The doors were glass, and the sight past them was only less friendly as the distance shortened.
The trio stood about three meters from the entrance, staring.
The right door couldn't even close properly - there was a bloody arm lying across the frame, a handgun arranged around the unmoving hand, dead fingers stiff about the trigger. But that wasn't the most disturbing thing in view.
Rats - there were dozens of them in the lobby alone. Rats that scampered over oddly angled limps and bloody chests like it were a playground, rats that chewed at frayed suit coats and gnawed at bits of uncovered flesh.
"What happened here?" Steve barely whispered, but even that was too loud.
The rats all looked up, ears twitching in interest. Apparently the Quinjet landing hadn't been enough of an indicator for them of these new visitors.
Their noses wrinkled, and they squeaked amongst themselves. Then, all at once, they scuttled from the room down three different hallways.
The trio exchanged looks.
"Cheery." Tony muttered.
"Not the word I would use." Natasha said solemnly.
"Cheery." Steve echoed nonetheless.
They stared a good bit longer, but no rats returned to munch on the deceased Hydra agents; not a one.
"Should… should we go in?" Natasha asked.
"The Hydra agents couldn't control it." Tony said. "Who says we can?"
"Hydra agents are cruel and forceful." Steve said. "We are here to contain, not control. Hopefully this… alien weapon will be more acceptable to that."
"We don't even know this was the weapon." Natasha reminded. "Someone else could have done this, breaking in to get the weapon."
"Noted." Tony set his jaw, hating the idea of going inside that rat infested building almost more than he hated admitting he was wrong. "Well, we didn't fly all this way for nothing."
"Maybe we should wait until some more of the Avengers can get out here." Steve suggested. "Hang around outside, make sure no one and nothing comes in or out until we get some back up?"
"That could take days, or even weeks." Natasha rolled her eyes, starting forward and tossing a taunt over her shoulder; "Not afraid a little mice, are we boys?"
Tony and Steve exchanged looks - they had been challenged, and neither, while for different reasons, was going to back down.
Tony lowered his faceplate, and together the men followed Natasha over the body in the doorway and into the Hydra base.
The halls they adventured were void of the living. Tony shoved a USB drive into a computer console they passed, allowing their pilot Linda to access the system remotely. It wasn't long before she had the base's security cameras up.
"Oh." She squeaked over the comms.
"Yeah." Steve murmured, cringing as he took an extra-high step to cross a mangled Hydra agent. "Oh."
Only Natasha wasn't squeamish - if the trails of blood and the tattered flesh fazed her, she didn't show it. She stepped over the dead like they were no more an inconvenience than stepping over a bramble in the woods.
"Everyone." Linda whispered, her voice still high. "There's not a person alive in the whole base…"
"Can you be sure?" Steve asked. "Maybe some of them are just unconscious…"
"I…" Linda licked her lips. "I can run a sweep over the building using internal sensors… It'll take a few minutes… but Captain… most of these people aren't even in one piece anymore."
"Do it." Steve ordered.
"What about rats?" Tony asked. "Do you see any rats?"
"...Rats?" Linda questioned. "I… there's… not much but… dead bodies… rats… rats… oh! Rats!"
"Linda?" Tony pressed. "Where are the rats?"
"I thought they were the carpet until I focused on them!" Linda cried. "There's like, hundreds of them! Oh gods, they're… they're…!"
"Eating people." Natasha said dryly. "Yes, we know. What level are they on?"
"The… the lowest level." Linda said. "Level six - they're all gathered outside this door… I… I think there are more inside that room."
"What's inside that room?" Steve queried.
"I… I don't know." Linda clicked and scrolled but with no result. "There's know cameras in there."
The trio exchanged glances. No cameras? This base, even in carnage, had something to hide. And perhaps it was a coincidence that the strange rats had all decided to gather around and in that hidden thing, but it most likely wasn't.
No, it most definitely wasn't.
Not trusting the elevators, they found a stairwell and started down.
"Linda," Tony instructed as they descended. "Run the tapes back - say, one and a half hours. FRIDAY says these guys are still warm."
"Yeah." Linda murmured. "I'm on it."
Level Six.
Another set of glances was exchanged. Another dead body propped the door open - this time a bloody ankle with a shredded, fleshy sock; the lobby wasn't the only place those rats had been using for an all-you-can-eat-buffet.
Steve tugged at the door handle, which had a bloody handprint wrapped around it, with two fingers and a both disgusted and pained expression and held it open for his teammates to enter.
They did, and Steve followed.
It was obvious which way to go - small, red, rat-feet footprints trailed the tiles, heading to the left, as if a whole swarm of the little monsters had come through at top speed. They probably had.
Tony powered up his blaster and took the lead, aiming his arm out to strike at anything that might appear from the the steel doors at the end of the hall
Steve swung his shield gracefully to his arm and Natasha swiped a finger at the taser built into her bracelet, turning the small device blue with charge.
They crept forward slower now, eyes somehow more alert than before, steps light and stance ready for a hit from any direction.
As they approached, the worried squeaks of small rodents could be heard through the metal.