Chapter 32 - Rachel Stark

I see the flash of Steve's shield, his body following close behind as he intercepts the soldier. I maneuver myself around to try and see what is happening behind me. The soldier engages Steve, kicking him to the ground. Their motions turn blurry, my vision starting to lose focus due to blood loss. I swallow hard, trying to focus on something other than the pain in my shoulder. I press my back against the car hard, hoping to keep my balance and stop myself from falling over. 

"Bucky?" I hear. I turn my head, hoping to see what is going on between Steve and the Soldier. I peek over the hood of the car and see the soldier with his mask off. I take a sharp breath in, recognizing his name. 

Bucky shot me? Steve's best friend from the 1940s? How is that possible? 

"Who the hell is Bucky?" the soldier questions, promptly aiming his gun over to Steve. 

"No!" I choke out, using all of my energy to get me back on my feet. I make my way towards the two of them as fast as I can but Sam beats me to it. He launches a grenade at the soldier, causing him to disappear in a haze of smoke. I slump into the van next to me, my energy disappearing. The three of us wait in anticipation for the smoke to clear. 

We watch as the black cloud dissipates, revealing an empty street. S.H.I.E.L.D. vans descend on the road, quickly surrounding us. 

"Drop the shield Cap!"

"On your knees!" 

"Get down!" 

A group of seven or eight men surrounds Sam and Steve while only one approaches me. I shake my head, trying to clear the fuzz from it so that I can fight back, but Steve drops his shield and gets on his knees. He places his hands on his head, surrendering. I follow his lead, holding my hands out for the agent to cuff me. 

I whimper as he puts his hand on my shoulder, causing more blood to leave my body. He forced me into the back of a van, shoving me through the opening. I stumble in, still unable to see straight, and take my seat next to Sam. The truck stars, jostling my whole body around. I have lost the ability to keep my body upright, so I try leaning back against the wall as hard as I can. I take deep breaths, trying to focus my vision or comprehend anything that Steve is saying. I hear him mention Bucky and take a big breath in. 

"None of that's your fault, Steve," I say, lazily. I watch Steve's head turn toward me slowly. I feel his stare on my shoulder as my eyes start to droop closed. I feel Sam's cuffed hands get placed on my lap, hoping the counterweight of his hands would keep me from falling over. 

"We need a doctor in here," Sam says, looking over to the two masked agents sitting towards the front. 

"She needs medical attention right now," Steve demands, his eyes snapping out of their haze. He shifts his body towards the two agents threateningly, causing the one on the left to pull out their taser. Steve slumps back, relaxing his body in defeat. 

Much to our surprise, the agent on the left uses the taser on their partner. Sam looks to Steve in confusion. The agent takes off of their helmet, revealing a head full of familiar brunette hair. 

"Ah. That thing was squeezing my brain." the agent remarks. I open my eyes as wide as I can, seeing Maria Hill. I sigh in relief, the familiar face soothing my anxieties just slightly. I let my head roll to the side, hovering over Sam's shoulder. She points to Sam. "Who's this guy?" 

"She's losing blood, fast," Steve says almost frantically from across the van. My eyes flicker shut, feeling my hands and arms turn cold. I feel my eyes stop fluttering causing me to slowly lose consciousness.  

"On it." I hear Hill state. 

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I wake up to a slow, steady thumping of feet. I open my eyes, only to see Steve's face covered in sweat. I try to reach up with my bad arm, wincing as an excruciating pain runs its way up my arm and down my spine. Steve notices, looking down at me. The panic in his eyes is prevalent, causing me to start to breathe a little quicker.

"She's awake," Steve says rather quietly. His voice bounces off of walls and I turn my head to get a good look at my surroundings. We are in a dark hall, concrete covering every inch of it. I watch the mouth of the cave get smaller as Steve continues walking. 

"Let's get her on her feet, we're almost there," Maria says from next to Steve. He puts me down slowly with the help of Sam. I start to walk, stumbling along. Steve quickly wraps his arm around my waist from the left, his right shoulder supporting my left one from behind. Sam holds his arm out, allowing me to place my right hand in his, keeping my weight balanced. 

"GSW. She's lost at least a pint." Maria yells down the hallway at a man who is walking towards us. 

"Maybe two," Sam adds, looking from my pale face back to the man. 

"Let me take her." the man yells down the hall. My steps falter, realizing that it is a doctor coming towards us. Steve squeezes my side reassuringly as he keeps moving me forward. He looks down at me and nods, signaling to me that it is alright. 

"She'll want to see him first," Maria says, marching past the doctor and into a wide-open room. 

"See who?" I ask. I get no response as we follow Maria up to a big curtain. We stop in our tracks, the men taking on a little more of my weight as Maria peels back the plastic. My knees buckle underneath my body when my brain registers the man sitting in front of me.

