Winter's Fire. ~Book Three~

Chapter Twelve: Running from SHYDRA.

Levi's leg bounced with anxiety as she and Red sat outside of the diner they had always eaten at, at least once a week, both of them waiting for Steve to show up. And as the seconds passed, she as starting to lose hope of him ever showing up, was he dead too? Did she lose her chance to tell him how she felt?
"We're out in the open, Red." She said as her leg started to bounce faster. "They'll expect us to come back here." 
Red checked her watch and sighed. "He still has two minutes, Levs. He has time." But Levi could tell that even her mother was losing hope of him ever showing up. 
Just then, Levi's heart almost leaped out of her chest when she spotted him jogging toward them. She quickly got to her feet and ran to meet him halfway before she threw herself into his arms, her breath shook with her body. 
"You're safe..." She whispered to him, she'd never felt so relieved her entire life. "You're alive." Levi leaned her forehead against his chest as she took in the feeling of his arms around her again, of how he smelled and the sound of his heart beating against his chest. 
Steve held her as close to his body as he could as he wrapped his arms around her. His embrace was tight, but she found it comforting. "I was... I was so worried." He whispered as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head and then another to her temple. "I was worried that you'd be next." She knew, somehow, that he meant the next to die. Levi didn't have the heart to tell him that she almost was.
"I'm okay. It's okay." Levi said, almost laughing as relief washed over her. She smiled as she looked up at him, and reached up with both hands to touch his face, her thumbs tracing his jaw line. She had never been so happy to see him. "I'm glad you were able to get away." 
"Me too." He turned his head to kiss the palm of one of one of her hands and, after giving her one last squeeze, her stepped away from her but still kept her held against his side, as if he was afraid she'd suddenly disappear if he didn't.
Red cleared her throat as she looked up at him. "So... what's our plan?" 
"And what the fuck is happening?" Levi added. 
"Well, they think Red's missing." Steve said, looking at Red, before he turned his gaze to Levi. "And Rumlow's looking for you." 
"Then let's keep Red missing, and Rumlow looking." She dreaded the thought of Rumlow looking for her. "I knew something weird was going on with him and the rest of STRIKE, even before they broke into the apartment and I broke his nose." She forced herself to step away from Steve so that Red could hug him too. 
"It's exactly how it looks, SHIELD is compromised," Steve said as he looked between the two of them. "And as far as a plan... we need to get to the hospital." 
"Why? What's at the hospital?" Levi asked. 
"The flash drive." 
Red sighed as she set her hands on her hips. "You mean the flash drive that Tasha and Levi got the other night?" 
Steve nodded slowly. "Yep... that's the one." 
Levi turned away from the two of them to get their bikes ready. "What are we waiting for? Lets go." 
Steve got on her bike and Levi got on behind him, wrapping her arms around his middle as she leaned her head on his shoulder and her helmet formed around her head. She held on as tight as she could as he started up the bike and followed behind Red.
Soon, they were at the hospital where Fury had died, standing in front of a vending machine, Levi had her arms crossed her chest as she looked at it. She saw a whole lot of snacks, but there was no flash drive in sight. "Are you sure you left it in there?" She asked, and not for the first time. 
"Yeah, it was behind the Hubba Bubba." Steve said as he pointed at the now empty slot. 
"Well, that seems to be gone." Red said as she took her wallet out of her bag and got out a dollar to get a bag of chips. 
"So... what now?" Levi asked as she started to turn away from the machine. 
Steve sighed as he reached up to rub the bridge of his nose. "I don't-" 
The three of them spun around the moment they heard a bubble pop behind them. There stood Natasha, wearing a pair of jeans and a hoodie like the three of them were, it was that moment that Levi realized they needed better disguises. Why did they think that hoodies and jeans were enough to hide what they looked like?
Steve pushed into a storage room behind them. Levi noted that watching Steve push Nat against the wall was kind of hot, and it almost made her wish that it was her. Almost. 
She and Red closed the door behind them and stood in front of it as they turned to watch Steve and Nat. "Where is it?" He asked as he punned Nat in place. 
"Safe." She said lazily. 
"Tasha," Red said, sounding as annoyed as the other two must have felt. "I love you, but this isn't the time. Where's the flash drive?" 
