Chapter 15: Hail HYDRA
With the jet down for the count, and only three members of their party with flight capacity, the trek towards the German castle quickly proved to be an arduous one. Spidey tried to make do by swinging from tree to tree, but the others were forced to trudge along through the forest.
"I hate to sound like that nagging kid on a road trip," Spidey spoke up. "But how much further until we get there?"
"According to JARVIS, the castle's another mile north east of us." Tony answered.
"Meaning we still have some ground to cover." Hawkeye let out. "Hey Ant-Man, think you could give us some of those bugs for transport?"
"Not a good idea." Ant-Man replied. "Tried using my growth formula on them once. Had to clean the lab for a week."
Spidey just shivered in response.
"Ew." he let out.
"Not to mention, the ants would probably eat you before letting you ride them." Janet added. "Not even I can ride them, just Hank."
"This, this is nothing." Cap remarked. "I've trekked through much worse terrain than this."
"Newsflash, Cap." Tony interjected. "This isn't Normandy on D-Day, and we're not exactly trained soldiers."
He paused, looking at Natasha and Clint.
"Okay, maybe a few of us are, but the majority are not." he amended.
"Maybe so," Cap admitted. "But right now, we're all that stands between HYDRA and global domination. I didn't let it happen back in the war, and I'll be damned if I let it happen now."
"You just gotta admire his dedication." Spidey remarked.
"As hokey as it can be at times." Clint jeered, earning an elbowing from Natasha.
Natasha held up a hand, signaling everyone to be quiet.
"Something's coming." she whispered.
Everyone tensed, the Cap turning to Spider-Man.
"You sense anything, kid?" he asked.
"Oh yeah." Spidey answered. "Something's definitely out there."
"Then stay sharp." Cap declared. "We can't afford to be caught off guard."
The group then proceeded further through the forest, each one on the lookout for anything resembling HYDRA forces. As they continued walking, Clint saw something out of the corner of his eye. Instinctively, he spun around, and fired an arrow at a nearby tree, hitting a HYDRA soldier and knocking him to the ground. The sound of him falling was like a gunshot, one that summoned the other HYDRA soldiers gathering around them. The other heroes readied themselves as the forces began to surround them.
"Well if this isn't HYDRA's base then whoever owns it is very security conscious." Iron Man remarked.
Natasha let off a quick shot, hitting one of the soldiers between the eyes.
"We have to push past them." she told everyone. "We're wasting time."
"Right!" Cap agreed tossing his shield at some HYDRA soldiers.
The shield bounced from soldier to soldier before returning to the Captain, who used it to block some incoming fire from another HYDRA soldier.
Wasp meanwhile was flying around the battlefield, zapping any bad guy unlucky enough to cross her path. Their body armor was thick, so she aimed for exposed areas like the neck and the hands. Luckily, that seemed to do the trick.
Spider-Man meanwhile was bouncing around, avoiding the fire being dealt from seemingly every direction. He fired two web lines at some of the soldier's guns and yanked them away, disarming them. He then crossed his arms as he shot two more webs at the soldiers and yanked them together, effectively knocking them out. Before he could do anything else, his spider sense went off again, warning him of oncoming fire from behind. He quickly jumped into the air, avoiding the shots.
"Yeesh, these guys are good." Spidey admitted, as he landed in a tree. "Were they always like this in the 40's, Cap?"
"No." Cap replied with a smirk. "It was much worse."
"Well what do you know." Iron Man remarked as he continued blasting soldiers. "Captain America has a sense of humor."
While several HYDRA soldiers were trying to shoot at Iron Man, they seemed to be dropping to the ground one by one. They were being taken down, a small insect buzzed through the vision of the heroes. It was soon followed by another, then several other. Pretty soon, many of the HYDRA soldiers began to vanish under wriggling blankets of brown and red. They attempted to bat away the ever-growing wriggling mass, but more just kept coming. The other heroes just stood there as the HYDRA soldiers fell to the ground in pain and abject terror. Just then, Ant-Man grew to normal size right in front of them.
"Well, that will be bugging them for a while." Spidey remarked.
Jan grew to full size, immediately face palming at Spidey's bad pun.
