"…And so these 'movies' allow us a glimpse into the future!" Thor clamped his hands with enthusiasm. "How marvellous! I do not understand how Lady Jane forgot to tell me of this!"
Tony sighed. "Thor, seriously buddy, movies are not weird fortune-telling devices — this particular one, for some strange reason — "
"I must tell Father at once! These would be of great aid during times of war!"
"No they wouldn't, because — "
"Ahh!" Clint held up a hand, stopping Tony mid-sentence. "You know, that sounds like a great idea. Make sure to mention "Fifty Shades of Grey", alright? It's great, really, so helpful during war…"
Thor nodded knowingly. "Yes — about the different sides of war, I assume?"
Clint nodded sagely. Natasha sighed and rolled her eyes.
Steve's brow furrowed. "Tony, didn't you tell me to put that on my list?"
"Uh-huh, that I did. You'll love it Capsicle — but enough of that, we can save it for the next movie night. Let's get back to this little gem!"
"Easy for you to say," Steve sighed. "It isn't you up there."
"Yet," Bruce interjected.
Tony shrugged. "Eh, I can handle it. How bad can it be?"
He grabbed the remote, and the television screen came back to life.
The hostages sat to the floor, tied together. The camera moved, focusing on the face of a familiar looking man.
"Jasper Sitwell," Natasha murmured.
"They mentioned him earlier, didn't they?" Bruce inquired, and Natasha nodded.
"You want a bullet in your head?" a man growled, pointing his gun.
The scene changed, focusing on Steve. He was running, jumping over railings. He fired a device, which attached to the wall. Batroc's voice could be heard, as he spoke in French to another person.
There was a scene change. A man put a phone down and turned. Natasha was standing right behind him.
"Hi sailor," she said.
She swiftly kicked him in the leg. The man went down, screaming in pain. Natasha wrapped a cord around his neck, swung him, and jumped to the floor. The man's head hit a nearby railing.
"Holy shit, you are good," Tony breathed. "Why the hell are you so good?"
Natasha shot him an amused glance.
"Your skills are indeed impressive," Thor complemented her, beaming.
Natasha went over the railing and dropped down. Guns started to fire as she moved. She stopped mid-air; men turned to look at her, and she shot them.
Tony winced. "Ouch. Glad I'm not them."
The rest of the room seemed to share this sentiment.
The scene changed. A group of men were walking towards the edge of the boat, and jumping off. They hit the side of the boat, and start walking along it.
The scene changed again, this time briefly showing them a man removing a pack from his back.
They were briefly shown the men on the boat again, before the scene changed bak to the man with the pack. He placed a device on the door, while Rumlow stood behind him, holding a gun.
The scene changed, to show Steve, hiding behind a wall and watching two men standing by the window.
The scene changed, back to Rumlow and the other S.H.I.E.L.D agent. "Target acquired," the man said.
"Strike in position," Rumlow replied.
"What, they're going to blow the door down?" Tony asked, his brow furrowed.
Natasha shrugged. "Most likely," she replied.
"You know, not that this isn't great and everything but…why exactly do we need to watch this?" Clint's brow furrowed. "We've been on S.H.I.E.L.D missions before. We know how things work. So what's the point?"
"Steve seems to be the focus so far," Bruce pointed out.
"Yeah, but watching Rumlow blow a door up? Why do we need to see that?"
"Just keep watching," Natasha sighed. "I'm sure all your questions will be answered soon." She didn't sound too enthusiastic about this.
Steve continued to watch the screen warily. Bruce was right; so far, this movie had seemed to mainly focus on him, and he knew, sooner or later, his future-self would be back.
The scene changed, back to Steve. "Natasha, what's your status?" he called.
The scene changed, as Natasha dropped the ceiling. She started to run.
"Hang on!" she called back.
She jumped onto a man, sending several bolts of electricity into him. He fell, and Natasha hit the floor. She rolled to her feet. Another man came running around the corner. Natasha jerked his arm upwards, and he screamed in agony.
