The Curse of Dr. Zola
Chapter 31
Alexander Pierce strode thru his darkened home. He knew the entire layout by heart. He went into the kitchen for a glass of milk. He paused for only a second when he saw the man he had called up to take care of a little problem sitting in the shadows.
"Want some milk?" He took a glass down and filled it partway.
He stood there and looked at his Asset. "We have a problem, several problems. 3 more targets, level 6. Natasha Romanoff needs to be eliminated. She's working with Captain Steve Rogers. He's asking too many questions, and needs to be eliminated. The last one I need alive; alive and undamaged. James Buchanan Barnes. You are to do whatever you need to capture him, but he needs to be alive. Do you understand?"
In the shadows, the Asset nodded.
Pierce slid over a file that he removed from the backup safe in his house. "Read it. No mistakes."
The man slipped out the door with the file like the ghost he was.
Bucky was driving, Steve was in the front passenger seat and Nat was in the back. They were formulating a plan when they got rear ended. The car swerved all over the road as Bucky tried to keep the vehicle under some kind of control.
The next thing they heard was someone jumping onto the roof of the car. Nat all but landed in Steve's lap when bullets came thru the roof. A gloved fist crashed thru the windshield and ripped out the steering wheel. Without a way to control the car, and traffic all around them, they had to react quickly to avoid collateral casualties.
Steve grabbed the emergency brake hard and the tires squealed in protest as the car came to a stop. The figure on the roof got thrown off. He rolled gracefully and came to a standing position in front of them.
Nat drew her pistol but lost it when they got rear ended again. They careened towards the Curse.
In one fluid motion, he jumped into the air and landed back on the roof. He reached in and tried to grab Bucky, but he couldn't quite get hold of him.
"Hold on!" Steve adjusted the shield onto his arm and bashed open the car door. The three of them spilled out and hit the ground, the shield absorbing most of the impact. The car went flying out of control.
Nat landed on Steve and Bucky tumbled on the pavement. Car parts went flying every which way, barely missing them.
A large assault vehicle stopped and soldiers poured out from it. The Asset was tossed a rifle and took aim at Steve.
Steve pushed Nat out of the way and took the brunt of the explosion, which sent him flying off the overpass and onto the roadway below.
Speaking in Russian, the Asset gave instructions to the men with him. They went to try and catch Barnes before he recovered. But they underestimated him and he got to his feet quicker than they thought. Unfortunately, he didn't have any weapons on him, so he used what was available and hurled loose car parts at the men.
It kept their heads down, but they still took turns shooting at him. Without his Kevlar vest, he was vulnerable to bullets.
The Asset went after Steve, but Nat fired a shot at him, and he re-aimed at her.
She jumped off the overpass, ejecting a dropline to ease her descent, but got hit by a bullet on her way down.
Behind them, Bucky wasn't having much luck either, and decided to join his friends on the street level below and jumped down to land on the roof of a car. He ducked under the overpass as bullets rained down.
The Asset changed weapons and jumped off, landing on the same car Bucky did. He aimed his rifle at Bucky, but fired into the pavement. Bucky ran to dodge the bullets but ran straight into the HYDRA soldiers waiting for when he turned. Bucky got into a fistfight with several of the soldiers. He was stronger than they were, but there were more of them.
Steve and Nat were having their own problems as the Curse hunted them down. He took out Nat first, and then stalked Steve with the coldness of a stone.
Nat was unconscious, and Steve used his shield to protect her from stray bullets. When they ran out, the Curse resorted to knives and had to hand combat.
God, he's strong! Steve blocked another strike, but the Asset just switched hands effortlessly. He was equally adept and lethal, as he used both to keep Steve off balance. Fast too! Every time Steve kicked him down, he got right back up as if he didn't feel any pain at all!
He flipped Steve over like a rag doll, and Steve did everything he could do to defend himself. He's an enhanced! It finally hit Steve that this man had been injected with some type of serum like himself and Bucky.
