Nora stared at Steve as he wandered around the abandoned camp. Anyone else would probably feel like they were intruding but Nora could tell that Steve forgot she was even there for a few moments. It must have been tough for him, to wake up in a new world and try to adjust, only to be thrown back into your past at a moments notice. She would know. Pretty much anything was a trigger for her, it made it hard to live sometimes.
"This is the camp where I was trained" Steve said and Nora couldn't tell if he was talking to her or to himself. She ran her fingers along the wall as she walked, trying to picture a compact version of the Captain she knows running around this camp. The thought was rather amusing.
"I'm guessing that it's different to what you remember" Nora wiped off the dust and grlime that had stuck to her fingers on her jeans with a look of pure disgust. She has seen worse, she has to admit, but she has definitely seen better.
"Not as much as you would think" Steve was quiet, and his voice sounded distant. Nora put some space between herself and Steve, giving him the time to relive some memories. They're important to hold on to. Good memories, bad memories, they all matter. She wouldn't trade hers for the world, albeit she had some that were too horrific to keep.
"Rogers, you still with me? There's nothing here. No signals or heat signatures, this place is void of pretty much anything" she explained and Steve furrowed his eyebrows, spotting something out of place. He knew this camp like the back of his hand.
"What is it?" Nora asked, noticing Steve's expression. He ignored her and walked towards the munitions building.
"Army regulations forbid munitions being within five hundred yards of the barracks" he said, walking closer to the building and Nora having to take two steps to keep up with his every one.
"Smart" Nora said and Steve shook his head.
"I can see the barracks from where I'm standing, this building isn't supposed to be here" Steve was right, Nora spotted the barracks not even three hundred yards away from where she was standing.
"Nice catch, Stevie" she said and Steve reached the doors, hitting the padlock with his shield so that it snapped in half. Nora could have sworn that she momentarily suffocated from all the dust in the air but Steve with his stupid, perfect lungs didn't even cough. E place seemed empty. A few shelves here and there, some desks and old files but nothing note worthy.
Steve flicked on the light and the shield logo was illuminated on the opposite wall. That didn't make sense. Why would shield build a base disguised as a munitions building and why build it on this specific camp? Nora didn't believe in coincidences.
Nora followed Steve into a small office with three framed pictures on the wall. Colonel Phillips, she's heard of him before. Howard Stark, the resident geniuses' father. Agent Carter, founder of s.h.i.e.l.d. Nora knew about her, she was Steve's girl during the war. The way that he was staring at her photo, she could tell that Steve missed her.
"What was she like?" Nora asked and Steve didn't spare her a glance, his eyes were transfixed on that photo like it was keeping him alive.
"She was independent, brave, loyal. By far one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen" Steve had a ghost of a smile on his face as he spoke.
"Buck- My best friend, Bucky, he used to make little jokes. Said I'd turn red as a tomato whenever she was close, and my eyes morphed into throbbing hearts, like in cartoons. He even said that he'd find a pretty dame and move in next door to me and Peggy once the war was over. He wouldn't have any trouble with it, he was always good with the girls. Peggy was the only girl that I ever managed to get a date with that he didn't set me up on. I never managed to show up but the thought was there" Steve chuckled to himself for a moment, remembering when he and said it.
They were at the bar, and Bucky and the other Howling Commando's were drunk, they started to make jokes about Steve's crush in Peggy but he knew they were happy for him. Bucky especially, he said he was glad that he could go on solo dates now instead of having drag Steve around everywhere.
"She sounds pretty great. She must be if Saint Rogers was in love with her" Nora joked, trying to ease the tension. Steve just nodded in response. He heard a low howling noise, and followed it curiously. He felt the draft and pushed the shelf back, using all his strength.
"You could have just pressed the button, Rogers" Nora rolled her eyes, pointing to the black button next to the shelf.
"If you're already working in a secret office, why do you need to hide the elevator?" Steve asked, ignoring Nora's jibe. Something didn't seem right about this at all. Nora walked forward and crouched down to see the key pad. She pulled out her phone, courtesy of Natasha, who took it from Stark. She ran the software in the phone to see what the code was and punched in the numbers. She and Steve shared a look as the doors separated and stepped inside. There was only one button inside. The elevator whined in protest as they rode down to the hidden level, it hadn't been used in years. The doors opened again and the pair stepped out carefully. Who knows what could be down here.
The lights came on automatically as they walked and Nora almost laughed at the equipment. This tech was outdated by nearly fifty years. She'd be surprised if the damn computers even worked.
"There's no way that this is where the file came from, the technology is older than you" Nora scoffed as she looked around. Steve turned his head towards her, and saw her trying to repress her smirk. Trying being the operative word.
"You're hilarious" Steve muttered as he stared around the dusty room. It was large, and there were various machines and different pieces of equipment. He spotted a much newer looking slot plugged into the main computer and pointed it out to Nora. She walked over and hesitantly plugged the drive in. The machines around them whirred to life and Nora could barely hear herself think over the noises they were making. This had to be some sort of practical joke by Fury, this place was ancient.
