Cry of Rage

Gwen sat on Sam’s couch and looked at the file in her hand. It again was about Steve. This one she wrote notes from the day that she convinced Steve to go visit Peggy Carter in her assisted living home. Steve was against it at first, but Gwen saw that he wanted to see her. He wanted to see the last person who heard him speak his last words in 1945. She was his best girl, and nothing ever was going to change that, not even 70 years.

Stopping the car Gwen looked over at Steve. His face was looking down at his feet, not at where they had stopped, because he knew where she had taken him. Gwen unclipped her seatbelt and placed her hand on Steve’s shoulder.

“Steve, you need to go up and see her. I’ll come with you if you want. You need this.”

“Need what? More proof that the life I once had is slowly slipping away. Gwen she was the last person to hear me in 1945. I bet you she thinks I’m dead or that she wouldn’t even remember who I am.”

“Do you really believe that Steve? There is no way that she forgot who you are. Now come on.”

Gwen removed her hand from Steve’s shoulder and got out of the car. Walking around the car she saw Steve did get out of the car. His head was still down and not looking around at his surroundings, something that was very unlike Steve. When Gwen stood next to Steve she put her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. Steve looked down at her and saw the small smile that was on her face.

“Everything will be alright Steve. Don’t worry.”

Letting go of Steve’s hand, the two walked into the building and to the front desk, where Gwen informed the middle aged women at the desk who they were here to see.

“Yes, I’ll have someone take you down to see her now.”

Gwen smiled and thanked her. Turning her attention back to Steve, she saw that now he was looking into the room just next door. In that room was a handful of 90 and 80 something year olds. Some were sitting down talking to men and women dressed in nurse uniforms, other were sitting at tables playing card games with one another. Gwen’s face fell when she saw Steve’s face as he looked at them.

“That should be me.”

“Steve, you did what you did to save the world. No one will ever look down on you for that. You sacrificed everything for everyone. “

Steve was about to say something else when a young nurse with red curly hair walked up to them.

“I’m Claire, I’ll take you to see Peggy.”

Gwen smiled at the nurse and pulled on Steve’s arm to follower her and Claire. As they walked deeper and deeper into the building Gwen noticed that Claire kept taking glances back at Steve. Finally it seemed that Claire had enough, she stopped and turned to fully face Gwen and Steve.

“Are you Steve Rogers?”

She asked looking up at Steve. He was a little taken back at the intensity of Claire's words. He looked over at Gwen why just looked back over at Claire, she actions reminded him of a mother saying “This nice lady asked you a question, you should give her an answer.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Oh, my God. Peggy always talks about you. She’s told me so many stories of you and her when she was in the war.”

The way Claire talked about the stories that Peggy told made her eyes light up. Not only did Claire’s eyes light up but so did Steve’s. He found a reason to go and see Peggy.

“She does? Where is she?”

Steve asked now having a frantic look in his eyes as looked down at the nurse, waiting to hear where his old friend was.

“Just down the hall. Room 342.”

When the number left her lips Steve took off like a speeding bullet to find Peggy. Gwen let out a laugh as she watched Steve.

“I’ll call if anything happens.”

Gwen said to Claire as she saw Steve stop in front of a door.

“I’ll be down here if you need anything.”

Gwen nodded and hurried down the hall to Steve. When she got to him she stood behind him and watched him. He stood there looking at the door number, his hand was up and ready to knock, all he needed to do was let his hand drop against the wooden door.

“Go on Steve. It’s okay.”

Steve took in a breath and knocked on the door. They heard a faint woman’s voice from the other side say ‘come in’. Steve grabbed hold of the handle and opened the door. Gwen followed Steve into the room, inside there was a large window on the opposite wall and queen sized bed with two bedside tables with pictures on it. On the bed was a elderly woman with grey curled hair. It was Peggy Carter. Gwen glanced down at the file that she held close to her chest, there was a picture of Peggy from 1945 paper clipped on the outside of it. Steve couldn’t say anything so Gwen took the steps forward so that she was standing next to the bed.

“Mrs. Carter, I’m doctor Gwendolyn Brewster.”

Peggy looked up at Gwen and smiled.

“Hello, doctor. You have such a beautiful name.”

Gwen smiled and looked quickly back at Steve, then back at Peggy.

“Thank you.”

“What can I do for you?”

“Well, I am here to introduce you to someone.”

Peggy’s eyes lit up when Gwen told her that some else would be joining them.

“You might remember him. Steve?”

Gwen said looking back at Steve. He hadn’t looked away from Peggy since they entered the room. When Steve locked eyes with Gwen he took a few steps forward, and Gwen looked back at Peggy.

The older woman looked up at Steve when he stood at her bedside. Her face dropped and her eyes filled with tears.

“Steve. Is that you?”

Steve looked like he was about to cry as Peggy said her name.

