Chapter 12: The Awakening

Nick Fury, director of the secret spy organization, S.H.I.E.L.D. walked into a computer laboratory, wanting an update on the data Black Widow obtained from Gorgon Castle.

"Please tell me I didn't just come up here for no reason." He declared as he entered the room.

"You're just in time, sir." Maria Hill told him, looking up from where she was standing. "Skye just finished decrypting the HYDRA files."

"Tell me what you got Skye." Fury ordered.

"Not that much, actually." Skye reported, her eyes never leaving the screen. "We've got weapons schematics, shipping manifests, but most of the data was scrubbed clean."

"Romanoff said there was something about Project Rebirth on the mainframe." Fury reminded her. "Any mention of that?"

"There is some mention of an ongoing search, but it seems that HYDRA's had just about as much luck as-"

A red light flashed on Skye's screen, drawing her attention. Her eyes narrowed, and her fingers became a blur of motion.

"Okay… this is spooky."

"What is it?" Fury asked.

"Remember when I made that bet with Fitz that he couldn't hack into HYDRA's communications network?" she asked.

"Well, he won the bet, and I've been using his algorithm to keep tabs on them. Now, the feeds going completely haywire. More chatter than there's been since Strucker built that crazy arm of his."

"Any of it we should be worried about?"

"Hang on, I'll filter it through, see what we can make out." Skye declared.

She typed out a few commands, then flipped a switch to turn on the speakers.

"Zis interruption better be important." Strucker told his subordinates.

"Herr Strucker, our scouting operation vas a success." one of the agents replied. "Ve found ze Tesseract."

Skye's eyes went wide, and hers weren't the only ones, Hill was completely dumbfounded, and Fury looked like someone had just shot him.

"Shit..." he cursed.

"Zat is not all." the agent to continued.

"Oh?" Strucker asked. "What else?"

"Ve recovered Captain America's body."

The clipboard Hill had been holding fell from her grasp, Skye's jaw dropped, and Fury just cursed again.

"Shit."

"Zis is fortunate news." Strucker admitted. "Hold your position. I am on my way."

The transmission ended, Skye slowly reaching to turn the speakers off. For a second, the entire lab was quiet. Then, Fury broke the silence.

"Do we have any idea where that transmission was coming from?" Fury asked.

Skye blinked, then shook her head to clear her thoughts. She did some typing, bringing up a map.

"Looks like the transmission originated from the arctic ocean, not far off the coast of Greenland."

"Hill, get Barton and Romanov a raiding party and retrieve the Captain's body as well as the cube."

Hill recovered her clipboard, regaining herself as she gave Fury a salute.

"Yes sir." Hill replied.

On the HYDRA sub, Baron Strucker had finally arrived. As he walked down the subs long corridor, he was greeted by a few HYDRA soldiers.

"Vhat is the status of the Tesseract?" Strucker inquired.

"We are keeping it secure on the submarine." one of the soldiers answered.

"And ze Captain?"

"He is being thawed out as we speak." another soldier told him. "And we have taken his shield to one of the onboard laboratories for analysis."

"Excellent." Strucker replied. "Once ze Captain is fully defrosted, begin extracting his DNA so ve may reproduce the super soldier serum."

"Yes sir!" the agent replied, giving Strucker the HYDRA salute.

"With both the Tesseract and the Captain's DNA in our possession, we will obtain a level of power not even the Red Skull could have conceived. Hail HYDRA!"

"Hail HYDRA!" the soldiers shouted back.

...

In one of the laboratories, two HYDRA scientists had just finished thawing out Captain America from the ice. Once he was fully thawed, one of the scientists took a syringe and extracted some of the Captain's blood.

"It is amazing how well preserved he is after all these years." the scientists commented.

"Indeed." his companion agreed. "If I didn't know any better, I would say the good Captain was still alive."

"If he were," the first one responded. "Imagine his shock, knowing his final act would be to aid the rise of HYDRA."

Unbeknownst to them, the Captain had been slowly stirring the entire time they were talking. At the mention of his old enemy, he finally snapped awake.

"Bucky!" he screamed, gaining the attention of the scientists.

Before they could react however, Cap kicked one of them away and grabbed the other one by the arm, flipping him onto the table he had been laying on. He took a good look at the scientist's uniform and saw the HYDRA insignia on it.

"HYDRA." he said under his breath. "Where have you taken me?! Where's Bucky?!"

"Who?" the scientist asked.

Ticked off by his answer, he knocked the scientist out and let him fall to the ground. He then ran out of the lab and into the hallway. The scientist scurried to his feet, grabbing an intercom speaker and jamming his finger on the button.

"Red alert! Red alert!" he screamed. "Captain America is awake! Repeat! Captain America is awake!

Miles away in a S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet, Natasha and Clint prepared themselves for the oncoming fight before them.

"I can't believe HYDRA found Cap before us." Clint let out.

"I can't believe they found him at all." Natasha commented. "It's been what, 72 years since he went under?"

"And S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't stopped looking for him since." Clint retorted.

"Still, the odds of finding him, even before the 72-year time lapse, were slim to none."

