Sam Wilson was jogging through a park in Brooklyn, New York.

Steve Rogers / Captain America jogged through the park, running past him. "On your left." They ran another lap. "On your left."

"Uh-huh," Sam told him. "On my left. Got it." They ran another lap. "Don't say it. Don't you say it,"

"On your left," Steve told him, running past.

"Come on!" Sam told him in annoyance.

They continued to run.

  ✯  

Sam was sitting in the grass, leaning back against the tree, breathing heavily.

Steve walked closer. "Need a medic?"

Sam chuckled. "I need a new set of lungs. Dude, you just ran, like, 13 miles in 30 minutes."

"I guess I got a late start," Steve told him.

"Really?" Sam asked. "You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take another lap. Did you just take it? I assume you just took it."

"What unit you in?" Steve asked.

"58th Pararescue," Sam answered. "But now I'm working down at the VA." He held his hand toward Steve. "Sam Wilson."

Steve shook his hand. "Steve Rogers."

Steve pulled Sam up.

"I kind of put that together," Sam told him. "Must have freaked you out, coming home after the defrosting thing."

Steve sighed. "It takes some getting used to. It's good to meet you, Sam."

Steve turned to leave.

"It's your bed, right?" Sam asked.

Steve turned back. "What's that?"

"Your bed, it's too soft," Sam told him. "When I was over there, I'd sleep on the ground, use rocks for pillows, like a caveman. Now I'm home, lying in my bed, and it's like..."

"Lying on a marshmallow," Steve finished. "Feel like I'm gonna sink right through to the floor." Sam nodded. "How long?"

"Two tours," Sam answered. Steve nodded. "You must miss the good old days, huh?"

"Well, things aren't so bad," Steve told him. "Food's a lot better. We used to boil everything. No polio is good. Internet, so helpful. I've been reading that a lot, trying to catch up."

Sam smiled. "Marvin Gaye, 1972, Trouble Man soundtrack. Everything you missed jammed into one album."

Steve nodded, taking out a tiny notebook from his pocket, writing that down. "I'll put it on the list." His phone beeped. He pulled it out, noticing a text from his sister saying 'Mission Alert. Extraction imminent. Meet at the curb.' "All right, Sam. Duty calls. Thanks for the run." They shook hands. "If that's what you want to call running."

"Oh, that's how it is?" Sam asked.

Steve smiled. "Oh, that's how it is."

Sam chuckled. "Okay."

Bree Rogers / Star Mistress pulled up in her car, looking out at Sam and Steve. "Hey, fellas. Either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? I'm here to pick up a fossil."

Steve walked closer. "That's hilarious. Where's your motorcycle?"

"We're going somewhere where we might not need it," Bree told him.

Sam pointed at her. "Hey. Bree Rogers, right?"

"Yep," Bree answered.

"Bree, this is Sam Wilson," Steve told her. "I just met him on my morning jog."

Bree waved to Sam. "Hi."

"Hey," Sam told them. "Thank you so much for what you did in Manhattan."

"That was controversial," Bree told them.

"Any time you want to stop by the VA, make me look awesome in front of the girl at the front desk, just let me know," Sam told them.

"I'll keep it in mind," Steve told him. He got into the passenger seat of Bree's car, looking at Sam. "Can't run everywhere."

"No, you can't," Sam told them.

"Also controversial," Bree told them.

"Just drive," Steve told her.

Bree smirked, driving away, leaving.

✯

A S.T.R.I.K.E plane was flying over the Indian Ocean.

Steve and Bree were standing in a room with the assassination team called the Spiders, Natasha Romanoff / Black Window, Anastasia "Ana" Romanoff / Arachne, and Tatiana Romanoff / Tarantula, and a few men, including a man named Brock Rumlow.

They were all suited up.

Bree:

Ana:

Tatiana:

"Target is a mobile satellite launched from the Lemurian Star," Brock told them. "They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them, 93 minutes ago."

"Any demands?" Bree asked.

"Billion and a half," Brock answered.

"Why so steep?" Bree asked.

"Because it's S.H.I.E.L.D's," Brock answered.

"So, it's not off-course," Steve told them. "It's trespassing."

"I'm sure they have a good reason," Natasha told them.

"You know, I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor," Steve told them.

"Relax," Ana told him. "It's not that complicated."