Everyone in the room, save for Natasha, let out a series of winces. Tony absently rubbed his arm.
Natasha rolled her eyes. "The guy was asking for it."
"How do you know? You haven't even done it yet!" Tony grumbled.
Natasha dropped to her feet, kicking her legs out, and knocking the man to the floor. The man fell. Natasha leapt upwards, and kicked her leg out, hitting another man. She grabbed onto the man's neck and flipped her entire body upwards, before bringing it down in one fluid movement. The man was tossed unceremoniously onto the floor. Natasha jumped gracefully back to her feet.
Several jaws were hanging open. Clint, who looked entirely unsurprised, shot Natasha a proud smile. Everyone else looked utterly stunned.
"I knew you were good," Steve murmured, staring at the screen with wide eyes, "but it sure is something, seeing you in action like that."
"Yeah," Tony said, his eyes equally wide. "Those are some seriously impressive moves. Some seriously impressive, painful moves."
Natasha shrugged. "I've had training," she replied, and then glanced at the screen. Tony shook his head, muttering about "weird Russian ninjas", but soon he and the others had followed her lead.
"Engine room secure," Natasha reported. The man on the floor began to wake up. Natasha grabbed a pipe, slamming it across his head. The man dropped to the floor, unconscious.
Natasha walked off.
The scene changed, showing the room with the hostages. Sitwell was staring forward. A man started to speak, and Sitwell glanced at him.
The scene changed. "On my mark," Steve began.
The scene changed again, showing Rumlow, standing with his gun. Steve's voice could be heard: "3…2…1."
Guns started firing, and the door exploded. It fell to the floor. The men inside turned to stare. Rumlow hit one of the Captors with his gun, and the man fell to the floor. The hostages looked on.
"I told you," Sitwell said. "SHIELD doesn't negotiate."
"I feel like I should be cheering right now," Clint commented. "…Except I never really liked Sitwell much."
Tony nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he has this air about him, doesn't he? The kind of guy you'd like to punch in the face."
The scene changed. Batroc and another man were talking.
Steve suddenly appeared in the distance, and threw his shield. It shattered the glass; the men ducked down. The shield embedded itself in the wall.
"Ooh, the action is about to start!" Tony exclaimed gleefully, rubbing his hands together.
Steve shifted nervously. He still couldn't get over how strange this felt. He didn't like the feeling of watching things that had yet to happen — things that he seemed to be at the centre of — with no idea how they would progress.
Steve climbed aboard the ship. Batroc kicked him, and ran out of the room. Steve stared at him for a moment, before grabbing his shield, and following.
The scene changed, showing Rumlow walking down a corridor. Sitwell followed close behind.
"Hostages en route to extraction," Rumlow reported.
The scene changed again, showing Steve running down a flight of steps.
"Romanov missed the rendezvous, cap," a voice reported over the comm. "Hostiles still at play."
"Natasha," Steve said. "Batroc's on the move. Circle back to Rumlow, protect the hostages." There was no reply. "Natasha!" he repeated.
"What's she doing?" Steve muttered, staring warily at the screen.
Natasha rolled her eyes. "Calm down," she told him. "I'm sure I'm fine."
Suddenly Batroc jumped out. Steve lifted his shield to defend himself, and the man's foot hit the shield. Steve rolled backwards, and jumped to his feet. The man leaped again. His foot hit the shield, and Steve fell backwards. The man flipped. Steve's legs quickly jerked apart, and the man's foot narrowly missed his crotch.
A series of groans erupted around the room.
"Fuck, that was close," Clint muttered, grimacing.
Steve jumped to his feet, and the man hit him again. Steve rolled backwards, and jumped to his feet. He and the man continued to fight. He then hit the man with his shield, sending him flying backwards. The man flipped back onto his feet.
The man ran forward, punching and kicking. Steve continued to defend himself using the shield. Steve attempted to subdue the man, who flipped out of his way. They stood still, staring at each other, both panting hard.
"Dammit, why can't these guys just stay down?!" Tony exclaimed incredulously.
