"Three…"
"Two…"
Rumlow and the strike team raised their rifles in unison, aiming at the armed men inside the galley. Through thermal imaging, every hostile position was clearly marked.
"One."
Gunfire erupted.
Bullets tore through the windows with ruthless precision. The mercenaries inside had no time to react before they were cut down.
Boom!
The galley doors exploded inward. Rumlow and his second-in-command breached first. He fired as he advanced—one shot, one kill.
Within seconds, every mercenary in the room was dead.
The man who had been about to execute a hostage lay crumpled at Sitwell's feet.
Sitwell adjusted his glasses, expression blank.
"I told you. S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't negotiate with terrorists. You just wouldn't listen."
---
Bridge
Batroc's subordinate frantically worked the radio.
No response.
"Batroc—we've lost contact with everyone."
Batroc's jaw tightened.
Something was wrong.
Suddenly—
A spinning shield burst through the bridge window.
Glass shattered. The shield struck the reporting subordinate square in the chest and embedded halfway into the wall.
Steve vaulted through the broken window.
Batroc was already sprinting for the exit.
Steve yanked his shield free and gave chase.
---
Rumlow was escorting the freed hostages toward extraction, clearing remaining resistance along the way.
"Captain, hostages secured. Moving to evac point."
Steve pursued Batroc onto the open deck.
Natasha should have been meeting him.
She wasn't there.
"Captain," Rumlow's voice crackled, "hostiles still active. Not all accounted for."
Steve tried Natasha.
No response.
He turned toward her last known position—
—and Batroc exploded from around a corner.
A powerful kick slammed into Steve's shield and drove him backward to the deck.
Batroc pressed the attack, fast and relentless.
Steve recovered instantly. Shield up. Counterstrike.
The fight intensified.
Batroc's technique was sharp, his strikes aggressive—but his stamina began to falter.
Steve noticed.
Every fight eventually became a contest of endurance and will.
Both were his strengths.
He slipped inside Batroc's guard, hooked an arm around his neck, and drove his knee into the mercenary's chest.
Batroc staggered back, coughing violently.
"Super soldier. Captain America," Batroc sneered. "Without that shield, you're nothing."
Steve studied him.
Then calmly slung the shield onto his back.
"I can do this all day."
Batroc lunged.
Steve swept his leg, smashing into Batroc's shin. Pain buckled the mercenary's stance.
Steve sprang upward, twisting midair—
His heel crashed into Batroc's skull.
Batroc collapsed.
Unconscious.
Steve grabbed him and tossed him aside—
The body crashed through a nearby door.
Behind it—
Natasha.
She was at a console, copying files.
Steve stepped inside.
"Well," Natasha said casually, not looking up, "next time you throw someone through a door, maybe give me a heads-up."
"What are you doing?"
"Backing up files. Good habit. Prevents data loss."
Steve glanced at the screen.
Classified S.H.I.E.L.D. intelligence.
All of it.
This "satellite platform" had been gathering global surveillance data.
Natasha removed the flash drive.
Files copied.
The system was already being wiped by a virus.
"You're extracting S.H.I.E.L.D. intel."
"Yes."
"Our mission was to rescue hostages."
"That was your mission. Not mine."
Steve grabbed her arm.
"You compromised the operation."
At that moment—
Batroc groaned.
He was awake.
He tossed a grenade and fled.
Steve pulled Natasha down and covered them both with his shield.
The explosion ripped through the room.
When the smoke cleared, both were bruised but alive.
Natasha coughed, face streaked with soot.
"Okay. Fine. You made your point."
Gunfire echoed outside.
Rumlow burst in moments later.
"You two good?"
"Fine. Batroc?"
"Neutralized. Hostages at extraction. Waiting for pickup."
Steve exhaled and slumped against the wall, letting the shield fall beside him.
---
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters
Nick Fury sat behind his desk.
Steve stormed in and dropped into the chair opposite him.
"Karl was right about you. You're a black-hearted bastard. Even your missions are lies."
Fury remained calm.
"I didn't lie. You and Natasha had different assignments."
"You sent one team into the field with incomplete information. That's reckless."
Steve's voice was steady—but furious.
"When a team operates together, they need full transparency. That's how you plan properly. That's how you prevent complications."
The grenade.
The diversion.
The risk to the hostages.
All unnecessary.
Fury folded his hands.
"And yet the mission succeeded."
Steve leaned forward.
"That doesn't make it right."
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