CHAPTER THIRTY
( DOWNFALL )
"YOU SMUG SON of a bitch!" Councilman Rockwell's voice radiates with anger, the loudness of the outrages can be heard from outside the doors that Quinn steps into. Everyone in the room looks towards her as she enters, gun in hand, ready to kill on order. The councilman gives a smug laugh as he looks towards her, thankful the agents have finally shown up to their aide.
"Arrest him," Councilman Singh demands her, pointing towards Pierce. Her expression is blank as she appears beside Pierce, her eyes trained on the man who ordered her around. She points her gun at the councilman, causing him to look towards her in shock. The other agents in the room follow her lead silently. Pierce chuckles lowly beside Quinn as a tacky grin appears on his face.
"I guess I've got the floor," he hums out. Quinn remains silent next to him, her gun still trained on the man even though she can feel the glare Councilwoman Hawley was throwing her. Pierce leaves her side to look out the window. The helicarriers have started to raise up out of the depths of their hangars. The size of them alone was enough to make anyone gasp. A few straggling loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are on the ground near the helicarrier fleet, fighting off anyone who tried to come close to the helicarriers. Including Steve Rogers who's figure is the most distinguishing of all the agents.
"Let me ask you a question," Pierce states, turning on his heel. His finger lace around a glass fluke of champagne a Hydra loyalist had brought in. His eyes scan Councilman Singh's figure as if he's analyzing him before taking a sip of his champagne. He takes a fluke of champagne off the tray the Hydra loyalist is holding and begins sauntering over to the Councilman.
"What if Pakistan marched into Mumbai tomorrow, and you knew that they were gonna drag your daughters into a soccer stadium for execution?" He hypothetically questions, offering the glass of champagne to the Councilman which he takes. "And you could just stop it with a flick of the switch. Wouldn't you?" He turns to look at the rest of the council with his fraud smile. "Wouldn't you all?"
"Not if it was your switch," Councilman Singh replies with disgust, tossing his glass aside which instantly shatters on impact. Pierce huffs out an exhausted sigh before scratching his brow in frustration. "I wish you hadn't done that," he mutters under his breath as he paces towards Quinn. He places his hand out towards her as if he was demanding something. He was.
Although, she's reluctant she hands her gun over to him. Pierce turns on his heel again and points it at Singh. Quinn does nothing as she watches the councilman's eyes widen with fear. Her gut wanted to stop Pierce, she wanted to kick the gun out of his hand and be done with this, yet her body resists her urges.
Suddenly, in a swift motion, Councilwoman Hawley nimbly kicks Singh away, then takes down the other Hydra agents in the room, making sure to leave Quinn alone - as she had promised, before taking the gun in Pierce's hand and a knocked out agents and pointing them at Pierce and Quinn.
Pierce holds up his hands in defeat as he stares at the barrel of the gun, amazed at how fast and flexible the Councilwoman was. Councilwoman Hawley draws her gun away from Quinn for a moment to rip at the seam of her face. Quinn watches terrified for a moment until she realizes it's a disguise. The gun is pointed back towards her as she raises her brows and places her hands at her sides in defeat as well. She was looking face to face with Natasha Romanoff. The agent smirks at Pierce. "I'm sorry. Did I step on your moment?"
Within a moment Quinn kicks one of the guns out of Natasha's hands, easily grabbing it midair and pointing it right back at her. Natasha's face scrunches as if she had just been insulted by Quinn's move. Blair had taught her too well. Too well to the point that Natasha thought if she were to move first she'd be fighting Blair.
If only she were here and not back at the secret base recovering from her wounds. It would've been different if she was here, she'd be able to take Quinn out easily since she taught her all her moves. Even though Natasha was more well known and more versatile in other areas of fighting techniques she'd be pretty matched up to Blair. "Put the gun down, Quinn," Natasha warns, watching confusion hit Quinn's eyes.
It's the second time that someone has mentioned her by that name. Was her name really Quinn? Was she really an agent or was she just brainwashed by Pierce? She refuses, still pointing her gun at Natasha, brows furrowed with determination. She may not have been able to shoot Captain America but she has no problem with shooting Black Widow. There was hardly keeping anything back for her, unlike her encounter with the first Avenger. Her finger easily slides towards the trigger, ready to fire if Black Widow made any movements to counter her.
