"Now, if you would be so kind to put on Project Insight on the screen again." Pierce said in a falsely sweet voice, knowing that Romanoff had no choice but to obey, his thumb hovering threateningly over the kill switch. "I want you to witness your failure as Project Insight succeeds."
The black spots in Topaz's vision began to fade and slowly, very slowly she could feel her senses returning to her limbs. Those damn discs had truly taken a toll on her and her body. Just to keep herself moving, trying to rid it of the last remainders of the strong currents, she kept flexing her fingers. Some childish part of herself hoped it would help to return the feeling in her limbs quicker.
Natasha moved involuntarily to the computer again, throwing a glance at the recovering mutant. She knew that if the blonde managed to gather her strength back too quickly, another fight would break out. And she truly didn't want to cause Keira any more pain.
A map of the East Coast appeared on screen and as the seconds passed, more and more dots appeared. It was quite obvious that these were the Insight targets, and judging from the sheer amount, a lot of people were about to lose their lives.
With her mission done, Natasha was roughly pushed aside by Pierce who took her place, clearly wanting to feel like he was in control of the situation. The redhead walked over to Keira, who was still struggling to get up to her knees with her body still shaking from exhaustion.
"Lieutenant, how much longer?" Pierce asked to the room, knowing his agents could hear him through the microphones in the room.
"Sixty-five seconds to satellite link. Targeting grid engaged. Lowering weapons array now."
The only question now was if Cap and Wilson would be able to stop Project Insight from happening. The Helicarriers were still rising steadily, but there had been quite a lot of firing going on with the smoke still rising from the guns. And standing on the ground, she had no idea what was going on up in the air.
"We've reached three thousand feet. Satellite link coming online now."
"Deploy algorithm."
"Algorithm deployed."
With great effort, Topaz managed to get herself into a sitting position, her hands on her thighs for support. Her breathing was still labored, and it felt like she couldn't draw enough air into her lungs. She knew that if she tried to stand up now, she'd only fall to the floor. It was all she could do to watch the fear on Romanoff and Fury's faces as the computer started to list the number of people being targeted after Pierce had given the weapons tech the go-to.
"Target saturation reached. All targets assigned."
"Fire when ready." It looked as though the Captain had failed. The dots were still clearly on the screen, ready to be eliminated. If she would've been her usual self, she'd probably be feeling panicked with her breath in her throat. Because she would probably be one of the targets. But now, she felt nothing. Nothing at all at the knowledge that millions of people were about to lose their lives.
"Firing in... Three, two..." You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. "One."
But right as the countdown was finished, the screen glitched for a fraction of a second, and all the dots vanished.
"Where are the targets? Where are the targets?!"
While Pierce's satisfied expression vanished quicker than she would've thought humanly possible, Fury and Romanoff shared a relieved look. The Captain hadn't failed. At the last moment possible, he had pulled through, saving millions of people. Such a shame that the public wouldn't recognize this victory for what it truly was. They would only see it as another reason as to why SHIELD never should've existed in the first place, even if it was HYDRA's fault.
Instead of targeting people, the count went down to three. The Helicarriers were targeting themselves. The weapons capable of mass execution would, in the end, destroy themselves. And they did. The big ships began firing at each other, fire and smoke erupting from them. It was poetic, really.
The four people in the room turned to watch the destruction. It was the end of an era. SHIELD would be buried, along with HYDRA.
Pierce had a sour look on his face, not at all pleased with the destruction of the Helicarries. "What a waste."
"So, you still on the fence about Rogers' chances?" Romanoff asked him sarcastically.
Pierce took this as his sign to move. "Time to go, Councilwoman. This way. Come on." He stressed. Even when having full control over the Black Widow's life, he was still wary of touching her, so he just gestured her towards the exit. "You're going to fly me out of here. And Topaz, make sure that he doesn't live to see the end of the day." He added, pointing towards Fury.
With shaking legs, she managed to stand up but not before grasping one of the guns that lay on the floor. Her arm was hanging limply by her side though and she doubted that she'd be much of a threat to the Director, even when the man had one arm in a sling, in her current state. It was amazing how much electricity tired out the muscles, and she felt weak. Really weak, and useless. She had failed to neutralize the Black Widow, not once, but twice now. And the consequences of her failure would be dire, she knew that.
Fury, however, didn't seem keen to just let Pierce slip away. "You know, there was a time I would've taken a bullet for you." He stated, not even turning around to watch as the party of two was leaving.
Pierce turned around for the briefest moment with a satisfied expression on his face. "You already did. And you will again when it's use-" The rest of the man's sentence was cut off as Romanoff went down to the floor with a sizzling sound, her pin breaking. Pierce looked at his phone in horror, realizing that his hold over the woman was gone.
Two gunshots echoed through the room, and Pierce was sent flying through the glass by the force of the bullets.
While Fury rushed to Romanoff's side, trying to revive her, Topaz stumbled over to Pierce. The man had a small cut on his cheek, and she quickly pressed her hands over the two bullet holes in the man's chest, the gun still between her fingers. "Orders, sir?" She stressed. She had no idea what to do if Pierce died. The man's mouth opened and closed, like a fish on dry land, but no words came out. She knew she couldn't let Fury escape, but what about Black Widow?
