With Eleanor's hand still pressed against Natasha's gunshot wound, the group started discussing the plan of escape. With Nat in such an exhausted state, whatever they did wouldn't be an easy feat, but it was better than what Maria had confirmed with them. They weren't just being arrested, they were going to be executed.

Eleanor felt sick to her stomach at learning that. If it hadn't been for Maria then she or Natasha would have had to witness each other being killed in front of them. It wasn't nice to think about.

Maria had explained that there was a base nearby with a Doctor that she planned on taking them to, under a dam system. Eleanor wanted to know how she had come across this hidden base but there were more pressing issues to attend to. "How do we get out of the van though?", she turned to Maria, this being the first time that she had torn her eyes away from Natasha.

She was met with the same uncomfortable look that Sam had given her about her fresh injury, but Maria answered the question anyway, "I have a device that can cut through almost any material, it will be uncomfortable but I can make a hole in the flooring, the wheels are high enough that if you lay flat on the ground immediately after falling through then you shouldn't get decapitated", she shrugged at the end.

"Lovely", Eleanor gulped, not happy with the answer to that question. She questioned why they couldn't just make a hole in one of the doors and jump out without the insane risk of injury, but there was a chance that it would unlock them which would bring attention to the group.

Maria made quick work of making the hole in the flooring, the metal fell out of the vehicle with a loud clang, and the group cringed momentarily, worried that it was loud enough for the driver to hear. Collective relief was felt however when nothing happened, they knew that they were in the clear.

Due to Maria being one of the most prepared people in the world, she had made sure that a vehicle was waiting for them at some point down the road that they were currently on. She would need to locate it and bring it to them, so it was agreed that she go through the hole first.

The group watched anxiously as she hopped through the hole, and were relieved when they didn't hear a thud against the van, meaning that she hopefully hadn't been run over.

Eleanor thought that this was a ridiculous plan. In terms of how likely it is for one of them to get smushed, she had no clue how Steve was going to fit under, he was a giant compared to the rest of them.

Sam went next and told them that he would find a good place on the side of the road to hide. They all held their breaths again for a few seconds when Sam slipped under, but it had the same results as the last. Now it was Eleanor's turn, she volunteered to go so that she could grab Natasha next.

She was shitting bricks.

Multiple times in awkward vehicular situations she had imagined being able to roll out of the car, but now that the chance to do so was presented to her she wanted to firmly plant her feet onto the van floor and not move a muscle.

Time was running out though, so she didn't have time to be visibly scared, and she needed to be strong so that she could get Natasha to safety as soon as it was her time to jump too, so she bit the bullet and hopped through.

Even in Natasha's state she visibly tensed until deducing that she had made it through safely as well.

When Eleanor hit the floor it felt like she had been hit with Mjölnir in multiple places. There would definitely be multiple bruises on her already bruised figure. After the initial shock had worn off she threw herself into the ditch on the side of the road so that the driver wouldn't see her in the side mirrors, and waited for Nat to make her own painful appearance.

It only took a few seconds before she saw Natasha rolling down the road, so she ran whilst in a half-crouched position through the long grass to reach her. Nat looked like she was struggling to regain her composure to get herself onto the side of the road, but that was expected, which is why Eleanor made the jump first.

When Nat spotted Eleanor getting nearer she stopped struggling to get up on her own, knowing that it was no use. She was swiftly grabbed and carried bridal style onto the side of the road, and the two waited for Steve to reach them, which didn't take long. He was a super soldier who had survived being thrown off of a bridge and into a bus, he could survive a quick roll on the road.

The three walked down the road to where Sam would hopefully be. They tried to be as stealthy as possible still, well, Eleanor and Steve did, Natasha was just clinging onto Eleanor with all of her strength. Now that there was no one to put pressure on her wound, her condition was deteriorating even quicker, which was noticed by the woman holding her.

"We need to stop, I have to keep pressure on this", Eleanor spoke at Steve as she sat down with Natasha on top of her, immediately placing her hand on her shoulder again. Steve nodded and went to try and find Sam, and promised that he'd direct Maria in the car to them.

