Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or Winter Soldier. They belong to their respective owners. I just own my OC and I am writing for fun and not for profit.
Chapter 37: Shield Vs. Hydra
It was a quiet night in the Smithsonian until a lonely security guard walked down the halls with his flashlight forward to see what all the ruckus had been about. The old man with aviators on shined his light inside the Captain America exhibit and widened his eyes at the stolen costume of the Captain America mannequin display.
"Oh man! I am so fired," he said.
~*WS*~
"We are in final launch sequence," the SHIELD computer said to the SHIELD techie's sitting at their computer station in the main control room of the Triskelion.
"We are go on guidance," A SHIELD tech announced over the headset he wore around his head. Insight Launch read little over two minutes on the clock.
"All personnel to launch station," the SHIELD computer announced over the Triskelion's intercom.
Meanwhile, Alexander Pierce stood inside the massive lobby of the Triskelion, waiting for the World Council to arrive with men by his side.
"And how was your flight?" Pierce asked as he joined Councilwoman Hawley by herside dressed in a blue blaze outfit, carrying her purse on her shoulder. She was always in top shape and a beautiful woman.
"Lovely," Hawley replied. "The ride from the airport, less so."
"Sadly, SHIELD can't control everything," Pierce said.
"Including Captain America," Rockwell said, coming up on the other side of Pierce.
"This facility is biometrically controlled, and these will give you unrestricted access," Pierce explained as they stopped beside a SHIELD agent, dressed in black. He had a small black case in his hand that opened up to reveal four pins for each of the Councilmen.
Hawley took one for herself and pinned it against her blue jacket's collar, while the other three men each took one for their suit.
~*WS*~
Up on a different floor of the Triskelion where the technical members of SHIELD controlled the satellites, a helicopter flew outside the window that no one paid any attention to because they were so focused on their own work.
A couple of the techie's were talking about a parking spot though because someone wasn't too happy that that tech person had parked in his spot.
"I've been parking there for two months," he said.
"But it's his spot," his co-worker tried to reason with him.
"So where's he been?" he asked.
"I think Afghanistan," he replied.
"Negative, DT-6. The pattern is full," he said in his headset, and then turned to his co-worker. "Well, he could have said something."
Then all of a sudden they heard a loud static noise that pinged in their ears. "Owe!" They winced, taking their headsets off for a second. "Must be the dish?" he asked, glancing at his co-worker with nervous eyes.
"I'll check it out," he said, and got up from his seat. He reached for the door, and turned the handle, pulling it back open only to reveal Captain America, Sam, Agent Hill, and Agent Sawyer on either side of him with guns raised at his head.
"Excuse us," Steve said.
Steve, Agent Hill, Agent Sawyer, and Sam followed in line as the tech guy moved out of the way with his hands still raised in the air, definitely not wanting to get on Captain America's bad side.
"Thank you," Zoe said as she walked by the tech guy who just gawked at her with shock in his eyes.
~*WS*~
Inside the Council room, Pierce was delivering a speech. He'd given everyone a champagne flute filled with golden liquid. Project Insight was almost ready to launch and his plan was about to explode into full bloom of his beautiful sky view in front of his massive window that stretched around the room, leading out to the balcony of the rooftop.
"I know the road hasn't exactly been smooth, and some of you would have gladly kicked me out of the car along the way. Finally we're here, and the world should be grateful," Pierce said. He raised his glass and was about to take a sip to finish it off with his celebrated moment, relishing in his body until he heard a familiar voice that belonged to none other than Captain America. Pierce slowly stopped his flute from reaching his lips, listening to Rogers's words spewing out of the intercom.
"Attention, all SHIELD agents. This is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about me over the last few days, some of you were even ordered to hunt me down," The whole building of the Triskelion grew quiet and frozen, listening to his voice on the Intercom. "But I think it's time you know the truth. SHIELD is not what we thought it was, it's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader. The STRIKE and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. I don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want: absolute control. They shot the Nick Fury and it won't end there. If you launch those Helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way, unless we stop them. I know I'm asking a lot, but the price of freedom is high, it always has been, and it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not," Steve finished over the Intercom.
