Triskellion, SHIELD HQ, Washington D.C. 2014.
I zipped up my suit, pulling the tight sleeves down at the wrists and tucked my new, shorter hair behind my ears. It was already starting to grow back, one of the many side effects of serum experimentation, hair that grew ridiculously fast. I couldn't say I was disappointed, short hair was much more Natasha's thing than mine. Suddenly, Maria appeared behind me with two guns in hand, I took them from her and strapped one to my thigh and the other to my waist. It was then that my eyes caught the SHIELD logo on the shoulder of my suit. I dug my nails under the patch and ripped it off, tossing it to the floor.
"It was never SHIELD." Maria said quietly.
"Just HYDRA's front man." I agreed. "The whole time and no one noticed, no one even thought to dream it would happen and it did."
"And now we have just over two hours to infiltrate the most secure building in the country, most of the occupants are now enemies and you are recovering from a stab wound." I smiled.
"You know what that reminds me of?"
"Lebanon? '05 was it?" Maria asked, her smile showing how she fondly recalled the memory.
"God, has it nearly been ten years already?"
"It has – my knee still hurts whenever it's going to rain."
"Maybe – but I got him good for you." I smirked to her as she dropped her hands onto her hips, the signature Maria Hill stance.
"Yes, you did." Maria smiled.
"Remind me why we're hiding in a tiny cupboard." Sam questioned.
"We're not." Steve answered.
"Elena is adjusting the frequency of the coms that everyone in that room is wearing." Maria stated as I made final adjustments.
"Weapons at the ready, there should be a weedy tech coming our way any second now." Within moments the door had opened and the tech in question had surrendered, allowing us into the main communications hub that controlled all the staff announcements throughout the building. I removed my gun from its holster and helped Maria as we cable tied the techs to their chairs.
"I'm not part of HYDRA." One of them stuttered as I tightened the restraint.
"Then I'll let you out as soon as I'm done killing everyone who is." I replied simply, pressing a cloth into their mouths and taping it over the top.
Attention all SHIELD agents, this is Steve Rogers. Maria, Sam and I turned as Steve spoke in to the tannoy. With his shield on his back and his original costume, he looked every bit the American patriot.
You've heard a lot about me over the last few days. Some of you were even ordered to hunt me down. 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 and they almost have what they want. Absolute control. They shot Nick Fury and it won't end there. If you launch those helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone who stands in their way.
Unless we stop them.
I know I'm asking a lot. The price of freedom is high. It always has been. But 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.
Sam stepped up behind Steve and patted him on the shoulder.
"Did you write that down first or was it off the top of your head?" I couldn't help but smirk as Maria handed me a small ear piece, so we could all hear each other once we separated.
"You've got a chip each, yes?" I removed my chip from my pocket and watched as Sam and Steve did the same.
"Good, so remember. It has to be all three – this will all be for nothing if we don't get Insight's three targeting chips replaced with our own."
The three of us nodded and left the room, heading straight for the helicarriers that were now rising out of their underwater bays faster than expected.
"Leyna. You take IN 03, Sam 02. I'll stay here on 01." Steve instructed, Sam and I nodded as Sam extended his wings and took flight and I removed the chocks from a jet and took off in that. I circled the elevating helicarrier as covertly as I could – the area I needed to lock in my chip was under the belly of this ship making it the hardest to get to. I knew the Insight crew would have orders to shoot us on sight so whilst I waited for my opportunity to arise, I strapped myself into the ejector seat – I had no plans to get shot out of the sky, but these last few weeks had taught me to try and not take as many life and death chances as I normally did.
Just as I managed to clip the last buckle into place, I felt and heard the familiar sounds of metal on metal as the Insight Crew from 03 Charlie opened fire on my jet. I quickly took the controls and swerved out of the way, quickly scanning the second ship for signs of Sam. I dropped my altitude slightly and managed to secure a blind spot where the shooters couldn't see me.
"Scorpion, status?" I heard Maria's voice over the coms, timed perfectly with another round of bullets being sent my way, I judged that the shooters were far enough away from the central hub holding the chips, and sent a few rounds back to them.
"Engaging and being engaged."
"There's another jet on your tail." Sam interjected, and I quickly pulled up on the controls to make my aircraft climb, as I rolled to one side I spotted a STRIKE member pursuing me. I knew for a fact STRIKE weren't trained in air to air combat, there was another department for that, so I used my own skills against him. I pulled on the controller again and climbed higher into the sky, the angle getting steeper and steeper, I knew that Stark's tech on the engines prevented them from stalling at certain angles, but I was relying on my pursuer to not know that and true to my hopes, he stopped following me – instead dropping altitude.
As I reached the apex of the climb, I sharply pulled back and the jet arched over on itself and my missiles were pointed straight down at the jet below me, he looked up at the last second but didn't give himself enough time to get away as his jet exploded mid-air, debris falling into the water surrounding the Triskellion.
