Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

2012-2014

After the Battle of New York, Steve and Venus moved into an apartment together to get to know each other better and get more acquainted with their new parent-child dynamic. Over the next two years, the dad and daughter duo grew to be inseparable from each other. Only two weeks in, Venus had started calling Steve “dad” and never stopped.

There were a lot of talks about their lives before they met, movie nights, and adventures around New York. Among the talks was about Venus’ time in the HYDRA base before she was rescued and growing up with Natasha and Clint, and Steve’s stories about the war and him and his best friend, James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, which became Venus’ favorites. 

Although they were getting acquainted well, the recent battle had plagued Venus with nightmares that were chased away by her dad and caused a lot of all-nighters for the both of them. Those nightmares steadily disappeared after a while, with an occasional one about HYDRA or the Battle, but were always swept away by Steve, cuddles, and hot chocolate.

Steve very quickly learned that Venus could take care of herself but still had a conversation about it saying that she can always come to him instead of dealing with it herself. Through their conversations, Steve finds out a lot of things that he can teach Venus, like cooking and swimming. Venus doesn’t end up the best cook but she can at least cook enough to sustain herself if she had to and swimming became one of her favorite things to do in the afternoon every now and then before dinner.

Natasha and Clint kept their promises to Venus to check in, with Natasha coming over fortnightly and Clint calling whenever he could to talk about him and the rest of the Barton Clan. Natasha and Steve start to get closer and Venus can tell that there is something between the two but doesn’t mention it. During her visits, Venus can sometimes convince Natasha to stay later and watch movies with them, which in turn ends up with the girl curled up and asleep between two of the most important people in her life.

After living in New York for a few months, Natasha comes by for her regular visit but informs Steve that Fury has a job offer for him in Washington, D.C. with her at SHIELD if he wants it. Steve’s not sure about it but is talked into taking the job by Venus. A month later, their New York apartment is packed up and the father-daughter duo move into a bigger apartment in D.C.  

Once they are settled into their new home, they start their new schedule of going to the Triskelion together and occasionally adding Natasha to their morning routine. As Steve does his missions, Venus does school with a few different tutors and starts to get ahead of other kids her age in certain subjects. Along with schooling, Venus starts back up her training that had stopped after the Battle of New York with Steve, Natasha, and Clint whenever each of them was available.

The new schedule makes the duo realize just how much they don’t like being away from one another. If Steve has any missions that are overnight, Venus would stay at their apartment alone but was checked on constantly by their friendly neighbor Kate. Sometimes Steve would even turn down missions to spend time with Venus if he had been away too long. During one of those days, Steve reluctantly decides to teach Venus how to drive his motorcycle in case of emergencies. Venus learned very quickly and was told by Steve that she will only drive it if he can't, which she sadly but understandably agrees to even if driving it gave her a nice rush.

Their time together, though scattered since Steve started missions, was the best thing Venus could have asked for. Her other previous guardians still checked in on her and she was with her dad, someone she thought she would never get to meet let alone live with. For two years she fell into a nice rhythm of their schedules and over time was able to feel the same freeness she felt before the Battle.

But all good things must come to an end, right?

Chapter Text

2014

The Chitauri.

There were hundreds of them surrounding her.

Everywhere she looked she saw only them, jeering at her with their weapons.

She was cut and bruised but still fought her way through them, constantly looking around to see if she could find her family.

Until she finally did.

A few feet away in a pile lay Clint, Natasha, and Steve, unmoving with blood running out of their wounds inflicted by the Chitauri’s spears.

She sprints towards them, not paying any attention to the remaining Chitauri around her and dodging their strikes.

But no matter how much she tries, they just keep getting farther and farther away.

Then all of a sudden, their bodies are gone.

And Venus is left all alone.

She falls to her knees, dropping her batons she forgot she was holding, and sobs for the loss of the people she loves the most.

She hears the sound of Chitauri cheering as they crowd around her. 

She looks up to see all of them raising their spears in the air, ready to give their final blow.

She closes her eyes and thinks of her family as the spears stab—

Venus jolts awake in a cold sweat, gasping for air. She sits up in her bed and tries to control her breathing like her dad taught her after many of these similar nightmares. After a few minutes she’s able to breathe properly again. She takes in one last big breath and lets it out as she wipes her face, finding it wet with tears.

Venus wipes off all the remaining tears and takes a look at her alarm clock to her right sitting on a side table.

3:17 A.M.

Venus groans at the time and gets out of her bed, walking into her connected bathroom to see the damage. She stares into the mirror above the sink as she observes herself and tries to shake away the last memories of the dream. She has slight bags under her eyes and they’re red from her tears. Two minutes pass before she finally tears her eyes away from the mirror and turns on the faucet, filling her hands with water and splashing her face with it.

She closes her eyes and lets the water drip off of her face into the sink for a few seconds, steadying herself with her hands on the counter, before opening them again and drying her face with a nearby hand towel and turns off the faucet. Venus decides it’s best to have a change of scenery, so she leaves the bathroom and walks out of her bedroom door into the living room.

Their living room is open and cozy, a lone brown chair and couch sit against opposite walls near each other. In the small area between the two sits a small lamp and a shelf that contains all of her dad’s vinyls and record player, Harry James’ Greatest Hits sitting next to it waiting to be played next. There’s also a coffee table in front of the couch on a shag rug and further away is a 40 inch television that neither Venus or her dad use very much unless they have movie nights. Shelves upon shelves of books are also placed around, most of them containing Steve’s history book collection and half a case filled with Venus’ linguistic books.

Connected to the living room is the dining room and kitchen, which is where Venus’ feet quietly guide her in the hopes of not waking her dad up. In the kitchen she opens a cupboard and grabs her favorite mug, a mug in the shape of a hedgehog’s face. It was one of the first gifts Steve had gotten her at their old apartment in New York and it quickly became her dedicated mug to use after her nightmares. She fills it up with water from the faucet and carefully puts it in the microwave to heat up. As the mug rotates and warms up, Venus turns away and opens another cupboard where their stash of hot chocolate mix is and looks over her options for a few seconds before deciding on the regular milk chocolate mix.

As the microwave beeps, she closes the cupboard and turns around, slightly jumping at the sight of her dad opening the microwave and grabbing her mug. He looks over at her and gives a small understanding smile as he sets it on the counter and silently holds his hand out for the hot chocolate packet. Venus returns the smile and hands it to him before she goes back into the cupboards to grab another mug and packet for him.

Together they silently make their drinks, with Venus adding some milk to hers and Steve adding some peppermint to his, and take a seat across from each other at the dining table. Venus lightly blows on her drink before taking a small sip and melts as the drink warms up her body. She knows her dad is waiting for her to say something so she takes her time, staring into her mug before looking up at him.

Steve is still dressed in his pajamas, a grey t-shirt and some plaid sweatpants, and his blonde hair is rustled from sleep. He gently looks into her eyes and holds out his hand for her to grab across the table and she does, grasping it tightly.

“Did I wake you up?” Venus asks worriedly.

Steve shakes his head. 

“I was already awake when I heard the water from your bathroom and then the microwave. The super hearing helped with that part but we’ve done this enough times for me to know what happened. You have nothing to be sorry for,” he finishes as he gently squeezes her hand.

“I know, it doesn’t make it any easier, though.”

Steve chuffs out a small laugh and replies, “No, it doesn’t. Do you want to talk about it or just leave this one be?”

“Maybe later, depends on how long it stays in my head,” Venus says, rubbing her forehead with her free hand in frustration.

Steve watches his daughter in concern. He’s helped her over the past two years to overcome these night terrors but they never seem to go away and this is the most frustrated he’s seen her after one.

“There’s something else, isn’t there?” he gently asks.

Venus groans and moves her mug to the side, laying her face on the table where it once sat. With his free hand, Steve gently rubs her head to try and soothe her inner turmoil.

“It’s just that… I’m thirteen, I shouldn’t keep having these nightmares like a little kid.”

“I know you don’t like to hear it, but you’re not a normal kid, Ven,” Steve says, making Venus’ head shoot up. 

He holds his hand out to stop her from speaking before continuing on.

“Kids your age don’t go fight aliens and protect the world. The most those kids have to worry about is school and when they can go hang out with their friends. You fought for hours to keep the world safe at eleven years old, so of course you’re gonna have these dreams that kids your age don’t. You experienced a lot of things none of us had experienced until way later in life, excluding Nat. So don’t compare yourself to other kids your age because there is so much more for you to handle than they do.”

