The Witch

Chapter 15

I walked back to the apartment as Steve was coming out, heading towards the other building. EMSA and SHIELD agents were rushing into the apartment building. I turned and followed Steve.

"What's going on?" I asked, not knowing. Steve looked at me before turning back, walking towards the other building. He started to tell me Fury was attacked and that the attacker was on the roof of the building. I quickly teleported us up to the building to find the man with the metal arm packing up. He looked at us before running. Steve threw his shield at him but the man turned around catching it with his metal arm before throwing it back. He jumped off the building and disappeared from sight. Steve and I both looked down but could not find him. I sighed and looked over at Steve. He seemed worried and stressed. I teleported us to the hospital to wait for Fury. Doctors were soon rushing by with Fury towards the operating room. Steve and I went and stood watching them operate. I looked down hating that I could have stopped this, but I didn't, believing he would be fine and could take care of himself. Natasha soon joined us, she looked at me before looking at Fury.

"Is he going to make it?" She asked. I refused to answer because I could only hope that he would.

"I don't know," Steve answered. Neither one of us knew if he would or not.

"Tell me about the shooter." Nat demanded.

"He's fast and strong. Had a metal arm." Steve said as Maria Hill joined the three of us.

"Ballistics?" Nat asked. I knew she needed this information but I didn't want to know. Hill looked at me before answering her.

"Three slugs, no rifling. Completely untraceable," Hill informed us.

"Soviet-made," Natasha claimed. I was confused. How had she known that? Hill seemed to look a little confused as well before she answered with a yeah. We all looked towards the room Fury was in when he started to crash.

"He's in V-tech." A nurse said while another one claimed a crash cart was already on the way. The room was in controlled chaos.

"Come on Fury. Don't do this." I pleaded. That was the first thing I had said since getting here. Nat seemed to be in the same boat I was in. Fury had given her a chance when no one else would. She was almost as close to him as I was.

"Don't do this to me, Nick," Nat mumbled. I couldn't help but agree. I had known Fury longer than Nat but we were both equally close to him. After shocking him twice, they ended up calling it. Steve looked away while I stood there watching, not being able to turn away. I closed my eyes after a few moments before opening them back up. Steve and Natasha went into the room to say goodbyes while Hill asked to speak to me for a moment.

"He's still alive but we need everyone to believe he isn't." Hill informed me before taping her head twice, letting me know to look into her mind to get the information. I needed and did just that, knowing I was right and Pierce was the one to try and kill him made me even more mad.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked her finally.

"You would have known the minute you walked in there and heard his heart beating," Hill said. I nodded my head, understanding that she had no choice but to tell me, knowing I could blow his cover. I nodded understanding. I walked into the room with Hill, I walked over to Natasha and hugged her, placing my head on her shoulder.

"I need to take him." Hill said, walking in after me. Steve tried to get Nat's attention but she ignored him and tenderly touched Fury's head before turning to walk away from me and Steve. Steve tried once again but I stood back looking at Fury.

"Rumlow is helping Pierce, SHIELD has to be destroyed. They have a mind-controlled Super soldier. I plan on helping him escape their clutches. I'm sorry, Fury, but from this day forward I'm no longer a SHIELD Agent. I will help stop Pierce and stop the launch of the Helicariers, but that's it." I sent to his and Hill's minds using my telepathic ability. I turned and walked from the room. I stopped and handed Hill my badge and ID card before leaving the room. I went to walk past Steve and Rumlow but Rumlow had to stop me.

"Pierce wants to see you, Agent Swan," Rumlow said. I turned and looked at him.

"It's just Jade. I've already quit." I said before walking away from a shocked Rumlow and Steve.

"Either way, he still needs to talk to you." Rumlow tried again, not letting me leave.

"I don't think he does. Because if I get in a room with him, he'll be the one, six feet under, just like you will be Rumlow." I threatened, really shocking Steve and Rumlow. Rumlow was about to order guards to take me but I teleported away to where he had no clue. I was in front of Pirece. Sharon was in the room. They both jumped at my sudden appearance. I glared right at Pirece. Sharon looked confused as hell.

"Leave Agent 13." I demanded. She quickly took her leave, knowing not to mess with me. I shut and locked the door with my magic. Pirece looked shocked that I had come to him. The phone rang on his desk just then. I knew it was Rumlow to inform him that I had quit and disappeared.

"Answer it." I demanded. He placed it on the speaker phone.

"Swan quit and disappeared, but not before threatening you and me. Do you think she knows?" Rumlow asked.

"I know everything." I said, answering Rumlow. Rumlow cursed while I hung the phone up. Pierce looked shocked that I was there in front of him.

"I don't know what you think you know, but I just want to know why Fury was in your and Captain Rogers' apartment? All I want to do is catch his killer." Pirece said, trying to cover his tracks. I chuckled with no humor.

"How can you catch someone that you control? I've already seen everything. The Soldier, You, Rumlow. Stop lieing. I may not be able to do anything yet, but don't worry. Your time will come and I hope I'm the one to bring you down." I said to him before unlocking the door and teleporting out of his office and back to the hospital where I knew I would find Natasha. She was at a vending machine looking at a flash drive. I raised one eyebrow in question before turning to look at her.

