Hours passed after the word spread about Fury's assassination, where he was hospitalized immediately at a nearby hospital. Doctors started rushing into the operating room, where Fury laid unconscious on the bed.

His blood stained the robe over his body, and the director had a tube in his mouth. Zach, Steve and Maria Hill stood outside the room, watching the operation behind the glass.

Natasha & Ella walked into the room, and gazed at the sight in front of her. It was horrifying for Natasha to see it. "Is he gonna make it?" Natasha asked.

"I don't know." was all Steve had responded with.

Natasha kept staring through the window. "Tell me about the shooter." She statically asked. "He's fast. Strong." Steve answered quickly. "Had a metal arm."

"Ballistics?" She asked again.

"Three slugs, no rifling." Hill responded. "Completely untraceable."

"So they're Soviet-made?" Ella spoke up, as Hill nodded. Natasha just stood silently. Fury's monitor began to flatline immediately, and all the doctors in the room started to panic, looking for ways to save the mans' life.

"He's in V-Tach!" One doctor cried. "Crash cart coming in," A nurse proclaimed.

"Nurse, help me with the drape!"

"BP is dropping! Defibrillator — I want you to charge him at one hundred."

"Don't do this to me, Nick." Natasha whispered under her breath, as the Shield agents watched the doctor apply the paddles upon Fury's chest.

"Stand back!" the doctor shouted to the other doctors. "Three — two — one... clear!" He pressed the paddles, jolting Fury's body slightly. "Pulse?"

"No pulse."

"Okay — 200." the doctor addressed, as the paddles were turned. "Stand back! Three – two – one... clear!" Fury's body was jolted again, but he laid still. "Give me epinephrine! Pulse!?"

"Negative," one of the nurses answered.

"Don't do this to me, Nick," Natasha squirmed. Fury was like the only family she had left outside the Red Room, somewhat of a better father figure than Shostakov ever was. "Don't do this to me."

The doctors continued to revive Fury, but each and every time, he still flatlined. Nothing could be done for the brave, wise, director of Shield... was dead.

The doctor may have been wearing a surgical mask, but the look on his face shrunk when he checked for Fury's pulse. "What's the time?" the doctor asked the nurse closest to him.

"1:03, Doctor."

"Time of death — 1:03 A.M."

Steve stepped away from the window, and looked down into his hand, observing the drive Fury had given him. The director had told him and Zach, "Trust no one."

So who could they even trust?

After the viewing of the body, Steve & Zach were called back to the Triskelion for questioning, courtesy of Agent Jasper Sitwell. However, before they left, Steve hid the drive inside of a vending machine inside the hospital.

Zach had stayed questionably silent since the attack. He couldn't believe who he had even seen. When he was a Shield trainee under Natasha's supervision, the two had opened up more to each other, up to the point Natasha told him about the origin of her scar.

The figure that killed Fury resembled a myth in their corner of the world. Some... thing only known as The Winter Soldier.

However, Zach kept quiet. Like Fury had told him and Steve, "don't trust anyone." But could he even trust anyone inside of Shield?

Back inside the Triskelion, Steve and Zach were brought to Secretary Pierce, who was talking to Sharon, most likely consoling her about Fury's death. "For whatever it's worth, you did your best." They heard Pierce's voice as they rounded the corner.

"Thank you, sir," Sharon replied, and turned to see the two Avengers. "Captain Rogers — Agent Danvers-Stark."

"Neighbor." Steve replied coldly, not even bothering to look her in the eyes, just as Pierce laid his eyes on the two.

"Ah, Captain," Pierce greeted him politely and shook their hands. "Mr. Danvers-Stark... I'm Alexander Pierce."

"Sir." Steve replied as stoic as ever. "It's an honor." Pierce chuckled. "The honor is mine, Captain." He replied with a sincere smile. "My father served in the 101st. Come on in."

As they entered the office, which looked strikingly similar to Nick's, Zach spotted a photo near his console, and picked it up. It was from a time when Fury had two functional eyes, and no eyepatch, affirming a pledge with Pierce across from him.