"Did you seriously just say that?" she groaned.
"What?" Spidey asked. "Jokes are my thing."
"Um, not that this conversation isn't riveting," Ant-Man interjected. "But don't we have a job to do?"
"Dr. Pym is right." Captain declared. "Let's keep moving."
…
Agent Hill walked onto the bridge of the Helicarrier, approaching Fury.
"Sir, we've detected an unauthorized breach in our network security." she informed him.
"A breach?" Fury questioned. "From where?"
"We're working on isolating the signal, but I think I have a pretty good idea of who's responsible."
"Stark." Fury guessed. "Get our computer boys to work trying to undo whatever kind of program he uploaded into our system."
"Yes sir." Hill replied before pausing, squinting at Fury. "Sir, where's your ID card?"
He patted his shirt, finding his id hook empty.
"Jones..." he muttered. "Hill, find Rick Jones ASAP. I don't like the idea of him snooping around on my ship."
…
Elsewhere on the ship, Rick Jones walked down the halls of the Helicarrier, glancing in the windows of rooms. In the glass, he could make out a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent doing their best to remain discrete.
"Fury must have caught on." Rick muttered. "Damn."
Trying to figure out how to get Fury's flunkies off his tail, a thought entered his mind, and he didn't like it. Unfortunately, it was the only idea he had, and time was running out. He pulled out a disposable cell phone he'd picked up in the last town, dialing the number for one Bruce had in his possessed.
"Bruce." he texted. "I need you to do something for me."
"You're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting are you?" Bruce asked.
"You don't have to actually do it, just pretend." Rick replied. "Just smash some stuff and yell. Please."
… alright." Bruce relented.
Rick quickly stowed his phone, then waited. After a minute, there was a distant crashing noise, followed by a pained yell. Rick's eyes went wide, and he turned around, grabbing his tailing Agent.
"Did you hear that?" Rick stammered.
"What was that?" the agent asked.
"It's the big guy." Rick told him. "I think he's losing it. He's never done well in confined spaces, and I think he's finally snapped. You need to get everyone away from this area as quickly as possible unless you want them smashed!"
"Uh… right." the Agent responded before reaching for his radio. "Attention all agents, we have a possible code: green on deck 13. Repeat, possible code green on deck 13. All available agents converge!"
With that, the agent took off, leaving Rick alone to do what he does best. He reached the door marked Restricted Access, swiping Fury's card and making his way inside.
"Let's see what skeletons lurk in your closet, Fury."
…
Back with the heroes, they finally reached the castle.
"So… think we should just knock?" Spidey asked.
"Not a bad idea." Iron Man replied, arming a wrist rocket.
Cap help up a hand in protest.
"Perhaps something a little quieter." he suggested.
He then walked up to the doors and bashed them open with his shield.
"Oh yeah, that was much quieter." Iron Man remarked as his missile retracted back into his arm.
"Quieter than a tank missile." Jan jeered, shrinking and flying inside.
Tony just shrugged as he followed inside as well.
"Spider-Man, take point." Cap instructed. "Your spider sense will give us a heads up on anything coming our way."
"Aye-aye captain." Spidey saluted before leaping to the ceiling.
"Stark, got a flashlight on that fancy suit of yours?" Cap asked.
Iron Man just activated a light on his arc reactor, lighting the way for the rest of them.
"Anything that suit of yours doesn't have?" Jan questioned.
"I'm actually working on adding a popcorn maker soon." Tony joked.
Spidey went to comment, then felt his Spidey senses go off like an alarm, nearly knocking him off the roof.
"Guys, something's coming." he told them. "Something big."
"Where is it?" Cap asked as he and the others took position.
The walls fell in revealing several large, green, robotic soldiers. They easily towered over the group and were armed to the teeth with weapons that could easily reduce them all to ash.
"There they are" Spidey told them.
"HYDRA doesn't like to mess around, do they?" Clint commented.
"Doesn't matter." Cap spoke up. "Take them down!"
The heroes moved out to take the robots down. Nat and Clint were immediately at each other's backs, shooting arrows and bullets at the various robots. Clint fired an explosive arrow at the head of one robot, taking it down. Nat double tapped another in between the eyes before replacing her clip and training on another.
