Steve grimaced in pain at the weight bearing down on his shield. Even with his right hand bracing it as well as his left, the sheer amount of rubble that had fallen on he and Nat was almost overwhelming. Almost. Gritting his teeth, he pushed back.

Slowly, he felt the concrete that was burying him and Nat shift slightly and he slid his feet into a better position, allowing him to twist his shoulder just so. Pushing up with his legs, using his arms and shoulders to brace his shield, Steve heaved.

As more and more of the concrete and rubble shifted away, Steve began to believe that the two of them were going to survive. He'd been 'made' here at Camp Lehigh; he wasn't going to die here, despite S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best efforts.

And wasn't that something that he would have thought inconceivable less than a day ago. S.H.I.E.L.D., the world's top spy agency, the very organisation that Peggy had help found, the company that he now worked for and had dedicated his life to since waking, wasn't what he thought it was.

No. It was HYDRA. Or at least, HYDRA had grown inside it, subverting it, using it for its own ends and purposes. Zola had admitted as much, with files as evidence, right before the bomb had hit the building that he and Nat were in.

The two of them had followed the trail from the encrypted drive that Fury had given Steve right before he'd died. The trail led here, to Camp Lehigh, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s very first secret bases, the base where Armin Zola's mind had been preserved on banks of servers. With all that Steve had seen since waking from his seventy year nap, the sad thing was that that wasn't even the strangest.

Zola had obviously alerted S.H.I.E.L.D. to their location and kept them distracted by telling them the truth of HYDRA while the S.H.I.E.L.D. jets had got into position. Only Nat's realising that a missile was headed right for them, combined with Steve's improvisation of the two of them taking shelter in a small trough in the floor had saved them.

Assuming that Steve could get rid of the building that had fallen on them, that is. S.H.I.E.L.D. would be coming, he knew, if only to ensure that the mission was a success.

With one final push, the concrete block that Steve was pushing against slid to the side. Dust and bits of dirt and concrete rained down, but that he could handle. The sound of engines in the distance had Steve quickly bending and scooping the unconscious Nat up in his arms. Then, with the lights from the approaching quinjets strafing the ground as they approached, Steve ran for it.

ooo00ooo

Nat couldn't help but groan as she slowly regained consciousness. Everything hurt and she grimaced. A hand came up and brushed her forehead, feeling the still slight stickiness there. Blood. Her blood. But mostly stopped, so it'd been a while.

And then the last few minutes of memory came flooding back – the missile incoming, jumping into the hole, the two of them trying to share the small space under Steve's shield as rocks, bits of concrete, an entire building rained down around them and on top of them.

The slight movement and the sound of an engine told her that she was out of that destruction.

Cracking one eye open, she saw that she was in a car, a very familiar car, the car that Steve had 'borrowed' to get them to Camp Lehigh.

"Steve?" she asked croakily, looking across at him in the driver's seat.

"You okay?" he asked, looking at her, concern etched on his face and in his eyes.

"I'll live," she replied, a statement that was true enough. "We're still alive."

She'd made the statement and shook her head at it. Really, they shouldn't be. Probably the only thing that had saved them was the fact that they'd been so far underground when the missile hit. That and Steve's indestructible shield.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to kill us," Nat stated.

"Not S.H.I.E.L.D, HYDRA," Steve corrected.

"Is there much of a difference?" she asked as she straightened in her seat. "From what Zola was saying, S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA are pretty much the same thing these days."

"I don't believe that every agent is HYDRA. You're not, I'm not. I think we can agree that Fury wasn't," Steve stated.

"There's no way that Clint is either," Nat said, at the same time wondering how many of her friends, how many of the people that she'd worked with, were.

She looked out the window as she tried to process it. She'd been sure that she'd been working for the good guys these last years, but apparently, she couldn't even trust that anymore.

"Where are we headed?" she asked.

"DC," Steve answered simply.

"What's the plan?" she asked.

"We need a place to lay low until we can find out what Zola's algorithm does," Steve replied.

"My safehouses are probably compromised," she cautioned.

"I know. I've got an idea. A friend. Sort of," Steve replied.

Nat raised an eyebrow at him. That wasn't exactly much of a plan, but then, on second thought, an acquaintance might not be being monitored by S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA, whoever.

