Chapter 127 - Project Insight Part 3

Road to Washington, D.C.

Shortly After Jasper Sitwell's Interrogation.

After the group obtained their answers, they chose to take the dumbest course of action possible. After securing a larger car with enough space for all of us, the Rookie took control of the wheel and sped down the road towards the Triskelion, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s three headquarters and the location where the Insight project is set to begin.

"The launch is in sixteen hours, we have little time," Natasha spoke from beside me.

She also didn't understand Rogers' moves, but she concealed it well and followed him, waiting for the leader's plan.

"We'll use him on the scanner to access the Helicarriers directly," Rogers finally said, looking at my new slave sitting beside Sam in the front seat.

"That's a terrible idea," the bald man mechanically replied.

"Are you seriously considering entering the enemy base only with him, and with that ensuring success? Without any plan or preparation?" I speak, and everyone silently agrees with me.

"Boom."

Before I could completely dismiss Rogers' plan, we heard something fall on the car's roof. At that moment, a metal hand punched through the window, grabbing the bald man from Hydra and yanking him out with such force that it tore the car door off.

"Bang-bang Bang-bang:Bang-bang: Bang-bang Bang-bang."

The person on top of the car then began firing at us. These bullets weren't powerful enough to penetrate my skin, but the others could get hurt, so I raised my hand to the roof, covered in my green energy. Natasha and Rogers seemed to understand what I did, but the Rookie got nervous and lost some control of the car. Luckily, Rogers acted quickly and pulled the handbrake, bringing the car to a stop, and our new guest was thrown forward.

The Winter Soldier. A man wearing black clothes with a mask and sunglasses, sporting a beautiful metal arm with a red star. I remember reading about him in the WarDogs files; his identity wasn't a secret to us. I always wondered why Baldur didn't deal with him before. He could have easily saved and wiped his memory, but in his moments of mystery, he said it wasn't his fate to save him. It became clear later with Rogers' return; my husband was already foreseeing this outcome.

We stood still on the road for a few seconds until Natasha pulled out her gun, and just as she was about to shoot the Soldier in front of us, we were hit by a car behind us, pushing us forward towards the Soldier who jumped over the car once again, landing above us. The Rookie did everything trying to get rid of the car behind us, which was pushing us. Natasha pulled out her dagger and stabbed it into the car roof, trying to hit the Soldier with little success. He then used his metal hand to wrench the steering wheel from the Rookie's hands. Natasha attacked again, and it seemed to have hit something as the Soldier jumped back onto his ally's car behind us.

With our car now directionless, it veered uncontrollably on the road, and just as it was about to lose balance and flip, Rogers grabbed Natasha firmly around the waist and pulled her towards him, putting the shield in front of the car door. I put my hand on the Rookie's shoulder in front of me, and in a small teleportation, we appeared standing on the road. A few meters from us, the car we were in was now flipping on the road as Rogers and Natasha slid on the ground on top of his shield after jumping from the car.

"What the hell was that?" the Rookie asks me, confused by the teleportation.

"Watch out!"

I was about to answer when I heard Rogers' shout. I looked back and saw the Soldier now firing a grenade launcher in my direction. I acted as fast as I could, creating a barrier of green energy in front of me.

"BOOM!"

I was caught off guard and didn't have time to make my defense as solid as usual. The result was me being thrown off the overpass, landing on my back on the roof of a parked car below.

(I complained about Rogers, and I commit the worst mistake a rookie can make. Turning your back on an enemy.)

The explosion and the fall didn't hurt me. I got up from the car and saw Steve also falling from above, hitting a bus that tipped over, causing a cascade effect of accidents. To prevent the situation from getting worse, I put my hand on the ground, which glowed green, and all the vehicles simply stopped where they were, thus ending the accidents.

Up on the overpass where we were, I heard the sound of gunfire and explosions. Hydra certainly doesn't care about collateral damage. Then another explosion occurs, and this time a car is thrown down; it explodes upon hitting the ground.

Natasha also jumped, and when she landed on the ground, she ran towards us.

On the overpass, the Soldier, along with his men, points their guns at Natasha and fires, but to their surprise, she simply disappears into thin air, becoming invisible. The only visible thing was her dagger, which was thrown, hitting the Soldier right in the face. Unfortunately, it wasn't a fatal blow, as his mask protected him.

Natasha finally reaches my position, becoming visible again, and takes cover behind an abandoned vehicle. She knows we can't escape; we only have one direction to go, and it's the same direction the civilians who were here before ran. The Winter Soldier then jumps from the overpass and comes towards us with his gun drawn, firing his machine gun at the two of us behind a car. His men also follow suit, using hooks to descend.

I really don't need to shield myself from these bullets, but it's much easier to deal with all the worms when they're together, so I wait.

Still under fire, I see several people emerging from the bus that Rogers fell onto before. Two of them were hit by stray bullets, and there are still some people inside the bus.

"We have to help them," Natasha says beside me.

"I'll take care of it."

I clasp my hands together, which glow with a green light, and as they separate, various patterns with runic symbols appear around them.

"By the Shield of the Seraphim!"

