Rumlow stood inside the elevator with the rest of the agents.
Steve stood beside Adam, and Adam stayed in his Diamondhead form. The elevator was full now. No one had room to move normally, but that was what made the danger feel worse. Every agent stood close and ready to attack.
Steve felt it.
The way the agents were standing was not normal. Their shoulders were too tight. Their eyes kept moving between him and Adam. Some of them were looking at Adam like they were waiting for a signal.
Steve's hand moved a little. He wanted to tap Adam's arm and warn him.
Before he could do it, Adam spoke first.
"If anyone still wants to get out, this is your last chance," Adam said. "After this, I am not showing mercy."
The whole elevator went silent.
Even the soft sound of the moving lift felt loud for a second.
Steve looked at Adam, then at the agents around them.
That was almost the same thing he had been thinking. Adam knew it too. In the original timeline, Captain America had been the one to say that line. This time, Adam had said it first.
No one stepped out.
Rumlow's face hardened.
Two agents moved first.
They came straight toward Adam, grabbing for his arms and shoulders as they tried to push him to one side of the elevator. At the same time, the other agents slammed into Steve and forced him toward the opposite corner.
There were too many of them in that small space.
For a moment, they succeeded.
Adam and Steve were separated.
One agent snapped a magnetic restraint around Steve's wrist and slammed it against the metal wall of the elevator. The device locked with a hard sound, trapping one of Steve's hands above his shoulder.
Steve looked at the restraint once.
Then he used his free hand.
The first agent came in with a punch, but Steve caught his arm and drove an elbow into his face. Another agent tried to strike from the side. Steve kicked his knee and used his shoulder to shove him back into the others.
On Adam's side, the agents pushed harder.
Adam let them move him two steps.
Then he saw one agent pull out a strange weapon from the corner of the elevator. It was not a normal gun. The shape was short and heavy, with a glowing ring near the front.
Adam's eyes narrowed.
'That is for Big Chill,' he thought.
They had prepared something to stop his phasing.
They had prepared for the wrong alien.
The agent fired without waiting.
A pale wave flashed out and struck Adam's chest. It passed over his diamond skin and vanished against the wall behind him.
Adam did not even flinch.
The agent froze.
Adam slowly looked down at his own chest, then looked back at him.
"Wrong form," Adam said.
The agent's face changed.
Adam lifted both hands and closed them into fists.
Sharp crystal grew from each fist with a cracking sound. They did not come out like Wolverine's three claws. Adam only had one long crystal blade from each hand. The blades were thick and clear, and the elevator light ran along their edges.
For half a second, everyone noticed it.
Even Steve, who was already fighting, looked toward Adam.
The soldiers around Adam understood too late that this was not the same power they had prepared for.
Adam moved.
The first crystal claw cut across the arm of the agent holding the phase weapon. The blade passed through armor and flesh like it was cutting soft cloth. The man's hand dropped with the weapon, and his scream filled the elevator.
Adam did not stop there.
Another agent tried to raise his gun. Adam's second claw flashed, and that man's hand fell before he could pull the trigger.
Blood hit the elevator wall, and the small space became chaos.
Three agents rushed him together.
Adam stepped forward instead of backing away. His speed was much faster than they expected from a body that looked so heavy.
One crystal blade drove into the first man's chest. Adam pulled it out and turned his shoulder. The second blade went into the next agent before the man could even breathe properly.
The third soldier tried to hit him from behind.
Adam twisted and stabbed backward without looking.
The man's body jerked, and he fell against the wall.
Rumlow finally moved.
He drew his gun and fired three shots at Adam.
The first two bullets cracked against Adam's crystal skin and bounced away. The third bullet hit a thinner part near his side. It pushed through the outer skin, but stopped against the deeper crystal layer without reaching flesh.
Adam looked down at the bullet stuck in him.
Then he looked at Rumlow.
Rumlow fired again, but Adam was already moving.
Adam stepped in and kicked him in the stomach.
The kick landed so hard that Rumlow's body folded forward. At the same moment, a crystal spike burst from Adam's foot and drove through Rumlow's armor. Rumlow was thrown back into the elevator corner, pinned there by the crystal while his feet barely touched the floor.
Rumlow gasped and grabbed at the spike.
On the other side, Steve tore against the magnetic restraint. The metal groaned. Then the restraint ripped free from the wall.
Steve used the broken device like a weight and smashed it into one agent's jaw. He caught his shield with his free hand and blocked a shock baton. Then he struck the man's throat with the shield edge. Another agent tried to grab him from behind, but Steve turned and slammed him into the elevator panel.
In a few seconds, the rest of the soldiers were down.
Steve breathed hard and looked at Adam.
For one moment, his eyes moved over what Adam had done.
'I did not know he was holding back this much,' Steve thought.
But this was not the time to ask.
Steve forced his attention back to the door and moved toward it.
Adam pulled his crystal spike free from Rumlow and stepped beside him.
Steve forced the elevator doors open.
Then both of them saw what waited outside.
Soldiers were rushing toward the elevator from the front.
There were far more of them than Steve had expected. This was not the same trap as the one from the original timeline. This time, Adam was with him, and S.H.I.E.L.D. had watched everything that had happened inside the elevator.
They had seen Adam tear through the strike team.