Venus grabs her mug again and takes a few sips, running over all her dad said to her. 

And though she hates it, he’s right.

She really does understand that she’s not a normal kid and she’s gonna experience a lot of things kids her age never will or should. But these dreams just make her feel so weak, like there is something wrong with her.

Almost as if he read her mind, Steve has her let go of her mug and holds both of her hands in his, looking straight into her eyes.

“None of this makes you weak. Everyone has these kinds of nightmares Ven, everyone. Do you know how many I’ve had about you since we moved in together? About that fight and how much worse it could have been for you when you were so small compared to the rest of us? I can almost guarantee that Nat and Clint have had a few about you as well, even before that fight. So never think that you’re weak because you are probably the strongest out of all of us. We love you so much Ven, never forget that, baby.”

Venus’ arms feel heavy and her eyes start to water as her dad talks. She notices he has tears of his own clouding his vision. She removes her hands from his and stands up, moving around the table and into her dad’s lap, immediately surrounded by his arms. She stays there for a few minutes crying and sniffling until Steve pulls her away from him to look at her face. He gently wipes away her tears as she does the same for him, smiling and huffing out a laugh once they’re all gone.

“You feel better?” Steve asks her while combing a strand of her short hair back behind her ear.

“Yeah, thanks dad. And I love all of you a lot too, make sure you don’t forget either,” she responds, poking him in the chest with her pointer finger before getting off his lap.

“We won’t, I promise. Now I think that was enough talk of that for the day, so why don’t I make some breakfast for us and you come on my morning run with me?” Steve asks as he gets up and takes both of their mugs to the sink.

“Sure, I haven’t run with you in a few days, it might be nice to go out again. Can we have pancakes?”

Steve chuckles, happy to see Venus almost back to her normal self by asking for her favorite breakfast food.

“Yes ma’am, you want eggs and toast too?” he asks as he gets the food and pans ready.

“Yes please!”

“Alright, I’ll cook all this and you can go get dressed for the run.”

Chapter Text

Venus gives a thumbs up in response to her dad and goes to her room to change her clothes and take a shower. She closes her door and lets out a contented sigh, looking over her room. 

It’s a decently sized room with a window that looks out into some trees nearby which she can’t see since the sun still hasn’t risen. She has a twin size bed that is covered in blankets and sheets varying in shades of blue in the middle of the room and her small side table containing her alarm clock to the left of it. Next to the window is her closet that contains her basic shirts and some of her gear for training. On the opposite wall near her bathroom is a dresser that holds the rest of her clothes inside and a few knick knacks she has got over the years from Clint, Nat, and her dad scattered on the top. Near the foot of her bed against the wall was a small desk and chair Venus would use for school on the rare occasions it came home with her but it was mostly used for practicing languages from her books.

Venus walks up to her closet and opens it, looking over what clothes she wants to wear for the run before deciding on a dark red long sleeve athletic shirt. On her way to the bathroom she also grabs her undergarments and a pair of athletic pants from the dresser. After her shower, she brushes out her short brown hair and walks back into the dining room to see their plates already laid out on the table filled with her favorite breakfast foods.

After a delicious breakfast, Venus cleans up their mess as her dad goes to get dressed himself. He comes out of his room dressed in a gray Under Armor shirt and loose blue pants carrying his shoes and socks. He sits down to put them on as Venus runs to her room to grab her own after finishing with the dishes. In less than a minute the two were ready, out the door, and walking out of their apartment building.

They take a short walk to Steve’s usual route at the Lincoln and WWII Memorial and then they’re off running around the Reflecting Pool. They’re able to get a few laps in by the time the sun starts to come up, the running definitely freeing Venus from the thoughts of her nightmare. Venus starts to get a little tired so Steve decides to carry her on his back as he runs another lap or two until a new person shows up to run their same route, a black man with a short goatee wearing a gray military sweatshirt and a pair of shorts.

“On your left,” Steve tells him as he runs by with Venus still on his back.

Venus looks back and grins at the confused look of the man they passed. After two more laps around the guy, Venus feels good enough to start running again and keeps pace with her dad as they get close to pass him once more.

“Don’t say it. Don’t you say it,” the man yells back to them as he tries to speed up.

“On your left,” Venus grins out as they speed past him.

“Come on!” he yells while trying to sprint and catch up with them.

Venus takes a glimpse back and sees him stop, bowed over his knees in exhaustion. The father-daughter duo do two more laps to finish their run and afterwards come across the same guy sitting against one of the trees resting. Venus follows as Steve walks around the tree and talks to him.

“Need a medic?” Steve jokes, both him and Venus barely sweating compared to the sweat stains on the man’s shirt.

The man laughs at the question and shakes his head.

“I need a new set of lungs. Dude, you two just ran, like, 13 miles in 30 minutes.”

“I guess we got a late start,” Venus replies with a grin, knowing they could do better than that.

“Really?” the man chuckles, “You should be ashamed of yourselves. You should take another lap. Did you just take it? I assume you just took it.”

“What unit are you with?” Steve asks, recognizing the military sweatshirt.

“58th Pararescue. But now I’m working down at the VA.”

“So does that mean you flew?” Venus questions, not as knowledgeable about the military as her dad.

“Not in the way you probably think,” the man happily replies. “I flew in a plane to find soldiers and rescue them, hence the name.”

“Oh, that makes more sense,” says Venus bashfully.

The man smiles at her and then holds out his arm to her dad.

“Sam Wilson,” he introduces himself as Steve takes his hand to help him up.

“Steve Rogers. And this is my daughter Venus.”

“I kinda put that together,” Sam says while shaking Venus’ hand and still trying to catch his breath. “Must have freaked you out, coming home after the whole defrosting thing. And finding out you have a kid.”

“It takes some getting used to, but I’m happy to have her help,” Steve answers, bringing Venus in for a side hug and starting to turn them away. “It’s good to meet you, Sam.”

Venus waves goodbye at him and they take two steps away before they hear Sam ask a question.

“It’s your bed, right?” 

The duo turn back to him with questioning looks.

“Your bed, it’s too soft. When I was over there, I’d sleep on the ground, use rock for pillows, like a caveman. Now I’m home, lying in my bed, and it’s like…”

“Lying on a marshmallow,” Steve responds in understanding. “Feel like I’m gonna sink right to the floor. How long?”

“Two tours. You must miss the good old days, huh?”

“Well, things aren’t so bad. Food’s a lot better. We used to boil everything. No polio is good. The internet, so helpful. I’ve been reading that a lot, trying to catch up and learning whatever I can from this one.” Steve finishes, pointing his head in Venus’ direction which makes her smile.

Sam thinks for a second before he comes up with a reply.

“Marvin Gaye, 1972, Trouble Man soundtrack. Everything you missed jammed into one album.”

“I’ll put it on the list,” he says nodding and pulling out his small notebook filled with things that Venus, Natasha, and anyone else has recommended he needs to watch or listen to. Among the list are some movies, a television show, food, and a band. 

After he finishes writing, his cell phone beeps with a message. Pulling it out and putting his notebook away, he sees a text from Natasha that makes him smile and roll his eyes and hands the phone to Venus to read.

MISSION ALERT. EXTRACTION IMMINENT. MEET AT THE CURB :)

Venus laughs at the text and shakes her own head at the way Natasha texts, handing the phone back to her dad.

“Alright, Sam, duty calls. Thanks for the run,” Steve thanks while shaking his hand again. 

“If that’s what you want to call running,” Venus teases him with a grin during their handshake.

“Oh, that’s how it is?” Sam sasses back.

“Oh, that’s how it is,” Steve replies for her, a grin also on his face as Venus walks over to the curb.

“Okay,” Sam laughs, “Any time you want to stop by the VA, make me look awesome in front of the girl at the front desk, just let me know.”

“We’ll keep it in mind,” Steve replies as a car revs their engine and stops at the curb behind them.

Natasha is in the driver’s seat and rolls down the passenger window to call out to them.

“Hey fellas. Either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? I’m here to pick up a fossil and his kid.” 

Venus laughs at the joke and opens the car door, folds the front seat in half, and gets in the back seat before Steve even starts walking towards it.

“That’s hilarious,” he deadpans on his way to the car and gets in the front passenger seat.

Venus watches from the small back window as Sam crouches down to see Natasha.

“How you doing?”

“Hey,” she slightly flirts back.

“You can’t run everywhere,” Steve calls out to him as Natasha revs the car and grins at him.

