HIATUS

A FEW WEEKS LATER:

Inside a S.H.I.E.L.D. jet, SHIELD's Strike team accompanied by Captain Rogers and Natasha Romanoff were listening to a briefing that Agent Rumlow was conducting.

"The target is a mobile satellite launch platform, The Lemurian Star. They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them, 93 minutes ago", Rumlow said as he showed the group their target by using the monitor of the jet.

"Any demands?", Rogers asked.

"A billion and a half"

"Why so steep?"

"Because it SHIELD's"

With an annoyed look on Rogers's face, he replied, "So it's not off-course, it's trespassing".

"I'm sure they have a good reason", Romanoff replied. For the past year, she and Rogers had on occasion done missions together and Romanoff learned how naive the man was. Steve believes that if he demands the best from himself then the world will also return that favor. An idealogy that Romanoff was sure that will hurt him in the long run, no way the world will give you that willingly. The world is far crueler than that, sometimes it ain't fair and Romanoff knows that.

"You know, I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor", Steve said.

"Relax, it's not that complicated", Romanoff replied.

"How many pirates?", Steve asked Rumlow.

"Twenty-five, top merc, led by this guy, George Batroc", Rumloc said as he showed them a photo, "Ex-DGSE, Action Division. He's at the top of the Interpol's Red Notice. Before the French demobilized him, he had thirty-six kill missions. This guy's got a rep for maximum casualties".

"Hostages?"

"Uh... mostly techs. One officer, Jasper Sitwell. They're in the galley"

"What's Sitwell doing on a launch ship? Alright, I'm gonna sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat, you'll kill the engines and wait for instructions. Rumlow, you sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to the life-pods, and get them out.", Steve then looks at the entire Strike team, "Let's move".

"STRIKE, you heard the cap. Gear up!", Rumlow ordered his team.

The team readied themselves and eventually, they arrived near their location and the pilot said, "Coming up by the drop zone, Cap".

Steve then proceeded the open the jet and dive out of it.

"Was he wearing a parachute?", A Strike agent asked Rumlow. He wasn't sure if he was seeing it right, no way a man would be stupid enough to jump out of a plane without a parachute, right?

Rumlow just smiled and said, "No. No, he wasn't".

LATER THE NEXT DAY:

An angry Steve walks into Fury's office in the Triskelion.

"You just can't stop yourself from lying, can you?", Steve said as he approaches Fury.

Immediately Fury knew what Steve was angry about. While they were on the way to the Triskelion, Romanoff had already told him what happened during the rescue mission. During the mission in the Lemurian Star, Captain Rogers found out that she had another priority besides saving hostages. Something she didn't share with the group.

"I didn't lie. Agent Romanoff had a different mission than yours".

The two of them argued about trust among members of the agency. Steve wanted to know everything happening during a mission while Fury wanted to compartmentalize information when necessary. This made Steve annoyed about keeping secrets. So as a sign of good faith, Fury showed him the latest technology that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been working on. He took Steve to the bottom floor of the building and showed him the latest Helicarrier that S.H.I.E.L.D. was developing. The latest method to defend mankind from threats inside the world and threats coming outside of it as well.

MEANWHILE IN THE LIGHTHOUSE:

Right now Ethan was calling Romanoff and Erik. He wanted to make sure that nothing goes wrong with the plan. Hydra's defeat was coming and he didn't want any mistakes to happen.

"Does Fury have the USB now?", Ethan asked.

"Of course, it was a simple job. You don't need to check up on me. I'm no rookie", Romanoff stated.

Before Romanoff went to the Lemurian Star, Fury gave her a USB to get all the information that the launched satellite had in its system. But Romanoff promptly gave it to Ethan to install something first. Ethan ordered Howard to place an AI on the drive. The AI would work on voice recognition, which means when Fury tries to open it, it will automatically seal off all files. But when Captain America inevitably gets his hands on the drive it will automatically open for him. It will also be untraceable to S.H.I.E.L.D. With this method, Ethan wanted to give Steve the time he needs to investigate without having to worry about S.H.I.E.L.D. tracking him down.

The USB also contained a virus that would kill Zola once Steve inserted the drive into his computer system.

"Erik, how long till you get Peggy Carter?", Ethan asked.

"I'm near Margaret's location now. I can deliver her to you within a few minutes", Erik responded.

To make sure of S.H.I.E.L.D. existence after the battle, Peggy Carter needs to help rebuild it anew. Only she can persuade Steve not to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. That's why Ethan is willing to give Peggy enough life force to restore her youth back. With Peggy and the information Ethan will give them, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be salvaged and hopefully still be helpful in the future.

"All right then", Ethan said as he ended the call.

LATER THAT SAME DAY:

ALEXANDER PIERCE'S OFFICE:

Fury went to Alexander Pierce to ask a favor. The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to delay Project Insight. Something Pierce agreed but did not want in particular. Not when Hydra was so close to achieving their goal.

Pierce walks towards his computer, sat down and said, "Secure Office". His office began to dim a bit due to the security protocol he just initiated.

"Contact, John Garrett", Pierce said to his computer. He waited for a while until John eventually showed himself.

"Hey, there boss. I didn't think we had a scheduled briefing today", Garrett said with a smile on his face.

"How is the Centipede program?" Pierce asked. The centipede program was Hydra's attempt to make supersoldiers of their own and John Garrett was the person-in-charge of the said operation.

"Doing good in some areas. At least now the people that are part of the program won't explode at random but we still need more time to make sure that the serum doesn't kill the host in the long run. But all in all, I think they're good to go"

"I see", Pierce said as he began tapping his desk. It was moments like this that he wishes that he still has the winter soldier in his beck and call, but there was no point in thinking about that now. The centipede soldiers would have to do.

"You got something in your mind boss?"

"I need you sent out some centipede soldiers to kill someone. Can they do that?"

With a smile on his face, Garrett replied, "Of course they can. I wouldn't be wasting time and resources on them if they can't. Who is the target anyway?".

"The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nicholas Joseph Fury"