, I'm sorry-" She began fretfully but Nellie shook her off, her expression cold.

"Don't bother." Nellie snapped, looking her over and trying her best to ignore the hurt in Natasha's eyes. She pressed her lips into a fine line as she stepped away, the guilt already settling in, Natahsa was most likely about to apologise, however Steve was the priority. She carried on with her pursuit, feeling Natsha's eyes burning holes in the back of her skull. "Steve!" Nellie called out as the Triskelion's shadow enveloped her, the lack of warmth from the sun sent a chill down her spine.

The automatic doors opened before Nellie, and the sight of Steve entering one of the elevators had her sprinting to reach him in time. She slipped through the metal doors just as they were closing, he had spun around to face her, his face was expressionless, but his eyes were furious. "Director's Level." He said sternly as the doors closed with a slick locking sound behind her.

"Confirmed." The computerised woman's voice said back, and then the elevator began to move.

"What's going on?" Nellie asked, her forehead creased into a confused frown. Yes, he had seemed irritable on the jet, but not enough for him to storm off like he did. She moved closer to him and rested her hand upon his forearm gently as she stopped in front of him.

Steve cast his eyes down to her, amazed that with just a single touch she could soothe the turmoil raging inside of him. "I want answers." He said solemnly, reaching up with his free hand to gently caress her cheek where the cut had been only hours before. It was too close.

Involuntarily, Nellie's eyes flickered closed as his fingertips grazed her skin, she moved to lean into the touch, but the elevator dinged at their arrival and the doors slid open. Much to her apprehension and before she could form her internal protest into words, Steve dropped his hand.

"Come on." He insisted, stepping around her to leave the elevator.

Nellie followed a little reluctantly, not entirely sure how Steve thought he was going to get his answers. "Steve, take a few deep breaths, please." Nellie insisted, quickening her pace to match his as he strode down the corridor, overlooking the alarmed expression coming from the personal assistant seated at the desk.

"Captain?" She queried, rising from her desk.

"Sorry." Nellie quipped to the woman as she finally caught up with Steve. "Honey, I'm just as angry as you about the situation but we need to be levelheaded about this." She whispered quickly as they came upon the glass wall that separated the corridor from Director Fury's office.

They could see that the man himself was sat at his desk, his back to the glass and the door. He seemed fairly relaxed in Nellie's opinion, leaning back in his chair and admiring the extraordinary view. His carefree disposition was quite unfamiliar to Nellie, but it was enough to add fuel to Steve's flaming indignation. "I know." He said through clenched teeth as they rounded the corridor, the door already open for Steve to march through.

"Steve." Nellie chastised under her breath. He was usually so rational, always in control of his emotions, but when her safety was put into question, she knew there was no stopping him.

"You just can't stop yourself from lying, can you? Does one of us have to be blown up for you to admit you're in the wrong?" Steve burst out accusingly, stomping past the three-piece lounge suit that was set up in the centre of the room. A part of him wanted to throw one of the chairs through the window behind Fury but he knew that would not be of any help to anyone.

Without bothering to turn around to face the couple, Nick Fury answered Steve lamely. "I didn't lie. Don't be so dramatic. Agent Romanoff just had a different mission than yours."

"Which you didn't feel obliged to share." Steve criticised, his voice rough and teetering on shaky. His mind kept flashing with possible images of what could have happened to Nellie; bruised, bloody and burnt. He grimaced and shut his mind off.

"I'm not obliged to do anything." Fury concurred in a bored tone, still not moving in his chair, his eyes fixed on the horizon.

Nellie felt her own anger beginning to bloom again, the lack of eye contact infuriating her. She clenched her jaw and let out a heavy breath through her nose as she stopped beside Steve in front of the desk. "Nick, those hostages could've died." She interjected sternly. "Would you have been fine with those lives on your head should Natasha have been compromised?" She added bitterly.

The Director whirled in his chair to face her. "I sent the greatest soldiers in history to make sure that didn't happen." He said patronisingly as he rested his arms on the glass-topped desk. His answer had Nellie sneering.

