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VALOR
vi. BUCKY
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RILEY WAS A GENIUS. There was no doubt about it. Her plan of securing Sam Wilson's wings and essentially kidnapping Jasper Sitwell was going perfectly in their favor. A newfound glow of confidence enshrouded the teenager. She was never allowed to call the shots, to form the plans, but after Steve decided to give her a chance, Riley felt unstoppable.
As of now, they were fulfilling the next part of their plan: kidnap and interrogate Jasper Sitwell. They stood on a rooftop with Steve interrogating the HYDRA agent in D.C. Steve grabbed Sitwell, pushing him toward the edge as he demanded, "Tell me about Zola's algorithm."
"Never heard of it," Sitwell lied. Riley folded her arms as she stood behind Steve and Natasha. Riley made a mental note to never get on Steve's bad side.
"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?"
"I-I was throwing up, I get seasick," Sitwell revealed, very obviously lying through his teeth. Steve grabbed Sitwell by his shirt, holding him over the edge menacingly. "Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw me off the roof? Because it's really not your style, Rogers."
"You're right," confessed Steve. "It's not. It's hers." With that, Steve stepped to the side, allowing Natasha to deliver a swift kick to Sitwell's chest to send him flying off of the rooftop.
Natasha turned to Steve, rather calm after what she'd done. "Oh, wait. What about that girl from accounting? Laura? Lisa—?"
"Lillian," Steve recalled. "Lip piercing, right?"
"Yeah, she's cute," Natasha encouraged.
"And annoying," mumbled Riley, causing Natasha to shoot her a look. "What, I'm just looking out for Steve!"
Natasha rolled her eyes. "Продолжай говорить себе это, малыш." Keep telling yourself that, kid.
"I appreciate it, Riley," chimed in Steve. "But about Lillian... Yeah, I'm not ready for that."
Suddenly, Sam, adorned in his Falcon wings, flew through the skies with a very alive Sitwell. He aggressively threw Sitwell onto the rooftop before landing smoothly. The trio of Avengers marched forward to continue threatening Sitwell, but before either of them could do anything, he raised his arms in defense. Sitwell cowered on the ground and shouted, "Zola's algorithm is a program for choosing Insight's targets!"
Riley paused. So, Project Insight seemed to be a lie devised by HYDRA, too. "What targets?" snapped Steve.
"You!" Sitwell nervously reported. "A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City. Uh-uh, Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, Riley O'Dair, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future."
Riley cocked her head to the side at the mention of her name. "The future?" echoed Riley. "There's no way it could know."
Sitwell darkly chuckled. "How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it. Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, emails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores! Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future."
"And what then?" demanded Steve. Sitwell seemed to ignore Steve, mumbling anxiously about how Secretary Pierce was going to kill him. "What then!?"
Sitwell hesitated. "Then, the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time.
Riley scoffed, eyebrows raised. "Oh, you've gotta be shitting me."
○ ○ ○
Riley couldn't wrap her head around the ideology regarding Zola's algorithm. She couldn't comprehend why HYDRA believed she was a threat. They had known her for the 13 years she'd been alive as a child prodigy and the 11 years she'd had her powers. Why didn't they take her out when she was younger? Why was HYDRA stuck between wanting to kill her and wanting to use Valor to their advantage? She wondered what the future held for her.
The group was piled into a small car, discussing the next phase of their plan. Project Insight would launch in approximately 16 hours, so they didn't have much time to shut everything down. They decided they'd use Jasper Sitwell to bypass any DNA scans and access the helicarriers directly, which the HYDRA agent was immediately opposed.
"What!? Are you crazy!?" cried Sitwell. "That is a terrible, terrible idea—"
Sitwell was interrupted by a loud thud on the top of Sam's car. The noise was followed by the window breaking, allowing an arm to grab onto Sitwell and fling him onto the highway, killing him immediately. Shattered glass collected on the seat where Sitwell once sat. Riley gasped at how quickly he'd been killed.
