Chapter 3:

"Herr Strucker, are you sure about this?" List paced the floor of the bunker, agitated. He held his hands behind his back, looking at the computer screen every so often.

"Relax, Doctor, it doesn't mean anything. He'll be here in a bit. Just give him some time." Strucker was sitting on a chair, his legs on the desk, a cigar in his mouth. He was looking at the computer screens as well, with a lazy expression across his face. List saw this, and sighed inwardly. This was not a matter which should be taken lightly. He expressed this to Strucker, who gave a chuckle.

"Listen, doctor. Steve Rogers is our oldest enemy, loyal to those Americans from the very beginning. It is natural that he is able to fight back the control of the mind-invasion device. Besides, his warning didn't affect his actions at all. He rendered the Avengers immobile, for the time being." Strucker leant back, looking at the computer screen, which flickered, and gave a beep, with a purple symbol playing across it. "Ah, he is here. Open the door, doctor."

List walked forward to the control panel, and pressed a button. There was a single beep all around them, and the door behind them opened. Strucker and List looked behind at the door, and laughed.

Steve Rogers was standing at the door, holding his shield, helmet on, with a blank expression behind it. He walked in, and stood right in front of Strucker, who stood up, grinning maniacally.

"At your service, Herr Strucker." Steve looked at Strucker, with his eyes bloodshot, still showing disgust, darting from List to Strucker.

"You did a good job, Rogers. After all, rendering Thor unconscious and breaking the Black Widow's will is not an easy task. I have a feeling, though," At this Strucker glanced at List, "that it wasn't your best display of strength." Strucker walked over to List, and patted him on the shoulder.

"Doctor, here you see our Super Soldier. His task is to mislead the Avengers, and acquire their assets, which include Arc Reactors, all of the technology in their suits, and control of at least one more person either part of or working in close quarters with the Avengers." Strucker glanced back at Steve, then back at List. "I want you to tell him how to do just that, invade the Avengers from the inside."

Strucker walked away, and sat back down at the chair. He looked at List expectantly, who rubbed his hands together. "Let us get started, Captain."


"This is Bruce Banner. We need medical assistance immediately. Widow, Thor and Stark are down." Bruce stood up from where Natasha had fainted, and ran over to Tony, who's faceplate had torn off from the impact of Cap's shield. He was also unconscious, his arc reactor beeping.

"The hell happened here?" Maria Hill walked out from inside the Tower, and ran over to Bruce, who stood up, shaking his head.

"Steve went crazy. Simple as that." He walked over to Natasha again, as more people came with medical equipment towards him.

"Come on, Banner, there's a reason that he beat all of you single-handedly. And top of that, why would he do that?"

"Because he wasn't Steve Rogers."

Hill and Bruce looked behind them in surprise, and saw Tony sit up behind them, just coming to. His face was bruised, but his expression was hardened. He looked at Bruce, then at Natasha on the ground, shaking his head.

"That man, that just fought us, that wasn't old Cap. This was a mind-controlled, ruthless freak." Tony spat out some blood, then looked back up at Bruce and Hill.

"He did seem a bit off when I saw him after you guys returned." Hill went over to Tony helping him up, taking him over to the medical crew. Tony spoke into his helmet, and ejected out of his now ruined suit.

"Not just that, when he was having that seizure right before he went all berserker mode, his chest was glowing purple. You didn't see that?" Tony looked at Bruce, who shook his head. Hill dropped Tony at the stairs, and a medic came over to him, bandaging his arm up.

"I was too busy looking at his veins all popping out and his face, he looked about ready to explode to hell." Bruce picked up Natasha, and carried her over to another waiting medic.

Tony shook his head yet again. "All I know is that something happened to him recently, that's why he went full Weapon X on us." He gave a groan as the medic finished bandaging his arms, moving on to finish his face.


A day later, someone stirred in their bed. Thor woke up with a start, sitting up straight, breathing heavily. He looked around him, and saw he was no longer in the living room with Steve Rogers or any of the Avengers. He was lying in a hospital bed, and saw a figure sleeping right next to him.

Erik Selvig, Thor's scientist friend, was sleeping on a couch next to Thor's bed. He gave a grunt, and suddenly opened his eyes. He looked at Thor blearily, then rubbing his eyes, addressed him.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Thor." He stood up and shook hands with Thor, who grabbed his hand warmly.

"Erik, my friend! Nice to see you!." He looked down at himself after Selvig had sat down, and sighed.

Thor was covered in bandages, and could feel a sort of plaster on his face. His whole body was tingling, and it was very uncomfortable.

"Where exactly are we, Selvig?" Thor laid back down onto his bed, feeling, for the first time in a long time, tired.