"Soldiers trust each other, that's what makes it an army." Steve answered in her place, his hands balled into fists as he tried to control his emotions. "Not a bunch of guys running around and shooting guns." He chided, his gaze intense.

Steve's words seemed to have struck a nerve with the Director. The older man lifted himself out from his chair and leant across the desk towards Steve. "The last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye." He retorted sharply, though his tone was still remarkably even, the lack of emotion he was giving to the conversation took Nellie aback slightly. Did he really not care about what could happen to them? After everything they had been through. "Look, I didn't want either of you doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything."

Nellie felt as if the tables needed to be turned again. They were the ones who wanted answers, they were the ones being sent out on missions to clear up Shield's mistakes, the attention shouldn't be on them. "You forget what I was before I became Hydra's plaything. Hell, I could've done it myself if you just asked." She snapped back, remembering the days the SSR sent her behind enemy lines to retrieve information. "We can't lead missions when the people we're leading have missions of their own." She necessitated, looking up at Steve pointedly before fixing her sight back on Fury, her green eyes piercing through him.

Nick shifted under her glare, not liking the attention on him at all. "It's called compartmentalisation." He answered back. "Nobody spills the secrets because nobody knows them all."

Nellie scoffed as Steve placed his hands on his hips. A disbelieving smile spread across his lips. "Except you." He leered, pointing at Fury disdainfully.

The other man straightened himself out, and his expression softened. He pressed his lips into a straight line and cast his eyes down towards his hands, almost as if he was embarrassed, or even disappointed in himself. A short silence fell upon the three, only lasting a few heartbeats worth, but it was long enough for the tension to suddenly deplete, an openness suddenly taking over Nick Fury.

"You're wrong about me." Fury objected and Steve clenched his jaw. "I do share." The Director insisted, causing Nellie's eyes to narrow at him accusingly. He never usually shared anything, though it had become evident he was willing to spill information when backed into a corner. Recollections of their time in the lab on the Helicarrier sprung to mind when Phase 2 had been exposed. "I'm nice like that. Follow me." Fury finished, a small hint of sass to his tone.

He rounded his desk and began to walk at a leisurely pace towards the door of his office, not even giving Nellie or Steve a second glance. As Fury passed the couple, they turned their bodies to watch him, completely confused but also intrigued. What did Fury want to show them?

The couple turned to each other with bewildered expressions. Steve's forehead was still creased with questioning as he gestured with a small bob of his head towards the retreating Nick Fury. Nellie shrugged in response, but they silently agreed it was most likely best to follow. They moved forward together, Steve's hand resting gently upon the small of Nellie's back as they made their way towards the door as well.

They were led back down the corridor, past the personal assistant who sent a quick glare at the couple - most likely for their barging in earlier - and then into the elevator. "Insight Bay." Fury instructed and the computerised operator was quick to respond as always.

"Captain Rogers and Lieutenant Barnes do not have clearance for Project Insight." The voice resounded as Nellie and Steve entered the elevator too, the two blondes turned to face the doors, their faces plastered on the screen with 'ACCESS DENIED' stamped across their profiles in bright red lettering. Project Insight? Nellie wondered, her interest in what Fury had decided to show them well and truly piqued.

"Director override. Fury, Nicholas J." He said casually.

"Confirmed." The computer responded, then the doors closed, and the elevator began to travel downwards.

Fury rested against the railing at the back of the car, the city splayed out behind him as Nellie and Steve tried to relax themselves as they took their places along the wall to his right, Nellie being the closest to him. She felt Steve put his hand behind her, his fingertips brushing against the small of her back every now and again, drawing small shapes as an effort to relax her.

Separately Nellie and Steve were coming to the same conclusion: Fury did not feel guilty about the two missions, how one had ruined the other, but he was willing to let them in on something. They were not sure if it was going to be used as a distraction or an explanation.

