South Brooklyn, NYC, USA.
Ben's P.O.V.
Lifting his empty right hand, Ben replied. “Alright. The car's right here and the cash's in it.” The mask-wearing Cross nodded and coldly commanded. “Then we'll take it as soon as you back off.” Narrowing his eyes slightly, Ben retorted with a question of his own. “What about the two hostages?”
“Once we're sure that no one's following us, we'll release them.” Andrew responded. 'I really don't like it, but...' Ben thought before replying out loud. “Fine, as long as you don't hurt them more than they already are.”
“Don't worry about it, Mr. John. We've done what we came here for.” Cross paused while gazing briefly at the broken man in his hold, before adding. “Now, we just want the money and we'll go away without hurting anyone else.” “I hope you keep your word...” Ben said before stepping back toward the police line while keeping the shield in front of him.
The silver-eyed man did not walk slowly and instead quickly turned his body sideways and started dashing toward the waiting officers. He however did not forget to roughly keep himself protected by the shield he held with only his left hand, the latter being extremely light for someone with his super-strength.
A few seconds later, the muscular man reached behind the police cars surrounding the bank and let out a sigh of relief while briefly thinking. 'If SHIELD work is always like that, then it'll be a lot less stressful than being a Green Beret. Hopefully, it won't be a one-time thing.' Before looking back in the bank's direction to check the two robbers' reaction.
From his standpoint, he noted that Cross gestured for Marco to do something before the two headed toward the car. The 'Sandman' took the right backseat, while the taller and more muscular man took the driver's seat after setting the Wallace guy in the left backseat. The unknown woman chose the front passenger seat.
Once everyone was in the car, Cross started it up and began driving in the Southern direction, which was being blocked by two police cars. Knowing Natalia's plan of letting the car leave and following it, Ben stopped dillydallying and dashed toward the SHIELD's vehicle waiting in one of the side streets.
“This is Grey Knight. I'm heading toward 25 and 28. The two targets took the car and started heading South.” Pausing for a second, he added. “I think your hunch was correct, Widow. Over.” Reaching the car a few seconds later, he opened the door before commanding. “Go now.” The two lower-level agents obeyed his order and thus 25 pushed the gas pedal in the same direction as the robbers.
“28, check the GPS tracker on the car. We need to be sure of their destination.” To his words, Agent 28 used the tablet he previously had to follow the GPS signal, while Ben used his earpiece to ask. “Widow, we're leaving to follow the targets. Where are you? Over.” The answer arrived almost immediately. [”Black Widow, here. I've 'borrowed' an unmarked police car I prepared beforehand. Keep me updated on their movements, especially if they seem to head somewhere else than the docks.”]
A brief silence passed before the woman's voice resounded in his ear again. [”Only use the side streets. I doubt they believe we'd let them go like that, but just in case they do, it's better to do what we can to keep that misunderstanding going. Over.”] “Copy that. Over.” He replied, before tapping his earpiece to deactivate the microphone.
“You heard the captain.” They both nodded at his words while saying. “Yes, Sir.” As the SHIELD's van slithered through New York City's heavy traffic in the Sheepshead Pier's direction, the silver-eyed man kept analyzing the situation they were in, and, as he liked to put it: 'Hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.'
'There're no fatalities, and the officers injured only got light wounds. The Wallace guy might be a different case though. In any case, it went relatively well. We only need to take down Cross and Marco, and the situation will be resolved...'
He felt confused as a thought came to him. 'But Nat said it might be a trap from that Rumlow guy to get to her. If she's right, something should have happened at the bank... Or could it be that the ambush point chosen was the Pier?...' Sighing in frustration at the lack of intel, the powerful man decided to just keep an eye open for any outside interference when they reached their destination.
A bit more than five minutes later, the trio arrived on the East side of the docks, where they parked on the side of the road. “You got their location?” Ben asked the male agent, who immediately responded. “Yes, Sir. They've parked around Pier 1.” Nodding his head, the silver-eyed man swiftly left the vehicle after ordering them to inform Natalia of the news.
Not wasting time, the towering man in full SWAT gear and holding a huge ballistic shield in his left hand as if it were a toy started jogging toward Pier 1, a few hundred feet (meters) away. Of course, his relaxed jogging pace was more or less the equivalent of sprinting for a Peak Athlete, which provoked surprised looks from the people all around him. He did not pay attention to those, though, but instead focused his gaze on Pier 1, to try to find his targets.
And there they were. He could see the four people he was looking for walking along the dock with three of them holding the bags containing the 10 million dollars in cash, while the fourth one was held by the most muscular of the bunch. Tapping his earpiece, he shared a brief report. “Grey Knight, here. I've got a visual on the four targets. They're on Pier 1 walking toward its end. From my position, I can see a speedboat tied there. I'd wager that the boat is their means of extraction. Over.”
As soon as he fell silent, his feet reached the entrance of the dock. Pushing on his right leg, his body smoothly changed direction toward his left, with no loss of speed. [”Widow, here. I'm coming from the West side. ETA 30 seconds. Slow them down before I get there. Over.”] “Copy that. Over.”
