At this moment, Rumlow was charging around the building's emergency stairwells like a headless fly.
He had luckily escaped the firefight in the control center, but ever since the doors of the Insight Hangar had opened, his mission had effectively ended. Like someone forgotten, he had received no new orders.
But this staunch Hydra loyalist did not slack off because of that. Instead, he displayed the qualities expected of an outstanding employee. Did the lack of instructions from leadership mean he did not need to work? Did leadership not managing him mean he did not need to work overtime? At times like this, he needed to demonstrate initiative. If there was work, do it. If there was no work, create some and do it anyway!
So, almost entirely of his own accord, he began clearing out S.H.I.E.L.D.'s remaining forces floor by floor. Then an unpleasant message suddenly came through his communicator. "The Council has been breached."
"What?" Rumlow's face instantly changed. He knew it was time for him to shine, so he rushed over to an electronic gate in a few quick strides. "Open the door! Let me go up!"
The gate opened, and he immediately ran inside. But then he asked in confusion, "What exactly happened?"
"Evenson Richter is up there."
"Mm..." Rumlow nodded. His gaze became resolute and steady as he... returned to the door he had just entered through, pounding on it with both hands as he shouted anxiously, "Open up! Let me go back down!"
But the situation there was not exactly tense. Instead, it was awkwardly demonstrating the consequences of bankrupt credibility.
In the past, people would have believed anything Pierce said, even if it was false. But now, no one believed anything he said, even if it was true.
Even if he said the