“No, you can’t,” Sam replies, giving one last wave to Venus in the backseat before the three drive off.

Chapter Text

In the car, Natasha gives a slight overview of their mission to Steve as Venus stares out the window and relaxes in the back seat. She blocks out their conversation but occasionally hears a word or two, like “STRIKE team” and “tonight”. That last word though catches Venus’ attention.

“Wait, the mission’s happening tonight?” Venus questions from the back, leaning slightly forwards towards the front.

“Yes, I was hoping it would be tomorrow but the situation has gotten hazy and they need us there ASAP after the briefing. Sorry solnishko (little sun),” Natasha responds looking through the rearview mirror at her with a frown.

“It’s okay, I know you don’t have control over that kind of stuff,” Venus sighs out, leaning back in her seat.

“We’ll make it up to you after, maybe go out to see a movie instead of staying in?” Steve suggests from the front.

“Maybe,” Venus quietly replies, her head leaning against the window.

After a few minutes in silence, the car pulls up to the Triskelion and all three get out. The Triskelion is SHIELD’s Washington headquarter and insanely tall. This is where Venus does school with her tutors and where she does any training. It is also where Natasha and her dad receive briefings on their missions. Natasha waits for the duo and hangs her arm over Venus’ shoulders before heading into the giant building.

The trio walk through the large atrium past the SHIELD logo statue and into an elevator. Inside Steve calls out “Floor 27”, where Venus’ tutors are, and the elevator confirms, moving upwards. Less than a minute later the elevator arrives at the destination and Venus looks back at her dad and Natasha.

“I guess it’s time for me to be a good student while you guys go be good agents. Good luck and don’t get too hurt,” Venus tells them, taking a step off the elevator.

“We’ll be fine, I promise. We should be back sometime tomorrow so listen to the other agents and your tutors. I’ll let Kate know you’ll be home alone so she can check up on you a few times,” Steve replies, pulling Venus back into the elevator to give her a hug and a kiss on her forehead before letting go.

“As always, I will make sure he doesn’t do anything dumb and comes back to you in one piece, Ven,” Natasha promises, giving Venus her own hug and kiss.

“Thanks, I’ll see you tomorrow then. Love you guys,” Venus says, finally stepping off the elevator and waving goodbye to her dad and Natasha.

“Love you too,” the adults say simultaneously as the doors close, waving back.

With the two adults gone, Venus makes the trek down the hallway to the room specifically for her schooling. As she opens the door, she sees her favorite tutor working today and grins wide.

“Mrs. Reynolds! I thought you were supposed to be on vacation?” Venus questions while walking fully into the room with joy.

The woman looks up from her desk at the voice and smiles warmly back at Venus. Logainne Reynolds was a woman who has been Venus’ tutor since the beginning of her schooling. She was only 25 when she started off as Venus’ primary tutor when Venus was five and has easily grown to love the girl like her own child. 

“Hello Venus! Yes I was supposed to be on vacation but my husband and I decided to end it a little early since we were starting to get a little bored,” Mrs. Reynolds replies with a chuckle.

“You were getting bored in Paris?”

“Venus, you can get bored anywhere, trust me honey. Anyway, what is on the schedule for you today, love?” she asks as she looks through the papers on her desk.

“We had started on Algebra and Biology but we didn’t get far in either one,” Venus responds, finding the backpack she always kept here and pulling out her latest schoolwork. 

“Oh, my favorite subjects! We’re going to have some fun today,” Mrs. Reynolds replies, pulling out the textbooks for each class as Venus takes a seat in front of her.

After a long day of schooling, Venus says goodbye to Mrs. Reynolds and leaves her tutoring room at 4:30 P.M. As she closes the door, someone calls out to her.

“Hey Ven, haven’t seen you lately.”

Venus looks over her shoulder and lights up with surprise.

“Maria! How have you been?”

“I’ve been good, working mostly, but good. How’s everything going for you, kid?” Maria Hill responds, walking up to the teenager and giving her a small hug.

“Great! School is above average and home is perfect.”

“Speaking of home,” Maria interrupts, “I’ll be the one to take you there since Steve and Natasha are on their mission and pick you up in the morning to come back here.”

Venus’ shoulders lower in relief.

“Thank god. If I had to be driven by Agent Crouse again I was gonna go insane. Did you know that he only listens to classical music? I can handle it occasionally, but listening to it all the time? And don’t even get me started on how much of a nervous wreck he is while driving.”

Maria chuckles at her lament and steers Venus towards the elevator. Maria had been busy the last year with her new job title and barely had time to herself, let alone to check in with Venus. So when she did for once have the time she asked Fury if she could be the one to take Venus home, and he agreed, even encouraged it. Maria was never super hands-on with her when she was younger but she still cared for the teen the same as her other guardians. She’s impressed by how much Venus has grown in that short time yet can still act like the same five year old that was fascinated by everything she saw.

On the car ride to the apartment, the two girls talk about what each has been doing the last year until Maria stops at the front of the building.

“Thanks for the ride, Maria. I’ll see you in the morning,” Venus says while exiting the car.

“I’ll see you then, Ven. Take care of yourself.”

“You know I do. See you soon.”

Venus stands at the entrance to the building and watches until she doesn’t see Maria’s car anymore. Taking in a deep breath and letting it out, she begins the walk to their apartment and two flights of stairs later arrives at the door. She goes to dig in her pocket for the key but stops herself when she remembers she needed to check in with Kate first. So she takes a few paces backwards and turns to the apartment on her right, knocking on the door three times. A few seconds later the door opens and Kate, a pretty blonde woman and nurse in her 20’s, greets Venus warmly.

“Hey, Venus. Sorry that you have to have me look after you again,” Kate apologizes, knowing Venus was never a fan of having a “babysitter” when she was now thirteen.

“It’s alright, Kate. Better you than someone else,” Venus replies. “Just wanted to make sure I didn’t forget to do the first check in or else you and my dad would go insane.”

“You’re not wrong about one of those. Go on inside and I’ll check on you again after dinner.”

“Aye, aye Captain,” Venus jokes, making Kate smirk at her as she watches Venus unlock her front door and walk inside.

The first thing Venus does once inside is walk straight to her room and change her clothes to simple pajamas. She then decides to play one of her dad’s vinyls and chooses the Harry James vinyl that hadn’t been put away. Keeping the volume low, she sings along with the songs as she decides to choose one of her few books to read. Looking them over, Venus realizes she never actually finished her Morse Code book from Clint and takes it out.

After reading her book for two hours and occasionally practicing, Venus decides for dinner to make a simple box of Macaroni and Cheese with some extra cheese she shredded herself. After eating the entire pot she cleans up her mess and thinks to herself as she sits on the couch ready to continue her book.

This is so boring without dad. All I do when he’s gone is read and listen to his music. I’d much rather have a movie night with him instead of alone.

Venus gets two sentences back into her book before she hears a knock at the front door. She rolls her eyes and leaves the book open on the coffee table as she goes to answer. Unlocking and opening the door reveals Kate again who does a simple look over at Venus and the apartment before nodding and giving a questioning thumbs up. Venus responds with her own nod and thumbs up before closing the door as Kate goes back to her apartment.

The rest of the night continues as the evening, more book reading, another check in by Kate, and then a shower before going to bed and having a restless sleep without her dad around. When her alarm goes off at 7 A.M. Venus lets out a tired groan. She gets up and makes a bowl of cereal for breakfast and decides to watch a little bit of tv as she eats. When she finishes the last of her cereal, another knock sounds at her door. Placing the bowl on the table, Venus opens it expecting to see Kate again for the morning check in but is surprised to see Maria again.

“Why do you look surprised to see me and why aren’t you dressed yet?” Maria asks as she steps into the apartment.

“Sorry, I didn’t sleep well last night so I forgot you were picking me up. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be ready to go.”

Ten minutes later Venus was dressed in a dark blue shirt and baggy pants and picked up one of her Russian books to take with her for the short day until her dad and Natasha were back. Another 20 minutes later they park at the Triskelion and Maria tells Venus to go in without her. Venus complies and waves goodbye before getting into the building and on the elevator again up to Floor 27. In her schoolroom, Mr. Kilne sits at the desk this time waiting for her arrival as she walks in.

Henry Kilne was one of Venus’ newer tutors and someone she was not a big fan of. Among her tutors, he was the only man and was the oldest of them all at 62 years old. He was slightly pudgy, wore a pair of thin glasses that barely distracted her from the giant mole on the bridge of his nose, and what little hair he had left was all gray. Mr. Kilne looks up at her and silently waves her further into the room in a grimace.