"Slim or not, it happened." Clint retorted. "We just have to trip up HYDRA on their victory lap."

"Then why are we standing around here gossiping like a bunch of school girls?" Nat asked.

"Still another five minutes out." Clint reminded.

"That's five minutes the Captain doesn't have." Nat replied. "I mean, for all we know, HYDRA's probably draining his body dry."

...

On the sub, Cap was in one of the labs bashing his way through several HYDRA agents. As one started shooting at him, he rolled over to a nearby table and grabbed a tray laying on top of it. He then threw the tray at the HYDRA soldier, knocking him to the ground. He then walked over to a containment device holding his shield and pulled it out.

"I'll be taking my shield back now." he said to the unconscious HYDRA soldiers. "It needs to be cleaned."

As he slipped his shield onto his arm, he heard a slow clapping emanating from behind him. He turned quickly, shield up on instinct to see an old man approaching him. The man was bald and had a monocle over his left eye. His right arm up to his elbow was metal, the fingers coming to a sharp point. He was wearing a green suit with the HYDRA insignia on the lapel, and a cruel grin on his face.

"I must say, you do not disappoint." The man said, ceasing his clapping. "Ze Red Skull vasn't kidding vhen he said you vere ze best ze American's had."

"And yet, you look like every other goose stepper I've taken down." Cap retorted.

"Oh, I assure you Captain," the man began to reply. "You vill find I am different zen most.

"Somehow I doubt that." Cap responded.

With that, Strucker ran at Captain America, swinging his metal gauntlet at him. Cap quickly backed stepped away from every swipe, avoiding the attacks. Cap retorted by elbowing him in the face, sending him stumbling back. Cap ran towards him, meaning to attack him again, but Strucker quickly backhanded him with his gauntlet, knocking him to the ground.

"Impressive isn't it?" Strucker asked. "I call it ze Satan Claw. It has helped me reduce any who oppose HYDRA to dust."

Cap groaned a bit as he started getting back up.

"If you're trying to scare me, it's not working." Cap told him.

"I have no intention to scare you Captain." Strucker replied. "I intend to finish vat ze Red Skull started so long ago!"

As Strucker lunged forward meaning to attack Cap with the claw, Cap spun around him and pushed him into a nearby control console. As the claw made contact with the console, electricity began sparking and spreading throughout the sub. Red lights began to pulsate throughout the sub as another HYDRA agent got on the intercom.

"Red alert! Red alert!" The agent called out. "Internal systems have been compromised! We must surface!"

Hearing that, Cap took this opportunity to bolt out of the lab. After running down a bit of hallway, Cap came across a ladder leading out of the sub. He then proceeded to climb up it.

...

Outside, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet finally pulled up to the coordinates just as the HYDRA submarine came up to the surface.

"Hey, looks like they were expecting us." Clint retorted.

Natasha glanced down at the sub, her eyes narrowing.

"Clint, get your bow ready." she told him, reaching for her guns on her belt. "I think someone's coming out."

As Clint readied his bow and Natasha her guns, the hatch opened and, much to their surprise, Captain America came climbing out.

"No. Freakin. Way." Clint let out.

"It can't be..."

"Captain America is alive." they both said at the same time.

Fury, who was listening on the other end of their communicators blinked for a second, trying to process what they'd said.

"I think there's a bad connection on this com." Fury spoke up. "I thought you said Captain America is alive."

"Fury, I'm staring a 6-foot 4 man in a Captain America suit straight from the history reels, wielding a large shield like a frisbee." Clint argued. "If that ain't the Cap, then I'll hang up my bow."

"Then get your asses down there and get him out of there!" Fury demanded.

"Like you have to ask." Natasha responded.

Clint fired a zipline arrow down to the sub and he and Nat slid down it.

Down on the sub, several HYDRA agents were climbing out to detain Cap, but he just punched and bashed them away with his shield. He brought his shield up to block some machine gun fire before throwing at the soldier, taking him out. As the shield sailed around the sub taking out HYDRA agents, he punched out another agent and kicked another one into three others. As he grabbed his shield, he was starting to get surrounded by HYDRA agents.

"It's over Captain!" One of the agents shouted.

"Not while I'm still conscious." Cap retorted.

"That can easily change." the agent threatened.

Just then, an arrow struck the agent in the face, taking him out. Cap looked up to see Clint and Natasha zipping down towards him. They both landed on him as they opened fire on the HYDRA forces. Cap raised an eyebrow in confusion as a woman in a skin tight catsuit and a man with bow and arrow came to his aid.

"Who are you two?" he asked, knocking away another HYDRA soldier.

"Short answer, we're the good guys Captain." the woman replied. "I'm Black Widow, that's Hawkeye. We're here to help."

"Nice to meet you Cap." Hawkeye told him letting loose another arrow.

Back inside the sub, Strucker saw the state of the battle on the surface and decided to cut his losses and reached for a communicator on his belt.

"S.H.I.E.L. D has found us sooner zen expected." he said into the communicator. "Ve need to pull out. Secure the Tesseract and prepare for departure."