"Sorry Rogers, I'm going to have to break our agreement," Natasha smirks as she clicks the commlink on. Quinn furrows her brows in question at Natasha's comment. What agreement? She wishes she could speak up for herself but knowing that Pierce was beside her she knew she'd be disciplined.
She's too caught up in her thoughts to even register that Natasha is calculating her attack. She juts a foot out, stomping on Quinn's knee causing her to cry out in pain before elbowing her hard enough in the back of the head to knock her to the ground, groaning in pain. It was a swift and easy defeat for Natasha. A dirty play on the soft and tender spot on the back of her head where she had hit it against a wall earlier.
Quinn swipes at Natasha's feet, knocking her on her back beside her. All the air in Natasha's lungs escaping. Quinn throws a blow towards Natasha's body, only for it to be blocked. Natasha does the same; they create an odd dance of blows and blocks while laying flat on their backs. Quinn finally lands a blow to Natasha's shoulder, sending her sprawling backward. It buys her enough time to stand on her feet, she quickly scans the room for her gun or any gun for that matter.
Her eyes finally lock on to one that an agent had been holding on to when Natasha took him down. As she takes a step towards his unconscious body to steal his weapon, Natasha flings herself into the air, straddling herself on Quinn's back and putting her arm around her neck in a choke-hold. Quinn fights back by flipping her off her back only to watch her quickly recover from the blow. Natasha smirks as she stands poised like a cat. "Let me tell you, the fact that you're doing this in heels is amazing,"
Quinn remains silent, her lips pursed as she continues to glare at the Avenger, waiting for her to pounce. Natasha returned the glare with a light-hearted smirk once again, before flipping over to an unconscious agent. Quinn's mind ran with panic as she attempted to sprint over to Natasha to stop her from getting a weapon. It was too late.
As she approaches the Avenger, she's met with the barrel of a gun pointed directly at her nose - at the other end an angry Black Widow. "Hands where I can see them," she demands in a threatening voice. Too close to even try to knock the gun out of her hand Quinn raises her arms to the side in defeat. The feeling of failure runs cold through her veins as she steps back to avoid Natasha's aim.
Natasha scans her appearance once more before hitting her in the side of the head with the butt of the gun, knocking her down for the count. Quinn's vision is blurry as her body slumps to the floor. Her body refuses to get up even though her mind is screaming for her to.
An applause erupts from the council members as she watches Natasha saunter over to the computer in the room, gun aimed at Pierce. "She may work on Rogers, but she's not my weakness," Natasha comments, earning a scoff from Pierce. Natasha glances over to a halfway conscious Quinn, her lids were drooping, her breathing was ragged from the encounter she had just faced.
She had to hand it to Blair, her training with Quinn was working, she could hold her own she just needed more discipline. Maybe if she knew that Natasha made an agreement with Steve not to hurt her, maybe if she could've convinced her that she was actually fighting for her life, she would've succeeded.
The keys on the keyboard click beneath her fingers as she shakes the thought of Quinn making a lethal agent if S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't been compromised. Her job was easy compared to Steve and Sam's. She just had to ignore the sounds of guns firing in the distance and focus on the task at hand even though she wanted to desperately ask her teammates if they were okay.
Councilman Rockwell cocks his head to the side while watching her. She tries her best to ignore the motion and continue working. "What are you doing?" he questions, his eye squinting as he peered over at the agent. Pierce lets out a frustrated sigh, earning the council's attention. "She's disabling security protocols and dumping all the secrets onto the internet,"
"Including Hydra's," Natasha adds in a cool tone, not taking her eyes off of the screen.
"And S.H.I.E.L.D.'s," he replies, his gaze narrowing at the Avenger. "If you do this, none of your past is gonna remain hidden," Natasha stops typing for a mere second, taking in Pierce's words. He couldn't get to her, she wouldn't let him. Her fingers go back to typing in the encrypted codes that Fury had given to her.
"Are you sure you're ready for the world to see you as you really are?" Pierce eggs on, causing Natasha to glare at him.
"Are you?"
