The announcement about Fury's attack shook SHIELD to its core.
For a moment, the massive Triskelion went completely silent.
Agents looked at each other, eyes narrowed with suspicion.
No one dared to act rashly — any sudden move could be misunderstood and result in being gunned down.
Even many of the hidden Hydra operatives stayed still. After all, not all of them knew who the other Hydra members were.
In the original timeline, during the time-travel mission in Avengers: Endgame, Steve Rogers pretended to be Hydra to secure the Tesseract from Rumlow's STRIKE team.
All Steve had done was lean close and say:
"Hail Hydra."
Rumlow had immediately handed him the Tesseract without question.
It might have seemed laughable — but it worked because Hydra's secrecy ran so deep.
Anyone who could know that slogan and dare say it aloud had to be one of them.
Suddenly, a coarse male voice interrupted the broadcast.
Hydra's tech team had hacked the feed.
"Don't believe him!" the voice barked.
"Fury is Hydra! He tried to stop the launch of the Helicarrier because he's afraid SHIELD will find Hydra and destroy them!"
"Captain America has been bribed by Fury! Don't trust him!"
This threw SHIELD's ranks into even greater confusion.
No one knew who to believe.
Helicarrier Control Room
Suddenly, one man drew his pistol, pointed it at a console technician.
"Enter the override code. Accelerate launch."
The technician's hands froze.
"The carriers still have nineteen system checks to complete — we can't launch yet."
"Cancel the checks. Launch now."
"I… I can't."
The barrel pressed against his forehead.
"What did you say?"
"Because… I'm not Hydra!"
Bang!
The shot blew through his skull.
Before the killer could touch the controls, a chair smashed into his back.
Caught off guard, he went down — and an agent nearby rammed a pencil into his ear, killing him instantly.
But those two agents, by killing Hydra on the spot, had exposed themselves as loyalists.
Immediately, Hydra operatives turned their guns on them.
And those who attacked them marked themselves as Hydra targets for other loyal agents.
For a few seconds, the control room descended into madness.
Similar scenes played out across SHIELD.
The entire building erupted into chaos.
Hydra had stashed weapons everywhere — whether by accident or design — and the opening volleys killed dozens of SHIELD agents in the crossfire.
But SHIELD wasn't made of amateurs.
After a few moments of panic, the chaos stabilized into pitched firefights.
Someone shouted,
"Captain America cannot be bribed! I believe him! Anyone who trusts him, form up on me!"
"Me too!"
"Count me in!"
Hydra had made a fatal mistake by accusing Captain America of being bribed.
Had they claimed he was deceived by Fury, it might have worked better.
But bribed?
Hydra's worldview assumed everyone had a price — and they underestimated the symbol Steve Rogers had become.
Steve wasn't just a soldier — he was a living embodiment of justice.
Hydra had spent too long in the shadows to understand that kind of power.
The sight of loyalists rallying together pushed Hydra to make this move.
Hydra agents began shouting "Hail Hydra!" to identify each other and regroup.
And just as Lock had predicted, the factions openly revealed themselves.
But the effect wasn't perfect.
Some SHIELD agents — who had secretly been Hydra — shouted the words and ran to join their side.
Then, while no one was looking, some of the supposed loyalists turned on Hydra with gunfire — purging the group before they could fight back.
Hydra quickly adapted, dropping the open slogans and blending in again, striking from behind.
Gunfire broke out across every floor.
Outside, Fury listened to the reports coming in, saw enough through surveillance to know the moment had come.
"According to the plan!" he ordered over comms.
Captain America and Black Widow formed up and charged toward Helicarrier A.
Fury and Maria Hill led their team toward Helicarrier B.
Sam Wilson (Falcon) and Kate moved toward Helicarrier C.
Hydra, seeing Fury alive and leading the assault, could no longer remain hidden.
They poured out in force to intercept.
Fury and Hill were not superhumans — but they were elite agents hardened by years of combat.
And now they carried divine-enhanced equipment.
Ordinary bullets struck their bodies only to flare and fizzle against shields of golden light — far superior to standard body armor.
Fury carried a sleek Asgardian-forged weapon that looked like a firearm but fired crackling golden blasts.
Every shot blasted straight through cover, sending armored vehicles tumbling like toys.
Bunkers and barricades were useless against such weapons.
Fury and Hill carved a path forward, mowing down Hydra agents.
SHIELD loyalists, inspired by their momentum, joined their advance.
Hill shouted back,
"Watch each other's backs! If anyone aims at a teammate, kill them immediately, no hesitation!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Hill's authority, second only to Fury, left no room for disobedience.
This order quickly rooted out remaining Hydra infiltrators — any traitor who made a move was executed on the spot.
Steve and Natasha had a similar situation.
Steve's presence inspired more loyalists to rally to them.
Natasha didn't give any commands like Hill did — she didn't need to.
Her enhanced senses allowed her to feel every movement behind her.
Anyone who so much as twitched a gun in the wrong direction found themselves dropped before they could pull the trigger.
After several such executions, no one dared try a sneak attack.
Either the remaining Hydra agents had been killed, or they no longer dared to expose themselves.
Steve and Natasha ignored the stragglers, pushing straight toward Helicarrier A.
Sam and Kate had it even easier.
Sam was a stranger to most of the agents, so no one tried to follow him or pretend to be on his side.
And even if they had tried, they couldn't have kept up.
Sam soared through the air, striking down any Hydra agent who dared aim up at him.
On the ground, Kate covered his blind spots — ordinary but deadly precise thanks to her divine-enhanced sidearm.
With Sam's aerial support, their advance was the fastest of all.
Then came the sound of scattered gunfire from inside the Helicarriers.
And then — all three massive engines roared to life almost simultaneously.
The deafening noise drowned out the sound of the lake as water rushed away from the platforms.
Enormous turbines spun up, gusts of wind howling in every direction.
Transport trucks were blown away like toys.
Some engineers, still working on the hull, were sucked into the turbines — torn apart and scattered across the hangar.
Seeing this, Steve, Natasha, Fury, Hill, Sam, and Kate broke formation and sprinted.
They had only seconds before liftoff.
Fortunately, the Helicarriers were still slow, still submerged.
The six of them managed to board just before takeoff.
---
A/N: Advanced Chapters Have Been Uploaded On My Patreon
Support: patreon.com/Narrator_San