So I was going to post this earlier, but apparently the site was down. So here it is now.
Professional, thought Maria Hill as the man in black cameo gear and a gas mask pointed a rifle at her head. "Okay, okay."
"Put your hands on your head and turn around." The man's voice had the slightest European accent. She did as he ordered, waiting for the time to strike.
"Alright," he said, pushing her away from the armory and towards the hangar bay, "You get nice and cozy with the rest of your friends-"
Then she struck.
In one fluid motion, she slammed her right boot against the man's crotch, causing him to hunker down in sudden pain. Even as that was happening, she swung around and punched him quickly, leaving no quarter for a chance at resistance. The rifle was knocked a few feet aside.
Putting him in a headlock, Maria whispered in his ear: "Tell me the name of your boss or I will work on your crotch again, and not in a good way."
The man began to cry out through a headset in French.
Cursing, Maria slammed his head against a wall, knocking him out stone cold. After making sure he was indeed out, she quickly scanned his pockets, finding several hundred Euros, a Belgian Special Forces Group ID card, and various other items. She pocketed them all, tossed aside the headset, and dragged both the man and his rifle into the armory, shutting the door tight.
Only then did she call 911.
"Neptune, this is Basilisk. Aztec's been compromised."
Neptune sighed as he deleted file after file off one of the computers from Fury's office. He'd known Aztec had an arrogant streak, but it had never been cause for trouble.
"Keep an eye on the armory. If she comes out, put a bullet in her head. No chances."
"Understood."
"Oh, and there's one other thing." Neptune had an idea that would buy them all some time.
"What?"
"Come here and grab one of the hostages, and go to the front lobby with them. Let the police know we're meaning business here."
Steve told all of the police about the situation as best he could, then had them to start driving towards the facility to start a blockade. The last thing he needed with this hostage situation was the chance for the perpetrators a chance to get away that easily. He and Wanda drove back in one of the police vehicles.
"Are you really going to do this?" asked Wanda. She'd heard of what Steve had planned for dealing with Forson and his men, and she didn't like the sound of it.
"It'll work, trust me on this. I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't think it would work."
The plan was to offer himself in place of Wanda. As Captain America, he was still a wanted man by HYDRA and at least several rogue nations. Any of these would pay a pretty penny for his head. Once he got close enough to Forson and the man had let his guard down, he'd overpower him and offer a trade to the rest of the men: their leader for his friends.
Yes, it wasn't the most thought out of plans. But he doubted that mercenaries, no matter how well trained, would be able to keep Avengers hostage for very long.
Wanda was about to voice another protest when Steve's phone chimed. Steve saw it was Maria Hill and answered it. "Maria, are you all right?"
"Yes, Steve, I'm fine. I managed to lock myself in the armory with one of these bastards. He's not cooperating."
"Keep at it. I'm headed your way with a police blockade." He spoke to Wanda next. "Change of plan."
"What do you mean?"
"Maria's got one of the bad guys tied up. How good are your mental manipulation skills?"
"I think I can still do it, but haven't since Natasha-"
"That's all I needed to hear."
As it turned out, Maria had already called local SWAT to surround the entire facility and got Vision back from NYC as well. Steve and Wanda parked the car to find the SWAT commander looking dead on at one of the hostage takers in the main lobby. He had a suppressed SCAR-H rifle at James Rhodes' neck.
"Why don't you take the shot?" asked Steve to the commander. "If your weapons are suppressed, the rest of them won't hear a thing."
"Too many variables," came a gruff voice from the commander. "If even one of the others sees that happen, we can't guarantee anyone else's safety."
Made sense, to an extent. He'd dealt with hostage situations before, and his usual strategy was to barge right in and take out the bad guys. However, the bad guys had his teammates hostage, something that didn't happen every day.
"Time to move," he said to Wanda. They ran quickly under the cover of darkness.
