A Soldier's Journey

Part 21: A Change of Plans

3rd Person POV:

The room stays silent until Tony finally speaks. "What do you think about this Cap? Fury sending her out all on her own?" Tony asks. "Tony." Nat warns, shaking her head. Tony quiets down.

Back with Lauren her heart beats fast and her hands shake as the fear continues to build up inside her. She gets to the city and drives through the street. "All right Fury. Any specials areas with good camera views?" She asks. "Go to the mall. It has the most security cameras around." He directs. She turns the corner and drives to the mall. Getting out of the car, she can't help but look around cautiously. Long habits die hard. She walks into the mall, her breathing only quickens as she notices a few eyes on her.

Steve's heart clenches as he watches his fiancé walking throughout the mall cautiously, noting her darting eyes behind the sunglasses.

Lauren continues throughout the mall, listening to every conversation and every foot hit the floor. She walks into a random store and starts pretending to glance through the clothes when in reality she's glancing around watching any movement. "Hart, you got some people moving in the store, separating into three groups and blocking the exits." Fury says through the comms. Lauren inhales sharply as she silently prepares herself. She hears someone approach her from behind, she continues listening for any fast movement. She walks away from the person, trying to get any action started. She hears a fast movement and flips around, raising her arms just in time to block someone from planting a syringe into her neck. She throws away the mans hands, sweeping her legs under his feet and making him fall. The people in the store start screaming and running as they panic, causing her to lose focus and attention. An arm wraps around her neck tightly. Her eyes turn bright red and she begins using her powers.

The whole team watches in anticipation as they watch Lauren fight a dozen agents. They all tense as one wraps it's arms around her neck. Her eyes glow blood red, putting a smile of Clint's face. "Oh they're screwed now." He mumbles. She barely touches the man's arm, setting him on fire immediately. As he stumbles around screaming and trying to put out the fire. Lauren catches her breath and begins fighting more of the agents again. Her eyes now turn white as she sends icicles barreling towards the agent's chests. Impaling them.

Once all of the agents around Lauren are dead, she takes off at a sprint towards the exit, letting the adrenaline carry her power. She makes it outside the store only to see dozens of Hydra agents with their guns pointed at her. She slightly smiles and lifts the barrels of their guns with her telekinesis, turning them towards each other and killing everyone of the agents. She continues running through the mall, which is now evacuated except for her and the agents. She feels the familiar zap of the electric rod send a agonizing wave of electricity through her body. She lets out a scream in pain and falls to the ground.

Steve watches as the agents surround her. One catches her off guard and zaps her with the rod, making Lauren fall to the floor and scream in pain. Steve's jaw clenches as he watches the agent kick her in the stomach as she lays on the ground. Her eyes glow red again and she glances at the agent, making him set on fire. Steve's brows raise as he watches her fight. He's never really seen the extent of her powers and he sure as hell didn't know that she can set someone on fire just by looking at them once she's angry enough. One of the agents behind her throws a grenade towards her. She sees the grenade next to her foot and lifts it with her telekinesis, only throwing it a few feet, making her fly back into the wall. Several of the team turn away as they watch the agents slowly start to win the battle. They hear Lauren's pain filled grunts and screams as the Hydra agents take over the battle.

As she lays on the ground, the agents continue to advance towards her. They finally piss her off enough that she brings her hands forward, using her air power and throwing every one of the agents against the wall. She gets up and moves as fast as she can towards the exit, which isn't very fast due to her sore and tired body. She feels a pinch in her leg and looks down to see a large syringe made it's way into her thigh. She pulls it out and throws it to the side. She gets a few more feet before tumbling down onto her hands and knees. She breaths heavily, right before falling to the ground unconscious, ending the fight.