Steve narrowly avoided another attempt at being stabbed, and the knife plunged into the side of a nearby van instead. Steve and the Curse moved sideways and the knife left a long deep rent in the van. Steve took his shield and punched the Curse in the chest with it, driving him back. He came at Steve again, but this time Steve was ready. He flipped the man over and sent him flying.
When he stood up, the mask the Curse had been wearing had fallen off, and he turned to glare at Steve. Suddenly, Steve stood upright. He recognized the man that stood there. It was the young man Colonel Phillips had posted to the Howling Commandos to take out HYDRA bases. "Shawn?"
"Who the hell is Shawn?"
Just then another 6 SUV's of HYDRA agents pulled up and captured Captain Rogers. An interested news helicopter kept them from executing Rogers on the spot, so they restrained him and put them into one of the SUV's.
They shoved Bucky in as well. He had a leg wound that was bleeding pretty badly, and Nat's shoulder wound was dripping blood.
"He looked right at me and didn't even know me. He was part of the Commandos unit that took down HYDRA bases."
"But he's a HYDRA agent, isn't he?" Nat asked. "Why would he do that?"
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." He turned to the two guards. "Can we get some pressure on their wounds? We have to stop the bleeding."
One guard threatened them with an electronic baton. Steve shut his mouth for fear of them hurting Nat or Bucky further, but the guard stabbed the other guard with it and knocked them out.
Steve was surprised to see Maria Hill under the helmet. "That thing was squeezing my brain. You guys ready to get out of here?"
They pulled up in front of what appeared on the outside to be a dam. Maria helped Nat and Steve helped Bucky stumble inside. Maria turned a decorative wall sconce and the walls parted to reveal a hidden tunnel.
They dead-ended at a hospital room. On a hospital bed laid Nick Fury.
As the doctor saw to their wounds, Fury filled them in on what had happened.
"I called Maria in because she was the only one I could trust at that point. She's been systematically clearing others. That's why you're all here."
"I knew that guy." Steve said and gave a report to Fury about him.
"He was helping me as we took down HYDRA bases."
"Ow!" Bucky flinched as the doctor stitched him up. "Why was he helping you blow up HYDRA bases if he was HYDRA? That just doesn't make sense Steve."
"Could there have been something else he was looking for?" Nat offered.
Steve turned to Bucky. "Maybe he was looking for you?"
Bucky looked pale. "I don't know. I don't even know where I was being kept, how could he?"
"In any case, we have to stop them. I have a plan." Fury turned a laptop around. "These are what I think they are after." The screen showed the three newest Heli carriers.
"We can't override the programs from here, but if you insert these into the servers on the carriers themselves, we can regain control. These circuit boards have to be on all three, if even one gets away, a lot of people could die." Maria finished. "And we have some help for you."
A black man came into the room. "This is Sam Wilson. I've personally vetted him myself." Maria announced and made introductions.
"You up for this?" Steve asked.
"Dude, Captain America needs my help."
Steve nodded ok.
Alarms blared a warning. The base was coming alive with staff scurrying all over, some panicking as the base was attacked.
Sam, Steve, Nat, Maria, and Bucky were attacking different sections at the same time.
Once they got in, Nat and Maria were heading for ops to activate the program carried by the three men.
Each one was targeting a different (and upgraded) Heli carrier.
Sam dropped off Steve on one, Bucky on another, and then he flew around to gain access to the server room on his target.
Since no one had actual HYDRA markings on their clothes, Wilson questioned Steve on who he was supposed to be attacking.
Steve ran and rolled as gunfire headed his way. "If they're shooting at you, they're bad."
Bucky was wondering that himself; just before he'd had to duck some gunfire.
Sam dove and swooped so effortlessly that you could forget the fact he could kill you any moment.
"We're in." Maria confirmed over the headset. "I'm on my way upstairs." Nat informed them.
Steve didn't have a chance to even reply. His shield was fending off bullets as he advanced.
Bucky was tossing grenades and from the air, Wilson could track his movements from the clouds of dust.
