This chapter introduces some new ominous characters. What is their goal? That's for later chapters...

CIA safe house, about fifty miles from Washington DC

As the sun began to go down, five CIA agents were watching the small neighborhood that their safe house was located in. All five were bored and wishing they had something better to do, but they had their orders to stay here and watch the safe house until further instruction.

About two blocks away, a man in black and gray running clothes put on a pair of tactical goggles and face mask similar to the ones used by the Winter Soldier. It was meant to conceal his face, for what he was about to do would require a level of anonymity. He walked a block, and was joined by another man dressed in a similar fashion. They took a left turn at the small intersection, and a third man, dressed like the other two, join them.

All three now walked towards the safe house in a leisurely fashion, for it was the best way to keep themselves anonymous. Speed walking would have attracted attention.

Before they made their move, the three went into an alley and retrieved the backpacks that had been placed their beforehand. All three had an FMG9 submachine gun that could be disguised as a portable case.

A man with the call sign of Neptune was in charge of the small unit. He had more men under his command – seven in all – but he felt that he would not need all of his assets, and so only brought two, Aztec and Griffon.

And he was right. For a CIA safe house, this wasn't a very hard target.

Construction Site, Johannesburg, South Africa

"We're here to help." Steve Rogers knew those words had been programed into Stark's Iron Legion drones. Now, he found himself in a similar situation that the drones were in: keeping an unhappy crowd from getting out of control. Wanda was there too, next too. Rhodes, for his part, stuck to moving pieces of wreckage from the skyscraper and into loading trucks that were hauling it away.

"No you're not!" This came from a protestor wearing a Guy Fawkes mask. Anonymous, or that was what Steve had remembered from Maria's debriefing. "You and your friends made this fucking mess in the first place!"

"Watch your tone," growled Steve. His patience was wearing more and more thin as the protestors kept up their civil disobedience. "Maybe the Hulk did cause a rampage here, but we're not him. We're here trying to atone for what a teammate did, and not incite further damage."

He glanced at Wanda. They'd gone from awkward kisses to devoted Avengers in a matter of an hour. She was floating in the air, getting a bird's eye view of the crowd, which seemed to stretch at least a block down.

She remembered the times she and Pietro had gone to riot over UN involvement in her home country. At the time it seemed liked the right thing to do, but when she looked back on it, it was quite stupid. It wasn't the world's fault that Sokovia was such a messed up place.

And then, not long after one particular protest, HYDRA came to her and Pietro with an offer to strike back against the cruel world. It sounded very good for a pair of twins with no other options at the time. If only she'd known that it would lead to a chain of events that ultimately cost the life of her brother and hundreds of Sokovians.

She watched the crowd from above. She wondered how many of these angry South Africans would jump the bolt like she and Pietro did to spite the Avengers.

Wanda didn't want to think about it, but a rock that almost hit her head forced her too. Another masked protester had thrown it. "Weren't you that chick that helped Ultron send the Hulk here in the first place? If you are, get out of here!"

"No," she responded forcefully, trying her best not to snap and unleash her telekinetic powers on him. "I am not the same person that assisted Ultron in all this."

"Whatever you say," the protestor said mockingly. He turned to Steve. "Hey golden boy, How many times you gonna take in dangerous strays. First the Black Widow, now this bitch-"

That did it for Rogers. He flung his shield at the protestor, sending the man crashing into others. Before he could get up, Steve grabbed him and flung him away from the crowd. Sensing what was going on, Wanda set up a force field between the protestors and Steve. She needed to calm him down, but she didn't want an angry mob trying to kill them either.

"What do you know about us?" Steve yelled as he punched the hapless protester multiple times. "Wanda is ten times the person you are."

Had Wanda not known Steve Rogers, she would have assumed that Steve was mad. But she'd known him long enough to see that he was only being protective a person he truly cared about. But she knew he was getting out of hand; these protestors were going to get pissed and have more justification for their anger.

