13 Chapter 13 (1/2)

Natasha Romanov/Black Widow

Natasha worked at the computer she was standing at, trying to help coordinate the worldwide efforts against HYDRA. With the help of X and Jarvis, she was being kept apprised of numerous situations across the planet. Most were successful, considering the fact Steve's announcement, the shutdown of HYDRA communication, and the Hercules app gave SHIELD a massive advantage.

Some losses were taken, however. The Sandbox, a research facility in Africa dedicated to handling dangerous materials and weapons had been taken by one Donnie Gill and several HYDRA researchers. Another location, the Treehouse, was destroyed by an unknown Enhanced when HYDRA was unable to take it.

Still, in a broad sense, they were winning.

As Natasha worked, she shared a glance with Clint. Clint nodded over at Pierce, who had his phone clenched tightly in his hand. Natasha smirked and Clint grinned. Fury looked over at them, then smiled when they indicated Pierce holding his phone.

Before any of the three could say or do anything, Councilman Rockwell spoke. ”Fury... how are we going to come back from this?”

Fury turned to look at the tall councilman. ”What do you mean?”

”We're losing hundreds of people, resources, millions of dollars in equipment,” Rockwell shook his head. ”We're not going to be able to recover from this.”

”That's not true,” Natasha said. When everyone looked at her, she continued typing. ”We're at war, so these losses are expected. Not preferred, but expected.”

”You really think this is just a war?” Pierce asked with a smirk. ”This won't end with HYDRA falling. We have a lot of thumbs in a lot of pies. You win today, it'll just leave a lot more of us tomorrow. Cut off one head, and two more shall grow in its place.” As Pierce spoke, he pressed a button on his phone.

The screen immediately displayed an image. Pierce stared in shock at his phone. All there was were two minimalist symbols, side by side on the screen. Iron Man's mask shining gold on a red background, and an Omnitrix dial on a metallic background.

”I'm sorry, did you just try to kill me?” Clint asked, sounding offended. ”I mean, damn, I thought we were having a pretty good conversation just now.”

”I know,” Natasha said with a smile. ”Rude.”

Pierce looked around. After a moment, he smiled sheepishly. ”Well, it was worth a try.”

”I'm sure you think that,” Fury said. He stepped towards Pierce and took his phone from him, tossing it over to Natasha, who placed it in her jacket pocket. ”You might want to take those off,” Fury said to Rockwell and Singh, pointing at the security badges on their chests. ”They're set to explode at a certain signal.”

Clint and Natasha were already taking off the badges, the councilmen hurriedly following.

”Here's your problem, Pierce,” Fury said dismissively. ”You're playing by rules that don't exist anymore. Same with the rest of the world. Rules I've known were outdated since the 1990's. It's part of why I supported Insight, why I brought the Avengers together.”

”You just weren't willing to take the full steps necessary-” Pierce started to say.

”No, you were taking steps in the wrong direction,” Fury said. ”But, luckily, you did give us something useful to take you down,” Fury smiled at the confusion in Pierce's eyes. ”How do you think we're tracking down HYDRA operatives so easily? Pulling them all out of their hidey holes?”

Pierce didn't seem to understand for a moment. Then his eyes widened in shock. ”Zola's algorithm.”

The councilmembers looked at each other but didn't seem to understand what he was talking about.

”Pretty useful bit of tech,” Natasha added. ”X, Jarvis, how long do you think this would have taken without it?”

”Several days ma'am,” Jarvis said.

”But with it, we have a compiled list already,” X added. ”I suppose we must thank Mr. Pierce for creating it, in an ironic fashion of course.”

Pierce stepped forward, anger in his eyes. ”You son of a bitch, Fury!”

”I'd blame Tony and Dial actually. But I think you've had your day in the sun for long enough.” Fury looked at Clint. ”Knock him out, please. We can talk to him later.”

Pierce got a needle in the neck before he could respond. He glared for a moment longer before passing out. The councilmembers still seemed confused, but also looked relieved to see Pierce unconscious.

Natasha flipped through several screens as Hawkeye dropped Pierce to the ground. ”Sir, do you want us to join the others in the fight? I think I've done all I can here.”

”Hmm,” Fury nodded after a moment. ”I'll have some of the agents come up to guard us. Wait till they get here, then you two go and help.”

”Understood.”

Steve Rogers/Captain America

Steve missed the old days. The days when Bucky Barnes was his friend through one of the worst wars in history. Not just because fighting him, rather than alongside him, was breaking Steve's heart.

But also because Bucky was a hell of a lot harder to fight nowadays.

”Raagh!” Steve shouted, kicking Bucky in the chest. Decades ago, a blow like that would have broken Bucky's ribs. Instead, he simply fell to the floor, rolled up, and started slashing at Steve with a knife, lashing out with lethal speed and force few could have matched.

The two stood in the garage of the Triskelion. The whole place had been basically turned into a war zone, with cars blown into scrap, bullet holes in the concrete around them, and the smell of smoke in the air. SHIELD and HYDRA agents fought through the large space. HYDRA was trying to open the large steel doors that lead to the outside, trying to let in the various ground vehicles they had available. SHIELD, of course, was doing whatever they could to prevent that until those vehicles were destroyed.

