CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:
SAM WILSON

WHEN SHE WOKE UP, SHE was in an unknown environment. She started to panic, sitting up quickly before letting out a groan as her head throbbed in response. Upon hearing the noise escape her mouth, Natasha was quick to open the bathroom door. A relieved sigh fell from the redhead's lips when she saw Olivia sitting there, looking around the room in confusion.

"Thank God." Natasha softly sighed, making her way over to Olivia as she dried her hair. Olivia watched Natasha with confused eyes.

"Where. . . where the hell are we?" Olivia questioned, frowning deeply.

"A friend of Steve's." Natasha answered. "His name's Sam Wilson. How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit in the head with a building." She answered, closing her eyes as she rubbed her temple. She opened her eyes once more to look at Natasha. "Are you okay?"

Natasha nodded. "Yeah. I was worried about you. You were out longer than you normally are when you get knocked out. I thought I was going to go insane." She let out a breathy laugh and Olivia smiled slightly.

"Glad to know that you care about me."

"You know I do." Natasha softly whispered, placing a hand over Olivia's. The wolf smiled, grabbing Natasha's hand an interlacing their fingers. Butterflies seemed to fill Natasha's stomach again, causing her to swallow thickly and look away as she closed her eyes, trying her best to push the feeling away, but it just wouldn't leave. "Liv, can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Olivia nodded, furrowing her eyebrows slightly. "What's up?"

"Steve and I were talking on our way to the base when you were asleep. And he said something to me. . . and I just wanted your opinion on it." Olivia nodded her head, silently telling her to keep going. Natasha was about to, and just as she opened her mouth, a knock came on the door and the man Olivia assumed was Sam Wilson popped his head in.

"I made you guys breakfast. . . if you eat that sort of thing." Sam told the two women. Olivia offered him a small smile as she nodded her head.

"We definitely do," Olivia smiled, he offered her a small one back in response before exiting the room once more. She then turned back towards Natasha. "What were you going to say?"

"It's nothing. Never mind." Natasha quickly pushed it away, silently telling herself that it would have to wait for another time.

"Are you sure?" Olivia asked, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, come on let's eat." Natasha let go of Olivia's hand before standing up and walking out of the room. Olivia watched her leave with a small frown before sighing to herself and then pushing herself off the bed, walking out of the room and into the kitchen where Steve and Sam were. She sat down at the bar, offering Steve a small smile as he turned his head to look at her.

"Hey, how's your head?" Steve questioned.

"Hurts. But it's nothing that won't heal in the next thirty minutes or so. Her eyes then landed on the food, and her smile widened. "Food. I'm starving." She immediately started to eat, earning amused looks from the other three in the room. Once everyone finished eating, they were quick to get straight to it.

"So the question is: who in S.H.I.E.L.D could launch a domestic middle strike?" Natasha asked as she looked between the two boys and Olivia who seemed to be staring at nothing in particular.

"Pierce." Steve responded looking at the counter.

"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world." Olivia mutters, barely recognizing that she had said anything out loud. Natasha watched the woman with slight concern before turning towards Steve as he spoke.

"But he's not working alone, Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star," Steve informed.

"So was Jasper Sitwell." Natasha pointed out.

"So, the real question is: how do the three most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?" Steve asked looking between Sam and Natasha and Olivia. Olivia finally blinked, looking up to meet Steve's eyes before glancing towards Sam as he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

"The answer is: you don't," Sam sighed. He drops a file in front of them and they all look at it. Olivia looked at the file in confusion, glancing up towards Sam before opening it herself and glancing through it with surprise before closing it and sliding it over to Steve who caught it and opened it up, his eyes scanning every word on the paper.

"What's this?" Steve asked as he looked through the file, Natasha looking over his shoulder.

"Call it a resume," Sam smirked slightly. Natasha picked up a photo of Sam with his para-rescue team, examining it for a moment before looking towards the man.

"Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you." She then looked at Steve and said, "You didn't tell me he was a para-rescue."

Steve looks at the photo then asks, "Is this Riley?" He nods towards the other man that was in the photo, standing beside of Sam.

"Yeah." Sam softly replied, sadness laced in his voice. Olivia frowned slightly, and couldn't help but wonder what had happened to his wingman.

"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use, a stealth chute?" Natasha quizzed.

"No, these." He then dropped another file in front of them. They looked at it and Olivia couldn't help but cock and eyebrow in surprise. She was really starting to like this Sam guy more and more.

"I thought you said you were a pilot," Steve said in slight disbelief as he looked at the photo.

Sam chuckled and shook his head. "I never said pilot."

Steve frowned slightly, shaking his head as he looked at the man. He didn't want to drag Sam back into something he fought to get out of. "I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."

He scoffed. "Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in."

"Where can we get our hands on one of these things?" Olivia questioned him, taking another second to look at the contraption as a smirk started to form on her lips.

"The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall," Sam answered the wolf.

All three of the ex-S.H.I.E.L.D agents exchanged looks. Natasha shrugged, and Olivia only smirked. Steve looked back to Sam and nodded his head. "Shouldn't be a problem."