The 3rd Experiment

Chapter 30

"Maybe you'll get to wear it soon," Natasha says, walking over to hers and grabbing the sleeve.

"Yeah, maybe."

"In the meantime, do you want to go on a non-combat mission with Steve and me?" She asks and I feel my cheeks flush with blood.

"Are you serious? You want me on a mission?"

"Don't get excited, we're just following up on a lead."

"Oh, I'm excited," I say, a grin stuck to my face. Natasha walks up to me and playfully shoves my shoulder before walking out of the room.

I look back at my suit and then back to the doorway.

"Are you coming?" She says, poking her head back in.

I walk out with her and we head to the conference room so Steve and Natasha can brief me.

"Earlier this week we recovered some S.H.I.E.L.D. data from a hijacked ship. We're hoping to find the executive that was on board in order to get intel on a new project." Natasha explains.

"So we're spying on S.H.I.E.L.D.?" I ask.

"I mean-" Steve starts to say.

"Yes." Nat finishes, with zero hesitation.

"Can I ask why?"

"We're following a hunch."

"A hunch? We're going against orders over a hunch?"

"Yeah, is that a problem?" Nat asks

"No, I just want to know what I'm getting myself into.

Steve starts to leave, urging the two of us to follow, before he says one more thing.

"And we're picking someone up on the way."

***

Steve pulls us into parking for an apartment complex and gets out of the car.

"Be right back," He says before he slams the door closed.

"Do you know who we're picking up?" I ask Natasha.

"I didn't even know he knew people outside of us." She retorts

A few minutes later, out walks Steve and another man. He's shorter than Steve but looks to be just as strong. He has a contagious smile but as soon as his face neutralizes, he becomes intimidating, almost scary.

Natasha gets out of the car, shaking hands with this new person. She then opens my door and gestures to me that I need to move over.

She and our guest get into the car and I reach my hand over the armrest to shake hands with him.

"Raya," I say, catching his attention.

"I'm Sam... Wilson." He says, returning my handshake.

Steve drives us away, pulling onto the highway. The three of them discuss their plan and I listen closely, not sure where to interject.

I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I turn to see a black, armored vehicle a few cars behind us. Before I can say something, we hear a loud thud on the roof of the car.

A metal arm breaks through the driver-side window and grabs onto Steve's sleeve. The metal arm pulls him and throws him out onto the street.

Sam reaches over in an attempt to control the steering wheel and Nat almost dives into the driver's seat so she can get to the pedals.

Through the now wide-open window, I can hear bullets flying past the car. One shatters the window in the back and grazes my cheek as I turn away.

I dive into the passenger seat, trying to get out of the path of the bullets and Sam covers me as best he can.

Natasha slams on the brakes and pulls the emergency brake, causing our assailant to go flying off the roof of the car. His metal arm comes down, gripping the concrete and slowing his tumble.

I pull a gun from the center armrest and once I get it aimed, the armored truck rams into the back bumper making me lose my grip on the gun.

The car is now being pushed closer to the masked man with a metal arm and I can tell Nat is having a hard time keeping the wheel straight.

Just as we get to the assailant, he jumps and twists over the car, landing back on the roof. That's when his arm rips through the windshield and pulls the steering wheel right out of the dashboard.

I reach between Sam's feet and try to feel for the gun that fell out of my hand. I grab hold and take a few shots, unfortunately, none successful.

He jumps from our car to the one that rear-ended ours and they continue to hit our car further down the bridge. The car starts to sway, going from shoulder to shoulder causing Sam to grab onto Steve's shield and ram it into the door. Both of us put all of our strength into it and at just the right moment, I grab Natasha's arm, and the three of us land on the asphalt and ride the car door for several feet. I watch as the car rolls and tumbles ahead of us.

We stand up from the car door and I see Steve running, not too far behind us. The driver of the armored truck gets out and hands a grenade launcher to the masked man.

"Sam! Here!" I hear Steve yell and then I watch as Sam throws the shield down the road.

It comes flying back, aimed to hit the soldier who is aiming for me. I turn to run and listen as the weapon goes off just before the shield hits him. I dive behind the divider on the highway and pray that I don't get blown up.

The grenade hits and it sounds like the bridge has lost its integrity and it might just crumble underneath me. Then it catches fire. I get up to look at what's going on around me and I notice several more shooters. One is coming right for me. I lunge forward, trying to make my way across the still-functioning highway. Just then, a grenade hits a car behind me and the impact launches me over the edge of the bridge.