Steve decided to break the silence that had settled once again. "You know, they used to play music." He criticised, shuffling a little closer to Nellie so that her shoulder now brushed against his arm.

"Yeah." Fury agreed, turning to look upon Steve. "My grandfather operated one of these things for forty years. My granddad worked in a nice building; he got good tips. He'd walk home every night, a roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He'd say, 'Hi'. People would say 'Hi' back. Time went on, neighbourhood got rougher. He'd say 'Hi', they'd say, 'Keep on steppin''. Granddad got to grippin' that lunch bag a little tighter." He told his story well, a small smile playing on his lips.

Nellie was well and truly invested, wanting to hear more of the story. She wasn't sure if she liked that or not, was he manipulating her? "Did he ever get attacked?" She asked thoughtfully, not being able to help herself.

Fury laughed amusedly; his eyes distant as he remembered moments from a long time ago. "Every week some punk would say, 'What's in the bag?'."

"What did he do?" Steve queried, his voice still harsh, not wanting to let Fury believe he was over how Nellie and himself had been treated recently. Nellie glanced up at the side of Steve's face, instantly noticing his squared shoulders and clenched jaw, he was not going to let go of this for a long time. She turned back to Fury, the window behind him revealing the greenery of the trees that lined the building's visitor entrance, they were fast approaching ground level but that did not seem to be their stop.

"He'd show 'em." Fury revealed, the smile on his face now smug. The elevator then dipped into darkness, revealing that the Insight Bay was in fact below ground. "Bunch of crumpled ones and loaded .22 Magnum." Fury continued, his disclosure surprising Nellie. Steve shifted beside her, feeling quite the opposite to his partner, it seemed to Steve that the Fury family always had something hidden up their sleeve.

The Director laughed again as the grey elevator shaft walls fell away, revealing a hanger that seemed to stretch out endlessly behind Fury's head. Nick pushed himself away from the railing, his eyes seeming to fixate on something behind both Nellie and Steve, a prideful glint in his eye.

"Yeah, Granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much." Fury went on, the amusement still present in his voice. He moved forward, stopping once he was on the other side of Steve. The couple followed his gaze, spinning themselves to look upon the view that had caught Fury's attention but they instantly they froze at the sight before them.

Spotlights illuminated the extravagance laid out before them. An underground city with the centre piece being three magnificent Helicarriers, so much larger than the previous one Nellie and Steve had grown accustomed too. Through the glass the sounds of the workers below were still heard; the crane engines, the ground vehicles, the welders... it was an organised chaos, and from the satisfied grin on Fury's face it was evident it was his brainchild.

"Nick... What?" Nellie stuttered, her heart jumping in her chest but evidentially not from excitement. It seemed like too much. It was too much.

"Yeah, I know. They're a little bit bigger than a .22." He mused, the lilt of ego in his voice, as if the three carriers were a spectacle to be marvelled at.

The elevator slowed to a stop and the doors slid open, the noise outside the car so much louder now that they were exposed to it. Nellie glanced up at Steve once again, the rage was back tenfold. She heard the retreating footsteps of Fury's feet and turned to follow him, but not before slipping her hand into Steve's.

The trio exited the small lobby, the sheer size of the vessels was enough to make anyone dizzy. As they walked in silence the couple took in the expanse of the operation. The underbellies of the carriers were lined with guns the size of city buses, the decks were stacked with canons bigger than anyone alive had most likely seen before. On each ship rows upon rows of Quinjets were being craned into place and sparks flew as welders completed their finishing touches. Nellie felt as if the breath had been knocked out of her, she tightened her grip on Steve's hand.

"This is Project Insight." Fury introduced as they approached a large and wide gantry, the carrier closest to them marked with 'IN-01'. "Three next generation Helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites." He explained as they weaved in and out of workers and ground crew.

Fury's words earnt an understanding from Nellie and Steve, both pairs of eyes shot to the side of Fury's head. "Launched from the Lemurian Star." Steve surmised for the both of them, the sharpness back in his voice.