The one who had killed Sitwell returned to the roof of the car, this time beginning to shoot at the heroes. Natasha flung herself into the front seat, whereas Riley defended herself with a forcefield. Gunshots continued to ring in their ears, bullets flying through the car until Steve pulled the emergency brake handle. This caused their attacker to drop down onto the street.
Riley leaned forward from the middle seat in the back, eyes widening at the sight of their attacker: shoulder-length hair, metal arm, mask. "It's him," Riley breathlessly realized. "The guy that attacked me. The Winter Soldier. That's him."
Before anyone else could speak, a car smashed into the rear-end of the group's vehicle, pushing them forward. The Winter Soldier leaped over Sam's car, latching onto the roof again and shattering the rear window.
Natasha reached for her gun as she sat on Steve's lap in the passenger seat, beginning to shoot at the Winter Soldier. Meanwhile, Sam shouted in surprise when the Winter Soldier broke through the windshield and snatched the steering wheel out of his grasp.
"Shit!"
As the Winter Soldier jumped onto the vehicle behind them, Riley glanced out the window to her right, quickly realizing that they were being pulled off the highway. "Get out of the car!" barked Riley.
But before she could fling herself out of the car with Steve, Natasha, and Sam, the car had already begun to spin uncontrollably. The car rolled down the highway, leaving Steve and Natasha to slide across the roads on top of the passenger car door and Sam to fly onto the pavement.
Riley grunted as the car jostled her around. She was lucky she was able to maintain her forcefield. Still, that didn't make the recoil of the car spinning around the streets any more tolerable. Once the car stopped, Riley took a second to catch her breath.
"Ow..." she grumbled weakly. Ignoring the sharp pain in her head, Riley used her forcefield to push herself out of the car through the broken window.
By the time Riley was on her feet again, Steve had been blasted off of the highway into a bus and Natasha had jumped off of the interstate as the enemy shot at her. Riley wasn't sure where Sam was, but she assumed he was taking out some of the HYDRA agents that accompanied the Winter Soldier.
"Alright," Riley murmured to herself. She took a few seconds to shake off the accident, turning invisible again. "This is cool. This is fine."
Her ears perked up as she overheard the Winter Soldier command the others, "Она у меня. Найди его." She's mine. Find him.
Riley could only assume he was talking about Natasha and Steve. Worry overcame Riley. She could hardly hold her own against the Winter Soldier. Would Natasha be okay? Riley shook her head. She'd just have to put her faith in Natasha. For now, Riley needed to take out the HYDRA agents shooting up the streets.
Riley watched as four of their enemies used a grappling device to send them safely onto the streets from atop the highway. To her right was Sam as he took down the fifth agent that was about to join them. He threw the agent over the side of the interstate and seized his gun.
Peering down at the warzone, Riley analyzed the scene hurriedly. Sam continued to shoot down some of the HYDRA agents as they shot at Steve. It seemed like Steve was rendered weak. All he could do was use his shield to defend himself. Riley decided she'd start by giving him a chance to get out of there.
Riley pulled out one of her guns that were strapped to her, shooting down two of the agents targeting Steve. Sam took out a few more before something caught Riley's attention. In the distance was the Winter Soldier, who seemed to be in pursuit of Natasha. Concern struck Riley. "Nat."
"Go!" called Sam over the gunfire. "I got this!"
With a nod, Riley turned invisible again and created an inclined forcefield off of the top of the highway. She gracefully slid down it before making a break for the Winter Soldier. The gunshots ringing through the air sang in harmony with the police sirens rippling in Riley's ears. Innocent civilians sprinted to safety as Riley pushed past them. The only thing she cared about at that moment was getting to the Winter Soldier before it was too late.
When Riley found the Winter Soldier, he had just shot Natasha in the shoulder and the main roads were completely abandoned. Riley assumed Natasha must have been hiding behind one of the cars, which gave her the perfect opportunity to attack the Winter Soldier.
