CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX:
YOUR LAST CHANCE

AN OCCASIONAL WHIMPER FELL FROM HER lips as she laid in the van, her head placed on Sam's lap as she tried to pull the muzzle from her face with her paws, but there was nothing she could do. The wolf wouldn't be able to start healing until she turned back to human, seeing as it took longer for her to heal in her wolf form than in her human. Deep claw marks ran at her sides, her white fur matted with red. She couldn't help but wonder who that black wolf was―︎or if it even was a person and not just a regular wolf.

     "It was him." Steve spoke, a deep frown falling on his features. "He looked right at me like he didn't even know me."

     "How is that even possible?" Sam questioned. "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."

     "None of that's your fault Steve." Natasha weakly told him.

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

     "We need to get a doctor before she bleeds out from her shoulder and she bleeds out from her side," Sam snapped, his eyes glancing between the wolf and the redhead who was trying to grip her shoulder from where she'd been shot. Suddenly one of the guards pull out an electric rod and hit the other guard knocking him out. The guard then pulls off their helmet to reveal Maria Hill.

     "Ah. That thing was squeezing my brain." She looks at Sam and then to Steve and says, "Who's this guy?"

     When they managed to escape the van, Maria drove them to an underground hideout, allowing the group to escape the vehicle she had stolen, before allowing them to follow her inside. "GSW Romanoff has lost a pint." Maria informed.

     "Maybe two." Sam added.

     "When Olivia gets the chance to turn back, she's going to need stitches. We need an extra pair of clothes to give her."

     "Bring them to me." The doctor waved.

     "They'll want to see him first."

When she got the chance to change back into her human self, clothes covering her body. She and the other three were led to the room, only for them to stop in surprise when they saw Nick Fury laying there in a hospital bed, looking at all of them to prove that he was very much so alive.

     "About damn time." Fury muttered. Natasha and Olivia were both forced to sit in chairs, with Natasha getting her bullet removed from her shoulder and Olivia having to sit down to get stitches in her side―︎her side that wasn't healing for some unknown reason to her. She didn't know if it was because it had been another wolf that had hurt her, or if it was because of somethin else. None the less, she couldn't help but clenched her jaw in slight discomfort. She never did like needles.

     "Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache." Fury listed off everything that was wrong with him.

     "Don't forget your collapsed lunged." The doctor treating Natasha piped up.

     "Let's not forget that." Fury scoffed. "Otherwise, I'm good."

     Natasha frowned in confusion. "They cut you open. Your heart stopped."

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

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

     "Any attempt on the directors life had to look successful." Maria explained.

     "Can't kill you if you're already dead. Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust." Olivia glanced towards Natasha, watching as the woman tried to hide the hurt that had flashed across her face at his words. When they were both finished being attended to, Olivia met Natasha's eyes before standing up and walking out of the room. Natasha watched her go before standing up and following after her.

Natasha walked down the hall, turning a corner and entering the empty room she knew that Olivia was standing in. She crossed her arms over her chest as she looked at the brunette, waiting for her to speak. Oliva pursed her lips, looking at Natasha for a moment before cocking her head slightly as curiosity suddenly fueled her brain. She took a step closer to Natasha, and then another until she was standing a few inches from her.

     "What were you going to ask me, when we were at Sam's?" Olivia questioned her.

     "This isn't exactly the appropriate time, don't you think?" Natasha responded.

     Olivia managed a small smirk. "Answering my question with a question. Something you've been doing a lot of lately. Come on, seriously, I have a feeling a whole lot of shit's about to go down, and if I die out there, really don't wanna do it with the nagging curiosity of what it was that you were going to say to me."

     Natasha looked at the woman for a moment, before shaking her head. "Honestly, I don't even remember."

     "You might be able to lie to everyone else, Natasha, but you can't lie to me." She reached up and grabbed Natasha's hands. "If you need to say something, Nat this might be your last chance."

     Natasha clenched her jaw for a moment, the thought of Olivia dying running through her head before the woman finally shook her head in disagreement. "I'll tell you after we make it out of this alive, alright?"

     Olivia looked at her for a moment before nodding her head, placing a gentle smile on her face. "Alright."

The two walked back, entering the room where everyone had moved to whilst the two talked. Olivia and Natasha sat down at the table where Fury and Maria were sitting, Sam and Steve standing beside of the two women and Fury started to explain everything to him.

     Fury was looking at a picture of Alexander Pierce when he started to speak, "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 looking at the group.

     "I don't think the council's excepting my calls anymore." Fury answered. He then opens a case that contains three chips inside of it.

     "What's that?" Sam asked looking at the chips in confusion.

     "Once the Helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites becoming fully weaponized." Maria explained.

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

     "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." Maria sternly said.

     "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 denied, cutting Fury off. "We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick, we're taking down SHIELD."

     "SHIELD had nothing to do with it." Fury argued.

     "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."

     "How many paid the price before you did?" Steve clenched his jaw for a moment as he looked at the man.

     "Look, I didn't know about Barnes."

     "Even if you had, would you have told me? Or would you have compartmentalized that too?" There was a momentary pause, allowing Natasha and Olivia to quickly exchange glances. "SHIELD, HYDRA, it all goes." Steve demanded.

     "He's right." Maria nodded, siding with Steve. Fury then looked at Natasha and Olivia who nod in response.

     He then looks at Sam who crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head, "Don't look at me. I do what he does, just slower.

     "Well. . . looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain." Fury sighs, and just like that, their mission started.