Natasha is starting to become agitated at Pierce's presence. If she didn't need him to help them disable Insight she would've shot him long ago. Her typing becomes more pronounced as she finishes the last of her encryption, pressing enter and looking up at Pierce with a shit-eating grin when she's done. "I'm in," she whispers sweetly over her commlink. Pierce rolls his eyes as he looks at her. "Disabling the encryption is an executive order, it takes two Alpha Level members,"
"Don't worry," she coyly responds. "Company's coming,"
The propellers of a helicopter whir over top of the building, shaking the entire office from inside. Everyone glances at one another uneasily, except for Natasha who looks out with a smirk at the black chopper as it lands. Quinn's eyes widen with shock as she watches the figure step out of the helicopter.
She recognizes him but doesn't know him, unlike Natasha and Steve. She was not informed of this individual yet she was hyper-aware of how lethal and terrifying he is if someone were to cross him. She peers up to Pierce who has a smug grin on his face as the man enters through the glass door of the office. A permanent scowl on his face. "Did you get my flowers?" he questions the man, making him glare coldly at the secretary. "I'm glad you're here, Nick," Pierce says with a false sense of warmth in his voice.
"Really?" Fury's voice is filled with sarcastic surprise, his face still in a taught scowl. "Because I thought you had me killed,"
Pierce lets out a wry chuckle. "You know how the game works,"
"So why make me the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Fury questions.
"Because you were the best and the most ruthless person I ever met," Pierce answers as if it was obvious.
"I did what I did to protect people," Fury gruffly states.
"Our enemies are your enemies, Nick," Pierce tries to sympathize. "Disorder, war. It's just a matter of time before a dirty bomb goes off in Moscow, or an EMP fries Chicago," he hisses as if he's taken a blow. "Diplomacy? Holding action, a band-aid. And you know where I learned that; Bogota. You didn't ask, you just did what had to be done. I can bring order to the lives of seven billion people by sacrificing twenty million. It's the next step, Nick, if you have the courage to take it,"
Pierce's tangent sounds more and more like a mad scientist, even to Quinn. Her brows knit together as a searing pain of lost memories rush forward causing her to hiss in pain. Fury and Pierce ignore her presence as they continue to glare at each other. Natasha grows sick of the secretary and points her gun at his head, knowing Quinn couldn't react from the (hopeful) concussion she gave her.
"No, I have the courage not to," Fury retorts. Natasha motions to Pierce to move towards the screen where Fury was headed with her gun. There was to be no funny business.
Pierce grins like a maniac while letting out another wry chuckle. "You don't you think we wiped your clearance from the system?" Pierce almost sounds offended that Fury thinks he'd be so careless. However, Fury cuts him off.
"I know you erased my password, probably deleted my retinal scan, but if you want to stay ahead of me, Mr. Secretary..." Fury flips his eyepatch open to reveal a scarred eye, the glaze over it suggests that it's dead. The very look of it makes Quinn want to gag. "You need to keep both eyes open," Fury finishes. Natasha presses her gun closer to Pierce's head, forcing him to look into the retinal scanner. He rolls his eyes before staring at the computer screen, letting it scan over his eye. This was a minor setback in his plans. "Alpha Level confirmed. Encryption code accepted. Safeguards removed," the computer hums out.
Fury gives Pierce a smug smirk as Pierce returns it with a scowl. They had just released everything about S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra online. Of course, people knew about S.H.I.E.L.D. but no one knew of Hydra except that it was a dead Nazi organization - that has now come to the present. He was going to be the most hated man in the world. "You know what to do," Fury states in a positive tone towards Natasha, who's eyes become glued to her phone as soon as Fury gives her the okay. Pierce sighs in frustration. "I thought you were like me," he growls towards Fury under his breath.
Fury turns on his heel to glare at the undersecretary. "What part of 'you-almost-had-me-killed' don't you understand?"
Before Pierce can even conjure up a reply Natasha hums out, "Done," drawing everyone's attention towards her. Her eyes still glued to her phone. "And it's trending,"
Natasha's eyes dart to Quinn's figure as she begins to hoist herself up. The blow didn't impact her too much. Whether that was a good or a bad thing was to be determined. Natasha's instincts make her brace herself for something horrible to happen. Quinn's eyes are more glazed over by the brainwashing than before. It was like she was just an emotionless husk.