"These things weren't in the HYDRA database." she remarked as she took down another.
"Well they certainly know how to keep you on your toes." Clint commented.
"Is it just me, or do these weapons seem a little familiar?" Spidey asked as he webbed up one to the ground.
"Hmm… maybe," Iron Man pondered. "JARVIS, scan these things. Find out what we're up against."
Wasp continued flying around the battlefield unleashing her bio-stings on the robots, but they seemed to be having minimal effect.
"I can't even put a dent in these things." she exclaimed. "What are they made out of, adamantium?"
"I don't know," Ant-Man replied, leaping off pieces of debris towards one of the robots.
He tried leaping and punching at it, but the robot just swatted him away. As the robot was about to breath fire on him, Wasp flew in, catching him, and flying out of the way of the stream of fire.
"Thanks for the save." Ant-Man told her.
"Can't exactly let my boyfriend burned to a crisp, now can I?" she replied before looking over at Tony. "Tell me you know what we're dealing with!"
"Working on it," Iron Man replied, holding back one of the robot's drill arms.
"Scan complete sir."
"Finally!"
"The Robots are classified as HYDRA Dreadnaughts. However, several of their base shields and weapon systems are derived from Stark Industries technology."
That threw Tony for a loop.
"What?!" he exclaimed. "HYDRA is using my tech?!"
"That would be a just assessment, sir." JARVIS replied with a hint of sarcasm to his mechanized voice.
"Keep your head in the game, Stark!" Cap replied, whacking a Dreadnaught with his shield.
"HYDRA stole my tech!" Iron Man shouted in disgust, blasting one in the chest. "I am getting sick and tired of the bad guys using my tech against me!"
Janet flew over to Hank, a serious look on her face.
"We need to get through their armor." she declared.
"Way ahead of you." Hank agreed, shrinking down to size.
He then landed on the arm of a Dreadnaught and made his way inside. Jan quickly followed suit, entering the Dreadnaught as well. The two then proceeded smashing and blasting the internal wiring and circuits. Their internal sabotage was doing all the damage Jan's blasts failed to do to the armor, and soon, the dreadnaught was complete short circuiting, sparking about before dying all together.
"One down..." Jan began. "God knows how many to go."
"We need to take these things down, now!" Clint declared.
"Way ahead of you." Iron Man called out. "JARVIS, electromagnetic pulse!"
"Powering up, sir." JARVIS declared.
"Wait, stop-!" Hank shouted.
Before Hank could finish, Iron Man unleashed a powerful EMP blast, one that completely shorted out all the Dreadnoughts surrounded them. Unfortunately, it also shorted out all the tech in its path, including Jan and Hank's suits. The Dreadnoughts fell as both Jan and Hank crawled out. Almost immediately, Jan turned to Iron Man and began screaming at him. Unfortunately, because the microphone in her ear piece had been shorted out, all Tony heard was a barely audible squeaking sound.
"Jan, I can't hear you." Tony informed her.
Jan growled in fury before Hank took out some special blue disks. He hit Jan with one before hitting himself, growing them both back to normal size. The second she was full sized, she approached Tony.
"JARVIS, lift his visor for me." she requested.
Before Tony could cancel the command, JARVIS lifted the visor, allowing Jan to punch Tony in the face. Hank let out a wince and Nat let out a whistle.
"Nice punch." she complimented.
"Do you have any idea what you did?!" Jan screamed. "You shorted out our suits! Had Hank not had the reverse Pym particle disks-"
"You're absolutely right." Tony interrupted, rubbing his smarting face. "Sorry I saved our lives."
Jan was fully prepared to punch him again, but Hank held her back and Tony quickly snapped his visor back on.
"Let's keep moving, shall we?" Hank suggested.
Jan took a deep breath, then freed herself from Hank's grip.
"Fine." she declared. "The sooner we get this mission done, the sooner we can go back to the lab."
The two size changing heroes walked off as Clint walked up to Tony.
"Yikes, whatcha do to get her so pissed at you?" He asked.
"It was a long time ago, and frankly, I was too drunk to be fully cognizant of my actions." Tony replied curtly.
Clint nodded.
"Gotcha."