So she shot a red burst of energy that sent Steve flying to one side, the protestor in another, back to where the rest of the crowd was. The crowd was taken aback, and Wanda felt she had no choice to but to take control of their minds and send them away. She could tell the wrath that was building up in them.

"What was that for?!" Captain America was angry, but did his best to be nice about it.

"I told you I would do what was necessary beforehand, Captain Rogers."

"It's just Steve you know." His eyes gazed into hers. "And tell me next time you do something like that."

"It was a split second decision. What else was I to do?"

Steve thought for a moment. "Well, we can work on that when we get back to America. Now let's go help Rhodey."

The Air Force Colonel had been busily working throughout the whole commotion. He was currently lifting several half melted iron beams from the crash site and placing them in the next dump truck waiting for its load. "About time. I've been doing all the heavy lifting."

Wanda ignored him and focused her mental energy. A moment later, the rest of the steel and metal lifted up in a cloud of red, and moved slowly and surely in another pile where it was easier to lift and dispose from.

"Didn't know you could lift all that," commented War Machine. "Would have taken ten more trips if I was doing it."

"I think that was a new record," said Wanda. "I don't recall lifting that much substance with my telepathy before."

Eventually, the job here was done. Wanda took note that the construction workers were generally happier at the Avengers presence than the protestors were. At least they appreciate the good that we do here, she thought. She also noticed that Steve had a more serious look to him. Almost as if beating up that protestor had hardened him for the time being.

It didn't take her powers to tell what was going on with him.

"Something's worked you up," she told him. "What is it?"

"I thought you weren't trying to get inside my head." Steve's voice is dismissive, as if he doesn't want to talk about it.

"Was it the man you beat up?"

Steve looked around, as if he was troubled. "I just don't like bullies. Never have, never will. That's why I signed up for the serum. The problem is, the doctor who invented it wanted me to keep a heart of gold, or that was what he said. Problem is, I don't know if I can keep a good heart forever. Too much has changed since the forties."

Wanda knew Rogers was always a man out of time. She could tell it when they first met, and when he clashed with Stark and took her side. She also knew him to be perhaps the trustworthy and good-intentioned person she'd known since Pietro. He almost filled the gap left by her twin brother. So, in a way, it made sense they were gravitating towards each other.

"Men like you are still needed today," she told him, wishing she could cure his troubled mind. "And no matter what you do, it doesn't compare to what I've done."

"I've told you before: it wasn't your fault. HYDRA and Ultron told you what they did to get you on their side…"

And so he goes on about how the Maximoffs were the victims. And while she does tire of it, it's better that his pity be saved for her rather than him, even though neither of them needs it.

Neptune and Griffon knocked on the door. If Aztec had completed his part of the op, the power in the house would have been shut off, sending a sense of uncertainty in the five agents inside. Hopefully, some of them would assume that the knock on the door was a technician, arriving the fix the situation.

The door opened and two of them faced the masked men. "You're not the electric people-"

Neptune and Griffon whipped out their FMG9s and fired a hail of bullets, killing both agents. A third agent attempted to fire back, but Neptune cut him down before he could shoot.

Neptune turned to Griffon. "There should be two more," he said in French. "Find them."

Griffon quickly searched the rest of the room, eliminating the two remaining agents. Then he and Aztec (who'd come around the back yard) began plugging USB drives into the laptops of the dead men. They had been hired to purge some guy named Zemo from the local records.

Neptune could care less about Zemo. He was more focused on the MP7s and Glocks in the basement armory. They would need these for their next assignment.

Five minutes later, an ambulance showed up, and five more men in black commando gear – Pharaoh, Basilisk, Nero, Trojan, and Charon – got out. They began moving the bodies in one room of the house, grabbing the weapons, and setting up semtex explosives in specific areas. That way, maximum effect with minimum detection would be achieved.

"Thirty seconds," said Neptune as he finished the last semtex block and got in the ambulance. The others followed. A minute later, a series of time explosions took place, causing the rest of the neighborhood to take notice.

But Neptune and his crew were gone. They were off to join their newest contractor for a new job.

Targeting an Avenger.

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