Marvel: Terror Stream

Maria Hill drove her sleek black sedan down the highway, pushing the engine to its absolute limit as the sun began to dip low on the horizon, casting long, orange shadows across the road.

Despite the chaos of the afternoon, Hill’s face remained completely stoic. It was the same expressionless mask she always wore, even though her boss and mentor had just narrowly survived a brutal, highly coordinated daytime assassination attempt.

Nick Fury was alive, but it had been entirely too close for comfort.

General Ross’s undercover reinforcement force had done their job exceptionally well, holding the line and completely stalling the fake SWAT team.

The gunfight had been a complete stalemate until he showed up.

A ghost story. A myth with a metal arm.

The Winter Soldier.

He had effortlessly slaughtered 13 out of 24 of Ross’s highly trained men in less than 2 minutes.

If Spider-Woman hadn’t swung into the fray exactly when she did, Nick Fury and the rest of the reinforcement team would be bodies in a morgue right now.

Now Hill was operating under deep shadow conditions. All official communications were severed. Her S.H.I.E.L.D.-issued communicator had been tossed into a dumpster.

The only device still active was her secondary communicator - the one she used for "unofficial" work. Fury had sent her a coded set of coordinates to a safehouse. She was headed there now.

As she navigated a circular turn, her secondary phone buzzed.

Hill glanced at the dashboard. The caller ID made her eyes narrow slightly. She swiped to answer.

"Veritas."

"Maria," the voice on the other side replied, though there was a layer of sorrow in his tone. "I heard what happened today. You must be feeling so incredibly alone right now. Are you okay?"

He was talking as if Fury were already dead. Hill felt a flicker of irritation. She was really starting to hate this Jester.

"What do you want, Veritas?" she asked, completely ignoring his display of sympathy.

"I just want to be the shoulder you can lean on, Maria..." he murmured.

Before she could even formulate a dry retort, a warm, gloved hand gently cupped her left cheek.

Hill’s eyes widened slightly as she slammed on the brakes just a fraction, her pupils contracting as she glanced to her right.

Veritas was sitting relaxed in the passenger seat beside her, having materialized out of thin air while the car was moving at eighty miles per hour.

With a firm hand, he pulled her head toward his shoulder, forcing her to lean against him even as she kept her hands locked on the steering wheel and her eyes fixed on the road.

Maria didn’t dare try to free herself from the Jester’s hold. She knew the danger his palm posed to her head.

"It’s okay," he murmured, his gloved fingers tracing a soothing pattern through her hair. "This too shall pass."

He caressed her cheek a few times before he finally released her face, letting her straighten back up.

"But slow down a bit, Maria. You can still see him even if you’re ten minutes late. You do know Nicky Freaky’s life isn’t in critical condition, don’t you?"

Hill’s jaw tightened. She was not happy with the Jester’s sudden, uninvited appearance in her vehicle. But it was also true that the main reason Fury had walked away from today’s ambush with only a few fractures and a few bruises was Veritas himself.

His intel led to Fury contacting Ross. And sure, it was just coincidence, but due to his request, Spider-Woman was in D.C as well.

"I know that, Veritas," she said, keeping her eyes on the road. "And I’m not letting you anywhere near Fury. Even if you kill me."

"Don’t worry, dear," he said, waving a dismissive hand and casually picking up a magazine from her glove compartment. He flipped through it with feigned interest. "I know you people have deeply ingrained trust issues. I respect that. I mean, I can’t go around suggesting therapy to people. Besides, therapy is expensive."

He sighed, tossed the magazine aside.

"But that’s not what I’m here for anyway." Veritas turned to face her. "Do you remember what I told you the night we first met?"

Suddenly, a thin stream of black smoke flowed from his open palm. It snaked through the air and wrapped around her neck before solidifying into a thin, collar-like band. A leash extended from the band to his gloved hand.

For just a fraction of second, Hill’s eyes widened as she saw this strange power. Every time this Jester made an appearance, he made sure to show the people something new... Was this some kind of twisted performance? If so, just how much more this Jester had in store.

Hill’s expression remained stoic, but her jaw tightened. She deeply detested the madman, but once again in her current position, she had no choice but to bear with it.

Taking a breath, Hill replied, "I remember, Veritas," her voice practically dripping with ice. "So once again, what is the real reason you have shown yourself?"

