Heartlines | Steve Rogers

XII

TWELVE
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Rumlow entered the main control unit, where innocent S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were sitting at their computers, unsure as to what to do. He approached a young man, demanding that he launch the ships. "Preempt the launch sequence. Send those ships up now... is there a problem?"

"Um..." He shook his head, and everyone watched closely, their stomachs turning with nervousness and anticipation.

"Is there a problem?!" Rumlow repeated, raising his voice.

"I'm sorry, sir." He breathed heavily for a moment. "I'm not gonna launch those ships. Captain's orders."

Rumlow pulled out his gun and pointed it to his head. "Move away from your station."

"Like he said," Agent 13 stepped over to him with her gun pointed at his head now, causing everyone in the room to begin pointing their guns at someone. "Captain's orders."

"You picked the wrong side, Agent." He told her as he pressed the gun to the man's head further.

"Depends on where you're standing." She said, and after a moment, he brought the gun down from the guy's head. He dropped it to the floor loudly, making the guy jump. In one swift movement, he brought out a knife and cut her arm with it, making her drop her gun. He caught it in the air and everyone began shooting at one another. Before he could shoot the guy at the computer, she kicked his chair out of the way. Rumlow began typing on the computer quickly, and she wasn't in time to stop him after retrieving another gun. The launch was beginning. Some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents attempted to stop the opening of the bay doors, but were shot down by more S.T.R.I.K.E. agents. Maria sat in a room with a computer, able to monitor everything so she could communicate it to the rest of the crew.

"They're initiating launch." Maria told them. Steve and Sam ran out of the building and towards the ships, hoping to catch them as they were going up. At least, Steve was. Sam could fly, which was handy, and maybe they needed Meredith out there, now that he thought about it.

"Hey, Cap. How do we know the good guys from the bad guys?" Sam asked him.

"If they're shooting at you, they're bad." He replied, and they went their separate ways, infiltrating the ships. The Council watched out the window as Falcon flew around, avoiding the fire of the ships as they were slowly making their way up into the air.

"Let me ask you a question. What if Pakistan marched into Mumbai tomorrow, and you knew that they were going to drag your daughters into a soccer stadium for execution," Pierce handed Singh a glass of champagne. He took it hesitantly. "And you could just stop it, with a flick of the switch. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you all?"

"Not if it was your switch." Singh replied, throwing the glass of champagne across the room. A smile formed on Pierce's face. The S.T.R.I.K.E. agent next to him handed him a gun. He pointed it at Singh, and as he did, Hawley kicked him out of the way. She grabbed the gun from his hand and kicked him in the knee before using her free hand to throw one of the mini, electrified discs at the S.T.R.I.K.E. agent on her right. She then threw the gun into the agent on her left's face before taking down the one in front of her. The other stood back up, and before he could do anything, she grabbed him and slammed him down onto the table. She got behind the last one, grabbing his arm and wrapping it around his back before breaking it as she flipped him over onto the ground. She stood then, pointing the gun at Pierce. She reached up and pressed a button, revealing her to be Meredith Stark, wearing a technological mask, disguised as Councilwoman Hawley.

"I'm sorry," She pulled her wig off then, shaking her long, dark brown hair out. "Did I step on your moment?"

"Falcon, status?" Maria demanded.