Back on the roof of the sub, Cap, Widow, and Hawkeye had finished taking care of the rest of the HYDRA agents.

"Well that takes care of them." Hawkeye declared, sliding his bow back into his quiver.

"This isn't all of them though." Cap told them. "There the one I fought in the sub. The own with the metal arm. He seemed to oversee this whole thing."

"Strucker." Widow cursed. "He's on the sub?"

"Yeah." he answered. "Had a little tussle with him which forced us to surface."

"Clint, get the Captain onto the Quinjet." she ordered. "I'll go after the Baron."

Clint nodded as Widow went into the sub after Strucker.

"Think she'll be alright on her own?" Cap asked.

Clint just snorted.

"Cap, let me put it this way." he explained. "If there's one person in the world you don't need to worry about, it's Nat."

Inside the sub, Strucker made a beeline for an escape pod.

"Strucker!" Widow yelled, causing Strucker to freeze in his tracks. "By order of S.H.I.E.L.D., you are under arrest!"

Strucker began raising his hands, before quickly grabbing his gun and opening fire on Widow. She quickly ducked the shots before springing towards Strucker. She then kicked the gun out of his hand as she landed on the ground. She then scooped up the gun for herself, aiming it right at him.

"Stand down now." she demanded.

Strucker stood still for a moment, then grabbed the gun with his claw and crushed it. He then flung Widow aside before turning back towards the escape pod.

"Sorry to depart so suddenly Agent Romanoff," he replied stepping inside. "But business demands require my immediate attention. I'm sure you understand."

She launched herself at the pod, hitting it just as the door closed. Through the small window into the pod, she watched as Strucker waved goodbye before ejecting the pod. She punched the metal of the doors angrily, cursing in Russian.

A little bit later, Natasha made it back up top where Clint and Cap were.

"What happened?" Clint asked.

"Strucker got away." she lamented. "Escaped in a pod before I could arrest him."

"Damn." Clint let out.

"So, what do we do now?" Cap asked.

"Now we get you back to headquarters." Clint told him.

Natasha nodded, then placed two fingers to her ear.

"Fury, this is Widow. We need pick up for three."

"Roger that Widow." Fury replied.

Just then, a low rumbling engine sound began to approach their location. Both Clint and Natasha looked up, Cap following their gaze. That's when he laid eyes on something straight out of a science fiction novel. A large aircraft carrier hovering in the sky with four turbines stabilizing it and what looked like rocket engines in the back propelling it forward.

"What the hell?" Cap asked in astonishment.

"We've got a lot to catch you up on." Clint remarked.

...

The three quickly made their way on board, Cap's face an unbreakable mask of shock and awe. As they made their way deeper into the helicarrier, every person they passed stopped what they were doing to stare. Many even started clapping and cheering as the Cap passed. Finally, they made it to the bridge, where Nick Fury was waiting for them.

"Well as I live and breathe." Fury remarked. "Captain America."

"Do I know you?" Cap asked, still as confused as ever.

"My name is Nick Fury," he introduced. "Director of the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division. We prefer to call it S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Sounds like the Strategic Scientific Reserve." Cap remarked.

"Well that's because it was the Strategic Scientific Reserve." Fury told him.

"At least until Agent Carter changed it." a female voice interjected.

Captain America turned to see a woman walking towards the group. She had blonde hair tied up in a bun and a dark suit that resembled Natasha's. Fury gave her a smile, then turned to Cap.

"Captain, this is Agent 13. She'll be your handler until you can get adjusted to everything."

"Anything you need, any questions you have, just come to me." she told him.

"No offense, but why would I need a handler?" Cap asked.

13 winced a bit, her rigid stance fading a bit.

"Cap… there's no easy way to say this..." She began.

"You've been asleep Cap." Fury cut off. "For more than seventy years."

Cap's shield instantly dropped out of his hand and onto the floor. 13 stepped forward, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Steve." she said softly. "I know this is a lot to take in."

"I… I just need some time." Steve responded.

He then proceeded to walk out of the bridge, Agent 13 following suit. This just left Widow, Hawkeye, and Fury.

"Sir, while we were able to rescue the Captain, the Cube was lost to us." Clint began.

"If I had to wager a guess, I'd say Strucker had it when he escaped." Natasha surmised.

"Well that's just great." Fury lamented.

"So, what do we do now?" Clint asked.

"... we start recruitment." Fury answered.

"Sir, are you sure that's a good idea?" Clint asked, having a good idea what Fury was up to. "The names you're suggesting aren't exactly what I would call a 5-star lineup."

"Maybe so," Fury admitted. "But they may also be our only defense against this threat."

Clint let out a sigh of defeat before speaking again.

"Alright. I'll take the kid then." he declared.

"You do that." Fury replied. "Romanoff, you handle the big guy."

Natasha snorted.

"Your sending me after Stark? You know he trusts me about as far as he can throw me."

"Oh no, I've got Coulson on Stark." Fury corrected. "You get the big guy."

"Natasha froze in her tracks, realizing what Fury meant.

"Bozhe moi." she cursed.

...

And now, it's time to assemble the team.