"Did you write that down first or was that just off the top of your head?" Sam asked with a grin on his face, standing behind Steve inside the satellite control room. Steve looked at him and Zoe smiled.
"It definitely came from the heart," she whispered to Sam, leaning conspicuously next to him, and
Steve smiled back at her.
Meanwhile back in the Council room, the Councilmen looked at one another in shock and stared angrily at Alexander Pierce, who looked almost frightened at them, almost.
"You smug son of a bitch," Rockwell said.
Two agents arrived in the room with heavy weapons in their hands. Pierce smiled at them, but Singh thought they were SHILED agents. "Arrest him," he ordered, but they didn't move a muscle, and kept their guns trained on the Councilmen.
"I guess I've got the floor," Pierce said.
~*WS*~
Agent Brock Rumlow charged into the main control room and weaved through the table rows of the computer station. He leaned his arms forward over the tech, intimidating him because Agent 13 looked over at his scared face and she stayed still, curious as to what Rumlow was capable of and how her co-worker was going to handle this situation.
"Is there a problem?" Rumlow asked.
"I'm sorry, sir," The techie said, physically sweating with nerves that ridded through him. He drew in a couple breaths. "But I'm not going to launch those ships. Captain's orders."
Rumlow stepped back and raised his gun at the tech guy's head. The tech guy raised his hands in the air and Rumlow lowered his gun, aiming it for the back of his head.
"Move away from your station," Rumlow ordered.
Agent 13 walked over to him and raised her gun at Rumlow. "Like he said," she said defiantly. "Captain's orders!"
"You picked the wrong side, agent," Rumlow warned dangerously, glancing at her sideways.
"Depends on where you're standing," Agent 13 replied.
Inside the satellite control room, Maria and Zoe watched over the cameras and Zoe tugged on her lip nervously. "I should be down there," she said. "Rumlow's my responsibility."
"He's no one's responsibility but himself. He chose his side on his own accord," Maria replied. "Now, keep an eye on that door, make sure no one comes in."
"Got it," Zoe said, keeping her gun focused on the door, while Maria tackled the controls.
Two agents appeared suddenly out of nowhere and Zoe shot at them. They flew back down the stairs, trampling over one another, out cold. Maria smirked at her and turned to the monitor.
"They're initiating launch," Hill said. Zoe whirled around at her words and widened her eyes.
"Hey Cap, how do we tell the bad guys from the good guys?" Sam asked over their earpieces.
"If they're shooting at you they're bad," Steve replied.
Zoe paced back and forth, twirling her gun in her hands. She tried not to look at the fire commotion happening outside as Sam and Steve worked on trying to disable the Hellicarriers from launching into the skies above Washington D.C.
"Hey Cap, found those bad guys you were talking about," Sam said.
"You okay?" Steve asked Sam.
"Not dead yet," Sam replied.
"Please keep each other alive, I actually like Sam," Zoe said, and turned around when another agent headed up the stairs trying to get into the satellite room. She shot him in the shoulder. "Don't they see the dead agents on the floor?" she asked with a shake of her head.
"Awe, thanks Zo, I'll try my best," Sam said, flying through the skies with his Falcon jet-back.
"I won't let him get hurt," Steve promised.
~*WS*~
"Let me ask you a question. What if Pakistan marched into Mumbai tomorrow, and you knew that they were gonna drag your daughters into a soccer stadium for execution?" Pierce said, glancing at the others in the room.
They glanced at each other worriedly at Pierce's question hanging in the air. Pierce handed Singh a glass of champagne. Singh took it and swallowed a big worried gulp in his throat.
"And you could just stop it with a flick of a switch. Would you? Wouldn't you all?" he spun around the room for answers.
"Not if it was your switch," Singh replied and tossed the flute to the floor. It broke and shattered on the floor beneath them to shattered pieces with a loud clink sound.