Nat almost glared at them. "I told you, it's safe." 
"Do better!" Steve yelled. 
Levi pushed away from the door as she glanced at Red. "I don't think she's gonna give it to us." She felt her hands spark as her anger spiked. 
"Where did you get it?" 
"Why would I tell you?" 
That was the wrong move, Levi could tell. That one sentence was everything Natasha needed to know as her eyes scanned his face. "Fury gave it to you, why?" 
"What's on it?" Steve pressed. 
Levi shrugged as she glanced out the window to make sure no one was coming. "I mean, I know what's on it, but no one's asking me about it." 
Her mother shot her a look that either said no shit, or stop talking, but she couldn't tell which at this given moment. "That's because you didn't take it from the vending machine." 
"This is true." 
"I don't know." Nat said. 
"Stop lying!" 
"I only act like I know everything, Rogers." Natasha said in a rather bored tone. It was annoying to have to watch Steve try to interrogate the spy, especially when Levi knew that there were better ways to get someone to talk... if only she could take a look...
Steve almost growled. "I bet you knew Fury hided those pirates, didn't you?" 
Natasha shrugged. "Well, it makes sense." She tilted her head to the side as she spoke. "Well, it makes sense." She tilted her head to the other side as she spoke. "The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so did you three." 
Red blinked a few times. "Excuse me, what?" 
Levi, meanwhile, glared. "That is the biggest heap of bullshit I've ever heard." 
"I'm not asking you again." 
Finally, Nat gave a heavy sigh. "I know who killed Fury." That was the one thing she needed to say to get Levi and Red to stay quiet. Every sarcastic quip and snide remark left Levi, and her full attention was on Natasha. "Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones who do call him the Winter Solider." She said. "He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years." 
"So... he's a ghost story..." Steve said. 
Red leaned against the door and closed her eyes. "I've never even heard about this Winter Soldier." 
Natasha only glanced at her. "I don't imagine you would've, Red." 
Levi raised an eyebrow as she studied Nat's face, whoever this Winter Solider person was, they must have shaken her to the core. "How did you heard about him?" 
She leaned against the shelf Steve was holding her against. "Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, somebody shot out my tires near Odessa, we lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out, but the Winter Solider was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him through me." She reached down to pull up her hoodie and showed the three of them a scar on her abdomen, just above her hip. "Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye-bye bikinis."  
"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now." Steve said, Levi could almost hear him rolling his eyes. 
Red pushed away from the door. "None of this tells us where the flash drive is, Tasha." She said as she now stood next to them. "Where is it?" 
"And we're back to the question of the day." Levi said with a roll of her eyes. 
"And where do we find this Winter Soldier guys?" Red added quickly. 
Levi now walked away from the door, deciding at no one would be coming in there for a while. "And now we've got a new question of the day." 
"Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried." Nat held up the flash drive. "Like you said, he's a ghost story." 
Steve finally let Nat go and took the flash drive before he handed it to Red, who put it into her weird thigh bag thing. "Well, let's find out what the ghost wants." 
Levi almost grinned as she reached out to hold Steve's hand. "We're going ghost hunting?" 
Red gave a snort of laughter. "We've all done weirder things. Where are we going first?" 
"We're going to the mall." Natasha said as she pushed open the door and the four of them left the room, then the hospital. 
As Natasha got into her car, Red, Steve and Levi got back onto the motorbikes. Again, with Levi holding onto Steve as tightly as she could as they flanked Nat's car. She couldn't exactly place why they were heading to a mall of all places, but she supposed that it was as good of a start as any.
+++
"Nick Fury was murdered in cold blood," Alexander Pierce was saying as he stood before the Council. "To any reasonable person, that makes him a martyr, not a traitor." 
Rockwell sat up in his seat, he was obviously already tied of this conversation. "You know what makes him a traitor? Hiring a mercenary to hijack his own ship." 
Singh, who didn't seem like he disagreed with Rockwell, said. "Nick Fury used your friendship to coerce this council into delaying Project Insight. A project he knew would expose his own illegal operations. At best, he lied to you." 
Pierce, who had had enough of the slander against his friend, finally lashed out. "Are you calling resignation? I've got a pen and paper right here." 