"Uh, Seoul, I think. Some high tech hospital or something." Erik's face showed a bemused expression as well, indicating no one had actually told him of what was actually going on. "What happened to your face?"

Thor sighed yet again. "Alas, it is not a story I want to believe in." Thor looked at Selvig, lost in his thoughts, trying to piece together what had gone down in Avengers Tower. "One of the people whom I had developed a respect for betrayed us all. I am talking about Steven Rogers."

"Uh, w… what? Captain America?" Selvig's expression was a mix between scepticism and disbelief.

"Yes."

Selvig looked down at his feet, then opened his mouth, then closed it again, apparently thinking how to react to this news.

"Why? Did he not like you guys anymore, or what? Judging from you face's condition, it wasn't a sparring match."

"I have no idea. My memory fails me, all I remember is he knocked out Natasha, then went straight for his shield. I think he knocked me out with that, then tried to kill the others. Is Banner fine?" Thor looked at Selvig, who nodded.

"Well, Manhattan hasn't been smashed by an angry green blob, so I'm guessing he controlled himself."

The door opened, and a female figure walked in. Maria Hill, Thor noticed, was not injured, so he deduced that she had not intervened in the fight between the comrades.

"You're finally awake, Thor. Just so you know, the fight took place yesterday, and you're in Doctor Cho's lab in Seoul." She sat down at a chair across from Selvig and faced him.

"What is this… thing… on my face?

"Portable tissue regeneration mask. One of Doctor Cho's inventions."

Thor nodded. This explained the tingling on his face.

"Onto the reason I came here. Stark told me to tell you what's gonna happen. He says that Cap was taken under control by someone when he went missing for a while on your previous mission." She leaned back in her chair, looking straight at Thor. "We have reason to believe it was Wolfgang Von Strucker, who wasn't found by any of you or the authorities. Cap was raiding the base of H.Y.D.R.A at that time. It also seems that one of the enhanced individuals helped Strucker do whatever they did to Rogers."

Thor, who had been looking at the ground, deep in thought, looked up. "So what, are we preparing an offensive?"

"More of a search party. We need to find and subdue Rogers, and find Strucker along with Doctor List to put an end to H.Y.D.R.A."

"And what about the enhanced? You said there was more than one?"

At this, Hill looked at a screen she pulled out from inside a folder, glancing at it before replying to Thor. "Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. Two orphaned twins found in H.Y.D.R.A's files, two successful experiments by Strucker. Romanoff, Barton and Rogers all encountered at least the boy. He's got increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis."

Thor looked bewildered at this, with an extremely puzzled look thrown at Hill. Selvig, whom Thor had forgotten even was present, nodded his understanding and simplified it for him.

"So he's fast. By how much, Agent?

Hill glanced at him before responding. "We've witnessed him at around Mach 3, but the files claim he can achieve Mach 7 without any problems. Seems like he was going easy at you guys."

"What about the girl? What powers does she have?" Thor joined back into the conversation.

"From what we can tell, she has neural electric interfacing, telekinesis and mental manipulation." Thor looked at her again, and she rephrased quickly. "She can warp minds."

Thor nodded again, then, looking down, said his next statement in a very grave tone. "No one could have foreseen this, all of us fighting an honorary warrior which we considered to be our friend. I believe he is still our friend."

"A good friend, as breaking bones and smashing someone's face to bits is what a good friend does." Hill smiled slightly, though still looked serious.

"He gave us a warning. More than one. First, when he told the doctor not to come to the base. Later, at the last second, he endured unbearable pain to tell us to run." Thor looked up at Hill again. "Steve Rogers, the good Steve Rogers, continues to live as the host of that ruthless parasite that has taken over him."

"Then you're gonna need all the help you can get." Selvig spoke up yet again. "I think I can help you get rid of whatever's controlling him."

Thor nodded again, then addressed Hill. "We need to get everyone safe. If Steve was harsh on us, people he knows, then I don't want to imagine what he'll do to those he doesn't. Make sure everyone in the world is alarmed to the fact of his escape."

Hill nodded, then stood up, ready to leave the room. Right at the door, she turned back to face Selvig. "Oh, if you want to help us be ready for Rogers when the time comes, I might as well take you to Stark. He'll make sure you do something useful on the sidelines.

Selvig stood up, nodding, and walked over to Thor.

"It was nice to see you, Thor, I'll make sure to do as much as I can."

"Farewell, Erik. I bid you good luck on whatever you will do to assist us." Thor shook Selvig's hand, and laid back onto his pillow to take a short rest. Selvig followed Hill, and right before closing the door behind him, glanced at Thor. Under his breath, he muttered out his next remark.

"We're counting on you, buddy."