Instantly, a large circular shield, adorned with ancient patterns and runes, materializes. It's large enough to cover the entire bus, protecting it from the gunfire. This is one of the most powerful defensive spells I learned from the Ancient One.

Unlike the energy shields I can easily summon, I don't need to face the attack directly. With the protection of the Shield of the Seraphim, Rogers steps out of the bus with his shield when he sees the magic, and begins ushering everyone inside to safety.

"BOOMM!"

One of the enemies, witnessing Steve helping the others, once again employs the grenade launcher, which has no effect on the magical shield. One of them even has a gigantic machine gun firing bullets that can pierce tanks.

"Can it hold?" Natasha asks.

"Of course it can. Now let's deal with this mess quickly."

Hiding isn't really my style of combat. Unfortunately, I can't use large-scale magic here; there are too many nearby houses and curious bystanders.

"Not yet. Wait for the signal?" she says.

"What signal?"

At that moment, I understand the signal. Above us, on the viaduct, gunfire erupts. I had forgotten that the Novice stayed up there.

"That signal."

Natasha then emerges from behind the car, brandishing her two daggers and disappearing into thin air. I summon a green shield in front of me and position myself opposite the attackers. Naturally, they all shift their focus from Rogers to me, but I keep advancing slowly. The Soldier understands that weapons are useless and rushes toward me with a military knife. Before he reaches me, I see one of his men get his neck slashed by the invisible Natasha, causing panic among those trying to locate her. Another enemy is also hit in the head by a shot. I look up and see the Novice, now wielding a machine gun, providing cover fire.

Finally, the Soldier reaches me. Not that he's slow for a mortal. It's just that I process information faster than any mortal—unfortunately, not faster than Baldur. That idiot enjoys not using this resource when fighting weaker beings, which makes fights more interesting for him.

The Soldier tries to punch me with his metal arm, which hits my energy shield. The result is unsurprising—he's forced to take several steps back.

I don't care about his surprise, and with a hand gesture, the shield explodes into a burst of light, hitting him squarely, sending him somersaulting through the air and landing four meters away from me. I was about to end the fight when a shield flies past me, hitting the Soldier squarely in the face. The shield returns like a frisbee to Rogers' hand, who has finally joined the fight.

He and his friend have things to settle, if he already knows his friend's identity. I leave them to resolve their issues and focus my attention on the other men whom Natasha is using for her enjoyment. Several of them are already on the ground with their necks slashed or hearts pierced. Invisibility for an assassin is certainly a formidable weapon.

Up above, the Novice continues to shoot at those who are hiding behind the cars, keeping them pinned down. This gives her enough time to reach them and take them out. If everything continues at this pace, this fight will be over in a few seconds.

And as always, it seems things won't simply end. From above, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ships, a Quinjet, appears and hovers ten meters above us. Its front section opens, revealing its weapons.

"By the Shield of the Seraphim!"

I move as fast as I can, just in time to create the magic shield in the air, covering all of us. I don't know who's in control of this damned aircraft, but attacking with such firepower is madness. The shield is holding up well against the high-caliber machine gun fire and the missiles fired, but I'm expending too much magic sustaining such a large shield, and the others are still in their fights, so I decide to act. I free one of my hands and create a whip of green energy that strikes one of the Quinjet's wings, causing it to spin in the air.

The streets are already empty, so it doesn't matter if it crashes here. I really hate having to worry about collateral damage, but it's one of the habits he passed on to me after so many years together. Before the Quinjet crashes to the ground, its rear door opens and a figure jumps out of it without a parachute, landing a few meters away from me. Shortly after, the Quinjet crashes behind her, exploding.

"Finally, something interesting," I say, looking at the new enemy.

The reason it's so interesting is that this enemy is wearing armor similar to Stark's. A female version in green, she even has the energy source on her chest. Unlike Stark, who loves his gadgets, the woman is holding a longsword.

The new player says nothing and uses the armor's thrusters to propel herself toward me. I dodge her first strike aimed at my face, place my hand at chest height, and just as I'm about to unleash a blast of energy, she uses the thrusters again, this time leaping over me and landing on my back. When I spin my body, I don't have time to create a magical shield, so I stop her sword with my bare hands, and to my surprise, she cuts me.

Even though I'm bleeding, I grab the blade, holding it in place. The armored woman then points her other hand at me, and from her wrist, a green mist shoots toward me. My instincts kick in, and I immediately release the blade and teleport a few meters away from her. Even though I acted quickly, some of the green mist enters my eyes, causing them to water. Surely, this was the intended effect, as she attacks me again, trying to decapitate me. I narrowly dodge her strike by a few inches, somersaulting backward.

"By the Icy Tentacles of Ikthalon!"

A blast of cold air shoots out from me, freezing the street in front of me. If she were hit by this magic, the metal of her armor would freeze, giving me time to end this fight. But the woman manages to dodge once again, this time revealing additional thrusters on her back, increasing her speed and catching me off guard in another attack. This time, she uses both hands, wielding her sword and trying to cut me in half. I manage to defend myself by holding the blade with the palms of my hands. We stand there, staring at each other for a few seconds. I can't help but laugh with joy.

"Finally, someone worthy of attention," I say to my new toy

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