∆ {2⁹} {LOOK THEM IN THE EYES} ∆

WAR WAS A dangerous thing. Everyone knew that, and Roxi knew it better than most people. And yet, here she was, lined up, a spy among soldiers. A wolf in a lion's den. War was hard, for everyone, but some people took it harder than others. Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Howard Stark, and others fought their own wars. Natasha had been fighting her whole life, in one sense or another, for her life, or for someone else's, just as Roxi had. Both of them had grown up in hard environments and had been in S.H.I.E.L.D and going on missions for a long time. Conflict and war weren't exactly new to either of them, but it didn't stop them from being scared of it. But right now, Roxi knew she couldn't afford to be scared. Natasha had split from the rest of them to complete her own part of the mission, as had Fury, leaving Cap, Sam and Hill with Roxi. Steve had stolen his old uniform form the Smithsonian, Sam had his wing pack on, and Hill and Roxi both had their combat suits on. 

It'd taken a while, but finally, they'd managed to sneak into the Triskelion, with a few small speed bumps along the way that Roxi had dealt with quickly. Now, they'd wound up standing outside this metal door, that lead to communication, Sam and Hill having their guns out while Steve and Roxi stood proudly in between them. The door swung open to reveal a tech worker, whose jaw dropped as he took in the four of them.

"Excuse us," Steve said, prompting the main to raise his hands much further than people normally would.  

"Ever the gentleman," Roxi shot at Steve, who just ignored her. She heard Sam chuckle a little behind her, though, as they marched past the terrified man. They walked into the room where announcements were made, the agents who were in there immediately scurrying out. Steve took a deep breath before pressing the button and turning on the mic.

"Attention all S.H.I.E.L.D Agents," he began, his voice heavy, "this is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about me over the last few days, some of you were even ordered to hunt me down." His voice echoed across the whole complex, and Roxi began taking slow, deep breaths and calm herself so she could prepare for the inevitable.

"And I think it's time you know the truth," he continued, the window behind them lighting up the room and taking some weight off of the atmosphere, the air thick with anticipation and nerves. Steve paused before he continued, wondering how to word his next sentence.

"S.H.I.E.L.D is not what it was; it's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader." The name made Roxi clench her fists until she reminded herself that it would be over soon; they'd be able to slink back into the shadows like they always had, and drag Pierce's name through the dirt while they were at it. 

"The STRIKE and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. We don't know how many more." Roxi didn't agree with the indiscretion of the plan, announcing they were there to their enemies, when anyone could be a traitor, but it was the best plan they had, so she had to stick to it. 

"But I know they're in the building," he continued. it wasn't the best idea, announcing people who wanted to kill them stood among their midst, possibly outnumbering the people on S.H.I.E.L.D's side, but they were trained and were unlikely to panic - at least, not too severely. 

"They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want; absolute control." A dictatorship, Roxi added in her head.

"They shot Nick Fury, and it won't end there. If you launch those helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way. Unless we stop them." Roxi exhaled slowly, shutting her eyes for a moment as she allowed Steve's words to wash over her. There would be lives lost. It was inevitable. But they would die fighting for the right cause. They would die saving millions of people around the world. They would be heroes. more than she would ever be.

"And, I know I'm asking a lot.. But the price of freedom is high, it always has been. And it's a price I'm willing to pay.  And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet that I'm not." He finished his speech just as Roxi opened her eyes, her mind feeling much more at rest than it had a few minutes ago, walking into the room. 

"Did you write that down first? Or was that off the top of your head?" Sam asked, smiling slightly, and for the first time in a while, Roxi allowed herself to begin to smile along with him, the corners of her mouth tilting up in slight amusement. Cap really knew how to get people emotional and empathetic. Those things weren't exactly her forte. Hill had split off into another room, watching the cameras, being the 'guy in the chair'.

"They're initiating launch," she informed through the comms. Roxi wasn't joining Sam and Steve in sprinting towards the  helicarriers that'd come out of S.H.I.E.L.D's fancy equivalent underground car park, instead, she was holding off any HYDRA Agents from reaching Hill in security. Although no-one had any doubt that the second in command could handle herself, Fury felt a bit better having Roxi with her. For a few short minutes, there was relative silence as the fight began around them, but it didn't last long. Shouts and the thumping of soldier's boots began to carry along the corridor that she was standing in, and she took another deep breath before she pulled out her new quarterstaff, the cold metal helping her focus. This would be the first time she fought with it. She extended it fully as  the first men rounded the corner.

She moved quickly, slamming the point of the quarterstaff into the first person's throat, pulling it out quickly and slamming the staff into the next person's face. They crumpled to the floor as the next set came round. To her surprise, but slight relief, one of the next men tripped over the people on the floor and tumbled down. Roxi lifted her quarterstaff between the heads of two men and pulled the right end of the quarterstaff towards her, so that that end hit the back of the agent on the left's head and the other side hit the other one's forehead, effectively bringing both to the ground. The agent who'd tripped stumbled up as the next set rounded the corner, no doubt red-faced under their helmet. One of the three who'd just entered the fight had a RPG launcher, and they fired a grenade at her. Roxi had a split-second of consideration, before she batted the explosive back towards the other four, being thrown back as it exploded, and hitting the metal floor hard. Her head started to pound angrily as her shoulder gave a strong twinge of pain. A couple of people managed to run past her as she got her sense of direction back and used the wall to help pull herself up.