Sam folded his wings and dropped like a rock to avoid an armed quin jet trailing him, and then powered back up to fly close to the hull of the carrier. The rounds pierced the plexi-glass bubble that protected the underside of the hull. It was just the opportunity he needed.
He swooped in and folded up his wings. He landed and pulled up the circuits he needed. He plucked out the HYDRA one and inserted the SHIELD one. "Alpha lock."
Sam extended the wings and went to help the others, but the Curse had other plans.
As Steve neared the doorway to the interior, the Curse kicked at him, and knocked Steve off balance. Before he could brace himself, the Curse kicked again and Steve Rogers went over the side of the carrier. "I need a little help here!"
"You tell me when." Sam shot back.
"Now!"
Sam dove and grabbed him by one arm.
As he deposited Steve on the deck, he remarked that Steve was a lot heavier than he looked.
"Yeah, well, I had a big breakfast."
They still encountered some resistance trying to get to the control panel. The Curse was waiting for Steve.
"Shawn, this doesn't have to end like this. You were a big help to me trying to find Bucky and taking down HYDRA bases. Why are you doing this?"
"HYDRA wants order. Order only comes from pain. Your friend will feel the pain as soon as he puts that chip in place."
"Sam, go help Bucky!"
Steve engaged Shawn as Sam flew out as fast as possible, but was he going to be in time?
"Bravo lock!" Bucky shouted. The whine of gunfire seemed to come from everywhere. One had whistled past his ear as he pushed the chip home.
He turned around and sank to the floor. He looked down. The leg wound he had received earlier was bleeding heavily, but that's not what worried him. He looked at the dart sticking out of his thigh. He plucked it and tossed it aside. His enhancement was the only thing keeping him upright at the moment.
HYDRA soldiers were moving in on his position, and he was on one knee. "Steve!"
"I got your back!" Sam swooped in and fired handguns from both hands at the advancing men. They scrambled back in a hurry.
Shawn and Steve battled fiercely; the upper hand going from one side to the other. "Why are you after Bucky?"
"Bucky was an old target! HYDRA wants the girl." Shawn used Steve's shield to push Steve into a backwards somersault and grabbed the chip that Steve had dropped. Steve jumped on him and put his arm into a lock. He shook the arm trying to force Shawn to let go
"Why do they want Mary?"
"They need the necklace. She holds the key to activating it."
Steve flipped Shawn over and put him in a headlock. He slowly cut off his air until Shawn passed out. Steve picked up the chip and climbed back up the tower.
As Steve pushed it into place, the Curse woke up and left to go secure Barnes. "Charlie lock!"
"Get out of there, Steve!" Maria cried.
"Fire now, I'll get out."
Maria activated the program. The three Heli carriers began shooting at one another.
Steve dodged and swerved as hell rained down around him.
The Curse had gotten to his quin jet, and started the engines. He took off for the carrier where Barnes and Wilson were, and landed shortly after. He strode into the fire and death knells of the carrier. He didn't care. Barnes had to be retrieved, alive. There would be another day to find Romanoff. He doubted Rogers would make it out alive, and even if he did…well, that was another day too.
Bucky was on the catwalk above the plexi-glass bubble. Enemy fire had disabled the wings, and it grounded Sam. Carrier fire from the other one hit some support beams and down went the catwalk.
Bucky slammed into the flooring and debris fell on top of him as the catwalk hit the bottom supports.
Sam heard Bucky scream even over the battle, but he couldn't see him.
The Curse finally arrived. He looked down at Bucky. An I-beam had fallen on his left arm, and what was left was bleeding profusely. Bucky was pinned down by more beams. "Sam." Bucky whispered. His wind cut off by the debris that lay on his chest.
The Curse reached around to his back and pulled a small dart gun out. He shot Bucky with several darts, and then threw it away. He picked up the debris and pulled Barnes out from under. He tossed Bucky over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and went back to his jet.
Sam followed as the HYDRA agents retreated, but was unable to stop the Curse from leaving with Bucky.
"Steve! Steve! They've got your friend. I can't stop them."
"Bucky. BUCKY!" Steve screamed his name as the jet rose from the carrier deck.