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"𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝒾𝓉'𝓈 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝓅𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹
𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉"

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Juniper remembers the first time she met Brock. It was one of her favorite memories she had with him, one she clings onto when she tries to remember the good.

It was when she was in training to become a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent and he thought he could take her in a fight...

He was quickly and humbly proven wrong.

After she kicked his ass they laughed about it and he asked her out for a drink.

June wishes times were still as simple as that.

She wishes that she had listened when Sharon, Natasha, and Laura all tried to talk her out of it.

Her ears ring as Brock's grip on her upper arm tightens, pulling her along.

Sitwell's voice enters his earpeice. "S.T.R.I.K.E. team, escort Captain Rogers and Agent Fox back to S.H.I.E.L.D. immediately for questioning."

"Better be prepared to talk." Brock speaks lowly, his words spitting out like venom.

"I have nothing to hide." Juniper cuts right back. "I told you, Nick needed me for work."

He scoffs at his wife. "Work you're not supposed to be doing." He reminds her.

She rolls her eyes. "Says you and my father." She mutters.

He pauses, his fingers tightening. "What was that?"

She looks him dead in the eyes, grinding her teeth. "Nothing."

He nods, that's what he thoughts. "Let's wait for Rogers." He sighs, pulling them off the the side.

Juniper picks at her nails as they stand there, her body against Brock's, as she prays that Rogers stashes the drive quickly and efficiently.

After another minute or two, he joins them.

"Let's go." Steve nods, eyeing Juniper worriedly. He grows a really large feeling in the pit of his stomach every time he's around Rumlow and Juniper together. And he wonders what happens when he not.

"Yeah." Brock says gruffly. "Come on, baby." He wraps his arm around June's waist, as tightly as he had her arm, and the three head for the exit. "S.T.R.I.K.E., move it out!" He orders his team.

Juniper glances over at Steve, noticing the uneasy look on his face. Oh great, she thinks to herself, we're screwed.

⍟ ⍟ ⍟

Thankfully, Juniper got to avoid her father's explosion due to her and Steve being ordered to go straight to Pierce's office.

They walk in silence, coming across Sharon as she's leaving a conversation with Pierce.

She nods to Steve before looking at June with her look that reads 'what the fuck have you gotten yourself into?'

"Captain Rogers, Agent Fox." She nods shortly in their direction. June avoids her gaze, feeling guilty that Sharon is not in the know.

Sharon is her oldest friend, her sister!! How could she not trust her?!

"Neighbor." Steve replies bluntly causing June to snort before immediately realizing what she had done. Steve turns to her, proud of himself for finally getting a reaction out of her that wasn't annoyance, while he puts pieces together— they do know each other, he recalls the incident back at his apparent.

Juniper Fox knows everybody because she works with everybody.

Seems everybody's with S.H.I.E.L.D., apparently, Steve thinks to himself. 'Don't trust anyone. Only trust each other.' Nick's words echo in his mind.

"Hello, Agent Fox." Pierce greets before turning to Steve. "I'm Alexander Piece." He holds out his hand and Steve returns the gesture.

June releases a breath through her nose— she's never been a fan of Pierce.

"Sir, it's an honor." Steve replies causing her to glance up at the ceiling and roll her eyes. Gah- he's such a kiss ass. Just when he was tolerable for a moment...

"The honor's mine, Captain." Pierce nods. "My father served in the 101st. Come on in." He gestures inside his office.

"Ladies first." Steve steps to the side.

"Oh please." She lets out a mixture of both a scoff and a laugh before straightening her shirt and stepping in to the snake pit.

⍟ ⍟ ⍟

"That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met, when I was at State Department in Bogota." Pierce informs Steve of the picture he's holding as he goes to pass it to June. She shakes her head no, having already seen the pictures many times before, though she admires it in awe at how young her Uncle Nick looks in the picture as she subtlety glances over Steve's arm. He notices and slightly tilts it towards her anyway.

Pierce continues, placing his suit jacket on the back of his chair. "E.L.N. rebels took the ambassy, and security got me out, but the rebels took hostages." June sighs, wondering how long this was supposed to take, thinking a lecture may have been better than a story that now bores her she's heard it one too many times. The only parts she enjoys is when Nick is mentioned. "Nick was Deputy Chief of the S.H.I.L.D. station there, and he comes to me with a plan. He wants to storm the building through the sewers." June mouths the last part with him.

"I said, 'No, we'll negotiate.' Turned out, the E.L.N. didn't negotiate so they put out a kill order." Pierce sighs. Sounds to Juniper like Uncle Nick should've done it anyway...

Pierce walks over to them. "They stormed the basement and what do they find? They find it empty." He slams his paper down, taking a seat. Steve goes to follow and Juniper begrudgingly does as well. "Nick had ignored my direct order, and carried out an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil-" Juniper smirks proudly. "And saved the lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter."

"So you gave him a promotion." Steve assumes.

"I've never had any cause to regret it." Pierce confirms.

"Captain, why were Nick and Agent Fox in your apartment last night?" Pierce asks him first, looking between the two across from him.

Steve snaps his gaze from Juniper to Pierce. "I don't know."

"Alright. Fox, why were you and Nick at Captain Rogers apartment last night?" He turns to her.

She folds her hands together as she crosses her legs, looking at him directly. He's gonna have to try harder than that.

He turns back to Steve. "Did you know it was bugged?"