“We’re starting with Biology. No complaining this time, Ms. Rogers,” he gruffly says to her.

Venus reminds herself to be nice (even if Mr. Kilne is a bit of an asshole) and gets her Biology work out before taking the seat in front of him, wishing she could just read her Russian book instead. The two work together for an hour, which feels like an eternity for Venus, before an agent knocks on the door and pokes her head in.

“Sorry for the interruption. I was told to inform Venus that Captain Rogers is back and is talking to Director Fury in his office if she wants to meet him up there.”

Chapter Text

Venus doesn’t wait for dismissal from Mr. Kilne before launching out of her chair, yelling out a “Thank you!” to the agent, and bounding out the door of the schoolroom towards the elevator. Venus impatiently waits for the elevator to get to her floor, lightly bouncing on her toes in excitement to hear all about the mission and see her dad. The lift dings and Venus squeezes her way through the doors as they open to get upstairs as quickly as possible.

“Director Fury’s Office,” Venus calls out the second the doors close. The compartment starts its upward journey as she stares at the number going up on the electric sign above the doors. Once more the doors open on the designated floor and Venus tries to calm herself and walk slower to not start a lecture from either her dad or Fury for not being professional.

“Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye,” Venus hears Fury say as she walks into his office. His eye notices her, causing her dad to turn around as well.

“Sorry,” Venus apologizes, “I can wait outside if you need me to.”

Fury stares at her for a few seconds before holding a hand up and saying, “That won’t be necessary, Venus.”

She decides to wait by the door as Fury turns back to the conversation between him and Steve. “Look, I didn’t want you doing anything you weren’t comfortable with. Agent Romanov is comfortable with everything.”

“I can’t lead a mission when the people I’m leading have missions of their own,” Steve stresses.

“It’s called compartmentalization.”

So Natasha had her own separate mission to do that dad didn’t know about even though he was the leader of the mission? That doesn’t sound good, Venus thinks to herself. 

“Nobody spills the secrets, because nobody knows them all,” Fury finishes.

“Except you,” Steve points out.

Fury slightly shakes his head and does a small glance in Venus’ direction before looking back at Steve. 

“You’re wrong about me. I do share. I’m nice like that.”

Venus looks at him questioningly and watches as Fury walks out from behind his desk and walks towards her and the doorway to his office. Looking back at the father-daughter duo, he calls back as he walks out of the office, “You two coming?”

The Rogers look at each other for a split second before Steve sighs and shakes his head, following where Fury went and putting an arm around Venus to steer her with them. They follow close behind him as Fury walks into the elevator and calls out “Insight Bay” to the computer. 

“Captain Rogers and Little Rogers do not have the clearance for Project Insight,” the SHIELD computer replies.

Little Rogers? I thought they changed my code name months ago? Venus thinks, looking over at her dad and Fury who both smirk at her reaction to the name.

“Director override. Fury, Nicholas J.”

“Confirmed,” the computer chimes, closing the doors and descending the elevator.

Fury and her dad lean their backs on the handrail of the lift as Venus looks out the windows at the courtyard. Silence permeates the air until Steve makes a comment.

“You know, they used to play music.”

“Yeah,” Fury replies, “My grandfather operated one of these things for 40 years. Grandad worked in a nice building, got good tips.”

Venus turns her head to listen to the story as Fury continues.

“He’d walk home every night, a roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He’d say, ‘Hi.’ People would say ‘Hi’ back. Time went on, the neighborhood got rougher. He’d say, ‘Hi.’ They’d say, ‘Keep on steppin’.’ Grandad got to gripping that lunch bag a little tighter.”

“Did he ever get mugged?” Venus asks, making Fury laugh. 

“Every week some punk would say, ‘What’s in the bag?’”

“What would he do?”

“He’d show them. Bunch of crumpled ones and a loaded .22 Magnum.”

Venus smirks at the response and turns to look back out the window.

But what she sees makes the smirk fall right off her face.

Beneath the Triskelion, there was a hangar bay that housed a group of giant airship carriers. Upon further inspection, Venus realizes that there are giant guns all around the airships.

What the hell does he need all that firepower for?

“Yeah, Grandad loved people. But he didn’t trust them very much,” Fury continued, walking around to stand in the corner next to Venus as she stared in disbelief. She then reaches for her dad’s arm and tugs on it, making him turn around. He looks out into the hangar with the same look on his face as his daughter at the sheer size of the aircrafts in front of them.

“Yeah, I know. They’re a little bit bigger than a .22.”

The lift reaches the bottom and Fury walks out with the Rogers family slowly following afterwards. Venus reaches out for her dad’s hand and squeezes it hard, conveying her nervous emotions through it. Steve glances over at her and protectively squeezes back, pulling her closer to his side as they continue following Fury into the hangar. 

“This is Project Insight,” Fury announces to them. “Three next-generation helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites.”

“Launched from the Lemurian Star,” Steve deduces from his recent mission as they walk by agents working on the carriers.

“Once we get them in the air, they never need to come down. Continuous sub-orbital flight, courtesy of our new repulsor engines.” 

“Tony?” Venus asks.

“He had a few suggestions once he got an up-close look at our old turbines,” Fury says as he leads them up a platform that starts moving sideways once they stop on it.

Venus lets go of her dad’s hand as she walks closer to the edge and stares nervously at the amount of guns underneath the carriers that she didn’t notice in the elevator.

“These new long-range precision guns can eliminate 1,000 hostiles a minute. The satellites can read a terrorist’s DNA before he steps outside his spider hole. We’re gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen,” Fury explains.

“I thought the punishment usually came after the crime,” Steve states.

“We can’t afford to wait that long,” Fury rebuffs.

“Who’s ‘we’?” Venus asks, finally tearing her eyes away from the precision guns.

“After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge in threat analysis. For once, we’re way ahead of the curve.”

“By holding a gun to everyone on Earth and calling it protection,” Steve says, unbelieving of how far Fury was willing to go. He looks over to where Venus stands and is concerned how small she seems to be making herself around the carriers.

Fury turns to stand in front of Steve and stares him down. “You know, I read those SSR files. ‘Greatest Generation’? You guys did some nasty stuff,” Fury tells him.

“Yeah, we compromised. Sometimes in ways that made us not sleep so well. But we did it so that people could be free,” Steve rebuttals.

“This isn’t freedom,” Venus speaks up, staring with wide nervous eyes around the hangar before landing back onto her dad and Fury. 

“This is fear.”

Fury deflates the slightest bit at hearing the tone of voice Venus spoke in before turning back to Steve to make him understand.

“SHIELD takes the world as it is, not as we’d like it to be. And it’s getting damn near past time you get with that program, Cap.”

Steve stares into Fury’s eye, sizing him up. “Don’t hold your breath,” he says as he turns away and gently leads Venus out of the hangar back to the elevator.

Chapter Text

Once the elevator door opens to the ground floor, Steve continues to lead Venus silently out of the Triskelion and into the parking garage where his motorcycle is parked. Looking around to see if anyone was near, Steve stops next to his bike and crouches to Venus’ height to look her straight in the eyes.

“You alright? You kind of shut down back there, baby,” Steve worriedly asks, holding onto her arms to try and ground her.

“I’m okay now but that was…a lot. The power those carriers hold is frightening, even if they’re not meant for us. One wrong button press and who knows who the guns would lock onto instead of their intended targets.”

“Yeah, my exact thoughts as well. Those carriers are going to be more troublesome than helpful.”

“Are you okay? Fury seemed to be going pretty hard on you,” Venus asks him.

“I’m fine, no need to worry about me, baby. I’d much rather put this behind us and do something together. How about we go to the Smithsonian? We can check out the new Captain America exhibit and see how much of it is actually true,” Steve recommends, trying to move away from what they just learned.

“Sure,” Venus replies, taking the bait. “I’d love to see some of your stuff from back then and how much they made up. But first, you definitely need to change. I’d like to experience it without being crowded around by fans asking for autographs and pictures.”

Steve laughs and lightly squeezes Venus’ arms as he stands up.

“Yes ma’am. We can go home and change quickly before we go,” he tells her, handing her helmet over to her.

Not even five minutes later once they get home, Steve walks out of his room dressed in a white shirt with a navy jacket over it and khaki pants, holding two hats. He hands both of them to Venus to hold onto and they walk back outside to the bike. Venus puts her helmet on once again and gets on behind her dad, wrapping her arms around his stomach and gripping the hats tightly in her fists.

