Chapter 6 – Hydra
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my own OC.
Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Cecilia Evans Stark all got off at an abandoned army base. It was very dark, ancient looking. Steve walked around remembering the time he spent there as a recruit.
"This is it," said Steve.
"The file came from these coordinates," said Natasha, looking up from her Stark pad.
"So did I," Steve said gravely, in remembrance, "This camp is where I was trained."
Lifting her head from the pad, Natasha asked offhandedly, "Changed much?"
"A little," he shrugged.
"Now, this place truly resembles history. Stevey, tell me things about this place. Did the army nurses have puffy hair? Did the soldiers all have your hairstyle?" Ceci pestered Steve.
Steve, however, only stared at the supposed to be his old training camp, lost in time. He seemed to have not heard her but soon after, he responded, "My Sergeant once said, 'Pick up the pace, ladies! Let's go! Let's go" Double time! Come on Rogers, move it!'" he took a deep breath, chuckling unbelievably, " 'Come on! Fall in! Rogers! I said fall in!'" He reminisced.
Natasha did not pay attention to the two, instead, she said with a hint of annoyance in her tone, "This is a dead end. Zero heat signature, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the files must have used a router to throw people off."
Ceci shrugged, while she started to activate her earpiece scanner.
"Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards of the barracks. This building is in the wrong place." Steve said. Ceci turned and stared at said storage, scanning briefly.
"Miss Ceci, there seems to be a large network of technology underneath you," Hon said.
"Thank you, Hon," said Ceci, earning her puzzled gazes from Steve and Nat. They were fairly curious to her talking to thin air.
"That's why I invented written command protocols," she breathed, "I'm talking to my A.I, Hon."
They nodded, of course, she was talking to her A.I, how could they be so stupid and not realize, she was a Stark, after all, daughter of the genius Tony Stark and granddaughter of the also genius, Howard Stark.
Steve walked over to the doors of a half cylinder shaped building attached to the ground. It looked very weird. He cracked open the lock with his shield. Ceci had to admit that that was pretty cool. They entered inside.
When the lights turned on as they walked deeper into the place, the large area lit up showing a large SHIELD logo on the walls around them. Everything, tables, chairs, lights were covered with dust, spiderwebs. Ceci couldn't help but sneeze each time she took a breath. Nat looked at her fondly like a mother to her child.
"This is SHIELD," Natasha said.
"Maybe where it started, " Steve said meaningfully.
All three of them came to the front of a wall with fine old framed portraits of Howard Stark, Peggy Carter, and Col. Chester Philips.
"There's Stark's father," Nat said.
Ceci concentrated at the picture, raising her hand at the portrait, "My grandfather?" she wiped the picture with her telekinesis power. The picture cleared, showing a charming man in his 30s with a well-trimmed mustache and the same eyes that she had with her father. The hair of the man also looked extremely like her fathers. She was sure it was untamed naturally.
"He looks just like my dad," she said.
"He does," agreed Steve, "You have his eyes and hair too." He turned to look at her. "Howard."
While they were lost in thought staring at the portrait of Stark, Nat has already started to examine the other pictures lining the walls.
"Who's the girl?" she asked.
They looked over, Ceci raised her arms to wipe the picture too. It was a woman of a square face, strong features, and eccentrically tinted lips. She looked very much in power.
Steve stared deeply into the woman's eyes and turned away without a reply. He turned away and walked further down the room and stopped by a massive bookshelf.
Ceci continued to examine the pictures and followed Steve.
"If you're already working in a secret office…why do you need to hide the elevator?" he pulled the bookshelf and slid it open to reveal an elevator behind it.
"Wow, this is secret spy stuff, very nicely done SHIELD, organization holding secrets and then secrets held from the organization of secrets," Ceci said.
"Stay alert okay Ceci?" asked Nat, with concern on her eyes. She never showed anyone else this concern except for her.
Ceci nodded, understanding her fears.
When they traveled down the elevators, they were taken to a room with old looking computers.
Ceci looked the room over, awed at the advanced technology present in the room for its era. "Impressive."
"This can't be the data-point, this technology is ancient," Natasha commented. She noticed the small flash drive port, she placed the flash drive in it which then activated the ancient computer in the room.
On the computer screen showed: Initiate system?
Natasha typed "Y-E-S, spells yes." As Steve and Ceci came over, "shall we play a game?" she grinned, "It's from a movie that.." she said looking jokingly to Steve.
"Yeah, I saw it. " he cut her off.
Suddenly an accented voice spook around them. Ceci immediately rushed to the computer when all systems started to activate.
"Come on, control override, "She muttered.
"Why are you so nervous? It's just a computer." Nat said.
"Roger, Steven. Born, 1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born, 1984," an old camera surveyed the room, "Cecilia, Evans Stark. Born, 2002. Hydra's 2nd best experiment."
Ceci immediately froze, eyes glazing over, recognizing the voice, she started to shiver violently. The temperature in the room lowering to critical levels, loose objects around the room started to vibrate.
Natasha quickly pulled her behind her, away from the computer screens while Steve stepped in front of the two protectively simultaneously glancing at Ceci worriedly.
The screens of the computer showed a small clip of a young girl strapped to a lab bench, Doctors holding tubes of different colored liquids, machines attached to the girl, powers surging them. It was Cecilia, at a very young age.