"What then?" Nat asked. "What do we do once we find out what this algorithm is for? I know the two of us are good, but even we can't take on all of HYDRA by ourselves."

Steve glanced at her and she saw the pain and determination in his eyes. He'd spent World War Two combatting HYDRA, even given his very life or at least a frozen seventy years of it and had believed them defeated, the mission complete. Obviously, it hadn't been.

"I know. We're going to need help," Steve stated.

Nat stared at him for a moment.

"I'll make a call, shall I?" she asked, fishing her phone out of her pocket.

ooo00ooo

"Excuse me, Sir, Agent Romanoff is on the phone," Jarvis stated.

"Jarvis, I remember saying that Pepper and I weren't to be interrupted," Tony frowned.

"I know, Sir, but she was quite insistent," Jarvis replied.

Tony looked across the small table at Pepper. They were currently at the tail end of a very late and very delicious dinner. One that Tony had actually managed to remember to attend. It'd been nice, just the two of them, something that had been missing of late with so many in residence in the Tower.

"You might as well answer it," Pepper said from where she sat back in her chair, a glass of wine in her hand. "I'm surprised that we haven't been interrupted before this, to be honest."

"Thanks, Pep," Tony said as he lifted the mobile that he'd already fished out of his pocket and was holding just below the table. "Hey, Romanoff, why the late call?"

"Steve and I were just bombed by S.H.I.E.L.D.," she stated without preamble.

Tony shot up in his chair.

"What? Did you just say that you were bombed? By S.H.I.E.L.D.?" he repeated incredulously.

Across the table, Pepper's eyes widened and she leant forward, her face full of worry.

"Are you alright?" Tony asked urgently.

"We're fine. A little banged up but nothing we can't handle," Nat replied.

"Good," Tony nodded, letting Pepper know the answer as well. "What in the world is S.H.I.E.L.D. thinking, bombing the two of you?"

"It's a long story," she sighed.

"Then give me the short version," Tony insisted.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't what we thought it was. Apparently HYDRA's been growing inside it for the past seventy years. We don't know how deep it goes," she said.

"HYDRA? As in Nazi flag-waving, Red Skull-led HYDRA? From World War Two? That HYDRA?" Tony asked.

"Yes. Them," Nat confirmed.

"How'd you find out?"

"Fury. He gave Steve a drive and we've been following where it led," Nat replied. "There's some sort of algorithm on it. And before you ask, no, we don't know what it does or what it's for. We're working on it. But if it's as bad as we think it is, we're going to need help."

"Help? To decode that algorithm?" Tony asked. "You got it."

"No," Nat replied and he could picture her shaking her head, her red hair flying around her shoulders. "No, to take down HYDRA."

"Which would mean potentially going up against all of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Tony said, filling in the blanks. "I'll assemble the team and we'll get there as soon as we can. Where are you now?"

"On our way back to DC from New Jersey," Nat replied.

"Right. Leave your phone on and I'll have Jarvis monitor your whereabouts," Tony stated. "Hang in there. And Nat, you and the Capsicle, stay safe."

"We will, Tony. Thanks," Nat replied before the line went dead.

"That didn't sound good," Pepper stated.

"No, it's not," Tony replied. "My dad helped found S.H.I.E.L.D.; I may not be too fond of the guy, but this is part of his legacy and to find out that what he started has been taken over by HYDRA ..."

Tony shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around the world-tilting information that he'd just been given.

"You're putting a team together to go help Nat and Steve?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah," Tony said, lifting his phone to begin to do just that.

"Tony," Pepper said, catching his attention with that warning tone she was using.

"Hmm?" he asked.

"Leave the kids out of this one. They missed enough school when you took them to England," she said.

Tony considered it for a moment, but just for a moment before nodding.

"Done," he agreed. "Jenn, too, she's not ready yet either. And the Bird-brain's out, too. What a time for him to go on vacation. Next time he's here, I'm putting a tracker in his quiver."

The team now decided upon. Tony lifted his phone to make his first call.

ooo00ooo

Mage leant low over his Lightning Bolt, his arm outstretched with his wand aimed at the truck that he was flying behind. A slight swerve put him on its right side and he fired, shooting a slew of bludging hexes into the side of it.

