A Shock to the Core
They drove back to Washington D.C. and Steve told Tom to drive them to Sam Wilson's place, thinking they'll be safe there for now and as Tom drove, Nat woke back up and they told her where they're going.
It was morning when they finally arrived, all dirty, tired and needing a moment to relax and Steve knocked on Sam's door. Sam appeared, pulling up blinders on the door and then opened it, surprised by their sudden appearance and state.
"Hey, man." He greeted Steve and Tom.
"Sorry, we just need somewhere to lay low." Tom told him.
"Everyone we know is trying to kill us." Nat added. Sam looked at all three of them and knew what he had to do.
"Not everyone." He assured them and he let them in his home.
Tom went first to clean up and change into some clean clothes and then Nat and then Steve, who just finished washing his hands and he looked at Nat, who sat next to Tom. She looked so lost and distraught from what they learned last night.
"You okay?" He asked her as she fiddled with her hair.
"Yeah." She brushed off. Steve and Tom saw right through it and they faced her.
"Come on, Nat. What's going on?" Tom asked in a way that told her that she can tell them whatever.
"When I first joined S.H.I.E.L.D. I thought I was going straight. But I guess I just traded in the KGB for HYDRA. *sighs* I thought I knew whose lies I was telling, but I guess I can't tell the difference anymore." She confessed.
"There's a chance you might be in the wrong business." Steve told her, making her twitch her lips up slightly.
"I owe you both." She said to them.
"Hey, it's alright." Tom shrugged off.
"If it was the other way around, and it was down to me to save your lives, now you both be honest with me, would you trust me to do it?" She asked with seriousness.
"I would now." Steve said. Ghost formed out of Tom's shoulder.
"You've proven that you can be trusted, so yes." Ghost added before retracting back into Tom.
"Plus, we're honest." Steve added in.
"Well, you seem pretty chipper for someone who just found out they died for nothing." Nat remarked, making Tom snort slightly.
"Well, guess I just like to know who I'm fighting." Steve said, leaning back on the chair he's sitting on.
"I made breakfast. If you guys eat that sort of thing." Sam informed the trio before walking off.
They dressed, had a quick breakfast and they gathered around about what to do.
"So, the question is, who at S.H.I.E.L.D. could launch a domestic missile strike?" Nat asked.
"It's obvious. Pierce." Tom said.
"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world." Nat reminded them all.
"But he's not working alone. Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star." Steve pointed out.
"With Jasper Sitwell." Tom concluded, connecting the dots.
"So, the real question is, how do four of the most wanted people in Washington kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer in broad daylight?" Steve questioned, considering Ghost as a person, which made the Klyntar appreciate the super soldier a lot more than before.
"The answer is, you don't." Sam answered as he walked up to them and placed a file on the table they're around.
"What's this?" Steve asked.
"Call it a resume." Sam told him as they looked at the contents of the files, including a photo of Sam and another figure.
"Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you?" Nat asked Sam.
"You didn't say he was a Pararescue." Nat then said as Steve and Tom looked at the photo.
"Is this Riley?" Steve asked.
"Yeah." Sam nodded.
"I heard they couldn't bring in choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use? A stealth chute?" Nat questioned.
"No. These." Sam said, handing a file to Tom, who opened it and saw what Sam used and he was impressed.
"So you definitely weren't a pilot." Tom muttered as Steve looked.
"I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason." Steve said, giving Sam a chance to stay out of this.
"Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to go back in." Sam replied, fully deciding to help.
"Where can we get our hands on one of these things?" Steve then asked, fully accepting Sam's role in the group.
"The last one is at Fort Meade. Behind three guarded gates and a 12 inch steel wall." Sam revealed, making Steve look at Nat and Tom, who both shrugged their shoulders.
"Shouldn't be a problem." Steve said and then they formed a plan that should garner results.
Both Sam and a shifted Tom with his backpack sat at a table among other citizens when they saw Sitwell walking out with a senator and they were chatting until the senator walked off, leaving Sitwell after sharing a hug.
Tom nodded to Sam and he called on his phone to Sitwell's, making him pull it out of his pocket, thinking that Pierce was calling him. He told some men to go and get the car and then he answered the call.
"Yes, sir?" Sitwell greeted, clearly thinking it was Pierce calling him.
"Agent Sitwell, how was lunch? I hear the crab cakes here are delicious." Sam replied back, making Sitwell's mood change and his facial expression showed it.
"Who is this?" He asked.