"I did, because Nick told me." Steve answers.

"Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?" Piece glances at Juniper as she stares at him blankly. Steve remains silent causing Pierce to grin ever so slightly. "I want you to see something." He reaches for the remote beside him to turn on the projector.

"Who hired you, Batroc?" A man in a tank top appears on the screen, getting interrogated. It was the man who had 'held June hostage'.

"Is that live?" Steve asks.

"Yeah, they picked him up last night in a not-so-safe house in Algiers." Pierce informs him.

"Are you saying he's a suspect?" Steve questions. "Assassination isn't Batroc's line." Steve watches the screen.

Juniper rests her chin in her hand as she looks at the screen.

"No, no. It's more complicated than that." Pierce tells him. "Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the Lemurian Star. And he was contacted by wire transfer, and then the money was run through 17 fictitious accounts." He glances over at Juniper. "You were just in all the wrong places this week, weren't you, Miss Fox?"

"Guess so." She gives him a tight-lipped smile, which only irks him further.

"The last account going to a holding company was registered to a Jacob Veech." Pierce ruffles through his files before handing them over to Steve.

"Am I supposed to know who that is?" He asks, holding the files between him and the rather silent agent.

Now is the time she chooses she keep her mouth shut?

"Not likely. Veech died six years ago." Pierce reveals. "His last address was 1435 Elmhurst Drive." Steve flips through the papers as Pierce pushes forward. "When I first met Nick his mother lived at 1437."

Damn. Juniper's face remains the same, unwavering, untelling.

Steve's head shoots up to look at Pierce. "Are you saying Fury hired the pirates?" He turns to Juniper for a second before looking back at Pierce. "Why?"

"The prevailing theory was that the hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence." Pierce answers. "Why were you on that boat, Agent Fox?"

"To do my job, sir." Her voice clips. "Isn't that what we're all here for?" She gestures her hands all around. 

He hums. "The sale went sour and that led to Nick's death." Pierce finishes.

"If you really knew Nick Fury, you'd know that's not true." Steve defends. Juniper laughs to herself in her head. Oh, the irony.

Pierce nods. "Why do you think we're talking?" He stands, moving to over to look out the window behind his desk. Steve quickly mimics his movement as June stays put, no interest in getting up. "See, I took a seat on the Council not because I wanted to, but because Nick asked me to, because we were both realists. That's something I also admire about Juniper's father." He nods to her. June sits up straighter. "We knew that despite all the diplomacy and the handshaking and the rhetoric, that to build a really better world sometimes means having to tear the old one down."

Juniper's father has no problem in doing that.

Pierce turns back to the pair. "And that makes enemies." June huffs as she stands, crossing her arms beside Steve as he stands tall, resting his hands on his belt. "Those people that call you dirty because you got the guts to stick you hands in the mud and try to build something better."

June bites back her laughter at Pierce's words—everyone's up her ass for doing just that. She feels almost sick to her stomach at the realization that what was once her home and happiness is actually starting to suffocate her.

S.H.I.E.L.D. is no longer her haven, her escape.

"And the idea that those people could be happy
today—" Pierce scoffs, his voice bringing June back to the conversation as Steve curiously wonders what she is thinking about all of this. "Makes me really, really angry." He pauses. "Captain, Agent Fox, you two were the last ones to see Nick alive. I don't think that's an accident. And I don't think either of you do, either. Especially not being his goddaughter." His eyes land on June. "So, I'm gonna ask again. Why was he there with Agent Fox? And why, Agent Fox, were you with him?"

Juniper opens her mouth to tell him that she was simply with her Uncle Nick as he asked her to be, but Steve beat her to the punch—

"He told us not to trust anyone." Steve says.

"I wonder if that included him." Pierce responds with.

"I'm sorry. Those were his last words to us." Steve speaks truthfully.

"Well I was simply doing my job, Mr. Pierce." June steps forward. "If Uncle Nick says you're with him, well then, you're with him." She puts simply.

"Mmm, for the engineering department, yes?" Pierce looks at her.

"I think you and I both know my abilities lay beyond that, Secretary." Juniper raises her brow. "And it's time people around here remember that."

With that Juniper turns on her heel and heads for the door.

"Excuse me." Steve tells Pierce, playing his shield on his back, following Juniper's lead.

"Captain, Agent Fox," Pierce calls out causing them both to stop, but only Steve turns around. "Somebody murdered my friend and I'm gonna find out why." He sits on the edge of his desk. "Anyone gets in my way, they're gonna regret it." June glances over her shoulder and Pierce looks at both of them strongly. "Anyone."

"Understood." Steve nods.

"And my Godfather was murdered right in front of me, Mr. Pierce." She narrows her eyes, taking one step forward. "So I'd like to think you surely wouldn't be accusing me of playing a part in it." She snaps and with that storms out, Steve hot on her heels.

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𝟶ʙᴜᴛᴛᴇʀʙɪsᴄᴜɪᴛ𝟽 sᴘᴇᴀᴋs!

Hello, hello lovely readers!! Long time no see!

Happy Valentine's Day, but more importantly!! Happy 1 year anniversary to published The Havitys of Agent 14!!!

So to honor both special occasion, hope y'all enjoy this chapters!!🫶🏼

Lemme know what y'all think!! Love reading comments & hearing y'all's thoughts, reactions, & questions!! Anyways, until next time, mwauh!!