Chapter 88
Triskelion
September 2011
Steve didn’t remember ever being this tired.
He should be fighting, he thought. Swimming. But the light was so far away. And… there was something important he was doing, or had to do, or had done, something…
But thinking was so hard. Relaxing was easy. The water was pretty. The light up above him was dancing and beautiful. This was a much nicer experience than the first time he’d…
Died.
The thought was a bolt of lightning that briefly illuminated his mind. Dying. Dead. He was sinking, and he was drowning.
It wasn’t so bad. There was a leftover glow of triumph, success, in his head, and he didn’t know what he’d been doing but he had a sense he’d been done what he had to. That was okay, then.
Debris sank with him, faster than he did, explosions occasionally blurring through the water. Their glows, their shock waves, were all distant. Muffled. Steve’s mind was water like the lake, and his thoughts were sinking too, one by one.
The light got farther away.
Steve Rogers closed his eyes.
…
…
And came violently back to life.
Choking and gasping, fire in his lungs. Steve sat bolt upright, promptly gagged, and turned aside to spit water from his lips. His torso convulsed to expel as much water as possible from his lungs and for a long time that really wasn’t longer than a minute or two, he couldn’t even register his surroundings.
Gradually, his body’s panic wore off, and he blinked. Looked around. Registered that he sat on the edge of the shore of the artificial lake, and across the shining waters were the smoking ruins of both SHIELD and Hydra.
“Steve.”
He turned his head, which felt like it was stuffed with cotton candy.
“Sharon,” he said, then remembered. “Agent Carter.”
“Sharon’s fine.” She was soaking wet, blond hair plastered to her skull and makeup running in dark streaks down her cheeks. Her clothes clung to her body and Steve looked away, embarrassed.
She snorted. “Never seen a woman in a bathing suit, I take it?”
“Nineteen forties bathing suits,” Steve said, still not really looking at her. “I’m–sorry. Just… old habits.” He waved his hands helplessly.
“I’m not offended,” she said.
“You pulled me out?”
“Yeah. I don’t know what Tony’s been feeding you up in that tower, but it felt like hauling a sack of rocks.” She reached behind her. “Oh, and I got this.”
His shield. Steve took it and stared at the familiar surface, paint scarred but metal untouched. “How…”
“I may have overheard Fury and Pierce talking about a secret egress point at water level,” Sharon said. “The building was going to shit and the doors disengaged automatically on all exits. I evacuated everyone I could find on my way out. I heard Wilson and Barnes talking on comms and knew you were still in the helicarrier, so I went after you. The shield was caught on a chunk of insulation. I took a little detour after I pulled you out.”
Steve traced his fingers around the edge and set it aside. “Thank you.” He started to stand and winced.
“I’m pretty sure a few of your ribs cracked when I was doing CPR,” Sharon said. Steve blushed at the thought of her doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on him and was instantly furious with himself. Sharon had done what was necessary, that was all, and showed no trace of discomfort. “You’ll want to take it easy for a few weeks.”
“A few weeks,” Steve mumbled. “I think I can manage that. I’ll have to go to ground.” He shook off a melancholy regret that he couldn’t get to the Tower yet and straightened despite the pain. “Any word from the others?”
Sharon shook her head. “Wilson and the Soldier were too busy escaping to talk much, and my earpiece shorted out in the water. I don’t know if Romanoff and Hill made it out. They got the files decrypted and released, though. SHIELD’s done.”
Steve glanced over at her and saw a confused tangle of emotion flash briefly across her face. “Do you regret… helping us?” he asked. And found himself hoping that she didn’t.
“It needed to be done,” Sharon said quietly. “But, you know. SHIELD was… important to my family. It meant a lot that I could be a part of it.” She looked across the water at the ruins of the Triskelion. “I’ll have to find a new use for my skill set.”
“Family…” Steve put it together. The surname. SHIELD. “You’re Peggy Carter’s descendant?” he said incredulously.
Sharon winced. “I was wondering when you’d figure it out. Yeah. I’m her niece.”
Steve blinked a few times. Tried to wrap his head around this. “Uh. Well. I’m sure Tony has a place at Stark Industries for an ex-SHIELD agent who also happens to be related to Peggy Carter…”
Sharon smiled a little. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Wait,” Steve said suddenly. “You said… Soldier?”
“Don’t insult me by denying that was the Winter Soldier up there helping Wilson,” Sharon said, an edge to her voice. “I’m not an idiot. Romanoff’s here. Last we heard of her, she and the Winter Soldier took down a posse of SHIELD contacts, who were actually Hydra agents, in Moscow, then vanished. Suddenly she turns up again in your company. It’s not a huge leap to realize her companion’s probably here too.”
Steve pressed his lips together. He wasn’t going to say it. Even if she’d figured out all on her own. He didn’t have to say it. He hated himself for suspecting her, but it was always possible that she had a recorder somewhere, or someone else was watching them, waiting for Steve to incriminate himself.
“I’ll come by the tower sometime,” Sharon said when Steve remained silent. “Have JARVIS on the lookout for me, okay?”
“Deal,” he said, and watched as she walked away and left him by the lakeside.