"Oh, that photo you have there," Pierce noticed as he removed his coat and hung it on his chair. "It was taken five years after Nick and I met. When I was at the State Department in Bogata."

Zach sighed. "Heard Fury liked his B's." He finally broke his silence. "Only ever admitted that in conversation."


"That he did, young man," Pierce laughed. "But then, ELN rebels took the embassy, and security got me out, but the rebels took hostages. Nick was deputy chief of the SHIELD station there, and he came to me with a plan."

"He wants to storm the building through the sewers — I said no, we'll negotiate." Pierce continued his story to the two. "Turned out the ELN didn't negotiate, so they put a kill order. They stormed the basement, and what did they find?"

"They find it empty. Nick had ignored my direct order and carried out an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil. He saved the lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter."

"So you gave him a promotion?" Steve asked.

"I've never had any cause to regret it," Pierce admitted. "But I must ask... Zach, I noticed your surname. Why did you hyphenate it, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I don't know, with all due respect, Mr. Secretary." Zach lied through his teeth. "Tony took me in when I was little. Danvers is a really common surname — I couldn't tell you much about that."

"Very well..." Pierce acknowledged and turned to Steve. "Captain, why were Nick and Zach in your apartment last night?"

"I don't know." Steve answered. "You know it was bugged?" Pierce questioned again.

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

"Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?" Pierce asked again, to which neither of the two responded. "I want you both to see something." Pierce said as he leaned over, pressing a button on the table.

The screen near them lit up, with the footage of none other than Batroc the Leaper himself in a containment room. "Who hired you, Batroc?" An interrogator asked as they circled the French man.

"Is that live?" Steve asked the Secretary.

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

"Secretary Pierce -- with all due respect -- Batroc can't be a suspect for this," Zach reasoned. "Assassination isn't his thing. I don't even think he carried a gun on the Star."

"No, it's more complicated than that..." Pierce explained. "Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the Lumerian Star, he was contacted by e-mail and paid by wire transfer."

"And then the money was run through seventeen fictitious accounts — the last one going to a holding company that was registered to a Jacob Veech.

"We're supposed to know who Veech is?" Zach asked suspiciously, as Pierce handed a file to Steve.

"Not likely, Veech died 6 years ago." Pierce addressed. "His last address was 1435 Elmhurst Drive. When I first met Nick, his mother lived at 1437."

Steve looked through the files, and back to Pierce. "Are you saying Fury hired the pirates? Why?"

"The prevailing theory was that the hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence." Pierce deduced. "The sale went sour, and that led to Nick's death."

"But if you really knew Nick Fury," Steve spoke up. "You'd know that's not true." Zach finished.

"Why do you think we're talking?" Pierce declared. "See... I took a seat on the Council not because I wanted to, but Nick asked me to, because we are both realists."

"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. And that makes enemies."

"Those people that call you dirty because you got the guts to stick your hands in the mud and try to build something better. And the idea that those people could be happy today, makes me really, really angry." Pierce finished his tangent, and took his time to breath through his resentments.

"Captain, Agent Danvers-Stark," Pierce began again after a few seconds of hesitation. "You two were the last people to see Nick alive. I don't think that's an accident, and I don't think you do either.

"So I'm gonna ask again... why was he there?" Pierce affirmed.

Steve and Zach looked to each other, and then back to Pierce, with a subtle glare. "He told us not to trust anyone." Steve confessed.

"I wonder if that included him." Pierce retorted. Steve and Zach simply just looked at Pierce. Steve stood firm with his hands posed at his belt, while Zach tucked his arms behind his back, crossing them from behind.

"We're sorry, Mr. Secretary." Zach spoke up. "Those were Fury's last words to us." Steve leaned down to pick up his shield, whilst saying "Excuse me," as the two started to make their way out of Pierce's office.

"Captain." Alexander called out seconds later, before they crossed the threshold of where his office began. "Somebody murdered my friend, and I'm gonna find out why."

