2: Are you ready to comply?

Chapter 10

Nat's POV

I stared at the drawing that was still in my hands, it could be literally anything. There were 57 268 900 square miles of land on planet Earth, and this could be situated on any part of that. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but 10 times harder.

I didn't even know if finding this place was going to be possible, but knowing that it was some form of location was a start, and I had to try. Yes, it would be a difficult feat to try and locate the whereabouts of whatever this drawing pointed to, but I had one of the worlds best databases at my disposal, I had a better chance then if I was on my own.

I initially focused on researching HYDRA bases that we knew of, or were monitoring, even ones that we believed to be out of action, or deserted. If it was one of those, my guess is that that was where she currently was, and then all we had to do was raid the base, capture her, and bring her back to the compound, simple.

It turns out I wasn't that lucky, there were no matches found to any known HYDRA locations. It was frustrating, it was a blow, and I almost broke another Starkpad, but I had to think logically. In a weird way, even getting nothing come up was an answer within itself, it helped narrow down the search.

I continued looking through other known crime organisations, or just buildings, or places we were keeping our eyes on, however nothing came up still. As time ticked by with no solution, it was getting more and more difficult to control the anger, but I had to remain calm. I had to focus on the task at hand, if I don't find out where, or whatever this place is/was, Ana was lost again. We were back to having nothing. I couldn't allow that.

Then I moved on to SHIELD complexes, but nothing came up there either. I almost screamed in frustration.

I had covered everything, HYDRA, Government buildings, important landmarks, but it was all coming up empty. I had no clue how to move forward. I was stuck. Totally useless.

As I scrolled aimlessly through the complexes that were on the screen in front of me, I remembered a conversation I had with Maria a few months prior. Pop-up bases, SHIELD had placed a few in discreet, unknown locations, honestly I wasn't sure why. They were based all around research, it wasn't my area, and there had been no breaches of infiltrations, so there'd been no reason for any of them to have caught my attention.

Maria seemed convinced these bases were totally of HYDRA's radar, however moments after remembering the conversation I held up the drawing Wanda drew, only to find out it matched almost exactly to the layout of one of the bases. HYDRA knew alright, and were planning to do something in relation to it. With how long it had taken me to figure this out from when Wanda first saw the image, the attack or infiltration, or whatever they had planned would most likely be imminent.

But now I was at a cross roads, with the information I had before me what do I do? Do I tell the team? Do I explain it to them all? Do I risk them ordering us to kill Ana, deeming her too high a risk? The thought of her blood being on my hands again, I couldn't do that. Any percentage of a chance they would harm her was too high, this mission had to be off the books.

Ana's POV

I stared at the journal for many more hours, I wasn't even aware of the world moving around me. I just focused on the eyes that captivated me, and the words written over and over again. It helped. They calmed me.

Is this love?

No, it can't be. Love is for children?

I didn't know what was going on, I couldn't even begin to understand everything. But I knew I had to pretend, pretend the drowning had worked, pretend that I know longer had any ties, pretend I was back to being a cold heartless killer. It was the only way. The only way to hold on to these memories, and figure out whatever was happening.