I closed my eyes and lowered my head. Rumlow gently squeezed my shoulder as he stood next to me. Steve walked out of the room and I raised my head to see the grim look on Natasha's face. I looked out to the hallway and saw Steve look down into his hand. I followed him down the halls to an empty room.
"Steve what's going on?"
"Nothing"
"Don't you dare lie to me." I raised my voice "After what just happened I-I can't take anymore lies." Steve raised his head and noticed the tears building in my eyes. "SHIELD is compromised, so whoever did it now can go after everyone I care for. They had my DNA on file and now it's gone and into the hands of God knows who. I don't know who to trust, except you. So please stop lying."
"Fury's last words where to not trust anyone." He said as he walked over to me. "And he gave me this."
I looked into his hand and saw a flash drive with the SHIELD logo, and a small drop of blood on the edge.
"What's on it?"
"I don't know, but I'm going into SHIELD tomorrow and try to figure out what's going on there." He said.
"You can't go in there, it's compromised every agent in there will be ready to kill you."
"I have to go, under Pierce's orders." He said, I ran my hand through my hair as I paced back and forth.
"Steve what if something happens? What if you never walk out of that building?"
"I will make it out, I promised you I'd come back and I'm going to keep it." He walked over to me and grabbed my hand. "Let's go find a hotel for the night."
We left and drove back to the apartment, we were able to grab some clothes before a few agents of SHIELD started to comb through it. We found a cheap motel a few miles away and paid for it in cash. It was small and cold but it was better than nothing. After my shower we both laid on the bed, unable to fall asleep. I rolled over and wrapped my arm around Steve's waist.
"Steve?"
"Yeah?"
"What if we moved?" I asked "After this whole thing settles down?"
"To where?"
"Asgard…" He rolled onto his side and looked down at me.
"You want to move to another world?"
"It's just an idea…at least there we would be safe." I said
"That's your home, I don't belong up there and I don't think this battle will be over any time soon."
"Then promise me something."
"What?" He asked
"Promise me….that when this is over you will still be here."
"I promise"
The next day,
I could feel Steve kiss me before leaving, I opened my eyes and realized he had gone to SHIELD. But I felt something strange on my neck, I looked down and saw the flash drive on a black string. I took it off and hid it inside the mattress. The tiny shower blasted me with cold water and left me freezing. I quickly dried off and put a soft robe on. I heard a creak on the other side of the door and felt my heart stop. I pressed my ear against the door and heard nothing.
BAM!
The metal hand punched through the door and knocked me to the ground, and the door fell off its hinges. I could see the familiar mask and emptiness in his eyes. His metal hand quickly grabbed my wrist and crushed it until I could feel the bones crack under my skin. Large cuffs were placed on my wrist before he dragged me out and handcuffed me around the radiator by the door. I screamed as loud as I could but no one came.
"Don't bother, no one can hear you." He said, he grabbed one of the small chairs and sat down in front of me.
"What the hell do you want from me?" I asked "Why is it you kill everyone but me?"
"My mission is to bring you in."
"To who?" I asked
"My boss"
"Who are they? What are their names?"
"I don't know."
"Then what is your name?"
"I DON'T KNOW!" He stood up so quickly his chair fell back, I could see the frustration and confusion in his eyes for the first time. "That's why I followed you here, every time you hit me with that magic I remember something."
"Well after you killed Fury I'd be happy to land a few punches on you."
"I need your help."
"Give me one good reason why I should help you at all." I snarled
"I know you put the flash drive in the mattress…if you help me I'll let you go unharmed with the flash drive." I sighed and let my head fall back against the wall.
"Fine but you'll have to un-cuff me first."
He pulled out a small key and pulled the cuffs off, then grabbed my arm tightly to pull me onto my feet. He laid down on the bed and pulled out his gun.
"Just in case you get any ideas."
"Just shut up and close your eyes." I snapped
He followed instructions and took some deep breathes, my hands glowed in gold light as I placed them on both sides of his head. As I started to tear down the mental wall in his head I could see pain and fear on his face. He quickly sat up and held his head.
"God dammit…" He mumbled
"It's going to be a long process to heal your mind. You memories have been altered, someone has repressed all the memories of your life. Like your name, your family, friends, where you're from. But I can unlock those memories, make you remember who you are." I said
"James…"
"What?"
"I remember my name is…James." He said
"That's great James, if you stay here and let me help you I-"
"Stay here" He repeated "I know what you're planning. You are tricking me into a trap!"
"James I can help you! I'm not trying to trick you!"
"ENOUGH!"
