The Black Cat

Chapter 12: Takeover

I was in D.C. by the morning and collected my bags. Checking my phone again, Steve still hadn’t responded and I gave up on thinking he was here to get me. I walk out to the car pick up, seeing Maria Hill leaning against her black car waiting for me. “You’re not here to take me home, are you?” I say. “We’re needed back at base,” she looked at me with that look that told me we were going to do something badass, “It’s urgent.” I nod, casually placing by bags in the truck of the vehicle and getting in the passenger seat. She got in and drove off, not saying another word. “What’s the status on Rogers?” I ask, knowing we were under surveillance. “He and Romanoff are currently on high security worldwide,” she explains, “They believe they’ve been found and will be brought into custody soon.” I nod again, taking in the surprising information. Well, that answers why he hasn’t talked to me at all. “How was your mission, Agent Tagan?” She continues on the conversation. “It was well. It was mostly studying anomalies and trying to cause them,” I tell her only part of the mission. “I’m glad to hear it was a success,” she comments. We pull up to the base, being stopped by the guard and asked for I.D. We’re scanned and allowed entry into the building. Maria parks and leads me into the building, taking me to the gearing area. We put on bulletproof vests and put on our large helmets, disguising ourselves as guards. We get out the stun batons and walk into the hall, where alarms began to sound off. “What are you idiots doing?!” Crossbones yells, “We’ve got ‘em, let’s go!” We run out to the vans with the other guards and quickly get in.

We arrive at what looked like a warzone, Steve, Natasha and another man right in the middle. We burst out of our van, guns in hand as we blend in with the rest. They cuff them all and we lead all of them to our van, where Maria and I get in first as their “guards”. They close up the van and all the cars drive ahead and we are last to follow. The ride was quiet for a while, neither Hill nor I revealing ourselves to them. Steve went on about a guy with a metal arm and how he was his friend from the forties, which I didn’t believe at first. “We need to get a doctor here,” the other guy stated, “If we don’t put pressure on that wound, she’s gonna bleed out here in-“ Hill activated her stun baton and then slapped my arm with it. “Ow!” I yelled out. She took off her helmet when I took off mine. “Son of a bitch!” I exclaimed, “That did not feel good!” She moved some hair out of her face. “Ah! That thing was squeezing my brain,” she spoke. She looked over at the stranger across from her. “Who’s this guy?” Everyone was silent in the van, unsure if to answer. “Uh, Maria, plan? Escape? That kinda thing?” I break the silence. “Right,” she pulled out a device that looked a lot like a sonic screwdriver from Dr. Who. Turning it on, she pointed it to the ground as the van stopped. She created a hole large enough for us to get through. She went through first and everyone else went through. Thankfully, we were near a forest that had another van waiting. Maria drove while I stayed in the back with everyone else.

“I’m Jackie, by the way,” I introduce myself to the stranger, extending a hand. He takes it, shaking it. “I’m Sam.” I sat back in my seat, relaxing a bit. I look over at Romanoff, seeing her bleed a lot. “I’m guessing I missed the party?” Natasha nodded very gently. “You missed one hell of a time, Tagan,” she adds. “I thought you weren’t going to be back until Thursday,” Steve said. I shrugged. “Maria called and I had a crazy time fighting off Dark Elves with Thor yesterday,” I confess, “She picked me up from the airport and we got into S.H.E.I.L.D. and dressed as guards to pick you guys up. I know absolutely nothing expect that HYDRA took over.” He nods, not sure if he should say anything. “Sorry I didn’t get you from the airport like I promised,” he apologized. I half-smile, rolling my eyes. “From what I’ve been hearing, you’ve been very busy. I can understand.” “It’s good to see you again, Jackie,” he says. “You too, grandpa,” I reply.

