Author's Note : There's a lot of canon material here. I'm hitting a writer's block on how I should kill Fury, sorry. Thanks for the reviews, Snapesucks and Gabriel Perseus Potter !
For Gabriel : I appreciate it if you have corrections. Just point them out :) I'll try to correct them ASAP.
And anyway, reviewsss plzzz !
Washington D.C. 15.04 PM. A corner of downtown.
The plan was that a few ("a few" would be a bit understatement) HYDRA soldiers would ambush Nick Fury on his way towards his destination, a destination still unknown to Damijan. If they could eliminate Fury without Damijan's help, it would be totally awesome, but then again it seemed to be the case that the cosmic mandated those lanky soldiers would find Fury much more powerful. In the case of their imminent failure, Damijan was tasked to put the bullet inside Fury's head.
Pierce was right. HYDRA needed to eliminate Nick Fury, fast. As soon as the target was set, Damijan learned things about Fury as much as possible, and god dammit, the man was hard as steel. Tough both on the battlefield and in the command. Experiences : long, extensive undercover missions in Soviet during the Cold War, a founding father of the Avengers Initiative, and then the Director of SHIELD after a successful rescue mission in Bogota. It seemed that Fury, behind his charismatic appearance, held a thousand secrets. He was resourceful. A resourceful man was dangerous, because one could not know what arsenals he kept under his sleeves.
Although, the decision to assassinate Fury right in the middle of Washington DC, the downtown nonetheless, was far more than just questionable. It was plain stupid, Damijan thought. Understandable due to the circumstance, but still stupid.
In the middle of a fucking noon, then. Worse, Damijan had nothing to cover his face.
Damijan was a fish out of its water. He could usually keep his calm during his missions, but being under the sun already stripped his consolation in the darkness. Damijan felt all eyes stared at him, although in reality people just went by the crosswalks, Damijan just another face in the busy street. Damijan's legs kept moving up and down, shaking, and his feet tapped the ground in a steady, fast rhythm. In his left hand was a suitcase, inside it was a weapon; a sort of launcher that could launch a sort of magnetic landmine that would stick to metal objects like cars, and then there was the explosion. A HYDRA-grade item; one designed to kill, not just to arrest.
A single echo of a siren could faintly be heard from the distance. It was the sign; the ambush team had found Fury, and they would try to blow as much damage as possible to Fury. It was also Damijan's sign that he needed to move and intercept Fury should Fury manage to escape the ambush team. Damijan walked to his motorbike and started driving.
Of course, expectedly, the ambush team failed to capture Fury. The defeat was almost certain. He had received a tip from the latest surviving (conscious) member of the ambush team about Fury's car whereabouts and where it probably headed too. So, now it was up to Damijan to finish the job.
Damijan was on the edge of the sidewalk of a large intersection, where two large avenues of Washington DC met. The street was crowded with people, again too crowded for Damijan's comfort. He looked to his left, and in the distance he could see a black SUV, fast approaching Damijan's position. The SUV looked normal, but upon more detailed inspection one could see the car was gravely damaged. Damijan lowered his suitcase to the ground and opened it up, revealing the launcher and a few other lethal arsenals he probably would not need to use.
He walked right into the zebra cross with the launcher in his hand. Damijan received numerous horns from the bypassing car. Some people stared at Damijan.
The SUV went closer, and he could confirm that the man inside the SUV was indeed Fury's, especially the eyepatches. The SUV's front windows were dotted with bullet marks, the car's body broken and in some parts bent as if it was hit by something heavy and large repeatedly, almost irreparable.
Damijan raised the launcher, loading it. Then, he shot the launcher.
The disk-shaped mine quickly travelled, making its way towards the lower part of the SUV. As soon as it was right underneath the SUV, the mine upwards, attaching itself to the metallic body of the SUV.
And soon, there was an explosion. The booming sound was music to Damijan's ears.
The bystanders, upon hearing the explosion, quickly turned their eyes towards the sound of the explosion.
In the site was a massive trail of flame and smoke from behind the SUV. Soon, the back part of the SUV went high above the air, and the SUV went into a vertical position. The balance of the SUV now relied on the nose of the car. The car dragged on its nose for a few meters towards Damijan. Damijan simply took a quick step to the right, allowing the car to pass next to him. As the car passed through with him, and the smoke started to engulf Damijan, he ran alongside the dragging car.
After three to five meters, the car lost its balance, as the back of the car was now falling towards the front. The roof of the car then landed on the ground with a loud thud, the car was now upside down, and it only allowed the car to drag even further. The now wrecked car moved for almost thirty to fifty meters, a thick trail of smoke behind alongside Damijan's running figure hidden within, before it stopped to a halt with a simple swinging motion, and then the car then went still.