He raised his gun and I raised a gold wall of light before the bullets could hit me. The wall shot out of my hands and hit him with enough force to push him out the window. But when I looked outside he was already gone.
"Dammit" I mumbled
RING!
"Meet me at the hospital."
-Steve
I drove as quickly as I could to the hospital, I walked passed the operating room and found Steve and Natasha.
"Steve" I walked over to him and hugged him. "Thank god you're alright."
"Kida what happened to your wrist?" Natasha asked
"The Winter Soldier followed us to the hotel and paid me a visit."
"What?!" Steve stepped back and checked me for any wounds. "What did he do?"
"He wanted help."
"The Winter Soldier…the man trying to hunt you down and kill us…wanted your help?" Natasha said
"His memory is being manipulated by the people controlling him, every time he's hit by my magic he remembers something. His name is James."
"Did you see his face?" Steve asked
"He was wearing his mask."
"Did he get the flash drive?" Steve asked and I shook my head. "Then let's find out what's on it that's worth killing for."
The three of us left and drove to a nearby mall, I put my hair in a ponytail and pulled up my hood. Steve and I walked upstairs to the Apple Store. Natasha met us there and started to hack into archives on the flash drive.
"Nat how much time do we have until they can track it?" I asked
"About nine minutes starting….now. Damn"
"What?" Steve asked
"It's protected by some sort of AI, it keeps rewriting it."
"Can you override it?" Steve asked
"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly."
I smiled and looked down at my phone, I recognized the tone and saw my dad's face on the screen. I showed Steve before walking into the bathroom where it was quieter.
"Hey dad"
"Hello Stark" My breath hitched when I heard Rumlow's voice, I looked around me and made sure I was alone.
"How did you get my dad's number?"
"A spy has a lot of tricks like masking their number for someone else's to get an answer." He replied "I'm sorry to tell you this but Rogers is a fugitive from SHIELD. And also Romanoff, they've both taken important information about SHIELD and Fury's death."
"Steve and Natasha have done nothing wrong."
"You wouldn't have happened to see them, have you?"
"No…"
"Well then I need you to wait inside the bathroom on the second floor until I get their princess."
I quickly pulled my phone away, the son of a bitch was tracking it. I put the phone down and shot it with my magic, leaving a pile of rusted metal and ash. I ran back to the Apple Store but they were gone. I went up to the railing and saw Rumlow and his team patrolling each floor. I turned to the elevator and felt a strong pinch in my chest.
Steve and Natasha going down the escalator, kissing. My hands involuntarily clenched and left large dents in the metal railing. I was off guard by the surge of anger hitting me, I didn't notice James walking towards me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me downstairs and outside the mall.
"James what are you doing here?" I asked
"Saving you apparently" He closed the door and pressed me against the wall.
"Why?" I asked "Hours ago you tried to kidnap me and now you want to help me."
"Because…you're the only person I feel I can trust." He said "Go, I'll hold off those guys inside."
"Thanks"
He walked inside and I started walking to my car when I saw Rumlow waiting nearby. I quickly turned to the garage and found Nat and Steve hiding.
"Kida" Steve ran up to me and hugged me, I stood still. "Thank god you're alright."
"I'm fine, did you two have fun time inside the mall?" I looked over to Natasha and shot her a death glare.
"Kida what you saw was something quick thinking to save our skins." She said
"You really seemed to enjoy that quick thinking."
"Kida please, we have to go."
We all climbed into a pick-up truck, Steve drove while I got into the back seat. We had to go to New Jersey where the files on the flash drive were made to encrypt them. Since it was going to take a few hours I dozed off.
"She's really mad at me." Natasha said, I pretended to be asleep but listened in on the conversation. "I can tell she doesn't trust me."
"She'll get over it, she understands what a person has to do when they're undercover."
"You should've seen that look she gave me, looked like she was going to rip me apart." I could hear Nat move, she most likely turned around to see if I was still sleeping. "Are you still going to ask her?"
"I don't think now is a good time." He replied "I haven't even told Stark yet."
"Steve if you don't do it soon, then when will you?" Natasha asked "You can't put important things like that on hold."
"We're here" The truck to a sharp turn and moved to a bumpy road. I woke up and looked out the window to see an abandoned military base. We walked up to the gate and saw the sign.
CAMP LEHIGH
"Steve, wasn't this the place where you trained in the war?" I asked and he nodded his head.
He slammed his shield onto the lock, breaking it into small pieces of metal. We followed Natasha as she walked to the coordinates where the files came from.
"Kida…"
"Yes?"
"After everything settles down, there's something important we need to talk about." Steve said
"Well if it's so important then why can't we talk about it now?"
