Rumlow signaled for ceasefire.
All eyes turned toward the smoke-filled clearing.
As the dust settled, a blue energy barrier shimmered into view.
Tony stood in front of Steve and Natasha, one arm raised. A square, three-meter-wide energy shield glowed in front of him, every bullet flattened harmlessly against it. The barrier remained intact.
"Well, Cap?" Tony glanced back with a grin. "Got the inspiration from you."
It was his newest defensive system—capable of blocking most ballistic and explosive attacks. The stronger the impact, the greater the energy consumption.
Behind them, a red cloak wrapped around Karl. When the gunfire stopped, the cloak unfurled slowly. He was completely unharmed.
"My turn."
Karl raised his hand.
The storm above intensified instantly—lightning coiling and gathering.
He lowered his fingers.
Thunder crashed down.
Blinding bolts struck the three Quinjets simultaneously. They didn't even have time to maneuver before being torn apart midair, erupting into massive fireballs.
Lightning rained across a hundred-meter radius, turning the battlefield into a crackling sea of electricity. Tactical agents were struck one after another—body armor and weapons melting in an instant. Their bodies disintegrated the moment the lightning touched them.
The storm came as swiftly as it had formed.
When it faded, the air reeked of ozone.
Only scorched earth, blackened ash, and wreckage remained.
Tony whistled softly. "Remind me not to stand on your bad side. That was… intense."
Karl's expression remained calm. "Time to settle accounts. Alexander Pierce—the head of HYDRA inside S.H.I.E.L.D. We should pay him a visit."
"Pierce?" Steve and Natasha both froze. "He's HYDRA's leader?"
It was almost impossible to believe. One of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s highest-ranking officials… was HYDRA's true commander.
---
That night, in Pierce's villa.
A long-haired man sat silently in the kitchen's corner, partially concealed in shadow.
Pierce sat across from him.
"I'll keep this brief. Project Insight has been accelerated. We're short on time. Two targets—priority level one. They cost us Zola. I want them dead within twenty-four hours."
He slid a phone across the table.
"Their files are inside. One of them is extremely dangerous—powerful. I need a clean kill. Use anything within your authorization. Including high-yield explosives."
The long-haired man remained silent.
On the phone screen were two photographs.
Steve Rogers.
Karl.
---
Back in Washington, D.C., Karl had initially suggested storming S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and leveling the building outright.
Steve and Natasha stopped him.
"There are still classified archives inside," Natasha argued. "Not everything deserves to burn."
Karl looked visibly irritated.
"Fine. But the building still goes down. I need that."
Neither Steve nor Natasha understood his fixation on blowing up headquarters.
They didn't object to destroying it—most personnel inside were HYDRA. Steve's morality didn't extend to terrorists. And Natasha, a former spy, had long accepted the weight of necessary casualties.
---
Now the four of them sat in a warm, modest living room.
Across from them, a Black man stared at the group with resigned disbelief.
"So… you only thought of me because you ran out of options?"
Sam Wilson.
The man Steve used to jog with.
Karl and Tony were casually eating apples from Sam's kitchen like they owned the place.
"Sorry to drop in," Steve said sincerely. "But everyone in D.C. who knows us is trying to kill us."
"Yeah," Sam muttered, tossing a tablet onto the table. "You guys really know how to stir up trouble."
On the screen were two wanted notices.
Steve Rogers.
Karl Norman.
Karl leaned in—then blinked.
"Why am I on this?"
Sam shrugged. "Charges say you assassinated senior S.H.I.E.L.D. officials. It's public now."
Karl bit viciously into his apple.
"HYDRA… I swear I'm blowing every last one of you sky-high."
---
Meanwhile, in New York—
Skye had already seen the wanted notice.
She printed Karl's poster and pinned it prominently on the office photo wall.
"Not bad," she said, adjusting it slightly. "What do you think, Moogle?"
"Kupo~ kupo~"
The creature on her back chirped indifferently.
Skye snapped a picture and sent it to Karl.
Karl's communicator buzzed mid-bite.
He opened it.
His own wanted poster.
Captioned:
"Congratulations to the DevilMayCry Agency's boss for unlocking the Premium Fugitive Package~"
Karl sent back an eye-roll emoji.
---
"I thought joining S.H.I.E.L.D. meant leaving my past behind," Natasha said quietly. "Turns out I was working for HYDRA."
She had been raised in the Red Room. Espionage was her entire life. S.H.I.E.L.D. had seemed like redemption.
Steve shook his head gently. "Look at it this way. At least now we know who the enemy is."
He had never allowed despair to define him—not in World War II, not now. Hope was fuel. Without it, defeat came quickly.
Sam walked out from the kitchen.
"I made breakfast," he said. "You guys eating, or what?"
He looked mainly at Steve and Karl.
Tony and Natasha were normal humans.
The other two definitely weren't.
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