Councilwoman Howley sighed heavily before she finally spoke. "That discussion can be tabled for another time." 
Pierce stayed silent for a moment, having been glad that he brought the conversation away from Project Insight. At least now his plans probably wouldn't be disrupted by the Council. "But you do want a discussion." 
Rockwell didn't seem to be in the mood for Pierce's attempts at diverting the conversation. "We've already had it, Mr. Secretary. The Council moves to immediately reactivate Project Insight," he almost sounded bored as he spoke. "If you want to say something snappy, now would be a good time." 
+++
Dressed as civilians, the group finally entered the mall. Red had a pistol tucked in the waistband of her jeans, while everything else had been tucked away into her backpack. Before they had entered the mall, Levi had used her illusion magic to change her hair to pink and purple. It suited her, even if it was odd to see her without her normal hair.
Red adjusted her hood over her head as she took a glance around them and caught sight of Levi catching up with Steve and holding his hand. She and Tasha looked at each other and shared a small, and smug, smile. 
"First rule of going on the run, don't run." Tasha said as she looked at Steve and Levi. "Walk." 
Steve rested his arm over Levi's shoulder as the two of them slowed down to a walk. "If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off." 
Red shoved her hands into the pockets of her hoodie. "Then just walk, we're just four friends hanging out." 
Levi reached up to hold Steve's hand while her other arm slung around his waist. "Which really isn't that far off, all things considered." 
"Exactly." Red said, nodding in agreement before she turned to face Natasha. "So, why are we at the mall?" 
"Because we need a computer." Tasha answered as the two of them walked ahead of Steve and Levi, both of them heading toward the Apple Store. 
"So, yeah, so the mall is the obvious choice." Glancing behind her, Red saw the two of them share a look of of confusion.
"So... where are e going?" Levi asked as they caught up. 
"The Apple Store." Red said moments before they found it and walked in. While she, Steve and Natasha stood around a laptop, Levinia decided that she should walk around the store because having the four of them huddled around a laptop would look weird and suspicious. 
"The drive has a Level Six homing program," Tasha was saying as Red dug around her bag before handing the flash drive over. "So, as soon as we boot up, SHIELD will know exactly where we are." 
"How much time to we have?" Steve asked he kept his eyes on Levi. They were sort of cute in the way they looked at one another and acted around each other. She wondered if Steve was to Levi, what Bucky was to her? That would be nice, for both of them. 
"Umm... I'd say about ten?" Red suggested.
Tasha shrugged. "It'll be about nine minutes from..." She trailed off as she put the flash drive into the laptop's USB port and shifted her weight to her other foot. "Now." She took a deep breath as she started trying to hack into the files that she and Levi had worked so hard to get the other night. "Fury was right about the ships, somebody's trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI, it keeps rewriting itself to rewrite my commands." As cool and collected as Tasha was trying to look, Red could tell that she was struggling. 
"Can you override it?" Steve asked. 
"We've been doing this a long time. She can do it." Red glanced at Levi as she spoke. "Probably better than Levinia and I can." 
"Besides," Tasha added as she furiously typed. "The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me." She smirked. "Slightly." 
Red nervously checked her watch as she leaned against the table. "We only have a few more minutes, Tasha." 
"I know. I'm gonna run a tracer. This is a program that SHIELD developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file..." Tasha trailed off for a moment as she continued to type. "Maybe we can find out where it came from." 
Red and Steve both glanced away from the laptop and back at Levi, who was taking her time looking at phones and asking the employee that was with her a long series of questions to keep their attention off of them. Just as Red was about to ask Tasha something about the trace, an Apple employee approached them. Both she and Steve quickly closed ranks to hide the laptop screen from him. 
"Can I help you guys with anything?" He asked as he glanced between the three of them. 
"Can I help you guys with anything?" He asked as he glanced between the three of them. 
"Oh no. My friend's fiancé is just helping us with some honeymoon destinations." Tasha said in a loud and exaggerated chipper tone. 
"Right!" Steve said with a nervous chuckle. "I'm getting married." 
The employee turned to look at Red. "Congratulations! Where are you guys thinking about going?" 
Red laughed as she patted Steve's arm. "It's not me, actually, it's the girl with the pink hair." She nodded toward Levi.
