The Black Cat

Chapter 13: Down like the Titanic

Fury left the room with help from the other agents for Steve to give out the plan. "Maria, I need to watch over the carriers and lock them down when we say to." She nods, understanding her orders. "Natasha, I need you to go undercover as one of the Council members. Be there for the meeting with Pierce and shut it down." She nods as well, staying silent. "Sam, I need you in the air to get a chips in carriers and pick us up." Sam agrees and I'm left confused. "What am I doing?" I ask. "Jackie, I need you for back up. You stay with me on the carriers." I nod like the rest, accepting my position. "Are we settled?" Steve questions. We nod again, still quiet. Steve leaves the briefing room without another word, leaving us in the quiet. "Are you okay to go, Nat?" I ask, turning to her. "Yeah, I think I can see manage," she answers. Sam left with Maria and I help Natasha up and she begins to walk on her own out the door. I sigh, leaving the room too. I find myself wandering again and find the weaponry room, realizing I was probably going to need to come here anyway. I change out of my clothes from the base and trade them out for a new S.H.E.I.L.D. uniform, which felt a lot better than the security outfit I had. New guns, extra ammo and putting on a pair of protective gloves, I was set for this mission, which would probably be my last for a while. I laced my boots as Natasha came in, wearing her costume. "I think you rock Hawley's look better than she does," I comment. She laughs, loading her gun. "It isn't very often I get to dress like this," She hides her gun and puts on the wig she was holding, "I'm thankful for that."

We walk out of the weaponry room, Steve coming down the hall in his Captain America suit. "Are we heading out?" Natasha asks. "Sam's getting his wings and we'll be heading out," Steve replied. Hill joined us after that and finally, Sam did as well. We left the reservoir and Natasha put on the mechanism over her face, making her look like Hawley completely. Hill gave her the keys to the car and Nat drove off, leaving all four of us to walk. "Here," Maria handed us each a Bluetooth to stay in contact. I placed mine in as we kept going. The walk wasn't long at all and we snuck in through the back, no one even noticing us. We ran up the steps quickly and reached the control room in no time. Standing by the door, we heard one of the workers come to the door and opened it. Sam, Hill, and I held up our guns, Cap stepping forward. The worker was in such shock and couldn't speak. "Excuse us," Steve said. All of the workers put their hands up and left the room in orderly fashion, not saying a word. Steve went up to the mic and began to say his message. "Attention all S.H.E.I.L.D. agents, this is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about me in the past few days. Some of you were even ordered to hunt me down. But I think it's time you know the truth," He paused, "S.H.E.I.L.D. is not what we thought it was. It's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader. The S.T.R.I.K.E. and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. I don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want. Absolute control. They shot Nick Fury. And it won't end there. If you launch those helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone who stands in their way. Unless we stop them. I know I'm asking a lot. But the price of freedom is high. It always has been. And it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not." Steve finished his long speech, stepping away from the mic. "Did you write that down first, or was it off the top of your head?" Sam questioned.

About two minutes later, nothing had happened. "They're initiating the launch," Maria announced. Steve, Sam and I instantly burst out the door without a word. Making it to the outside, we start toward the edge. "Hey Cap, how do we know the good guys from the bad guys?" Sam asked. "If they're shooting at you, they're bad," Steve says. Sam started up his wings and soared off as Rogers grabbed my side and held onto me as we took the long fall to the first carrier. Heading straight into chaos, we parted and fought off whoever we came into contact with. Cap slid a grenade over at a group of guys while I pushed one off the edge. "Hey Cap, I found those bad guys you were talking about," Sam spoke over the Bluetooth. "Are you okay?" "I'm not dead yet." We kept quickly going through the warzone, taking down as many as we could. Steve hit the final man with his shield as I made my way inside to the control area. "Eight minutes," Maria told us. "Working on it," Steve said back, barreling through the door soon after me. I beat him to the machine, inserting the code and preplacing the chip with the one I was given.