∆ {2⁵} {FUNERAL FLOWERS} ∆
THE HINGES ON Roxi's mind had begun to loosen. The trapdoor, which before had been firmly fixed, would now swing up a little way if someone rattled it. She'd started to let certain people in, although only to an extent. Even Natasha (who was by far the closest to her), she would only let in a certain amount. She liked to imagine that under the shaky trapdoor, lay a glass jar with a candle inside, which represented her powers. The feeble flame, which barely survived in the jar but did somehow, was white and would leap and jump every time a loud noise surprised her. Whenever she thought of her powers, she associated it with simply white. White like that cloudy feeling that had risen inside her at New York, white like the lilies that are used as funeral flowers, white the bones of all the people she'd killed, and the colour of the feathers on some of those people's angel wings as they watched her from heaven. Rarely, the flame would sputter and almost die, but then a spark would bring it roaring back to life as if the driest kindling in the world had been set alight, and a small pain would jolt through her head. It wasn't too intense, but it almost always caught her off guard and the shock added to the pain a little.
Sometimes, when she was fired up, the strange white flame that cast no shadows would flare up and begin to push off the lid of the jar, and Roxi would start to lose control. All she could do was grit her teeth, while being as focused as she could on what she was doing, and screw the lid down firmly, util the flame grew small and spluttered slightly.
She did that now, staring down the barrel of an assault rifle, waiting for none other than Jasper Sitwell, one of the HYDRA scum who had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D and made her feel the most vulnerable she had in years. Even Natasha being there didn't ease the anger and unsettling disappointment she felt in the pit of her stomach, which burrowed deeper every moment they sat there waiting to make their move. She was strangely good at hiding her emotions, even from Natasha. It may have had something to do with her discordant childhood, but the main reason was that she was afraid. She was afraid someone would take advantage of the feelings that raged inside her just like the white flame, so she hid the fear too. It was the only thing she could do, and she did it to protect herself mainly, which was rather selfish, but it was also because she didn't know if she could deal with the emotions well, and that wouldn't be fair on the people around her.
But thankfully, their waiting was over, and Sitwell emerged from his building with another HYDRA agent talking to him quietly. Sam sat in a cafe a little way away, sipping on a drink and punching Sitwell's number into his phone, which they had masked as Pierce's. Roxi had suggested using one of the cheap flip phones she'd bought for exactly this sort of thing, but Sam had refused. They had managed to get his equipment with unusual ease, as Steve broke through the wall and Natasha and Roxi had grabbed the machine. As Sam started speaking, Roxi carefully aimed the gun where it was supposed to be, waiting until the right moment to turn on the laser marker, as she listened to Sam through their comms.
"Yes, sir?" Sitwell answered the phone. He was nervous, his hands had been shaking when he saw the name on the phone screen, and Roxi guessed that Pierce held a huge amount of power in HYDRA; how else would Insight have been a success?
"Agent Sitwell, how was lunch? I hear the crab cakes here are delicious," Sam greeted casually, pulling down his sunglasses as he fixed his gaze on the HYDRA agent.
"Who is this?" Sitwell asked, stiffening up as he spoke quietly into his phone.
"Good looking guy in the sunglasses, your 10 o'clock," Sam started, causing Sitwell to look around confused, "your other 10 o'clock.. There you go." He finished as Sitwell found him. Sam lifted his drink as a greeting before he continued.
"What do you want?" Sitwell asked reluctantly.
"You're gonna go around the corner to your right," Sam instructed as Roxi turned the targeting system on, causing a small red dot to appear on Sitwell's tie, "there's a grey car two spaces down; you and I are gonna take a ride." She had to admit, Sam was pretty good at this.
"And why would I do that?" Sitwell asked, almost boastfully.
"Because that tie looks really expensive, and I'd hate to mess it up," Sam finished his threat as Sitwell looked down at the small mark. Oh, how Roxi wished she could just pull the trigger, but, she couldn't; they needed the information out of him. Sitwell looked around confused before doing as Sam had told him. Once they were in the car, Roxi had packed away the rifle and taken a few shortcuts so that she would reach the building in time. She arrived on the roof (after jumping off another one, much less elegantly than she would've liked) just as Sitwell burst through the door, and her usually blank faced twisted into a scowl. She wiped it again as Steve walked out after Sitwell, who had tumbled to the ground.
"Tell me about Zola's algorithm," Steve demanded.
"Never heard of it," Sitwell proclaimed as he stumbled backwards quickly, pressing his glasses back on to his face.
"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?" Steve followed up, as Roxi made her way towards Sitwell, next to Natasha, who most definitely had her game face on.
"I was throwing up; I get seasick," Sitwell struggled for an excuse as he neared the edge of the roof. He hit the raised edge and tripped backwards, letting out a few small whimpers before Steve grabbed him by his clothes and lifted him up, ensuring he didn't fall off.. yet. Roxi and Natasha stood either side of Steve and just behind him. They were mostly there for the intimidation, and for the most part, it seemed to be working.
"Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw we off the roof? Because that's really not your style, Rogers," Sitwell asked, clearly trying to act tough, as if he hadn't been whimpering like a kicked puppy a moment before.
"You're right," Steve agreed, letting go of Sitwell's clothes and smoothing them out as he took a step back, "it's hers." Natasha took a few steps forward and slammed her foot into Sitwell's chest, throwing him clear off the roof. Roxi smirked slightly as his expression changed from relief and slight confusion to fear and shock. He deserved this, she reminded herself as one part of her felt horrified at their actions. Killing never got easier. But they weren't killing him.
"Oh, wait, what about that girl from accounting, Laura?" Natasha asked Steve casually, resuming her mission to get him a date,
"Lillian. Lip piercing, right?" Steve corrected.
"Yeah, she's cute," Natasha pointed out, hoping to be the one to set him up on a good date.
"Yeah, I'm not ready for that." He protested.
A moment later, Sam flew up holding Sitwell and landed, proudly displaying his wings that they'd forcefully taken from the facility. They were made of long, panelled metal, likely to be carbon fibre, and were strong and agile. He had dropped Sitwell unceremoniously on the ground, causing the agent to scramble to his feet again, his yells fading into the background. Sam's wings folded neatly back into the pack on his back as Roxi Natasha and Steve walked back over to Sitwell, who held out a hand to Steve as he rushed out information in one breath.
"Zola's algorithm is a program. For choosing Insight's targets," he gasped out.
"What targets?" Steve asked harshly. Roxi was quite impressed with the way he's taken her suggestion, she'd thought that he would be much more likely to want to talk it out.
"You, a TV anchor in Cairo, the Under Secretary of Defence, a High School Valedictorian in Iowa City, Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA," Sitwell admitted, "Now, or in the future." With the last sentence, his eyes flashed to Roxi, whose hand was resting on her quarterstaff inside the leather jacket she was wearing, which was actually Natasha's, seeing as she was smart enough to bring a spare. It smelled like roses and vanilla, just as Natasha always did. She stared at him as coldly as she could, and he quickly looked away and back to the rooftop.
"Future?" Steve asked confusedly, "How could it know?" Sitwell began to laugh and Roxi rolled her eyes; these HYDRA people really were crazy.
"How could it not?" He asked back, beginning to regain some confidence.
"The 21st century is a digital book," he continued, slowly standing up and looking straight at Steve as he said it, "Zola taught HYDRA how to read it... Bank records.. medical histories, voting patterns, emails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores. Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict the future." That statement made her worry. There was a high possibility that HYDRA knew more about her than she had ever let anyone know. That wasn't good. Anxiety flickered inside her at the thought of people like Jasper Sitwell and Alexander Pierce knowing more about her than anyone ever had, and the white flame spiked for a moment. She felt her hands grow hot and put them in the pockets of Natasha's jacket, expecting to find the keyring, but she'd left it in the car and her worry grew even bigger and she took her hands out of the pockets and fiddled with the zip. Natasha noticed, although the fiddling was the only sign of anxiety that Roxi was showing, and sent the ice-eyed agent a reassuring look as Steve spoke again.
"What then?" Roxi glanced back at Natasha and then down at her hands before forcing herself to relax, taking a long, slow, subtle breath and once again letting her hands hand loosely at her sides.
"Oh my god, Pierce is gonna kill me," Sitwell realised, dragging his gaze down to the floor again.
"We just almost killed you. Did you forget?" Roxi asked him coldly.
"What then?" Steve insisted, taking a step towards Sitwell as Sam drew closer from behind.
"Then the Insight helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time." Roxi's mind was racing. By the way Sitwell had glanced at her while he was explaining, she guessed that she was on the list of people to be crossed off. But why, did HYDRA know? They must. Maybe that train crash hadn't been an accident after all, maybe it had been planned by HYDRA, and it was meant singularly to kill her parents. HYDRA didn't care about anyone else dying as long as their targets were eliminated; they were simply collateral damage. So, if they were planning to kill her, what was stopping Natasha or Clint (if she was around them) from becoming collateral damage? Nothing. Nothing except them. She, Steve, Natasha and Sam had to do this. They had to stop HYDRA from launching those helicarriers, even if it killed them. Either way, seeing white lilies layed out as funeral flowers on someone's grave by the end of this was inevitable.
{A/N:} I'm sorry that this chapter's late, I was lacking a bit of inspiration to write it, so it's not very good at all, but I wanted to get this out, so it's also a bit shorter than normal. Also, the YouTube video for the next part is blocked in the UK -.-, and I can't be bothered to get it up on Disney+ because I'm watching people doing stupid stuff on my phone. How's school been for you guys? Hopefully next week my chapter will be much letter, and I'll try and put more time into it. Also I changed my username slightly ^.^ It's now
JabberJay_011
2050 Words
Written: 13 / 09 / 2020
Published: 13 / 09 / 2020