"Yeah," Steve said, giving Levi a longing look before he glanced down at the computer's screen. "But I'm thinking about New Jersey." Red really couldn't be happier that Steve was playing along. 
Red kept smiling. "She just loves Jersey." 
"Didn't she grow up there?" Tasha asked from behind her and Steve.
"Yeah, I think so." 
The employee looked very closely at Steve's face and the two of them shared a very nervous glance. The moment Red was about to wave her daughter over, he said. "Oh... I have those exact some glasses." Steve and Red relaxed against the table as she gave a nervous smile. 
"Wow, you two are practically twins." Tasha said sarcastically. 
He laughed. "Yeah, I wish." He looked over Steve one last time. "Specimen... Uhhh," he help up his nametag. "If you guys need anything, I've been Aaron." 
Steve smiled. "Thank you." 
The moment Aaron walked away, Steve and Red turned to look back at the laptop. "You said nine minutes," Steve said, sounding as stressed out as Red felt. "Come on." 
"We can't rush her." Red hissed. 
"Shh, relax." She quickly typed out a few more commands and zoomed in on where exactly in Jersey the four of them would be going after they got done here. "You guys know it?" It was the army base where the SSR trained soldier to be able to take on the serum. Odd how history was repeating itself this week. 
"We used to." Steve said before he turned to call for, and wave to, Levi. "Honey, lets go!" 
Levinia quickly came back to them and took Steve's hand again as Red snatched the flash drive out of the laptop and shoved it back into her pocket. When they finally left the store, she spotted Rumlow and the rest of his team, she nodded toward them as her heart sank down to her stomach. 
Without hesitation, she opened her hand and a spectral red keypad appeared in her palm and she was able to quickly hack into their intercom system, knowing that if she could hear what they were all saying, she would be able to help her small team avoid getting killed in the middle of Gallery Place. 
"Standard tac-team." Steve was saying as Red shoved an earbud into her ear. "Two behind, two across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage. You three hit the south escalator to the metro." 
Natasha grabbed Red's hand to hide the keyboard, luckily for her, she was already in. "Shut up and put your arm around Levi." She muttered as they continued their quick pace. 
What if this really was the end of their quest to stop them from launching Project Insight? There was nothing she could do if they were attacked no. "Laugh at something I said." Tasha added. 
"What?" Steve asked. 
"Just do it." She snapped. 
The four of them ducked their heads and laughed as the agents passed them. Red interlocked her fingers with Natasha's as she raised her head to look around at their surroundings. "Steve, take Levi to the escalator. Tasha and I are taking the elevator, we'll meet you at the entrance." 
And so, they split off. Red kept her eyes on Steve and Levi as she and Tasha got into the glass elevator. She smirked as she listened in on hat the STRIKE team was talking about. 
"Negative at the source." 
"Give me a floor sweep." Rumlow said. 
"Negative on three." 
"Negative on two." 
"Snake upper levels, work down to me." Rimblow said as he got onto the escalator, he'd be passing Levi and Steve soon. 
Red's heart practically stopped in her chest. If they didn't notice him in time, they'd all be dead. 
+++
"I think when we get home, we should order a great big pizza." Levinia was saying as she and Steve started down the escalator. 
He smiled down at her. Gods, did she love his smile. "I don't think that'll be happening for a while." 
"Well, I can hope, can't-" she broke off as she spotted Rumlow coming up and toward them on the other side of the escalator. "Kiss me." 
Steve looked baffled as he looked down at her. "What?" 
"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable." She said softly as she nodded toward Rumlow, he would see them in seconds. 
"Yes, they do." He whispered back to her as he took hold of her waist and pulled her closer to him. 
Without hesitation, Levi pulled him down and pressed her lips against his as her eyes fluttered shut. This wasn't how she wanted their first kiss to happen, but Gods, was it amazing. As their lips moved together, she reached up to loop her arms around his neck while one of his hands left her waist and gently cupped her cheek. 
It was like she was breathing for the first time in years, it was everything she wanted and more, her heart fluttered nervously in her chest and she felt so... happy, and had never felt so alive her entire life. A literal spark passed between them before he finally, and regretfully, pulled away from her lips and rested his forehead against hers as they both struggled for breath. 
