LATER THAT NIGHT, a quinjet is flying over the Indian Ocean. Steve and Natasha are with a group of SHIELD agents in black tactical gear that are being led by Brock Rumlow. "The target is a mobile satellite launch platform: The Lemurian Star." He informs them, his voice deep and monotone, raised slightly over the sound of the engines. "They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them, 93 minutes ago."
"Any demands?" Steve asks, getting straight to the point.
"A billion and a half." Rumlow answers.
"Why so steep?" Steve asks, confused, it was near unheard of that a demand exceeded 50 million, yet alone a billion.
"Because it's SHIELD's." Rumlow explains simply and Steve's eyes widen.
"So it's not off-course, it's trespassing." Steve replies, his eyes darkening, growing suspicious of what is really going on.
"I'm sure they have a good reason." Natasha argues, trying to divert Steve's attention from the subject, trying to remove his suspicions back to the task at hand.
"You know, I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor." Steve complains.
"Relax, it's not that complicated." Natasha reassures him.
"How many pirates?" He asks.
"Twenty-five, top mercs, led by this guy. Georges Batroc." Rumlow answers, showing them a photo of Batroc on the monitor. "Ex-DGSE, Action Division. He's at the top of Interpol's Red Notice. Before the French demobilised him, he had thirty-six kill missions. This guy's got a rep for maximum casualties."
"Hostages?" Steve questions, looking at the information board.
"Uh...mostly techs. One officer, Jasper Sitwell." He answers. "And his assistant, a Russian woman called Sasha Fleiman." He pulls up Sitwell's photo on the monitor, he's a greying man with glasses, beside his photo is a photo of a tanned woman smiling, she has premmed hair, Steve assumed it was Sasha. "They're in the galley."
"What's Sitwell doing on a launch ship?" Steve asks but he's met with silence and he assumes this is something he's not meant to know about. "Alright, I'm gonna sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat, you'll kill the engines and wait for instructions. Rumlow, you sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to the life-pods, get 'em out. Let's move."
"STRIKE, you heard the Cap. Gear up." Rumlow orders and the agents all start to get ready to leave the quinjet.
Steve ignores him, setting up his radio. He lifts up his wrist communicator. "Secure channel seven." He says, his eyes trailing at Natasha in her skintight black tactical suit, at the simple red hourglass symbol on the belt. He doesn't know what it means, he's never asked.
"Seven secure." Natasha copies, lowering her arm. "Did you do anything fun Saturday night?"
"Well, all the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, so... No, not really." Steve replies quietly.
"Coming up by the drop zone, Cap." The pilot says over the intercom.
"You know, if you ask Kristen out, from Statistics, she'd probably say yes." Natasha informs him, a soft smile on her face.
"That's why I don't ask." Steve admits, putting his shield on his back, ready to leave, it doesn't pass Natasha's eye that the shield is the only thing strapped to his back.
"Too shy or too scared?" Natasha asks smugly, putting a parachute on.
"Too busy!" Steve shouts over the sound of the now open door, jumping out of the jet and into the dark sky.
One of the STRIKE agents looks over at Rumlow, his eyebrows raising. "Was he wearing a parachute?" They ask.
Rumlow smiles slightly before shaking his head. "No. No, he wasn't." He answers, not sounding in the least bit concerned.
After he jumps out the jet Steve dives into the ocean and then climbs onto the ship. He swiftly beats everyone on the deck before anyone raises the alarm that they have been found when he's interrupted by one of the pirates pointing his gun at him. Steve stops moving, gripping his shield tightly.
"Bouge pas! Bouge pas (French: Don't move! Don't move)." One of the pirates orders before he is promptly shot down by Rumlow as he parachutes onto the boat, just behind Steve.
"Thanks." Steve says.
"Yeah. You seemed pretty helpless without me." Rumlow mocks as Natasha and the rest of the agents join them on the deck.
"What about the nurse that lives across the hall from you? She seems kind of nice." Natasha suggests.
"Secure the engine room, then find me a date." Steve argues.
"I'm multitasking." She chuckles before jumping down to the lower desk. Below deck the pirates are holding the ship's crew, including Sitwell, hostage.
"J'ai dit à Batroc que si on veut que le SHIELD nous paye, commence à leur envoyer des corps maintenant! (French: I said to Batroc, if we want SHIELD to pay, we have to start sending them bodies now!)." He looks over at one of the hostages, and points his gun at them. "Une balle pour quelqu'un (French: I have a bullet for someone)." He waits a moment and then shouts at the man in English. "You want a bullet in your head?! T'en veux une. Hein! (French: Do you want one? Eh?)" He kicks the man in his leg. "Bouge ton pied. Tu veux une balle dans la tête? (French: Move your leg. Want a bullet in your head?)."
In the meantime, Bartoc was standing on the deck, and looked over at one of the pirates standing in the room with him. "J'aime pas attendre. Appelle Durand (French: I do not like to wait. Call Durand). " Bartoc says. "Je veux que l'on s'arrache dès que la ranson arrive. (French: I want the ship ready to move when the ransom arrives)."
"Oui, Batroc (French: Yes, Batroc)." They answer before starting to make a call over a phone. "Durand. Démarre le moteur (French: Durand. Start the engine)."
On the other end, Durand holds the phone to his ear. "Okay." Durand then puts the phone down, turns around and sees Natasha behind him, his eyes going wide.
