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VALOR
iv. ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRY MEN

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  RILEY DIDN'T TRUST ANYONE. Walking throughout the Triskelion for the first time after what happened was surreal to her. The people she saw, the whispers that followed once she walked past them — it only made Riley's suspicions towards everyone grow.

  Riley still hadn't gotten a minute to speak privately to Steve Rogers. She was worried the chance would never come. She was worried that he'd think she was untrustworthy. After all, Riley was bred by S.H.I.E.L.D, and depending on how long they had been infiltrated, their enemies could have been the ones to train Riley. After all, infiltrations take years to pull off. Their enemies could have been growing throughout S.H.I.E.L.D. for years by now. The idea of it made Riley feel sick.

  To make matters worse, Riley was slipped a note while she waited in her room for questioning. There wasn't much on it other than basic instructions. She assumed that this was the order her attacker was referring to; however, Riley hadn't exactly been anticipating something like this. The note had one sentence:

Kill Steve Rogers.

  The note was worrying. Did their enemies already predict that Steve would never work for them? Was that why they were ordering Riley to attack Steve? ...Did they really think Riley would do that just for S.H.I.E.L.D.? She might've back then, but now? Steve wasn't just a coworker anymore, and S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't as simple as it used to be.

  Before Riley could act on anything, she was summoned for questioning by Secretary Alexander Pierce to help with the investigation of Fury's death. Riley had only met Pierce once before since he was the head of the World Security Council, so there wasn't much she could say about him.

  Honestly, all opinions Riley had on people were officially eradicated. As of now, everyone had to earn Riley's trust all over again.

  "Agent O'Dair," greeted Alexander Pierce once he spotted her approaching him. "I've seen you all over the news lately — the youngest Avenger, the invisible girl. I'm glad to see you."

  Riley forced a smile. "It's good to see you again, Secretary Pierce," she greeted, shaking the older man's hand with a firm grip.

  "Please, do come in," he insisted, ushering her into his office. The two quickly took a seat, prepared to begin Riley's questioning. Alexander adjusted the thick-framed glasses on his aging face. "Now, before we begin, I just wanted to preface with an apology. I'm sorry for your loss."

  Riley still hadn't processed the fact that Fury was dead, even after spending the whole night crying. "Likewise," she calmly replied. She knew Alexander and Fury had been friends for years. Alexander was the one who promoted Fury to his position, after all.

  With a nod, Alexander decided to jump directly into the questioning without another moment to waste. "You were one of the last people to receive orders from Fury before he died. Can you tell me more about what your orders entailed?"

  "I wouldn't really say it was an order," confessed Riley. "Steve's still trying to assimilate back into society, and it's been hard on him. We've all been worried about him, even Fury. He wasn't the type of person who really showed you how much he cared about you, but you always knew." She sighed, reminiscent of her longterm colleague. "He asked me to check in on Steve. That was it."

  It wasn't a complete lie. Her orders were to check on Steve, but it was to make sure he wasn't going to do something stupid in regards to Project Insight. However, Riley didn't want to make it seem like Steve was someone to not trust... even if she'd just gotten a kill-order with his name on it.

  "I see," responded Alexander. "There were reports that you were attacked on your way to Captain Rogers's apartment. What happened?"

  Riley made a face, not particularly interested in recalling the memory. "I was attacked by someone I've never seen before," she explained. "I couldn't really see his face. He had a mask on. All I could really identify was that he had a metal arm. My best guess is that someone who knows me sent him after me. I mean, no one shoots up a random kid just for fun, right?"

  Alexander lightly laughed at her word choice. "Right." He paused. "Agent, what do you know about Batroc?"

  Riley faltered. Her face twisted with bewilderment. "What does Batroc have to do with this? Are you suggested Batroc has something to do with Fury's death? Batroc wasn't exactly known for being an assassin."