Levi gave a breathless chuckle. "You still comfortable?" 
He cleared his throat. "It's not exactly the word I would use." 
Levi grinned as they got off the escalator and met back up with Red and Natasha at the entrance of the mall. It was obvious that they both had seen the kiss.
"We'll talk about it later." Steve muttered as he took hold of her hand once again. 
Red still didn't wipe the smirk off of her face as they walked out of the mall. "All right, you're the boss, Cap." 
Levi still couldn't hold back her grin as they made their way back to their motorbikes. She knew that Steve returned her feelings, she could feel it in her bones. At least, if they did fie trying to stop HYDRA, she got confirmation. 
"We're gonna need more than the bikes if we're gonna day trip it to New Jersey." Nat said as they stood in front of them. 
"Well..." Levi said as she looked around them. "We could steal that truck."
This being as good of an idea as any, Steve quickly hot wired the truck while she and Red loaded their bikes into the bed of it before the both of them climbed into the backseat. 
"We need to get gas and food." Red said once they got on the road. 
Steve sighed. 'We don't have time-" 
Red shot him a glare. "Steve, not everyone in this car is a super-solider." She sighed as she leaned back in her seat. "And we do need gas if we're going to day trip it to New Jersey." 
Levi leaned back in her seat with a sigh. "Red's not wrong, Steve." 
Steve gave a defeated sigh as he slowed down the truck and turned into a shopping center. "Fine. Ten minutes in Walmart while I get gas," he glanced at Nat as he pulled into the store's parking lot. "Go with them, I can handle myself if I get in trouble." He then glanced at Levi and Red. "Do you guys have cash?"
Levi nodded as she got ready to leave the truck. "Yeah, Stark gave us some before we left." 
"Ten minutes from the moment you walk in." 
"Understood." Levi said before three of the four of them clambered out of the truck and rushed inside. 
As they shopped, all she could think about was how that was her first kiss since she left Thanos's Children, and how she could still feel Steve's lips against hers. 
+++
The moment the girls had entered Walmart, he went across the street to get gas for the truck. As the tank was filling up, he leaned against the door and closed his eyes. He couldn't believe that he kissed Levi, he also couldn't believe that he liked it, it almost felt like he was breaking some sort of bylaw by liking it. He almost smiled when he realized that he could still feel her lips on his, still feel her body pressed against his, still feel that shock...
Beside him, the gas pump popped and he quickly paid inside before he climbed back into the truck and went back to Walmart to wait for them. 
When they walked out of the store, they all had three bags in both of their hands, each, and it looked like they got more than just food. They quickly got in and soon they were on the road to New Jersey. Red had her head leaned against the window as she listened to music from a CD players they must have bought, meanwhile Levi-back to her usual green and black hair coloring-was fast asleep. He hoped that she wouldn't have a nightmare this time. 
He and Natasha were the only two still awake, and it didn't seem like she would be going to sleep any time soon. "Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" 
"Nazi Germany." He said as he kept his eyes on the road. 
"Mm." She muttered as she put her feet up on the dash. 
"And we're borrowing." He said as he glanced at her. "Take your feet off the dash." 
Natasha did as he asked and smirked as she watched him glanced into the mirror to check on Levi. "Alright, I have a question for you, of which you don't have to answer." She settled into her seat. "I feel like if you don't answer it though, you're kind of answering it." 
"what?" 
"Was that your first kiss since 1945?" 
"It looked that bad huh?" 
She chuckled. "I didn't say that." 
"Well, it kind of sounds like that's what you're saying." Steve said as he let out a chuckle of his own and turned a corner in the road. 
"No. I didn't." She let out another soft laugh. "I just wondered how much practice you've had." 
He rolled his eyes with a scoff. "You don't need practice." 
"Everybody needs practice." She said, still sounding very amused. 
"It was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm ninety-five, not dead." 
Natasha took a moment to glance between him and Levinia. "Nobody special though?" 
Steve knew that Levi wouldn't have lost control of her emotions and shocked him as they kissed if she had only done it because he didn't want them caught by Rumlow. He leaned back in his seat with a smile. "I guess that there's someone special." 
"I can't imagine who." 