"Once we get them in the air they never need to come down. Continuous suborbital flight courtesy of our new repulsor engines." Fury reported, pointing up at the huge engine that hung above their heads.

"Tony?" Nellie asked. As soon as Fury had said 'repulsor' Nellie instantly recognised the similarities between Tony's designs and the engine she was currently passing under. The question to be asked of Tony next time she spoke to him was did he know what he was designing the engines for... if so, why?

"Well, he had a few suggestions once he got an up-close look at our old turbines." Fury quipped as the small group approached the end of the gantry, a railing a few feet before them, separating them and the three hundred feet drop to the sub-level. The Director led them onto an extended arm of the gantry that hung over the steep drop and gestured for both Nellie and Steve to board it. "These new long range precision guns can eliminate a thousand hostiles a minute." He continued as the gears of the platform began to whir, the catwalk shuddered forward and then began to roll along the length of the room, showcasing all three carriers at a closer angle. "The satellites can read a terrorist's DNA before he steps outside his spider hole. We're gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen."

Fury looked at the couple expectantly, as if he was waiting for the compliments to flow from their mouths, instead he was met with expressions of unsettlement and dubiousness. "I thought the punishment usually came after the crime." Steve criticised, his jaw clenching once again. 

"We can't afford to wait that long." Fury defended with a tense smile. This was not the reaction he wanted.

"I'm sorry, who is 'we'?" Nellie challenged, glaring at Fury. "This seems a little overkill... a thousand kills a minute, really Nick?" She asked with conviction. How was this safe? Why was it necessary? Nellie could understand that it could be helpful should there be another invasion, but these ships did not need to be launched now, there was no reason to shoot and kill one thousand people a minute.

Fury turned to her, his eyes narrowed, his expression showing he was clearly irritated. "After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge in threat analysis." He dictated, shoving his hands into his pockets as she looked away from the couple and back to the carriers, their platform now under the belly of IN-01. "For once we're way ahead of the curve."

Steve felt his heart quicken; this wasn't right, this wasn't safe, and this wasn't fair. "By holding a gun at everyone on Earth and calling it protection." He ridiculed begrudgingly; this was not what they signed up for.

"This is not what the world needs." Nellie interjected, mirroring the words that Fury had spoken to them when they were first recruited back in New York almost two years ago.

"You know, I read those SSR files. 'Greatest generation'? You guys did some nasty stuff." The Director quipped, his eye flicking between the both of them before focusing solely on Nellie. The blonde gulped, his words suddenly triggered a cascading waterfall of guilt, self-hatred, anguish and pain. As if a bulb had been switched on, it all came crashing down inside her mind.

The first images were of those men she had seduced to gain intelligence, how she would take any means necessary to get the information she had been instructed to collect. The threat of poison was always effective, but having to beat the answers out of them was another story. Disposing of the bodies was even worse.

Then the faces of those men that were used as her test subjects, their howls of pain before their bodies disintegrated into dust... she felt as if the life had been sucked out of her as she remembered those young men's faces. Boys even, most likely several years younger than her.

She had lost her temper on numerous occasions too. Upon many of their missions during the war they would come across scientists and soldiers who had taken part in the experimentation of her. They did not meet a swift or kind end.

Nellie eyes burnt with the onset of tears; she had done so well with trying to put these memories to bed. But here Fury was, ripping the covers back to expose all. Steve watched the fight behind Nellie's beautiful green eyes, the tears pooling in them. Fury was getting too close.

Fury did in fact notice the way Nellie had almost frozen, how she seemed to become lost in her own thoughts, but he felt he needed to get his point across. "So did the other side too. And I know that you of all people have seen it first-hand." He added, not a hint of regret in his tone.

The next few seconds seem to tick by like minutes.

Nellie felt as if she had been punched in the gut by the Hulk. The air escaped her lungs, and suddenly she felt as if she was suffocating. The torturous hands were all over her; punching her, strangling her, electrocuting her... raping her. She could feel the bile rising up into her throat, the heat flaring across her chest and face, she did not want to lose control here... unlike Steve.