"Anyone gets in my way, they're gonna regret it. Anyone."

"Understood," Steve answered with a stoic stare.

"I'll see you around, Steve," Zach said as the two approached the elevator. "I gotta make some calls to the old team."

Steve nodded. "Understandable." He answered while pressing the button to call. "You be safe out there, son. Remember what Fury told us."

"Trust no one," Zach affirmed, as the elevator arrived for Steve, who stepped in. "Operations Control," He commanded, as the elevator accepted, beginning to close the doors.

However, a rough grip maintained the doors from being shut, as Rumlow and a group of STRIKE agents entered inside. Zach kept his eye on them, seeing as it had only been a few minutes since their conversation with Pierce.

"Keep all STRIKE personnel on site," Rumlow commanded his subordinates as they entered the elevator. "Forensics."

"Confirmed."

"Cap." Rumlow politely greeted the Avenger, who had his back faced to them. "Rumlow." Steve greeted back, turning around to face his company.

Brock sucked in his lips, tucking his head down, as the doors began to close again. They had only gone a few floors before Rumlow made conversation again.

"Evidence Response found some fibers on the roof they wanted us to see." Rumlow explained to Steve. "You want me to get the tac-team ready?"

"No," Steve ordered. "Let's wait and see what it is first."

"Right." Rumlow accepted. However, Steve took the time to notice Rumlow's men had their hands anxiously close to their sidearms, while avoiding eye contact with him.

The Elevator stopped once again, as more Shield and Strike agents flooded in. "Administrations Level," one commanded the elevator.

"Confirmed."

"I'm sorry about what happened to Fury," Rumlow spoke to Steve again. "It's messed up, what happened to him."

"Thank you," Steve accepted his condolences, but not avoiding the claustrophobic feeling in the room. The air around each person was suspicious, some started to sweat.

The elevator opened once again, as three STRIKE agents entered the elevator, and Steve realized.

The elevator felt claustrophobic for a reason. He was surrounded.

The door closed for a final time, and Steve began to survey his options. As he thought of a way to get out of his predicament, he spoke up to the group.

"Before we get started... Does anyone want to get out?"

And that was when all hell broke loose.

The STRIKE agent in front of Rogers activated an electric baton and turned furiously to shock him, as the rest of the agents crowded around Steve to hold him in place.

One of the Agents slammed their fist on the elevator controls, signaling an emergency stop. Two of the suited agents dropped their suitcases, and gripped the handles, having been turned into magnetic cuffs.

However, Steve resisted the pull and jerked his leg up, dropping them to the ground, and removed one of the cuffs, throwing it at the wall. Steve pushed one of the agents towards the window, and continued to fend off the agents holding him.

Rumlow threw his leg against Steve's arm, sending it towards the wall with the other cuff locking him in place. Now armed with an electric rod, Rumlow began to strike Steve in place. Steve took the shocks, and knocked Rumlow to the side, and threw another agent towards the camera in the elevator.

Steve managed to let himself free by jumping on the wall, and pulled himself off, jumping back onto his feet, and throwing down with the other two agents standing.

"Whoa, big guy," Rumlow tried to reason, the veins near his eye started to bulge. "I just want you to know, Cap... this isn't personal!" He said as he lunged towards him, swiping furiously, but Steve managed to hold him.

"It kind of feels personal," Steve acknowledged, as he threw him into the light fixture.

Steve looked down at the bodies, and slammed his leg against a side of his shield, sliding it against his arm, only to slam it against the cuff, breaking it with a few sparks.

Steve tapped on the panel to stop the emergency, and the doors slid open, only to find himself surrounded by a fleet of STRIKE agents.

"Drop the shield and put your hands in the air!" The Strike officer commanded. Steve began to raise them up, but spun around and slashed the cables holding the elevator, sending him pummeling.

The elevator however managed to stop, and Steve slid the doors open once more, only to close it as more STRIKE agents closed in on him. He looked around to see what his options were. The only one he could see was to jump.

