Adam looked away from Pierce and turned toward Natasha.
He pointed at Pierce. "What are you going to do with him now?"
Natasha did not answer right away. Fury looked at Pierce first, then turned his eye toward Adam.
"We are going to hand him over to the authorities," Fury said.
Adam moved before Fury finished speaking. He stepped in front of Pierce and blocked the path between him and the others.
"No," Adam said. "I will not let that happen."
Fury stared at him. The answer had come too quickly for him to ignore.
"And may I know why?" Fury asked.
Adam kept his eyes on Pierce. "If he were only your enemy, I would not interfere. You could arrest him or hand him to whoever you wanted. I would stand back and let you deal with him."
He raised the finger that was still pointing at Pierce. "But he did not leave me out of this. He sent his people after me. They followed me and tried to capture me. He kept coming after me even when I was working for S.H.I.E.L.D."
Pierce watched Adam without moving.
Adam continued before Fury could stop him. "He has caused me enough trouble. I am not letting him leave this room alive."
He took a small step closer to Pierce. "Every time I tried to stay out of his way, his people came back. They watched me from the shadows. When that did not work, they cornered me and tried to take me like a weapon lying around in a room. If he walks out alive, he will not stop. He will only hide behind another name."
Pierce smiled when he heard that. The man was near the table, but his voice had not lost its calm tone.
"Look at this, Fury," Pierce said. "Young boys arrive with power, and now they think they can dictate terms to you."
Fury did not look at Pierce. His attention remained on Adam.
"Do not take the law into your own hands, Adam," Fury said.
Adam finally turned toward him. "The law?"
Fury held his gaze. Adam could tell that he was not going to move aside because of one threat.
"Pierce will answer for what he did," Fury said. "But you do not get to decide his punishment inside this room."
Adam looked toward the council members.
Fury had come back from the dead in front of them. Natasha had exposed Pierce while the carriers fell outside the window. Now Pierce was sitting on the floor in front of them and still breathing.
Adam slowly breathed out. Cold air left his mouth and spread near the floor before fading around Pierce's shoes.
The council members noticed it. Their eyes moved from Adam to the broken side of the room.
"Who saw anything here?" Adam asked.
Fury's face hardened. "Adam."
Adam ignored the warning and looked at the council members.
"You agree with me, don't you?" he asked.
No one answered him.
Adam lowered his hand and stayed in front of Pierce.
"Think about what happens if he leaves this place," Adam said. "He will be taken into custody. People will start asking how HYDRA reached this far inside S.H.I.E.L.D. Then they will ask what the World Security Council was doing while Pierce prepared to kill millions of people."
The council members looked at one another.
"Your names will be connected to him," Adam continued. "Every meeting with Pierce will be checked. Every order you approved under him will be dragged out in front of the world."
One of the members opened his mouth. Adam spoke over him.
"If he is taken outside, he can speak," Adam said. "He can tell people what happened in this room and how close Project Insight came to working. Even if none of you helped him, your names will still be beside his."
His eyes moved across their faces. "You were in this room when he used that badge on one of you. You saw what he was ready to do. So tell me honestly, do you want the whole world asking why Pierce was still protected after that?"
Pierce's smile disappeared.
He understood what Adam was doing. Adam was not asking the council members to help him. He was showing them what would happen to their reputations if Pierce reached the authorities alive.
Natasha watched Adam from beside the computer. She did not interrupt him. Fury looked from Adam to the council members and understood it too.
"You are threatening them," Fury said.
Adam shook his head. "I am asking for their opinion."
"You already told us what you plan to do."
"That does not mean I cannot ask whether they agree."
Fury took one step toward Adam. "Move away from him."
Adam stayed where he was.
Pierce looked at the council members again. He had worked beside them and knew what mattered to them. Their silence told him that Adam's words had reached the right place.
He pushed one hand against the floor and tried to sit straighter.
"So that is it?" Pierce asked. "You are going to protect your reputations first?"
Adam glanced at him.
Pierce looked toward the nearest council member. "Your reputation comes first, but-"
Adam flew forward before Pierce could finish.
Pierce's eyes widened as Adam reached him. Adam's body became intangible. His right hand passed through Pierce's mouth without breaking the skin.
Pierce tried to pull away. Adam held his hand inside his face.
Cold spread from Adam's palm. Ice formed through Pierce's lips and locked them together. The cold reached the inside of his mouth and froze enough of it to stop him from speaking.
Adam kept the ice away from Pierce's nose and throat so he could still breathe.
Pierce made a muffled sound and grabbed at Adam's arm. His fingers passed through it without finding anything solid.
The council members stared at him. Fury took another step forward. Adam kept his eyes on Pierce.
"It is not your turn yet," Adam said. "I need time to prepare myself for the consequences."