No battle plan ever survived first contact intact.
No matter how thoroughly SHIELD swept the Helicarrier, a few attackers inevitably slipped through the cracks.
One three-man strike team managed to reach the command center itself.
Whether that made them fortunate or doomed remained to be seen.
The squad leader cautiously peeked around the doorway.
Perfect.
Inside, Fury and his people had only just regained control after the explosions. Their attention was fixed on stabilizing the Helicarrier and correcting its flight path.
No one was watching the entrance.
He grinned.
Time for the Italian solution.
He pulled the pin and lobbed a grenade.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, Maria Hill had chosen that exact moment to turn toward the doorway.
The grenade flew straight at her.
She opened her mouth to shout a warning.
Then...
A fat blue figure drifted gracefully into the air.
Hill had only enough time to marvel at how lightly the enormous creature moved before it opened its mouth.
"..."
It swallowed the grenade.
Whole.
Hill stared in disbelief.
She braced herself for an explosion that would shower the room with flesh and blue goo.
Instead, the rotund creature floated gently back to the floor.
A muffled boom echoed from somewhere inside its stomach.
Its body abruptly inflated to nearly four times its original size.
Then...
"...Burp."
As the swelling subsided, the bloated form dissolved into a familiar shape.
A towering Voidwalker with broad shoulders, massive arms, and glowing blue skin.
Dumon.
Nick Fury finally recognized him.
One of Evenson’s summoned servants.
When did he even get in here?
He distinctly remembered assigning Evenson’s people elsewhere.
Automatic gunfire shattered his train of thought.
The infiltrators had opened fire.
Truthfully, after watching someone casually eat a live grenade, every member of the squad wanted to turn around and leave.
Unfortunately, retreat wasn’t part of the mission.
Besides, they were counting on their two elite snipers to provide support.
That confidence lasted only seconds.
A purple-blue one-handed battle axe whirled through the air.
It buried itself in the squad leader’s neck.
Instead of stopping, the weapon ricocheted impossibly, carving through the remaining two attackers before spinning back through the air.
A hand caught it effortlessly.
Peggy Carter slid Vengeance back across her lower back.
Nick Fury raised an eyebrow.
"Agent Carter..."
"When did you learn to throw an axe like that?"
Or perhaps, he thought, she and Howard Stark had simply made a lifelong hobby of violating Newtonian physics whenever they threw something.
Peggy’s expression remained icy.
"The command center is the Helicarrier’s brain."
"The enemy should never have reached this room."
She looked directly at Fury.
"Your security was far too lax, Nick."
There was genuine disappointment in her voice.
If the command center fell, the Helicarrier would effectively be decapitated.
Fury spread his hands.
"Barton was my best agent."
"I’m inclined to blame the quality of the opposition."
"On that point..."
Peggy nodded.
"I agree."
She removed her inexpensive sunglasses and casually tossed them aside.
Her eyes ignited.
Fel fire blazed within her sockets.
Ghost Sight awakened.
Almost immediately, Peggy frowned.
Her gaze shifted to one side.
Then snapped in another direction.
"There!"
She exploded into motion.
Her body blurred.
Vengeance flashed.
A metallic crack rang through the room.
Half an arrow dropped onto the deck.
Closer inspection revealed a specialized tip fitted with electronic probes.
A hacking arrow.
Its intended target had been the external access port of the Helicarrier’s primary control computer.
Only one archer in the world could have fired a shot like that.
Clint Barton.
Hidden in a distant maintenance window, he’d attempted to shut the Helicarrier down with a single arrow.
Ghost Sight had exposed him before the shot could land.
Peggy drew Havoc, intending to return fire.
Too late.
Barton was already gone.
A master marksman never lingered after missing a shot.
"Agent Carter."
Fury hurried over.
"Please pursue him."
Peggy smiled faintly.
"I’m afraid I can’t."
Before Fury could ask why, she raised Havoc toward the opposite side of the room.
"Because..."
"...there’s another one."
BOOM.
A roaring sphere of emerald fel fire slammed into an air vent.
Just before the blast struck, a figure leaped free.
She landed...
Then dissolved into a cloud of black smoke.
Peggy’s brows knitted together.
Ghost Sight couldn’t distinguish substance from illusion within that darkness.
A grappling hook shot from the smoke and caught the ceiling.
The black mist condensed into a graceful female figure as the cable reeled her upward.
She swung over everyone’s heads in a smooth arc.
Midair, she inverted herself effortlessly.
One leg hooked around the cable.
Her body bent backward.
The strange sniper rifle settled against her shoulder.
Every movement flowed seamlessly into the next.
A professional.
Peggy instinctively prepared herself.
Then Ghost Sight revealed the true target.
Her posture relaxed ever so slightly.
The woman squeezed the trigger.
A streak of black energy tore through the air.
It passed within inches of Peggy’s face...
...and continued past her.
A strangled gasp echoed behind them.
A pistol clattered across the floor.
Everyone turned.
One of the commandos Peggy had struck earlier had somehow survived.
Barely.
He had dragged himself upright during the distraction and drawn a handgun, hoping for one last desperate shot.
His reward for persistence was immediate.
His upper body crumbled into black sand before collapsing into a lifeless heap.
Dead beyond any hope of recovery.
The mysterious sniper landed lightly nearby.
High-heeled combat boots.
A sleek purple tactical bodysuit with deep side slits.
A strange sniper rifle held upright beside her.
An insect-like tactical visor concealed the upper half of her face.
Her voice carried a familiar, teasing warmth.
"You got careless, Peggy."
Peggy stared.
Recognition flickered across her features.
"...You..."
The woman reached behind her head and released the visor.
It folded away.
A familiar face emerged beneath it.
Peggy’s eyes widened.
"Dottie?"
"How are you here?"
Standing before her was none other than Dottie Underwood.
The woman who had disappeared with the Eredar Twins.
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