You can read early chapters on my [P].[A].[T].[R].[E].[O].[N].
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Four months later:
Steve Rogers.
It's been two years, he thought. Two years since New York, two years since the world shifted on its axis, and two years since he had started working for S.H.I.E.L.D. This is what Peggy would have wanted, right?
After the Battle of New York, Steve had accepted Fury's offer to join the agency upon learning that one of its founding members was Peggy Carter herself. He currently resided in Washington, D.C., attempting to adjust to the complexities of contemporary society.
"You heard anything from Park yet?" His musing was broken by a voice coming from across the cockpit. He looked at Natasha as he answered."No, nothing... radio silence, as always."
"After what happened in Fairview, the entire world has been after him. He does realize, if he doesn't respond, he looks guilty, right?" Natasha countered, and Steve had to silently agree with her assessment.
Ethan has been spotted in Fairview hospital on January 3rd, 2014, but due to his elusiveness when it comes to talking to authorities, some have started claiming he was the one who caused the disaster.
"136 dead," Steve muttered. "I just want to know what happened... and if it could have been prevented."
"Well, if all it takes for him to show up is a world-ending disaster, our paths will cross eventually," Natasha noted.
They were currently in a Quinjet soaring over the Indian Ocean alongside S.H.I.E.L.D.'s counter-terrorism S.T.R.I.K.E. team, led by Agent Brock Rumlow.
Their mission: to liberate hostages from a S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel seized by pirates.
"Listen up, Ops briefing," Rumlow's voice echoed across the jet, and they moved toward him with Captain Rogers in the lead.
"The target is the Lemurian Star, a mobile satellite launch platform. They were setting up their last payload when pirates took them 93 minutes ago," Rumlow explained, utilizing the digital mission screen.
"How many pirates?" the Captain asked.
"Twenty-five. Top-tier mercenaries led by this guy: Georges Batroc," Rumlow answered, glancing at Steve as he added the next part. "This guy has a reputation for maximum casualties."
Captain Rogers remained unbothered.
"Alright, I'll sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat, you kill the engines and wait for instructions. Rumlow, you sweep the craft, find the hostages, and get them to the life pods. Get them out," he ordered, moving toward the rear ramp.
"S.T.R.I.K.E., you heard the Cap. Gear up!" Rumlow announced.
At the ramp, Captain tested the radio. "Check Channel 7."
"Channel 7 secure," Natasha answered. Then, with a sly look, she asked, "So, you do anything fun Saturday night?"
"Well, all the guys from my Barbershop Quartet are dead," Steve replied flatly. "So, no, not really."
"Coming up on the drop zone, Cap," Rumlow's voice crackled over Channel 7. Steve punched the button to open the hydraulic ramp.
"You know, if you asked Kirsten from Statistics, she'd probably say yes," Natasha tried, playing the role of the persistent wingwoman.
"That's why I don't ask," the Captain replied over the howling wind as he gripped his shield and reached the edge of the metal ramp.
"Too shy or too scared?" Natasha questioned.
"Too busy," Cap replied simply, before diving into the void.
Agent Jack Rollins approached from behind Rumlow, squinting into the dark. "Was he wearing a parachute?" he questioned, watching the Captain plummet away from the jet.
"No... no, he wasn't," Rumlow replied, a mix of respect and disbelief in his voice.
During the mission, Captain Rogers successfully neutralized Batroc, but he also discovered that Romanoff had a secondary, secret assignment from S.H.I.E.L.D.
Director Fury had instructed her to extract encrypted data from the ship's computers—a task Rogers himself was entirely unaware of and found highly unethical.
When Rogers confronted Fury about this secret assignment, the Director finally informed him of the true nature of their operation: Project Insight.
"In summary, Project Insight is a classified initiative S.H.I.E.L.D. has been developing in secret for quite some time. Essentially, it involves a fleet of next-generation Helicarriers linked by a sophisticated satellite network to detect and eliminate potential threats to global security before they even manifest," Fury had explained. But all Steve saw was a world at gunpoint—a world living in fear, not the one he and Peggy had fought for. To Steve, this wasn't freedom; this was fear.
"I thought punishment came after the crime," Steve had argued with Fury. Yet, he knew he was in no position to influence the decisions made by the World Security Council—at least, not yet.
Nick Fury
S.H.I.E.L.D. has been compromised, he realized as he hauled himself through the sewers, barely surviving his encounter with the Winter Soldier.
"Rogers... he was right... damn it. I have to get to him," he muttered aloud as his legs finally gave out. He fell into the stagnant sewage water with a splash. "I liked this coat," he grunted, the pain finally catching up to him.
Later That Night:
Fury sat in Steve's darkened apartment when his phone buzzed with a message from Agent 13. "Cap's on the way," it read. He leaned back against the sofa and turned the volume of the stereo up to the maximum, letting the melancholic brass of a familiar tune fill the room.
[It's Been a Long, Long Time by Kitty Kallen]
Never thought that you would be
Standing here so close to me
There's so much I feel that I should say
But words can wait until some other day...
Fury picked up the subtle movement of someone climbing in through the side window. Smart, he thought. Never enter through the front door when an intruder is waiting.
Kiss me once, then kiss me twice
Then kiss me once again
It's been a long, long time...
