Interrogating Sitwell
The sun was shining high in the sky when Senator Stern and Jasper Sitwell emerged from their lunch encounter. They had taken the time to discuss business matters of SHIELD and their upcoming projects. As they walked out of the restaurant, they ignored the agents and other security personnel that kept their distance but stayed within a reasonable distance in order to jump in at any sign of a problem.
“Listen, I got to fly home tonight,” Stern told the other man. “I’ve got some constituency problem, and I got to press the flesh.”
“Any constituent in particular, Mr. Senator?” Sitwell smirked as they started to descend a small flight of stairs.
Stern shrugged. “Oh, no, not really. Twenty-three, kind of hot.” Then he turned to him. “Real hot, you know? Wants to be a reporter, I think. I don’t know. Who listens at that point?”
Now Sitwell’s smile grew. “Doesn’t sound like much of a problem to me.”
“Really? Because she’s killing my back.” Stern joked. “But this isn’t the place to talk about it.”
Glancing down at Sitwell’s lapel, Stern nodded. “This is a nice pin.”
“Thank you,” Sitwell responded.
“Come here.” Stern smiled and pulled him in for a hug.
“Hail HYDRA.”
The words were whispered by the senator but accepted gratefully by the agent. It was a secret exchange that could only be spoken in secret, yet if you knew about it was plainly obvious. None of the passerby’s seemed to notice a thing.
The same could not be said for the man sitting a few yards away.
As Sitwell’s phone rang, he cleared the area once seeing it was his boss. “Yes, sir?”
“Agent Sitwell, how was lunch? I hear the crab cakes here are delicious.”
A sinking feeling of dread filled the agent’s stomach. “Who is this?”
“The good-looking guy in the sunglasses, your ten o’clock.” As Sitwell looked around, the man on the phone rolled his eyes. “Your other ten o’clock. There you go.”
“What do you want?” He asked as Sam raised his drink in the air as a pseudo greeting.
“You’re gonna go around the corner to your right. There’s a gray car two spaces down. You and I are gonna take a ride.”
“And why would I do that?” Sitwell asked smugly.
Sam smirked. “Because that tie looks really expensive, and I’d hate to mess it up.”
Looking down, Sitwell noticed that he now had a small red dot on the front of his tie. He knew it came from a sniper rifle and knew he was screwed.
The door to the building’s rooftop slammed open, and Sitwell’s body flew across the ground. He rolled a few times, and anybody watching could tell he was visibly frightened. Luckily for all parties involved, there was no one around to see his face.
Storming out from the doorway behind him, Steve showed no signs of taking pity on him. “Tell me about Zola’s algorithm.”
Standing shakily, Sitwell slid his glasses back on. “Never heard of it.”
“What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?” Steve asked again, feeling Natasha’s presence behind him.
“I was throwing up. I get seasick.” Sitwell tried again, but neither Avenger was having it.
As they backed him up to the ledge of the roof, Steve watched him flail to stay upright before grabbing him and staring him down. Sitwell chuckled as he caught on to their game.
“Is this little display meant to insinuate that you’re gonna throw me off the roof?” He grinned. “Because it’s really not your style, Rogers.”
Nodding, Steve sighed as he fixed the man’s suit. “You’re right. It’s not.” Then he paused. “It’s hers.”
Without warning, Natasha lifted her foot and slammed it into the middle of his chest, sending him over the ledge as he screamed.
“So did Kara explain what she meant about Layna’s school?” Natasha asked calmly, as if they hadn’t shoved a man off of a roof seconds beforehand.
“Nope, we didn’t get the chance,” Steve admitted. “But I’m not too worried. If it were something serious, she would have already mentioned it, so I’m assuming everything is fine.”
Suddenly the screaming got louder, and Sitwell reappeared in front of them, his body being lifted in the air by Sam, whose body was wearing his old Falcon wings.
“What do you think of our display now?” Natasha quipped as she and Steve walked towards him.
“And you better tell the truth.” The soldier told him. “Our tech genius is currently searching through all of your files, so if you lie, we’ll know about it.”
Now Sitwell broke. “Zola’s algorithm is a program for choosing Insight’s targets.”
Steve knew he was referring to SHIELD’s new project that, according to Fury, was meant to protect the planet. “What targets?”
“You!” Sitwell screamed. “Supergirl. A TV anchor in Cairo, the Under Secretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City, Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, Kara Stark and her precious daughter, anyone who’s a threat to HYDRA now or in the future.”
Natasha looked at Steve, confused, and his expression matched hers. “In the future? How could it know?”
Now Sitwell started laughing as if the other people around him were insane. “How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it.” Seeing that they didn’t completely understand it, he continued.
“Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, emails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores! Zola’s algorithm evaluates people’s past to predict their future.”
“And what then?” Steve asked darkly.
“Oh my God, Pierce is gonna kill me,” Sitwell said, suddenly realizing what he had just done.
“What then?” Steve asked again, and Sam grabbed the back of Sitwell’s shirt to keep him from running.
“Then the Insight helicarriers scratch people off the list.” He told them deadpanned. “A few million at a time.”
Panic surged up through Steve’s body as he lunged at the man across from him. Jumping forward, Natasha grabbed him and tried to pull him back as Sam dragged Sitwell away. They knew now that this mission wasn’t just about saving the world; it was about saving his family.
“You better hope Pierce kills you first, Sitwell,” Steve told him as he fought against Natasha’s hold. “Because if he doesn’t, and Layna dies, I will.”
“You can’t stop it!” Sitwell cried. “No matter what you do, you can’t stop this. It’s already in motion.”
“You better hope that isn’t true,” Sam told him.
Steve ignored them as he pulled out his phone and immediately dialed Kara’s number. She answered quickly.
“I already know, Steve.” She told him, her voice tight. “They aren’t getting anywhere near her.”
“But if she’s able to get sick and even get some scrapes…”
“They aren’t touching her.” The Kryptonian’s voice was stern. “And if they’re listening right now, they better hear me when I say if they do anything to her, they will all die. Slowly. One by one. Until HYDRA really is gone.”
“Be safe, please.” He told her.
“You’re the one that needs to be safe.” She reminded him. “I’ll copy this and see you soon.”
Then she was gone.
Taking in a big sigh, Steve turned to the group. “Okay, new plan. We need to meet up with Kara and figure out how to stop this.”
“I told you, you can’t-”
“Yeah, yeah, just shut up,” Sam told Sitwell as they dragged him from the roof. “Let’s go.”