As expected, the truck veered slightly at the impact and moments later, swerved suddenly, taking the next left turn in a futile attempt to evade him.

Mage couldn't help but grin. Feeling the wind whipping past his face like this always got his adrenaline going and he remembered why he enjoyed flying so much. Having the bad guys do exactly what you wanted didn't hurt either.

Noting Spider-man swinging in and around the corner, Mage drifted higher, up and over the web-slinger as the two pursued the truck.

This was much better, Mage decided; much less traffic in this street. That was one of the downsides of living and fighting crime in New York – far too many innocent bystanders that could very easily get hurt if he wasn't careful. Thus, the use of the bludgeoner rather than something a lot more powerful, lethal and so very much quicker.

The two of them, Mage and Spider-man had only been chasing this particular truck for a couple of blocks, ever since they, and their partners, had caught up with the bank robbers. Unfortunately, they hadn't been in time to stop the actual robbery, but Daredevil's superior hearing had pinpointed what had happened and where to go.

Speaking of the Devil, Mage had to shake his head slightly at the way the blood red costumed man somersaulted from the nearby building, landing in a crouch on top of the truck. The thump of his landing must have alerted the men inside as the truck's trajectory wobbled slightly before straightening once more.

Squirrel Girl joined the chase just then, bolting out of a nearby alley. With one great leap, she launched herself at the back of the truck, landing on the rear board. For a second, Mage thought that she was going to tumble off and readied himself to cast a cushioning spell. Thankfully, though, it wasn't needed as she grabbed a hold of a bar beside the truck's rear roller door.

Using her considerable strength, Squirrel Girl broke the lock and yanked up the rear door, revealing the sacks piled in the back. One by one, Squirrel Girl tossed them out, only to have Spider-man grab each one with a web-line and string them up behind them like a line of strange looking piñatas.

Daredevil, meanwhile, had climbed over the top of the truck before swinging himself down and through one of the windows. A swish and flick of Mage's wand caught the first robber as he was tossed from the truck. When no others emerged, Mage sped up.

Suddenly, the truck served violently, changing from heading straight down the road to barrelling towards a brick wall.

Mage's wand blurred as he sent spell after spell to avoid the inevitable crash that would likely kill his partner as well as the remaining bank robbers.

An arresto momentum hit the truck slowing it. The asphalt was transfigured into deep sand slowing it even more and the brick wall became elasticised rubber. Mage watched, breathless, as his spells did their work, bringing the truck to a halt just after bouncing back from the gentle tap against the no-longer brick wall.

"Great work, guys," Mage said as he came in for a landing, running the last few steps with his broom out in one hand.

Daredevil looked back at the truck that he'd just leapt from to see Spider-man webbing the driver's doors in place and blocking the windows.

"Don't bother, they're out cold and won't be waking for quite a while," he said.

"Never hurts to be too careful," Spider-man called back, continuing with his job.

"I gotta do more running," Squirrel Girl panted as she joined the three men, having jumped off the back once all of the bags of cash had been tossed out. "Keeping up with a speeding truck isn't easy."

Mage's response was interrupted by the sound of his phone going off. Reaching into one of the pockets on his belt, he pulled it out and snapped it open.

"Hello?" he said.

"Sparrowhawk," Tony's said. "Glad you finally answered. I've been trying to get you for the past ten minutes."

"I know," Mage replied and he did, having heard it ringing during the chase. "I was busy. Is there something I can do for you?"

"Yeah. Get over to the Tower as soon as you can," Tony replied. "We're headed to Washington, Steve and Nat need some backup."

Mage's eyes snapped to each of his partners.

"I'm with Daredevil, Spider-man and Squirrel Girl. Do you want me to bring them as well?" he asked.

"No!" Tony replied quickly. "Pepper'd kill me if you brought the twerps. And it won't hurt to have Matt there keeping an eye on them. The rest of us should be enough."

"I take it something's happened? Are Steve and Nat alright?" Mage asked.

"Yeah, they're good. I'll fill you in when you get here," Tony replied.

"I'm on my way," Mage assured him, closing the phone.

"Something wrong?" Daredevil asked, his head cocked slightly towards Mage.

Mage had no illusions that the Devil hadn't heard the entire conversation.