The music continued to play as the Captain cleared the house, room by room, until he finally found Fury sitting in the shadows. The Director informed him that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been compromised from within. But just as he was about to elaborate on the threat, the silence of the night was shattered.
BANG! BANG!
Two high-velocity bullets tore through the living room wall, penetrating Fury's chest. He slumped forward, gasping for air. With his final ounce of strength, he pulled Steve close, pressed a flash drive into his palm, and whispered his last command:
"Don't trust anyone..."
This was the same drive Natasha had retrieved, containing the encrypted data from the Lemurian Star—the digital proof that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been compromised by HYDRA from the very beginning.
The same drive whoes data remained inaccessible for Fury.
The Winter Soldier.
He was currently standing on a decommissioned railway line that had been closed off by the city.
The mission is complete, he thought. He had finally outrun that persistent tail—that shield-throwing man. He seemed... familiar.
Suddenly, he clutched his head as foreign memories came pouring in like a flood.
A snowy mountain... a speeding train... him dangling over a freezing abyss, fighting for his life.
Then came a phrase: "I'm with you 'til the end of the line." Following it was that same face—the man with the shield, but much smaller, scrawnier, and yet wearing that same stubborn expression.
"What are these... what is going on?" he muttered aloud. Then, a voice emerged from his blind spot.
"Those are your memories, Mr. Barnes."
The voice spoke, and he turned sharply, a preset command overriding every other instinct in his body: No witnesses.
He lunged, but felt a sudden, violent jerk on his metal arm. He looked down to inspect the limb and froze in disbelief.
"Need a hand?" the voice asked again, offering him his own cybernetic hand—the one that had just been surgically clean-removed from his shoulder.
Even after seventy years of systematic brainwashing, the sheer sarcasm of that statement didn't elude Bucky.
Who the hell is Bucky? he thought, his brow furrowing in deep concentration. Wait... didn't this person just call me Barnes?
He looked toward the origin of the voice as the flickering light of the abandoned railway finally illuminated the man.
He looks young, Bucky thought, the name slipping into his mind without him even realizing it. "Who sent you? S.H.I.E.L.D.?" he demanded.
"Oh... why? I sent myself," Ethan answered nonchalantly. "But I have to say, I've been meaning to have this meeting for a while, Mr. Barnes. I guess now is as good a time as any."
Bucky's hand drifted toward the combat knife in his side pocket, his eyes narrowing. "Why do you keep calling me that?"
"It's your name. Don't worry, you'll remember soon enough... Tora is working on it. I can't have you remembering everything in one go, or it'll fry your brain," Ethan explained.
What the hell is he babbling about? Bucky questioned internally. Doesn't matter... No witnesses.
As the thought finished, he lunged forward. However, a second later, the knife was swatted effortlessly from his hand, and Ethan already had a finger pressed firmly against his forehead.
"Sleep," Ethan whispered, inducing a gentle wave of Cursed Energy directly into his brain.
Bucky fell unconscious, his body going completely lifeless. Ethan caught him, hoisting the super-soldier over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "They really did a number on you, didn't they?" Ethan remarked to the unresponsive Barnes, simply shaking his head in pity.
The light flickered once and went dark. A second later, when the glow returned to the tunnel, both Ethan and Bucky had vanished.
Captain Rogers
So, the Secretary is involved in this conspiracy, he realized, watching the last of the S.T.R.I.K.E. team board the elevator he was already on.
He had arrived at the Triskelion headquarters of Shield at the secretary request.
"Before we get started... does anyone want to get out?" Steve stated calmly to an elevator packed with S.T.R.I.K.E. agents.
"Oh... this gives me a weird sense of déjà vu," Rumlow muttered. Just as he finished, the S.T.R.I.K.E. team lunged into the attack.
Though they were initially able to immobilize the Captain for a few frantic seconds, the tide turned decisively. One after another, Rogers neutralized the agents without lethal force, eventually leaving only Rumlow standing.
"Whoa... big guy. I just want you to know, Cap, this isn't—" Rumlow swung his electrical baton wildly—"PERSONAL!" He managed to stun Rogers twice with the high-voltage weapon.
However, after receiving the "ceiling treatment" from the Captain, Rumlow was finally sent crashing back down to the floor.
"It kind of feels personal," Rogers spoke, looking down at Rumlow's unconscious body.
In the next moment, he kicked his shield upward with his heel, catching it expertly on his arm as it snapped back into place.
With the elevator doors opening to a floor crawling with enemies, Captain Rogers made his daring escape by diving straight through the 20th-floor glass window. After a harrowing landing, he drove away on his motorcycle, successfully disabling an attacking Quinjet before vanishing into the city.
Secretary Pierce
He had just declared Captain Rogers—America's golden poster child—a fugitive to be neutralized by S.H.I.E.L.D. for withholding critical information regarding the Director's death.
As he stews in his office, contemplating the arrival of the new Age of Hydra, with a smile on his face, he recalls the clandestine meeting he held with the other heads of the organization only twelve hours ago.
Twelve hours ago, in the meeting:
"Ethan Park is dead," Secretary Pierce declared proudly to a room full of five monitor screens, each displaying the shadowed silhouette of a respective Hydra head.
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A/N: So how was the chapter?