Steve placed his shield on his back, removed his cowl, and stared at the man.
Thor cocked his head to the side, confused. "What…are you doing?" he asked slowly.
"Yeah Steve, now really isn't the time to put your shield away," Clint told him, slightly incredulous.
He dropped the cowl to the floor.
The man came running towards Steve. Steve blocked all his punches, and they continued to fight for a moment. Steve took a swing, and clipped the man's face. He then kicked the man, sending him flying backwards, and onto the floor. The man lay on the floor for a moment, and then rolled back up slowly. He climbed unsteadily to his feet.
Steve ran towards the man again. He grabbed him, and ran backwards. They both went crashing through a door. Steve punched the man in the face, and at last he stayed down.
"Oh this is awkward." Steve glanced up — Natasha stood near a series of computers.
Natasha's lips quirked. "Told you I'd be fine."
Bruce squinted. "You were here the whole time?"
She shrugged. "Apparently. I mean, I don't know, obviously, but I'm probably doing what I'm supposed to be doing."
"I thought the job was to get the hostages out?" Steve asked, frowning.
"What are you doing?" Steve asked her.
"Backing up the hard drive," Natasha replied. "It's a good habit to get into."
Steve glanced at the man on the floor, before walking over to Natasha.
"Rumlow needed your help. What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded.
He glanced at the screens. A series of files were being downloaded.
"You're saving shield intel."
"Whatever I can get my hands on," Natasha replied.
"Our mission is to rescue hostages!" Steve snapped.
"Didn't we just have this conversation?" Tony muttered.
"No, that's your mission," Natasha retorted. Her eyes remained glued to the screen. She pulled out the usb, and turned to face Steve. "And you've done it beautifully."
"Ooh," Tony muttered. "Feel the sting."
Steve frowned. "So what, Fury assigned you a different mission than the rest of us? Without telling anyone?"
Natasha sighed. "He does that all the time."
"Doesn't make it right," Steve shot back. "How are we supposed to function as a team if we don't even know what everyone was supposed to be doing?!"
Natasha rolled her eyes. "Oh would you calm down? Everything clearly went fine — the hostages are out, and we've got the intel we need. Now stop asking me about things I haven't even done yet."
Steve sighed and glanced away.
She tried to walk past Steve. He grabbed her arm before she could walk away.
"You've just jeopardised this whole operation," he told her angrily.
"I think that's overstating things," Natasha replied.
"Seriously, stop glaring at the screen," Natasha muttered, nudging Steve with her shoulder. "This is just how SHIELD operates. Get used to it."
"Can we just keep watching?" Bruce suggested. "We can figure this out when it's done — and remember, none of this has happened yet. There's no point in arguing about this now."
Steve hesitated, and then nodded. Natasha shrugged.
At that exact the moment Batroc got up from the floor, and started running towards the door. He threw a grenade at them as he ran, which Steve quickly knocked away with his shield.
Steve grabbed Natasha, and the two of them threw themselves out a nearby window as the grenade went off. The window shattered as they went through it, and they landed on the ground on the other side.
They sat up, both leaning against the wall. Natasha let out a groan of pain.
"Okay. That one's on me," she admitted, gasping.
Tony snorted. Natasha shot him a small glare.
Steve closed his eyes, clearly frustrated. "You're damn right," he snapped.
He got up, and walked away. Natasha watched after him, and rolled her eyes.
Tony paused the movie.
"So…" He glanced at Natasha and Steve, his eyebrows raised. "Apparently there's conflict in the future."
"Let's just keep watching," Steve replied. "If someone wants to watch this, that can't be the only reason. There has to be something else, something that affects us all."
"And this device will tell us exactly what we need to emerge triumphant!" Thor announced. "It is quite weapon."
"Yeah. And also, blackmail — you've got to love all the blackmail opportunities," Tony interjected.
Steve glared.
Natasha grabbed the remote from Tony, and pointed it at the television.
"Let's get this over with, shall we?" she suggested.