The mission was put together quickly. There was a Hydra base out there that Ultron wanted taken out but when Pietro and Wanda Maximoff went to do the job, they couldn't get in. The doors were unbreachable with any amount of gunpowder and according to a few locals, the base hadn't been occupied in decades. They told the robot they had done it, and he took their word.
When Wanda Maximoff told everyone else about the escapade, Maria Hill found interest in one name, Amnesia. It was the hard drive that contained the most important Hydra secrets. Natasha asked why it mattered after she had released every speck of dirt SHIELD and Hydra held onto the internet and Hill couldn't confirm her thoughts to be more than paranoia. There was one small detail though, that kept her interest and convinced the team they'd need to go. Amnesia couldn't be found anywhere in the files Natasha released and it was known to be real.
"Stark what are your readings?" Steve asks as they analyze the door carved into the mountain.
"Depends on when you ask. Right now they're quiet, ask me in a minute and they might not be. It seems a lot like breathing almost. No life signs, at least none I can pick up," Stark answers flying over the small mountain looking for an ulterior entrance. There's nothing, not even a landing strip.
"Are we sure this is the only entrance?" Natasha asks running a hand over the dents in the solid door. The image of Pietro Maximoff ramming into it with his shoulder is pushed into her mind and she nods at Wanda, thanking her for the explanation and telling her to get out of her head as politely as possible. Wanda's been an uneasy member to welcome onto their team. They know she's grieving, keeping her distance as she does so, but everyone can feel a sort of energy enter their minds every once in a while. They know she doesn't mean to, she does it as a habit, like she did with her brother.
"Positive," is Steve's answer.
"That's what we were told as well," Wanda says.
"What I want to know is how they got supplies in here. We know it's a big base, also served as a lab before it was abandoned, so they had to have been supplied, and well supplied, but how did they get the stuff inside?" Steve asks as Tony lands near the door with everyone else.
"Empty room behind it, watch out, I'm gonna take it off it's hinges," he says first shooting a missile at it. Everyone yells and ducks for cover. One the dust has cleared, they all look to see the door still standing and layers of rock around it, crumbling and/or gone, to reveal a metal shell underneath.
"Any other ideas?" Rhodes asks sarcastically.
"Preferably one that doesn't start an avalanche?" Clint asks.
"Everyone take a seat, we're gonna be here a while," Tony replies then starts painstakingly cutting through the revealed metal around the door with a strong laser he probably shouldn't be allowed to have.
"Here we go," Tony says. "Do the honors little witch?" Tony asks once he finishes cutting around the door ten-fifteen minutes later. She rolls her eyes and pushes it back with her telekinesis, letting the door fall back and hit the floor, a bang echoing through the empty base inside.
All there is in the first room in a desk with papers scattered across it, most checking people and supplies in and out. Everything else is just basic things you'd find in a base, supplies waiting to go somewhere, a metal desk chair that looks quite uncomfortable, and a calendar. Two things are off. Beneath the fallen door is a welcome mat, the thistles worn down but nonetheless, the most homely thing you'd ever find in a military base. The second, the lights were on. All of them.
"That's impossible," Tony murmurs analyzing the old lights himself.
"What?" Sam asks.
"These lights are all burnt out," he explains.
"Someone is in here," Wanda murmurs softly and only Clint and Natasha hear since they're right next to her.
"Friend or foe?" Clint asks notching a bow.
"I'm not sure. They're thinking too fast, I can't keep up," she says a little more loudly but even less concentrated on the place in front of her.
"Up here," Sam says and everyone goes to him to see him standing at the door to a cavernous room, wires run up and down, screens plastered everywhere. It's an information center, at the center of it is a girl on a hospital bed, an IV in her arm and wires on her temples.
"Can't get a read on her?" Steve confirms looking at Wanda she shakes her head moving closer to her unable to quell her curiosity.
