𝙎𝘼𝙏𝙐𝙍𝙉 ✮ 𝘯. 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘧𝘧

{13} - 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭

"Probably." Semna felt confident for the first time since she got here. She felt like she could really help. "I wasn't high-ranking, by any means, but I was there long enough to see new and old agents come through. I'm sure I could spot a few that I know."

At this, Fury reached into his coat and pulled out an old, frayed photograph. He tossed it onto the table and nodded at Semna. "Do you know him?" Semna grabbed the picture and held it under the light, not that she needed it to know who she was looking at.

Andrik had made her memorize the faces of his direct superiors early on in her training. He said it was important for her to show respect for all commanders in Hydra, but she knew better than that. He didn't care if another commander punished Semna, he only wanted her to make him look good when the opportunity presented itself. The man in the photograph was the one Andrik had been the most insistent about impressing, perhaps because he was scared of the man himself.

"I know him," she muttered. "But I do not know his name. What is his name?"

"That is Alexander Pierce," Fury told her.

"Pierce..." She thought for a moment. Her eyes wandered over the contours of his face, the menace in his eyes. She shuddered. "What does he do?"

"He's a part of the World Security Council," Maria said. "Basically, he oversees SHIELD. He knows all of our moves before we even make them."

"Who is he to you?"

Semna turned to Steve, hesitating for a moment. "Um..." she didn't know how to describe it, exactly; she never knew who he was or what he did, she just knew that she was supposed to be afraid of him, and make him be afraid of her. "He was my commander's...commander. If he said something, I was supposed to listen to him instead of my direct superiors." She sighed. "I don't know, he just always seemed weird to me. Always came out of nowhere and would stand in the corner most of the time...just watching whatever we were doing. It kind of creeped me out."

"Does he know you?" Natasha asked.

"Yes," Semna nodded intently, "he definitely knows me."

The Captain pulled out a chair across from Semna and sat down in it. He leaned forward, pressing his hands firmly into the table as she avoided making eye contact with him. "What? What do you mean he definitely knows you?"

"Pierce's prized possession is the Winter Soldier," Semna explained. "As long as I was helping Hydra keep him under control, he would give me whatever I needed to keep that up." She thought for a moment, confused by something that was said earlier. "Wait, you said Pierce also oversees SHIELD? I don't see how that's possible to maintain."

"He's a rather impossible person to understand," Fury said scornfully. "But we can figure that out later. What's important right now is stopping the launch of Project Insight."

Semna's blood ran cold. "They're really doing that thing?" She exclaimed.

"They most certainly are." Fury opened the briefcase in front of him, displaying it to the group. Inside were three identical cards.

"What's that?" Sam asked.

"Once the helicarriers reach 3,000 feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized," Maria explained.