"How long ago did you find this place?" Tony asked eyeing Bruce and Steve. Recently, in the search to eradicate Hydra's last hiding places, they'd stumbled upon a training and testing facility. The majority of the rooms had been empty, cleared out when Hydra had been exposed after the release of Bucky and attack on Director Fury. However, there had been one room in deep below the ground floor carved especially for a holding cell. At first, when Tony had been called in to clear the touchpad to enter the underground portion of the facility he had thought nothing much of it. He'd assumed they'd find files and weapons. They'd all assumed it would have been warheads or something of that nature. They had not been expecting to find what they were staring down at now through a glass one way panel. It was bullet proof glass either to protect what was inside or them.
"Two weeks ago." Steve answered.
"And no one's dealt with this until now? That is a living person." Tony narrowed his eyes at the Captain.
"I couldn't get the orders to open the cell. Not after…" Bucky. Not after he'd been attacked by Bucky.
"There's no food or water in there." Bruce cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"This place isn't the best. Security footage showed some cracks in the wall that allowed ground water to drip in. And…rats." Tony made a face.
"That's not right. Guys, can we open this now?"
"I'm here." A thick accented voice cut through the group. In the mash up of chaos they had managed to get ahold of one of Hydra's current researching scientists. He hadn't known about the facility but apparently he'd known about the person in the cell. "We can open it…but you will need to let me address the experiment first."
"That's a human Doc. Not an experiment." Bruce clarified a slight tick in his jaw.
"Right. Yes, anyway…" he took a deep breath. "The chances are that they will willingly come out for me." He made a pointed stare at Stark. "Do not interfere until we know how dangerous they are. I can't be sure how…wiped they are."
"If you hurt her…" Steve started but the man laughed.
"It is more likely that she will hurt me sir."
"Just get this over with…" Tony punched the numbers into the keypad to open a door to the locked and secure room below. They watched as the man entered.
The girl below sat hunched in a far corner of the room. Her arms were wound tightly about her knees keeping them locked against her chest. Steve could see her staring ahead wide eyed fingers biting into her upper arms so tightly that they were turning white. Her body rocked gently back and forth in a comforting pattern allowing for her back to hit the wall as a stop before she'd rock forward again. Her jaw was set and tense where she ground her teeth together as she rocked. Her feet were bare and scraped with dried blood caked on the bottoms. Her toes were covered in dirt. Her nail beds were gritty as well but with blood or grime, he couldn't tell. Steve noticed that her hair was chopped haphazardly and that one side was buzzed but growing back against the right side of her skull, the other side hung in tangles knotted over her shoulder. Within it's dark brown matt he saw more dirt and grime. She was a mess. There was no telling what had happened here. When the door opened she instantly stopped rocking. She didn't acknowledge him, didn't look, but the way her eyes narrowed Steve knew something wasn't right.
"Soldat aufzustehen. Sie Haben eine." (Soldier, get up. You have a mission.)
The girl did not move. He took a step closer raising his voice.
"Ich sagte, steh auf!" (I said get up)
Again she refused to move.
"NOW!" he snapped reaching forward for her arm. "Sie haben eine bestellung! Ich sagte aufstehen!" (You have an order! Get up!)
His hand gripped her shoulder attempting to yank her to her feet.
"We should do something. We need to stop this!" Bruce started to say.
"Auf die harte tour dann!" (Fine, the hard way then!) the German scientist snapped. "Activate Hail Hydra. Bestellung destroy Captain America." (Order: Destory Captain America)
"Steve do something!" Tony started to try and open the doors again which had shut but apparently the Hail Hydra order had locked them both in.
"Move!" He snapped grabbing for his shield from his back. He started to pound at the door to bust it open. He wasn't going to make it.
The girl started to get to her feet allowing the man grabbing at her to yank her up. Bruce watched as something shifted in her gaze. Her eyes slid to the side glancing up at him.
"Hail Hydra?" she whispered. They could hear from the observation computer. The scientist nodded sighing.
"How damaged are you? Yes, your order has been given." He yanked on her arm again.
"Fuck hydra!" it was one movement. In one movement the girl had twisted pulling the man forward where he stumbled. In that instant she wrenched a handful of his hair and slammed his face forward into the wall. "Shove the order up your ass!" She rammed his head again into the wall, pulling it back and throwing it forward. It wouldn't stop. Bruce screamed at Steve as he beat at the wall. There was blood all over the tiled area near the girl. She wouldn't stop.
"STEVE!" Tony shouted as the lock busted. It clanged to the floor as Steve rushed in. The girl stiffened turning to look at him. She dropped the man's head and he fell to the tiles at her feet with a sickening thud.
"Get out." Her voice whispered. It was shaky…it was unsure.
"I…I can't do that." He saw the same kind of tortured look in her eyes that he'd seen in Bucky's.
"Bestellung Destroy Captain America." The man choked from the floor. Steve watched as the girl's neck twitched to the side and she stiffened. Her pupils dilated.
"Steve you need to get back." Tony warned appearing in the doorway. He was suited up.
"We cannot hurt her." Steve argued desperately. She didn't know what she was doing…
"Get out now Steve." Tony said firmly. The girl bent down grabbing the man's glasses off his face. She smashed them in her hand, breaking the glass, and carefully held a shard she selected at an angle.
"I can't…" she rushed him. Swinging the glass shard at his throat. He tried to deflect her with the shield but she swung her other arm up blocking him. She took the full weight of his attack and shoved back. His shield hit what sounded like steel but there was most defiantly skin there. Steve moved back trying to give her space but she jammed her leg out catching the back of his calves. He cringed. It was metal again. But there was skin. Steve was momentarily caught off guard which gave her the opening she needed. She thrust the glass at his jugular as Tony fired a charged round. It hit her square in the chest throwing her back into the tiled wall. She slid down expelling a breath eyes falling shut.
"Thanks." Steve mumbled.
"As if having Bucky wasn't bad enough." Tony rolled his eyes. "Now we have Ken and Barbie."