"How many pirates?" Bree asked.

"25," Brock answered. "Top mercs led by this guy." He brought up the pilot's picture. "George Batroc. Ex-DGSE, Action Division. He's at the top of Interpol's Red Notice. Before the French demobilized him, he had 36 kill missions. This guy's got a rep for maximum casualties."

"Hostages?" Bree asked.

"Mostly techs, one officer, Jasper Sitwell," Brock answered, bringing up a picture of Jasper. "They're in the galley."

"What's Sitwell doing on a launch ship?" Bree asked. "All right, Steve and I are gonna sweep the deck and find Batroc. Natasha, you kill the engines and wait for instructions. Rumlow, you sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to the life-pods, get them out. Ana, Tatiana, you take out any guards that come your way or get in the way of ours."

"Taking out guards is our specialty," Tatiana told them.

"Good," Steve told them. "Let's move."

"S.T.R.I.K.E, you heard them," Brock told them. "Gear up."

  ✯  

After dark, the plane continued to fly.

Steve spoke into his ear piece. "Secure channel seven."

"Seven secure," Natasha told them. "Did you do anything fun Saturday night?"

"Well, all the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, so, no, not really," Steve answered.

Bree smiled a small smile at his joke.

"Coming up on the drop zone," Brock told them.

Bree opened the plane door, looking at Steve. "You know, if you ask Kristen out, from statistics, she'd probably say yes."

"That's why I don't ask," Steve told them, pulling on a parachute.

Bree walked closer. "Too sky or too scared?"

Steve pulled on his mask. "Too busy."

Bree jumped out of the plane.

"Was she wearing a parachute?" Brock asked.

"No," Steve answered. "No, she wasn't."

Brock was stunned, impressed.

  ✯ 

Bree fell down through the sky toward the ship below at full speed. She used the hook of her staff to latch onto the railing, pulling herself over the railing onto the ship.

Steve landed on the ship with his parachute on, taking it off.

Natasha, Ana and Tatiana landed behind him, taking their parachutes off.

They split up.

Ana and Tatiana stayed outside to fight the guards.

Tatiana grabbed Guard 1 from behind in a headlock, choking him until he passed out, letting him fall.

Guard 2 ran closer. Ana punched him in the face. Guard 2 tried to punch her. Ana ducked, sliding past him over the floor, spinning to kick his legs out from underneath him, making him fall, slamming his head against the floor, making him fall unconscious.

Tatiana ran toward Guard 3, kicking him off the ship into the water below. Guard 4 ran toward her, trying to punch her. Tatiana ducked, kicking his legs out from underneath him, making him fall to the floor, making him hit his head and fall unconscious.

Guard 5 ran toward Ana. Ana jumped up, wrapping her legs around his neck, flipping him to the floor, landing in a crouch next to him, punching him in the face, making him fall unconscious. Guard 6 ran closer.  Ana stood, spinning to kick him in the head, making him fall unconscious.

Guards 6 and 7 ran closer.

Ana punched Guard 6 in the face.

Guard 7 tried to punch Tatiana. Tatiana ducked, punching him in the face, grabbing his arm, twisting it around, flipping him to the ground.

Guard 6 drew a knife, trying to stab Ana. Ana raised her hands to block the move, pushing his hands away. Guard 6 tried to stab her. Ana caught his wrist, kicking him in the stomach, flipping him to the floor.

Guard 7 tried to get up.

Ana threw the knife she had taken from Guard 6 into Guard 7's hand, making him groan a scream of pain.

Tatiana kicked both guards in the head, making them fall unconscious.

Ana and Tatiana looked at each other, smirking, walking along.

  ✯  

Steve and Bree reached an inside room in the ship.

Bree latched the hook of her staff into the railing, flipping over the railing to get to the floor below, taking her staff with her, using the staff to hit Guard 1 in the head, turning to kick Guard 2 across the room into a water tank, making the tank tent.

Steve jumped over the railing to land on the floor between Guards 3 and 4, hitting them both with his shield, in the stomachs, making them fall to their knees, hitting them both in the heads with the shield, making them fall.

Guard 5 walked toward them, trying to shoot them.

Steve used his shield to protect himself from the bullets.

Bree jumped up, flipping through the air horizontally to make him miss, kicking Guard 5 in the head, making him fall to the floor, unconscious. She landed on the floor in a crouch with her staff in hand, looking up.