"I'm sure you can't." Steve glanced at Levi again before he focused back on the road in front of them. "How about you?" 
"No, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience, so I usually make something up." Natasha sighed as she now turned to look out the window. "The truth is a matter of circumstance, its not all things to all people all the time, and neither am I." 
"That's a tough way to live." 
"It's a good way not to die, either." 
"You know," Steve said with a pause. "It's kind of hard to trust someone when you don't know who that person really is." 
"Yeah..." She said before she gave a small sigh. "Who do you want me to be?" 
He offered a small smile. "How about a friend?" 
She gave another soft laugh. "Well, there's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers." She turned away from the window to look at him. "But that kiss seemed like it meant something more to the both of you." 
Steve decided that the first step to trust was to tell the truth, and while he wasn't about to pour his heart out to her about how he felt about the Asgardian sleeping behind him, he did say this. "It did, and I can't explain why... or even when, I started feeling this way about her." He cleared his throat as he shifted in his seat. "Anyway, you should get some rest, we'll be there in a few hours." 
Without further conversation, Natasha got settled in her seat and slowly, but surely, fell asleep, with Red following soon after. He reached forward and turned on the radio as he thought about the conversation he had just had, and how, when all of this was over, he'd take Levi out for that pizza that she was talking about at the mall. 
+++
Steve had woken the three of them up the moment he parked the truck at the army base, and as the sun was setting about them, Natasha got to work looking for the source of the signal she had captured from the flash drive. 
Levi stuck close to Steve's side as she struggled to wake up, her head leaned up against his arm as she blinked heavily. Natasha glanced over her shoulder at Red, who smiled as she nodded. They both knew that, by the end of this, the two of them would be together. There truly was nothing like life threatening peril to bring feelings to the surface. It was something she'd seen a few times, with Laura and Clint, and her parents. 
"This is it." Steve announced as they walked around. 
Nat nodded as she shoved a hand into one of her jacket pockets. "The file came from these coordinates." 
Red took a deep breath as she looked around them. "It's not the only thing." 
Levi looked up at Steve with her head tilted. "What else came from here?" 
He looked back down at her with a gentle smile. "I did." 
"And so did SHIELD." Red said as she looked around the compound. 
Levi was quiet for a long moment before she slowly nodded and said. "So... the last bit is a long in, and of, itself." 
Red sighed. "Yeah, I guess so." 
For the next few minutes, Natasha slowly walked around with her phone in her hand with the other three following close behind her. When she was failing to find it, she stopped and turned to look at Steve. 
"This is the camp where I as trained." He was saying to Levi. 
"Changed much?" She asked. 
"A little." He admitted. 
It was interesting, watching Levi watch Steve. She was completely head over heels for him, she looked at him like he was the sun rising over her horizon. And Nat was glad that, even through all of this, Levi found where she belonged. 
+++
Steve kept Levi held against his side to keep her warm as her eyes scanned over the compound, for a moment he saw himself training to be the man he was now. When his vision was over, he glanced back down to Levi before he leaned down to press a light kiss to her forehead.
"This is a dead end!" Natasha called toward them as she shoved her phone into her back pocket. "Zero head signatures, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to thro people off..." She trailed off as Steve suddenly turned around to face a building. He looked at Red, who shared the same look of concern as she slowly moved to stand on his other side. "What is it?" Natasha asked.
"Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards of the barracks. This building is in the wrong place." He quickly broke the lock with his shield and let them inside, and as Red kept a small flame lit in her hand to light the way, Levi searched the walls before she finally found the light switch. They quickly realized that they were standing in the middle of a SHIELD office with portraits of Peggy Carter, Howard Stark, Red, and Col. Chester Phillips lining the walls. 
"This is SHIELD." Natasha said as they stood in front of the wall. 
Steve slowly nodded. "Maybe where it started. 
"Steve," Red said as she looked up at her own face. "This is where everything started." 
And if it came down to it, this was where it would all end too. 
+++
Looking at the portraits, Levinia could have sworn that she was looking at a picture of Tony, had it not been for the plaque at the bottom of the frame telling them that they were looking at Howard Stark. 
"That's Stark's father." Natasha said from beside her. 