Steve starts the bike and they drive out of the parking lot towards the Smithsonian. Some time later the duo arrive at the museum and park towards the back of the lot. They both get off the bike, Venus handing the navy blue hat to her dad, and then replaces her helmet with her own black hat. The father and daughter walk hand in hand to the entrance and keep their heads low. Once inside, they follow the posters about the exhibit and walk through a hallway that says Captain America: The Living Legend and Symbol of Courage on the wall along with a painting of her dad in the iconic suit.

Venus stays close to her dad but is enamored by every piece of information and object displayed even though most of it isn’t new to her. She tries to stifle a giggle when she sees a picture of her dad pre-serum but is caught by him and knocked in the shoulder by his as a scolding. Pride in her dad grows inside Venus the further they get into the exhibit.

No matter how bad his health was, all he wanted to do was help people and never stopped trying until Erskine saw something in him that very few people have. Dad is someone everyone should hope to become, Venus thinks to herself as they walk into an area about the Howling Commandos.

Her and Steve slow down their pace as they look solemnly at a portrait of Bucky and listen to a narrator talk about his life.

“Best friends since childhood, Bucky Barnes and Steven Rogers were inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield. Barnes is the only Howling Commando to give his life in service of his country.”

Venus remembers the day her dad told her about the last time he and Bucky were together. About the train mission and Bucky falling out of it while Steve tried his hardest to save his best friend. It was a rainy day, which fit the mood of the story being told. Steve told her how difficult it was to move on afterwards, especially since Bucky was the last of his family, and then only a month later was taking that airplane into the arctic waters to be unintentionally frozen in time while saving the world. Venus tightens her grip on Steve’s hand in support, something he greatly appreciates and squeezes her hand back in thanks. 

The two finally move away from Bucky’s portion of the exhibit and walk into a room with benches to sit on as videos from back then played on a big screen. Venus and Steve decide to take a seat to watch a few until a woman pops up and talks about fighting through a HYDRA blockade during a blizzard that had blocked half of their battalion behind the German line.

Peggy Carter, her dad’s first love. 

The same day Steve told her about the death of Bucky, Venus was also told about Peggy. How his first introduction to her was at Camp Lehigh, socking a soldier in his face because he joked about her British accent when they were in America. Peggy was someone Venus was glad Steve had when Bucky had died, someone that was still on his side and cared about him as Steve Rogers, not just Captain America.

During the video, she sees in the corner of her eye her dad playing with something in his hands and he opens it. Looking closer at it Venus recognizes it as his pocket watch from back then. Inside the cover contains a small picture of herself and one of Peggy. Venus leans on his side, offering even more support as the memories of the past rush through his mind.

“We could go visit her if you want to next,” Venus whispers to him.

Steve continues to stare at the pictures until he finally closes it and looks over at his daughter.

“I think that’s a good idea.”

Chapter Text

After walking around the rest of the exhibit, Venus and Steve walk back to the motorcycle and start their journey to the nursing home where Peggy is living. They arrive some time later and forgo their hats since they’ve visited a few times before and the staff knows them by now. 

“Do you want to talk to her alone this time?” Venus asks a few steps away from Peggy’s room.

“You wouldn’t mind?”

“Of course not, you know her a lot more than I do,” Venus points to the chairs in the hallway, “I’ll just sit over her and wait for you until you’re ready.”

“Okay, I won’t be too long.”

“Don’t worry about how long, dad. Talk to her as long as you want, I’m not in a hurry.”

Steve sighs and stares at his daughter, love pouring out of his eyes. He finally nods his head in acceptance and knocks on Peggy’s room door before walking in and closing it.

Venus sits down in the row of cushioned chairs and closes her eyes, thinking about all she learned from the Smithsonian as her dad talks to the only person alive from his past.

Steve takes in a breath before knocking on the door and walking inside. Even though he’s visited Peggy quite a few times in the last year, with and without Venus, he still gets nervous talking to her. She was his first love, someone he thought he would grow old with, but now he’s almost 30 and Peggy is the one who grew old without him by her side.

“Steve!”

He turns at the sound of his name and smiles at Peggy resting in her bed.

“Hi Peggy, how are you doing today?” Steve asks as he walks over to the side of her bed and sits down in a chair.

“I’m doing alright. How about you and Venus? Did she not come with you today?” Peggy asks in her British accent, looking around for the teenager she adores.

“She’s waiting outside, I wanted to talk to you alone today. We went to the Smithsonian where they had a new exhibit about me. Well, about Captain America and the Commandos, really. I saw one of the videos you made a few years after I went into the ice and wanted to see you,” Steve explains.

“Oh, not one of those rubbish videos,” Peggy laughs out. 

“You should be proud of yourself, Peggy,” Steve tells her while looking at her family photos on her side table. 

Peggy looks over at the photos herself and hums a response.

“I have lived a life. My only regret is that you didn’t get to live yours at the same time. At least you have Venus now.” A few seconds pass and Steve looks down in contemplation. 

“What is it?”

“For as long as I can remember, I just wanted to do what was right,” Steve starts, “I guess I’m not quite sure what that is anymore. And I thought I could throw myself back in and follow orders. Serve. It’s just not the same.”

“You’re always so dramatic,” Peggy laughs in response. “Look, you saved the world. We rather mucked it up.”

“You didn’t. Knowing that you helped found SHIELD is half the reason I stay. The other half is Venus and the family she made before I was there along with helping people.”

“Hey,” Peggy says as she grabs one of Steve’s hands and holds it tightly against her stomach, “The world has changed, and none of us can go back. All we can do is our best. And sometimes the best that we can do is start over. Venus was the beginning of that for you.”

Peggy goes into a bit of a coughing fit after her last word and faces away from Steve as he gets up to get some water for her. 

He calls her name lightly and she faces him again, only it’s not the same Peggy he was just talking to. She looks at him in wonder and starts to tear up.

“Steve, you’re alive! You came back.”

Steve composes himself as Peggy’s dementia hits, taking her back to before she remembered he was alive. It breaks his heart to see the strong woman he fell in love with like this.

“Yeah, Peggy. I couldn’t leave my best girl. Not when she owes me a dance.”

Venus is still sitting in contemplation when her dad walks out of the room. She immediately sees that the conversation didn’t go in the way her dad hoped by the look on his face and his slightly slouched posture. She jumps out of her seat and goes straight to him, her hands grasping onto his.

“What happened? Did she not remember?”

“No, she…she remembered in the beginning. She forgot at the end,” Steve slowly and sadly responds.

“I’m sorry dad. I know it hurts every time she forgets.”

The two stand in silence for a minute until Steve starts to lead them out of the nursing home. Once they get outside and to the motorcycle, he hands Venus her helmet and hops on to wait for her.

“Where to next, home?” Venus asks, putting on the helmet.

“No, I thought we could meet our new friend Sam at the VA. That sound good to you?” Steve replies, turning on the bike.

“Yeah, then can we get some food? It’s getting a little late,” Venus says, hopping up behind her dad.

“Yes we can. Let’s go see another friend,” Steve says to himself.

Another drive later, the Rogers arrive at the VA. Once inside, Venus stops to read the bulletin boards as Steve ventures more into the building where he hears the sound of the VA meeting happening.

On the bulletin board Venus sees a bunch of brochures ranging from PTSD to Survivor’s Guilt. She picks a few of them up and reads them as Steve and Sam converse behind her, hearing snippets of their conversation with her enhanced hearing.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can occur in anyone who has been through a traumatic event, such as a natural disaster, combat, sexual assault, or an accident. While most people who live through a traumatic event will have stress reactions afterwards, if it’s been a month or more—you may be dealing with PTSD.

My nightmares…HYDRA and the Battle of New York…could I have symptoms of this? Venus questions herself as she reads on.

Common Symptoms: reliving or re-experiencing the event, avoidance, negative changes in feelings and beliefs, and hyperawareness.

Dad does some of these too. Could we really both have this?

Once she finishes reading the PTSD brochure, she puts it back and she starts to read the Survivor’s Guilt one as she hears Sam ask her dad a question.

“Are you thinking about getting out?”

Venus strains her ears to hear what her dad says next.

“No,” he initially says. 

“I don't know,” he responds a few seconds later. “To be honest, I don’t know what I would do with myself if I did.”

I don’t know what I would do either if I was in his shoes. Venus thinks to herself before officially reading the new brochure.