One of the HYDRA agents handed Pierce his gun, and Pierce raised it to shoot Singh for disagreeing with him, but all of a sudden Hawley kicked Singh out of danger, and whirled around engaging into a fight with the HYDRA agents, knocking them out in the same fashion of the famous Black Widow.
Once the agents were out, she stood in front of Pierce with a smirk on her face. She pressed a button on the side of her cheekbone and pulled off the Hawley mask, revealing Natasha Romanoff. "I'm sorry, did I step on your moment?" Natasha asked.
~*WS*~
"Satellites in range at three thousand feet," One of the tech men announced to his team.
~*WS*~
"Falcon, status?" Hill demanded.
"Engaging," Falcon replied as he flew down, and landed onto the Hellicarrier almost ready to take flight. He kicked the HYDRA agents guarding the Hellicarrier as he landed on the bridge. "Alright, Cap, I'm in." Sam said.
But a HYDRA jet started shooting at Sam. "Shit!" Sam cried, and had to fly off the Hellicarrier's bridge in order to avoid getting shot.
"Eight minutes, Cap," Hill warned.
"Working on it!" Steve replied.
~*WS*~
"What are you doing?" Rockwell asked, glancing at Natasha as she stood by the computer station Pierce had already set up. The thin screen showed lines and numbers, and all different kinds of information as Natasha typed idly away, focusing on spilling secrets over the internet.
"She's disabling security protocols and dumping all the secrets onto the Internet," Pierce replied, watching her with curiosity in his blue eyes.
"Including HYDRA's," Natasha said.
"And SHIELD's," Pierce reminded her. "If you do this, none of your past is going to remain hidden," he warned, but she continued anyway. "Are you ready for the world to see you as you really are?"
Natasha looked up at him, "Are you?"
~*WS*~
"Alpha locked," Steve said, taking down one Hellicarrier.
"Falcon, status, where are you now?" Hill asked.
"Had to take a detour!" Sam shouted in the air, as more HYDRA jets fired at Sam. He twirled in the sky, and flew in a zig-zag motion trying to escape the fireballs coming at him in full force. He finally managed to get onto his targeted Hellicarrier. "Oh yeah1" he said, and switched the disks in the computer room shut. "Bravo locked!" Sam jumped out of the Hellicarrier and into the sky.
"Two down, one to go," Hill said, sharing a small look with Zoe.
~*WS*~
"All SHIELD pilot, scramble," the SHIELD pilot said out on the airstrip. "We're the only air support Captain Rogers has got,"
The Winter Soldier appeared on top of the ledge, looking down at the commotion on the airstrip. He raised his machine gun and started firing at the SHIELD pilots, and dropped down into one of the empty jets and took off.
~*WS*~
"Disabling the encryption is an executive order," Pierce said. "It takes two Alpha Level members."
Natasha smirked up at him with confidence shining in her eyes. "Don't worry, company's coming."
And indeed, company did come. The helicopter landed on the rooftop beside the building and Fury walked inside the side door. Pierce widened his eyes, shocked at his late friend's entrance, dressed and ready to go complete in his black trench coat that covered his injured arm in a sling.
"Did you get my flowers?" Pierce asked.
Fury didn't respond. A cool chill in the room swept around the Councilmen remaining shocked as they looked at Fury and Pierce.
"I'm glad you're here, Nick," Pierce said.
"Really?" Fury said in disbelief. "Cause I thought you had me killed."
"You know how the game works," Pierce said.
"So, why make me head of S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Fury demanded.
"Cause you're the best and the most ruthless person I ever met," Pierce replied solemnly.
"I did what I did to protect people," Fury said.
"Our enemies are your enemies, Nick. Disorder, war. It's just a matter of time before a dirty bomb goes off in Moscow, or an EMP fries Chicago. Diplomacy? Holding action, a band-aid. And you know where I learned that; Bogota. You didn't ask, you just did what had to be done. I can bring order to the lives of seven billion people by sacrificing twenty million. It's the next step, Nick, if you have the courage to take it," Pierce explained passionately.
