For The Love Of A Captain Book 2

HYDRA and SHIELD

Alia POV

As we crept down the stairs, I could feel the tension coming off of Steve in waves. I wanted nothing more than to comfort him but I knew that now was not the time. He was in Captain mode and it was hard to break him out   of that. We reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around. In the dark, it was hard to see but it looked like there were a bunch of desks in the room. Nat walked over to the wall and turned a switch, that turned on all the lights in the room. As the lights came on, I noticed a huge emblem on the wall directly in front of us and as I had suspected, desks everywhere. 

"This is SHIELD," Nat said, looking around in awe.

"Maybe where it started," Steve corrected, looking confused. I kept close to him and he held out his hand to me. I slipped mine in his and we continued on. The room was huge, our apartment could have easily fit inside this room. Steve turned and headed for a door that was off to the side, and opened the door. We stepped inside seeing a smaller office like room that had rows of bookshelves and some desks. As we walked in, I noticed some pictures hanging on the wall. We walked up to them and Steve took a deep breath in.

"There's Stark's father," Nat said, clearly interested. 

"Howard," Steve replied and it almost sounded like he was correcting her. I looked next to Howard's photo and saw a woman with short curled hair and bright eyes. I immediately recognized her as Peggy Carter. She may not look like this anymore but I knew it was her.

"Who's the girl?" Nat asked, looking at Steve. He didn't answer but looked for another moment and turned away. Nat turned to me, eyebrow raised.

"That's Peggy Carter. She was someone special to him," I whispered, trying not to upset him. She only nodded and we walked over to Steve. He was staring intently at one of the bookshelves.

"What is it honey?" I asked. He turned and looked at me before turning back to the bookshelf. As I got closer I could hear what was unmistakably an air current whistling from somewhere. 

"If you're already working in a secret office," Steve began as he pulled the bookshelves apart, revealing an elevator, "why do you need to hide the elevator?" Nat walked over and scanned the keypad with her scanner and figured out the code for the elevator. After she had put it in, we stepped inside and Steve pressed the only button that was there. We began to move and he pulled me close.

"Stay close to me, no matter what happens," he ordered looking down at me. I could tell he was still nervous, so I just nodded and hugged him. The elevator came to a stop and we stepped out. As we stepped out, the lights in the room came up to show what looked like thousands of old computers that were easily from the 50s or 60s. But why were they hidden below a secret SHIELD facility and why all the cloak and dagger? I tried to look at Steve but he was already walking toward what looked like the main hub. I turned to look at Nat and shrugged at her. She shrugged back and we stepped inside. 

"This can't be the data point. This technology is ancient," Nat said, confused. Steve didn't say anything but I threw Nat a look. She grimaced apologetically and I looked back to Steve. I couldn't tell if it was confusion or anger on his face. Maybe it was both. I looked over at the desk and noticed that there was a newer looking USB port connected to the computers. I walked over to Nat, taking the drive out of her pocket and connecting it to the port. Immediately, more lights came up showing us even more technology and everything began to turn on. The whirring of the computers got louder as we looked around. Just then a prompt came up on the computer in front of us and a camera above it began to move. 

"Initiate system?" is what was showing up on the screen. I walked over to it. 

"Y-E-S spells yes," I said as I typed it out. I hit enter and the computer began to power up more. It sounded as though it hadn't been turned on in years and I was slightly shocked that it started up. I looked back at Steve and Nat. They both looked surprised as well, but worry was the main feature on Steve's face right now.