'This is probably a terrible idea.' Becoming visible, Riley stood in the middle of the street, cupped her hands around her mouth, and beckoned, "Hey!"
The Winter Soldier instantly turned to face Riley, his gun already tilted to shoot her. However, Riley's hands were raised in the air to show that she wasn't going to fight him. Then, she added, "Hail, HYDRA!"
The Winter Soldier studied her momentarily, recalling how Riley was given a choice to join HYDRA or die. He nodded, lowering his gun. In that short moment, Riley created a forcefield beneath his feet, knocking him to the ground in an instant.
"Принеси это, киборг!" yelled Riley. Bring it, cyborg!
In an instant, the Winter Soldier proceeded to shoot at Riley as she became transparent. She raised a forcefield, not around herself, but instead, around the Winter Soldier. She enclosed it around him until he couldn't move. Then, Riley ran up and struck him from behind, becoming visible yet again.
Riley was nervous to face off with the Winter Soldier again. He was dangerous, skilled at his craft of raising hell. Riley had to be cautious if she wanted to get out of this alive.
Every time the Winter Soldier attempted to shoot at Riley with his countless guns, Riley would use a forcefield similar to how Steve utilized his famous shield. She kept her focus sharp as she fought against the Winter Soldier. Though she held her own for long enough, the Winter Soldier was still stronger than her. Throwing her to the side, he was prepared to shoot a bullet between her eyes until Steve Rogers finally showed up.
Riley slid into a car, grunting as her back hit it. She rolled to the side to recover and hurriedly get back into the fight; however, by the time Riley was on her feet again, everyone was frozen.
Steve stared at the Winter Soldier, shock glistening in his eyes. Their attacker was emotionless, stone-cold, his mask now absent from his face. He didn't seem to be reacting to Steve's shock as he spoke, "...Bucky?"
The Winter Soldier remained emotionless, merely asking, "Who the hell is Bucky?" Then he raised his gun to shoot at Steve, only to be knocked down as Sam Wilson joined the fight. Wings adorned, Sam kicked the Winter Soldier onto the pavement.
Riley watched as the Winter Soldier rose to his feet again. Riley has known of Steve's best friend, Bucky Barnes. He'd tell her stories about their life together whenever the two couldn't sleep or had a moment of free time together. Hell, Steve used to say that she reminded him a little bit of Bucky's little sister from back in the day. That being said, Riley was also incredibly baffled as to how Bucky was standing before them now.
Without another second to spare, a projectile went flying toward the Winter Soldier. Riley's attention whipped toward Natasha as she held the grenade launcher that had previously been in the Winter Soldier's grasp. Smoke danced into the atmosphere, allowing their attacker to escape.
Riley stepped forward from where she'd been catching her breath, eyebrows pinched together. "Wh—?" she began, only to be interrupted by sirens screeching in her ears.
HYDRA agents swarmed the destroyed streets of Washington D.C. Their vehicles surrounded the four heroes, guns being pointed at them from every direction.
A few agents headed toward Riley, their weapons prepared to shoot her down. The ones targeting Riley seemed to be wearing goggles over their eyes. She could only assume that allowed them to sense her whenever she turned invisible. Riley sneered at them, hands raised in the air.
"Drop the shield, Cap! On your knees! Get on your knees! Get down!"
Riley's gaze shifted to Steve as he was pushed onto his knees. Her heart sunk in her chest as one of the HYDRA agents pressed the mouth of his gun against Steve's head. Were they going to kill Captain America in public? Was HYDRA that stupid?
"Not here," Rumlow continued to order. "Not here!"
Riley glared at their enemies as they all grabbed onto the fugitives. She pulled away from the first agent to grab her. "Touch me and see what happens, asshole," Riley threatened.
Rumlow, who had been closest to Riley, just remarked, "You're in no position to make orders, kid."