And that's what he did.

|| Minutes before... ||

Zach had taken the stairs after watching the Rumlow and the STRIKE officers flood the elevator. The Triskelion was long and winding, but that didn't stop the young man from thinking about Fury. He still couldn't believe he was dead.

There were so many questions he had on his mind, and Fury, being the secretive man on the planet, had answers to all his queries.

Through the cycle of stairs, his focus broke from the thoughts of the deceased director, and to the number of agents passing him on the flights. From his view, everytime he came past them, they doubled in number. First one, then two, then four.

The pattern felt alarming, and as he passed by, he felt their eyes on him, staring daggers into his soul. Patterns weren't to be taken lightly in the art of spycraft.

"Once is happenstance." Zach whispered to himself. "Second is coincidence. Third time is enemy action."

Then, with the acute hearing he'd developed, he heard the voice of Jasper Sitwell through one of the agents' radios.

"Mobilize STRIKE units, 25th floor! Agents, to the 14th floor stairway."

"I just gotta say..." Zach spoke up to the unit of Shield agents, who had turned around and aimed their weapons at him, which he gathered to raise his arms behind his head.

"I never liked Sitwell."

Shots began to fire out in the stairwell, as Zach raised his arms, imbuing them in a blue hue, and blasted through the steps above him, making the agents in front of him drop to the level below them. He quickly snapped behind him, finding more agents firing at him.

He looked to his left, and grabbed the stair railings poles, and ripped it out of the structure, making himself two makeshift batons. He dodged and perried at the four agents around him, striking them in their pressure points to make better work.

BAM!

A shot rang out as Zach placed his hand on his cheek and peeled off a flattened bullet, looking down towards the person who had shot him, and all their fellow agents turned back to them too.

"Really?" Zach groaned. "The face? You never shot people in the face, man! Especially when they're... I dunno... Bulletproof!?"

He whacked two agents besides him with one of the poles, breaking them into several pieces, and pressed his hand against the barrel of the gun. 

Before they could fire off another shot, Zach squeezed it hard, crushing the barrel instantly.

"It's just dumb." Zach reacted to the agent. "I mean... you really thought guns could stop me?" He whacked the agent with the spare baton, dropping him, and tossed it into the stairwell.

"Let me just..." Zach said to himself as he leaned down and snatched a radio from one of the bodies, before racing down the remaining flights. He entered the main floor, just when the glass above him broke, and Steve landed face down upon his shield.

"Ugh..." Steve groaned as he lifted himself up, only to get a hand from Zach. "Agents try to murder you too?"

"Yeah..." Steve panted. "Rumlow... and a lot of Strike agents."

"Well, we better run like hell, man," Zach informed. "Sitwell's called for all the agents to stop us."

Seconds later, Steve and Zach escaped the closing doors of the facility (Steve by his bike, Zach by flying out). Steve planned on avoiding the spikes emerging from the ground, but the Quinjet flying outside blocking the way proved to be a problem.

"Stand down, Captain Rogers & Agent Danvers-Stark." The pilot's voice boomed from the speakers, as they activated the jet's twin gatling guns. "Stand down."

Steve clutched the handles of his motorcycle while Zach flew higher to rip the gun off the jet. With a single thought, Steve removed his shield from his back and swung it towards the turbine of the Quinjet, destroying the flight systems.

Steve stopped the bike midway to give him enough room for a jump, somersaulting off the cockpit and towards the turbine with enough time to retrieve his shield, as the two agents destroyed the thrusters keeping it in air.

Meanwhile in the control room of the Triskelion, Sitwell wasn't having it from any of the agents. "Eyes here!" He commanded every Shield agent in the room. "Whatever your op is, bury it. This is Level One. Contact DOT – All traffic lights in the district go red."

"Shut all runways at BWI, IAD, and Reagan. All security cameras in the city go through this monitor right here," Sitwell pointed behind him, towards the monitor displaying both Steve and Zach's mugshots, as well as a map of Washington D.C. and the states surrounding.

