Forgotten Ghost | Natasha Romanoff

Chapter 45: Tick Tock

Fury wasted no time in grabbing Pierce and not-so-gently dragging him to the screen on the wall. 

The computer was asking for clearance to disable the security and let Natasha do what she wanted to. 

Pierce didn't resist as Fury placed him in front of the wall. He knew he was outnumbered and had no choice but to go along with everything. But as soon as Natasha activated the retinal scan on the computer, the man tried one last time to save his skin and turned away from the screen.

At this point, Katya was tired of his games and was still on edge. Even though he was outnumbered, Pierce would try everything to get out of this situation. So she took out her gun and stepped closer to the HYDRA traitor, aiming the gun at his head. 

Pierce eyed her, looking her up and down a little too long for Katya's liking. She still didn't like the look in his eyes, he was almost smiling.

''You don't you think we wiped your clearance from the system?'' He said to Fury, who was getting tired of his games too. 

''I know you erased my password, probably deleted my retinal scan, but if you want to stay ahead of me, Mr. Secretary...'' Fury removed his eye patch to reveal his scarred eye. He had never told anyone how he got it and there were a lot of stories going around. Some say he was scarred by an alien, but he wouldn't tell anyone what really happened. 

''You need to keep both eyes open.'' Pierce wasn't impressed, so he had either seen his eye before or didn't show that he was surprised. However, now that he knew he had lost, he turned to the screen at the same time as Fury.

The retinal scan started scanning their eyes and it wasn't long before the security was down. ''Alpha Level confirmed. Encryption code accepted. Safeguards removed,'' the computer confirmed. Pierce and Fury stepped back, both throwing dirty looks at each other. Natasha continued typing away at high speed, entering the right codes and trying to dump everything on the internet. 

The media would have a field day with this. 

That's when another voice, which had been silent for a minute, spoke up again. ''Charlie Carrier's forty-five degrees off the port bow.'' Katya wanted to look outside and see the situation there, but the threat in the room wasn't gone yet. 

''Six minutes.'' Six minutes until millions of people were going to die unless Steve and Sam did something about it. 

The guys' voices were constantly in Katya's ear, but she chose to ignore it. Maria clearly had them covered and Katya was too busy with her own situation. It didn't sit right with her that Pierce had given in quite easily and felt that whatever he was planning would be coming any time now.

It was silent in the room. The only sound audible was Natasha's nails hitting the keyboard. To say it was a tense silence would be an understatement. And while Katya had lowered the gun she had pointed at Pierce, it was still firmly in her hand, finger on the trigger. 

The helicopter flight and the long standing was starting to affect her body. The way her muscles were tense didn't help either and her arm was starting to ache from holding the gun so tightly. But she wouldn't show anything, and definitely not to Pierce, who was eyeing her from where he was standing. 

The HYDRA leader looked out the window, seeing the explosions on the Helicarriers and hearing the destruction. He stepped away from the screen and started walking around slowly, completely comfortable. ''Rogers will never make it.'' His confidence was unshattered. 

''You underestimated him before,'' Fury replied smartly. He was referring to the way he escaped from the Triskelion, the bunker and the van. 

''That's true, although he is not the only one.'' Pierce turned to Katya, seeing the way she stood strongly and confident. The look in her eye was one of pure hatred and if it was just him and her in this room, no SHIELD, no Fury, no Natasha, she would have put a bullet between his eyebrows a long time ago.