“Yeah, it’s me Peggy.”

He said sitting down on the chair that was next to her bed. Gwen felt like she was going to cry as well.

“Steve, I’ll be out in the hall.”

Gwen said holding back the tears as she walked backwards towards the door. When she stood with her back to the door she took one last look at the two. Peggy held onto Steve’s hand, she could tell that Steve was crying.

“You’re alive. After all this time?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t leave my best girl.”

Gwen had enough. She opened the door and hurried into the hallway. Holding onto her chest she let out a loud, long sigh. She whipped the tears from her eyes and closed her eyes. This was for the best, she knew that Steve needed to to see Peggy, whether or not he was ready for it. It was a step into the right direction.

“Gwen! Hey!”

Looking up from her papers she saw Sam standing in front of her with the TV remote in his hand.

“What?”

“God, I thought you were dead or something. Have you seen this?”

He asked pointing to his TV that was on the news channel. She looked at the screen and saw that there was a breaking news story on. The picture behind the news anchor was of a area that was on fire and has been blown up.

“Camp Lehigh in New Jersey went up in flames last night. No one was quite such what happened until just a few moments ago we were informed that the explosion was caused by a gas leakage in the old abandoned mess hall on the base. No one was hurt in the explosion. Back to you Ross.”

Sam turned the TV off and looked down at Gwen. Her eyes went from the TV screen to Sam seeing he was in his running clothes.

“I’ll be back in a hour. Lock up behind me would ya?”

“Sure thing.”

Sam nodded and put the remote on the coffee table then left the room. Gwen placed Steve’s folder on the coffee table and leaned back against the couch, she looked up at the ceiling and sighed. It had been two days since she saw Steve, she wasn’t worried but she just wanted to know what was going on. What was going on before she arrived at Steve’s apartment? What was going on with Steve that made her come down here?

Gwen let out a sigh, she had an hour before Sam came back from his run. She lifted up arm and smelt her armpit. She moved her nose away when she smelt herself, she could have smelled better.She slowly got off the couch and walked to Sam’s bedroom. As she walked she removed her pajamas and went into his bathroom. In the bathroom she walked into Sam’s glass walk in shower. Turing the hot water faucet on, feeling the hot water rain down on her, Gwen let out a happy sigh. Her muscles were stiff since the night she was at the hospital. If she could stay in the shower and hide from the world for the rest of her life, she would. When she finished at Harvard she would have never thought that she would be the therapist for the Avengers. She thought she would have been working with children whose parents were getting divorced, not superheroes whose been brainwashed by Norse gods.

Gwen stood in the shower and cleaned herself, she had lost track of time and when she turned the water off she heard voices coming from somewhere else in the apartment. Sticking her head out of the shower, Gwen saw a towel folded on the sink counter, she grabbed and wrapped it around her wet naked body. Walking over to the door she opened it and heard Sam’s voice, along with Steve and Natasha’s. Not caring that she was only in a towel Gwen walked out into the living room and saw Sam, Steve, and Natasha standing in the living room.

“The hell Steven!?”

Steve’s head bolted upright and saw Gwen standing there dripping wet in a towel. He face turned red and he looked the other way.

“Gwen go put some clothes on.”

“What the hell? What happened to you? Why the hell was Fury at your apartment?”

Gwen yelled not caring about how she looked. She had waited long enough for answers and she was sick of not knowing what was going on.

“Gwen, just go get dressed and I’ll explain. I promise.”

Gwen glared at him one last time and then looked over at Natasha for the first time.

“Hey Nat.”

“Hi Gwen.”

With that she turned on her heels and walked back into Sam’s room, slamming the door shut when she entered.

“Are you guys…”

Sam asked pointing to Steve then towards his bedroom door. Steve’s face turned a deep shade of red then it already was. Natasha let out a laugh and snook her head.

“That’s a great idea. Why don’t you ask out Gwen. You two are perfect.”

“What is with you and my love life?”

Steve asked as he looked over at the Russian, who just shrugged her shoulders.

“I have to have fun at some point don’t I?”

Then Sam’s bedroom door opened and gwen came out fully clothed. She wore brown pants with a royal blue blouse. Her hair was still wet and clumped together but for Steve it was better than her just in a towel.

“Alright spill your guts.”

Gwen said walking over to Steve and sitting down next to him on the coach.

“Can’t I get cleaned up first?”

“Let the man breath, Gwen. Just come help me make some food, alright. Then we can sit and he can tell you everything you need to know.”

Sam suggested as he walked into the kitchen. Gwen glared at Steve as she stood up and followed Sam.

“You’re lucky Rogers.”

Steve laughed and stood up as well. Him and Natasha went into Sam’s bedroom to clean themselves up.

~*~*~*~

“The question is, who at SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?”