"Maybe," he temporised. "Looks like I'm off on some kind of mission. You got things here?"

"We're good," Daredevil assured him.

With a nod of thanks, Mage firmly grasped his broom and twisted, vanishing with the smallest of cracks.

ooo00ooo

Bruce rushed onto the hanger deck of Avengers Tower, apologies already on his lips.

"Sorry I'm late," he said. "You wouldn't believe the amount of traffic there is between here and Jennifer's new apartment in Hell's Kitchen, even at this time of night."

"And how is our favourite giant green girl?" Tony asked from the ramp to the quinjet.

"Currently not green," Bruce frowned. "And enjoying her new job. She and Karen Page seem to have hit it off pretty well, that's how Jenn got her new apartment – one of the tenants down the hall from Karen moved out and she recommended that Jenn take it."

"It is good that she is making new friends," Thor stated. "Leaving the place one knows and working to fit in somewhere new is hard."

Bruce nodded in agreement.

"Thanks for leaving Jennifer out of this," Bruce said to Tony. "Whatever this happens to be."

"Yeah, about that," Tony said as serious as Bruce had ever heard him. "Nat and Steve have uncovered evidence that HYDRA has infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. Actually, they've been doing it for the past seventy years."

"HYDRA?" Bruce asked, stunned.

"Seventy years?" Harry echoed. "And no one noticed?"

"Seems that way," Tony replied.

"Then how did Romanoff and Rogers find out?" Thor asked.

"Not sure," Tony replied. "Something to do with an encrypted drive that Fury gave them."

"Fury's involved?" Harry asked.

"Seems he worked something out. My guess is that's what got him killed," Tony replied. "Steve and Nat say that HYDRA's got something big in the works. They're working on finding out what it is and then they want to take down HYDRA once and for all."

"But if HYDRA are inside S.H.I.E.L.D. that would mean taking on the biggest spy agency in the world," Bruce pointed out.

"Thus, why they called for backup," Tony stated.

"It is never good to take on an enemy too large without allies," Thor nodded gravely.

"Where are we meeting them?" Bruce asked.

"They're headed to DC; Jarvis is keeping on eye on Nat's phone's coordinates," Tony replied.

"The Triskelion," Bruce nodded. "It is the centre of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"That's my guess, too," Tony agreed.

"Then let's move," Harry said, striding into the quinjet.

ooo00ooo

"Agent Barton," the clipped, cultured voice of Jarvis said in the recorded message that Clint had opened when he'd noticed the flashing light on his phone. "Mister Stark requests that you complete your vacation with all haste and make you way to Avengers Tower."

"Bet he didn't say it like that," Clint grinned at the phone.

"There has been an incident," the recording continued, making Clint listen closer, harder. "Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff have uncovered the fact that S.H.I.E.LD. has been infiltrated by HYDRA. One attempt has already been made upon their lives at the discovery of this information. A team has assembled and flown to Washington DC to render assistance. Mister Stark asks that you use Avengers Tower as a staging area in case additional help is required. He has left further information for you there."

In three strides, Clint was across the room and grabbing his bow.

"Laura!" he called up the stairs.

ooo00ooo

"How'd you meet this guy anyway?" Nat asked as they drove into DC.

"You've met him," Steve replied, glancing at her. "The morning you picked me up for the mission with the Lemurian Star."

Nat blinked, thinking back.

"Black guy, goatee, runs," she said.

"That's him," Steve confirmed. "Sam Wilson. He was in the 58th Rescue Squad. Now that he's home, he works with vets down at the DVA. Does some good work there helping them work their way through Posttraumatic Stress."

"Sounds a good guy," Nat commented.

"He is," Steve confirmed. "I caught the end of one his meetings. Intense but beneficial."

"And he'll help us?" she asked.

"He will," Steve replied, total conviction in his voice.

ooo00ooo

Steve led the way to the door after they had left the 'borrowed' car a couple of blocks away. The blinds to the small house were pulled up and the door opened almost immediately after he'd knocked. Sam didn't seem all that surprised to see them which surprised Steve, but then, without access to the news, there was no telling how much the fact that he was now a wanted man was being made public or conversely being kept quiet.

"Hi. Sorry to do this but we need a place to lay low," Steve said. "Everyone we know is trying