how are y'all? I hope we're all okay. as always, enjoy!

TWENTY

They pulled up to an abandoned military base; Gemma guessed it was where the signal led them to.
"This is it," Steve said, turning to look at Natasha.
"The file came from these coordinates," she informed them.
"So did I." Steve turned back around, a frown appearing on his face. Gemma put her hand on his arm briefly before they all got out of the car. "This is the camp where I was trained.
"Change much?" Gemma asked as they started to move around the base, trying to pinpoint where the signal came from.
"A little." Gemma couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the super-soldier; the memories coming back must have been painful, but she kept looking around, as did Natasha.
"This is a dead-end," Natasha said. "Zero heat signature, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off." Both of them saw Steve notice a building ahead of them.
"What is it?" Gemma questioned. She and Natasha shared a look as they headed over.
"Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards of the barracks," he said. "This building is in the wrong place." With his shield, Steve opened the lock. Gemma turned on the light as they entered.
"This is SHIELD," Natasha observed. Somehow, it made Gemma feel nostalgic.
"Maybe where it started," Gemma said, as they came to a stop in front of some portraits. Gemma recognised them as the founders of SHIELD; Howard Stark, Peggy Carter, Colonel Chester Phillips.
"There's Stark's father," Natasha commented.
"Howard," Steve added.
"Peggy Carter," Gemma mentioned, stepping forwards to look at the iconic woman. Gemma had always found her inspiring. She almost missed Steve and Natasha walking away, towards a bookshelf.
"If you're already working in a secret office…" he trailed off, pushing the bookshelf. Gemma took a moment to allow herself to admire how strong he was.
"Why do you need to hide the elevator?" Gemma finished, sharing another look with Natasha as they headed for the elevator. It only had one destination; a room with some very old looking computers.
"This can't be the data point," Natasha muttered. "The technology is ancient."
"Hey," Gemma said, nodding her head to a flash drive port. "Look."
"Good spot, Bloom."
"I can be useful when I want to be." The flash drive woke the computer system. On the screen, the words Initiate system? appeared. Natasha leaned over the keyboard to type.
"Y-E-S spells yes," she muttered. The computer started to crank up more. "Shall we play a game?" She looked over her shoulder where Steve and Gemma were stood.
"We saw that one last week," Steve stated. Gemma grinned. Almost as soon as he said it, an accented voice emerged, supposedly from the computer.
"Rogers, Steven. Born, 1918. Bloom, Gemma Margaret. Born, 1986. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born, 1984." A small moving camera caught their attention. Gemma's hand moved to her knife habitually.
"It's some kind of a recording," Natasha guessed.
"I am not a recording, Fräulein," it corrected. "I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am." The screen showed a photo.
"Do you know this thing?" Natasha muttered to Steve.
"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull," he explained. "He's been dead for years."
"First correction," Zola said. "I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been more alive. In 1972 I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body. My mind, however, that was worth saving on two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain." Gemma scrunched her nose in disgust.
"How did you get here?" Steve inquired.
"Invited," the computer responded.
"It was Operation Paperclip after World War II," Gemma expanded, pulling on her deep knowledge of SHIELD history. "SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value."
"They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own."
"HYDRA died with the Red Skull," Steve said angrily. Gemma gasped gently as she realised what Zola meant.
"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place." HYDRA had been infiltrating SHIELD all this time? Gemma wondered if anyone from the team had been HYDRA, briefly, but thought that couldn't be possible. Lost in thought, Gemma was brought back from her head by Steve angrily smashing the computer screen with his fist. Zola appeared on a different screen.
"As I was saying…"
"What's on this drive?" Steve asked, almost spitting the words out.
"Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm."
"What kind of algorithm?" Natasha inquired. "What does it do?"
"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately," the computer added, "you shall be too dead to hear it." A sudden noise caused them all to turn. It was the doors starting to close; Steve threw his shield but it was too late.
"Guys, we got a bogey," Natasha informed them. "Short-range ballistic. 30 seconds tops."
"Who fired it?" Gemma asked although she felt she already knew the answer.
"SHIELD."
"I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain," Zola said. "Admit it, it's better this way. We're both of us… we're out of time." Steve wasn't listening; he'd noticed a metal door, which he threw aside before he grabbed both the girls and threw them into the hole, following behind and protecting them with his shield. Gemma was immediately filled with fear and a stomach ache. It was both dark and small. She freaked until some light came through. As Steve worked out the rubble, Gemma shifted her arms under Natasha, handing her up to Steve before climbing out herself.
"Stomach ache?" he whispered.
"I could cry," she responded. "Let's go."