It was strange to see her of all people be devoid of anything that humanized her, the only thing that was imminent was the defensive aggression she held towards Natasha. However, she didn't act on it just yet. Pierce lets out another wry sigh as he takes a device out from his pocket pushing the button down. The pain-filled cries from Councilman Rockwell and Singh fill the room, as Natasha and Fury watch helplessly as the pins that were attached to their chest sink into their skin. The smell of burning flesh makes Natasha want to gag, yet she holds her cool.
The adrenaline in her blood points the gun at Pierce, Fury follows. Pierce tsks the two agents, the device still in his hand. Quinn naturally comes by his side, picking up a discarded gun in the process. "Unless you want a two-inch hole in your sternum, I'd put that gun down," Pierce threatens. Natasha's glare doesn't back down, instead her finger grips around the trigger tighter, waiting for the right moment.
"That was armed the moment you pinned it on," Pierce clarifies, pointing towards the pin on her chest. She holds her glare for a few seconds longer before reluctantly putting the gun by her side. Fury follows her moves. "No funny business," Pierce threatens the two once again before turning towards Quinn. "Keep an eye on the Cruise," he commands as he steps away. "I've got some weapons to launch,"
Fury peers from Natasha to Quinn, who has a gun aimed between the two of them, ready to fire as soon as one steps out of line. He lets out a huff of frustration before turning towards Natasha. "She really doesn't know anything?" Natasha shrugs her shoulders at the question. "I haven't really tried to jog her memory, but she looks more brainwashed than she did earlier. Maybe I hit her too hard," Natasha muses in a bored tone, scanning Quinn's glazed eyes for any kind of resemblance.
Fury grunts in response then focuses back on the blonde-haired girl in front of them. She was someone who he least expected to be a part of Hydra, he gave her the option to teach Steve if they were subtle about it, he even had her trained if they weren't going to be subtle. Just like S.H.I.E.L.D., it backfired on him. Yet, Natasha was right. She didn't hold the same resemblance to the trusting, open-hearted person he last communicated with. Everything about her screamed that she was out of place and beyond her depth.
"Quinn, do you know who you are?" Fury questions, only earning silence from the girl. That only proved his theory further. The girl he once knew and watched with Rogers was no longer in control, instead, this was just a Hydra sleeper agent. His lips purse to the side as he scans her emotionless features.
"Lieutenant, how much longer?" Pierce's voice carries throughout the room despite being all the way across the room.
"Sixty-five seconds to satellite link. Targeting grid engaged. Lowering weapons array now," the radio chatters back, making a grin spread across his face. "Looks like Rogers isn't going to make it," he sings out, almost dancing his way back towards the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. No matter how much they wanted to, they restrained and eye roll. "Would you like to watch? You've got a front-row view?" Pierce offers, gesturing to watch the helicarriers out the window as they begin to initiate. For the first time, Natasha's stomach drops. Was Steve not going to make it? Where was Sam in all of this? No one had communicated via comm in a while. Were they dead already?
"Algorithm deployed," a voice crackles over the radio held by Pierce, it was conveniently loud enough for the two agents to hear. The news makes him smirk. "We are go-to targets," Pierce affirms. Natasha's eyes widen as she continues to look out of the window. She was all for last moment miracles but had long since abandoned the idea of Insight being taken down in time. The muscles in her calves tightened as she mentally prepared to step in and take Pierce out. The only problem was the pin on her chest. She needed to deflect it somehow. Her eyes flickered over towards Quinn who still held her at gunpoint.
Although she wanted to classify her as the enemy - a traitor even - she couldn't. The half-baked look in Quinn's eyes made her feel guilty about even thinking about it. Steve had expressed to her how much Quinn adored her, to the point it was flattering. Natasha releases all the air in her chest in a huff of frustration.
As soon as Insight was a go she knew she'd be on the targets list, along with Fury. Quite possibly even Quinn. She was only a ploy for Pierce. She wasn't a full-blown agent, she wasn't used to fighting or killing. He used her purely to get a raise out of Rogers. As soon as he was disposed of Quinn would have to go as well.
"What if I jogged her memory using blunt trauma?" she whispers towards Fury. If they had a chance to disable anything with Insight without the help of Steve and Sam, Quinn was the best option. Fury's lips tug into a frown. "I think she's had enough head trauma to register as a concussion,"
"We have to do something," she hisses. The sound of her voice alerts Quinn, causing her to point the gun closer to her head. Natasha rolls her eyes at the feeling of the cold metallic muzzle pressing against the side of her head. She was going to die at the hands of an inexperienced newbie. Not exactly how she pictured going out.