"Now isn't a good time, with SHIELD compromised and me being a fugitive. But I promise we'll talk about it soon."
"Alright"
"This is a dead end, no heat signatures, or waves, not even radio." Steve looked up to her and focused on the building behind her. "Whoever wrote the file must've used a router to throw people off. What?"
"Army regulations forbid storing ammunitions within five hundred yards of the barracks. This building is in the wrong place."
We followed him to the large concrete door, I shot it with some magic and it turned to dust. He pushed the door open and found an underground bunker. We walked inside and turned the lights on to see a familiar logo on the wall in front of us.
"This is SHIELD" Nat said
"At least where it started."
We separated and started looking around, I walked inside a room that held all the records and paperwork. On the wall hung three pictures two I recognized as Peggy Carter, and Howard Stark my grandpa. I turned away and started looking around when I noticed a spider's web and dust moving. I placed my hand over it and felt a breeze. I grabbed the shelves tightly and pulled back to reveal an elevator.
"Guys, you should come see this."
When they ran in we took the elevator down to another floor, as we walked in the lights turned on. To reveal an old fashion computer that filled the entire room. Everything was dead until Natasha put the flash drive in and brought the machines back to life. She started typing on the dusty keyboard when a face appeared on the screen.
"Rogers, Steven born 1918." It said then the camera turned to Natasha. "Romanoff, Natalia Alianova born 1984." Then it turned to me. "Stark, Kida born unknown."
"It's some type of recording." Natasha said
"I am no recording, I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am." A mug shot of a man's face appeared on a second screen.
"You know this guy?" I asked
"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked with Red Skull." He slowly walked around the computer. "He's been dead for years."
"First correction I am Swiss, second look around you I have never been more alive. In 1972 I received a terminal diagnosis, scientists could not save my body. But my mind however, that was worth saving. Two hundred thousand feet of databanks you are standing in my brain."
"How did you get here?" I asked
"Operation Paperclip" Natasha said "After WWII SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value."
"All so I could help their cause, I also helped my own."
"Hydra died with Red Skull." Steve said
"Cut off one head, two more shall take it's place."
"Prove it" Steve replied
"Accessing archive, Hydra was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with it's own freedom. What we did not realize was that if you try to take that freedom they resist." Zola said "The war taught us much, humanity needed to surrender it's freedom willingly. After the war SHIELD was founded, and I was recruited. The new Hydra grew a new parasite inside SHIELD, for seventy years Hydra has been secretly feeding crisis. Weeping war and when history did not cooperate, history was changed."
"It's impossible SHIELD would've stopped you." Nat said
"Accidents happen." I noticed on the screen a newspaper headline, Howard and Maria Stark Die in Car Accident. "Hydra created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice it's freedom to gain it's security. Once the purification process is complete, Hydra's new world order will arise. We won Captain, your death amounts to as your life zero sum."
In rage Steve slammed his fist into the screen, but his face appeared again on another screen.
"As I was saying."
"What's on the flash drive?" I asked
"Project Insight, requires insight so I wrote an algorithm."
"What king of algorithm?" Nat asked "What does it do?"
"The answer to your question is fascinating, but unfortunately you shall be too dead to hear it."
We turned and saw metal doors block the elevator, Steve threw his shield hoping to block them but it didn't work. Natasha's phone rang and she pulled it out.
"We got a bogey, short range ballistic thirty seconds tops." She said
"Who fired?" He asked
"SHIELD."
"I am afraid I have been stalling Captain." Zola continued. "Admit it it's better this way, the two of us have both run out of time."
I ran over to a metal bar and lifted it up revealing a hole in the ground to hide. I pulled the two of them down with me. Steve protected Nat while I shielded the three of us with my magic. I closed my eyes as the explosion shook the ground and the fire flew above us. But soon the building started to collapse and rocks fell down and started to bury us.
Once the noise settled I pushed the rocks back and stepped out to the ruins. I looked around and noticed Natasha wasn't moving.
"Natasha, Nat come on." I said, I was able to find a pulse and checked her for any possible broken bones. "She's fine, but she's got a concussion. One of the rocks hit her hard."
"I'll carry her, we got to go now."
He gently picked her up and we took off as SHIELD quinjets flew over the base. We found the pick up truck and took off.
"Where are we going?" I asked as I started to heal Natasha.
"D.C. I know a place where we can lay low."
Chapter Song
A warning to the people, the good and the evil
This is war
To the soldier, the civilian, the martyr, the victim
This is war
-This is War by 30 Seconds to Mars