"You trust this guy?" Natasha asked, grimacing slightly. Steve was leading them to a safe spot.
"Yeah," Steve responded simply. "Sam's good."
"How'd you meet him?" Gemma inquired.
"Running." They were headed up some stairs. Gemma supposed that this was where his friend lived.
"We'll have something in common," she muttered. Steve knocked, and it was a moment or so before a face appeared at the door.
"Hey, man," Sam greeted.
"I'm sorry about this," Steve said instantly. "We need a place to lay low."
"Everyone we know is trying to kill us," Natasha said. Gemma watched as Sam paused for a moment before stepping aside. They all entered, Sam closing the outside world out.
"What happened to you guys?" he asked, showing them to a bathroom.
"An explosion," Gemma answered. "I'm sorry, do you have coffee? I think I'm withdrawing."
"Sure," Sam said. Gemma nodded ahead to Natasha and Steve, both of whom looked like they needed a moment.
"So, Steve says he met you whilst running? Does he do that annoying thing to you, too?" she asked, taking the offered cup.
"What, on your left?" Sam grinned. "He does."
"Yeah, he does not stop that," Gemma informed him. She heard some water running in the bathroom.
"How do you know Steve?" Sam asked. He started to move around his kitchen, making food.
"We kinda work together," Gemma said. "You know, Avengers. I'm pretty sure I'm the babysitter."
"They need babysitters?" Sam inquired incredulously. "They're the freaking Avengers, and they need babysitters?"
"They fight like children," Gemma told him, sitting in one of the chairs. "And behave like children. It's needed."
"Okay, okay, I've got more questions about the Avengers." Gemma laughed.
"I've got plenty of embarrassing blackmail to share." Gemma looked down the hallway where Steve and Natasha were, deciding they'd had enough of a moment. "Before I do, I just want to check they're not having a mental breakdown."
"That's cool. I'm just happy I get to tell people I helped Captain America hide as a fugitive," Sam commented. Gemma got up of her chair, grinning.
"I get to tell people I've kissed Captain America." She headed down the hall, actually buzzing with the excitement of saying that. She'd kissed Captain America. More than once. Although that was not the focus here.
"Hey, guys, we okay?" Gemma asked, leaning against the doorframe. The conversation the duo was having looked pretty intense. Again.
"Your boyfriend seems pretty chipper for someone who just found out he died for nothing," Natasha said, throwing Steve a look. Before Gemma could correct her, Steve held his hand up.
"I told her," he said. Natasha shrugged.
"I needed a win today and now I do," Natasha said. "I won the three-way bet Clint, Tony and I had going on."
"Wait, there was a bet?" Steve said.
"I told you there was a bet," Gemma said, grinning.
"I made breakfast," Sam interrupted. "If you guys eat that sort of thing?"
"They do," Gemma told him. "Let's go eat."

Sam could make a decent breakfast, as it turned out. Gemma thoroughly enjoyed her scrambled eggs.
"So, the question is," Natasha started to say, handing the rest of her coffee to Gemma, "who in SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?"
"Pierce," Steve answered simply.
"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world," Gemma added, frowning.
"But he's not working alone. Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star," Steve said.
"So was Jasper Sitwell," Natasha added.
"So, we should be asking, how do the three most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?" Gemma asked. She felt it sounded sarcastic.
"The answer is you don't," Sam intervened. He dropped a file on the table.
"What's this?" Steve asked, scooting towards Gemma as she picked up the file. Natasha hovered behind her.
"Call it a resume," Sam said. Natasha picked the photo up.
"Is this Bakhmala?" she questioned incredulously. "The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you. You didn't say he was a para-rescue."
"Is this Riley?" Steve indicated towards the photo.
"Yeah."
"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs," Natasha continued. "What did you use, a stealth chute?"
"No. These." Sam indicated towards the file in Gemma's hand. Gemma opened it.
"I thought you said you were a pilot." Steve looked up at Sam, who shook his head.
"I never said pilot." Steve sighed, and Gemma knew what was coming.
"I can't ask you to do this, Sam," he said. "You got out for a good reason."
"Dude," Sam interrupted. "Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in." He shared a look with Gemma, referencing their earlier conversation.
"Well, where can we get our hands on one of these?" Gemma inquired.
"The last one is at Fort Meade," Sam informed them, "behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall." Gemma could practically feel Natasha's grin.
"Shouldn't be a problem," Steve said, before turning to Gemma.
"Oh, no, don't start on me," she warned. "Should've thought about inviting me before we became fugitives."
"Actually, it was Natasha who invited you and you're a civ-"
"Civilian my ass." Gemma clapped her hands. "Let's go steal some military equipment!"