"Her amazing abilities will be enhanced to become so much more for mankind, with the power of the tesseract, she will be nothing anyone has ever seen before. The stone of power, mind, reality, time, and space's power have been extracted and will be injected into the young subject, young Stark, who has been observed to be susceptible to the stones." The voice of the computer said, stroking the teary face of the 9-year-old child, "Subject has currently been drugged to deactivate all her abilities. Each injection will be followed by electric zaps. Soon, my beautiful one will become the best weapon of Hydra. Hail Hydra!" he said.
The little girl started to struggle, her hazelnut curled hair pooled around her and soon, she started to struggle, as one of the doctors prepared the large syringe, she kicked and flailed her arms, but nothing happened, they punched her in the gut once, causing her to fade out of consciousness, when a surge of pain coursed through her bloodstream, her eyes burned open, becoming a hollow beam of brilliant purple, the veins under her skin shone purple, almost exploding. Her screams getting louder and louder and more hysterical than ever. Her fists clenched so hard, blood oozed from the tips of her nails.
Her head was pounding so painfully, agonizingly slow process. She gasped for air. The constraints on her arms becoming tight, then there were no constraints, broken into million pieces. She faded out of consciousness before she could escape, she collapsed. The pain still torturing her insides.
"It's okay, it's alright. You're fine with me. Little baby.
Люли, люли, люленьки,
Где вы, где вы, гуленьки? - Where are you, little doves?
Прилетайте на кровать, - Come descend upon the bed
Начинайте ворковать. - Start to growl at little lad.
Люли, люли, люленьки,
Прилетели гуленьки. - There comes my little doves.
Сели в изголовьице -
Спи-ка на здоровьице. - There sit they at your head,
Стали гули ворковать -
Стала доча засыпать. - Wee-wee sleep my little lad.
Come back to me now." She whispered the last part into her ears while combing her hands through her hair.
Ceci took a deep breath, feeling the temperature rising around the room. "I'm okay now. Thank you, Aunty Nat."
"It's some kind of a recording only," Nat said.
"I am not a recording, Fräulein," said the irritated and offended voice, "I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am."
The computer monitor showed an old photo of Dr. Arnim Zola.
"Do you know this thing?" she turned to Steve looking semi-disgusted.
"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years." Steve said with certainty.
Ceci removed herself from Nat and turned to start working on the computer.
"Hon search the IP address."
"First correction, 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." The computer said.
"Miss Ceci, the IP address points to this location."
"You are standing in my brain." It said as if for dramatic effect, the lights on the screen become brighter.
"How did you get here?" voiced Steve.
"Invited." Dr. Zola answered shortly.
"It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value." Nat said.
"They thought I could help their cause." He said ignoring Nat, "I also helped my own." He said triumphantly.
"HYDRA died with the Red Skull," Steve said convinced.
"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place." He said matter-of-factly.
"Prove it." Said Steve menacingly.
"Accessing archive." The computer-ish sound said.
The computer brought up footage of Johann Schmidt, a.k.a. the Red Skull, the original SHIELD founders each picture featured Zola in it.
Dr. Zola narrated, "HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside SHIELD. For seventy years HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed."
The faces of Ceci, Nat, and Steve turned to disgusted looks.
"That's impossible, SHIELD would have stopped you," Nat said, her voice wavering.
"Accidents will happen." He said, the computer screen showed them hydra had killed Howard and Maria Stark making it look like a car accident along with the recent death of Fury.
"No!" Ceci exclaimed. Shaking in rage, fire burning through her eyes, steam emerged from her whole form. She was like a volcano about to erupt. Her grandparents, herself, Steve, Uncle Fury, they were all victims of Hydra, and they invested everything into SHIELD. "You killed my grandparents!" she screamed murder, melting the part where she clutched the table.
"HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your Life; a zero sum." It continued.
Steve couldn't take it anymore, his life, his legacy, his sacrifice did not change anything. He smashed the nearest screen with his fist.
"As I was saying..." it wanted to continue but Steve beat him to it, "What's on this drive?"
"Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm."
"What kind of algorithm? What does it do?" Nat demanded.
"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it."
Suddenly the doors started to close, Steve tried to stop them by throwing his shield in between the closing doors, but he was too late. Ceci tried to freeze the doors with her freeze beams, she was also too late.
"Miss Ceci, incoming short-range ballistic." She looked alarmed.
"Steve, we got a bogey, 30 seconds tops." Said Nat.
"Who fired it?" he asked.
"SHIELD." Said Nat.
"I'm afraid I have been stalling, Captain. Admit it, it's better this way. We're both of us… out of time." He said victoriously.
Steve notices a small opening on the ground, he rips the metal door aside and just as the place exploded, he threw himself and Nat into the hole and protected them with the shield.
"Ceci!" Nat cried.
Ceci landed on top of them, holding up her own force field, shielding them better from the blast.
When the blast cleared, Ceci carefully retracted her shield, beckoning Steve to follow her with Nat knocked out cold.
Ceci still had a considerable sum of money. She brought them clothes off of someone they saw and headed for the one place they SHIELD didn't know about them.
Ceci brought a car off of someone off the streets, said person miraculously happened to be a Russian dealer with no license plate.
"Perfect!" before Steve jumped behind the wheel to show his amazing driving skills and Ceci tried to warm Nat up with her powers, soothing her mild concussion. She helped her get some sleep too.
They headed back into the City.