{ Cursed Speech⚕️" COMMENT BELOW " }
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Triskelion: S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters
26th Floor: Command Room
Agent Vic and Justin were continuing their work when a piercing, high-frequency sound suddenly tore through their headsets.
"Aaahhh!" both men cried out, wincing in unison as they removed the headphones from their ears.
"Must be the disc," Justin groaned, squinting to examine the data feed on his console.
"I'll check it out," Vic replied. He moved toward the heavy, reinforced door and swiped his keycard to disengage the lock.
To his shock, he found the twin barrels of two handguns pointed directly at his chest the moment the door hissed open—with Captain America standing right behind them.
"Excuse us," the Captain said firmly as he made his way inside, flanked by his team.
This specific room housed the master override for the public address system—a terminal connected to every transmission network within the Triskelion.
"This is going to work, right?" Bucky asked, as he and Agent Hill flanked the Captain.
"It will," Rogers replied as he turned up the mic. "It has to," he murmured.
***
**Back in the Dam:**
"So, your master plan involves Steve invoking 'patriotism' in the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents?" Bucky had questioned after listening to Ethan's explanation.
"I wouldn't use the word 'patriotism.' All I need is a sense of response—of intent. Either negative or positive," Ethan clarified.
"And what would that accomplish?" Hill asked, her eyes narrowing.
"Well, you see," Ethan said, pointing his index finger toward her. A ball of steaming liquid materialized in front of it, and before anyone could react, the ball condensed into a pressurized stream and launched itself toward Agent Hill's face.
*Shissh...*
"It's the auto-selection of targets for Jujutsu techniques," Ethan said calmly. The stream of water had diverted from its original path at the last microsecond, cutting into the wall behind Hill instead of her.
"I have automated what I used to do manually. This will allow me to strike targets not even in my line of sight—guided by their intent alone," Ethan clarified.
**In the Command Room:**
"ATTENTION ALL S.H.I.E.L.D. AGENTS..." the Captain began. "This is Steve Rogers."
"You have heard a lot about me over the last few days..."
Agents in the main lobby stood at attention at the sound of his voice.
"Some of you were even ordered to hunt me down, but I think it's time you knew the truth."
Agents in the launch center paused their work. Agent 13, Sharon Carter, looked visibly relieved.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. is not what we thought it was. It has been taken over by Hydra. Alexander Pierce is their leader."
Pierce stood among the World Security Council, frantically working his phone to call in his strike team to cut off the transmission.
"The Strike and Insight crews are Hydra as well. We don't know how many more. I know they are in the building... they could be standing right next to you."
Specialist Cameron Klein, the man responsible for launching the Helicarriers, looked around at his colleagues at the Captain's words.
"They almost have what they want: absolute control. They shot Nick Fury, and it won't end there. If you launch those Helicarriers today, Hydra will be able to kill anyone who stands in their way—unless we stop them. I know I am asking a lot, but the price of freedom is high. It always has been."
Bucky and Hill looked at each other, hanging on the Captain's every word.
"It's a price I am willing to pay. And if I am the only one, so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not."
Then his tone changed—no longer asking, but commanding.
["There is no point in standing around... Hydra is here..."]
Agent Rumlow and the STRIKE team received an urgent transmission from Secretary Pierce; half of them moved toward the Secretary's office, while the other half surged toward the launch room.
["Ready yourselves, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
Some of you won't make it past today...
I know you are scared, i am too,
Everything you thought had meaning... every hope, dream, or moment of happiness..."] Steve paused, his eyes meeting Bucky's.
["None of it matters as you lie bleeding out on the battlefield. None of it changes what a bullet does to a body. We all die..."]
Rumlow and his half of the STRIKE team entered the launch room as the Captain's speech echoed in the background. Rumlow approached the specialist in charge, Cameron Klein.
"Re-enter the launch sequence. Send those ships up... now." At his words, Klein looked back at Rumlow, visibly terrified.
["But does that mean our lives are meaningless? Does that mean there was no point in our being born? Would you say that about your slain brothers-in-arms? What about their lives... were they meaningless?"]
Rogers' voice continued over the transmission network.
"Is there a problem?" Rumlow asked Klein, gritting his teeth at Rogers' words. "IS THERE A PROBLEM?" he shouted again.
[As if in response, Rogers shouted back...]
["THEY WERE NOT! Their memory serves as an example to us all! The courageous fallen... the anguished fallen! Their lives have meaning because we, the living, refuse to forget them! And as We march to certain death, we trust our successors to do the same for us!"]
At the Captain's words, Klein seemed to find his courage. "No... sir. I'm not going to launch those ships. Captain's orders."
Rumlow unholstered his weapon and pointed it at Klein's head. "Move away from the station."
["Because S.H.I.E.L.D. agents do not buckle or yield when faced with the cruelty of this world!"]
Agent Sharon Carter stepped to Rumlow's side, training her own gun on his temple. "Like he said... Captain's orders." Following her lead, Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents throughout the launch room leveled their weapons at one another.
["S.H.I.E.L.D. AGENTS, PUSH FORWARD!"]
"You picked the wrong side, Agent," Rumlow said, his gun still fixed on Klein.
"Depends on where you're standing," Carter replied, her stance undeterred.
Bucky and Rogers could be seen dismantling a platoon of the STRIKE team sent to sever the transmission, holding his shield in one hand and the microphone in the other.