"Who put that there?" I asked. She glanced at me before answering with one name. I nodded and quickly conjured it into my hand and out of the machine. Nat smirked and walked with me to hide in a nearby room so we could wait for Steve to come back.

"Gum?" I asked her as I held some out. She took a piece and popped it in her mouth as I did. We waited for what felt like forever before Steve came back and was looking at the machine. Nat walked out of the room and stood behind him. As planned, he pushed her into the room with me without even knowing I was in the room.

"Where is it?" He demanded, not noticing me yet.

"Safe," Nat answered.

"Do better!" Steve demanded. I rolled my eyes.

"Where did you get it?" I asked, gaining his attention. He seemed shocked that I was in the room.

"Why would I tell you?" Steve asked, looking between both of us. I looked into his mind to find why he wasn't trusting us. I shook my head.

"Only Fury would tell you not to trust anyone. He didn't mean Nat and myself," I said to him. Nat got the hint then.

"Fury gave it to you. Why?" She asked.

"What's on it?" Steve asked instead. Nat shrugged and said that she didn't know. I rolled my eyes as Steve got mad.

"I only act like I know everything, Rogers," Nat defended. I shook my head and walked between the two of them.

"Look, it doesn't matter, we can find out what's on it," I said to them. Steve said something about Fury hiring the pirates.

"It makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so do you." I said to him, while Nat nodded in agreement with me.

"I'm not gonna ask again?" Steve said. I rolled my eyes, as did Nat.

"I know who killed Fury. Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years," Natasha says. I was shocked that she knew who it was.

"So he's a ghost story," Steve claimed while I shook my head.

"Five years ago I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control and went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me. Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye-bye bikinis." She said as she let her shirt drop after showing Steve the scar.

"I remember that it was one of your first solo missions that Fury gave you. Clint and I were worried when we got the call." I said to her. She nodded, letting me know she knew we were. Steve smiles a little and looks at her.

"Going after him is a dead end. I know. I've tried," Nat said before looking at me. I held the flash drive up, showing him I had it.

"Like you said, he's a ghost story." I said as Steve took the flash drive from me.

"Well, let's find out what the ghost wants." Steve said with a hint of a smile. I changed into ripped black jeans and boots along with a red tank top and a leather jacket with a baseball hat. I even used magic to take the purple out of my hair as Steve, Nat and I walked into a mall. We were heading towards the mac store to use one of their computers. I stood in front of the computer with the drive in hand.

"The drive has a level six homing program, so as soon as we boot up, SHIELD will know exactly where we are," I informed them.

"How much time do we have?" Steve asked while Nat took the drive from me. I moved over so she could stand in front of the computer.

"Uh... About nine minutes from... now." She said as she popped the flash drive into the computer. It was too dangerous to conquer my staff so I could keep track of the agents, so we were blind and just had to count the minutes and hope we make it.

"Fury was right about that ship, somebody was trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI, it keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands." Nat explained while typing away at the keys.

"Can you override it?" Steve asked.

"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly. I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that SHIELD developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from." Natasha said as she worked. I looked up at as an employee walked up to us.

"Can I help you guys with anything?" He asked.

"Oh no. My fiance and sister were just helping me with some honeymoon destinations," Nat said. I almost blew our cover by laughing but covered it with a cough.

"Right! We're getting married." Steve exclaimed nervously. I couldn't help but chuckle at him.

"He's still surprised. She said yes." I covered for his awkwardness. Nat smiled but kept working.

"Congratulations. Where are you guys thinking about going?" He asked Steve. Steve looked at the computer to see the trace was going somewhere in New Jersey.

"New Jersey," Steve said. I rolled my eyes. I shook my head and watched as Nat continued the trace the employee finally left.

"You said nine minutes, come on." Steve said, starting to get worried.

"Shh, relax." I said as Nat claimed she got it. We looked at the screen to see it was coming from Wheaton, New Jersey.

"You know it?" Nat asked him.

"I used to. Let's go." Steve said as he pulled the flash drive from the computer. We all walked out of the store. I told them I would meet them out front. They agreed. I slipped into the ladies' room before teleporting myself out into the parking lot. I looked around but knew no one had seen me. I sighed and waited for Steve and Nat to join me. Once they did, Steve quickly stole a truck and we were on our way to New Jersey. I let my hair go back to it's regular color as we drove down the road. I leaned back and closed my eyes while Nat and Steve talked. I focused on the Winter Soldier, I could almost feel a connection to him. It was as if his mind screamed for me to find him. He was in a small looking room as if waiting for orders. He looked pissed off but I could see the pain in his eyes. I knew this wasn't a vision, I was standing in front of him as if I was in the room with him. I squatted in front of him and reached out to touch his leg but he quickly jumped up and glared down at me. I sighed and stood up, looking at him.

"Can you see me?" I asked him. He nodded his head, a little confused as to why I asked him if he could see me. I looked around the room to see a camera being pointed right at us. I listened but knew no one was rushing to the room to get me, so I knew they couldn't see me on the camera, just he could. I turned back to him to see he was watching me with interest.