"The good looking guy in the sunglasses with another guy in sunglasses, your 10 o'clock." Sam told him, Sitwell though looked to his right, his 2 o'clock.
"Is he stupid? He specifically said your 10 o'clock." Ghost questioned.
"Your other 10 o'clock." Sam corrected him. Sitwell then looked over to where Sam and Tom were sitting.
"There you go." Sam said, raising his cup at Sitwell and Tom waved at him.
"What do you want?" Sitwell questioned.
"You're gonna go around the corner to your right. There's a grey car two spaces down. We're gonna take a ride." Sam ordered him.
"And why would I do that?" Sitwell questioned with a slight smirk. Sam gave the phone to Tom.
"That tie of yours looks expensive, I know I wouldn't want to mess it up." Tom told him, shocking the man upon hearing his voice and looked down at his tie to see a laser aimed at it, coming from somewhere he couldn't see. Seeing that he had no way out of this, he had to do as told.
They took him to join up with Steve and Nat and Tom shifted back to his true appearance and joined them with interrogating Sitwell on the roof of a building. Steve threw the agent through a door out onto the roof,
"Tell me about Zola's algorithm." Steve demanded as Sitwell got back on his feet and put his glasses back on. He was stepping backwards as the trio stormed up to him.
"Never heard of it." Sitwell tried to come off as innocent.
"Don't bother lying, you git. Ghost can tell." Tom spat.
"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?" Steve then questioned.
"I was throwing up. I get seasick." Sitwell was still putting on an act as he stepped backwards to the edge, nearly falling off but both Tom and Steve grabbed him.
"Stop lying." Tom hissed. Here, Sitwell dropped the act and had a smug grin on his face.
"Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw me off the roof? Because it's really not your style, Rogers." He pointed out.
"Oh, he has no idea what we plan to do." Ghost giggled manically.
"You're right. It's not. It's hers." Steve said, referring to Nat. He and Tom stepped away and she kicked Sitwell over the edge, screaming for his life. The trio acted so casual.
"Oh, wait. What about that girl from Accounting, Laura…." Nat asked Steve, making Tom roll his eyes.
"They're still going on about this?" He asked.
"You'd think they'd stop by now." Ghost replied.
"Lillian. Lip piercing, right?" Steve replied.
"Yeah, she's cute." Nat nodded.
"Yeah. I'm not ready for that." Steve said, still not being used to the more modern parts of culture.
Then suddenly Sitwell was carried by the collar of his blazer from Sam, who flew up in a contraption strapped on his back that had metal wings spread out, which allowed him to fly. Sitwell was then dropped onto the roof and Sam landed on the roof, the metal wings folding into the contraption. Everyone then gathered around Sitwell, who was shaken up.
"Zola's algorithm is a program… for choosing Insight's targets." Sitwell finally confessed.
"What targets?" Steve asked.
"You! Wron and Ghost. A TV anchor in Cairo, the Under Secretary 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." Sitwell explained,surprising everyone with the last part.
"What do you mean in the future? How the hell could it know?" Tom questioned him. Sitwell just laughed at the question.
"How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it." Sitwell replied, standing up on his feet.
"Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, emails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores! Zola's algorithm evaluates people's pasts to predict their future." Sitwell added.
"What then?" Steve asked. Sitwell didn't reply as he just stared at Steve as though he came to a self realisation.
"Oh, my God. Pierce is gonna kill me." He muttered to himself.
"What then?!" Tom bellowed at Sitwell, making him jump.
"Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time." He revealed.
"Shit." Ghost cursed.
Now getting a full idea of what's going on, everyone, including Sitwell got in a car and Sam drove onto a highway.
"HYDRA doesn't like leaks." Sitwell told them all as he sat on the back seat behind Sam, Nat sat between him and Tom, who sat behind Steve.
"Then why don't you try sticking a cork in it?" Sam snapped at the agent.
"Insight's launching in 16 hours. We're cutting it a little bit close here." Nat said, leaning forward to Steve.
"I know. We'll use him to bypass the DNA scans and access the Helicarriers directly." Steve replied to her.
"What? Are you crazy? That is a terrible, terrible idea." Sitwell questioned his intelligence but then a thud came from the roof of the car and a metal arm smashed through the window next to Sitwell, grabbing him and throwing him out onto the other side of the highway, getting run over by a truck.
"SHIT! The Winter Soldier!" Ghost shouted as the Winter Soldier shot into the car, missing Nat, who got in front on Steve's lap and Tom formed a shield with Ghost's mass as more shots were fired, narrowly missing everyone.