The HYDRA agents grabbed her, but she didn't leave before she hissed in Portuguese, "Eu deveria saber que não podemos confiar em você. Você até parece um cara mau." I should've known we couldn't trust you. You even look like a bad guy.
Rumlow didn't care what she had to say, and apparently, neither did the other HYDRA agents. They simply threw her into the back of a van with her friends, sending them on their way to custody.
○ ○ ○
In all honesty, Riley should've known better than to believe that all of S.H.I.E.L.D was compromised. Given the circumstances, it was a normal reaction. Riley completely dismissed the possibility that some of her coworkers knew about HYDRA and had merely regrouped elsewhere, and she certainly hadn't thought about the chance that she and her friends could still be saved from HYDRA, even after being captured.
So, when she and her friends were miraculously rescued by Agent Maria Hill from inside HYDRA's van, Riley thought she was being personally blessed by God.
They didn't have much time to chat about specifics. Maria knew HYDRA was targeting the four fugitives, so she'd been acting as a sleeper agent until she had the chance to rescue them. Riley was beyond relieved.
Maria safely guided the four to a secret facility. It was dark once they stepped inside the bunker. The only light that guided their way was the sun near the entrance, the dim fluorescents along the walls, and Riley. Again, no one bothered commenting on the fact that she was faintly glowing. They all assumed it had something to do with her powers.
"We need to get Nat to a doctor," Riley reminded Maria as they hurried throughout the dugout.
"We will," Maria promised. "I need to take you all somewhere first."
Riley wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean. She glanced back at Natasha, who had been putting pressure on her gunshot wound. Riley was worried. Natasha probably lost a few pints of blood by now.
Nevertheless, Riley didn't bother asking any further questions. She had to trust Hill. She didn't exactly have another choice.
Riley was expecting to see a lot of things as they hurried throughout the facility. She was expecting to see S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, recovered weapons, and maybe even a stolen helicarrier; however, what she hadn't been anticipating was a very alive Director Nick Fury laying in bed.
"About damn time."
Riley thought she was going to pass out when she saw him. The first thing she wanted to do, naturally, was scream at Fury for forcing her to lose sleep after crying over his death all night. But since he was still in a hospital bed, she figured that the universe had done enough to the man already.
Riley sat next to Natasha, watching the doctor carefully as he treated her wound. She listened as Fury listed off the things that were wrong with him, "Lacerated spinal column, a cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache."
"Don't forget your collapsed lung," gently reminded the doctor.
"Oh, let's not forget that," Fury darkly humored. He spoke slowly, exhausted and probably saturated with drugs to numb the pain his body was in as he recovered from his attack. "Otherwise, I'm good."
Riley shook her head, arms folded over her chest. "No, you're missing something," she confidently declared. "What about the part where you lost your goddamn mind!?"
"O'Dair—" gently started Maria.
"They cut you open," Natasha interrupted, agreeing with Riley. "Your heart stopped."
Everyone wanted a proper explanation. It didn't make any sense. Nick Fury died. They all watched his heart stop in person. How was it possible that he was sitting before them: living and breathing?
Fury glanced over at the youngest in the room. "Tetrodotoxin B," he announced. "O'Dair, tell me what it does."
Riley scrunched up her nose, trying to recall what she knew about that drug in particular. She hated how often Fury liked putting her on the spot, but she figured it was to make sure she didn't forget things over the years. After all, most people don't remember what they learn in their childhoods. Fury always kept Riley on her toes.
"Banner developed it for stress," Riley recited. "Tetrodotoxin B slows the pulse to one beat per minute."
Nodding, Fury added, "Didn't work so great for Banner, but we found a use for it."
"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Steve interrogated.
"Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful," elucidated Maria.
"Can't kill you if you're already dead," chimed in Nick. "Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust."
That made sense to Riley. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought of that in the first place. Then again, it was difficult to predict Fury's next moves. She'd known him her whole life, and to this day, Nick Fury continued to surprise her. Still, she wasn't expecting him to fake his death without at least telling her about it!