When Steve had left Nat immediately nuzzled her face into the crook of Eleanor's neck. "I know, I'm so sorry", Eleanor had to choke back a sob at seeing Natasha like this, the situation was getting incredibly scary. Natasha had been on the brink of collapse for too long now, and they had no clue how long it would take to reach a Doctor.

"I'm okay", Nat croaked out as her eyes fluttered shut slightly, causing Eleanor's heart to jump out of her throat.

She shook her ever so slightly to not cause pain, "Hey, hey, you keep those eyes open, do not close your eyes".

"I'm tired", Nat whispered back.

"I know you are, but you need to keep them open for just a little longer, okay? I promise help is coming real soon, so soon".

Nat nodded slightly and willed herself to open her eyes, and was met with a very fuzzy Eleanor smiling down at her, and Natasha gave a little smile back. "Hi beautiful", Eleanor whispered as she held Natasha closer to her body, praying to anyone or anything out there that could help them.

As if on cue, Maria showed up in a grey van, with Sam sitting in the passenger seat and Steve in the back. "Thank fuck", Eleanor breathed out and hurriedly stood up still holding Natasha.

After taking a seat she attempted to place Nat in the middle seat between her and Steve on the bench, but she just shook her head slightly and tightened her grip on Eleanor's seat, a silent plea to not put her down.

Maria hightailed it away, presumably to the base that she spoke of. Steve looked at the two women in the back with him expectedly, prepared to help get Natasha settled in the middle seat, but Eleanor just shook her head at him. "I don't feel comfortable putting her down at the minute", she covered for Nat, knowing that she hated being seen as vulnerable by others, especially when in pain. Steve nodded in understanding and Nat increased her grip even tighter momentarily as a thank you.

Steve then began rummaging around in various storage places within the van and handed Eleanor a piece of cloth that he had found in a first aid kit. "Thank you", she frantically took it and placed it against the wound, the white immediately getting red patches.

With the speed that Maria was going, it only took five minutes to get to the base, now that the Doctor was imminent Natasha seemed to have had a little bit of an adrenaline boost, allowing her to walk, with the help of Sam and Eleanor.

They quickly made their way over to the door, which was barred like a prison cell. The hallway through to the main area was creepy and grimey. The walls looked filthy due to the water stains, and the harsh lighting above them made weird shadows. In any other situation, Eleanor would have been saying that she didn't want to get the plague from stepping foot in here.

When they neared the other end of the hallway, the Doctor came running at them, Eleanor tried to grin due to the relief that she felt, but it came as more of a grimace, now that her own adrenaline had started wearing off her face was in excruciating pain. Smiling only made it worse.

"GSW. She's lost at least a pint", Maria yelled.

"Maybe two!", Sam added on.

"And large cut, slow bleeding", Maria continued as they all marched forward.

"Let me take them".

"They'll want to see him first". The group turned to Maria, extremely confused about who the hell she was talking about and why this person was delaying their treatment.

As they walked into the main room of the dingy base, Maria whipped back some plastic curtains, revealing the mystery person.

Nick Fury.

He was lying down in a hospital bed, clearly not doing his best, but he was alive. Eleanor huffed out a breath of disbelief, and her face painfully contorted into a confused expression, but she ignored the pain at seeing the man she thought was dead in front of her, very much alive.

He looked at them and raised his head slightly, "About damn time". At this Nat and Eleanor both let out weak, frustrated scoffs. He made them think that he was dead, and had the nerve to bluntly joke around with them on their first encounter. No.

"You-", Eleanor began harshly, but trailed off as she didn't know what to say.

"Yes?". Eleanor shook her head and clenched her jaw at his response, making it clear that she didn't want to continue.

Now that the initial shock was over, the Doctor promptly guided Natasha into a chair near Fury's bed, she removed her jacket to allow for access, and he started applying immediate pressure to her shoulder before he could stick it up.