Damijan quickly reduced his distance, now around twenty-thirty metres from the car, by sprinting. While sprinting, he pulled the gun from his holster and loaded it, preparing himself to confront Fury.
Quickly Damijan reached the now wrecked car. Very luckily the driver side of the car faced Damijan.
Damijan crouched, so now his sight line was on level with the car's window. And inside the car was, unsurprisingly, Fury.
A bloodied Fury. But an alive Fury, nonetheless, a fact that made Damijan grateful. There was blood pouring out of his nose and from a big, nasty wound on his forehead. Not a good impression from a steel-willed guy with one eyepatch.
Now, that Fury was alive, he just needed to do something. Something that would confirm Fury about his suspicion, and the one behind it all.
When Fury's eyes met Damijan's, Fury stopped whatever he was doing. Apparently, Fury tried to dig some sort of tunnel, through the car into the underground, using a sort of item which emitted bluish rays, resembling a laser. The almost complete hole inside the car was a testament to its power.
"Hello." Damijan said, pointing his gun towards Fury's bloodied head. Checkmate. Damijan smiled at his victory. Damijan, using his other hand, then digging into his jacket, and swiftly pulling out something. A HYDRA pin. HYDRA agents were always given this, and of course they could always ask for extras. A sort of symbol for organizational pride.
Damijan threw the pin at Fury. Fury looked at the pin, then back at Damijan. A realization drawn in Fury's face.
"Go on. Dig your hole. Otherwise I have to kill you." Damijan pushed his pistol further to Fury's head. Fury then quickly finished his hole, and as soon as the hole completed the part of the car inside the hole fell down, alongside with Fury. After a brief second, there was a sound of splash below.
Fury had entered the sewers. He was safe, for now.
A corner of Washington DC. Near Steve Rogers' apartment. The night of the same day.
Of course, Pierce accepted no failure. In the end, Damijan had to follow through with Pierce's plan and kill Fury.
Fury had the self-preservation to hide himself and to avoid contact as much as possible. That was understandable for Damijan. Fury must have felt that he could trust no one right now after he was nearly killed. Nearly killed for suggesting to postpone a fishy planetary project. The question is, whom Fury would trust ?
Steve Rogers, apparently.
That probably was why Fury hid himself in Roger's apartment. Fury was relentless in his escapes, but in the end the injury from the car crash probably was too much for Fury and he decided to lay low, coming up with new tactics and trying to warn someone he could trust. However, it had been hours that Fury laid down inside Rogers's apartment, and Rogers had not shown himself.
Probably he was too busy catching Damijan ? The reality of Damijan entering the lion's den was a bit ironic.
In front of Damijan was a suppressed rifle, fully loaded and adjusted, the barrel facing directly towards Fury. Granted, there is a brick wall obstructing Damijan from Fury; Fury had avoided open areas, avoiding windows, leaving only frontal confrontation as a way to kill him, but nothing Damijan could not handle. His thermal vision gave away Fury's position, and the contour of the body inside the vision gave Damijan the right position to aim at.
Although, there was an apparent problem. Luck seemed to be on Fury's side this time, as Damijan could not get a clear shot at Fury's head. The best opening Damijan had was to shoot at Fury's left chest, right at the heart.. Damijan did not like it; shooting at the head was more of Damijan's style, since the death was quick and the possibility of survival was low.
Damijan's wait did not go to waste though, because soon another contour entered the room. The said person entered the room slowly, his head seemed to glance left and right in caution, before the man seemed to enter Fury's line of sight. The man then froze in place. It must be Rogers. Or was he ?
The two shadows did not move much for a while, before then Fury stood up and seemed to approach "Rogers".
Damijan crossed his finger. Hopefully Fury had told "Rogers" that something was indeed fishy.
He put his cheek on the rifle's cheek pad steadily. Correcting his aim, ensuring the bullet would land right on Fury's heart. Damijan took a deep breath. Then, he pulled the trigger.
Pop !
The sound of the gun was very much suppressed, that it sounded almost like a firecracker being lit.
Pop !
Another bullet shot.
Damijan then put his eyes out of the scope and picked his thermal google up, trying to get a grasp of his work.
Fury was now down, and "Rogers" quickly pulled Fury's body away from the wall.
Damijan then quickly pulled his small bag from under his rifle, which he used as a sort of support for his aim, strapping it to his back. Then he waited. He observed. He wanted to make sure that Fury was dead for good.
