White | B. BARNES

Chapter 4

📍 Washington D.C. | January 2014

Jasper Sitwell walked out of the building with Senator Stern. They talked and embraced before the Senator leaves.

Sitwell started to ring, indicating a call from Pierce is incoming. He turned to his men, "I need a minute. Bring the car around."

His men left oblivious to the watchful eyes around him as Sitwell answered the phone, "Yes, sir?"

"Agent Sitwell, how was lunch? I hear the crab cakes here are delicious," an unfamiliar voice spoke through the phone.

"Who is this?" Sitwell asked.

"The good-looking guy in the sunglasses, your ten o'clock."

Sitwell looked around him but doesn't see anyone.

"Your other ten o'clock," the man on the phone said.

Sitwell turned the other way and saw Sam, sitting a few feet away from him.

"There you go."

Sitwell asked once more, eyeing the man from afar, "What do you want?"

"You're gonna go around the corner, to your right. There's a grey car, two spaces down. You and I are gonna take a ride," Sam instructed.

"And why would I do that?"

"Because that tie looks really expensive, and I'd hate to mess it up," Sam replied, which made Sitwell looked down at his tie.

He saw, and a small red light from the gun pointed at him.

"How I would love to pull the trigger," the white-haired woman muttered on top of the building as she looked through her sniper.

Sitwell immediately followed Sam's instructions, still having the red dot on him.

Eventually, Steve threw Sitwell across the rooftop she's in with Natasha following him from behind.

The masked woman came forward, watching the bald man on the ground. "The last time I remember, HYDRA hates scaredy-cat," she rolled her eyes, putting down the sniper.

Sitwell was scared the least seeing such a person up close. She was literally white covered in black fabric. Her eyes were all he could see as she was wearing a mask covering the bridge of her nose.

Fear settled more inside his bones because of her piercing eyes that seem like they can see through the soul.

"Tell me about Zola's algorithm," Steve said.

Sitwell said, putting back his glasses, "Never heard of it."

Steve continued to bombard him with questions while him and Natasha walked forward, "What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?"

Sitwell replied, moving backward, "I was throwing up, I get seasick."

Steve forced Sitwell to the edge of the rooftop. Before the man fell on the edge, Steve caught him on his collar and brought him close to his face.

Sitwell just smiled, "Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw me off the roof? Because it's really not your style, Rogers."

Steve let go of his collar, "You're right. It's not." He rubbed his arms down before speaking again, "It's hers."

Steve stepped aside and let Natasha kicked Sitwell off the roof. He plummeted down, screaming.

"Oh, wait. What about that girl from accounting, Laura...?" Natasha asked Steve.

"Lillian. Lip piercing, right?"

Natasha answered him, "Yeah, she's cute."

With his hands inside the pocket of his jeans. Steve replied, "Yeah, I'm not ready for that."

Then, Sam, flew up, holding Sitwell, and threw him down on the roof. He landed tucking in the wings of his Falcon jet-pack suit.

"You're just standing there," Sam said towards the lady who was leaning on the door frame with her arms cross standing on her heels.

"He's scared of me. He might die out of a heart attack before he talks, especially after what you did," she shrugged, speaking beneath her mask.

Steve and Natasha walked towards Sitwell who was on the ground, holding his hand up in fear.

Jasper breathed heavily, "Zola's algorithm is a program...for choosing Insight's targets!"

"What targets?"

Jasper answered still crouched down on the ground, "You! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City. Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future."

Steve furrowed his brows, "The Future? How could it know?"

Sitwell laughed, "How could it not?" He started to stand up, "The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it."

Steve and Natasha looked at him in confusion as Sitwell continued to talk, "Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, e-mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores. Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future."

"And what then?" Steve pushed.

Sitwell gasped in realization, "Oh, my God. Pierce is gonna kill me."

"What then?!" Steve asked, stepping forward to him as Sam held Sitewell by the back of his collar.

"Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time," he answered.

The woman who was leaning on the door frame began to storm towards all of them. She gripped the wrist of Sitwell behind his back and pushed his head forward. "Walk," she commanded and pushed him forward.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"It only takes time before HYDRA will attack to kill him. So, if you want to keep him alive, less talking, more moving," she answered them.

"Stop moving!" She exclaimed to Sitwell, who was wriggling on her grip. He started screaming in pain as she traveled the pain from his wrist to his neck.

"Ok. Cut it out, Monkey," Sam said to the woman as they began to descend to the stairs going to their car.

"It's not even painful. He's just weak," she rolled her eyes, stopping from generating the pain as she threw him inside the vehicle.

Sam got inside the driver's side while Steve is on the passengers. Sitwell was a sandwich between the two females.

As Sam began to drive them to Triskelion, Sitwell spoke, "HYDRA doesn't like leaks."

"No shit," Sitwell was still spooked out with the lady who just spoke that looked like she was in a Halloween costume. "Drive faster. I need my personal space," she complained to Sam, referring to how tight they were closed to each other at the back seat.

"Quit looking at me, or I'll gauge your eyes out before HYDRA could even lay a finger on you," she threatened the man beside her who was staring.

Sitwell scooted a little closer to Natasha in fear of her.

Sam ignored her words and spoke to Sitwell, "So why don't you try sticking a cork in it."

Natasha poked her head in between the front seat to talk to Steve, "Insight's launching in sixteen hours. We're cutting it a little bit close here."

"I know. We'll use him to bypass the DNA scans and access the Helicarriers directly," Steve said.

Jasper snapped his head to Steve, "What?! Are you crazy? That is a terrible, terrible idea-"

Suddenly, someone landed on the car's roof.

Seeing a metal arm about to punch the window beside the masked lady, she pushed her head out of the way. The arm pulled Sitwell out through the window and threw him into the oncoming traffic, killing him.

"This is what I'm talking about," she nonchalantly said to everyone in the car before all hell broke loose.