Eleanor crouched next to Nat and patiently waited for her turn to be seen by the Doctor. She was happy to wait, she hadn't been losing as much blood as Natasha had, and regardless of that, she wanted Nat to be seen first anyway.

"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache", Fury explained his vast number of injuries.

Eleanor honestly didn't understand how the man was still alive, it didn't seem possible, at all. The man was a literal ghost.

"Don't forget your collapsed lung", the Doctor interjected.

"Let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good".

Natasha's face was hardened, a mix of confusion and pain. "They cut you open. Your heart stopped".

"Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat per minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work great for him, but we found a use for it". Eleanor was tempted to ask for some with the amount of stress that they had all endured recently.

Now it was Steve's turn to show his lack of knowledge of the situation as well, "Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?".

"Any attempt on the Director's life had to look successful", Maria seemed to look okay with how the plan had played out, but Eleanor felt betrayed, very betrayed. Fury and Maria had been active in her life since she was in her early teens, and she wasn't trusted enough to be let in on this. They let her believe that Fury was dead. That stung. She began questioning if Maria was acting upset in the hospital when she had comforted her. If it had ended up being that Maria was acting to be grieving next to her friends who actually were, she was not going to be happy, even if it was Maria.

Natasha felt similarly, the two had been her first superiors to treat her as a human, and eventually a close companion, but she was treated like any other Agent in the organisation.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead. Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust".

Again, that stung.

Both Eleanor and Natasha looked very hurt when he said this. Natasha couldn't move because of the Doctor, but Eleanor abruptly stood and walked out of the room.

All eyes were on her as she did this, but she didn't care, she just needed a moment. Everything over the last few days had all been too much and this was really a kick in the stomach. Yes, she was so relieved that Fury was alive, but this had also come with feeling completely shunned and lied to by the people that she had called family.

Maria made an effort to follow her, but stopped in her tracks when Nat coldly said, "Don't". Maria flinched slightly at the tone and slowly nodded before moving back toward the hospital bed.

Nat knew that Eleanor wouldn't want anyone following her for a few minutes, and also knew that when she was ready to see people that she would want it to be her.

The next few minutes were filled with an awkward silence whilst the stitching of Natasha's shoulder was being finished. But that was eventually completed. "I'm ready for the next one now", the Doctor said to no one in particular as he changed his gloves. Nat nodded and walked out just as abruptly as Eleanor had done, and went to find her.

Eleanor was only around the corner, sitting on the floor with one leg outstretched and one tucked into her chest as she stared blankly ahead.

Nat took in her appearance, the cut had mostly stopped bleeding due to it being a flesh wound, after a while, it had almost closed itself up due to how the blood clotting had created a barrier. But there was still a lot of dried blood on her face, coating almost half of it. Due to trying not to pass out, Nat hadn't been able to properly take it in, but now she was seeing the extent of it, she could only let out a shaky sigh.

She slowly walked forward and placed herself down next to Eleanor, immediately wrapping a tight arm around her shoulder, "It's okay детка". Eleanor nodded slightly and leaned into Natasha. "I know you're upset, and you have every right to be, I am too, but we really need to get your cut sorted".

"Yeah, sorry I ran off", Eleanor felt guilty, but it had felt like the walls were caving in on her whilst she was in there. So, it didn't feel like she had much of a choice.

"I don't mind, you did what you needed to do", Nat pressed a kiss to her cheek as reassurance that she really wasn't upset with her, only the people in the other room.

"People suck", Eleanor laughed dryly as the two of them stood up.

Nat laughed with the same dry enthusiasm, "That they do, sometimes it feels like it's just you and me versus the world".

That was true, their circle was incredibly small, and there was a distinct lack of numbers in their family unit, a grand total of one, with that person living in another country. It sometimes did just feel like they only had each other. "That's not so bad, I like our little team", Eleanor smiled at Nat as they made their way back to the main room.

Natasha gave a small, bashful smile as she looked at the ground. Yeah, she had a great teammate.