Natasha asked as she placed her dirty dishes by the sink. Sam took her dishes and started to wash them as Steve and Gwen sat at the table.

“Pierce.”

“Oh, my God. And he was the one who sent me down here.”

Gwen said and Steve looked over at his friend seeing that her face was now lined with worry. On the inside he was thinking the same thing that she was probably thinking, what did Pierce want with her?

“Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world.”

Natasha said walking over to the empty chair at the table and placing her hands on the back of it, looking at the two in front of her.

“He’s not working alone. Zola’s algorithm was on the Lemurian Star.”

“And so was Jasper Sitwell.”

Steve moved his head back in frustration. There were too many questions and not enough answers on this. All he knew for sure was that SHIELD was now and has always been the enemy.

“So, the real question is, how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?”

Sam looked over at the super solider and a light bulb went off in his head. He put the plate down and walked over to the countertop where he had left a file. When he had it he walked over to the group around his kitchen table and dropped it in the center of it.

“The answer is, you don’t”

Gwen smiled when she saw the file. Sam had her look over it the other and asked if he could be of anymore help to Steve. After she looked it over she wanted to tell Steve about it. He would of great help to them, even if they weren’t sure on what just yet.

She looked up at Sam and caught his eyes, she smiled at him and he returned it then looked at Steve who was looking at the file along with Natasha.

“What’s this?”

He asked not yet opening it. Natasha grabbed the large printed photo that was on top and studied it for a couple of seconds.

“Call it a resume.”

“Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandi mission, that was you?”

Sam gave her a small nodded and she headed the photo to Steve. He looked down at the picture and saw a man standing next to Sam wearing the same uniform as him. Remembering the convention they had a few days before, he knew that the man beside him was his wingman.

“You didn’t say he was a Pararescue.”

“Is this Riley?”

“Yeah.”

“I heard they couldn’t bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use? A stealth chute?”

Natasha added as her and Steve continued to look at the picture. Sam smirked and took the file from Steve’s hands and opened it, placing it back on the table.

“No. These.”

Steve was blown away at what he saw. A jet pack with large metal wings. This was something that they for sure didn’t have in the Air Force back in 1945.

“I thought you said you were a pilot.”

“I never said I was a pilot.”

Sam smirked again and crossed his arms over his chest as he watch the two take in what he used to do.

“I can’t ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason.”

“Dude, Captain America is asking me for his help. There’s no better reason to get back in.”

Smiling Steve handed Natasha the file and looked back at Sam and Gwen.

“Where can we get our hands on one of these things?”

“The last one is at Fort Meade. Behind three guarded gates and a 12- inch steel wall.”

Natasha shrugged her shoulder and looked at Steve, as if she was telling him that it was no big deal.

“Shouldn’t be a problem. Gwen I’m going to want you to stay here.”

“Here? You have got to be shitting me Steve.”

Gwen said standing up from her seat and looking Steve dead in the eye.

“I want to help.”

“Well, no offence Gwen-”

“What? I’m not a spy or a super soldier. But, Steve I’m not helpless. I know what I’m doing. Clint and Natasha have shown me some moves, I know my way around a gun like an ex army officer. I’m not helpless, Steve.”

Steve hung his head and looked over at Natasha, who had a smile on her face.
“The girl isn’t half bad. She’s done some MMA and she was a gymnast. She’s right about a gun, the only better I’ve seen is myself.”

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

Sam added in and Steve looked over at him with a look of annoyance on his face.

“She could die.”

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not even here, Steve. Like I said I’m helping weather you like it or not. Fury told us not to trust anyone, the ones that we do trust we can’t leave them behind. We have to stick together.”

Steve looked over at her. Gwen had her hands on her hip and her brown eyes locked on him in a death stare.

“I’m going.”

When Gwen said those two words Steve saw Bucky falling from the train flash before his eyes. He wasn’t going to lose another one of his friends because they followed him into battle.

Steve let out a sigh and looked at Gwen again with a small weak smile.

“What are we waiting for?”

Gwen smiled and turned to high five Sam. Steve took one last look at the file Sam had given him and nodded. Between himself, Natasha, and Sam Gwen was going to be alright.

“Let’s go get that creep.”

Gwen said walking out of the kitchen with Sam by her side. Steve smiled and looked over at Natasha, who had a smile on herself as well.

“We need all the help we can get, Rogers.”

With that Natasha left his side and walked into the living room where Sam and Gwen disappeared to. Steve stood by himself and looked down at the picture of Sam and Riley once more.

“We all have the same problems. Guilt. Regret.”

“You lose someone?”

“My wingman, Riley. Flying a night mission. Santander PJ reuse op. Until an RGP knocked Riley’s dumb ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do. It’s like I was there just to watch.”

Notes

Wow. I am amazing even myself! Three chapter in less than 24 hours?! Fuck, man I'm on a roll!

Chapter Four on it's way!