"I think she's what we're looking for," Natasha says looking over a file on a table nearby. It's titled Amnesia and holds pictures of the woman on the table as well as why she's hooked up. "She's almost as old as you Grandpa," she adds after seeing the date in which she was first hooked up. "One of those freezes her metabolism almost like a cryogenic freeze but she retains brain function, the other gives her enough sustenance to continuously do her job, store information and encrypt it. That's what all the wires are for, she is the computer."
Steve wastes no time in unhooking her from the IVs and the wires connecting her to the system. What no one expects though, is every single light and any sort of technology the base harbors, going out leaving them in darkness. Stark immediately lights up as does Rhodes.
"She was powering the base," Stark concludes going over to look at the file, and sure enough, after flipping through the pages he found what he was looking for. "Hey Spangles, you two share a common friend," he says and Steve walks over to see what he's talking about. Dr Zola had done some experiments on her and included in the file was a diary of sorts on them. "She can omit and channel energy," Stark summarizes fascinated by her.
"Amnesia isn't a hard drive, it's a girl," Steve confirms looking over the pale female, lying on the hospital bed. She's nothing but twigs with paper-like skin stretched over them. Her face lacks color, and her hair is an unhealthy white. She looks like a corpse, the only difference being the rise and fall of her chest signaling breathing.
"She is a hard drive, she's storing all the information in her head, unwillingly or willingly, she's the answer to making sure Hydra doesn't come back," Stark replies.
"We better take her back to the compound with us. I don't want anyone getting their hands on her. She deserves a life after what Hydra's done to her," Steve says picking her up from the hospital bed and following Rhodes out of the base.
"Anyone else feel like that was too easy?" Sam asks as everyone gets loaded onto the quinjet.
"No weapons, no people besides her. The place was empty, abandoned. Whoever was there left in a hurry. I bet she knows why," Rhodes answers giving him nod.
They were just about back to base when she woke up. They knew she woke up because like a snap of someone's fingers all the power in the quinjet was just gone. Everyone jumped into action, Clint and Natasha grabbed a parachute, the captain grabbed Wanda. Tony was trying to figure out what was up with the quinjet figuring something must've hit them, and Sam realized it was the girl.
"You're okay, you're safe," his words were once he reached where she was strapped to another bed. Her eyes were glowing white and Sam couldn't tell if she could see, her mouth kept opening and closing, her hands reaching for something. Sam took her hand, guided by instinct and her eyes fell to him. He felt a small zap of energy, not enough to harm him, enough to energize him like a shot of straight caffeine. "Right now we're falling out of the sky, I need you to trust me, I'm trying to save your life," he says unstrapping her. "Come on," he says trying to pull her to her feet once she's unstrapped. She seems so innocent to him, childlike in a way, and he can't help but want to trust her. She falls to the ground, frowning in the process. Sam huffs and just picks her up, carrying her as Steve did earlier.
He sets her down so he can put his wings on, then picks her right back up and jumps out of the quinjet like everyone else had. "Did anyone grab the girl?" Clint asks.
"Yes, I think she's why the plane crashed down," Sam says looking down at the girl, as she turned her face to his chest to block the wind. She reaches up to his face without looking and Sam notices her hand trembling. She's weak, he decides, she probably hasn't walked in years, hasn't had to do any physical activity in ages. She'll need extensive physical therapy to get back in any sort of condition. When her hand touches his jaw, his mind is filled with the image of some German scientist in a room he recognizes, the room he was just recently in but years ago back before it was dusty and abandoned. He decides this was a question.
"No, we just rescued you, you don't have to listen to those son of a bitches ever again," he says and he thinks he catches her smile softly in the corner of his eye.
"What was that?" Steve asks having caught that last blip.
"Nothing she's awake, we'll see you back at the compound," he adds, observing the area, and heading off toward the compound. They were just about to prepare for landing when they started falling so it won't take too long to walk or fly in Sam, Rhodes and Tony's cases back.