"Status?" Maria asked again. "You've got eight minutes guys."
"Working on it." I heard Steve reply.
"I'm clear. Sam, where are you?"
"Had to take a detour!"
I scanned the skies looking for Sam and spotted him being pursued by another jet.
"Scorpion if you're clear, get your chip in." Maria ordered.
"Alpha lock." I heard Steve say, and I sighed before heading over to the nearest carrier, as I approached I was once again shot at by the ground crew on the strip.
"Bravo lock." I heard Sam confirm.
"Scorpion, waiting on Charlie lock now. Five minutes."
"Oh, screw this." I muttered to myself, dropping the nose of the jet and throwing it down into the surface of the final helicarrier. As the jet skidded along the tarmac, I unclipped the ejector seat and removed my gun from its holster. I sat back and closed my eyes as the jet came to a halt and as expected, I heard a set of footsteps climb up onto the wing. The compressed hood opened and as I felt the barrel of the rifle nudge my shoulder, I grabbed hold of it and shoved it back into the chin of the man holding it. His head snapped back, and I yanked him towards me putting a bullet through one eye. I used him as a human shield as I climbed out of the jet with other grounds crew shooting at me. As soon as I was close enough I threw the dead crew member to one side and ended the other three, I quickly concealed myself as I heard the sound of approaching boots. As I peered round the edge of the cargo I saw the ten men approaching me, I slipped out the magazine of my gun and brought my wrist to my mouth.
"I could use a second pair of hands out here."
"Hey Sam, gonna need a ride." I heard Steve call out whilst I took a few steps back as the crew got parallel with the cargo I was hiding myself behind. As I rounded a corner my senses peaked seconds too late and a fist made contact with the space between my shoulder blades just as I'd registered there was someone behind me. I didn't need to turn around to realise it was the soldier. I quickly dropped and rolled out of his reach as another punch dented the metal cargo under the nets. I tried to hide myself again whilst my thoughts steadied, it was different now. Before I wouldn't have hesitated to end him when the opportunity arose but now, he wasn't just the phantom that was the soldier, he was Steve's friend, and Steve had said that we were friends so did that make this guy my friend by default? I snapped back to attention with seconds to spare as a grenade rolled towards my feet, I picked it up and threw it to the air, watching as it exploded and cursed realising I had given away my position.
"Leyna, where are you?" Steve demanded.
"Um, on the deck. In the cargo, the solider is here."
"Is he…"
"Trying to kill me?" I asked rhetorically as he rounded a corner with a blade in hand, he managed to catch my ribs, but my sharp elbows broke his nose and I dislocated his wrist making him drop the blade.
"Without a doubt."
"We're coming." I was about to reply when a harsh grip suddenly took handfuls of my hair and ripped my head back, I couldn't help but yell out in pain before he threw my head forward into the ground beneath our feet.
It was the sound of Sam yelling in my ear that made me wake up. I quickly turned my head to one side as I felt the blood gurgling in the back of my throat, spitting it out onto the tarmac.
"Where is everyone?" I asked hoarsely.
"Sam's grounded." I heard Steve say. "Have you still got the chip?" I sat up and amidst a spinning head, frantically patted the pocket on the leg of my suit, relived when I felt the small chip.
"Yeah I got it."
"Good, get down to the belly of the ship."
"What about…"
"Just get the chip in, I'll deal with him."
I nodded and got to my feet, the ground was scattered with the crew members, I took one of their rifles and headed into the ship leading down to where the chips were located. I didn't hesitate in shooting anyone in my way, whether they held a weapon to me or not. As far as I was concerned, everyone on the ship was HYDRA and those who weren't should have been smarter about the loyalties they chose.
As I reached the belly of the ship, I could hear the sound of fighting and I spotted Steve and the solider on the glass bottom of the ship. Steve had managed to pin the solider down and was strangling him.
"Cabinet open." Steve strained as the soldier passed out and he got up, I tore myself away and ran for the cabinet, fumbling in my pocket for the chip as I listened to Maria's countdown. Steve was hoisting himself up onto the gangway as I finally had the chip in my clenched fist. Just as I heard the beep of it slotting into place, a shot ran out and a sharp pain shot up my thigh. My leg instinctively gave way as blood pooled through my fingers, holding pressure on the bullet wound. Steve's stranglehold on the soldier clearly hadn't been effective enough and he had quickly regained consciousness.
"Chip in." I stated through gritted teeth as Steve reached my side and began packing the wound.
"Good. Get out." Maria instructed. I looked at Steve who was watching the solider below us.
"I'm not leaving you behind." I said, Steve smirked.
"It's like you know what I'm thinking." He tugged my arm over his shoulder and hoisted me to my feet, getting out of the solders line of sight.
