Rage finally burst through the last dam of restraint.
Nick Fury yanked his pistol free and leveled it at the massive display wall.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three shots.
The screen exploded in a storm of sparks and shattered glass.
"He's armed!!"
"He's attacking the command center!!"
In an instant—
Shrrk!
Every agent in the hall—Hydra sleepers and loyal SHIELD operatives alike—drew their weapons.
Hundreds of black muzzles locked onto Nick Fury and Clint Barton.
Barton's bow was already fully drawn, but he didn't dare release. The moment he did, they'd be shredded where they stood.
"Drop your weapon, Nick!"
Maria Hill raised her gun, aiming at Fury's chest. Her grip was steady—but her eyes were shaking.
"Submit to internal review! It's your only way out!"
Fury looked at Hill.
Looked at the people who once followed him without question.
He saw it clearly now.
Trust was gone.
In an age where information could be sculpted at will, truth no longer mattered. What mattered was what people believed.
"Internal review?" Fury gave a dry, bitter chuckle.
"Once I'm in an interrogation room, I'm never walking back out, Hill. You know that."
He slowly raised both hands.
"Fine… you win."
A collective breath loosened in the room. Guns stayed trained on him, but fingers eased off triggers.
That was the moment.
"Barton—flash!" Fury barked.
No hesitation.
Barton ripped a specialized arrow from his quiver and smashed it into the floor.
BOOM—!!
Blinding white light flooded the command hall.
"AH—MY EYES!"
"OPEN FIRE! OPEN FIRE!"
Gunshots thundered, bullets screaming blindly through the air.
In the chaos—
Fury grabbed Barton, slapped a micro-charge onto the reinforced glass beside them.
"Down!"
KRA-BOOM!
The glass detonated outward.
Wind roared in.
They were on the thirtieth floor.
"Jump!"
They didn't think.
They leapt.
Midair—
SHRRK!
Barton fired a grappling arrow, anchoring it into the exterior wall below. The cable snapped taut, swinging them like a pendulum.
They smashed through a lower window and rolled into an office space.
"Move! B4 parking garage!" Fury shouted. "I've got a fallback vehicle!"
They ran—alarms screaming, boots pounding behind them.
The former king of spies was now a hunted fugitive.
…
"How exquisite."
Alexander Pierce stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows, listening to distant sirens and watching vehicles scatter like ants.
Music to his ears.
He turned to the man behind him—Brock Rumlow.
"Well done, my boy. An absolutely inspired operation."
Pierce stepped closer, patting the man's rigid shoulder.
"Turning their own voices against Fury… letting the world condemn him for us."
"I always thought you were just muscle. Didn't realize you had this kind of grasp on psychological warfare."
"For Hydra's victory, sir."
Rumlow's lips curled into a familiar, cocky grin—perfectly modeled from the original.
"Indeed. For Hydra's victory." Pierce was beaming.
"When Project Insight is complete, you'll have everything you deserve. I'll nominate you as the next Director."
Rumlow dipped his head. "I'm honored."
Pierce set down his glass and checked his watch.
"The Council's authorization codes have arrived."
"Fury escaping doesn't matter anymore."
Decades of infiltration.
Generations of sacrifice.
All culminating now.
"Hail Hydra."
He turned to the operations console.
"All units, this is Alexander Pierce."
"I hereby declare—Project Insight is officially live."
"Launch the carriers."
…
The river churned.
The earth trembled.
RRRRROOOOM—
Three colossal Helicarriers tore free from the water, anti-gravity engines roaring as waterfalls cascaded from their decks.
The sound thundered across Washington, D.C.
The pinnacle of human industry.
And the sword hanging over humanity's neck.
Once they reached sub-orbital altitude and synced with the Insight satellites—
Millions of "threats" would vanish in seconds.
Soft targets.
…
"Sir," a calm, synthetic voice whispered into Antony's ear.
Skynet's encrypted channel.
"All three Helicarriers' fire-control systems have been successfully breached."
"Zola's algorithm overwritten. New targeting logic uploaded."
"The trigger… is now in your hands."
"Good work," Antony said lazily, satisfied.
"Rumlow earned himself a premium oil change… hahahaha."
…
"Motherf—! They're airborne!"
Fury stared up from the passenger seat, face ashen.
"What now, boss?" Barton swerved hard, dodging a pursuing rocket.
"Want me to shoot them down with explosive arrows?"
Fury's gaze locked on the looming titans overhead.
He pulled out the old pager.
His last card—Captain Marvel.
His hand trembled.
Carol had been clear: only in the gravest, cosmic-level emergencies.
Internal Earth politics didn't qualify.
"Damn it…" Fury shoved the pager away, despair flickering in his eye.
…
Washington.
The Triskelion.
Pierce gazed skyward, waiting.
Waiting for the thunder of annihilation.
Waiting for names to vanish in smoke.
One minute.
Two.
Five.
Nothing.
Silence.
"What's going on…?"
Frowning, Pierce double-checked. The launch command had gone through.
Then the phone rang.
The World Security Council line.
Uneasy, Pierce answered.
Councilor Rockwell's voice came through—flat, cold.
"Given SHIELD's internal collapse and confirmed Hydra infiltration…"
"Following emergency deliberation, with unanimous consent from permanent members…"
"The Council has invoked the Emergency Takeover Clause of the Superhero Registration Act."
Pierce's blood ran cold.
"Effective immediately," Rockwell continued,
"the three Helicarriers of Project Insight, along with all affiliated weapons systems…"
"…are hereby placed under temporary custody of Vought Global Defense (V.G.D.)."
"Until SHIELD completes a full internal purge and investigation."
BOOM.
The sky—
collapsed.
--------------
T/N:
Access Advance Chapters on my
P@treon: [email protected]/PokePals