Another man entered the room. His arm stretched to the front, as if he had a gun on his arm. The man entered the room cautiously, seemingly glancing to his left and his right. When his shadow was close enough to the shadow of "Rogers", the man then walked briskly towards Fury's body and kneeled right next to it, apparently checking for any vital signs.
The body temperature of Fury has lowered. It was a good sign of death, good enough for Damijan, hopefully. It was his time to leave. He wanted to waste no more time and risk himself getting caught.
From his google, suddenly the body of "Rogers" moved very fast. Toward Damijan's position..
Shit, did "Rogers" just see Damijan ?
No time to panic. Reacting quickly, Damijan swiftly put the google back to the small bag on his back as he raised himself from the kneeling position he was once, his left foot launched Damijan into an adrenaline induced sprint. He was five steps from his initial position when he heard two consecutive sounds of shattered windows.
The sound of the shattered windows was eerily close that Damijan thought "Rogers" was already behind him, ready with handcuffs on one hand. Damijan quickly glanced to his back and found that "Rogers" was indeed not on the rooftop, but probably was a level below Damijan.
Too close. Damijan knew his limitations; in no way he could beat "Rogers" in a sprinting match.
So, Damijan made a quick decision. Instead of running straight and jumping to another building, he took a 90 degree turn left, to the other edge of the building. Upon reaching the edge, his eyes quickly scanned the escape options he had. He found one; a drain pipe running all away from the top of the building to the street below.
Damijan wasn't sure whether the drain pipe was strong enough, but it looked bulky enough to support Damijan's weight. So, Damijan went to the pipe and started scaling down, using the pipe as a sort of firepole. His hands were protected from the rusty steel by his gloves, his thighs by his pants.
Damijan safely landed on the ground. The drain pipe was intact. There were a few scratches on his pants and his gloves, but nothing grave. Then, Damijan looked up.
It was the real Steve Rogers up there, his head popping out from the edge of the building. His eyes directed at Damijan, Damijan's eyes also on Rogers. Damijan was spotted.
Rogers then started to climb down. He hanged himself from the cornice of the building, then he released his hands from the cornice. Rogers body fell down below a story, before his hands managed to grasp a sill of one of the windows of the building. Damijan then realized that Rogers used the arches of the windows in the building as a ladder to go down. Faster than Damijan's descend.
Realizing that Rogers would only spend seconds covering the last six stories, Damijan quickly ran as fast as he could along the street towards a large avenue in front of him, hoping to find a car that he could use to escape because he realized he ran out of options. After a few seconds, the time Damijan estimated to be needed by Rogers to land onto the street, Damijan took a look back.
Just in time as Rogers threw his shield towards Damijan.
The speeding shield was one of the fastest things, if not the fastest thing, Damijan had ever seen thrown from the arm of a man. Damijan quickly rolled his body to the front, trying to avoid the flying shield. He barely dodged the shield, as he could feel the swish of the shield grazing his hair. There was a big clang sound from in front of him. Damijan quickly completed his roll and regained his sprinting momentum back. He kept running. The shield lodged itself in the post of one of the street lamps on the street, the lamp post now was bent, almost on the verge of being split into 2. Damijan shuddered at the thought of such force hitting his healthy spines.
Damijan finally reached the big avenue, Rogers slowly and slowly got closer to Damijan. Damijan was very lucky, for in the avenue, there was a single motorbike traversing towards Damijan. Damijan quickly ran to the motorbike, fetching his gun from the holster, quickly reloaded, aimed, and shot the driver in his left arm.
There was a sprout of blood from the driver's arm, and soon he collapsed alongside his motorbike. Damijan stored his gun back in the holster and continued running towards the bike. Upon reaching the bike, Damijan quickly raised it up using his left hand while his right hand still held the gun, Damijan totally ignoring the painful whine of the wounded biker.
Successfully raising up the motorbike, he looked at his left. Rogers was near, the shield now already in his hand. Damijan transferred the gun from his right hand to his left hand. His right hand now was tight on the throttle grip, twisting it to accelerate, while his left hand was aimed at Rogers. He then shot Rogers.
Expectedly, Rogers raised his shield to cover his body. Damijan's aim was a bit clumsy as the bullet did not even hit the shield, rather it lodged itself on the concrete below. The motorbike gained speed.
Damijan shot again, now the aim was better. It hit the shield. The motorbike gained more speed.
Damijan shot again, Rogers still behind his shield. However, the motorbike had gained quite a speed, and Damijan was already quite distant from Rogers. His eyes still directed towards Rogers, but it seemed that Rogers was more occupied with the man Damijan shot than Damijan himself.
Damijan escaped. Damijan escaped from Captain America.