Survivor’s Guilt is a deep feeling of guilt often experienced by those who have survived a catastrophe that took the lives of others. In part from feelings of being unworthy, relative to those who died.

Survivor’s Guilt Decoded: empathy, sadness, grief, anxiety, pressure, and PTSD

Is this something dad could have too? He was the one to survive on that train, and he failed to save Bucky. I’d have guilt after that too.

“What makes you happy?” Venus hears Sam ask her dad after finishing the second brochure.

“Besides Venus, I don’t know. She’s the only stable thing I’ve had since I got out of the ice,” Steve answers honestly.

“You know, you can tell just how much you care about each other by looking at you guys. You’re lucky to have a sweet kid that can take care of herself if needed,” Sam tells him, a smile on his face.

“I am lucky. I wouldn’t change it for the world,” Steve replies, looking behind him to his daughter.

Venus puts the brochure back as she feels her dad’s gaze and looks back to the two adults, smiling warmly at both of them before walking towards them.

“See? That smile proves my point even more, man,” Sam says as Venus joins them. “You read anything interesting over there?”

“A few brochures about some stuff I didn’t know about before. Interesting reads,” Venus responds to him.

Steve checks his pocket watch and notices the time.

“Well, it’s getting late and we should get some food before heading home. Good to see you again Sam,” Steve says while shaking Sam’s hand.

“You too, brother. If you want someone to talk to, you know where to find me. That goes for Little Rogers too,” Sam replies, squeezing Venus’ shoulder and getting a smile from her in response.

“See you around,” Venus replies as she walks out of the VA building with her dad.

Chapter Text

After a quick stop at a fast food place (where they ordered way too much food for two people to normally eat), they finally made it back home after the sun had set. At this point, Venus is pretty tired from running around all day and barely pays attention to the conversation her dad and Kate have when they reach their door. She waits tiredly by the door for their conversation to end but then slightly perks up in confusion when she realizes music is playing from their apartment. 

I remember turning off the record player before I left with Maria. Is someone in our apartment?

Kate points out the music to them before taking her basket of clothes downstairs to be washed. Venus looks to her dad in questioning for what they’re gonna do. Steve decides to lead them both back outside of the apartment building and looks up at their floor.

“We’re going in through the window, aren’t we?”

“Best way to try and get the jump on whoever’s in there,” Steve responds back.

Steve points out a path to get up to their window and goes first, successfully getting there in a few seconds. Venus watches from the ground as her dad slides up the window glass and climbs into the apartment. He gives her a hand signal out of the window and then she’s following the same path upwards to their apartment. By the time she silently climbs through, Steve has grabbed his shield and is slowly walking towards the living room. 

Venus lightly puts her hand on his shoulder to let him know she got in and follows behind her dad closely. As Steve looks around the corner, he sees Fury sitting in the armchair in the dark next to the record player. Fury stares at him tiredly and Steve lowers his shield, giving a sign to Venus that whoever is in their apartment is not an enemy. Steve leans against the wall, making Venus walk around him to see that their intruder was Fury. She can’t see him very well but she doesn’t think he looks in good condition.

“I don’t remember giving you a key,” Steve tells him, still upset from the information they found out that morning.

“You really think I’d need one?” Fury asks, grunting as he sits up straight. “My wife kicked me out.”

“I didn’t know you were married,” Venus says to him.

“A lot of things you both don’t know about me.”

“I know, Nick. That’s the problem,” Steve replies, turning the lamp light on with the switch on the wall.

Doing so reveals a beaten up Fury, bruises and cuts on his face. The Rogers look on in worry at their Director as he turns off the lamp light, dousing them in darkness again. Steve is about to speak before he sees Fury type on his phone and watches him turn it towards them to read.

EARS EVERYWHERE

That doesn’t sound good. What the hell happened in just a few hours?

Steve looks around their apartment as the music continues playing loudly and Fury starts to speak again.

“I’m sorry to have to do this, but I had no place else to crash.”

Fury types out another message on his phone.

SHIELD COMPROMISED

Shit.

“Who else knows about your wife?” Steve asks, actually asking who else knows that SHIELD is compromised.

Fury types again and stands up walking towards them, showing the next message.

THE THREE OF US

“Just…my friends.”

“Is that what we are?”

“That’s up to you.”

BANG BANG BANG

Two seconds after Fury finishes talking, three shots are taken at Fury from outside and he yells in pain as he goes down to the floor. Venus is shoved behind Steve as soon as the first bullet hits and he tries to see where they came from, seeing a slight figure outside one of the windows. Steve grabs onto one of Fury’s arms as Venus moves around her dad and grabs onto Fury’s other arm, dragging him into their kitchen as Steve looks at the giant bullet holes in their wall.

Once in the kitchen, Venus pulls off the towels hanging on the handle of the oven as she tries to stem the bleeding of the bullet wounds. While keeping pressure, Fury grabs onto her dad’s arm and holds out his hand that contains a flash drive. Steve takes it questioningly as Fury painfully says, “Don’t trust anyone.”

Their front door bangs open and Steve goes on the defense as Venus continues keeping pressure on the wounds, noticing Fury not conscious anymore. 

“Captain Rogers? Venus?” a female voice calls out from the door.

Steve looks around the corner to see their neighbor Kate holding a gun.

“Captain. I’m Agent 13 of SHIELD Special Services.”

“Kate?”

“I’m assigned to protect you and Venus.”

“On whose order?” Steve demands as she walks around him into the kitchen.

“His,” Kate says, laying her eyes on their Director and Venus on the floor.

Kate comes down on the other side of Venus as she continues to stem the bleeding and checks his pulse before pulling out a radio and speaking into it.

“Foxtrot is down, he’s unresponsive. I need EMTs,” she says.

“Do we have a 20 on the shooter?” a voice on the other side of the radio asks.

Steve looks out the window and sees a shadow move across from their building on the rooftop.

“Tell him I’m in pursuit,” Steve tells Kate before looking over to Venus quickly. “No matter what, you don’t leave him Ven.”

“Wasn’t planning on it, go!” Venus yells to her dad.

He’s rushing out of their apartment window half a second later and Venus gets the chance to talk to Kate.

“So, you’re not really our neighbor then?”

“Yes, but no. I do live in that apartment but my name is Sharon, not Kate,” Kate reveals, helping put pressure on Fury’s wounds.

“He put us in this apartment for a reason then. For you to keep watch on us and make sure we didn’t go AWOL,” Venus interrogates.

“It’s more complicated than that Venus, I promise,” Sharon says as the EMTs come into the apartment and start looking over Fury.

Sharon removes Venus’ hands that were on Fury and moves her out of the way so the EMTs could put him in a stretcher.

“I know this is a lot but I need you to stay close to me, okay?”

“Only if you’re going in the ambulance with him,” Venus retaliates.

Sharon nods her head and the two girls follow the EMTs downstairs and into the waiting ambulance. As they load up Fury, Steve appears, breathing raggedly from the chase he went on. He shakes his head at Venus and Sharon, telling them he lost the shooter. The three of them get into the ambulance with Fury and silently watch the man as the EMTs give him fluids and other medicine. Sharon and Venus are also given wet towels to clean his blood off their hands. 

They later arrive at the hospital and Fury is wheeled straight into the operating room, Venus and Steve following closely behind.

“You’re not allowed in here, but there is a room to the side where you can watch over him,” a nurse informs them, pointing to the door of the room.

Venus and Steve watch closely as the doctors hook up Fury to machines and get ready for surgery. They’re alone for only a few minutes until two men and Maria walk into the room on the phone.

“It’s bad, I need you here ASAP,” she says into the phone before ending the call and joining the duo at the window. Maria places a hand on Venus’ shoulder as she calls someone else and the teen leans into the touch, needing comfort. A few minutes later, another person slams the door open and stands next to Venus who sees that it's Natasha in her periphery. 

“Is he gonna make it?” Natasha asks Venus.

“I don’t know,” Venus quietly responds. Natasha looks at Venus and is concerned but pushes that away to focus on Fury for now.

“Tell me about the shooter,” Natasha aims towards Steve.

“He’s fast. Strong. Had a metal arm.”

Venus senses a change in Natasha’s posture, only slightly, at the mention of the metal arm.

Does she know who the guy is?

“Ballistics?” Natasha asks Maria as she joins them at the window.

“Three slugs, no rifling. Completely untraceable.”

“Soviet made,” Natasha finishes for Maria who looks over at her and confirms she’s right.