"Eight minutes Cap," Hill informed him.

"Working on it," he told her, a slight clang filtering in as he no doubt picked up his shield from where he'd hurled it at someone. In the swirling that seemed to be determined not to stop in her head, a quiet voice reminded Roxi that if the procedure went as planned, both S.H.I.E.L.D's and HYDRA's secrets would be released to the public and the world at large. That was, if you knew how to figure out the code. Roxi was luckier than Natasha with the fact that her files were relatively bare; there was next to nothing in the system about her. Still, criminals and others would be able to identify her with ease, and that wasn't good. But then, she reminded herself that they had to do this to ensure millions of people didn't die. She had to do this, because if she did, it would ease her conscience. It was selfish, sure, but if it was the thing to get her through this, then, so be it.

"Alpha lock," Steve's voice came through again, as Roxi faced the next pair of HDYRA Agents.

"Falcon, where are you now?" The chatter over the comms was pretty much irrelevant to Roxi at the moment, but she needed to keep their progress in the back of her mind while she fought. She couldn't hear anything outside of the garbled voices through the comms, due to a whining noise that was likely caused by the explosion that deafened everything else.

"Had to take a detour!" Roxi ducked some bullets and threw the quarterstaff through the air like a javelin - or at least, as  best as she could. The quarterstaff wasn't exactly designed for that, which was why she was surprised when it actually worked, and planted itself in the chest plate of one of the men, presumably piercing it by the way the man let out a gasp of pain. She guessed Fury had made the blades sharper.

"Oh yeah!" Sam yelled. Duck the bullets.

"I'm in." Grab the quarterstaff.

"Bravo lock." Dodge.

"Two down, one to go." Hill this time. Slam the staff against their head.

"Charlie carrier's 45 degrees off the port bow." Twist their arm so they drop the gun.

 A few gunshots echoing from behind her told her that Hill had dealt with the rogue HYDRA Agents easily. 

"Six minutes." Stab.

"Hey Sam, gonna need a ride!" Repeat.

"Rogers, let me know when you're ready!" Roxi continued the actions in a cycle, driving through the motions as smoothly as she could. A couple of times she had to improvise, but it mostly stayed the same. It was at that moment that Roxi realised that she was too used to fighting like this, completely on instinct and on autopilot. She needed to be more aware, to be able to react to anything that could come up. She needed to be alert. 

"I just did!" Her hearing had returned enough that she heard the loud bang from above, no doubt an explosion that Steve set up on one of the helicarriers. Roxi wasn't sure how many people she'd taken down, but it was starting to get hard to move with the unconscious or dead bodies that littered the floor, and more were still coming. She had to do something that would stop them from advancing any further. She took a couple of careful steps back before she retracted her quarterstaff and put it back in her belt. She closed her eyes again and held out her hand to the corridor in front of her.

"Ryder?" Hill asked, who was watching her on the cameras. Roxi ignored the other woman as she calmed herself down again. And then she started. At first nothing happened, and Roxi pushed herself harder. The metal walls began to groan slightly in protest, the sound growing as Roxi pulled her, her head beginning to ache slightly with the use of her powers. She faintly heard Hill repeat her name, but didn't really register it. The walls began to cave in slowly and she heard the HYDRA Agents begin to yell out. The lights above them flickered and sparked before blinking out with an angry buzz as the ceiling creaked ominously. Plunged into darkness, Roxi suddenly felt a lot colder as her head began to swim with the effort as there was a clash and crash as the metal walls and ceilings folded in on themselves. Roxi felt the floor shake as the HYDRA Agents let out yells and screams. Radio silence from Hill made Roxi guess that Hill wasn't sure what to say. She slumped against the wall a few feet back and slid down it and sat down, the cool surface helping her head slightly. She felt so much and so little at the same time. Sweat and blood trickled down her face as the world brightened and faded before her eyes. She was sure somebody was saying something to her, but she couldn't hear it. 

Roxi was numb. She had exposed her powers both in front of people she almost trusted, and people she would never trust. But it was for the people who would loose their lives, she reminded herself again, and she had to look her problems dead in the eyes, for the good of people around the world. It was her responsibility, and she was going to fulfil it.

{A/N:} Sorry this chapter came out so late today, but I once again didn't write anything during the week and I wrote all of this today. I also have a ton of homework so sorry if this seems rushed or low-quality today. I also am starting to publish my new Natasha fic, called Point Blank, and the first chapter will be up on Monday. It's quite different to this book if you're interested. Any thoughts for the call signs? I'm still struggling xD. Thanks for reading

JabberJay_011

2250 Words

Written: 10 / 10 / 2020

Published: 10 / 10 / 2020