Author: Guess who's back! For the time being at least. RWBY has
given me so many feels lately that I'm practically drowning in them.
Plus I'm currently battle bronchitus and getting married in a month and a
half... so yeah... crazy life. Happy V-Day. Have some badass-ness.

April 3rd, 2014

Washington DC

"Bald dude? Glasses? Talking with Senator Stern?" Sam whispered.

"That's him. The program is running just fine." Natasha confirmed in his ear.

Sam nodded and pulled out his new phone, speed dialing the only number in it.

As he watched the two men with Jasper Sitwell walked away and Sitwell put his phone to his ear.

"Yes sir?"

"Agent Sitwell, how was lunch? I hear the crab cakes here are delicious." Sam said.

Sitwell tensed because while his caller ID had read Alexander Pierce, the voice on the other end was not his superior officer.

"Who is this?" he asked.

"The good looking guy in the sunglasses, your 10 o'clock." Sam said and watched Sitwell turn right.

"Your other 10 o'clock." Sam prompted and watched Sitwell turn back to his left.

Sitwell spotted him right away: a solid-looking African American man in jeans and a leather jacket.

"There you go." Sam smirked, lifting his tea in a mock toast from the coffeehouse patio across the street.

"What do you want?" Sitwell asked.

Sam smirked a bit and said, "You're gonna go around the corner to your right. There's a gray car two spaces down. You and I are gonna take a ride."

Sitwell smirked. He had been threatened more times than he could count and had no intentions of doing what this stranger wanted him to do. "And why would I do that?" he asked.

"Natasha." Sam heard Steve whisper through the com.

"Because that tie looks really expensive. And I'd hate to mess it up." Sam warned.

Sitwell looked down and saw a bright red dot of a laser sight on his tie, about six inches below the knot... right above his heart.

Sitwell looked around, trying desperately to find the sniper.

"Car. Now." Sam told him.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Steve shoved Sitwell across the rooftop and said, "Tell me about Zola's algorithm."

Natasha's footsteps were right behind him, a reminder that she was loyal to him... not HYDRA.

"Never heard of it." Sitwell lied.

"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?" Steve demanded.

"I was throwing up. I get seasick."

Sitwell stumbled as he bumped into the knee-high parapet running around the roof.

Steve caught him but didn't let him get away from the edge, boxing him in with his bulkier frame. Natasha stepped up on his left and glanced around, seemingly unconcerned with Sitwell.

Sitwell smirked, knowing that Captain America wasn't a murderer and asked, "Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw me off the roof? Because it's not really your style Rogers."

Steve smirked as he straightened Sitwell's jacket and smoothed it out like they were old friends, remembering something Rain had once told him.

flashback

"You always want to mislead your enemies. Especially if they have a college degree in espionage." Rain said, taking a cup of coffee from him.

"What if some of your friends have that same degree?" Steve asked as he opened a DVD case.

"Well... then I'd say you have some pretty interesting friends." she smirked.

End Flashback

Steve nodded and admitted, "You're right. It's not. It's hers."

With that he stepped away from Sitwell, who had no time to react as Natasha kicked him square in the chest... right off the edge of the thirty story building.

As his screams faded into the distance, Natasha looked up at him and said, "Oh, wait. What about that girl from Accounting, Laura..."

"No wait... that can't be right." she thought.

"Lillian. Lip piercing right?" Steve corrected.

Natasha nodded and said, "Yeah she's cute."

"Yeah I'm not ready for that." Steve shrugged.

"You don't like piercings but you don't mind tattoos?" Natasha asked.

Steve smirked, knowing that she was talking about Rain's tattoos. He had seen the three dates on her left wrist and the two on her right but had never asked about them. He knew the hawk tattooed on her upper right shoulder blade was in honor of Clint, who had taken her under his wing and trained her when she joined SHIELD. And he knew the SHIELD logo at the nape of her neck spoke for itself.

"If they mean something, I'm okay with them." he admitted.

A few seconds later, Sitwell came flying up over the edge of the roof, still screaming and in the firm grip of Sam Wilson.

Sam wore no uniform, just regular street clothes and a set of polarized googles against the glare and the wind. From his shoulders sprouted twenty foot wings jointed into a jetpack barely larger than a high schooler's backpack.

Natasha smiled and whispered, "The EXO-7 Falcon tech is amazing. And so is the Falcon."

Steve nodded his agreement as Sam dropped Sitwell on the roof and landed. The wings folded into the jetpack, which powered down. "I think Clint is going to want one for himself." Steve whispered.

Natasha smirked as they walked up to Sitwell, who was looking none too happy.

"Zola's algorithm is a program for choosing Insight's targets." Sitwell panted.

"What targets?" Steve asked.

Natasha raised an eyebrow as Sitwell pointed at Steve. "You! A TV anchor in Cairo. The undersecretary of defense. A high school valedictorian in Iowa City. Bruce Banner... Stephen Strange... anyone who's a threat to HYDRA. Now, or in the future." he snapped.

Steve almost scoffed, knowing that more than likely anyone who went after Banner was going to get a lot more than they bargained for. "In the future? How could it know?" he asked.

Sitwell chuckled and got up, standing to face Steve. Behind him, Sam took a few steps forward... not trusting the HYDRA agent.

"How could it not? The twenty-first century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it. Your bank records, medical history, voting patterns, e-mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores! Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future." he snarled.

Natasha shot a glance at Steve who whispered, "What then?"

A look of fear passed over Sitwell's face and he whispered, "Oh, my God. Pierce is gonna kill me."

"What then?!" Steve demanded, taking a step forward.

Sam grabbed the back of Sitwell's jacket, reminding him that it would be a bad idea to run.

"Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list... a few million at a time." Sitwell said.

"Shit." Steve thought.