Initiate system? is what the screen read. Nora quickly typed yes and the screen went blank before sparking to life, a green silhouette appearing on the screen.
"Rogers, Steven. Born 1918" the computer said and Nora pushed down her uneasy feeling once she spotted the camera. She definitely did not like this place.
"Forget the memory stick, Rogers, let bail" Nora muttered, although she made no move to leave.
"Viktrova, Eleanora. Born 1989" Nora almost groaned. She hated her full name. It reminded her of her mother, of the wretched Bulgarian mountains, of her brothers. She shuddered, making it obvious to Steve that she was uncomfortable. He kind of liked her full name. It suited her.
" What the hell kind of recording is this?" Nora hissed and the computer buzzed to life again, making it seem more energetic than before. If that was even possible for a computer.
"I am not a recording, Eleanora. I may not be the man I was when Captain Rogers took me as a prisoner in 1945 but I am Dr Zola" the computer said and Nora raised her eyebrows.
"This is the part where you explain your tragic backstory to me, Rogers" she said and Steve walked around the computer console, twice.
"He was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years" Steve said and Nora returned her attention to the screen.
"False. I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been more alive" Zola said and Nora wanted to run away. Something she has only done once in her lifetime.
"In 1972 I received a terminal diagnosis. My body was dying but my mind was in prime condition. Two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain" Zola said and Nora looked up at Steve.
"I've stood in worse" she quipped and Steve grinned at her, if only for a short second.
"I was recruited" Zola said and Nora explained further.
"After World War Two, shield recruited German scientists. They were valuable" She said and Steve nodded.
"They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own" Zola definitely sounded threatening now, and Nora was growing concerned. If she was planning to trap someone, she would block their main exit. The elevator. This was a secret room, if it was ever breached there would need to be an escape point somewhere. That's what she needed to find. She planned their escape to the last detail in her head, mulling over every possible scenario that she could think of. A girl has to be prepared. Always know your way out.
"Hydra died with Schmidt" Steve said and the image on the screen changed to a hydra symbol before switching back.
"Cut off one head, two more shall take it's place" Nora had heard those words plenty of times before. Personally, she found them to be empty words. Things like that always were.
"Prove it" Steve said and Nora could have hit him.
"You would make a terrible assassin, and a terrible spy. Never challenge your enemies unless you know you can win" Nora instructed and Steve understood where she was coming from, but that was just his style. The image on the flashed to different pictures several times.
"Hydra was founded on the idea that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realise was that if we tried to take that freedom from them, they resist" an image of Steve fighting appeared on the screen and Nora smirked.
"Loving the latex" Nora muttered and Steve didn't look at her to reply, "It was spandex actually"
"We learnt that humanity needed to surrender it's freedom willingly. After the war, shield was founded and I was recruited. The new hydra grew as a parasite inside of shield. For seventy years, hydra has secretly been feeding crisis, waging war. When history did not cooperate, history was changed" images of the winter soldier appeared on the screen several times, he was hidden but he was there.
"That's impossible, shield would have known. They would have done something" Steve said and images of Howard Starks death appeared on the screen.
"Accidents happen. Hydra created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice it's freedom to gain its security" Zola said and Nora subconsciously stepped closer to Steve. To protect him or reassure herself, she didn't know.
"Once the purification process is complete, hydra's new world order will rise. We won, Captain. Your death was as pointless as your life" Zola taunted from the screen and Steve surged forward, punching the screen and shattering it.
"As I was saying" Zola said as his green, grainy face appeared on another screen.
"What's on this hard drive?" Steve asked, his voice stern and commanding.
"Project insight requires insight. I wrote an algorithm" Zola said and Nora moved forward again to stand next to Steve.
"What does it do?" She asked, her voice just as commanding as Steve's, perhaps with a little bit more malicious intent but hey, not everyone is honourable.
"I would answer your question, however you will not be alive to hear it" Zola said and Nora snapped her head towards the elevator doors which snapped shut. Steve tightened his jaw and Nora clenched her fists. She knew that this was a trap, had she forgotten all of her training? How can she call herself the best if she gets captured by an oversized calculator?!. Steve tried to throw his shield at the doors to jam them open but it bounced off of the doors and it came back to him.
"Steve, we have a short range ballistic heading our way. We have thirty seconds tops" Nora said, her eyes darting around the room. An exit. There has to be an exit. It's a fail safe, she just needs to find it.
"Who fired it?" Steve asked, the sinking feeling in his stomach was almost weighing him down.
"Shield, or should I say hydra" Nora answered.
"I'm afraid I have been stalling, Captain. And I'm afraid that both of us are out of time" Nora was sure that if Zola could laugh, he would. Steve pulled a grate cover from the floor and quickly jumped down, catching Nora as she followed his lead. The two of them crouched down and Steve covered them with his shield.
Nora shut her eyes tight. She heard the deafening noise and felt intense heat, she could feel the rubble falling around them before she was jolted sideways by the after shock and her world went black.