Steve grabbed Guard 6, slamming his head against his knee repeatedly, making him unconscious, tossing him to the floor. Guard 7 ran toward Steve, trying to kick him. Steve raised his arm to block the move, turning to elbow him in the face, flipping him to the floor. 

Guard 8 walked closer with a gun aimed at Bree. "Don't move."

Guard 8 were suddenly shot, falling dead.

Bree turned to see Brock behind her. "Thanks."

Brock lowered his gun. "Yeah, you seemed pretty helpless without me."

Bree rolled her eyes, turning around, walking toward Steve. They walked along.

"What about the nurse that lives across the hall from you?" Bree asked. "She seems kind of nice."

"Bree, let's get tonight over with," Steve told her. "Then you can find me a date."

"I'm multi-tasking," Bree told him.

They continued to walk along.

Brock watched them walk away.

  ✯  

There were hostages tied up on the floor in the kitchen.

Guards stood nearby.

"I told Batroc, if we want to make S.H.I.E.L.D pay us, we have to start sending them bodies now," Guard 1 told him. "I have a bullet for someone... you want a bullet in your head?" He kicked a man's foot. "Move that foot." He looked at a woman. "You want a bullet in the head?"

  ✯  

Bree and Steve were running through a room.

Bree jumped from a cart to a wall railing, using the hook of her staff to latch on, turning to jump toward an upper level railing, latching on with the hook as well, pulling herself up to the next level.

Steve ran up the stairs. "Hey, show off, not all of us have one of those stick things."

"It's a staff," Bree told him. "Get it right." She shot a device up to a window above. "I don't like waiting."

  ✯  

Batroc and a guard were in the room with the window that Bree had shot the device.

"Call Durand," Batroc told him. "I want this ship ready to move when the ransom comes."

The guard walked toward the phone, making the call. "Start the engines."

  ✯  

Durand was in the engine room. "Okay."

Durand hung up, turning around.

Natasha was standing in front of him, nodding. "Hey, sailor."

Natasha kicked Durand in the leg, wrapping a wire around his neck, pushing him into the wall, kicking herself away from him,  over a railing with two guns in hand, sliding down the way, firing at the guards on the balconies below.

  ✯  

The guards were still standing guard over the hostages in the kitchen.

"You want to be a hero?" Guard 1 asked. "Is that it? All right, I've waited long enough." He walked toward the door, knocking. "Hey. Find Batroc. If I don't hear anything in two minutes, I'll start killing them."

"I'll find him," a guard outside told him. "Okay?"

  ✯  

The guard in the hallway outside the kitchen  turned to walk down the hallway.

Brock was in front of him, tasering him, making him fall unconscious.

  ✯  

S.T.R.I.K.E men used wires to walk down the side of the ship.

  ✯  

In the hallway, Brock and another man were getting ready to blow their way into the kitchen.

The man put a device against the wall.

The device attached itself to the door.

  ✯  

In the room below the pilot deck, Bree and Steve were watching Batroc and his guard, listening to them.

"Radio silence from S.H.I.E.L.D, Batroc," the guard told him.

Bree and Steve exchanged a look.

  ✯  

On the side of the ship, one of the men was targeting through a window. "Targets acquired."

  ✯  

In the hallway outside the kitchen, Brock and the man were still getting ready.

"S.T.R.I.K.E in position," the man told him.

Brock raised his gun.

  ✯  

On the deck, Tatiana and Ana were walking through more unconscious guards they had knocked out.

Tatiana spoke through her earpiece. "Mom, what's your status?"

  ✯  

Natasha landed on a balcony, running toward a guard.

"Status, Mom," Ana told her.

"Hang on," Natasha told them. The guard turned to face her. Natasha jumped onto him, tasering him in the neck, making him fall, somersaulting over the floor, standing. Guard 2 ran toward her, trying to shoot her. Natasha pushed his gun up, twisting his arm to make him drop it, kicking him in the stomach. Guard 2 tried to punch her. Natasha ducked, leg sweeping his legs out from underneath him, making him fall. Guard 3 ran closer with a gun. Natasha spun to kick the gun out of his hands, standing, spinning to elbow him twice in the face, flipping him to the floor. "Engine room secure."

Guard 3 sat up.