Steve and Bucky danced in the center of the battle. Steve slashed outwards with his shield, Bucky blocked it on his robotic arm. The Winter Soldier spun his knife around and tried to stab it into Steve's chest, but was blocked by a quick twist of Steve's shield. The knife skittered along the red and white paint for a moment. Bucky kicked at Steve's legs, sending him to the floor, then tried to punch him. Steve rolled out of the way, leaving Bucky to punch the asphalt. A fluorescent light above was destroyed by a stray gunshot, throwing sparks down on them. They danced a moment longer, fists, shield, and knife fighting.

Then Steve blocked a hail of gunfire on his shield. He looked at the shooter, narrowing his eyes when he saw who it was.

Rumlow, leader of STRIKE team, was firing an assault rifle at Captain America. The soldier had a grim look on his face.

Bucky capitalized on the attack, moving to Steve's left side to kick him in the ribs. Steve rolled with the blow, hopped back to his feet, and ran through the garage. His shield rose up once more to block Rumlow, Bucky following close behind.

”Tony, I could use you here!” Steve shouted, sliding behind a car and turning to confront Bucky. The two superhumans battled for a moment, Rumlow running to find another angle on Steve. As Steve fought, he tossed his shield at a pillar. The shield, in complete defiance of physics, bounced off the pillar, then a wall, slammed into a blown up car's hood, then hit Rumlow in the chest. The traitorous soldier was thrown back with a yell of pain.

Steve grabbed at Bucky's head and kneed upwards. Bucky took a knee to the face, blocked the next one, and threw Steve off of him. He reached for a gun strapped to his back and pulled it out to shoot at Steve. Steve kicked his arm to the side, then blocked the knife stabbed at his face. For a moment they struggled against each other.

”You know me!” Steve said, their eyes meeting. ”We were friends, Buck! You went to my parents funeral, we fought in the war! Hell, we went on double dates together!”

Bucky froze for a moment. Confusion, pain, and sadness filled his face. Steve dared to hope. Then Bucky raised his gun and pointed it at Steve's face. Steve barely dodged, a bullet filling the space his head had been in. Steve punched Bucky in the face, leaped over the car they had been fighting next to, and rolled to grab his shield, raising it to block the next bullets Bucky fired at him.

Steve noticed Rumlow struggling to rise closeby. The soldier had a hand clutched to his chest, and was raising his gun to shoot at Steve. Steve dismissed him as unimportant, instead focusing on sprinting towards Bucky. Rumlow's hand tightened on the trigger as he prepared to shoot at Captain America's back.

A yellow beam of light slammed into Rumlow's back, sending him flying. He rolled along the ground for a moment, fly up, then hit a stone pillar. Rumlow struggled to his feet, then he fell to his knees before tipping over. Moments later, an armored man flew ahead. A SHIELD agent, seeing Rumlow's gun, grabbed it and ran to confront the other HYDRA members, leaving Rumlow unconscious and forgotten on the pavement.

Steve raised his shield when he got close to Bucky, Bucky's robotic fist slamming into the shield with a loud clang. Bucky spun around and kneeled, shooting at Steve's stomach. The bullets were barely blocked, though one sliced into Steve's bicep. Steve hissed in pain but forced himself forward. Bucky pulled the trigger on his handgun, then tossed it aside when it emptied. Steve ran towards Bucky... and leaped over him.

Bucky had one moment to stare at the person flying towards him before hastily raising his metal arm in time to block the beam of yellow light shot at him. The sheer force of the blow sent Bucky flying backward right into Steve, who grabbed him from behind, leaned back, and slammed him into the floor in a perfect suplex. Bucky snarled, struggling out of Steve's grasp and rolling away.

”No luck talking him out of it, huh?” Tony asked as he landed next to Steve.

”Therapy is tough,” Steve confirmed. He took a fighting stance next to Tony.

For a moment, Captain America and Iron Man squared off with the Winter Soldier. SHIELD and HYDRA agents continued to fight in the background. The Winter Soldier narrowed his eyes, and Iron Man raised his arms to point at him.

”Stand down,” Tony said simply.

Bucky's response was to run forward. Tony fired his repulsor blast at him, Bucky dodged to the left. He leaped on the side of a pillar, jumped off of that to dodge the next beam, then punched Iron Man with his metal arm. Tony staggered back, and Bucky tried to capitalize on the blow, only to lean back out of the way of Cap's shield when it came flying at him. Steve ran up and threw a kick, forcing Bucky to duck. Iron Man threw a punch that was blocked by Bucky's arm, Steve knelled down to punch Bucky in the ribs. Bucky was forced back with a grunt. Iron Man and Captain America stepped forwards, and Winter Soldier backflipped out of the way of another repulsor blast.

”Your friend is annoying!” Tony quipped.

”He's usually more accommodating,” Steve returned, running forward.

Bucky grabbed the shield where it had landed as the two superheroes came at him, quickly putting it on and blocking a beam from Iron Man. The yellow blast reflected off to aim at Captain America, who somersaulted over it before continuing his room.

”You need to stop throwing your primary weapon!” Tony yelled, punching at Bucky, who blocked the armored mans' haymaker on the shield.