Coming Down ➢ Steve Rogers

twelve

The agent held his hands up in fear. "Zola's algorithm is a program for choosing Insight's targets!" he cried, cowering away from them.

Delaney folded her arms. "What targets?"

"You! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defence, a high school valedictorian in Iowa city. Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to H.Y.D.R.A! Now, or in the future."

Delaney was suddenly cold all over.

"The Future?" Steve repeated. "How could it know?"

Sitwell laughed. "How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught H.Y.D.R.A. how to read it. Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, e-mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores! Zola's algorithm evaluates peoples' past to predict their future."

Impossible. How could they... Delaney glanced over at Natasha, seeking some reassurance that this wasn't happening, that she was imagining what was happening before them. But Natasha's jaw was set, and Delaney's stomach suddenly started tying knots. She had never imagined that technology could be used in such a way. The fact that it could make her skin crawl.

"And what then?" Steve demanded.

Sitwell paled. "Oh, my God. Pierce is gonna kill me."

"What then?"

The H.Y.D.R.A spy swallowed before he answered.

"Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time."

+++

Delaney was still shaken by Sitwell's revelation as Sam sped them toward S.H.I.E.L.D..

The thought of mindlessly wiping out millions of people made her want to throw up. It was too horrible – and reminded her too much of her parents. It was horrible, the lengths some people would go through to gain power and control.

"H.Y.D.R.A. doesn't like leaks," Sitwell said during their journey. Delaney sent him a glare. She was glad that Natasha was seated between Sitwell and herself – even being on the opposite end of the backseat was, to her, too close proximity.

"So why don't you try sticking a cork in it?" Sam retorted. Delaney caught his eye in the rear-view mirror and they both snorted.

Natasha leaned forward, between the two front seats. "Insight's launching in sixteen hours, we're cutting it a little bit close here."

"I know," Steve said heavily. "We'll use him to bypass the DNA scans and access the Helicarriers directly."

"What?" Sitwell yelled. "Are you crazy? That is a terrible, terrible idea -"

He cut off his own sentence with a scream. Delaney whipped around and cried out as a metal hand smashed through the window. It grabbed Sitwell and, as though the spy was nothing more than a doll, threw him into the oncoming traffic. Delaney felt like throwing up as she saw Sitwell hit by the incoming traffic, killing him.

She was so struck with horror that she barely reacted when the Winter Soldier – who she only just realised was attacking them, as she recalled Natasha's story – started shooting them. Delaney cried out and Natasha yelled, "Delaney!" She had already jumped into the front with Steve and Sam.

Shaking, Delaney clambered to the front as well – after so many years out of action, she'd forgotten what it had been like to be in the line of fire like this. The car jerked beneath them as Steve pulled the break handle. The car skidded to a halt and their assailant was flung off.

Delaney's eyes widened as their assailant, the Winter Soldier, flipped to recover, his metal arm tearing up the road. When he stood, her stomach clenched. This was her first time seeing the Winter Soldier. He certainly looked like a menacing figure, with his face concealed. Suddenly she understood how he had been able to take credit for fifty assassinations.

Then Delaney's heart was racing and she screamed as a car rammed into them from behind. She lurched forward and screamed – only Steve's hold on her prevented her from hurtling out of the windscreen. She was frozen in terror. This was her first time being in the middle of a fight for her life in two years, and the shock of being flung so suddenly into such a situation caused fear to override every system of her body to the point she forgot how to function, how to react under pressure.

Their car flung forward, toward the Winter Soldier, who didn't move until they were nearly on top of him, when he jumped on to the roof of the car. The car behind them was still dragging them forward. Delaney looped an arm around Sam's seat but still felt entirely exposed – she wasn't wearing a seatbelt, and the only thing preventing her from being run over like Sitwell in traffic was Steve, and her own strength. Her eyes flicked on to the roof where the Winter Soldier had jumped, her heart hammering in her chest.

Then his arm smashed through the front screen and ripped out the steering wheel; glass shattered and sprayed in all directions. Natasha somehow grabbed hold of her gun and shot at the Soldier, who leaped on to the other car.

"Shit!" Sam yelled – Delaney was sure she'd have cursed herself if her throat wasn't constricted with fear, as the car pushing them screeched to a halt while their own car continued to speed forward – without any method of steering.

Just when Delaney was sure matters couldn't get any worse, the car rammed into them again, and their car slammed into the side, sending them spinning off course. Their car lifted off the ground and Delaney knew, with a stab of utmost fear, that they were about to crash, to go spinning out of control on the highway – which would most likely end up with all of them dying.

"Hang on!" Steve barked. Delaney grabbed on to him just like Natasha as their car flew into the air. Delaney squeezed her eyes shut and a scream was stuck in her throat as she felt it turn – and then all of a sudden, too soon, they were falling back on to the road. Delaney's eyes flew open and she realised Steve had detached them from the car, and all four of them were falling back on to the road, the car door a barrier between their bodies and the road.

The door skidded along the road beneath them; ahead, the car tumbled and continued to flip, all windows shattering, dents forming all over it. Delaney's heart missed several beats as they flew along the road, Sam rolling off at some point, and she didn't know what else was going on. All she cared about was hanging on to Steve, to safety.

Finally, after a time suspended in fear, they finally stopped. Delaney coughed and sucked a lungful of air into her lungs. She raised her head, her brown locks sticking to her face and obscuring her vision.

She could see enough, however, to tell that the Winter Soldier was advancing for them.

There was no escaping this fight.