"You're very transparent, Steve." I muttered, closing my eyes as light headedness tried to fight its way in.
"Maybe not as much as you'd think." He said as I heard a click. As I looked down at my chest and saw the strap of a parachute.
"Steve…" I began but he'd already pushed me through a hole in the glass belly of the ship. I watched the ship move to above me, surrounded by sky and smoke and flames. Despite pulling the handle for the parachute, contact with the water was painful and it knocked the air straight out of me. I fought every instinct to gasp in lungs of water as I unclipped the parachute and kicked to the surface.
Scraping my hair out of my eyes and gulping in lungs of air I winced at a sudden sharp pain in my shoulder and found that I couldn't swim with it. I got my bearings and kicked towards the shore, pulling myself up the sand bank and pushing myself onto my back – chest heaving as I tried to slow my breathing. Above my head I saw as the guns of the helicarriers turned on themselves and began to shoot one another out of the sky. I lifted my hand to my earpiece.
"I'm out. What's Steve doing?"
"I don't know. I can't reach him but he's still up there." I watched as the helicarrier Steve and I had been on tilted to one side and began to lose altitude.
"Maria. The last carrier is going to hit the Triskellion." I forced myself to my feet, scanning the surface of the water in the hope that Steve had gotten out soon after me and was swimming to shore. It was then that another voice added itself to the conversation.
"Have we got a location on Rogers?" Natasha questioned.
"He's still in the carrier with the soldier! I got hit, he pushed me out, but he won't leave. He's being an idiot!" I exclaimed, it was a knew feeling for me, but I felt strained at the idea of Steve dying if for nothing else than the image it would send. The man who just blew his whistle on the biggest governmental coverup in History, dying whilst trying to take them down.
The chopper carrying Nat, Sam and Fury had landed out of the way of the wreckage. The helicarrier had collapsed into the Triskellion, destroying it entirely. But we'd known we'd saved thousands of people and that felt like something of a tiny win.
I searched the shoreline for Steve. Ignoring the pain in my shoulder and even more so the occasional trickle of blood that escaped the poorly packed wound on my leg. The sun was beginning to set when Nat radioed through again, demanding I give her my location.
"I'm not done yet…" I said as I waded around a protruding hedgerow that had invaded into the water and back onto the bank. It was then that I finally spotted the red, white and blue of Steve's suit. He was unconscious, god knows how he got there.
"Nat. I found him." I leant over his nose and mouth and felt the faintest of breezes and he breathed.
"He's alive, just."
"I'll get an ambulance to you both." I nodded as I sat back on my heels, but my attention quickly went back on high alert when I heard a twig snap from the undergrowth. I didn't have any weapons on me but that didn't stop me.
"Whose there?!" I demanded, eyes squinting as the dying light made it harder to see. Eventually, I approached the trees, slowly slipping in between branches and bushes, then straight ahead of me was the soldier. He stood far enough way that I didn't feel immediate panic, I knew he'd sustained injuries too, but he didn't make a move to hurt me, or get past me and hurt Steve. Instead he just stared, as if waiting for me to say something. It was only when the sound of ambulance sirens approached that he turned and ran, without looking back and most likely without knowing where he was going. I had no inclination to go after him but instead met the paramedics and guided them back to Steve, finally letting myself relax as one pair began to treat his injuries and another pair examined my own.
"A dislocated shoulder, and a GSD that apparently was two millimetres from my femoral artery." I smiled to Nat as we sat in the hospital room together. A closed of corner, away from prying eyes.
"Nice." She nodded as a silence fell between us.
"What's it been like out there?" I asked. The hospital had demanded I stayed under their eye for at least a night and that was all it had taken for the fall of SHIELD to become world-wide headlines. There were no more secrets, everything was out in the open now, we couldn't live in the shadows anymore.
"Well, I leaked everything. Most of it is encrypted so it's not like the whole world is going to know everything about us. But it's not just our information out there now, it's everything SHIELD…HYDRA had on everyone." I exhaled a deep breath and adjusted my shoulder, it still being swollen from having to be re-set.
"Ok. So, it's damage control now?" Natasha nodded.
"The world still believes Fury is dead and Steve is still not going anywhere any time soon. We've been summoned. To capitol hill. The senate subcommittee want to 'meet' us."
"Why do I have the feeling 'meet' actually only means publicly eviscerate?"
"Because it does. SHIELD has been called into question and by association so have we, as individuals, and as part of the Avengers."
"Have they contacted anyone else?" I questioned.
"My 'invitation' said I was to organise getting everyone else together. But Clint is with family, Thor is off world, Tony isn't answering his phone and I don't think it's a good idea to put Bruce in front of the senate and make him mad."
"Yeah, probably for the best. Just us then. When it this meeting?"
"Tomorrow morning. So, we need to be on a plane this afternoon."
"Well let's go then."