["S.H.I.E.L.D. AGENTS, SCREAM OUT!"]
Ironically, the launch room was momentarily silent. Rumlow dropped his gun and reached for his tactical knife instead.
["S.H.I.E.L.D. AGENTS, RAGE!"]
In a lethal display of knife skills, Rumlow moved with blurring speed and sliced open Agent Carter's hand, causing her to lose her grip on the gun. He caught it mid-air, and at that moment, all hell broke loose.
*BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.*
Rumlow tried to blow Klein's head off, but Agent Carter interjected at the last possible second, shoving the technician out of the line of fire.
*BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.*
The firefight raged in the background as Rumlow scrambled to the console, typing in the launch sequence override himself. After completing the task, he fired several warning shots to cover his escape, but his eyes locked onto Agent Carter, lying on the ground without a weapon.
"CARTER!" he shouted from behind a desk, his voice rising over the thunderous gunshots. "I've wanted to do this for a long time." He stood up, taking deliberate aim at her head. "I told you, Agent... you picked the wrong side."
Just as he finished his sentence, his hearing picked up a sharp, piercing hissing noise.
Suddenly, what appeared to be an unwavering line of water sliced through the reinforced concrete wall and shot through Rumlow's head, piercing it cleanly.
*A laser beam?!* Sharon thought, watching in awe as the shimmering line swept through the room, cutting through every remaining Hydra operative with surgical precision.
"Ahh!" "Agh!" "Aagh..." They fell one by one, neutralized before they could even pull their triggers.
Sharon reached out, touching the damp floor where Rumlow's body lay. "Water!?" she spoke aloud, her voice steady, despite her bleeding hand.
She turned toward Klein, who was staring at the cut in the wall. "It's the same attack that took down the Chitauri Leviathan," Klein commented, his eyes wide as he looked at her.
"Ethan Park is here."
**Outside the Triskelion:**
One of the guards, Andrew, spotted an odd figure standing before the Triskelion. *Another wandering tourist? Damn, I hate this job...* He sighed inwardly. He'd been demoted after being caught playing Galaga on duty for the second time.
"Sir, you can't take pictures here. You are trespassing on a government facility. If you don't leave, I'll have to detain you," he spoke, not even bothering to look at the figure's face. A few seconds passed. *Dammit, he's still here.*
"Well, buddy, I gave you a chance. You're coming with me now," he said, moving closer. As he did, he got a clearer look at the figure's face.
"Ethan Park...!?" he muttered in sudden realization, his eyes darting to a hovering orb of water held in the young man's hand.
Ethan clasped his hands together and looked directly at Andrew. "Stay back, or you're dying."
Ethan wasn't exaggerating; when he uses Water Piercing, a sonic boom is produced as the stream travels faster than the speed of sound, creating a visible distortion in the air around the jet.
When the stream of water breaks the sound barrier, it creates a shock wave.
If one is standing close enough to the origin of that wave, the physical impact on the normal human body is comparable to being near a high-explosive detonation.
In other words, Instant Death.
Andrew didn't need to be told twice. He didn't run inside for backup; he bolted for the perimeter fence.
"I am not getting paid enough for this shit!" he shouted from a distance.
Ethan looked ahead at the towering form of the Triskelion building and chanted softly, "Water Piercing."
*SLICH. SLICH.*
A single stream of water shot out from his palms, instantly diverging into two dozen highly pressurized water jets that sliced through the structural concrete of the headquarters.
Inside the Triskelion: Fourth Floor
Agent Gonzales, a Level 7 S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and his entire team were pinned down behind a collapsed server rack.
*BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.*
"Sir, I'm out of ammo!" his second-in-command shouted over the roar of gunfire.
"Me too, sir!" Agent 15 added desperately.
"I'm on my last mag," Gonzales gritted out.
*BANG. BANG. BANG.*
The suppressive fire from the opposite end of the hallway was relentless. Gonzales took a risky peak and emptied his barrel, catching a glimpse of their attacker. "Damn... I know that guy. We once had a sandwich together."
"A sandwich?" Agent 15 questioned, baffled by the timing.
"Yeah. He hates pickles," Gonzales answered. Suddenly, the air was filled with a sharp, high-pitched hissing noise, and the gunfire stopped abruptly.
***
After a few minutes of heavy silence, Agent Gonzales and his unit cautiously made their way from behind the server rack. Connor spotted the pierced body of the Hydra agent and studied it from a distance.
"Well, there's a lesson learned... never trust a guy who doesn't like pickles," Gonzales remarked after examining the corpse. His second-in-command nodded in silent agreement, though Agent 15 looked visibly conflicted.
"I don't like pickles either, Sir," he finally confessed in a low, uncertain voice.
"What!?" Gonzales barked, not quite catching the admission.
"Ah...Wha...What killed him, Sir?" Agent 15 asked, immediately changing the subject to hide his concern.
"Something pierced him clean... cut the wall behind him, too," Gonzales noted, inspecting the deep, cauterized-looking gash in the reinforced concrete. "I heard a hissing noise a moment before the attack."
"I did, too." "Me, too," the others added in unison.
"Take Whatever Ammo you can, and Let's get to the main lobby and kill some Nazis... Captain's orders," Gonzales said, a smile spreading across his face as he checked his sidearm.
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A/N: So how was the chapter?