***
Some readers commented that Luke is a simp, which honestly I don't get. I mean, think about it—if you suddenly met your favorite characters face to face, could you really act completely normal and not fanboy or fangirl a little? It's just human nature.
***
Present—
Pierce, who was getting his arm twisted, screamed out in pain.
"R–Rumlow!" he shouted, his voice cracking under the weight of pain and fear. The calm mask he usually wore was gone—his composure completely shattered. His right-hand man had to be close, right outside that door.
Pierce clung to that thought like a lifeline. Something was very wrong here, and every instinct in his body screamed at him to get out before it was too late.
Luke, hearing the pathetic cry, only smiled.
"Nope. Not happening," Luke said coolly. His grip tightened, and then—
CRACK!
The sound of bone snapping filled the room, sharp and sickening. Pierce's scream turned into a guttural roar as his arm bent at an unnatural angle. Without a shred of mercy, Luke tossed him across the room.
THUD—CRASH!
Pierce slammed into the wall so hard that plaster and dust rained down from the impact, leaving a spiderweb of cracks behind. His body crumpled to the floor, wheezing, broken and humiliated.
And then—
RATATATATATATA!!!
Gunfire erupted from outside the room, automatic rifles barking in rapid succession.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Shouts of men followed—grunts, curses, and the bark of orders muffled by chaos. It sounded like a small war was breaking out just beyond the door.
Then after a minute, the door creaked open and Selene stepped in, both guns in hand, her coat streaked with fresh blood. There was no need to guess—she had taken care of Pierce's lackeys one by one.
He really has to thank this bastard…"have to thank you a little," thought Luke, glancing at Pierce with a smirk.
And he really did mean it. When Selene found out someone had planned to kidnap him, she was furious—because who wouldn't be? Even if she and Luke had their share of small arguments lately, that was between them.
Lovers could quarrel, test each other, and even push buttons, but the moment a third party stepped in and tried to harm one of them, everything shifted. That outside threat became the enemy, and suddenly the little cracks between them only made them more united.
That was exactly what had happened here. Selene wasn't angry at Luke anymore. Her anger had turned fully on the idiot who dared to lay a hand on him.
"Thanks, dear. As always, I can count on you," said Luke, flashing Selene a grin .
Selene's sharp eyes shifted to Pierce, who was groaning on the ground with his arm twisted at an unnatural angle. Her voice was cool, edged with that lethal calm only she carried.
"So, is this the guy? The one who tried to kidnap you?" she asked, her guns still loose in her hands but ready to fire at a twitch.
"Yep. He's the one," Luke confirmed casually, like they were talking about some petty thief instead of one of the most powerful men in S.H.I.E.L.D.
Pierce's mind reeled as he watched the exchange. What the hell was happening here? Since when had S.H.I.E.L.D.'s security become this lax?
Why wasn't Fury here, or at the very least, a full tactical team storming the room? None of this lined up. None of this was how things were supposed to go.
Then Fury himself stepped into the room, his one eye sharp, his expression unreadable.
Pierce's blood ran cold. He snapped, panic cracking through his voice as he barked like a cornered dog.
"Fury! What the hell are you standing there for? Capture him!" he shouted, pointing furiously at Luke.
But Fury didn't move.
"No," he said. The single word was calm, steady—cutting sharper than any scream.
Pierce froze, dread flooding him. Why had Luke so easily slipped his binds? Why wasn't Fury surprised in the slightest? Slowly, his mind began to piece it together, sweat beading along his brow. This was no accident. This was a setup.
"Now you are under suspicion," Fury said coldly, stepping forward. His voice carried judgment, heavy and final. "Why did you order the capture of target Luke?"
As he spoke, a blue holographic projection flickered to life above his wrist. The digital order logs, bright and damning, spinning midair. Pierce's own clearance signature burned at the bottom like a scar.
Pierce clenched his jaw, but forced his voice to stay steady. "So what? It's our duty to control dangerous people like him," he said, words bold, almost arrogant. Hydra's shadow had protected him for decades. He still believed it was enough to keep his true face hidden.
Fury narrowed his eye, unimpressed. "Yes… but after digging into this, I found something strange," he said, each word deliberate, heavy with weight. "Too many hidden ops. Too many missions scrubbed from the books. Too many irregularities in the reports. And guess what?" His voice dropped like a hammer. "Every trail leads back to you."
Pierce's face twitched, the mask slipping for a heartbeat, before he forced his composure back into place.
The truth was, once Luke had tipped Fury off, it was like tugging at a single thread and watching an entire sweater unravel. Hidden data buried deep in servers, ghost entries nobody should've been able to plant, mission orders that didn't line up with field reports.
And deeper still—names resurfacing from decades ago. Old files stamped Operation Paperclip, each one branded with Alexander Pierce's fingerprints.
Until now, no one had even thought to look. Because really—who would suspect a member of the World Security Council, a man draped in diplomacy and respect, to be Hydra's man in the shadows?
That was Pierce's greatest shield. His reputation. His untouchable mask.
