Carmine Jewels ║ Wanda Maximoff

Chapter 30 - Tick Tock Goes The Clock

The projection on the big glass wall showed a big part of what the redhead was doing, the 'Deactivated' signs showing up as she worked through the firewall. It drew Rockwell's attention, who took a step forwards. "What are you doing?" He questioned, visibly confused by everything that was happening in front of him.

It wasn't Romanoff who answered him though.

No, Pierce took it upon himself to provide an answer. "She's disabling security protocols and dumping all the secrets onto the internet."

"Including HYDRA's." Romanoff added.

"And SHIELD's. If you do this, none of your past is gonna remain hidden." He countered calmly, slowly moving towards her with councilman Yen still close behind him. "Nor is hers." He jerked his head in the direction of the still-spasming figure of the mutant.

Even through her pain, Topaz could hear that the typing seized for just a moment. It seemed like Pierce had hit a nerve there.

Natasha had come to peace with her past becoming public knowledge, and she just wished that she could've asked for Keira's permission to publish hers as well. But unfortunately, it was a necessary sacrifice in order to expose HYDRA for the parasitic organization it truly was. She just hoped that the blonde would be able to forgive her when all their secrets went online.

Pierce narrowed his eyes slightly as the redhead continued her typing. It seemed like it didn't work to threaten her with either her or Topaz's past, but he wasn't ready to give up just yet, so he decided to poke that nerve one more time. "Are you sure you're ready for the world to see you as you really are?" After all, her movements had stilled momentarily when Topaz had been brought into the conversation.

But the redhead was determined to finish her mission, easily seeing through his manipulation games. "Are you?" She retorted, a shadow of a smirk resting on her lips.

A small silence fell over the room, none of them saying anything. When 'Restricted Access' showed up on the big screen, Pierce spoke up again. "Disabling the encryption is an executive order. It takes two Alpha Level members." The faintest trace of smugness could be heard in his voice.

"Don't worry. Company's coming." Romanoff replied confidently, and at that very moment, a helicopter could be heard approaching. Everyone's attention turned towards the window where it could be seen landing.

Topaz could feel how her muscles were starting to give up from the constant electricity running through them. Even if the discs stopped working soon, she would be out of play because of exhaustion. So, with one last effort, which caused a painful groan to escape her lips, she brought her arm up to her face and managed to rip the disc off her bicep with her teeth.

It was an unpleasant moment where the electricity flowed through her teeth before she managed to spit it out. She never would've believed that one disc could make such a huge difference. Some of the air seemed to return to her lungs, and she managed to bite off the other one as well. Both her arms fell limply to the floor, the muscles still shuddering, despite the lack of currents running through them.

Now, she had only one left. This one, she couldn't just rip off by her teeth though.

She gave herself a few seconds before gathering all her strength to reach up to her chest. The disc was thrown across the room, and her head fell back with a dull thud, exhaling heavily. Her whole body ached, and while the councilmembers were too distracted by the incoming helicopter and its secret guest, it didn't go unnoticed by the redhead.

Natasha, who couldn't do more at the moment, seeing as Fury hadn't entered the room yet, walked over to the blonde with her arms hanging loosely by her side. "Keira. Stay down." She warned in a low voice, her eyes filled with pity.