Unfortunate Truths
Exiting the van, Steve made sure to help Natasha to the ground as she cradled her shoulder. She’d gone without medical care for long enough that her wound could be severe and he wanted to make sure she got help as soon as possible.
Looking at Maria, he walked alongside his friends. “Kara’s out there somewhere with our gear. We should probably get a message to her.”
Ignoring his statement, Maria yelled ahead to the doctor that was running up to them. “GSW. She’s lost at least a pint.”
“Maybe two,” Sam added from behind them.
“Let me take her.” The man said in a rush, but Maria interrupted him.
“She’ll want to see him first.”
“See who?” Steve asked quickly but was again ignored.
Walking up to a bunch of clear tarps hanging from the wall, they slowed as Maria pushed the tarps aside, revealing none other than Nick Fury himself.
“About damn time.”
“What the fuck?” Both Steve and Nat spoke at the same time.
“Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache.” Fury listed off his injuries.
As the doctor worked on Natasha’s wound, he looked up at the one-eyed man. “Don’t forget your collapsed lung.”
“Let’s not forget that.” Fury joked dryly. “Otherwise, I’m good.”
“They cut you open. Your heart stopped.” Natasha told him, voice full of emotion.
“Tetrodotoxin B.” He told her. “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.”
“But how did you manage to even find this place without anyone at SHIELD knowing about it?” Sam asked.
Fury grunted. “We had some help.”
“I told you I had to make a stop first.” Turning in the direction of the voice, the trio watched as Kara walked up in her suit. “The perimeter is clear. They didn’t follow you.”
Then she threw her arms around Steve and hugged him tightly. “While I was hacking the files from SHIELD and HYDRA, I overheard the call sent out to stop you guys. There wasn’t enough time to contact you, so I just took off to your location and called Maria.”
“Wait a minute,” Sam said in shock before smacking Steve. “You didn’t tell me your girl was a Stark and Supergirl.”
“Secret identity and all that.” She told him with a shrug. “But from now on, just call me Kara.”
Glancing at his girlfriend, Steve addressed Fury again. “Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?”
“Any attempt on the Director’s life had to look successful,” Maria told them.
“Can’t kill you if you’re already dead.” He added. “Besides, I wasn’t sure who to trust.”
Kara frowned as Natasha looked away sadly, and Steve spoke again. “So why tell Kara? How did she know, and why didn’t she tell us?”
“Rogers-” Maria started, but Kara cut her off.
“It’s okay I got this.” She took a deep breath to calm herself. “You do know I’m standing right here, Steve?”
“Then explain it to us.” He said, anger slipping into his voice.
She had enough humanity to feel guilty and let it show on her face. “After you called to tell me about what happened with Fury, I was already planning on flying out here. Then my phone rang, and it said it was you, but it was actually Maria. She’d cloaked the lines to make it look like you were calling to grieve again in case anyone was tracking it.
“She told me what happened and that they needed a secure place to hunker down. They knew I could find them one because of the whole x-ray vision thing. I’m the only one who could know for sure if it was safe.”
“Besides,” Fury groaned from his bed. “I knew she would never join HYDRA and their crazy crusade after everything that happened with Krypton.”
“That is the only reason I know anything, Steve. Otherwise, I would never have known anything either.” She told him honestly.
Looking at all of them, the super-soldier turned and walked away. Knowing better than to follow, Kara stood and watched him leave, a look of despair on her face. Walking over to her, Sam put his hand on her shoulder as Natasha spoke.
“Kara, don’t worry about it. He’ll be fine in a little bit once he comes to his senses.” She told her friend.
“Will he?” The blonde asked sadly, and she felt Sam’s hand tighten in sympathy on her shoulder.
The doctor told Natasha that she was good to go but then stood suddenly. “Hey, you can’t get up yet!”
Turning, they all saw Fury ignoring the man’s orders as he rose from the bed. “We don’t have any more time to waste. The helicarriers launch in a matter of hours, and we have to stop them.”
“We have to talk.” He told the group. “Maria will show you the way.”
Then he struggled into his signature trench coat and walked out.
“For someone who religiously took and gave orders for so long, it surprises me that you would be upset when someone else did the exact same thing.”
Not bothering to turn around, Steve grunted. “Yeah, well, I didn’t expect that person to be my girlfriend.”
Fury nodded and leaned against the wall. “I ordered her not to tell you anything. We weren’t sure who was listening or who could be trusted.”
“Excuse me?” Steve whirled around at that statement.
Fury held up his hand. “By ‘we,’ I meant Maria and I. Kara argued and defended you at every turn. So I persuaded her hand by telling her of what Pierce was and how he would kill you in an instant if you knew I was alive.
“The plan was always to bring you here. We had to wait to make sure Romanoff was still on our side, but we knew you were most likely not involved. It had to look real, Rogers. Your actions, your reactions, everything. If it even seemed slightly off, Pierce would know, and we would be in an even bigger mess than we are now.
“Far be it for me to get in the middle of someone’s relationship, but this is the life we are living now, Rogers. Sometimes these things need to play out this way in order for us to keep the world safe.”
“So, you’re saying we have to sacrifice our relationships and everything we hold dear to save everyone else in the world?” He asked the director.
“No. What I’m saying is that sometimes we have to take a step back and realize that we all have a part to play in this war.” Walking forward, Fury shook his head. “I can’t tell you how to feel about this. I just wanted you to know that she didn’t follow orders easily. The rest…well, that’s on you.”
They both looked up at the sound of someone clearing their throat and saw Kara standing in the doorway. No one spoke for a minute, but her eyes met Fury’s, and he understood the unspoken request she was asking of him.
“In any case, we have a job to finish and a world to save.” He told them both. “Meet us there in five minutes. You know the way.”
Then he strode out and left the out of sorts couple alone in a silence that was louder than either of them had known in their lifetimes.