𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 | 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬

We All Change in the End

"𝙃𝙚'𝙙 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝙪𝙣𝙛𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙪𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙪𝙨."

"𝙒𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩."

————-　★　————-

Chloe peered out the jet's window for the fifth time and only then did she realize that there was no point. They were flying over a grim ocean night for this mission. She could overhear Rumlow debriefing the rest of the team, leaving her to basically space out. She noticed it was happening more and more on her missions.

"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..."

Steve was listening attentively to the debriefing like he usually did. This time, however, he kept glancing in Chloe's direction. He wasn't sure but to him it seemed like she was spacing out a lot more. He wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing since her eyes weren't doing the blue glow they usually did when she planned on contacting the Hive Mind. If her eyes didn't glow, he didn't know if she was lost in one of those contact attempts or if she was just thinking about things. If it was the latter, he had no idea how to approach it.

"Were there any demands?" Natasha's question pulled Steve's attention back on the debriefing.

"A billion and a half," Rumlow said.

"Why so steep?" asked Steve.

"Because it's SHIELD's."

Steve's face fell flat. "So it's not off-course, it's trespassing."

Natasha could do without his new streaks of accusations, at least right now when time was of the essence. "I'm sure they have a good reason."

"You know, I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor," Steve said sourly. He noticed it was a common pattern working for Nick Fury. He wondered if Seren ever realized that...or if she was ever on one of those missions. Seren was one of SHIELD'S prized — if not the most prized — agent, so Fury usually would send her on the most high-class missions.

"Relax, it's not that complicated," Natasha told him with a simple wave of her hand.

"We're in, we're out," Chloe finally turned their way and joined them, smiling like nothing happened. "How many pirates?" she asked from Rumlow.

"Twenty-five, top mercs, led by this guy. Georges Batroc," Rumlow showed the trio a picture of the man on the screens in front of them. "Ex-DGSE, Action Division. He's at the top of 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?" That's where Steve's mind always went to first. What poor innocent souls had crossed paths with guys like those? He also noted that civilians weren't usually SHIELD's priorities...at least not on his missions, anyways.

"Uh...mostly techs. One officer, Jasper Sitwell." Rumlow switched pictures on the tablet to show Sitwell's. "They're in the galley."

"What's Sitwell doing on a launch ship?" Steve asked but knew he wasn't getting an answer from anyone. He hardly ever did. "Alright, I'm gonna sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat, you'll kill the engines and wait for instructions. Chloe, you and Rumlow, sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to the life-pods, get 'em out. Let's move."