In his view, the four people almost arrived on the speedboat, slowed down by the woman's normal human speed. Pushing his legs' muscles to the maximum, his speed instantly exploded and in a brief moment he was only a few feet away from the unexpected 'team'. Using his new physical coordination, he stopped himself almost instantly, proof of his incredible mastery over his body.
He however could not help but think when he noticed an almost unnoticeable disharmony in the way his limbs were positioned. 'I really need to retrain myself. My body mastery's been slipping since I broke through. That and my lack of training over the last few years...' Before focusing entirely on the three people in front of him who turned back in his direction probably due to the noise he made when he sprinted to this place.
He instantly placed the shield in front of his body, while letting only a bit of the right side show, while playfully waving his right hand, hopping to distract them. “Hello there! It's me, John!” Freezing for a second at the unexpected situation, the two then quickly reacted. Cross put the woman and the crippled guy behind him while Marco directed his rifle toward the SHIELD agent.
Fortunately, the two kept their cool and did not start attacking or firing at him and instead questioned. “The fuck you doin' here, SWAT guy?!” “Don't come closer or we'll deal with the hostages permanently, Mr. John!” Having hidden the right side of his body, Ben replied.
“Are you really asking that question, Mr. Sandman? Of course, I'm here to arrest you and save the hostages.” Pausing for a second, he added, this time to Cross. “And Mr. 'I'm not sure of your name', I'm not really afraid you'll do anything to the hostages. So there's no need to threaten them.”
As the gunman was about to retort something angrily, the other man put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head at him, silencing him. He then turned his face back toward the silver-eyed man and asked a question in a curious tone. “How do you know we wouldn't hurt the hostages?” “Dude! Why you tellin' him that?!” Waving his hand at him, the other man briefly replied in a convinced tone.
“I'm just telling things he already knows. I can tell.” Letting out a frustrated sigh, the armed man exclaimed. “Fine! Do whatever the fuck you want!” Chuckling slightly at his companion, Cross reiterated his question. “What betrayed us?” Smiling at the situation, Ben started to like the two guys more and more. 'Maybe I can...'
“It's simple. The woman behind you seemed awfully trusting towards you, despite being a hostage. I'm guessing you two should at least be friends. As for the crippled asshole on the ground, you seem to be the kind of man to plan everything and keep his cool in all circumstances, unlike the sandman. So I doubt you'd be stupid enough to kill him in front of witnesses. After all, crippling and killing are two completely different things and I'm sure you're aware that being an asshole doesn't really deserve the death penalty, even if sometimes you can be tempted.”
Once he finished his explanation, Cross stared at him for a few seconds, before shaking his head lightly. “I'm impressed. Your guess is spot on. Well, almost spot on. There's just one thing you're mistaken about.” Cocking his eyebrow, Ben questioned. “And what's that?” In a cold voice, the green-eyed man replied. “He's not an asshole. No, he's far worse. He's the worst kind of human trash. That is if he could even be considered...”
His words were suddenly cut off as the woman behind him exclaimed in a panicked tone. “Cross!” Freezing for a second, a sad sigh escaped him as he turned his face toward the blond-haired woman. “Alright, Kate. I'll stop talking about it.” Nodding her head silently, she just kept silent, while some small tears appeared in her eyes.
From witnessing the two's reactions, the silver-eyed man could hazard a guess as to what happened, which made him lament the fact that so many people in power could get away with almost anything as long as they had enough influence. His light daze only lasted a brief moment, as a loud noise sounded behind him, drawing his attention.
Turning his head toward its origin, he spotted the nano-mask-wearing Natalia dashing toward his position. Not wanting her to get shot at, he moved his body, and most importantly his shield between Marco and her, while letting them know. “She's my partner.” Seeing Cross furrowing his brows, he heard. “Another Supe.”
'So he noticed. Well, I did use superhuman speed to arrive here, so I shouldn't be surprised.' He thought while the sound of Natalia's voice resounded behind him. “Good afternoon, boys. I apologize for making you wait.” A small smile surfaced on Ben's face at her quip, before he briefed her about their previous conversation.
Listening to his report, especially the scene between Cross and the Kate girl, her brows furrowed slightly, clearly from having the same guess as him, despite Ben not sharing any of his suspicions. While the two were whispering to each other, none of the people present moved, with the criminals seemingly waiting for the two 'policemen' to finish their conversation.
The reason for their lack of movement was the fact that Cross signaled Marco to be patient, probably due to the fact that he could hear what the two were talking about thanks to his super-hearing and Kate as a normal human being their weakness. It would clearly be too much of a risk if she was involved in a Supe's fight, and so he waited for a chance. Or at least, that was what Ben thought after analyzing his previous behavior.
Once, the black-haired man with silver eyes finished recounting everything, he asked. “I think we should do something about that guy, don't you think?” Nodding her head slightly, she nonetheless retorted. “We still need to verify the information before doing anything.” Tapping her earpiece, she instructed. “28! I need you to look for information about a 'James Wallace Jr'. Dig deep.”