The punch connected just as Steve stepped out of the elevator, a ringing in his ears replacing the polite chime of the compartment. Instinct took over and he leaned back, dodging the next swing his opponent threw at him. He blinked, his brain catching up to the danger his body already recognized.

The guy who'd hit Steve was enormous. In full tactical gear, a helmet and mask concealed his entire face. He hulked menacingly just outside the elevator doors, crowding the small exit. Steve crouched and came up under the man's guard. He launched a strike of his own, pivoting his hips as he aimed for the man's kevlar vest. The force of his punch pushed his assailant back from the elevator. As the man staggered, Steve slipped past into the broad, brightly lit hallway of the third floor research department at the New Avengers Facility. The man growled and turned to face Steve, rubbing his chest. Just then, the fire alarm went off. Its shrieking siren and blinking red lights gave the man pause, but Steve didn't look away as he set his feet and raised his fists.

"You wanna keep going, big guy?" he challenged.

The man responded by launching himself at Steve, driving him back toward the wall of windows at the end of the hallway. Steve felt the air leave his lungs as he hit the windows with a loud smack. He interlaced his fingers and brought them down on top of the man's head, but the helmet blunted the impact. Steve heard a tell-tale scritch of cracking glass behind him. God, this guy was huge.

"Hey, asswipe!" shouted an unfamiliar voice.

A red fire extinguisher clouted Steve's assailant over the ear, knocking him sideways. The glass let go at the same moment with a tinkling crash that exploded outward. Steve hovered dubiously in the open air, his toes curling in his shoes as he felt his balance slip. Then a hand gripped the center of his t-shirt and pulled him back to the safety of the third floor.

"You alright, Cap?" asked Darcy Lewis, Dr. Foster's research assistant. She still held the heavy extinguisher with one hand, apparently ready to dish out more blunt force trauma.

"I am now," Steve replied. "Thanks for the save, Miss Lewis."

A mischievous grin split Darcy's bright red lips. "Let's get one thing straight, Cap. I am not, nor will I ever be, Miss Lewis. Just call me Darcy. And can you tell me what the hell's going on out here?"

Steve followed the track of her waving hand, focusing on a stairwell door at the other end of the hall as it disgorged two more men in black. They were outfitted exactly like his first opponent. The pair caught sight of Darcy and Steve standing over their compatriot.

"Oh, shit," Darcy said, eyes wide.

Steve heard the crackle of their radios as one leaned his head to the side.

"Target sighted," the man reported softly. They came forward cautiously on silent feet and slowly raised their weapons. Steve glanced to the left, where Darcy's victim lay on the ground, still dazed. Beyond him, a stairwell.

"Darcy, run," Steve urged, his voice low.

She didn't need to be told twice. Dropping the extinguisher on top of the first man, she turned and took off. Steve was right on her heels, crossing the six feet of space faster than the two men could pull their triggers. He pulled the door open, covering Darcy with his broad back as the pair of them spilled onto a narrow concrete landing. Steve heard the patter of bullets impacting the walls behind them and they ducked as the door latched shut. Steve grabbed Darcy's hand when she descended the first step.

"We've got to go up. I need my shield," Steve told her. Darcy shook her head furiously.

"Up is where they go in horror movies, Cap. Never go up," she protested.

"No time to argue," Steve responded.

He yanked her by one arm and tossed her over his shoulder, then climbed onto the waist-high metal railing.

"Cap… Cap, what are you do-ahhh!" Darcy screamed as Steve leapt from one landing to the next, turned, then sprang up one more, holding her tightly around the waist as he did so. Darcy kicked her feet and pounded tiny fists into Steve's back as he came down from the railing onto the fifth floor landing.

"Not cool, Cap. Not cool!"

They could hear the door burst open two floors below. Shouts echoed around the concrete walls. Steve fumbled for his ID card and pressed it to a reader for the fifth floor and they were in the hall before their pursuers could glimpse them. He deposited Darcy on shaky legs as the door clicked shut.

Darcy punched Steve on the bicep, then muttered as she gripped her own fist and shook it out. "Ow. What the fuck, Cap? You gotta warn a girl first."

"Sorry," Steve apologized, taking her hand again and starting off down the hall. "That should hold them for a minute. The door's reinforced and they can't get in without a code."

"Well, how'd they get onto the third floor, then?"

Steve frowned and picked up his pace, Darcy trailing after him.

"They're after me, so you'll be safe in my room once I get my shield and get in touch with Maria, or Nat."

Darcy grimaced as she looked up at him. "They want you, but I'll be safe at your place?"

"I'll make it real obvious I'm not there."

Steve swiped the card once more and let them into his apartment. He glanced around briefly, then flipped up several light switches. Darcy followed, curious.

"Sooo… do you keep it in like, a special china cabinet, or a coat closet, or…" Darcy stopped at the edge of the entry tile and watched as Steve lifted the bottom edge of an overlarge plasma TV he rarely used. It swung upward to reveal a square safe about three feet wide set into the wall.

"Yeah, that makes a lot more sense," Darcy nodded as Steve tapped in his code and placed his eye to an optical scanner.