…
Deeper in the facility, Baron Von Strucker stood over Tesseract, eying the power level readings with a hungry gleam.
"Ah Red Skull," Strucker mused out loud. "If only you could be here now to witness HYDRA's resurgence to power."
About that time, the lights in the lab began to flicker. They shut off for a split second, only to be turned back on as the generators kicked in. Strucker's eyes narrowed a bit, knowing all too well what that meant.
"It would seem we have company." Strucker observed.
At that moment, one of the doors blew open, unveiling the heroes as they burst in.
"Strucker!" Cap yelled. "It's over!"
"Ah, Captain America." Strucker declared, turning towards the group with a smile. "I vas vondering vhen you vere going to make an appearance. I vouldn't vant you to miss the rebirth of HYDRA."
"HYDRA's going down." he told him. "Just like it always has."
"Oh Captain…" Strucker said with a shake of his head. "Do you not realize it? HYDRA will never fall. Cut off one head, and two will take its place!"
"Yeah we've heard the mantra." Clint remarked.
"And it vill be the last thing you ever hear." Strucker declared. "KILL THEM ALL!"
The heroes braced themselves as large, mechanized soldiers began closing in on them. Many were the Dreadnoughts that the group had dealt with earlier, but others were much smaller, and packing machinery that held an ominous blue glow to it. Cap recognized the weapons easily, having seen them line the walls of the Red Skull's ship before it went under.
"Looks like you borrowed a few pages from Skull's book." Cap noted.
"He vas ze greatest HYDRA had to offer, and one should alvays learn from ze past." Strucker remarked. "Vhich is vhy I vill not merely let you fall into ze Arctic!"
"We'll see about that." Cap remarked before throwing his shield. "Take 'em down!"
The shield bounced from soldier to soldier, taking them out with relative ease. Iron Man was quick to unleash his repulsor blasts on the soldiers.
"Quick question Strucker," Iron Man spoke up. "How'd you get your claws on my tech?"
"An old friend of yours vas kind enough to lend me ze schematics." Strucker replied, "Perhaps you remember Obadiah Stane?"
"Stane." Stark cursed. "JARVIS remind me to add him to my list of people to take down."
"Before or after Whiplash?" JARVIS questioned.
"Before him, but after Mandarin." Stark replied.
"Man Stark, how many enemies do you have?" Spidey asked, webbing up several HYDRA goons.
"You're one to talk, underoos." Tony replied. "Or would you rather we talked further over coffee with Green Goblin and Doc Ock?"
"Touché." Spidey relented.
Meanwhile, Hank and Jan were working relentlessly to try and reboot their suits. While they did that, Nat and Clint watched their backs, keeping HYDRA off their tails.
"Damn it Stark." Wasp cursed. "He just couldn't wait for us to get clear, could he?"
"Have you met Tony?" Hank asked. "He and impulsive are like brothers."
"Still, you would think spending months in an Afghan cave would have helped him level out." She quipped. "If anything, I think it made him worse."
As they were talking, an arrow whizzed past them, hitting a dreadnought in the head. The robot paused for a second as Clint smirked.
"Tick, tick, boom." he declared.
The arrow ticked twice, then promptly exploded, decimating the bot's head. As the robot fell, power was restored to Hank's suit. Jan's followed suit not long after.
"Finally!" she exclaimed. "I was getting sick of sitting on the sidelines."
"Then let's get in there!" Hank declared, shrinking down to size.
The two pint-sized powerhouses moved into the battle, punching out and blasting every bad guy they met. Spider-Man, meanwhile, had jumped on top of one of the dreadnoughts. He webbed hold of its drill arm, and pulled it into its face, destroying it. Spidey leapt off the robot to the ground as the robot lumbered over to the ground.
"They just don't make giant evil robots like they used to." Spidey quipped.
"Eyes on the prize, kid!" Tony shouted. "If you have time to joke, you have time to shoot!"
"I'd expect you of all people to appreciate the fine art of multitasking." Spidey replied, webbing a HYDRA soldier in the face.
"Sorry if these megalomaniacs stealing my tech put a damper on my mood." Tony snapped.
"Ignore him kid." Clint told him, letting loose one arrow after another. "He's just a little particular when it comes to bad guys using his stuff."