The armory was behind the main office building, near the fields where everyone did their outdoor practice, whether it was the firing range or flying. Steve and Wanda were sure to stick to already existing shadows, because he assumed that there was someone watching that building since Maria had managed to take out one of their own.
He hoped Maria still had him left alive. His new plan would require it. Steve spotted a sniper on the roof of the office, and forced Wanda to the ground when she almost walked into his line of sight.
"What was that-" Wanda attempted to speak under her voice when Steve put his hand on her mouth.
"Quiet. I'm just trying to keep you alive."
He pointed discreetly at the sniper on the roof. Wanda looked at him for a second, then understood. "Sorry. I should have trusted you."
"Don't worry about it. As long as you're alive I'm good with it."
She was silent until they crept in the backdoor of the armory. The first thing they saw that wasn't a firearm was a man handcuffed to the wall, looking defiant.
"What do you want?" he spat at Wanda as they looked at each other.
Maria Hill walked into view, carrying a very nasty looking drill. "Been working him up for half an hour, but no progress, I'm afraid."
"How many friends does he have in the hangar bay?" asked Steve.
"Not many. I'd estimate less than a dozen. Very professional, very fast."
"Not HYDRA then." Steve stared at the captured mercenary dead on. "Do you want to get out of here alive?"
He simply stared defiantly.
"Alright then." He motioned for Wanda to stand up. "Make him see something."
"What's going on?" Maria was unaware. Oh well, thought Steve.
Steve focused his attentions on their prisoner. "You're going to do as I say or Wanda is going to make you see some very unpleasant things. Do you understand?"
Stone-faced silence. He really wasn't letting anything slip from him.
"You're up, Wanda."
Unsure of herself, Wanda placed a hand on the man's head. He attempted to cringe his neck away, but Steve put it in place for it to work.
And work it did. First, the signs of fear showed themselves as twitching of eyes, as if he had been transported to a place far different than the armory. Then, more of his body began shaking uncomfortably. Then there was sweating. And through it all, Wanda didn't let go of him. Maria gave Steve a worried look, but he put a hand up: watch and see.
After about a minute of this, Wanda let her hand off of him, and Aztec began gasping for air, as if he'd just finished a brutal endurance contest. Steve let him breathe for a few seconds, then crouched and looked him in the eye, face to face.
"Do you want to reconsider your cooperation?"
Aztec nodded over and over.
Maria had to ask. "What the hell did Wanda do to him?"
"Just some mental manipulation. She's been working on it with Natasha. It's like waterboarding, but you don't need water or a board."
"So Wanda tortured him by…"
"By showing him his worst fears. I won't even ask her." He held Wanda. "You good?"
"Yes, Captain," she replied, kissing him.
Maria smiled. "So it is true."
"Shut up," said Steve, almost blushing.
Ten minutes later, Aztec came out of the armory, "holding" Maria Hill at gunpoint. He retrieved his headset and spoke: "Aztec here. I finally got the Hill woman."
"What took you so long?" Forson was very annoyed.
"She got the jump on me. Not many women can do that."
"You're damn lucky she didn't kill you," said Neptune. "Don't let your guard down again."
However, Aztec was following whatever Steve Rogers told him to do, which in this case was to pretend that he'd gotten the jump on Maria. While they did that, Steve headed up the ladder on the mail office building, while Wanda moved among the shadows of the building's first floor, towards the lobby where Rhodey was held.
Nero, watching from the roof, caught Captain America out of the corner of his eye, almost at the roof level. The entrance was just a few feet from where Nero was standing, so he moved his UMP45 submachine gun at Steve's direction. He only got a few bullets off before Steve knocked him off his feet, sending the submachine gun flying in another direction.
Nero was back on his feet soon enough, however, and pulled out a Glock he had in his waist belt. He aimed it at Steve.
The UMP was within Steve's reach. He preferred taking the hostiles alive, but he didn't really have a choice, not with a gun about to go off near his head.
He grabbed the submachine gun and fired.
As before, be sure to tell me what you thought!