"My God…"
Skye looked at the chaos around her—screams, gunfire, and panicked civilians running in all directions. Her heart pounded in disbelief.
They weren't trying to capture her.
They were trying to kill her.
Run!
She lunged forward, snatching up her laptop—
BANG!
A single bullet ripped through the device, shattering the screen into a mess of sparks and metal. The force of the impact sent it flying from her hands, crashing onto the pavement in pieces.
"No, no…"
Skye barely had time to feel devastated before another round of gunfire forced her to drop to the ground, scrambling for cover behind a parked car.
There's no way out!
She was up against elite agents—trained killers who wouldn't stop until she was dead.
"Please, please, Zero! Give me something!" she whispered, gripping her phone.
But nothing came.
No messages.
Worse, she saw the previous messages being erased one by one.
Zero had abandoned her.
BANG BANG BANG!
Bullets tore through the car's windows, sending shattered glass raining down on her. The civilians around her screamed in terror, scrambling from their vehicles to escape the chaos.
Then—
A metallic clang.
A car door flew through the air, landing between the agents and the civilians. A moment later, a towering figure in a plain white t-shirt rushed forward, gripping the detached door like a shield.
"MOVE! GET OUT OF HERE!" he shouted.
The frightened civilians—including Skye—took their chance and ran.
The agents hesitated for a moment before raising their weapons again, shooting directly into the fleeing crowd.
"You maniacs!"
Steve Rogers launched himself forward, using the car door to deflect the bullets before smashing it into the nearest agent, sending him flying several meters back. Without missing a beat, he twisted around, dodging a strike, and countered with a crushing punch.
One hit. That's all it took.
These highly trained agents, armed to the teeth, were as helpless as children against Captain America.
By the time Steve had taken down the majority of them—
"POLICE! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"
Sirens blared as officers swarmed the area, guns raised.
"We're S.H.I.E.L.D. agents!" One of the remaining agents flashed his badge. "We're apprehending a fugitive!"
The officers hesitated. S.H.I.E.L.D. had jurisdiction over law enforcement.
Steve paused—
And then, without a word, knocked the last two agents unconscious.
The officers stared at him in shock.
"Put your hands behind your head and get on the ground! Now!"
Steve complied without resistance.
As the officers cuffed him and pushed him into the back of a police car, a voice echoed in his mind.
(Don't worry. I'll handle the rest.)
Saiki Kusuo.
Meanwhile, in the surrounding area, bystanders cautiously emerged from hiding.
"That guy… kinda looked like the guy from the World War II Memorial…"
"Captain America? No way. He's been dead for seventy years."
"But did you see him? He ripped a car door off and took down an entire squad of armed men barehanded!"
"Then why did the police arrest him?"
"…Something's not right."
And in the age of the internet, nothing stays quiet.
The gunfight hit social media in minutes.
And people were talking.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters – Director Fury's Office
A storm was brewing.
"WHOSE MEN WERE THOSE!?"
Nick Fury's voice boomed through the room, his anger palpable as he glared at his top agents.
"They fired on civilians in broad daylight! Are we the goddamn Mafia now!? Or terrorists!? Do you want the World Security Council breathing down my neck TWICE in one day!?"
"Sir!" Maria Hill stepped forward, arms clasped behind her back. "I believe the agents were compromised."
"Evidence?"
"Yes, sir. None of them remember the mission. They only recall receiving the order to pursue the target." She handed over the preliminary reports. "We suspect this may be an advanced form of mental manipulation—a method we haven't encountered before."
Fury's one eye darkened. "So, your entire investigation is based on a hunch?"
Hill remained silent.
"Call Natasha."
A moment later, Natasha Romanoff entered, cool and composed, inserting a USB drive into Fury's computer.
"I ran my own investigation." Natasha brought up the files. "Two major crimes recently occurred in New York. Both were linked to individuals inside S.H.I.E.L.D. Elite agents, highly trained, long-standing operatives. They knew how to evade detection because they knew our systems inside and out."
Silence.
Hill's expression remained neutral, but a flicker of unease crossed her face.
Fury closed the file, his face unreadable. "Personnel loyalty review is YOUR responsibility, Agent Hill."
A pause.
"The agents from today's mission were from your department."
Hill stiffened.
Before anyone could react—
"You're suspended."
Gasps rippled through the room.
Fury continued coldly.
"Effective immediately, your clearance is revoked. Your own loyalty is now under review. Until the investigation is complete, you will be held in containment."
A heavy silence settled over the room.
Hill hesitated, then—without protest—removed her badge and placed it on Fury's desk.
None of the other senior agents spoke.
They were too busy processing the fact that—
There was a mole.
Inside S.H.I.E.L.D.
And it wasn't just one person.
It was several.
A hidden network.
One that had infiltrated their ranks for years.