"Well, if it's his tech, why doesn't he take control of it?" Spidey questioned. "He made it, didn't he?"
"It doesn't work that way, kid." Hank informed him, delivering a punch to a HYDRA soldier. "HYDRA still built it, they just used his plans."
"And they've made some serious upgrades with the Cosmic cube!" Jan added, narrowly avoiding a deadly arc of blue light.
"It was a suggestion." Spidey mumbled.
"I'm going after Strucker!" Cap told then, smacking away a soldier with his shield. "Can you guys handle this?!"
"We've got this, Captain." Natasha declared, twisting around to deliver a kick to a soldier while shooting another. "Take him down."
Cap nodded as he went after Strucker, who had sealed himself and the cube in an armored room after the fight broke out. The door was several inches thick, and the locking mechanism had long since been destroyed. Thinking of a way in, Cap took note of the deep gouges left in the walls by the HYDRA weapons. He quickly grabbed one from a fallen soldier, aiming it at the door.
"Let's hope this works." he said to himself as he took aim at the door.
He let loose with the weapon, aiming it at the hinges of the door. His plan worked, and the door fell to the ground. He discarded the weapon and ran into the room. Once he entered, he came face to face with Strucker, who had the Tesseract on a pedestal behind him.
"I suppose it vas vishful thinking zat ze door vould hold." Strucker mused.
"As much wishful thinking as it is for me to hope you'll just surrender." Cap retorted.
Strucker just gave a nod, flexing the claws of his deadly gauntlet.
"Zis day, I finish vat ze Red Skull started over 70 years ago." He declared. "Today, I kill Captain America!"
Strucker then ran forward and tried to punch him with his gauntlet, but Cap brought up his shield to block it. Cap then tried punching him, but Strucker just ducked under it. Strucker then used his other hand to punch him in the gut, causing Cap to stumble back. Strucker then drew a pistol and tried shooting Cap with it. Cap held up his shield to block the shots before throwing his shield at him, knocking the gun out of his hands. Strucker then ran forward and struck Cap in the face and gut repeatedly before trying to grab Cap's face with his gauntlet. Cap quickly grabbed the claw before it made contact. Cap struggled to keep the claw away from him as Strucker tried to get free of Cap's grasp. As Cap continued to hold them back, Cap's shield kept bouncing around the room until it came close to him. Cap quickly grabbed the shield and jammed it in one of the joints of the claw. With a heavy shove, he used it to slice Strucker's claw hard enough to cut it off. Strucker stumbled back, howling in both pain and fury. By the time he recovered, he barely had time to blink before Cap smacked Strucker with the shield, knocking him out.
"70 years in the future," Cap noted. "Still barely puts up a challenge."
He turned back to the hole he'd carved, back out to the fight.
"Guys I got Strucker!" he called out.
"We're just wrapping up here!" Spidey replied, webbing the last of the HYDRA goons to the wall with a snort. "Never gets old."
"Tell me kid," Clint began to ask, leaning against a fallen dreadnought as he jammed an arrow into its eye. "Do you ever cut it with the lame jokes?"
"I'm sorry no." Spidey replied. "My fans expect a certain number of quippage in every battle. I can't very well let them down, now can I?"
"What fans?" Natasha questioned. "I thought half of Queens hated you, and the other half wasn't too keen on you either."
Spidey placed a hand on his chest in mock pain.
"You wound me." he joked. "And here I thought us spiders had to stick together."
Janet flew over to the pedestal holding the Tesseract, looking at it curiously.
"So… any idea on how we're going to get this back to Fury?" she asked.
"Jan's right." Tony noted. "All research indicates direct contact with the Cube is like sticking a fork in a light socket."
"I may have an idea." Spidey suggested.
"What?" Clint asked. "Wrap it up in a web?"
Spidey then put in fresh capsules of web fluid, shooting the cube with enough of it to fully cocoon it in a protective, if a bit sticky, pod. He finished it off, crossing his arms and turning to Clint.
"As a matter of fact, yes." Spidey said, his grin practically visible under his mask.
"... I hate you." Clint let out.
