CONTROL.
006. | ❛ now it's all gone. ❜

Steve knocked on the door with his hand while having the other one around Caroline. It takes a minute for Sam to open this blinds. At the sight of them, he slides open the door,"Hey man."

"I'm sorry about this. We need a place to lay low."

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us," Natasha says

Sam looks at them, before letting them in," Not everyone."

Steve finishes washing his hands, wiping them on a small towel. He sees Caroline sitting at the end of the bed as he puts the towel down, he walks over to her. He sat in front of Caroline, taking his hands into hers.

"You okay?"

"It's just that being targeted so much that I start to wonder what would happen if I never accepted the offer to become an immortal being. " Caroline still had her head down.

"You would still be this strong, bold, kind person that I know you are." Steve said lifting Caroline's chin.

"That's the thing. I'm this way because of what happened over the years. I grew into myself when I became a vampire. And I'm sure that if I didn't accept that offer,  I wouldn't have seen you again. I mean that's the reason Fury and Coulson put me on that team. Because I'm an eternal creature that can't die."

"Ever since I turned, I was robbed of everything. I know that I love you, Steve. I know that. But our future, our lives together, those were things I was supposed to deal with as they came along. I'm supposed to grow up. Decide if I want to have kids, and start a family, grow old. I was supposed to have a lifetime of those choices. Now, it's all gone." Caroline says through her sniffles

"I love you too. I don't need those things to be happy with you." Steve cupped her cheeks but Caroline pulled them away and placed a picture into his hands.

He looked back at her with a confused stare before he caught a glimpse of who the two people were. The photo was ripped at the edges and the pigmentation of it was lost over time, but it didn't change the mood or sentiment of the photo. It was Caroline smiling at the Stork Club and holding up a beer with one hand while the other was wrapped around her sister. Steve remembered her, Kiara Kingsley. The only woman who turned Bucky down for a dance, which had Steve laughing at his failed attempt.

"How do you still have this? It was ages ago that this photo was taken." Steve said placing the photo once again in Caroline's hands.

"That's the thing, it's not mine. Back when Fury was in our home, the picture was on the counter. Someone had to place it there, in our apartment for me to find. I feel whoever left it for me, is protecting me. Or at least wants me to have a piece of my sister." Caroline rubbed Kiara's face with her thumb, knowing how many times she's done it in the past when Kiara would feel uneasy with herself.

"Whoever it is, thought it would be a nice gesture to give you some piece of her back. God knows that you've suffered enough and perhaps maybe he'll offer you some acceptance." Steve placed a nimble kiss on Caroline's rosy cheek right before Sam walked in.

"I made breakfast-- If you guys.. eat that sort of thing." He looked at them,"Am I interrupting something?"

Steve shook her head, standing up. He helped pull Caroline up, as they followed Sam into the kitchen.

"So the question is: Who in SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?" Natasha asked leaned against the counter.

"Pierce." Steve responds.

Caroline takes a bite of her toast,"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world."

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

"So was Jasper Sitwell," Natasha realizes

"So the real question is: How do the three most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?" Steve asks

Caroline lifts her toast to Steve, raising her eyebrows as she chewed. He takes a small bite as Sam keeps talking.

He walks up with a file in his hand, dropping it onto the table, "The answer is you don't"

"What's this?" Caroline asks

"Call it a resume."

Natasha picks up the phot taken of Sam and his para- rescue team, "Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you." She turns to Steve."You didn't say he was a para- rescue."

Steve looks at the picture Natasha holds up,"Is this Riley?"

"Yeah," Sam nods

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

"No. These."

Sam hands Steve another file, as he opens he reads it,"I thought you said you were a pilot." He lifted his eyebrows

"I never said a pilot." Sam smiles

"I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."

Sam insists,"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?" Steve lifts up the file.

"The last one is at Forte Meade, behind a twelve-inch steel wall."

Natasha shrugs her shoulders, "Shouldn't be a problem."

"Yeah, you're talking to an assassin, a super soldier, and a vampire."

_________________

Steve, Caroline, and Natasha waited on the roof of the nearby building while Sam chatted up Jasper.

Suddenly Jasper Sitwell landed at their feet as Sam landed using his wings.

"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?" Steve asked as Sitwell stood up, stunned.

Sitwell stepped backwards straightening his jacket, " I was throwing up, I got sea sick."

"Shouldn't have said that." Caroline smiled as Steve picked Sitwell up and held him over the edge of the roof.

"Is this display meant to insinuate that you're going throw me off the roof?" Sitwell smirked nervously, "Because it's really not your style Rogers."

Steve calmly placed him down on the floor and brushed Jasper's suit shoulders, "You're right it's not."

Then he gestured to the ladies,"It's theirs."

Sitwell screamed as he plunged down towards the concrete floor below him.

Sam flew back over dropping Sitwell on the floor,"Zola's algorithm is a program for choosing insight's target!" He stammered nervously

"What targets?" Caroline asked

"You! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa city. Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future." Jasper gestured widely with his arms.

"The future? How could it know?"

"How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it." Steve, Caroline, and Natasha look at him in confusion,"Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, e-mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores. Zola's algorithm evaluates peoples' past to predict their future." Jasper explained angrily

"And what then?"

The color drained from his face,"Oh, my God. Pierce is gonna kill me."

"What then?!" Steve asked angrily stepping closer.

"Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few millions at a time." Caroline gulped sharply stepping backwards slightly before Sam gently pushed her forward as Steve got a hold of Sitwell and began dragging him down the stairwell.