Machines start going off in the operating room and Venus tenses as the doctors and nurses try to get Fury’s pulse back into a normal rhythm. They all stand and watch as the doctors use the defibrillators on him.

“Don’t do this to me, Nick,” Venus hears Natasha repeat to herself.

After each use of the defibrillator Venus’ breathing gets heavier and her eyes start to water. Steve moves himself behind her and holds her tightly. 

The doctors give Fury epinephrine, but it's too late. 

They check for a pulse. 

Negative.

At 1:03 AM, Nicholas J. Fury was dead.

Chapter Text

Nick Fury was dead.

Venus finally allows her tears to spill as she cries over the death of another adult close to her. She sobs as they pull the sheet over Fury’s head and Steve turns her around in his arms, burying her face in his chest. The others standing in the room look at her in pity as they leave the room one by one, eventually leaving Steve, Venus, and Natasha alone in the room.

Natasha’s eyes don’t leave Fury’s body for a few minutes until she tunes into the sound of Venus being quietly soothed by her dad.

“I’m so sorry, baby. It’ll be okay, just breathe through it.”

Then she realizes Venus is hyperventilating and having a panic attack. She forces herself to look away from Fury and goes over to the duo, kneeling next to Venus. She lightly squeezes her arm and tries to get her attention.

“Ven? Hey malyshka (baby girl), look at me.” Venus slightly turns her head towards the woman and blurrily looks at her through her tears as she continues to gasp for air. “We’re gonna figure this out, but right now you need to breathe. In through the nose and out through the mouth,” Natasha directs her.

Steve continues to hold Venus and rubs her back as she starts to calm down a few minutes later. At this point Venus feels boneless and sinks to the floor, luckily being caught by Natasha. “It’s okay, you’re safe Venus.”

Safe? Someone just killed the Director, my dad has a secret flash drive that only we know about, and SHIELD is compromised. How are any of us safe right now?! Venus yells inside her head but nods to Natasha’s words.

With Natasha’s help, Venus stands back up on her shaky legs and is supported by her dad. She takes one last look into the operating room, looking at the sheet covering Fury, and walks out of the room with her dad worriedly following close behind. She walks down the hallway until she sees a couple of chairs and sits down in one, Steve sitting next to her and grabs one of her hands to hold.

“What are we gonna do?” Venus asks quietly. “So much has happened in the past few hours that I have no idea what our next step is, especially if we can’t trust anyone.”

Steve grasps the flash drive in his jacket pocket agreeing with his daughter. “I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out. Keep it safe and hidden for now until we come up with the next step,” he whispers back to her.

They continue to sit in silence holding hands until Natasha and Maria come back up to them with their arms crossed. “There’s a room they set up for us to say our goodbyes. Do you want to go, Ven?”

Venus thinks for a few seconds before shaking her head. “I don’t think I could handle seeing him like that again. I’ll just stay here, you can go see him with dad.”

The three are disappointed but understand her decision. Steve squeezes her hand before he lets it go and stands, following Natasha and Maria up the hallway to the room where Fury’s body is. As Venus waits for them to finish, she notices Rumlow and some of the STRIKE team walking through the halls of the hospital. He notices her and nods to her before asking her a question. “Little Rogers, know where Cap is?”

Ignoring the nickname, she nods her head. “Saying their last goodbyes to the director. They should be out soon.” Not even ten seconds later, Natasha walks quickly out of the room with Steve following and calling out her name.

Venus gets up and starts walking to them as she hears Natasha ask her dad a question. 

“Why was Fury in your apartment?”

“I don’t know,” he replies with a sigh and shrugs his shoulders.

“Cap,” Rumlow interrupts as Venus reaches the adults, “they want you back at SHIELD. Little Rogers too.”

“Yeah, give us a second,” Steve breathes out, turning back to talk to Natasha.

“They want you now,” Rumlow demands.

“We heard you,” Venus replies, making Rumlow slightly scowl and walk back to the rest of the STRIKE team.

“You’re a terrible liar,” Natasha tells Steve before walking away from the father and daughter. 

Steve sighs out and looks around the hallway before looking back at the STRIKE team, overhearing orders from their earpieces.

“STRIKE team, escort Captain and Little Rogers back to SHIELD immediately for questioning.”

“You think I could get a snack before we go?” Venus asks her dad. He nods his head and stares at the vending machine next to them that a worker is filling before getting an idea.

“Excuse me,” Steve says to the worker, “Would you mind if I just reached in to grab a snack and give you the money for it?”

“Uh, sure man, I guess,” the worker replies, stepping out of the way.

“Thanks,” Steve replies as Venus grabs a bag of chips. He grabs a pack of gum and quickly hides the flash drive behind the ones that remain. After pocketing the candy, Steve pays the worker and leads Venus to where the STRIKE team is waiting. The Rogers are then led out of the hospital and into black vans.

Venus looks over at her dad once the car starts moving and discreetly signs with her hand down by her side where she knows the others won’t see. U-S-B?

Steve responds by pulling out the pack of gum and eating a stick of it, looking to Venus to make sure she understands. Her eyes light up in understanding before she opens her bag of chips and eats them as they get closer to the Triskelion.

Once at the headquarters, Rumlow and the STRIKE team leave Venus and Steve alone to allow them some privacy to change out of their clothes from the previous day. Steve dresses up in his extra Captain America suit as Venus changes into a navy shirt with her SHIELD jacket over it and a pair of jeans. When they’re finished, Venus follows her dad into the elevator and they go up to Pierce’s level. Venus closes her eyes and sighs, relaxing for a few seconds before getting back on guard. 

The first person they see when the elevator doors open is Sharon talking to Pierce outside of his office. The two walk out of the elevator, Sharon greeting them as she walks by.

“Captain Rogers. Venus.”

“Neighbor,” Steve stoically responds as Venus nods her head.

“Oh. Captain, Venus. I’m Alexander Pierce,” he introduces himself as he shakes their hands.

“Sir, it’s an honor,” Steve replies.

“The honor’s mine, Captain,” Pierce returns. “My father served in the 101st. Both of you, come on in.”

Steve and Venus follow Pierce into his office and they stand next to each other by couches as Pierce hands Steve a stack of photos and begins talking while rooting around a conference table for more files. Venus is handed the stack and looks at the first picture as Steve takes off his shield and rests it on the ground against the couch. It showed Fury and Pierce wearing suits and being sworn into something, both of them raising their right hands.

“That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met, when I was at the State Department in Bogota. E.L.N 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 comes to me with a plan. 

“He wants to storm the building through the sewers. I said, ‘No, we’ll negotiate.’ Turned out, the E.L.N didn’t negotiate, so they put out a kill order. They storm the basement, and what do they find? They find it empty.”

Pierce sits down on a chair and plops a folder onto the table in front of them, making Steve and Venus follow suit on the couch.

“Nick had ignored my direct order, and carried out an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil, and saved the lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter.”

“So you gave him a promotion,” Steve follows along.

“I’ve never had any reason to regret it. Captain, why was Nick in your apartment last night?” Pierce finally asks after a long-winded anecdote, looking between the soldier and teenager.

“We don’t know,” Venus answers for them, confusion on her face.

“Did you know that it was bugged?”

“We did,” Steve answers this time, “because Nick told us.”

“Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?”

Venus tries to control her facial expressions at the new information, thoughts battling in her mind. Fury was the one who did it? Or is this a ploy to make us against him?

“I want you to see something,” Pierce says, playing a video feed of an interrogation of a man. Venus looks at the video, brows furrowed in confusion as her dad asks if it’s a live feed.

“Yeah, they picked him up last night in a not-so-safe house in Algiers.”

“Are you saying he’s a suspect?” Venus asks.

“Assassination isn’t Batroc’s line,” Steve adds.

“No, no. It’s more complicated than that. Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the Lemurian Star. And he was contacted by email and paid by wire transfer, and then the money was run through 17 fictitious accounts. The last one going to a holding company that was registered to a Jacob Veech,” Pierce explains, handing over the file he had picked up from the conference table.

“Are we supposed to know who that is?” Steve asks, looking at the file he was handed.

“Not likely. Veech died six years ago. His last address was 1435 Elmhurst Drive. When I first met Nick, his mother lived at 1437.”

“Are you saying Fury hired the pirates? Why?” Venus questions.

“The prevailing theory was that the hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence. The sale went sour and that led to Nick’s death.”

The flash drive, Venus thinks to herself. What kind of classified intelligence did he trust us with?