It was beyond belief, even for Fury. Hydra wasn't gone. It was Hydra… inside S.H.I.E.L.D.
Luke tilted his head slightly, a small smirk tugging at his lips. He didn't even need to say it out loud, but he thought it all the same: As expected of Fury. Give him one clue, and he'll dig out the entire rotten foundation.
This was exactly what he needed.
"And finally, we found all the proof we need—that you are Hydra. That you did many things, and how half of S.H.I.E.L.D is filled with Hydra," said Fury, his voice steady but laced with anger.
This was definitely a big mess. The revelation wasn't small—it was catastrophic. Hydra, the terrorist organization the world thought defeated in World War II, hadn't just survived.
They had infiltrated the highest ranks of global security. They weren't shadows lurking outside the system—they were the system, wearing S.H.I.E.L.D's face while twisting its power for decades.
Luke leaned back casually, watching Pierce's face pale under Fury's accusation. "Mess is an understatement," he muttered, tone mocking. "You people don't just infiltrate—you rot everything from the inside out. That's your real specialty."
Pierce finally dropped the mask of calm. His lips curled, and for the first time his voice carried venom instead of fake authority.
"You think tearing off the mask will change anything? Hydra has grown roots deeper than you can imagine. Cut one head…" His eyes burned with fanatical resolve. "Two more will take its place."
Fury didn't flinch. He stepped closer, eye locked on Pierce. "Yeah. Heard that line before. Didn't work then, and won't work now."
Luke smirked wider "Funny thing about cutting heads," he said. "Some people don't stop at two. Some burn the whole damn thing down."
"Haha, so what? Even if I get found out you can't do anything," Pierce laughed, but it wasn't confidence—it was desperation hidden under arrogance. "I'll be put on trial, and with my influence I will get away within hours."
His eyes narrowed as he stood up straightened his suit, his voice dripping with superiority. "As for the proof, I can say it was all fabricated. Lies. Conspiracy. And the world will believe me over you."
Fury, who heard this, wasn't shocked. He'd seen this dance too many times before. People in power who thought themselves untouchable, always slipping through cracks, twisting laws, and evading their crimes.
And Pierce wasn't wrong—if they dragged him into a courtroom, as the Secretary of the World Council, he could stall, deny, and manipulate his way to freedom. Within days, he'd be walking out smiling, more dangerous than before.
Luke leaned forward, eyes glowing faintly, his presence like a storm pressing against Pierce. His voice cut through the room like a blade.
"That's why there will be no trial," Luke said, calm but chilling. "Instead, there will be a terrorist incident at headquarters. An attack that killed you… and many other S.H.I.E.L.D agents."
Pierce froze. His smugness faltered. "W-what…?"
Luke's smile sharpened. "Of course, all those S.H.I.E.L.D agents just happen to be Hydra. No innocents. No real allies. Only you and your rotting nest."
Fury, arms crossed, stayed silent for a long moment. His single eye stared Pierce down, weighing everything—the risks, the lies, the truth Luke exposed. At last, he gave a slow nod. "It's better this way," he admitted, his voice gravelly.
Better than the whole world knowing S.H.I.E.L.D. was incompetent enough to let Hydra crawl into its heart unnoticed.
They were supposed to protect the world—if word got out that the very organization sworn to safeguard humanity had been infiltrated at its highest level, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s reputation would sink to rock bottom. That was something Fury didn't want, not yet.
So in the end, he agreed to Luke's method. From his point of view, it was far less damaging to let the world believe S.H.I.E.L.D had simply been attacked from the outside, rather than to expose the far more humiliating truth—that their great global security organization had been infiltrated from within by a terrorist group like Hydra.
At least one could recover from an assault; the stain of corruption and incompetence, however, would destroy S.H.I.E.L.D's credibility forever.
"Fury!!!!" shouted Pierce as he looked at the door and ran to escape. Deep down he knew he would die here if he stayed any longer, and the fear in his eyes betrayed the collapse of his calm façade.
Selene didn't give him a chance. She raised her gun without hesitation and fired—a single precise shot straight to his head. With a heavy thud, Pierce fell to the floor.
His lifeless eyes were still wide open, disbelief frozen on his face, as if even in death he could not accept that his end had come so quickly and so unceremoniously.
Fury sighed, exhaling through his nose as he glanced between Pierce's body and Luke. Part of him truly wanted to thank Luke for saving him from Hydra's games, but another part almost wanted to laugh bitterly at Pierce's arrogance.
To provoke a man like Luke was the height of foolishness. And still, gratitude lingered—Luke had not only dealt with the threat but had revealed Hydra's hidden infestation within S.H.I.E.L.D itself.
Now there was a long mission ahead, a mission no one could avoid. S.H.I.E.L.D had to purge Hydra from within its very heart, agent by agent, shadow by shadow, no matter how long it took. The cancer had been exposed, and there could be no mercy.
"Selene, now let's go on a date," said Luke with a casual smile
After witnessing everything firsthand, Fury made a quiet decision—he would never provoke Luke at any cost. Any sane person, after seeing that kind of intellect and merciless resolve, would know better than to test him