About You || Anakin Skywalker x OC ||

(13) The Zola

Leora yawned as they entered the grounds of Camp Lehigh. She was currently in that strange stage after a nap where it felt like it was the next day but it wasn't.

Natasha held up the drive as they walked through the grounds. The device beeped in her hand and Leora fought the memories of Nick's death that were threatening to show.

"This camp is where I was trained." Steve offered to break the silence. Leora swung her backpack off her shoulder, grabbing her batons before throwing the pack back onto her back.

"Change much?" Nat asked, Steve stopped to stare at a flag pole for a moment, his eyes glazing with distant memories.

"A little." While Steve and Leora were a lot alike, Leora always envied the way his mind wasn't wiped. Steve knew his history, his past. He could build from those things while Leora had nothing to go off of.

"This is a dead end." Natasha announced, causing both Steve and Leora to look at her, "Zero heat signatures, zero waves, not even radio." She tucked the drive into her pocket, "Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off. What is it?" She asked as Steve turned towards a building.

"Army regulations forbid storing munitions within 500 yards of the barracks." He was speed walking towards a building, Natasha and Leora in tow, "This building is in the wrong place." He smashed his shield into the lock, causing the door to swing open, revealing a dark set of stairs.

"Ladies first." Leora said with a nervous chuckle, motioning for Steve to go first. He rolled his eyes, descending the steps. When they reached the bottom, Natasha flicked a light switch, revealing a large office space, the old S.H.I.E.L.D logo painted in the back.

"This is S.H.I.E.L.D." Natasha walked towards the logo.

"Maybe where it started." Steve muttered, looking around at the desks. Leora did the same before following Steve into what looked like a storage room. On the wall hung portraits of people with serious expressions, yet their eyes shined with pride.

"There's Stark's father." Natasha nodded her head to the crooked painting in the middle.

"Howard." Leora confirmed. Tony never liked to talk about his father, but from reports Leora read about a year ago, she learned they had been killed many years ago.

"Who's the girl?" Natasha asked as Leora took the old man's portrait in. When Steve didn't answer, Leora realized it was Peggy Carter, his lover from the war.

They explored the room, looking everything up and down as they did so.

"If you're already working in a secret office," Steve tugged a shelf open, revealing an elevator, "Why do you need to hide an elevator?"

After accessing the code and taking a short joy ride, Natasha, Steve, and Leora found themselves in a dark room filled with ancient technology. After inserting the drive and typing into a computer, Nat booted up the room.

A strange face materialized on a screen and Leora blinked in surprise.

"Rogers, Steven. Born 1918." A voice said, "Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna, born 1984." The voice grumbled something Leora couldn't understand before saying, "Gallows, Leora, date of birth unknown."

"It's some kind of recording." Natasha muttered, looking the screen up and down.

"I am not a recording Fraeulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am." Leora turned her head to a screen where a black and white photo of a man appeared.

"You know this thing?" Leora asked.

Steve looked around the room for a moment before answering, "Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years."

"First correction!" Zola interrupted, "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 200,000 feet of databanks. You, are standing in my brain." Now that was a creepy thought.

"How did you get here?" Steve demanded.

"Invited!" Zola replied.

"It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. S.H.I.E.L.D recruited German scientists with strategic value." Natasha shrugged.

"They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own." Zola said in an eerie voice.

"Hydra died with the Red Skull." Steve said suddenly, but it sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place."

"Prove it." Steve challenged.

"Accessing archives." Zola announced, the screens around him flickering to life once more, "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." Zola paused, "After the war, S.H.I.E.L.D was founded, and I was recruited. The new Hydra grew. A beautiful parasite inside S.H.I.E.L.D. For 70 years, Hydra has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war, and when history did not cooperate, history was changed."

"That's impossible. S.H.I.E.L.D would have stopped you." Nat breathed.

"Accidents will happen." Zola's voice was smug as a news article of Howard's death appeared, "Hydra created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once a 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!"

Leora flinched as Steve punched the monitor, the glass splintering upon impact.

"As I was saying.." A voice drew. Leora whirled to see Zola on another monitor.

"What's on this drive?" Steve demanded.

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

"What kind of algorithm?" Natasha interjected, "What does it do?"

"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it."

The elevator door closed behind them just as Steve threw his shield, but it was too late. The disk flew back to him and he tucked his arm into the strap.

Nat pulled out her phone, "We got a bogey. Short range ballistic. Thirty seconds tops."

"Who fired it?" Steve asked.

"S.H.I.E.L.D." Natasha answered.

"I am afraid I have been stalling Captain. Admit it, it's better this way." Leora searched for a place to hide as Nat grabbed the drive. Leora spotted the vent at the same time Steve did. They both rushed to pull it up but Leora beat him to it, lifting it with her mind.

They jumped in just as the missile hit, destroying the facility around them. Everything came crashing down on them as Leora created a shield with her mind to block the rocks from hitting their little hole.

And then she was struggling to pull the rocks off, to throw them away from their bodies as they struggled to free themselves.

"I think it's time to go." Leora huffed, offering her hand to Steve who took it, nodding.

"Let's get out of here."