"My name is Jade. I'm also known as the Violet Witch. I know you are the Winter Soldier. I know the pain they cause you. I don't know if you'll remember me next time you see me, but just know. I plan on helping you escape. I can see the pain in your eyes. You deserve peace. I'll even help you recover your memories if you'll let me." I told him, he looked me up and down before sitting back down in the same spot, assuming I wasn't a threat. He didn't say anything for a few minutes. He didn't even look at me. When he did, the pain in his eyes was there. But so was something else, something I knew he had lost a long time ago. Hope. He had hope. I wasn't going to let him lose that hope. I nodded, knowing I was helping him even if he didn't want my help.

"I have to leave now, but we will meet again and when the time is right I will help you. Just give me a few days and don't lose hope in me, because I will help you. Rumlow and Pierce are no match for me." I told him, stepping back before I faded out of the room. I heard him say a quiet thank you. I smiled and opened my eyes, lifting my head and looked out the windshield. Steve glanced at me but Nat was the one looking at me in confusion.

"What are you smiling about?" She asked. I knew Steve was wondering the same thing. I shook my head and looked at her.

"Nothing, how much longer?" I asked instead. No one answered as Steve pulled up in front of an old abandoned military base. I was confused, as was Nat. We all got out of the truck and made our way through the old base.

"This is it." Steve confirmed.

"The file came from these coordinates." Natasha said, a little confused.

"So did I. This camp is where I was trained," Steve said, making both of us look at him. I smiled at him sadly, he could never forget the past.

"Changed much?" Nat asked him.

"A little," Steve said as he looked around. I knew he was off in his memories. Nat was saying how this was a dead end, but I was busy looking around to pay attention. Nat and Steve stopped so I stopped to look at them.

"What is it?" Nat asked Steve, who was looking at some buildings.

"Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards of the barracks. This building is in the wrong place." Steve said as he opened the lock using his shield. We all walked inside. Steve turned the lights on. We were in an old SHIELD office.

"This is SHIELD." I claimed, with Nat nodding.

"Maybe where it started." Steve said. We entered a room to find old framed portraits of Howard Stark, Peggy Carter and Colonel Phillips. I looked at Steve to see him looking at Peggy's picture.

"There's Stark's father," Natasha said while looking at the pictures.

"Howard," Steve confirmed.

"Who's the girl?" Nat asked, but Steve didn't answer. Instead, he moved further into the room. I watched him sadly, before telling Nat who she was. Nat looked at the picture again before looking at Steve.

"If your already working in a secret office... Why do you need to hide the elevator?" Steve asked as he moved a book shelf, revealing an elevator. We all went in and went down to a room with a lot of old-looking computers.

"This can't be the data-point, this technology is ancient." Natasha said as she noticed a small flash drive port, she placed the drive into the computer which activated the ancient looking computer.

"Initiate system?" The computer asked. Nat typed out yes while saying it. Steve and Nat stood in front of the computer talking but I looked around. Something about this room felt off.

"We shouldn't be here." I said as a voice came through the computer.

"Rogers, Steven. Born, 1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born 1984. Swan, Jade. Born, 1987." The voice said. I watched as an old camera moved above us analyzing us.

"It's some kind of a recording," Nat said, but I was shaking my head, no not agreeing with her.

"I am not a recording, Fraulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am." The screen was saying as it showed an old picture of some guy in glasses. We both looked at Steve, wondering who he was.

"Do you know this thing?" Nat asked.

"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years." Steve told us.

"First correction, I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been more alive. In 1972, I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body. My mind, however, that was worth saving, on two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain." Computer Zola said. I looked around feeling disgusted. Nat seemed to have the same idea as I did. Steve and Nat continued talking to it. I listened but not quite. When Steve asked it to prove that HYDRA had not died, with Steve. I turned back to look at the screen. The computer showed us footage of the Red Skull.

"HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside SHIELD. For seventy years, HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed." Comuter Zola explained. I didn't want to believe any of it, but how could I not believe it?

"That's impossible, SHIELD would have stopped you," Natasha defended, not wanting to believe.

"Accidents will happen." It said as the screen showed us how HYDRA killed Howard and Maria Stark, making it look like a car accident along with the recent death of Fury. I couldn't help but shake my head.

"HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your life: a zero sum." It taunted Steve. In his anger, he punched the screen, destroying it. Another screen flashed on to continue talking to us.

"What's on this drive?" Steve asked before Zola could continue the taunting.

"Project insight requires insite. So I wrote an aigorithm." Computer Zola claimed. Natasha asked what the aigorithm did but Zola claimed we would be dead, to even hear him explain just as the doors began to close, locking us in. Steve had tried to stop it with his shield but it was too late.

"Steve, we got a bogey. Shot range ballistic. 30 seconds tops." Natasha said.

"Who fired it?" Steve asked.

"SHIELD," Nat answered. Zola told us he had been stalling us but I smirked and opened a portal that led us to the woods just outside the camp.

"Come on, let's get out of here." I said. We all walked through the portal just as the building exploded from the impact of the missile.