The painted black lips on his Jester mask seemed to curve upward with unholy glee.

"Hydra just made their first, incredibly desperate move," Veritas stated. "It’s obvious that whatever they want is finally almost within their grasp, and they can’t risk losing it, no matter the cost. This isn’t a game of wits anymore, Maria..."

He leaned in close.

"It’s war."

"And I think you and Fury expected this exact situation," Veritas continued. "Knowing that you guys don’t want Hydra’s existence in this world any more than I do..."

He leaned closer, lightly tugging the solidified leash. The collar shrank just a fraction around her neck.

"I want to know about all the pieces you’ve prepared."

Maria ignored the slight tightening around her throat. She briefly turned her face toward him. "And in return?"

"Ah, curious about your treat, are we?" Veritas chuckled, leaning back in the passenger seat and releasing the tension on the leash. "In return, I will tell you something... something that will completely change the fate of the people you consider your final wall of defense."

His smile widened in the dim light of the car cabin.

"The Avengers."

[9 hours later - 1 AM]

Deep within a secure, off-the-grid safehouse, Nick Fury was doing exactly what Veritas had predicted. He was preparing for a full-scale war.

He didn’t have S.H.I.E.L.D. at his back anymore, but he did have General Ross’s personal elite squad - a total of 76 heavily armed, highly disciplined soldiers who were now entirely under Fury’s direct command.

Fury sat behind a battered wooden desk, looking exceptionally grumpy. His fractured left arm was resting in a stiff black plaster sling, making him look like a pirate who had survived a very bad day at sea.

Right now, he was waiting. S.H.I.E.L.D. was thoroughly compromised, which meant his circle of trust had shrunk to a microscopic size.

He had sent Maria Hill along with Spider-Woman to retrieve the only two people left in Washington D.C. he trusted enough to be in this room: Captain America and Natasha Romanoff.

Well, Clint Barton was technically on his trusted list too, but the archer was currently off-grid on a quiet family vacation, entirely blissful and far, far away from this massive world security disaster. It’d take too long for him to reach here without the S.H.I.E.L.D.’s quinjet.

Outside, the sharp screeching of car tires echoed through the safe house’s concrete tunnels. Heavy doors opened, and soon enough, the man who was meant to lead these soldiers walked into the safehouse’s chamber.

Within minutes, Steve Rogers walked through the door, his expression grim, followed by Hill, Natasha, and a very tired-looking Gwen Stacy, right now, in her civilian clothes.

Fury didn’t waste much time. He briefed Steve on the grim reality of the situation.

Hydra.

Gwen leaned against the concrete wall, listening quietly. She was already aware of the situation, but Fury was giving Captain Rogers a few more classified details than he had given her.

Still, there was absolutely no doubt in Gwen’s mind that whatever Hydra was, they were powerful. They were embedded deep. And they were absolutely not the good guys.

Fury finished his briefing and slid a small black drive across the wooden desk.

"This contains the files Romanoff downloaded from the Lemurian Star," he said. "It should hold the data we need to uncover Hydra’s true objective."

Natasha raised an eyebrow. She knew Fury’s conversational style... he didn’t know what was inside the drive.

"You couldn’t decrypt it?"

"If I could have, Agent Romanoff," Fury grumbled, "I wouldn’t be sitting in a damp basement handing it over to a guy who spent seventy years frozen in a block of ice with little ounce of digital knowledge."

Steve turned to Hill with a deadpan, as if asking why he was taking strays right now. Hill just shrugged.

Nat nodded, "Even the Tracer didn’t work?"

Maria walked forward, "It worked. We got the coordinates, but the men who went to investigate were blown off by a missile along with the whole facility. We got a name, though... Zola."

Steve tilted his head. "Arnim Zola? He should have been dead for years."

Hill nodded. "He is dead. But it seems Hydra managed to save his mind and turned it into a machine. He was supposed to be our first lead. Now we don’t have any."

Steve picked up the drive, turning it over in his fingers. "I know someone who might be able to tell us what’s on it."

Natasha nodded slowly. "Yeah. I was thinking the same thing. It was strange for him to be on that ship in the first place."

Gwen tilted her head. "Wait, are we talking about the bald guy with the glasses? The one who we found shoved in a locker during the rescue?"

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