Shadows and Betrayals
The world was unraveling beneath them.
Nick Fury was gone. Celeste and Steve had barely enough time to process his final warning before the walls of S.H.I.E.L.D. started closing in. The organization they had trusted, the one they had built their second lives around, now felt more like a cage. And someone had thrown away the key.
Steve had barely managed to stash the USB drive Fury had given him before S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives came knocking. Celeste had felt the shift in the air before they even reached the elevator. The way Agent Rumlow and his team moved, precision in their steps, the weight of their weapons just a little too heavy for a simple briefing.
"Captain Rogers, Agent Vale," Rumlow said, voice controlled but sharp at the edges. "Director Pierce would like to see you."
Celeste exchanged a glance with Steve. They both knew what this was. The way Fury had been hunted down, the way Natasha had warned them to be careful. Trust was a currency that had lost its value, and they weren’t about to gamble.
"Well, we wouldn’t want to keep him waiting," Steve said smoothly.
Celeste followed his lead as they stepped into the elevator. She was hyper-aware of the tension in the air, the way more agents piled in at each stop. She counted every heartbeat, every shift in stance. They were preparing to take them down.
By the time the doors closed on the last floor, Celeste’s fingers twitched at her sides, itching to call light into her grasp. She had always preferred working in the shadows, but here, surrounded, she was prepared to bring the sun itself if she had to.
Then the first move was made.
Steve moved first, his instincts honed beyond even Celeste’s. His shield crashed into one of the agents, knocking them back, and the fight erupted in an instant. Celeste moved like liquid fire, slipping between their attacks, using the confined space to her advantage. Her light-wielded daggers flickered in and out of existence, each strike precise, each move calculated.
They barely made it out, but they did, emerging bruised but victorious. Celeste took a sharp breath, her pulse thrumming as they ran. There was no going back now.
S.H.I.E.L.D. was compromised.
And they were the next targets.
"We need to figure out what’s on this drive," Steve said as they regrouped with Natasha in a safe house. The air between them was thick with unspoken questions.
Celeste sat against the edge of the table, arms crossed. "Fury was killed for this. That means whatever’s on it is enough to bring the whole place down."
"And that’s exactly what we need to do," Natasha added. "Bring it down."
The world they knew was falling apart. But Celeste had spent her entire existence surviving impossible odds.
If this was war, then so be it.
They would fight.