Steve then turned the brakes on, stopping the car to a halt, throwing the Winter Soldier off the car, who slid on the road until he used his metal arm to slow down to a halt. He got on his feet and everyone saw that he both wore a mask and goggles that had black lenses.
Nat was about to fire her pistol but a truck rammed into them, making her drop it. The truck made the car rush towards the Winter Soldier, who jumped up and landed back on top of the car. Sam slammed as hard as he could on the brakes, but there was nothing he could do.
The Winter Soldier then slammed his metal fist through the windshield and ripped the wheel clean off, shocking Sam.
"SHIT!" Sam cursed. Nat managed to grab her gun and fire a few shots, trying to get the Winter Soldier but he jumped onto the truck.
Without the wheel, the car was out of control and so the truck knocked into it, causing it to turn to its side and about to flip. Steve saw this and grabbed his shield.
"Hang on!" He told Nat and Sam as he grabbed them. He and Tom ripped the doors open and they fell out. Tom formed into Ghost and the others skidded on the road with the car door while Ghost ran to them. Sam rolled away from Steve and Nat. The truck stopped and the Winter Soldier was handed a grenade launcher, which he fired towards Ghost and Steve.
"LOOK OUT!" Ghost bellowed out, pushing Nat out of the way before the grenade hit him, throwing both him and Steve off of the highway and crashing right into a bus down on the street and it crashed into a truck, turning the bus on its side.
"That hurt." Ghost groaned.
Back on the highway, the Winter Soldier and some HYDRA soldiers fired their weapons towards Nat and Sam, who took cover behind a couple of cars. Nat fired back with her pistol. Eventually, Sam headed off to another car for cover, hiding for the right moment to fight back.
As Nat still fired back, she saw the Winter Soldier aim the grenade launcher at her and she jumped over the concrete barrier to avoid the grenade that exploded the car she used for cover. She ran, avoiding some cars and gunfire and as she reached a silver car, the Winter Soldier fired another grenade, exploding the car and throwing it over the edge and Nat jumped over the edge as well. She then fires a hook onto the underside of the highway and uses it to safely land on the road and run.
She noticed the shadow from the highway and that the Winter Soldier was aiming a rifle to fire at her once she appeared in his sight. She decides to use it to her advantage.
The Winter Soldier looked and saw Steve's shield near the bus and knew that at least Steve was in it. He aimed the rifle at the bus and as he was about to fire, Nat fired both of her pistols at him, hitting his goggles, making him duck into cover. Of course, she ran for cover by the truck and when the Winter Soldier, now without his goggles, fired at where she was last seen, she fired at him until her pistols were out of ammo and she ducked as he fired back and then she ran for it. The Winter Soldier then ordered his men to get Steve and Ghost before he jumped onto a car and chased after Nat.
The HYDRA soldiers used hooks on a car to descend onto the street below them.
Back in the bus, the civilians helped each other out and both Ghost and Steve woke up right as the HYDRA soldiers descended and one of them landed on top of the car with a minigun. They all fired at the bus, hoping to get Ghost and Steve but the Klyntar formed a shield as he and Steve ran out and Steve grabbed his shield to use for cover.
Back on the highway, one HYDRA soldier dug a hook into a car, preparing to descend, though he was unaware that Sam was silently coming up behind him with a knife. Once he reached the soldier, he kicked him in the knee, punched him in the face, cut the strap to his gun and then kicked him in the chest, throwing him over the edge.
Ghost formed a tendril, grabbing one of the soldiers and then he threw him right at the one with the minigun and then he bolted towards the one with the minigun while Steve charged right at the one soldier left. Ghost chomped the head off the soldier with the minigun and stabbed the other through the heart with a spear and roared into his face as Steve took down the remaining soldier. Sam from above fired at a HYDRA soldier who took cover behind a car.
"Go! I got this!" Sam told Ghost and Steve and so they ran to go catch up with Nat and the Winter Soldier.
The Winter Soldier fired a grenade at an incoming police car and reloaded his grenade launcher that was attached to his rifle as he walked, searching for Nat. Civilians all ran in fear as the Winter Soldier slowed his pace until he heard Nat's faint voice from behind a car nearby at a curb.
Silently, he knelt down and grabbed a spherical object on his belt and rolled it towards the car the voice is coming from and then he stood back up and aimed his rifle.
However, the voice wasn't from Nat herself and instead from a device playing her voice on playback. The spherical object exploded, taking the car with it but there was no Nat, to the Soldier's surprise.