The safe opened with a hiss. Steve gripped the edge of his disc-shaped vibranium shield with one hand and took out an earwig with the other. He settled the earwig in his ear and opened a secure channel.

"Anyone out there? Maria? Vision?"

"Mondays, am I right?" replied Sam Wilson, the Falcon. "You okay, Cap?"

Steve smiled. "Yeah, fine. Engaged three hostiles on the third floor. Had some help incapacitating one of them."

He grinned at Darcy, who gave a thumbs up and a 'tell him it was me!' gesture.

"What's the angle?"

"I'm not completely sure. They're targeting me for some reason. I was thinking of finding out why. Hang on a minute." Steve secured his shield on his arm and turned back to Darcy. "You can make yourself at home. Take a breath. You're a civilian, so I need to you shelter in place until the Avengers give the all clear. Do you understand?"

"Cool. Can I raid your fridge?" Darcy's flippant answer as she flounced over to his couch and kicked off her shoes made him blink.

"Uh, yeah. Not much on offer, but whatever's in there is yours. You sure you're alright?"

He closed the safe and lowered the TV, eyes on the young woman who was now pulling her feet up under her legs and searching for his remote control.

"Look, Cap, this isn't my first rodeo. Jane may have been under the impression that this was a quiet place to do research, but I had money on an invasion by aliens or terrorists within the first two weeks." Darcy frowned, pulling at her bottom lip. "I was wrong, though. It's been a whole five months since we moved in."

Steve grinned again and shook his head. Darcy Lewis wasn't quite what he'd expected.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, Miss Lewis, but I need to go clean up the latest invasion. I'll check back with you after. Please don't leave until I come get you, okay?"

"Oh my God, Cap, it's Darcy."

"In that case, quit calling me Cap. Steve is fine."

Steve walked over to his windows as Darcy turned on the TV. He pushed the blinds aside with two fingers and looked down. He had a grand view of the front parking lot from his apartment; Tony's idea of a joke, but Steve didn't mind. He stared thoughtfully at an unfamiliar black van, about the size of a surveillance vehicle, parked surreptitiously at the edge of the lot. He pressed his earwig.

"Sam, you got time for a pick up? Fifth floor, my apartment."

"Sure," came the reply. "I'll be there in thirty seconds."

"I'm gonna go now," Steve said to Darcy, sliding the window open. He seated himself easily on the thick ledge, swung his legs over and stood. A light breeze ruffled his hair as he watched for Sam.

Darcy barely looked up from the television. "Later, strange superhuman man who doesn't use doors…" her voice trailed off in the distance as Steve jumped neatly off the window ledge.

A rush of air filled his ears and Sam gripped Steve's outstretched arm firmly, wings straining to lift them both.

"Where we going?" he shouted over the buffeting wind that pressed against both men.

Steve pointed his shield at the black van. "Drop me there!"

Sam brought them in at an angle, using their shared momentum to propel Steve feet first through the passenger side window. His booted feet shattered the glass and drove right into the jaw of a very surprised driver. The man slumped, unconscious. Steve righted himself, holding the edge of the busted windowpane, then crouched and glanced around. No one came running from outside; no one came forward from the rear of the truck.

"I think this might be a pretty small outfit, whoever they are. They only left one guy to guard the getaway," Steve reported into his comm.

"Tiny, but fierce. Got a couple of hostiles over by the Quinjet that have me pinned down," replied Natasha Romanov.

"Need help?" Sam replied.

"I wouldn't say no. I'll lead them outside."

Steve let their voices fade into the background as he stood back up and yanked open the locked door that separated the cabin from the rear of the truck. As he'd suspected, there was unmanned surveillance equipment set into one side and gear and gun cages on the other. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up when he saw a figure lying in the center aisle.

"Shit," he muttered. "Darcy - how did you-"

Steve knelt next to her, but paused when he took in her unresponsive glassy eyes, the way her hands lay still at her side. He sat back and ran a hand through his hair.

"LMD," he said aloud, relieved.

It hadn't been activated yet. How had this team managed to procure proprietary S.H.I.E.L.D. technology? He gave the Life Model Decoy a critical once over. It had a bruised eye and convincing scrapes on its knuckles and arms. Chestnut waves identical to the real Darcy's hair were tousled into a rat's nest of tangles. One shoe was missing - but he noticed it was wearing the same t-shirt, skirt and tights ensemble the real Darcy had on that day. A sick feeling bubbled up in Steve's stomach.

"Rhodey! Maria! Sam! Nat!" he barked. "I was wrong about the target! Someone pick up!"

"A little busy here, Steve," James Rhodes, the War Machine, shouted. Steve could hear the pops of repeated gunshots in the background.

"Nat, can you get to the fifth floor for an extraction?" Steve pressed.

"No, I can't get clear," she replied.

"Me neither," Sam answered before Steve could ask.

"I'm in," reported Maria Hill. "Oh, wait, I take it ba-" her response was overwhelmed by the sound of gunfire as she defended her position, wherever it was.

Steve stepped past the LMD and pushed open the back doors of the van. Daylight streamed in over the LMD's pale skin. It looked utterly convincing. Steve stared up and up at the far off fifth floor of the New Avengers Facility and sighed.