…
Fury and Hill were both waiting on the main deck as a commandeered HYDRA plane made its way towards the Helicarrier. It was followed by Tony, Ant-Man, and Wasp. They all landed, the hatch opening so the Cap, Nat, Clint, and Spidey could all climb out, the first of them carrying the cocoon containing the Cube.
"Mission accomplished." Cap reported.
"Excellent work." Fury congratulated before turning to Tony. "Now that the mission is over, I think it's time for Mr. Stark and I to have a talk about his unauthorized dive into S.H.I.E.L. D's secure files."
"Actually," Rick's voice called out from behind Fury. "I've got a few questions to ask first."
Everyone turned to see Rick and Bruce approaching, the latter looking less than thrilled, though thankfully not green. Rick was carrying a large suitcase, one he dropped hard on the ground and opened.
"Like why does S.H.I.E.L.D. has leftover WWII HYDRA weapons in its back storage?" he questioned.
The others looked in the box and saw a weapon that was almost exactly like the ones that HYDRA had just used to try and kill them with. Fury looked at the box, then over at Rick. Rick held up his ID, tossing it at the Director.
"You dropped this." Rick told him coldly.
"...Thanks." Fury replied angrily.
"Fury," Cap spoke up. "Tell me that S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't stoop as low as to use the cube to make weapons?"
"Captain, we grabbed everything related to the Tesseract for research." Fury told him. "This does not mean that we are-"
"Hold that thought Nick." Tony spoke up, even holding up a finger as several files flickered onto the screen of his visor. "I believe my decryption program has just finished…. Looks like an arsenal to me."
"You were going to use the Cube to make weapons?!" Jan exclaimed.
"Did you two know about this?" Hank asked, turning to Clint and Natasha.
"As a matter of fact, we didn't." Natasha replied. "We knew S.H.I.E.L.D had plans for the Cube, but knowledge of what those plans were was restricted for Level 10 Agents."
"We're barely Level 6's" Clint added for clarification.
"Well that's comforting." Spidey let out sarcastically.
"Whether they knew or not," Banner spoke up, getting them back on track. "I think I'd really like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."
"I agree." Hank chimed in. "This could be used to benefit mankind. Why would you think to use it the same way HYDRA would?"
Fury looked at all the various heroes, then took a deep breath to steady himself and swallow his ever-growing anger.
"Approximately a year ago, Agent Coulson responded to a 0-8-4 out in a small New Mexico town." Fury began. "That 0-8-4 turned out to be the precursor of a much greater threat. A high powered, alien suit of armor that nearly leveled the town if not for… outside assistance."
Spidey, Cap and Hank instinctively looked over at Tony.
"Hey, it wasn't one of mine." Tony insisted.
"No, it wasn't." Fury agreed. "It was something from, what I can only describe as another realm. Two days later, the small town I mentioned was nearly wiped off the map. That's when we came to realize that not only are we not alone in this universe, but we are hopelessly… nah, hilariously, outgunned."
"So, you decided you needed to fight fire with fire?" Spidey asked. "Um, do the words 'Cold War' ring any bells, or am I the only one who didn't sleep through that part of History class?"
"The kids right." Tony agreed. "Take it from someone who knows, if you start making high powered weapons, the enemies will retaliate with bigger and badder weapons."
"This coming from the man who wanted to rid the world of weapons by building a super suit with more weaponry than most of the US Military." Fury snapped.
"At least he had the guts to come forward about who and what he was." Cap retorted.
Tony looked towards Cap in surprise, not expecting defense from him of all people. He quickly recovered from it, returning his attention to Fury.
"You know, I was wrong before." Cap commented, dropping the cocoon. "The world hasn't changed a bit."
With that, Cap walked back inside the Helicarrier. The other heroes followed suit, leaving Fury and Hill alone on the deck. Hill looked down at the cocoon, picking it up.
"That went about as well as expected." she declared, looking up at the Director. "So, what now?"
"Now?" Fury replied. "Now we need to learn how to extract the Cube's energy."
"You know there are only two people who could possibly help us, and one will not exactly be pleased." Hill reminded him. "The other will probably kill whomever you send."
"True, but what choice do we have?" Fury asked.
...
Merry Christmas everyone!
