CHAPTER SEVEN: escape and plan

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"It was him." Steve Rogers spoke, sounding hurt. "He looked right at me like he didn't even know me."

"How is that possible?" Sam asked. "It was, like, seventy years ago."

"Zola. Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43. Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They just have found him and..."

"None of that is your fault, Steve." Natasha tiredly spoke.

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky."

Malcolm turned to Natasha. "Hey," he spoke, gesturing to Sam. Who turned to her.

"We need to get a doctor here. If we don't put pressure on that wound she's gonna bleed out here in the truck." When suddenly one of the guards pulls out an electric rod and neutralizes the other guard and knocks him out, the guard is revealed to be Hill as she takes off her helmet.
"That thing was squeezing my brain." Sam looks at her in confusion, as she glanced at Sam. "Who's this guy?"
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Agent Maria Hill had taken them into another vehicle, Malcolm grabbed Natasha's hand, who looked at him confused before black veins appeared on both their arms.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked,  as Natasha looked up, surprised.

"Malcolm can take other people's pain." Sam answered as Agent Hill opened the back door, Steve helping Natasha down. 

Malcolm shook his head, following out as Maria opened gates. "GSW. She's lost at least a pint."

"Maybe two!" Sam yelled to the doctors running down the hallway.

"Let me take her."

"She'll want to see him first." Hill said as she walked them down the hall, pushing curtains to the side. Only to reveal Fury who's alive and lying in bed, the four look at him in shock.

"About damn time."

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As one of the doctors is taking care of Natasha's wounds they listened to Fury as he listed his injures. "Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache."

"Don't forget your collapsed lung." The doctor interrupted.

"Oh, let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good."

"They cut you open, your heart stopped." Natasha recalled.

"Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it."

"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Steve questioned.

"Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful." Maria replied.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead. Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust." Nick answered.

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Nick Fury lifted up a photo, looking at it for a moment before speaking. Malcolm couldn't decide if Nick hated that the man had made Nick had to go into hiding or plan out that he was HYDRA. "This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize. He said, "Peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility.' See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

"We have to stop the launch." Natasha spoke.

"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore." Fury opens a case containing three chips.

"What's that?" Sam asked, stepping closer.

"Once the Helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites becoming fully weaponized." Maria Hill spoke, flipping a laptop around to show the four a demonstration.

"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own." Nick continued to explain.

"One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational a whole lot of people are gonna die."

"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA. We need to get pass them, insert the server blades, and maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left..."

"We're not salvaging anything." Steve interrupted. "We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick, we're taking down SHIELD."

"SHIELD had nothing to do with it."

"You gave me this mission, this is how it ends. SHIELD's been compromised, you said so yourself. HYDRA grew right under your nose and nobody noticed."

"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? I noticed."

"And how many paid the price before you did?" Steve asked, clearly thinking about his lost best friend.

Malcolm shifted, glancing at Sam. If something like that had ever happened to Sam, he'd kill someone. Multiple people. He didn't care how many people he would have to kill to save him and get him back.

"Look, I didn't know about Barnes." Nick looked off the the side, then looking down as he looked like he felt guiltily.

"Even if you have, would you have told me? Or would you have compartmentalized that too? SHIELD, HYDRA, it all goes."

"He's right." Maria lightly whispered. Fury looks at Natasha then Sam, to Malcolm.

"Don't look at me." Sam said. "I do what he does, just slower."

"Well..." Nick paused, looking around before his eye settled on Steve. "Looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain."

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