"Is this guy insane?"
Steve's reckless charge caught Rumlow off guard, though his own movements didn't stop. The moment the bullets hit the man, he raised the shield in his hand and aimed it toward Steve's head.
But then, a wave of intense unease flooded his mind.
Rumlow didn't know why, but something deep inside screamed that if he followed through with the attack, he'd be the one on the ground.
As a veteran agent and special forces soldier, he trusted his sixth sense. It had saved him countless times, guiding him safely back from the battlefield.
So he halted his strike, pulling the shield back in front of him.
That decision saved his life.
The bullets that hit Steve caused no harm. Once they touched his elastic body, his form distorted, absorbing the impact. The rounds entered him only to be flung back the next second, propelled by the rebound of his flexible form. They smacked against the shield with a sharp, ringing sound that sent a chill down Rumlow's spine.
"This ability…"
He instantly recognized it as Reed's elastic body power, but there was no time to react.
With his newly gained ability, Steve counterattacked without giving Rumlow any chance to retreat. His arm shot forward, stretching in an instant to seize the shield from the agent's grasp.
"Damn it! Let go!"
Rumlow had just taken the shield, so of course he wasn't willing to hand it back. But at this point, it wasn't up to him anymore.
Steve didn't even need to exert his own strength. Simply pulling his body back allowed the immense rebound force of his elastic form to drag the agent uncontrollably toward him.
"I was using this shield before you were even born."
It was the truth, but coming from Steve's youthful face, the remark just made Rumlow's blood boil.
"Big talk. You're nothing without that super soldier serum."
Unable to break free from the pull of his opponent's elastic body, Rumlow lifted the shield in an attempt to block whatever attack came next. He even planned to use the shield's ability to reflect force and turn the situation around.
But he had forgotten, this shield had been Steve's weapon from the start. Even if he had taken it temporarily, no one understood its strengths and weaknesses better than that man.
Leveraging the shifting form of his elastic body, Steve's punch curved right around the shield and slammed directly into the bridge of Rumlow's nose.
The full-force blow sent the agent flying, knocking him flat on the ground.
"Taking my shield was a smart move," Steve said as he picked it up, "In a normal fight, I might have been badly hurt or even defeated. But now, with the responsibility Reed entrusted to me, I'm not going down."
Step by step, he walked toward the fallen Rumlow.
"You're coming with me to Los Angeles now. You're going to point out every last Hydra remnant still hiding in S.H.I.E.L.D. Maybe then, you'll get a lighter sentence."
Rumlow was the perfect proof that Hydra still existed within S.H.I.E.L.D.
And the agent also knew it, which was why he could not be captured. But that last punch had already left him barely conscious. If his enhanced body hadn't been so durable, that strike might have crushed his skull. He had no strength left to resist and could only watch Steve get closer.
"It's time…"
"What?"
The sudden words made Steve pause. The next second, he sensed a wave of heat rushing toward him.
His instincts kicked in. He crouched low, raising his shield to block the incoming flames. But almost immediately, he heard rapid footsteps closing in from behind.
A powerful blow slammed into his back, sending him hurtling into the blazing fire.
* * *
At the same time in Los Angeles, at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s last U.S. base, Fury received the news.
"Pym Technologies was attacked by an unknown terrorist group?"
His temper flared. There was no so-called terrorist group, only spies still hiding within S.H.I.E.L.D.
Time and again, he had chosen to hold back, knowing the agency couldn't just sever ties with other nations overnight. It would take a slow, careful process to rebuild.
But this time, they had used S.H.I.E.L.D.'s remaining channels to seize power by force. That crossed his line.
He had never intended to make an enemy out of Hank Pym.
These spies inside S.H.I.E.L.D., driven purely by their organization's own interests, no longer cared about the survival of the agency itself.
This was all that ran through Fury's mind now.
So, he went to find Pierce once more.
"You should already know why I'm here!"
Sitting in the office, Pierce looked at the stormy-faced Fury. He understood what was going on and handed over a list he had prepared in advance.
"These are the foreign agents I've identified during my term. As for whether there are others, I'm not certain."
He had timed it perfectly; Steve and the others hadn't returned yet, and Fury still had no idea about Hydra's existence. He took this chance to feed the man one last lie.
Fury didn't question it much. Or rather, with the current situation, he didn't have the luxury to investigate further. Drastic measures were needed. S.H.I.E.L.D. had to be purged.
"This will do."
What Fury didn't know was that while the list did expose many agents from various countries, it also served as Hydra's final smokescreen.
* * *
The purge began at once.
But the fierce resistance Fury had anticipated never came. The foreign agents were baffled. Though there were small pockets of defiance, compared to the chaos outside, this opposition was negligible.
"This doesn't make sense. There's no way they put most of their forces into this single operation."
Fury studied the detained agents in confusion. Even after administering truth serum, none of them knew anything about today's events.
Slowly, realization started to dawn on him. If these people truly knew nothing about the attack on Pym Technologies, then the one who had given him that list, Alexander Pierce, was the key.
But it was already too late.
Several agents beside him had already flipped the safeties off their pistols, aiming straight at his head.
Hydra had decided to abandon S.H.I.E.L.D., but before leaving, they planned to destroy it completely.
The bullet meant for Fury's skull… would only be the first shot.
**
**
**
Thank you for reading! If you'd like access to extra chapters and want to support my work, you can visit my P@treon:
P@treon/SilverShark769
Vote with Power Stones for Bonus Chapters!
Your support means a lot, thank you!