“If you really knew Nick Fury, you’d know that’s not true,” Venus strongly defends.

Fury may be skewed in the way he interpreted protecting the world but he was a good person.

“Why do you think we’re talking?” Pierce asks, standing from his chair and walking over to a window. Venus and Steve cautiously stand up too but stay near the couch as he continues speaking.

“See, I took a seat on the Council not because I wanted to, but because Nick asked me to, because we were 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 hand 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 turns away from the window to look back at them, a stern look on his face.

“Captain, you and Venus were the last ones 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?”

“He told us not to trust anyone,” Steve eventually tells him.

“I wonder if that included him,” Pierce points out, sitting on the edge of his desk.

Steve goes silent for a few moments until Venus speaks again. “I’m sorry, sir. Those were his last words.”

Having enough of the conversation, Steve nudges Venus to the exit of the office and excuses them. 

“Captain,” Pierce stops them before they leave the room. “Somebody murdered my friend and I’m gonna find out why. Anyone gets in my way, they’re gonna regret it. Anyone,” he threatens, staring them both down.

“Understood,” Venus answers for them, turning away from Pierce and leaving him alone in his office.

Chapter Text

Once outside of the office, Steve and Venus share a look. There’s something else going on here and they seem to have seen just the tip of the iceberg. Venus gives out a small sigh and head shake before leading the two into the nearby elevator. They look outside of the window as Steve calls out, “Operations Control,” and the computer acknowledges the order.

The elevator doors start to close but get stopped by a hand from the outside. Steve continues to stare out the window in contemplation as Venus turns around at the sound of voices and sees it was Rumlow with most of the STRIKE team that was joining them inside. They seem to be heading to Forensics and Rumlow greets Steve, finally causing him to turn around to the group of people that joined them. The Rogers stay standing against one of the walls as the elevator starts its slow descent in the quiet until Rumlow speaks to her dad.

“Evidence Response found some fibers on the roof they want us to see. You want me to get the tac team ready?”

“No, let’s wait and see what it is first,” her dad responds while looking at the ground.

“Right.”

Steve lifts his gaze slightly from the floor and sees one of the STRIKE members has their hand waiting defensively on his gun. He shifts slightly into Venus causing her to look over at him. She follows his gaze and sees the defensive positioning. She then seems to become aware of the tension that fills the small space. The STRIKE team tries to act nonchalant but the father-daughter duo see right through it.

Something bad is about to happen.

Steve puts his hand protectively on Venus’ shoulder as the elevator slows and lets in even more agents with briefcases on a secondary floor. As they file in, Steve moves the two of them towards the door of the elevator.

“I’m sorry about what happened with Fury. It’s messed up, what happened to him,” Rumlow suddenly apologizes.

Venus thanks him but Steve is still unsettled by the people around them and starts to worry about Venus’ safety whenever hell decides to break loose. Venus looks around at the bodies standing around her as they converse and notices a bead of sweat falling down the side of a man’s face. There was no reason to be sweating, she was even slightly cold with her SHIELD jacket on.

Then the elevator stops a third time.

Okay, not good. Too many people in a small space, they're caging us in.

Venus watches the three extra STRIKE members enter the elevator and sees what floor they’re currently on.

Floor 27.

In a rash decision, Venus squeezes between two of the new people and stops the door from closing. All eyes turn to her, but only one pair slightly widened in fear is who she talks to.

“Sorry, I left my book and Mr. Kilne will just give me another lecture about forgetting things if I don’t grab it now. I’ll meet you downstairs, okay dad?” Venus says as she steps fully out of the small danger zone.

“Okay, don’t take too long. We got other things to deal with,” Steve responds, relieved she won’t be stuck in here with them but worried about her being alone.

Venus nods as the elevator doors close and gives a look to her dad she hopes is reassuring. Once they’re fully closed, Venus spins quickly around and heads straight for the emergency stairwell and passes her classroom. She gets there calmly but quickly and opens the door, causing the alarms to go off. She speeds down the steps as fast as she can and gets down three floors before she hears other doors banging open above and below her. She looks over the handrails and does a headcount, five coming from above and four from below. 

I believe this is what Tony would call a “party”, Venus thinks before she steels herself for the fighting that is to come.

She meets the agents on the floor below her and the fight commences. She is able to quickly incapacitate two of them with well aimed punches to their throats and heads, and she barely has enough time to dodge under the swipe of an electrocution rod, doing a backbend. She forces her legs over the top of her body and kicks someone in the chest over the railing before standing back up. She starts to melee the man with the shock rod, trying to make sure she doesn’t get hit by it. He moves as fast as her and easily blocks many of her punches until she decides to crush his foot with hers.

He grunts in pain and slightly hunches over, giving Venus the opening to grab his arm holding the rod and twisting it, making him drop it. She then picks it up herself and continues fighting until she shoves the rod in the only spot she could. Where Natasha taught her was the weakness to almost any man. 

His groin.

The man howls in pain and crumples to the floor, whimpering. The agents from above finally make it down to her level and she makes a quick decision to throw the rod like a javelin towards the closest one as she hops over the handrailing onto the next floor. She hears a grunt of pain from the impact of the rod as she continues to dash down the steps as fast as she can without tripping. She hears the sound of more doors being slammed open below her.

Six more agents heading her way.

At this point, Venus is stuck with only two options: she fights everyone and possibly gets captured or she does something very dangerous that could injure herself and get her in big trouble with her dad but out of their grasp.

She decides on option two.

With a deep breath and a silent apology to her dad, Venus flings herself down the opening between the stairs, free falling 20 stories to the bottom. The agents can only watch in confusion and surprise as Venus falls fast by them. It only takes a few seconds for her to reach the bottom, shock running through her body as she lands and rolls to distribute the force of impact. Then without looking back she slams open the first floor emergency exit door into the atrium. 

Right as her dad falls through the glass ceiling. 

Like father, like daughter.

After a few seconds of shock, Venus runs over to her dad who is slowly getting up and groaning. 

“Come on, we gotta go!” she says as she grabs his arm and puts it around her neck, hauling him up onto his feet.

Once he’s fully standing she lets go of his arm and they take off running for the garage where his motorbike is. With their enhanced speed it doesn’t take long for them to get there. Steve grabs one of the handles and is about to climb on until he stops and looks over at Venus who is prepared to climb on after him, helmets long forgotten. In a split decision, he motions for her to take the driver’s seat.

“I don’t know what they’re gonna send to stop us so you should drive so I can protect both of us. This is why I taught you in the first place, Ven,” Steve tells her.

“Oh, uh, okay,” Venus responds, surprised to actually get the chance to drive the bike.

She replaces him at the handlebars and climbs up, feeling the weight of her dad behind her shortly after. Steve pushes the kickstand back up as he holds her around the middle, balances the motorbike, and Venus starts the engine. After just a few short seconds of Venus getting used to the controls again, the pair are off and racing towards the garage exit. The doors of the garage start to close quickly and Steve reaches around to put his hands on the handles, using his strength and body weight to lift the bike into the air through the small opening before the doors close.

He stays leaned over Venus as she focuses on driving down the long road away from the Triskelion. Venus notices in the distance spikes come up out of the floor to pop their tires and then hears the sound of an aircraft coming their direction. One of the SHIELD planes zooms around in front of them flying backwards as the pilot yells out orders and a small rotating gun drops underneath as a warning.

“Stand down, Rogers. Stand down. Repeat, stand down.”

“Speed up, Ven. I’ll deal with it, just dodge those bullets,” Steve orders.

With the adrenaline still running through her, Venus doesn’t hesitate to follow his words. She speeds up and expertly dodges the bullets from the aircraft as her dad pulls off his shield from his back and throws it like a frisbee at the plane. It lodges right into the rotating blades on the left side, causing the plane to smoke and stutter in place. Then, without warning, her dad propels himself off the back of the bike into the air, landing on top of the aircraft. As Steve takes down the plane, Venus is forced to make a decision to either try and jump over the large spikes on the floor with the bike or abandon the bike to clear them herself.

Knowing she doesn’t have the same strength as her dad, Venus skids the bike to a stop right at the spikes as her dad lands back on the ground with his shield and the aircraft crashes into the road behind them. Steve jogs over to her and uses his shield to break some of the spikes, creating a pathway for them to drive through. Without wasting any time, Steve takes the front seat of the bike as Venus jumps on behind him like normal.

Then the engine is revving and Steve speeds them off away from the Triskelion, trying to figure out what the hell they do now.