Riley sat at a table beside Nick Fury after everyone moved into another room to further discuss the situation at hand. They studied the files they had on Alexander Pierce, who the group had determined to be the head of HYDRA.
Fury studied an old image of Alexander Pierce with a grimace. "This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize," he reminisced. "He said peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility." Fury placed the photo down, adding, "See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."
"We have to stop the launch," Natasha reminded the others. "Project Insight, we have to stop it."
"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore," mused Fury. He pulled open a briefcase beside him. Three chips were tucked into it.
When Sam asked what the chips were, Maria explained, "Once the Helicarriers reach 3,000 feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized." She turned a monitor around to give the four heroes an idea of what she was talking about. Those three helicarriers would be what killed hundreds of innocent people—all because HYDRA and Zola's algorithm deemed them a threat.
Including Riley. She tried to ignore that part for now.
"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own," said Fury.
"One or two won't cut it," mentioned Maria. "We need to link all three carriers for this to work. If even one of those ships remains operational, a whole lot of people are gonna die."
"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA," Fury reminded them. "We need to get past them, insert the server blades, and maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left—"
"We're not salvaging anything," Steve cut in. "We're not just taking down those carriers, Nick. We're taking down S.H.I.E.L.D."
Riley perked up at what Steve was saying. Eyes widening, she immediately looked to Natasha, who was blank on the outside.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with this," argued Fury.
S.H.I.E.L.D. was more than just a public organization formed to protect the public. It was more than any of that government nonsense. S.H.I.E.L.D. had been Riley's home for more than a decade of her life. To think that this was the end of the only thing she's ever really known hurt her.
And it hurt her, even more, knowing that she actually agreed with what Steve was saying.
"But S.H.I.E.L.D. was never just S.H.I.E.L.D.," Riley reminded. She glanced back at her superior. "It's been HYDRA from the beginning. That's what Zola told us. How are we supposed to guarantee that HYDRA's gone if S.H.I.E.L.D. still stands after this?"
Silence cleared the room. She was right. There was no way to guarantee that HYDRA would be eliminated once and for all. This was the safest way to assure that HYDRA couldn't spread any more than it already had.
Steve's stare was stuck to Fury as he declared, "You gave me this mission, this is how it ends. S.H.I.E.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 a cave?" Fury fired back. "I noticed."
"And how many paid the price before you did?" Steve snapped. Bucky. Steve was talking about his old best friend, Bucky.
James Buchanan Barnes, better known as Bucky, was Steve's childhood best friend back in the day. He was a member of an elite special unit of Allied soldiers formed in World War II known as the Howling Commandos. In the '40s, Bucky was presumed deceased after falling off of a train; however, because he was experimented on by Zola beforehand, he survived the fall. He was taken by HYDRA and tortured and conditioned to become what the world now knew as the expert assassin, the Winter Soldier.
Fury faltered. "Look, I didn't know about Barnes."
"Even if you did, would you have told me?" countered Steve. "Or would you have compartmentalized that, too?" He shook his head. "S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA, it all goes."
Hill sighed. "He's right," she agreed.
Fury glanced up at Natasha, then Sam. He was hoping one of them might be able to take his side after Hill and Riley didn't. When Natasha was silent, Sam just shrugged and told him, "Don't look at me. I do what he does, just slower." His statement caused Riley to smile. She decided she liked Sam.
Fury leaned back in his seat. "Well... Looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain."
Riley wanted to be excited. She wanted to be bouncing off the walls with enthusiasm knowing that this could be the end of HYDRA. But she didn't feel that way.
It was bittersweet knowing that this was the end of S.H.I.E.L.D. This was the end of Riley's home. This was the end of Riley's childhood. Well, her childhood had been over for a long time, but the notion still stood.
Riley just hoped they could save the day before hundreds of people died—including herself. Because, in her opinion at least, that would be a very lame death.