"We wait," Fury directs her, his eyes never leaving the large window as he gazes upon the helicarriers. The helicarriers that used to belong to him. The project that used to be used for the greater good. All turned to ash because he couldn't sniff out a rat. He wasn't good enough for his job, but his job wasn't to save the world on the drop of a dime. That was the Avengers job. Or in this case, it was Steve's.
As Natasha soon started to give up on hope, there was a large crashing sound, almost like an explosion. Her eyes darted up towards the window to look at the helicarriers. They had begun firing on each other. Her lips twitched up into a small smirk. Steve was the master of last-minute miracles after all. Pierce let out a sigh of frustration as he gazes upon the destruction of Hydra's best work. "What a waste," he hisses out.
"Are you still on the fence about Rogers' chances?" Natasha wonders, a hint of sarcasm in her voice to match the ever-growing smirk on her face. Pierce rolls his eyes as he turns to face the former agents, his eyes dart towards Quinn for a moment. His head jerks towards the window, motioning for Quinn to come to his aid.
"Time to go, Councilwoman. This way, come on. You're gonna fly me out of here," Pierce instructs Natasha. Quinn gruffly grabs Natasha by the back of her upper arm, forcing her to be in step with her. At first, it seems that Natasha fights back, trying to escape by grabbing on to Quinn's arm but the muzzle of Quinn's gun meshes onto the back of Natasha's head. What Pierce and the brainwashed I.T. didn't see is the small metallic disk that Natasha had slid on to Quinn's arm. She hoped that the plan she was concocting would actually work.
"You know, there was a time I would have taken a bullet for you," Fury speaks up, distracting the Undersecretary. It doesn't seem to phase him out of his plan, it only slows his pace down a little. He turns to face Fury with a slight smirk. "You already did. You will again when it's useful,"
Just as Pierce finishes his sentence Natasha activated the small disks laying on her arm and Quinn's, the electric shock is strong enough to knock them both on the ground. Quinn appears to be unconscious along with Natasha. The brainwashed I.T.'s gun sputters across the floor, conveniently at Fury's feet. Pierce turns to see both women laying on the ground unconscious, unaware of what had just happened. He attempts to turn towards Fury to see if he had done anything but he's met with the burning sensation of a bullet whizzing through his abdomen. Then a second near his shoulder. His vision becomes hazy, and his legs give out from beneath him. "Hail...Hydra..."
Fury scurries over towards Natasha and Quinn, for the first time on this mission he feels panicked. "Romanoff! Natasha!" He shouts, nudging her shoulder in hope to wake her. "Natasha, come on!"
Natasha's eyes flutter open, the stinging sensation of the shock running through her body still. She winces as she forces to prop herself on one elbow. "Ow. Those really do sting,"
Fury lets out a low chuckle before peering over towards Quinn, her blonde locks unraveling from the bun she had put in. He absentmindedly places two fingers to her neck, checking for a pulse. It's there, it's steady, but it's slow. Something that was natural for someone who was knocked unconscious. Natasha stretches her arms above her head as she stands up along with Fury, before gazing down at the I.T. "She's alive," Fury informs the agent.
"That's good, Steve would've had a heart attack otherwise," Natasha shrugs as she peers at her nails for a moment. An explosion draws their attention from behind. They gaze out the windows to see a helicarrier falling towards the ground. One down, two to go. Natasha's attention returns to Quinn. They couldn't just leave her. Steve would go on a rampage, possibly resign from the Avengers if Quinn didn't make it. He would blame himself for everything. "Whose going to carry her?" Natasha questions, just as another smaller explosion goes off from behind.
"I can't," Fury speaks up. "I almost died. Carrying her could damage me,"
"Hey, you're not the only one to almost die, Princess," Natasha snaps, shooting a glare towards her former boss. Fury gazes towards the shoulder where she was shot at and then towards his own body which had stitches and adhesive bandages for his broken bones. He lamely looks towards Natasha, the look he throws her says 'you're better off than me'. It's enough to make Natasha roll her eyes furiously as she crouches down to take a hold of Quinn.