  Alexander shook his head. "No, it's more complicated than that. We have Batroc in interrogation right now. Found him in Algiers last night. We believe that Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the Lemurian Star. He was contacted by email and paid by wire transfer. The money was run through 17 fictitious accounts, the last one going to a holding company that was registered to an old neighbor of Nick's mother."

  Pinching her eyebrows together, Riley suspected, "Why would Fury have hired Batroc knowing he'd send us to take him down? Why would Fury hire the pirates?"

  "The prevailing theory is that the hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence," Pierce answered. "The sale went sour and that led to Nick's death. We're still trying to understand why he would hire someone to go after you next."

  Riley stared at Alexander for a moment, processing everything he was saying. Something about it wasn't sitting right with Riley. Why would Fury go to such extremes to do something like that?

  "I'm sorry, Secretary, but that sounds like a load of shit," Riley coolly replied.

  Alexander's eyebrows shot upward in response to her words. Then, he chuckled and perceived, "You're quite the agent, O'Dair. At 14-years-old, you've accomplished so much and learned so much about the people around you. You knew Fury quite well, didn't you?"

  Riley paused. "I don't think anyone... really knew him," she denied. "But I know that someone had it out for Fury. I don't think it's as simple as blaming it on Batroc. Fury was attacked twice in one day, less than a day after we were sent to the Lemurian Star. It's too convenient."

  "You sound confident," he pointed out. "Do you know something regarding Fury's death that we don't, Agent?"

  "Secretary, if I knew who killed Fury, I wouldn't be here. I'd be tracking them down and bringing them back here," she disclosed with a bit of an edge to her voice. "But I don't. That's why we're sitting here, having this conversation."

  Alexander Pierce leaned back in his seat comfortably. "Don't let your emotions cloud your actions, Miss O'Dair."

  Riley felt her eye twitch. What was that supposed to mean? How did she go from Agent to Miss O'Dair? Was she really getting spoken to like this just because she was a girl? Great, first she had to worry about getting shit for her age, now she had to worry about her gender? Could Riley ever win?

  Riley cleared her throat. "I don't know what happened to Fury. I don't know who or why he and I were attacked. What I do know is that I'll stop at nothing to avenge him," Riley snapped. "Something isn't adding up, and I think you know that, too, Secretary."

  That was it. That was how Alexander Pierce knew that Riley didn't trust him or anyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. She wasn't even sure if Alexander had anything to do with Fury's death, yet. All she was doing was simply implying that there was something off about this whole situation.

  Whoever had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. was letting everyone know that they weren't going to stop until it was completely overthrown. That was why they had taken out Fury first before targetting an Avenger. That was why they were threatening Riley into submitting to them.

  But they forgot one minor detail: Riley O'Dair wasn't scared of anyone. She wasn't going to fall under their spell, and she made that very clear by refusing to believe Alexander's theory about Batroc. She was going to get to the bottom of this, even if it meant the world would discover her identity sooner than she'd prefer.

  Riley's questioning didn't seem to lead anywhere. It was clear to her that Alexander wanted her to believe that Fury was the one she shouldn't trust. She just needed to figure out if that was him talking or if someone else was force-feeding him that information.

  God, Riley really needed to find Steve. She felt like he was the only one to be trusted. She just needed to wait until he was out of questioning with Secretary Pierce. 'Patience, Riley,' she continued to tell herself.

  Riley soon found her way to the ground-level. She'd been cooped up in her room since last night, and she felt like she was going crazy. She just needed some air to help clear her thoughts.

  Riley had been walking across the base, trying to ignore the fact that she felt more eyes on her than usual, when a loud squealing sound rippled throughout the atmosphere. She cringed at the noise, her hands hurriedly moving to cover her ears as she turned to discover what it was. All attention was shifted to the northwest side of the building. Through the glass windows, they could see one of the elevators sliding down the shaft uncontrollably.

  The agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. watched in shock as the elevator suddenly stopped. Then, the glass from the elevator shattered. A body flew out of it. Riley's eyes widened as she observed the sight. She couldn't quite see who it was because of the red, white, and blue shield covering the person's face—Wait.