"Fury?" I ask in complete disbelief. Any color left in my face drains. 

"About damn time," he quips from his hospital bed. He looks us up and down, taking in our state. "Rachel, sit down and get your arm worked on." I obey, shuffling over to a nearby chair with Steve's help. He sits me down gently, moving to the other side of my body as the doctor approaches. I take his hand and squeeze it as the work begins on my shoulder. 

"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache," Fury lists dramatically. The doctor pulls the bullet from my arm, causing my whole body to flinch. He replaced his tweezers with gauze, applying pressure to my wound. I grind my teeth together, squeezing Steve's hand even harder. He breaks his attention away from Fury and looks down at me worriedly. 

"Don't forget your collapsed lung." the doctor grunts out, the effort he is expelling on my shoulder rendering him unable from speaking with a normal voice. I sigh in pain, relaxing my grip from Steve's hand slightly. 

"Let's not forget that." Fury says sarcastically, pointing over at the doctor. "Otherwise, I'm good." The doctor pulls out stitches and I panic, my body jerking away from the thread and needle. Steve squeezes my hand quickly in reassurance. I pull my eyes away from the doctor and land squarely back on Nick. 

"They cut you open." I croke out. "Your heart stopped." 

"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." Fury says calmly, making an attempt to justify his plan. 

"Why all the secrecy?" Steve asks. 

"Yeah? Why not just tell us?" I question as the doctor finishes wrapping up my shoulder. I stand, holding onto Steve's hand to gain my balance. He braces my weight as I lean into him. 

"Any attempt on the Director's life had to look successful," Hill says. My head spins with fatigue and confusion.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead. Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust." Fury states. My jaw almost hits the floor. 

"Didn't know who to trust? I am one of your most loyal agents. You thought that I was apart of HYDRA? You do know the company I keep, right?" I nod up in Steve's direction. "You really think I'm that cunning?" I spit. All the feelings and anger of the past few days had finally built up and exploded everywhere. 

"You were one of the head weapons designers on Project Insight. I was concerned that you had been corrupted," he says, pointing sternly at me. "I know I should have told you guys, but you were never in the plans. Rogers only popped up three years ago. Our plans have reached all the way back to when I first became in charge." Fury says, weakly defending himself. 

"Hey, guys? Remember why we are actually here? Insight is launching soon. We need to get a move on." Sam says, snapping us all out of our anger. We all look at him. My face flushes in frustration and Sam raises his eyebrows, knowing he is right.

"Alexander Pierce," Fury starts, getting right down to business as usual. I let go of Steve's hand and sit back down, the information overwhelming me and my knees beginning to buckle. "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," I say. Steve moves behind my chair, placing his two hands on the back rest and leaning forward over me. 

"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore." Fury mumbles while Maria pulls out a case.

"What's that?" Steve questions, pointing to the case on the table. 

"Once the helicarriers reach 3,000 feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized. We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own." She points down at the card-looking things that are laying in the case. "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 says, leaning back in her chair. I keep my eyes on the cards, trying to think through a plan.

"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA. We have to get past them, insert these server blades. And maybe, just maybe we can salvage what's left..." Nick's plight is cut off by Steve from behind me. 

"We're not salvaging anything. We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick. We're taking down S.H.I.E.L.D." 

"S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with this," Fury remarks, fighting for his life's work. 

"You gave me this mission," Steve says, walking around the chair, standing next to me again. "This is how it ends. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been compromised, you said so yourself. HYDRA grew right under your nose and nobody noticed."

"Why do you think we're meeting in a cave? I noticed." Fury retorts. 

"How many people paid the price before you did?" I ask monotonously, eyes locked on the ground. 

"Look, I didn't know about Barnes," Fury says, honesty showing through his tone. 

"Even if you had, would you have told him? Or would you have compartmentalized that too?" I ask, raising my voice. Steve looks down at me in thanks. I give him a small smile and a nod. 

"It all goes," Steve states. 

"He's right," Maria says. Fury looks at me. I stare back at him, shaking my head. He should already know where I stand. He looks at Sam. 

"Don't look at me. I do what they do, just slower," he says. I crack a wide smile and look over at him. He nods. 

"Well... It looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain." Fury says, giving me goosebumps. "Go get ready. We leave in one hour." Steve walks out. I'm left with Sam, Maria, and Fury. 

"Sam, thank you for being so good to us. You have really helped us." I say, giving him as much of a hug as I can give with my bum shoulder. 

"It's no problem. Steve's a good guy. I'm willing to help." He says and walks out.   

"Okay Fury, what new uniform do you have for me?" I ask excitedly. 

"A pantsuit."