She struggles to place the unconscious woman over her shoulder, staggering as she attempts to stand upwards. She glares as she passes Fury, struggling to get to the helicopter while the ex-director nonchalantly strolls behind her. Steve made holding Quinn look so easy, but then again Steve made everything appear easy. He even made losing look easy. Natasha huffs as she places Quinn in the pit of the helicopter, hoisting herself up to grab ahold of her under her arms to fully pull her up. Fury slides into the pilot's seat of the chopper. A coy smirk appearing on his face as he watches Natasha attempt to strap Quinn into the seat across from her.
Natasha lets out a sigh of frustration as she flips her hair over her shoulder, trying to adjust herself after scrambling to get Quinn in. If Steve didn't thank her for doing this, he might end up on the same spectrum as Tony to her. "All good?" Fury calls out to her, thumb in the air for a go as Natasha places the headset over her ears. She breathlessly gives him a thumbs-up as she straps herself in.
The blades of the helicopter whip faster, causing the sound to become mind-numbing. Natasha rests her head against the back of the seat she was in. This had been a hell of a day. It hasn't ended yet. She had to keep reminding herself that the mission wasn't over until everyone they came with was retrieved. A loud explosion shakes the helicopter, forcing her to peel her eyes open. She watches out of the large window on the door as a helicarrier slams into the side of the Triskelion, causing a large gaping hole to appear. Natasha watches as she fears there may be civilians inside.
"Please, tell me you got that chopper in the air!" The familiar voice of Sam chitters over the commlink. Natasha quickly places her finger underneath the headset to press of the commlink. "Sam, where are you?" Natasha calmly questions, peering over her shoulder at Fury who's eyes have become glued to the building in search of their comrade.
"Forty-first floor, north-west corner!" Sam's voice crackles over the commlink in a panic. Fury places a thumbs up in the air, before directing the helicopter towards the collapsing building.
"We're on it, stay where you are," Natasha informs him, her stomach dropping a but as the helicopter takes a sick spin towards the building. The sounds of the concrete crumbling were loud enough to send tremors throughout the aircraft. "Not an option!" Sam shouts over the commlink.
Fury hovers near the building, being careful not to get too close to the falling debris. As the building is being destroyed, a small figure jumps out of the window causing a gasp to get stuck in Natasha's throat. It's Sam. His figure is racing dangerously fast towards the ground. "Go!" Natasha shouts over the headset towards Fury.
Her stomach once again lurches forward as the aircraft makes an abrupt turn, causing the side to come up. Her eyes glance towards the ground for a split second before she returns her gaze towards the building and more importantly Sam, who is aligned with the helicopter. Natasha makes a quick lunge as Sam slides into the helicopter, sliding across the glossy floor of the aircraft and almost of the opposite side.
Her grip is tightly wrapped around his forearm, nails digging into his skin. She strains as she pulls him up towards the center of the helicopter, away from the edge. He sits on the ground gasping and clutching on to his chest at first before whipping his head up towards Natasha but his gaze rests on Fury.
"Forty-first floor! Forty-first!" he shouts as he clamors up towards the seat next to Natasha. "It's not like they put the floor numbers on the outside of the building!" Fury counters, trying his best to navigate away from the building. Sam shakes his head in disbelief. He almost fell to his death and that was the excuse he used?
His eyes line up with the figure perched across from him. He sends a glare towards the unconscious woman. "What is she doing here?" he questions Natasha. If his memory served him right, she had tried to kill Steve but Steve had gotten the best of her. "That's Quinn," Natasha explains over the headset. "She tried to kill us!" Sam protests as he places his own headset over his ears. "She was brainwashed by Hydra. She's not usually like this,"
"And she's here why?"
"This is Steve's girl,"
It was like a light clicked on in his mind. That's why he didn't want them to pursue her or why he wouldn't lay her out in a matter of seconds when he knew he could. Sam smiled to himself as he looked over the woman's gentle features. "Steve's got a girl, huh?"
"Well," Natasha starts, her brows rising in boredom. "They're testing the waters I think. None of them will make the first move,"
"Is that right?"
A smile spreads across his face while his eyes linger on Quinn. He knew he had to do something about that if they actually survived this.