Washington ⇻ The Winter Soldier [2]

chapter two

Winter felt around the wall in the dark room until she hit the light switch. Immediately, the room brightened and a dusty SHEILD office was revealed.

"This really was SHIELD," Natasha breathed.

"Maybe where it started," Steve suggested as they found three old framed portraits of Howard Stark, Peggy Carter, and Col. Chester Phillips.

"There's Stark's father," Nat pointed to the portrait.

"Howard."

"And Agent Carter," Winter said, causing Steve to turn away and walk further down the room.

He stopped at a massive bookshelf, "If you're already working in a secret office..." he pushed it, sliding it open to reveal an elevator behind it, "Why do you need to hide the elevator?"

Winter readied one of her daggers, flipping it around so that it was concealed behind her wrist as she stepped into the elevator after Steve, soon to be followed by Natasha. The elevator clearly hadn't had any maintenance in a long time, if the groaning metal and rumbling walls were anything to go by. It was a slow forty seconds of silence as the elevator slowly went down, only to open, revealing a humongous room filled with old-looking computers.

"This can't be the data-point, this technology is ancient," Natasha said as the three of them slunk out of the elevator.

Winter, however, noticed a small port connected to the monitors, one for a flash drive, "Toss me the drive," when Nat threw it to her, she placed the flash drive in it which seemed to power up a single monitor.

Letters began showing up on the monitor, spelling out a simple question: Computer: Initiate system?

"Y-E-S spells yes." Natasha grinned as she moved to type on the keyboard, "'Shall we play a game?'" she looked back at Steve, "It's from a movie that..."

"Yeah, I saw it," Steve interrupted.

"I didn't," Winter pointed out even as her eyes remained fixed on the monitor.

"Rogers, Steven. Born, 1918," A vaguely familiar voice spoke, causing the three of them to ready themselves for a fight, "Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born, 1984. McAlister, Kaelyn, Born, 1992."

Winter scanned the left side of the room while Natasha searched the right, only to come back to the monitor to see an old camera moving as if it were analyzing the three of them. She quickly muttered a question to Gen, only to be rewarded with barely any relevant information at all.

"It's some kind of a recording," Natasha guessed.

Winter was about to speak up when the voice spoke again, "I am not a recording, Fräulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am," a picture of Dr. Arnim Zola appeared on the screen.

Winter froze, "You. You did this to him. To us."

"You two know this thing?" Natasha asked, eyeing Winter's stiff posture.

Steve was the one who replied, Winter retreating back and Kae taking her place, "Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years."

"First correction," Zola spoke, "I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been more alive. In 1972 I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body, my mind, however, that was worth saving on two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain."

"Damn," Kae muttered, switching Winter's dagger out for a pistol.

"How did you get here?" Steve asked.

"Invited."

Natasha continued after Zola's single word, "It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value."

"They thought I could help their cause," Kae could almost hear the smirk in the digital voice, "I also helped my own."

Steve shook his head, "HYDRA died with the Red Skull."

"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place," Both Zola and Winter said.

"Prove it."

"Accessing archive," the computer screens flickered between old footage of the Red Skull and the original SHIELD founders, "HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside SHIELD. For seventy years HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed."

Kae glared at the camera, even as Nat countered him, "That's impossible, SHIELD would have stopped you."

"Accidents will happen, Zola said, and Kae could feel Winter retreating further when the computer screen showed the murder of Howard and Maria Stark, "HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your life; a zero-sum."

Steve's fist shattered the monitor only for another to come to life, continuing Zola's thought, "As I was saying..."

"What's on this drive?" Steve questioned, seething.

"Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm."

Kae barely heard Natasha's reply, too distracted by what seemed to be Alison's fear. Realizing what the cause must be, she shoved the pyrokinetic into control of their body. 

Yay for chapter two! I hope you've all had a fantastic week and will have a great week to come. Thank you for reading!

~ Aria :D