"Scan all open sources – phones, computers, PDAs, whatever!" Sitwell continued. "If someone tweets about these guys, I want to know about it."

However, Sharon, being the only other person who was there when Fury died, was heavily allergic to the bullshit coming from Sitwell.

"With all due respect," The agent spoke up. "If Shield is conducting a manhunt for Captain America and Iron Marvel, we deserve to know why."

"Because he lied to us," The voice of Alexander Pierce resonated through the control room, as the Secretary of the World Security Council walked through the doors. 

"Captain Rogers & Agent Danvers-Stark have information regarding the death of Director Fury, they refused to share it. As difficult as it is to accept..."

"Captain America and Iron Marvel are fugitives from SHIELD."

Back in the hospital, Rogers and Danvers-Stark (in civilian clothing) entered the wing Fury was previously admitted to, where Steve had hidden the flash drive inside a vending machine.

"You really hid it in a vending machine?" Zach asked the Captain, as they calmly paced through the hall. "What if someone were to coincidentally buy something from the row you put it in, and instead they get some flash drive?"

"I'm sure it's still there," Steve reassured the younger Avenger. "Keep cool, son."

The two finally reached the vending machine Steve had put it in, and as Zach thought, it was indeed missing. 

"I just want to say, 'I told you so'." Zach bragged, just as someone approached them from behind, and Natasha's face showed up in the reflection.

Steve's eyes darted to the Black Widow, who popped her bubble gum. As the doctors moved out of the way, Steve pressed his hand on her shoulder, pushing her into an open room, as Zach followed behind.

Steve slammed her against the wall, and removed his hood, as Zach kept a watch from outside the room. "Where is it?" Steve growled at her, not knowing if she could be trusted.

"Take it easy, Steve!" Zach warned him, remembering what Natasha had done in the boxing ring when he first met her as "Natalie Rushman". "She can still kick your ass!"

"Safe." Natasha responded, not exactly fearing Steve at the moment. "Do better!" Steve silently seethed. "Where did you get it?" Natasha retorted.

"Why should I tell you?" Steve asked impatiently. "Fury gave it to you both, why?" Natasha asked again.

"What's on it?" "I don't know!"

"Stop lying!" Steve warned. "She only acts like she knows everything, Rogers." Ella's voice spoke up, as she walked through the door, and Natasha nodded.

"Please don't tell me you're going to arrest us," Zach asked, as he looked around the room. "We've already beaten a shit-ton of agents." Ella shook her head.

"I've been on the Bus with you for months." Ella reassured. "I know you or Captain Rogers aren't what Sitwell says you are." She opened up her overcoat, revealing her ICER in her holster. "I had to ICE some agents on the way here anyways."

"The ship was dirty, so Fury needed a way in," Natasha explained, as Steve let go. "So he had you three, plus STRIKE."

"I'm not gonna ask you again," Steve gripped her jacket, and Natasha could sense how anxious he was. "I know who killed Fury." She clarified. "Most of the Intelligence community doesn't believe he exists... the ones that do call him The Winter Soldier."

"So it was him, on the rooftop," Zach agreed. "Long hair, black eyeshadow, and a likely titanium arm with a Soviet Star. Just like you told me when I started at SHIELD."

"He's credited with two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years," Natasha continued of her former student. "Five years ago I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot my tires out near Odessa."

"We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out," Natasha breathed. "But the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him — straight through me."

Natasha pulled up her shirt, revealing a medium-sized scar near her midriff. "Soviet Slug — no rifling. Bye-bye bikinis." She added with a small smirk.

"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them," Steve joked, as Zach shrugged and Ella just glared at him. "Going after him is a dead end." Natasha admitted, while revealing the drive. "I know, I've tried. He's a ghost story."

"Well..." Steve answered as he plucked the drive from her hands, as he looked at the other two agents. "Let's find out what the ghost wants." 

Zach simply eyed Steve with a side eye. "Alright, Fred Jones, who let you watch Scooby-Doo?"