Despite the sickness and anxiety that was consuming her, she felt Steve let go of her hand, as if what had been grounding her had been torn away. She glanced to the side, catching the quick movements of his hands flexing into fists and then he lunged. Nellie's own reaction was like lightning, catching him with a firm hand against his chest, her back suddenly to Fury. "Steve don't!" She warned, her voice breaking as she fought for her own breath, her tears spilling down her cheeks.

Nellie looked up at him, the anger and his own pain marked across his face in his tense grimace. His eyes were wide with rage, his body was physically shaking. All that Steve could see was red, how dare he? He could feel the trauma oozing from Nellie's very being, could hear how she was struggling to breathe... to cope.

Fury did not even flinch, his stare cold and emotionless as he watched Steve become consumed by his emotions and his protection for the woman he loved.

"You have no right to bring that up." Steve spat, half leaning around Nellie to point at the man that was their so-called leader. Under her palm Nellie felt Steve relax somewhat, he was no longer leaning forward, his heart rate was decreasing. She shakily let her hand drop but her mind began to race once again. Every time she blinked; a new agonizing image took over her mind. "Yeah, we compromised, did things the hard way because that was all that we could do. Sometimes in ways that made us not sleep so well. But we did it so the people could be free." Steve continued, his eyes darting down to Nellie as she turned away from Steve's chest to look at Fury.

Steve huffed heavily out of his nose as he watched Nellie quiver, her shoulders shuddering as if she was trying to hold in her sobs. "This isn't freedom." She began, her voice wavering. "This is fear, and I've had enough." Without giving either of them a second glance she turned away from the both of them, but rather than heading down the catwalk of the moving platform, she decided to be much riskier, wanting nothing more than to get away from Fury and out of the Insight Bay and the godforsaken building.

She took two quick strides towards the railing, letting her energy effortlessly bloom as she hauled herself over the edge, the drop not phasing her at all as the air whooshed around her. Fury had ignited the spark to a difficult and overbearing flame that was now engulfing Nellie completely.

Moments like this were rare now and they hardly affected her this much. But she had never been directly spoken to about it, or better yet, accused. The first few months after their introduction back into the world she broke down every day and had to deal with it alone. The pain she had endured, the pain she had brought upon others, the loss of Bucky, the loss of time... Nellie longed to be stronger, but it was all back, with Bucky was now at the forefront of her mind. His face as he fell, his scream... I let him die. It's my fault.

Eleanor used her powers to dull the impact with the ground, the workers around her barking their surprise as she straightened herself out, wanting nothing more than for the ground to swallow her whole as they all gazed upon her tear-stained face. Nellie gasped for breath and then quickly bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from sobbing in front of a hanger full of strangers. Without hesitation she ran towards the exit, the workers and machines halting as they allowed her a clear path back towards the elevators.

"Shield takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be." Fury said firmly, folding his arms behind his back, not taking his eye off of Steve and ignoring Nellie's departure. He stepped closer to Steve, their faces inches apart. He knew he was untouchable. "It's getting damn near past time for you both to get with that program." He warned, his voice like steel.

Steve's eyes snapped away from the railing Nellie had just hauled herself over, the images of finding her strapped to that machine flashed in front of his eyes but he quickly blinked it away. "Don't hold your breath." He seethed. "And don't you ever talk to her like that again." His threat hung loudly in the air for a moment as he looked Fury over once more, the disgust clear and present on his face. When Fury had nothing to say, Steve turned on his heel and stalked away.

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Hello my lovelies!
Happy Update Day!

It's not looking very good for Nick, is it? He took a big step over the line by triggering Nellie and Steve is not happy!

I'm loving protective Steve, I like putting this spin on the character. Hope you guys like it too!

As always, I hope you guys liked the chapter! Any comments and votes are welcomed!

See you next Friday!

P.S. The more chapters I write and have ready I will most likely start updating twice a week rather than once so look out for that!

Love
Talia
🧡🧡🧡