And what about herself? What would happen to her? Would she fall into Krieger's care again? Or would HYDRA decide they didn't need her anymore now when they were out of the shadows?
From behind her, she could hear Romanoff groan. "Ow. Those really do sting." It seemed like one of the discs was just enough to knock a regular human out.
With a last effort, Pierce managed to whisper two simple words. "Hail HYDRA." Topaz put two fingers on the side of the man's neck, but no pulse was beating. The man was dead. She withdrew her hands and watched the blood coating them. It was fascinating how the red liquid was one of the key elements to survival.
"Keira." The soft voice of Romanoff spoke from behind her.
Topaz turned around, still sitting by Pierce's lifeless body. "Why do you keep calling me Keira? That's not my name." She glanced out of the big windows, and destruction was a fact. The Helicarriers were falling out of the sky, probably causing disruption below.
She felt... conflicted. Her new orders were to make sure that Fury didn't leave the building alive, but to what end? Pierce was dead, and was there truly a point in obeying orders if her commander was dead? HYDRA's secrets were leaked, and who knew what damage had done to the organization at large?
Natasha saw the doubt glimmering behind the grey eyes and crouched down as much as her tight skirt would allow. "Listen to me. This person that HYDRA has made you to, it's not who you truly are. I need you to-"
"Romanoff, we need to go." Fury's voice interrupted her, watching as one of the Helicarriers were falling straight at the Triskelion.
Natasha whipped her head around, her eyes growing wide at the sight of the falling ship. She quickly returned her gaze to the conflicted mutant. "Keira, listen to me. We can help you. We can remove whatever HYDRA put in you. I just need you to follow me, okay?" She didn't disclose the last part of her sentence. That if Keira was to resist, she'd just knock her out again with a few extra Widow Bites, because there was no way in hell that she was leaving her best friend behind.
Topaz, who had followed the gaze of the redhead to the outside, now snapped back to meet the green orbs. "I can't." She whispered, and without breaking eye contact, her hand found the gun. Her hand was trembling slightly as she raised the gun up, pointing at Fury behind the redhead. "My orders are to keep him from leaving here alive."
Natasha felt the dread swirling in her stomach, but the fact that Keira hadn't pulled the trigger yet, was a good sign. Slowly, as to not startle the mutant, she moved in the way of Fury, shaking her head slowly. "You don't have to do that. Pierce is dead. HYDRA's dead. You don't have to obey them anymore." She said in a soft voice, her heart clenching slightly at the war going on behind Keira's eyes.
The gun in Topaz's hand was shaking more and more by the second, and it took every ounce of strength in her body to not let it fall to the ground. Everything within her was at war. She didn't know how to feel, or what to do. Some of the redhead's words made sense, but at the same time, they didn't. She wasn't created to disobey orders, she was created to follow them like a good soldier.
"Keira, please." Natasha pleaded, warily eyeing the gun as she moved closer to the mutant. While Keira's trembling hand could be signed off as exhaustion from the Widow Bites, Natasha knew better. The bullet still hadn't left the chamber, and that meant something.
Topaz could feel her finger itching to pull the trigger, but that would kill the Black Widow, and right now, she wasn't her target. She threw the gun away, watching it slide across the floor. "Put me in cuffs."
"What?" Natasha questioned, taken aback by the odd request.
"Put me in cuffs." Topaz repeated, biting down on her bottom lip until the taste of iron invaded her tastebuds. She closed her eyes briefly before meeting the redhead's gaze.
It went against everything HYDRA had told her, but it seemed like the woman in front of her genuinely wanted to help her. And it wasn't like she had a better choice to return to. If there was a chance of freedom, shouldn't she take it? Even if it meant going against everything she knew? Besides, it couldn't exactly get any worse.
Natasha looked back at Fury, the silent question shining in her eyes. The man nodded towards the helicopter, not only in answer to the question, but also urging the redhead to get a move on. With her question confirmed, Natasha carefully pulled up the blonde, who wobbled slightly.
"Your discs hurt like a bitch, just so you know." Topaz muttered, her head lolling against her chest as she leant against the redhead for support.
"Oh, I know." Natasha said in an amused voice. "Just tried them myself."
"I heard." Topaz tried to not put all her weight on the redhead as the feeling in her muscles slowly seemed to return. If there was one thing she hated, it was electricity. While they hobbled over to the helicopter, Topaz couldn't help but feel a connection to the redhead. It felt like she knew her, and just not as an acquaintance, but as a friend.
"You didn't pass out, which is impressive. So, point to you." Natasha carefully smiled as she helped the blonde into the helicopter. She quickly located the cuffs, and to her relief, they were the power-dampening kind. Normal cuffs wouldn't have a chance against the mutant.
Topaz noticed the redhead's hesitation to cuff her, so to make it easy, she put her hands in the cuffs for her. "It's just a safety precaution." She assured the other woman. "Don't wanna risk me going crazy inside the chopper." The voices in her were already a jumbled mess, and if she knew anything, it wasn't bound to get better.