Of course, when Damijan returned to the hidden warehouse, Pierce was already inside the warehouse.
"Welcome back." Pierce welcomed Damijan with a handshake.
"Thank you, Sir." Damijan shook Pierce's hand.
"Such a coincidence. The doctor just sent me a message that Fury was confirmed dead. God, what a good riddance ! I'll tell you, maybe I should have done this earlier. " Pierce said to Damijan, a hint of laughter in his voice, a big smile on his face.
A sense of relief flushed away Damijan, starting from his head and went way down to his toes. He was afraid he made a grave mistake by not checking his kill, although the situation with Rogers wasn't really supportive of that either. Of course Damijan was also blown away by the news. He lost an ally. A strong one.
He expected Fury to somehow survive. But then, Damijan aimed for the heart. But then, if Fury survived, Damijan and his brother would be in big trouble. Two failed assassination attempts was a big no.
"Now, I believe that you have your brother and you've done wonderfully here. I think it's time for you to go back to Sokovia ?" Pierce said.
"Sorry ?" Damijan asked again, disbelieves shrouded him. What ?
"Take your brother back to your base. He'll be safe there. Tell the Baron that I'm satisfied with your work. And... make sure to leave trails, alright ? I would appreciate it if you can bring your two friends to Europe. It'll make the launch here much easier. Thank you, Damijan." Pierce said.
"You're welcome Sir." Damijan answered. A rush of panic swept through him. No, no, please, Damijan needed more time to figure out something !
"Oh, and … we're preparing a jet for you. Of course, it's owned by SHIELD, technically, but what it owns is ours too, so no worries. Take a bit of rest; the jet should be ready in two or three hours. Just call Sitwell if you're ready to depart." Pierce said. Damijan just smiled, trying to contain the bubbling anxiety inside him.
"Thank you. It was generous of HYDRA, Sir." Damijan said.
"Quid pro quo, Damijan. Enjoy the fruit of your labor. The new era will start soon, and your name will be written as a hero. Now, please excuse me, I'd like to have a bit of rest. Hail HYDRA." Pierce said, winking, before walking back to his car and started driving to his home.
Damijan stood in his position silently for a few minutes, the weight of Pierce's order started to sink into Damijan's head. Just as fast as he entered the States, he would leave the States almost as fast. Once he steps out of the States, then there would be almost zero chance for him to stop Project Insight.
Moreover, he just realized that he somehow made things worse. He fucked up. Damijan killed Fury, probably the first person in the world who sensed that there was something up within SHIELD. Then, Damijan misdirected Rogers and Romanoff, the two people who could stand a chance against HYDRA's tyrannical grasp. Rogers, whom Fury had shared the suspiciousness of something brewing inside SHIELD with.
But Rafael was already with Damijan. All the things he did was to ensure his brother's safety. He was relieved at that particular realization. Now, if there's a way to bring Rafael outside the base….
Damijan decided that he would do something. Tonight.
02.29, Washington DC
SHIELD Storage Facility - East Coast Command Center of HYDRA
Damijan did not sleep. He could not. For hours he rolled himself, left and right, on his not so comfortable bunk bed. In the darkness of his room, his brain still working, the cogs and gears inside still turning. He was anxious.
He wasn't sure whether his plan would work. Moreover, if it worked, then he had nowhere to go.
He was a fugitive of SHIELD. Rogers. Romanoff. The only allies he had were against him.
He, soon, would be a fugitive of HYDRA.
He was an enemy for friends and foes alike. He was by his own.
But again, what chance did Damijan have against the Winter Soldier ? Damijan knew himself and the extent of his capability; unfortunately that meant Damijan was aware that he was still no match to the brainwashed assassin. Should Damijan escape the facility with his brother and spill the secret of HYDRA to the world, it'd be a matter of hours before a Soviet-made bullet would make its way through Damijan's head. Possibly Rafael's too. A hide-and-seek with a predetermined result. His effort would all go to waste.
Thus, he needed the Winter Soldier on his side. The biggest threat he faced. And this plan, that he'd execute soon, was the best Damijan could come up with. So he strengthened his will, crossed his fingers and asked for luck from Fortuna. Gods didn't exist in Damijan's world, but why not if it can give one comfort ?
He woke up from his bed and started walking towards the main chamber of the warehouse. At the door towards the main chamber, a guard stopped Damijan.
"Good evening, Sir. Please state your intention of leaving the base." The guard asked.
"I need to talk something to Pierce. It's about Fury." Damijan answered.
A.n. tadaaa ! This basically stops the second act of the whole story. There's still a long way to go.
As always, reviews are appreciated !