Chapter Eighty-Nine: We Have All Been Waiting for You

A prisoner cell deep in the vessel. Barton, battered and bloodied, slammed the iron bars hard with anger in his face and shouted at Rogers.

He looked every inch the unbending hero.

The script had changed a little, but Barton, who was never much of an actor, had turned in a surprisingly convincing performance after Hill’s training. An honest man telling a lie now and then carried a certain weight.

“Enough of this, Barton. What did S.H.I.E.L.D. promise you? Think of your children, your family. If you refuse to join us, Hydra has plenty of ways to make sure they do not survive.”

Rogers still sounded him out.

“As for me, I respect you. If Hill of S.H.I.E.L.D. truly trusts you that much, then you should not be in a place like this.”

With arms spread wide, shield in one hand, Rogers turned in place once. In that instant, he had already identified the surveillance devices on the walls, the positions of the so-called real Hydra operatives behind him, and the precise angle at which he could throw the shield to strike multiple targets in the shortest time.

Then he gave Barton a reassuring look.

“Joining Hydra is an honor. Right now this entire mothership belongs to us, including Hill. Barton, I do not think you are so blind that you cannot see the situation. Whatever S.H.I.E.L.D. can give you, Hydra can give you too. What that director cannot offer, we can. Think it over, Barton...”

Rogers kept talking to buy time, searching for the best angle.

Barton and the handful of Hydra men who had come in with Rogers all wore awkward expressions, silently watching his performance.

“I’ll give you a few more seconds. Make your own decision.”

As he spoke, Rogers raised the shield. He had found the angle.

“Five, four...”

Without hesitation, Rogers hurled the shield toward the wall at the front-left side of the cell. After striking the side wall, it rebounded to the opposite wall, changed direction, smashed into the helmet of a Hydra agent behind him, then ricocheted again and flew back along its original path from another angle.

In the cramped room where Barton was held, the shield kept bouncing and slamming into the walls, smashing the surveillance equipment and, in a thoroughly unscientific fashion, knocking down several Hydra operatives behind Rogers.

“One!”

He caught the shield with a backhanded motion only after uttering the final number.

He found a smart terminal among the Hydra men sprawled on the floor, opened the cell, and picked up a gun to hand to Barton.

“How do you feel now?”

“Pretty good, I guess...”

Barton shrugged and took the gun from Rogers.

If they were outside in open terrain, with his bow in hand, he might have been able to give Rogers’ shield a real run for its money, but in a cramped room, his bow was far less useful.

And besides, his mission now was to follow Rogers.

That had been the plan from the beginning.

The two moved out together and soon ran into Matt and the others in the passageway.

The Defenders continued pressing outward, and the Hydra agents swarming around them seemed utterly helpless. With Luke Cage serving as a shield against the bullets, Matt and the others disposed of the阻碍 with ease.

But their advance was blocked at a certain corner.

A figure stood before them.

Zar Zala. Or rather, Zar Zala shepherded by Natasha.

Rogers, leading the charge, did what he always did when in doubt: he threw his shield.

The scene he had expected, the shield striking the wall and rebounding, never came.

Holding the throwing pose, Rogers froze when the imagined result failed to appear.

“Natasha?”

Barton called out instinctively.

“Oh, our little elven prince. Why are you not using your bow anymore? And you too, Mr. Shield.”

Holding Rogers’ thrown shield in one hand, Zar Zala walked up to the group.

Barton immediately stepped forward and placed himself in front of Rogers.

“Captain, be careful. That is not Natasha. She has long since ceased to be the Natasha we knew. Everyone on this mothership has been controlled by her. Director Hill is missing, and I think...”

“I can tell.”

The honest Barton was acting again, deceiving them once more. His performance was excellent, and it served as a declaration of loyalty as well.

But with no shield in hand, Rogers raised his arm and felt oddly off balance. Unexpectedly, Jessica handed him a riot shield.

“Make do with this, Captain.”

“Uh...”

Rogers looked at the square riot shield and found the grip wrong, the feel all wrong, the whole thing increasingly awkward.

But in the instant he turned his head, Zar Zala threw the shield in her hand at him, and at the same time she charged after it, fist cocked, driving straight at Rogers.

The captain reacted quickly, hurling the riot shield at Zar Zala, then catching the shield that had been thrown back at him before raising it in front of himself.

“Clang...”

The shield meant to absorb impact rang out with a deafening crash. In the narrow corridor the sound rebounded endlessly, roaring and shaking everyone’s ears. Matt, with his heightened senses, collapsed to his knees at once. Hearing was everything to him, and the thunderous collision made him spit out a mouthful of blood.

The others were thrown into disarray.

The Defenders had lost one member in an instant.

Rogers knew the shield in his hands could absorb force at critical moments, but it could not stop sound from spreading.

“Captain, we are not supposed to tangle with her here!”

Barton fired repeatedly at Zar Zala as she withdrew again, the bullets tracing useless lines through the air, while he urged Rogers on.

“Jessica, take Matt and Danny and go first. I’ll catch up.”

After saying that, Rogers spun his shield and charged straight at Zar Zala, trying to create an opening for Matt and the others to retreat.

“Captain, do not stop! We are leaving together!”

Luke Cage, faithfully fulfilling his role as a human shield, shouted from the side.

With Matt unconscious, the team’s brain was out. Rogers was now volunteering to cover the rear. Barton looked like an honest man too. As for Jessica and Colleen, they still had to look after Danny.

The captain with a shield could go toe-to-toe with anyone and hold the enemy in place. That was no problem. But could they all get out intact?

Luke Cage was deeply worried.

He had always felt that rushing out like this was going to cause trouble, but he could not tell where the trouble lay.

Most importantly, the mothership’s passages twisted everywhere, and all the way in they had relied on Matt’s guidance. He had not memorized the route.

That was the biggest reason.

Otherwise, he would have been carrying the others out on his back already.

After some time, Rogers was once again knocked flying backward by a punch from Zar Zala. When he looked up, he saw the Defenders and Barton still standing where they were, waiting for him.

“Why are you still here?”

Rogers was astonished.

“We were all waiting for you, Captain...”