Fury was quick to get the helicopter into the air, and Natasha settled down beside the blonde, locking the cuffs tight around her wrists. "Just a safety precaution." She mumbled to herself, and it sounded like she was trying to reassure herself.
They watched as the last Helicarrier crashed into the Triskelion, cutting through the building like a knife through butter. Topaz flinched when Romanoff suddenly yelled over the sound of the rushing wind. "Sam, where are you?!" Topaz had no way of knowing what Wilson responded, but her eyes grew wide when Fury suddenly steered the chopper towards the crashing Helicarrier. "We're on it! Stay where you are!"
She had to give it to Fury, he was a skilled pilot, managing to steer the chopper as close to the collapsing building as possible without getting hit by the falling wreckage. She watched as Wilson came crashing through one of the windows above, and she barely had time to grab onto a railing as Fury rolled the helicopter on its side.
Wilson curled into a ball in an attempt to avoid the rotating blades, and he managed to fall directly into the helicopter. The closed door on the other side was too weak to tolerate the impact and Romanoff managed to catch him just in time to prevent him from falling down to an inevitable death.
"Forty-first floor! Forty-first!" The man yelled angrily at Fury, still shaken after almost falling through the chopper.
"It's not like they put the floor numbers on the outside of the building." Fury retorted sarcastically. Well, he had a point there.
"Hill! Where's Steve? You got a location on Rogers?" Natasha yelled, holding her mic close to her mouth so that the rushing wind wouldn't interfere too much.
Wilson was still laying half-hazard across the seats, clutching his heart. When he looked up, his eyes widened in surprise. "Runner girl?" He questioned, and his eyes grew even bigger when he saw the big cuffs around her wrists.
"I think that's a tale for a later time, Birdie." She answered, one of her hands waving weakly at him. This was another face she couldn't place, but he seemed to know her.
"It's Falcon. Not Birdie..." He muttered under his breath, slightly annoyed at the nickname.
"Rogers was on the Helicarrier, right? Circle around the lake." Topaz piped up in response to Romanoff's question. Sure, it hadn't been directed at her, but as she couldn't hear what was going on in the comms, she might as well give the suggestion. It seemed like Fury had heard her, because the chopper changed direction, flying over the big lake instead of hovering around the wreckage of the Triskelion and Helicarrier.
"He must've survived..." Sam said, repeating it over and over again like a mantra while he leaned over the edge to look for his friend. As time went on, the chance of finding Cap seemed to lessen by the minute. He had probably been on the Helicarrier as it crashed, and even if he managed to land in the lake, he could've been knocked unconscious, sinking to a watery grave.
"Make sure... Doesn't live... End of the day..."
Topaz blinked hard, and her hands curled into fists. No, not now. Her old orders from before began ringing more loudly in the back of her mind. But she couldn't lose it all now. Despite it all, the redhead had managed to flicker a small spark of hope alive. Maybe she wasn't doomed after all.
A hand on her own made her flinch and her head whipped up in the direction of the redhead beside her. "Keira? You okay?" Natasha asked, worried. The tensed-up jaw and curling fists of the blonde hadn't gone unnoticed by her.
Again with that bloody name. Topaz unclenched her fists only to curl them again, all while trying the voice in the back of her mind quiet. "Orders. From before." She managed to mutter between clenched teeth. She could feel it, in her bones, how her muscles began to tense. Unwillingly looking for a way to break the cuffs and strangle Fury from behind.
"What does she mean?" Wilson asked confused. He was not on track at all with what was happening. When he had first met Keira, she had been one of the good guys, just jogging with Rogers. But the next time they had encountered each other, they had been on opposite teams, and she had tried to kill them.
"Mind control." Natasha asked absentmindedly, leaning forwards in an attempt to make eye contact with the blonde. "Keira. Listen to me." She squeezed the mutant's hand in a comforting matter, trying to drag her out of whatever her mind was telling her. "You do not have to listen to the voice inside your head. HYDRA does not have control over you anymore."
Topaz wrenched her hand away from the redhead, clutching her head as best she could with her hands cuffed. "No. I am nothing without HYDRA. I have no place without them." She whispered distressed, shaking her head.
"Make sure that he doesn't live to see the end of the day!" Pierce's voice now yelled inside her head.
Knowing that she wouldn't be able to resist for much longer, she looked up from her hands to the redhead. "Knock me out. Knock me out, now. I won't be able to resist much longer." She whispered, her eyes pleading. Her hands began to shake as she fought the urge to launch herself into the cockpit and strangle Fury until he was no longer breathing.
"B- But..." The redhead hesitated, not fond of the idea to knock her friend out.
"Do it now, Tasha!" Topaz now yelled. She had no idea where the nickname came from, but it was as though something came to life in the back of her mind. But she knew she wouldn't be able to control her impulse much longer.
And it seemed like the use of Natasha's nickname was the push she needed, because she threw multiple Widow Bites at her friend. This time, the blonde had no chance of staying awake. Her vision turned black within seconds and the last thing she saw was the worried face of Natasha looking down on her.