Natasha picked up a pipe, using it to hit Guard 3 in the head, making him fall unconscious.

  ✯  

In the kitchen, Jasper saw the man and Brock ready to blow the door down, looking away before the guards noticed.

"So, who wants to die first?" Guard 1 asked. He walked toward a man, nodding to Guard 2. "Hey, you. Get that one."

  ✯  

In the room below the pilot pit, Steve spoke into his earpiece. "On my mark."

Bree looked toward the pilot pit where Batroc and his guard were.

  ✯  

In the hallway outside the kitchen, the man and Brock got ready.

They listened to Steve. "Three..."

  ✯  

On the side of the ship, the S.T.R.I.K.E men were ready.

They listened to Steve. "Two..."

  ✯  

Ana and Tatiana walked along several more unconscious guards.

They listened to Steve. "One."

  ✯  

In the kitchen, guards were shot.

The door was blown down.

Guard 1 to shoot Brock.

Brock shot him in the head, killing him.

"I told you, S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't negotiate," Jasper told him.

Brock smirked.

  ✯  

Batroc and the guard were still in the pilot pit.

The guard hung up his phone. "The line just went dead. I've lost contact with them."

Steve threw his shield through the windows, shattering them.

The guard and Batroc ducked.

The shield embedded itself into the wall.

Bree and Steve crawled through the broken windows.

Batroc kicked Steve back, standing, running out, leaving.

Bree followed Batroc out of the room.

Steve walked toward his shield, pulling it out of the wall.

✯

Brock and the man were searching the hallway, leading the hostages to safety.

Brock spoke in his earpiece. "Hostages en route to extraction."

  ✯  

Bree ran into a room, down the stairs.

"Ana and I just reached the rendezvous point," Tatiana told them. "Hostiles here will be put down shortly."

"Natasha, Batroc's on the move," Bree told her. "Circle back to Rumlow and protect the hostages." There wasn't an answer. "Natasha?"

Batroc jumped out of hiding, kicking Bree in the head, making her fall. Bree flipped back into a standing position. Batroc tried to kick her. Bree ducked, cartwheeling toward him, kicking him in the head, flipping through the air to try and kick him again. Batroc ducked. Bree landed in a crouch. Batroc kicked her in the head, making her fall. Bree flipped up to a standing position. Batroc tried a series of punches and kicks. Bree ducked or dodged or used her staff to deflect or block the moves, kicking Batroc to the floor. Batroc stood, running closer, trying to kick Bree. Bree ducked, kicking him in the shoulder, spinning to backhand punch him in the face. Batroc tried to punch her. Bree backed away enough to make him miss, grabbing him by his shoulders, kneeing him in the stomach twice, flipping him to the floor. Batroc stood, trying to kick her. Bree raised her leg to block the move, punching him with either arm. Batroc tried to punch her. Bree ducked, kicking him in the chest, punching him in the face, making him back away. Batroc ran closer. Bree kicked him in the leg, making him stop, spinning to kick him in the chest, front flipping to kick him in the head, making him fall. Batroc struggled to stand. Bree ran toward him, tackling him through a closed door, breaking it off, making him fall, punching him in the face with extra strength.

Batroc seemed to be unconscious.

She heard Natasha's voice. "Well, this is awkward."

Bree stood, walking closer. "What are you doing?"

"Backing up the hard drive," Natasha told her. "It's a good habit to get into."

"Rumlow needed your help," Bree told her. "What the hell are you doing in here?" She walked closer, looking at what she was doing. "You're saving S.H.I.E.L.D intel."

"Whatever I can get my hands on," Natasha answered.

"Our mission is to rescue hostages," Bree told her.

"No, that's your and your brother's mission," Natasha told her, taking out the USB drive, turning to face Bree. "And you've done it beautifully."

Natasha started to walk away.

Bree grabbed her arm to stop her. "You just jeopardized this whole operation."

"I think that's overstating things," Natasha told her. Batroc stood, throwing a bomb toward them, running out of the room, leaving. Bree used her staff like a baseball bat to hit the bomb away from them. She ran toward Natasha, grabbing her, jumping over a table through a glass window into the next room. They fell to the floor as the bomb exploded. They sat up, sliding back into the wall behind them, breathing heavily. "Okay. That one's on me."

"You're damn right," Bree told her, standing, walking away.

Natasha sighed in frustration.