The Avenger's Witch

Chapter 19: The Doctor

The room they walked into made Ayda shiver. She tightened her jacket around her body nervously. It was pitch black and almost impossible to see anything outside of the patch of light from the open elevator doors "I really don't like it down here."

Steve and Tasha gave each other a look of confusion before stepping into the room. Ayda rolled her eyes. She felt something in the room, but she had no idea what it was. It didn't feel human or mechanical, it just felt wrong.

At that moment, the elevator doors closed and started to move upward. Ayda watched it leave. "Well, there goes our only way out."

I don't like this. Circe spoke from her shoulder. She was crouched, her eyes darting around.

The lights came on around them, revealing an old computer. Big glass monitors surrounded by rows of reels for memory. Ayda let out a whistle. "I think we just found the only thing older than Steve." Tasha and Steve both turned to her with flat looks. "Tough crowd."

Tasha stepped onto the main platform in the middle and looked around, "This can't be the data point. This technology is ancient." Tasha's face was confused. Steve's face was mirrored the assassin's.

Ayda stepped up and noticed a USB dock. "That looks pretty modern to me." Tasha walked over, pulled the drive out, and cautiously inserted it. Suddenly, the parts of the computer surrounding them came to life. Lights flicked on, reels started spinning, and various high-pitched whirs made Ayda's ears ring. The displays directly in front of them changed to a dull grey and green writing appeared. "INITIATE SYSTEM?"

Looking between Steve and Tasha, Ayda made up her mind and stepped up to the keyboard. Ignoring Steve's shout for her to wait, she typed in a response, "Y-E-S spells yes." She hit enter.

More whirring, louder, this time, from directly in front of them. The largest monitor lit up with green dots, vaguely resembling a face. The camera turned to the left and a voice spoke from the computer, making Circe hiss.

"Rogers, Steven, born 1918." The camera turned. "Romanoff, Natalia Alianova, born 1984." Ayda stepped back as the camera focused on her, "Dupoint, Ayda, born 2000. Circe, born roughly 3000 BCE."

Circe growled and transformed into her Asgardian form, but dressed in a more casual dark denim jeans and a pink blouse that matched her eyes. "It's rude to tell a lady's age."

"I'd hardly call you a lady, Zauberin," Circe's eyes narrowed as the computer spoke. Ayda raised an eyebrow at the German word for sorceress, wondering how the recording knew.

"I may not be the man I once was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945. But I am." A picture appeared on a smaller monitor to the side. A grainy, black-and-white image of a balding man with big glasses, and a bow tie sticking out of a jacket.

Tasha turned to Steve, "You know this thing?" Ayda turned too. Steve's face was horrified. He moved around the side opposite, Tasha.

"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years." Steve circled around the back of the main computer station as he spoke.

The computer, Dr. Zola, chimed in. "First correction, I am Swiss." The digital voice sounded annoyed somehow, "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."

Ayda shivered, "That's just wrong, it's against nature." She finally understood the feeling she had earlier. Her magic had sensed how wrong this was. Steve moved in between her and the screen.

"How? It's not too different to the magic your companion uses." His voice filled with disgust as he spoke about Circe.

Circe growled, "You bite your tongue. We are not the same. You may be within that device, but I am a Master Magician of Asgard, I can still hurt you." Circe clenched her fist tightly.