"Hey, sailor." She says softly before she quickly knocks him down and manages to swing down below deck shooting several of the pirates on the way.
He looks at one of the hostages in anger. "Ferme ta gueule! (French: Shut up.)" He shouts at them.
"Bouge pas toi! Mais qu'est ce qui se passe! Tu veux jouer les héros, c'est ça! T'as pas intérêt! (French: You don't move! But what's this? Want to play hero, is that it? You'd better not!)" Someone else says.
He looks down at the hostages who are all keeping their heads down in fear. "Bon, j'ai trop attendu là. (French: Well, I've waited long enough.)" The pirate replies before he goes over to the locked door and bangs on it to get the attention of the pirate guarding outside.
"Hé, trouve Batroc, si j'ai pas de nouvelles dans deux minutes, je commence à les tuer. (French: Hey, look for Batroc. If I do not hear anything in two minutes, I'll start to kill them!)"
"D'accord. Je vais le chercher! (French: Okay. I'll find him!)" He replies and as the pirate turns to leave only to see Rumlow, who's standing behind him with a stun gun, shoots him, on the other side of the door the other pirate senses something but dismisses it.
"Deux minutes. (French: Two minutes.)" He reminds him. Meanwhile outside, Rumlow and another STRIKE Agent places a bomb on the locked door, backing away from the door and going behind a wall, waiting for it to explode.
Up in the control room one of the pirates looks over at Batroc, holding a radio in his hand. "Silence radio du SHIELD, Batroc. (French: Radio silence from SHIELD, Batroc.)" One of the pirates informs him.
Steve watches them from the deck as another STRIKE agent getting in position. "Targets acquired." The agent says.
Meanwhile, below deck Rumlow points his gun at the bomb placed against the door where the hostages are being kept. "STRIKE in position." Rumlow relays.
"Natasha, what's your status?" Steve asks, waiting outside of the door, holding his radio in his hand. He doesn't hear a reply, Natasha is currently preoccupied by jumping down into the engine room. "Status, Natasha?" He asks again.
"Hang on!" She calls out to him as the pirate attacks her; she quickly knocks him out before he even knows what's happening before speaking into her radio; "Engine room secure." She then bends down and grabs a pipe from the ground and knocks out one of the other pirates.
"Le temps est écoulé. (French: Time's up)." One of the pirates says, holding their gun towards the hostages. "Qui veut mourrir en premier. (French: Who wants to die first?)" He looks over at one of his men, nodding slightly, indicating to Sasha with his weapon. "Hé toi ! Prend la fille. (French: Hey, you! Take the girl.)"
Outside the door, Steve is talking into his radio. "On my mark." He counts down. "Three. Two. One." Steve calls and the STRIKE team start shooting at the pirates quickly as the door blows open and Rumlow quickly kills the head pirate.
"I told you, SHIELD doesn't negotiate." Sitwell tells them, a small smile on his face.
Back in the control room one of Batroc's men tries to get hold of the pirate below deck. "Halo? Je pense que la ligne est morte. J'ai perdu le contact. (French: Hello? Batroc, the line is dead. I lost contact with them.)" One of the pirates says urgently, gripping the radio tightly, looking up at Batroc. At that moment, Steve smashes through the window with his shield, running over at them but Batroc manages to quickly escape and Steve runs after him.
"Hostages en route to extraction. Romanoff missed the rendezvous point, Cap. Hostiles are still in play." Rumlow warns.
"Natasha, Batroc's on the move. Circle back to Rumlow and protect the hostages." He waits a moment but hears no reply from the other end. "Natasha!"
All of a sudden, Batroc kicks Steve, and they fight. The former is faring surprisingly well against the super soldier, his fighting style includes acrobatic moves before he performs a flic-flac which halts the fight.
"Je croyais que tu étais plus qu'un bouclier. (French: I thought that you were more than just a shield.)" Batroc said.
Steve puts the shield on his back and takes off his mask, looking the french man right in the eyes, gripping his hands tightly. Batroc smirks at the movement. "On va voir. (French: Let's see.)" Steve replies. They start fighting again. But this time, Steve quickly turns the tide in his favour. He kicks him in the right leg, the stomach, and then performs a downwards somersault kick to the face, knocking him down. Batroc stands up with visible struggle. Steve smashes him through the door of a room and knocks him out with a strong punch to the face.
"Well, this is awkward." Natasha says, looking over at him slightly when he notices him crashing through.
"What are you doing?" Steve asks.
"Backing up the hard drive." She answers, not even taking a moment to look up at him. "It's a good habit to get into."
"Rumlow needed your help." Steve reminded her, walking closer. "What the hell are you doing here?" He glances down at the computer to see what Natasha is backing up. "You're saving SHIELD Intel." Steve notices.
"Whatever I can get my hands on." Natasha answers.
"Our mission is to rescue hostages." Steve reminds her, his voice stern and annoyed.
"No. That's your mission." Natasha corrects, ignoring the look of betrayal written on Steve's face before finishing off backing up the drive onto the USB. "And you've done it beautifully." She then turns to leave but Steve grabs her arm.
"You just jeopardised this whole operation."
"I think that's overstating things." Natasha argues when suddenly Batroc rises and throws a grenade at the two as he runs off, Steve deflects the bomb with his shield, grabs Natasha and jumps through a window before it explodes. "Okay. That one's on me." Natasha admits.
"You're damn right." Steve replies, almost harshly.