Fury looked at him with his steely eye and a look that read he was calling out on Pierce's bullshit. There was no way he shared the same feelings he did as before when they used to be friends.
"No," Fury said deeply. "I had the courage not to." Fury grabbed Pierce by the arm and dragged him over to the retinal scanner as Natasha pointed her gun at Peirce's head.
Fury shoved Pierce against the screen, as Pierce tried to struggle from his old friend's strong grasp.
"Retinal scanner, active," the computer announced.
"You don't think we wiped your clearance from the system?" Pierce challenged.
"I know you erased my password, probably deleted my retinal scan, but if you want to stay ahead of me, Mr. Secretary..." When Fury saw that Natasha had her focus on Pierce in case he moved, he pulled off his black eye patch revealing a purple and red eye, completely immovable. "You gotta keep both eyes open."
Fury shoved Pierce against the retinal scanner and the computer scanned both of their eyes connecting to the source.
~*WS*~
"Charlie Carrier's forty-five degrees off the port bow," Hill announced. "Six minutes."
Zoe leaned over Hill's shoulder, watching the monitor closely.
~*WS*~
"Hey Sam!" Steve said running down the airstrip in the middle of the firefight. He tossed "I'm gonna need a ride!"
Steve jumped off the airstrip when HYDRA agents continued to fire at him.
"Rogers! Let me know when you're ready!" Sam yelled, flying in midair.
"I just did!" he said, free falling from the skies.
Sam pushed harder through the skies with all the power and energy he got in order to keep up with the Captain.
He finally grabbed his arms and brought him over back to the last Hellicarrier's airstrip with all his might, shouting as he pulled his strength to carry Steve in the air. He dropped Steve on the airstrip.
"You know," Sam said. "You're a lot heavier than you look."
"I had a big breakfast," Steve said.
The Winter Soldier appeared and knocked Steve off the edge. "Steve!" Sam cried, but the Winter Soldier grabbed one of Sam's wings and tore it off of him in one swift movement, causing Sam to fall on the airstrip hard oh the ground.
"Steve?! Are you okay?" Sam asked. "Come in!"
"Yeah, I'm here!" Steve said, pulling himself up on the ledge of the inside Hellicarrier's blades. "Still on the Hellicarrier. Where are you?"
"I'm grounded," Sam replied, looking for the Winter Soldier, but he had disappeared, more than likely to go after Steve. "Suit's down. Sorry, Cap."
"Don't worry, I got it."
~*WS*~
"Sir, Council's been breached," One of the HYDRA agents said to Rumlow as Rumlow cleared through the building's stairs.
"Repeat dispatch," Rumlow ordered, killing two more SHIELD agents that got in his way.
"Black Widow's up there," the HYDRA agent replied.
Zoe watched on the monitor with cold hard eyes. Rumlow was really pissing her off. He was shooting innocent people and he was about to kill more. She'd had enough of him, and she wasn't going to let him hurt anyone else. She grabbed the duffle bag from the desk, strapped it over her shoulder, and she pulled off her earpiece. "Zoe?" Hill warned.
"I'm going after him," she said, sprinting into a run down the stairs.
"Zoe!" Hill called after her, but Zoe wasn't listening. She'd already made up her mind and she was not backing down.
"Damn it," Hill said, and turned to the monitor, and her own earpiece with a worried look on her face. "Falcon?"
"Yeah?" Sam asked.
"Zoe's going after Rumlow, alone, without communications," Hill said.
"I'm on it," Sam said.
Two more HYDRA agents appeared and Hill got up from her seat, pulling out her gun, shooting them down on the ground.
"Seriously, they don't see the dead agents?" Hill shook her head. HYDRA definitely meant business, if that was the case, Hill thought, going back to work on her monitor. She looked over as she spotted Zoe climbing up the stairs, shooting any HYDRA agent who got in her way, heading toward Rumlow.