Levi turned to look at her mother with a smirk playing at her lips. "You worked with Stark's dad? Do you ever feel weird about seeing him?" 
Red rolled her eyes at her. "Sometimes, but this isn't about me." She sighed as she slowly walked around the room, Levi wondered how many memories this room was bringing back to her. She knew that these memories were dark ones for Red, was she seeing herself trying to help Steve take down HYDRA the first time? 
"Who's the girl?" Nat asked as she looked up at the picture of the other woman on the wall. 
Red and Steve stayed silent as the two of them moved through the office space, but Levi tapped the plaque on the frame before she turned to follow them. 
They were standing in front of a bookshelf, and she was about to ask why the three of them were now standing in front of a random bookshelf hen Red and Steve looked at each other. It was almost as if they were silently speaking to one another, and she wished that she could understand how they did it. She was sure that she'd be jealous of that for a long time coming. Finally, Red nodded and took a step back, while Steve looked over his shoulder at Levinia and Natasha. "If you're already working in a secret office," he said as he reached up and pushed down on a book and set it back into place before the entire shelf started to move aside. "Why do you need to hide the elevator?" 
"Sure beats me, Steve." Levi said as they walked into the secret elevator and the doors closed behind them. "It's not like SHIELD has secrets behind their secrets, or anything." 
The elevator slowly moved down, Levi reached up to rub at her arms as she started to shiver. She couldn't tell if she was shivering because she was cold, or because she was nervous about the situation at hand, either way, she'd do almost anything for a warmer jacket than the one she had on at the time. 
When the doors opened again, they stood before a very old looking computer lab and she stuck close to Steve as they slowly walked in. Natasha sighed as she looked around them. "This can't be the data-point, this technology is ancient," she took a moment to look around before she stared down at the desk. "Red... can I have the flash drive?" 
Red, without skipping a beat, took the flash drive out of her bag and handed it over before she stepped back to stand beside Steve and Levi. Levi reached over to grasp Steve's hand as they watched Nat plug the drive into a set of USB ports. The computer turned on and two words flashed across the screen, asking if they'd like to initiate the system. 
Natasha shrugged as she typed on the keyboard. "Y-E-S spells yes." She glanced over her shoulder at them. "Shall we play a game? It's from a movie that-" 
"I know, I saw it." Steve said before she could explain the plot. 
Levi almost grinned. "I made him watch it." 
"That was also the night we decided that Levinia wasn't allowed to-" Red cut off with a gasp of horror and a shout of, "Oh my God!" 
As her yell echoed and died out around them, a camera came out and started to looking at the small group before it. Levi gripped Steve's hand a little harder as a face-green and made of computer data-appeared on the screen. 
And just when she was starting to think that all of this couldn't get any weirder. 
+++
Red took a step back as she face of Doctor Arnim Zola started to speak to them. Her hands started to heat up in her moment of fear and stress, her head was swimming and her heart was pounding. 
"Rogers, Steve. Born 1918." He said as he slowly looked at each of them. "Natasha Alionvona, born 1984. Red Northndottier, born 640." And finally, he turned his gaze to Levinia and said. "And Levinia Lokidottir, born 1924." 
Natasha turned to look at her, and then down at her hands as they started to glow white hot with her suppressed flame. "It's some kind of recording, Red. It has to be." 
"I am not a recording, fraulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am alive." 
"Of course!" Red yelled as she shook out her hands. "Of course it's you, why am I not fucking surprised?" 
"Language, Agent North." 
"Oh, bite me, Zola." 
Natasha blinked a few times as she seemed to be struggling to collect her thoughts. "You guys know this thing?" 
Steve slowly nodded. "Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years." 
Zola practically rolled his eyes at them. "First correction, 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." 
Red had almost forgotten ho smug he sounded, she wished that he didn't have to remind her and bring back all of those memories of signing off on the project to keep Zola's mind preserved. He had known too much to not keep him around... but when they had abandoned this part of SHIELD, she was told that they left Zola behind too. 
Levi shuddered as she leaned around Steve to look at Red. "Has he always been this creepy?" 
Red rested her hands on her hips as she looked up at the ceiling. "Yeah, unfortunately." 
"How did you get there?" Steve asked. 
