James looked over the crew. "Gear up. Assume heavily armed opposition. If Hydra runs the Division, we may need to take over the building."
The room went quiet.
Then the agents responded in unison.
"Yes, sir."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James had all the Hydra agents cuffed and secured. But the real problem was the location.
They couldn't keep them here. The lounge wasn't fortified, and it only took one slip up for the Hydra agents to stage a jailbreak.
He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts.
There was only one place in New York he trusted.
"Tony. Where are you?"
"Just got back from a party," Stark said. "Heard you showed up in your old armor. The crowd's buzzing. What's going on?"
"Internal breach. Hydra embedded in the New York Division. Not safe to talk right now. I need a favor."
"Need a hit squad?"
"No. A holding cell. I've got prisoners. I don't trust anywhere else in the city to keep them. I need to hold them at Stark Tower."
There was a beat of silence.
"Thats fine with me. You want me to suit up?"
"No. We're not going in loud. This is meticulous. We're pulling out the weeds—not starting a war. You should know what I can do."
Tony exhaled. "Yeah yeah, I do. Send 'em. I'll have a floor sealed off."
"Appreciate it."
James hung up and turned to Coulson.
"Stark Tower's secured. Let's move them."
The team quickly loaded the surviving Hydra operatives into vehicles. There weren't enough cars, so they commandeered vehicles from the New York Division itself. The dead were handed over to the 56th Precinct for body processing, after facial IDs were logged.
A convoy of black Suburbans and concealed cars rolled out—headed for Stark Tower.
Inside S.H.I.E.L.D.'s New York Division, tension was mounting.
The Director was gone—offsite at HQ for a mothership project development. In his absence, four Level Six agents handled local command.
Two of them were Hydra.
They sat in a quiet office, lights dimmed, whispering.
"Jason, we screwed up. The ambush team's gone. Gibson's more dangerous than we thought."
Jason didn't flinch. "So what? No names. No trails. Those agents won't talk. They're more afraid of us than they are of S.H.I.E.L.D., even if they're caught, we will survive."
James kept pacing. "The cleanup team's gone dark. That's not good news."
Jason stayed calm. "Let them panic. We will hold. No sudden movements. Worst case scenario, we get arrested and sit for a while. But we say nothing. The Organization will get us out. You know the protocol."
Hydra's creed ran deep—'discipline through fear, reward through silence.'
They weren't worried.
Not yet.
At Stark Tower, James personally escorted the prisoners inside.
Tony had cleared an entire sublevel. High security. Automated sentry nodes. Internal airlock doors. And absolutely no windows.
James gave him a nod. "You sure you don't want in?"
Tony raised a brow. "Tempting. But this is your show. Besides, you said it—you plan on outsmarting them, not overwhelming them."
"I'll check back once this sweep's done. Also I need to buy some food"
"I'll be here," Tony said. "Also—food?" Tony was puzzled since he knows James can absorb energy directly.
James just gaved him a look.
Tony grinned. "Secrecy, Got it. Don't worry."
The team rolled again.
James handed out more cash to order food. No questions were asked. Everyone assumed he just didn't want to eat at Division HQ—and after a night like this, no one blamed him.
They arrived at the New York Division building and entered without ceremony.
Coulson gave the order: Full Lockdown.
All external doors got sealed. No one in. No one out. His trusted agents secured the stairwells, exits, and the surveillance system.
The Hydra agents Jason and James—still on duty—stepped out of their office, trying to act casual.
"Agent Coulson?" Jason asked. "Is something wrong?"
"You're both on duty?"
"Yes, sir. We were here all day."
"Interesting," Coulson said. "Because Agent James Gibson issued a distress call this afternoon. No response came from this Division."
James—Hydra, not Gibson—answered too fast.
"We never got that alert."
Coulson nodded slowly. "Then we have a serious breakdown in communication."
He locked eyes with them.
"I'll need to question every officer on site. We're starting with you two. Weapons and Comms. Drop it now."
Both agents froze.
Jason recovered first. "Sir… is this really necessary?"
"You're either part of the solution or part of the problem. Choose."
James and Jason hesitated.
They took too long.
Coulson's agents stepped in behind them. Hands on their holsters.
Jason nodded, slowly disarming.
Coulson didn't break eye contact. "We'll find out what happened today. And if you're lying?"
His voice dropped.
"You won't like how we will deal with this."