That was when Nat jumped in from behind, kicked the Soldier's rifle and wrapped her legs around him, pulling out a wire and tried to choke him but his hand blocked the wire, preventing that and he stepped back, crashing into another car to try and shake her off which worked as her grip loosened and he threw her off, crashing her into the destroyed car.
Nat pulled out a taser disc and threw it right at the Winter Soldier's metal arm right as he took a shot, making his arm malfunction and have the gun face down. This gave her a chance to run away.
"Get out of the way! Stay out of the way!" She shouted at all the civilians that were still around and she ran up to a car when a gunshot rang in the air and she got hit in the shoulder. She instantly fell on her knees and she hid behind the car, terrified for the first time since Bruce lost control in the Helicarrier.
She looked to her right for any sign of the Winter Soldier but he got on top of a car behind her, over her left.
He was about to take a shot when Ghost roared, charging at him and throwing him off the car, then Steve charged out at the Winter Soldier, who got back on his feet and swung his metal fist at the super soldier, who blocked his punch with his shield, forming a metallic ring in the air. He then shoved the shield away and kicked Steve back and then he aimed his gun but Ghost fired a tendril, grabbing the gun and throwing it away from the Soldier's hands.
Steve then rolled as the Soldier pulled out a machine pistol and fired at both Steve and Ghost, though they either avoided or blocked until he ran out of bullets, which is when Steve and Ghost got on the offensive, Ghost receding back into Tom as Steve kicked the gun out of the Soldier's hand and when he reached for a handgun, Tom kicked it away with his extra strength from Ghost, leaving Steve an opening for him to punch the Winter Soldier in the face.
The two then threw punches that were caught by both the Soldier's hands and then Steve punched his gut, making him let go of Tom's hand and he threw a punch to his face and the Soldier just punched Steve in the face and then kicked Tom back before grabbing Steve's shield and turning it, making Steve flip on the spot and he ripped the shield out of Steve's grasp.
Tom charged back in and caught the shield before it hit Steve and tried to hit the Soldier but he shoved him back with the shield as he punched Steve back.
The two stared him down, Ghost audibly growling before he charged at him. The Soldier threw the shield at them, though it missed and got stuck in the back door to a truck.
The Winter Soldier then pulled out a knife exchanged, blocked and dodged blows and swings from their punches and knife, evenly matched until Steve made a lucky punch, making the Soldier stumble back and the Tom made a spin kick, making him drop his knife and crash into a car and then Tom and Steve both kneed him and then the Soldier punched them before Tom kicked him off his feet and Steve used this to throw him onto the ground.
The Soldier, however, got back up instantly and grabbed them both by their necks and threw them back, He then threw his metal fist to Steve, but he moved avoiding the punch, which hit the ground, denting it.
Steve and Tom threw some hits until they got thrown at the truck and the Soldier pulled out another knife, kicking Steve as Tom ran to get Steve's shield. Steve blocked the knife but then it stabbed into the truck and they moved towards Tom before Steve threw him back and grabbed the shield that Tom pulled out, now facing against the Winter Soldier on his own.
The two faced off, Steve getting a stray punch to the face, narrow misses but then he jammed his shield into the metal arm before hitting the Soldier's mask and then grabbed him by the face and threw him forward, making his mask fall off as he stood up. The Soldier then turned to face them and the face they saw shocked them.
"What. The. Actual. Hell?!" Ghost gasped as they were facing Steve's old friend, Bucky Barnes. They just couldn't believe it, especially Steve, who saw his friend fall to his death in WW2.
"Bucky?" Steve questioned in disbelief, but he didn't seem to recognise Steve in the slightest.
"Who the hell is Bucky?" He questioned, further proving that he doesn't seem to recognise his friend. He aimed a handgun at them but Sam in his gear flew in and kicked Bucky away. Bucky and Steve stared at each other and Bucky seemed to be freaking out based on his facial expression, as though thoughts and moments were flashing in front of his eyes. But then he aimed his gun at Steve again but Nat got on her feet and fired the grenade launcher towards him, exploding the car near him, though missing him and giving him a chance to run away.
Sirens were heard from approaching vehicles from HYDRA's forces, who all surrounded the group and Ghost didn't even bother coming out, too shocked from seeing Bucky.
All of the HYDRA agents, including Rumlow shouted at them all, though they were largely blocked out, though everyone complied, getting on their knees, hands up and getting cuffed.