"Oh, you're not going to like this answer." Red muttered. 
"Invited." Zola answered. 
Natasha sighed. "It was Operation Paperclip. After World War II, SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value." 
Zola's computer head nodded. "They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own." 
Steve struggled to keep a glare off of his face. "HYDRA died with the Red Skull." 
"Obviously that's not true, why do you think we're running away from SHIELD?" Red said as she shook her head. 
"agent North is right," Zola said, sounding more smug than Red could have ever imagined. "Cut off one head, two more shall take its place." 
There was a moment of silence, all she could hear was the sound of her own heartbeat in her ears before Steve spoke up again. "Prove it." 
Red and Levi shared a look of 'what the fuck?' before her daughter raised her head to look at Steve. "How much more proof do you need?" 
Steve didn't even glance at her. "I just need to know for sure, Levinia." 
"Accessing Archive." Zola said moments before he started to show the group video clips and photos of Johann Schmitt, or Red Skull, then they were all shown photos and videos of herself and the other three founders of SHIELD.
"HYDRA was founded with the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize was that if you tried to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much," Zola started to explain, sounding smug as he did. "Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded and I was recruited; the new HYDRA grew. For seventy years, hydra has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed." 
Tasha shook her head. "That's impossible, SHIELD would have stopped you." 
"Accidents will happen." Zola said before he showed them articles telling them about the murders of Howard and Maria Stark, showing that it was staged to look like a car accident. The death of Fury, made to look like like a case of police brutality, and lastly, Red's supposed disappearance. "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." He said with a chuckle. "Your death amounts to the same as your life. A zero sum." 
Steve suddenly threw his shield at the screen, completely shattering it and as he retrieved it, Zola reappeared on another screen. Levi and Red shared a shocked and scared look before they both focused back on the literal evil computer genius. "As I was saying-" 
"What's on the drive?" Steve and Red asked. 
"Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm." 
"What kind of algorithm?" Tasha asked. "What does it do?" 
"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you all shall be too dead to hear it." They spun around as the door behind them started to close, in an attempt to stop it, Steve threw his shield but it bounced off and went back into his hand. Levi and Red looked at each other and threw their combined power it, but even their fire and lightning couldn't stop it. They only stopped when a device went off and they turned to took at Natasha. 
"Guys, we got a bogey, short range ballistic. Thirty seconds, tops." 
"Who fired it?" Levi, Red and Steve asked. 
"SHIELD." 
"Shit." Red muttered. 
Levi was frantically looking around them, fear very much evident on her face. "What do we do? There's nowhere for us to go. We don't have a way to escape." 
"I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain. Admit it, it's better this way. We're all of us, out of time." Zola said as Steve spotted a vent in the floor and threw it open, it was just big enough to keep the four of them safe and sound. As quickly as they could, they got in the vent with Steve covering them with his body and shield, and just as the vent door fell closed on top of them, the bomb dropped. 
Then, all Red could see was blackness.
+++
Levinia didn't know how long she was unconscious, but when she took a breath, all she could taste and feel was dust and dirt going down her throat and causing her to choke. She coughed as she opened her eyes, her vision was spotty, and no matter how many times she blinked, it didn't go away. Her ears were ringing so loud that she thought she might throw up. 
"Lev." She heard Steve's muffled voice say. "Levi, we gotta go." 
She nodded as she let him pull her up and into his arms, carrying her as he ran back toward the truck. Levi was only vaguely aware of Red and Nat running behind them as Steve laid her in backseat and got in with her as Steve laid her in the backseat and got in with her as Red got into the driver's seat and took off. 
Levi didn't know where they were going, she just knew that Steve was holding her in his arms as Red drove like Hell was chasing them. By the time she found the words to ask, the darkness at the edges of her vision took over and she passed out again. 
+++
It had only taken a few minutes for the STRIKE team to get to the base after Red, Levinia, Steve and Natasha peeled out in their borrowed truck. 
Rumlow had his team get out and search the base for bodies, but when he looked down in the dirt, he saw three sets of footprints. One of them must have died, right? He almost growled in frustration as he made a call. 
"Call in the asset." He said, knowing what he had to do to make sure HYDRA survived and thrived. 
The Winter Solider had been called in.