  Riley instantly extended her arms out to catch Steve Rogers as he flew to the ground. She managed to surround his being in a forcefield just before he broke through another roof of glass and landed on the ground. Luckily, her forcefield protected him, but imagining the recoil from the fall caused Riley to cringe again.

  "Steve!?" called out Riley, rushing to his side while the people around them observed. "Steve, what happened!?"

  Panic flooded Steve's ocean eyes as he glanced up at the 13-year-old. He was soundless. The thoughts in his head were pushing against his skull as he processed what was going on. He had just been attacked by S.T.R.I.K.E. and other agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

  "C'mon, Steve, talk to me!" demanded Riley. She offered him a hand, pulling him up. It wasn't until then when Steve realized how strong the enhanced teenager actually was.

  It was almost like Steve was standing there trying to decide if he could still trust Riley. She was one of them, after all. What if they sent her, too?

  Steve shook his head. The genuine concern on Riley's face told him enough. He merely seized his shield and grabbed her arm before barking, "Let's go!"

  'Valor, do you copy? Captain Rogers refused to share information regarding Director Fury's death,' the voice of Rumlow yelled into her comm. 'We need all hands on deck. Stop Steve Rogers from leaving the premises!'

  Riley furrowed her eyebrows together. She wasn't sure what had happened, but from what she could gather, S.H.I.E.L.D. was targeting Steve. Still, she knew S.H.I.E.L.D. was compromised, and that was what prompted her to reply, "Not a chance, asshole!"

  With that, Riley got on a motorcycle with Steve and fled from the headquarters.

○ ○ ○

  It was official: Captain America and Valor were fugitives from S.H.I.E.L.D. It was originally just Steve, but since Riley was seen helping him escape, she was being targetted, too. Becoming a fugitive wasn't exactly something Riley had been dying to check off of her bucket list, but at least she had an insane story to tell at parties, right?

  Steve was beyond relieved when he realized that trusting Riley was the best decision he'd made all day. It was a 50-50 chance of her being compromised, and he guessed correctly.

  The two caught each other up on the past 24-hours. Riley told Steve more about her attacker, adding the fact that he was the one who informed her that S.H.I.E.L.D. was infiltrated and that a kill-order was put out against him. Moreover, Steve informed Riley of the details regarding Fury's visit to his apartment. Fury apparently told Steve he knew that S.H.I.E.L.D. was compromised before giving him the flash drive Natasha backed up on the Lemurian Star. Steve also explained that he was attacked for not telling Alexander Pierce about Fury's visit yesterday.

  As of now, Steve and Riley were at the hospital where the former had hidden the flash drive. An invisible Riley followed Steve as they wandered throughout the hospital. She was trying her best to ignore the fact that this was the place where Fury died.

  "So," Riley started. "How'd you know?" Steve, adorned in a hoodie and sweats, glanced back at her in confusion. "How'd you know you could trust me back there?"

  Steve paused. "I don't know," he admitted. "I had a gut feeling. I knew you wouldn't turn on me. That's not in your nature."

  Riley found herself smiling at the notion (and totally blushing, but she was going to ignore that). Over the past few months, Steve and Riley really had grown closer than the 13-year-old ever thought they would. How did they go from not really liking each other to becoming actual friends?

  Riley erupted with giggles when she realized why they were standing in front of the snack machine. "You seriously put the flash drive in a vending machine?"

  A small smile pulled at the corners of Steve's lips. "I had to think fast," he defended. "But—" He suddenly stopped speaking as he looked into the vending machine. This prompted Riley to look, too. She didn't realize what was wrong until she realized that the flash drive wasn't inside the machine.

  Pop! Riley turned to see Natasha chewing a piece of bright pink gum... from the vending machine.

  Without hesitation, Steve grabbed her arm and pulled Natasha into a nearby room. He pushed her against the wall and sternly demanded, "Where is it?"