"You understand English right?" Sam asks once he touches ground with the girl. She nods and he notices her eyes have changed from white to red, that is her iris and pupil have changed to red. Sam still finds it hard to look her in the eye though. She just nods in response. "Can you talk?" He asks and she frowns and opens her mouth, attempting to but she just lets out a croak and she leans away from where she was like she just scared herself. "Water, you need water," he says as he decides she reminds him of a child.
"Mr Wilson," Vision says as Sam walks into the compound. He notices the girl in his arms and they both take they're time analyzing each other while Sam loses his patience and keeps walking to the kitchen. She reaches up and touches Sam's jaw again showing him an image of a German scientist saying what he'd assume to be "stop" in German. "Vision, please just follow us," Sam says with a sigh and she smiles a little satisfied. He sets her on a chair then goes to get her a glass of water.
"So, what's your name?" Sam asks once he returns with the water, only to find her in a staring contest with Vision. He waves a hand in front of her face breaking both of their concentration and holds the glass of water out for her and she reaches up to take it with a shaky hand.
"No I wouldn't," Vision starts but stops when it's clear he's too late and the water is all over the place. She frowns and Sam sighs walking to go get paper towels and wondering how he got stuck on babysitting duty. "She's got no muscle, I'm surprised she's able to sit up straight. Where did you find her?" Vision says following Sam.
"She was the base," he says walking back to see her glaring at the significantly smaller puddle of water, burn marks on the table from where her hands rest to where the water starts and the smell of a campfire to accompany the scorched table. "What happened?" Sam asks and she looks at him quickly then returns to glaring at the water, Sam hears crackling and sees the table on fire. "Woah, woah, what'd the table do to you?" Sam shouts she jumps looking back at him fearfully with bright neon green eyes.
"It's all right, accidents happen," he says nodding to the nonexistent puddle of water on the table. He wipes up what got on the floor and Vision comes in with another glass of water and a straw. He sets it close enough to her and after looking at Vision and Sam who both nod in encouragement, leans forward and takes a sip, only to start coughing. "I should've brought her to the medical wing," Sam states once she gets over it.
"Possibly, yeah," Vision agrees.
"Could you tell us your name?" Sam asks after she takes a sip without all the coughing and choking afterwards.
"Amneeesha," she says or tries to a few times before getting fed up and reaching up to touch Vision's face, projecting a scientist saying Amnesia into his head.
"Amnesia," Vision says and she nods happily.
"There you are," Rhodes says walking into the room, still all suited up. "Why'd you bring her here?" He asks.
"She needed water," Sam replies with a shrug.
"And what happened to the table?" He asks noticing Amnesia look guiltily into her lap.
"There was an incident with a glass of water," Sam says while giving a look that says I'll tell you later.
"Well, everyone else will be here soon Tony and I are flying everyone back," he explains as Steve walks into the room and Rhodes walks out. Amnesia's eyes snap to him and she stiffens, looking at him cautiously. Meanwhile, the table starts burning again as Amnesia lets a bunch of electric currents loose on the table.
"It's all right, he's a friend," Sam says and she stops frying the table, instead reaching up waving her hand. Sam gets the message and takes her hand placing it on his cheek and stepping towards her. He sees a black and white picture of Steve, and a never ending list of data on him.
"Yes that's him. He's a good guy don't worry. I don't know what they told you, but he helped save you," Sam says removing her hand, instead clasping it in his own and meeting her eyes steadily.
"It's all right ma'am I'm not hear to hurt you," Steve says following Sam's lead. Her eyebrows scrunch together and she reaches a hand out to him, Sam notices that her arm doesn't shake when she does this, this time and nods when Steve gives him a questioning look. He walks forward and allows her to place her hand on his cheek. In return, she shows him an image of James Buchanan Barnes, her soldier.
"You know Bucky?" Steve asks and she frowns at the name, tilting her head.
"James," she corrects, not struggling at all with the pronunciation of her soldier's name. She pushes the image of the word friend and another picture of James into his head and he nods.
"He was my best friend, do you know where he is?" Steve asks excitedly but that fades when she shakes her head no, a tear falling from her eye as she pulls her hand back.