in the shadows ? steve rogers

043 ? a dead director

"Then why can't you?"

"Because Fury told me not to trust anyone," he said and she looked over at him. "That's why."

Grace pursed her lips and stood up. "And what did I ever do to make you not be able to trust me?"

"Grace—"

The door behind him opened and they both sighed, seeing Rumlow in the doorway. "Miss Stark, Cap, Secretary Pierce wants to speak with you both."

"We have to talk to Alexander Pierce?" Grace asked, raising her eyebrows. "Oh, I hate him. He's a dumbass who always sucks up and acts all righteous. I'll tell you what he is. He's a righteous ass. And yes, he already knows my opinions about him."

Steve laid a hand on her shoulder before looking back at Rumlow. "We'll be right there." He nodded and closed the door. Steve turned back to Grace. "Can we at least talk about what happened later?"

She found his blue eyes before nodding. "Okay. For now, we have to go talk to that son of a bitch."

"You really don't like him," Steve said, following her out the door.

"When have I ever liked a man in power?"

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

"𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐇, you did your best," Alexander Pierce was saying when Steve and Grace walked into the office.

"Thank you, sir." The blonde agent that Steve had met passed by the two. "Captain Rogers. Miss Stark."

"Neighbor," Steve replied coldly and Grace sighed.

"Sharon," she said with a small smile.

"Ah, Captain." Grace turned toward the two men. "I'm Alexander Pierce." He looked at the brunette. "Grace."

She smiled sarcastically. "Alexander."

Steve cleared his throat. "Sir, it's an honor," he said, shaking the man's hand.

"The honor is mine, Captain," Alexander contradicted with a shake of his head. "My father served in the 101st. Come on in." Grace walked over to the desk and picked up a framed photo of Nick and Alexander. "That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met." She looked over at the man. "When I was at the State Department in Bogota. ELN rebels took the embassy, and security got me out, but the rebels took hostages. Nick was deputy chief for the SHIELD station there.

"And he comes to me with a plan. He wants to storm through the sewers. I said, 'No, we'll negotiate.'" Grace crossed her arms. "Turned out the ELN didn't negotiate, so they put out a kill order. They stormed the basement, and what did they find? They find it empty. Nick had ignored my direct order and carried out an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil. He saved the lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter."

"So that's why you recommended Nick for Director," Grace said and Alexander nodded. "That's quite the promotion."

He shrugged. "I haven't had any cause to regret that choice. Captain, why was Nick in your apartment last night?"

"I don't know," Steve replied.

"Did you know it was bugged?"

Steve nodded. "I did because Nick told me."

Grace felt her phone vibrate and she looked down at the text from Adelaide: I found something! We need to meet now!

"I'm sorry, gentlemen," Grace said, interrupting Alexander and looking at the two men. "But I'm afraid I have business to attend to."