  "Safe," Natasha calmly replied. Though her demeanor was composed, her face told another story. She was confused about what was going on, too.

  "Do better."

  "Where did you get it?" dodged Natasha. When Steve didn't comply, Natasha decided there was only one explanation. "Fury gave it to you. Why?"

  "What's on it?"

  "I don't know."

  "Stop lying!" hissed Steve. He regularly glanced over his shoulder, worried that someone from S.H.I.E.L.D. was watching him. Meanwhile, Riley just silently observed the two. She was praying to whatever God that was listening, hoping that Natasha hadn't been compromised, too.

  "I only act like I know everything Rogers," Natasha instantly retorted. Riley had to refrain from snorting. 'True.'

  Steve wasn't having it. "I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?"

  Natasha wavered, briskly processing this fact. "Well, it makes sense," she admitted. "The ship was dirty. Fury needed a way in. So do you."

  "I'm not gonna ask you again."

  "I know who killed Fury," Natasha finally announced. That seemed to get Steve to shut up. Riley's heart sunk in her chest just hearing those words. "Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists. The ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last 50 years."

  Riley's eyebrow cocked upward. She'd never heard of him before. Steve sighed and inferred, "So he's a ghost story."

  "He's got the same description as the guy who attacked Riley. Strong, fast, metal arm," Natasha pointed out. "Plus, five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Someone shot my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me." Natasha pulled up her shirt to reveal the nasty scar on the side of her stomach. "Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye-bye bikinis."

  Steve paused. "Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now," he sarcastically commented.

  Ignoring the weird tension in the room, Riley cleared her throat and turned visible. "So, the Winter Soldier's real," she concluded. "He's gotta be the guy that attacked me."

  Natasha shrugged. "I don't know. Going after him's a dead end. I know, I've tried." She held up the flash drive that Steve had been looking for. "Like you said, he's a ghost story."

  Riley shook her head as Steve took the flash drive. "I don't care. The dude nearly killed me yesterday. He's gotta be working with the people who infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.," she insisted. "So, one of you guys better go get a Ouija board because we're finding this ghost and we're doing it now."

  Steve nodded slowly. "She's right," he agreed. "Let's find out what the ghost wants."

  Like Robin Hood and his Merry Men, Captain America led his two colleagues out of the hospital, prepared to track down a ghost with a more interesting history than any of them had been anticipating.

○ ○ ○

  "The first rule of going on the run is don't run, walk."

  Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers walked throughout the mall dressed in more clothing they had stolen. They were disguised to be concealed in a normal civilian crowd. Riley O'Dair was right by their side, invisible instead of wearing stolen merchandise. Hey, just because she was a fugitive now didn't mean she had to commit to being a criminal.

  "If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off," Steve mumbled. He looked far more nervous than Natasha did. He kept looking around restlessly, whereas Natasha was cool and collected.

  The two looked so... outlandish to Riley. She was too used to their uniforms to see them in clothes that teenagers would wear. Riley was beyond thankful that she could turn invisible. If she had to get dressed by Natasha, especially after seeing what they were wearing, Riley would've just gone back to S.H.I.E.L.D. and turned herself in.

  "This seriously sucks," Riley openly complained. "When I was a kid, I wanted to be a superhero. Instead, I'm a fugitive. A freaking fugitive!"

  "Relax," insisted Natasha. "Our names will be cleared as soon as we figure out what's going on."

  Riley didn't seem to care about that part. She was just annoyed over the fact that this was her life. Normal 13-year-old girls got to go to the mall to shop for cute clothes, not hack into a flash drive because they're on the run from the law!

  Ignoring what Natasha had said, Riley continued, "I mean, I was literally bred by S.H.I.E.L.D. to become a hero. Well, technically, I was supposed to become a weapon, but that's beside the point."

  "Oh, there's a point?" mused Natasha, causing Riley to roll her eyes.