The van stops and Maria opens the back, Steve going out to help Nat down. I come out to see we’re at a reservoir. Hill opens the gate and brings us in. “GSW, she’s lost at least a pint,” She calls. “Maybe two,” Sam adds on. “Let me take her!” A man comes running to us. “She’ll want to see him first.” Hill leads us to what looks like a hospital area and in the bed was Fury, hooked up to about a thousand things. “It’s about damn time,” he comments. The man from before sits Nat down and starts to treat her wound. “Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache,” Fury listed all the things he suffered through. “Don’t forget your collapsed lung,” the doctor continues. “Oh, let’s not forget that,” Fury agrees, “Otherwise, I’m good.” “They cut you open. Your heart stopped,” Nat states. “Tertodoxin B,” Fury explained, “It slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn’t work so great for him, but we found a use for it.” “Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?” Steve questioned. “Any attempt on the Director’s life had to look successful,” Maria answer. “Can’t kill you if you’re already dead,” Fury spoke, “Besides… I wasn’t sure who to trust.”

Steve left the room soon after that and I didn’t even listen to the rest of the conversation. Romanoff got all patched up and rested up a bit. I decided to wander a bit and I ended up bumping into Steve anyway. He was sitting on bench, thinking. “Mind if I join you?” I ask. He shook his head and I sat down, sighing as I went. “Jackie, do you remember when you told me the system was messed up?” “Of course,” I reply. “I’m starting to realize that you were right,” He asserted. “You’re going to be saying that a lot to me,” I warn, “Also, I’m glad I told you ahead of time. You would’ve found it harder to believe now had I not told you.” He smirks a little to himself. “I’m going to have to put a rain check on our date,” He mentions. I look at him, smirking as well. “I have a feeling you’ve said that before,” I respond. He chuckles lightly. “Would you believe me if I told you that was over 70 years ago?” “Hardly,” I continue. “So, you said you battled Dark Elves? How did that go?” I shrug. “I’m in one piece, aren’t I? They were boring. They had no fighting skills which made it too easy for me. Though, I did get to stab a guy and Thor jabbed the thing in with his hammer. It was pretty cool,” I voice. Steve nods. “What about you? What the hell did I miss? Now I know how you felt when you came out the ice.” He rolled his eyes, lightly shaking his head. “You missed a lot. Fury was in a severe car accident when he was being taken down by D.C. police. He faked his death, which is why he’s here. HYDRA overtook S.H.E.I.L.D. which made me turn into a wanted criminal. Nat joined me and eventually, Sam did too. There was this guy stalking us and he’s been a very skilled assassain for a long time and he turned out to be my bud from the ‘40s. Now we have this whole mess and we have no clue what to do now,” Steve told me. I shake my head, not wanting to believe it all. Sam came down the hall to us. “Fury wants you two,” he states. We both stand and walk to room with Sam and wait for Fury to start.

He holds a picture of Alexander Pierce and begins to speak. “This man declined a Nobel Peace Prize. He said peace wasn’t an achievement, it was a responsibility,” He drops the picture onto the table, “See, its stuff like this that gives me trust issues.” “We have to stop the launch,” Nat says. “I don’t think the Council is accepting my calls anymore,” Fury replies. He opens a brief case that has three identical chips inside. “What’s that?” I ask. “Once the helicarriers reach 3,000 feet they’ll triangulate with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized,” Hill explained. “We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own,” Fury goes on. “One or two won’t cut it. We need to link al three helicarriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational, a whole lot of people are going to die,” Hill emphasizes. “We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA. We have to get past them, insert these server blades and maybe, just maybe we can salvage what’s left-“ “We’re not salvaging anything. We not just taking down the carriers, Nick. We’re taking down S.H.E.I.L.D.” Cap protested. “S.H.E.I.L.D. had nothing to do with this,” Fury fires back. “You gave me this mission, this is how it’s going to end,” Rogers overpowered, “S.H.E.I.L.D.’S been compromised. You said so yourself. HYDRA grew right under your nose and nobody noticed.” “Why do you think we’re meeting in this cave? I noticed.” “How many paid the price before you did?” Cap sneered. Nick was silent for a second before going on. “Look, I didn’t know about Barnes,” Fury confessed. “Even if you did, would you have told me? Or would you have compartmentalized that too? S.H.E.I.L.D., HYDRA… it all goes.”

“He’s right,” Maria agreed. Fury looked at us and then at Sam. “Don’t look at me,” he says, “I do what he does, jus slower.” Fury looks back up at Cap. “Well,” he sighed and sat back in his chair, “It looks like you’re giving the orders now, Captain."