  She sighed, frustrated. "I want to help people and be the hero I'm meant to be, but... I don't even know what that entails!" Riley exclaimed rather dramatically. "Spandex and shitty motivational speeches? Ha, yeah, right!" She faltered. "...Uh, no offense, Steve."

  "I'm gonna pretend you didn't just say that," Steve declared, to which Riley innocently shrugged. "Is it because I didn't let you throw the shield?"

  "Maybe a little bit."

  The trio made a sharp turn to enter the Apple store, making a beeline for the computers on display. Natasha went straight to work. "The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot it up, S.H.I.E.L.D. will know exactly where we are," she elaborated.

  "How much time will we have?" Steve wondered, still alert. He looked around the store as if everyone was out to kill him.

  "About... nine minutes from..." Natasha stuck the flash drive into the laptop, causing the small stick to light up. "...now. Fury was right about that ship. Somebody's trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI. It keeps writing itself to counter my commands."

  Steve glanced down at the screen. He had no idea what she was doing. "Can you override it?"

  "The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me," Natasha shared. "Slightly." Riley just stifled a quiet laugh, refraining from making the smartass comments she wanted to make. "I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program S.H.I.E.L.D. developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from."

  "Can I help you guys with anything?"

  The trio each snapped their heads upward to find an Apple employee standing before them. Talk about terrible timing. Steve was just lucky Natasha was quick on her feet. "Oh, no," replied Natasha with a sweet smile. "My fiancé was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations."

  "Right!" Steve agreed. He wore a dorky smile that made Riley melt inside. "We're getting married."

  'Oh, God,' Riley thought to herself.

  "Congratulations!" remarked the Apple employee. "Where are you guys thinking about going?"

  Steve glanced down at the monitor, seeing the signal was being traced to somewhere in New Jersey. "...New Jersey," awkwardly announced Steve, causing Riley to cringe.

  The employee floundered. "Oh." He looked a little bit closer to Steve, causing Riley to grow worried that he'd recognize him. Honestly, Riley had no idea how the glasses were concealing his identity so well right now. "You know, I have those exact same glasses."

  Natasha continued to work busily at the laptop as she sarcastically declared, "Wow, you two are practically twins!"

  The employee scoffed. "Yeah, I wish. Specimen. Well, if you guys need anything, I've been Aaron." He pointed to his nametag before walking away.

  Riley glanced out the doors in search of Rumlow and his men. Riley wasn't in the mood to deal with those S.T.R.I.K.E. agents, so the sooner they finished up with the flash drive, the sooner they could leave. When the laptop flashed with the location of Wheaton, New Jersey, Steve looked surprised and mentioned that he knew the place.

  They figured they could finish that conversation later. For now, the three needed to get the hell out of the mall ASAP. Flash drive in hand, Riley followed Steve and Natasha out of the Apple store.

  "Standard tac-team. Two behind, two across, two coming straight at us," Steve listed, looking around frantically. "If they make us, I'll engage. You and Riley hit the south escalator to the metro."

  "Shut up and put your arm around me," Natasha instructed, essentially ignoring everything he had just said. "Laugh at something I said."

  "What?"

  "Do it!"

  Steve quickly threw his arm around Natasha, leaning into her and laughing like they were a lovesick couple. Just as Natasha had anticipated, the S.T.R.I.K.E. agents walked right past them without noticing them.

  Riley physically cringed again and mumbled, "I can't believe she gave me shit for my acting when we had to recruit Banner in Calcutta, and then made me witness that."

  Riley decided to push forward and move ahead of them. She leaped over the railing, completely skipping the escalator that Steve and Natasha had to take. She landed on her feet gracefully and soundlessly. When Riley looked back up at them, she noticed Natasha force Steve to kiss her as Rumlow rode past them on the opposite side of the escalator.

  Riley rolled her eyes. Though part of her couldn't help but think that Steve and Natasha would be a little cute. Hey, only a little!

  After all, Riley's crush on Captain America wouldn't let her admit anything more than "a little".