What If...? Rumlow Turned Against Hydra: Book One

24

Rumlow was about ready to try and get some sleep when the alert on the organization's phone came in. He read the message, decrypted from the intense security protocols used for all communications and smiled. It was some good news at last, sending him all but racing to find Romanov and Wilson, both of whom were in the living room of the small house. They would be moving on from the house in the morning, continuing their slow run from Hydra's attention, but it had been nice to have someplace to actually live in the past few days. Everyone's sleep schedule was in disarray, they all would grab a few hours where they could, except for Barnes who still had not seemed to need to sleep at all.

"They did it!" Rumlow called out. "The virus is in the helicarriers!"

Romanov looked up, stunned but relieved. She had, like Rumlow, never been entirely sure the organization could carry out something like introducing a virus into Project Insight. Wilson simply looked relieved. As a soldier, he was ready for whatever he had to do, and had some trust that others would be doing their parts. He looked fairly comfortable for where he found himself to be so that Rumlow was cautiously optimistic about his ability to be an asset.

"How long will it slow them down?"

"It's a pretty nasty virus, according to my contacts in the organization. It may well be weeks before they can safely be ready to launch."

"There's that off our immediate list of major problems," Wilson said. "Any idea about the place they're keeping Steve?"

"Still waiting on a schematic," Rumlow said.

"Getting closer," Barnes said as he entered the room. All eyes turned to him, expectantly. "Matthias thinks we will be able to use a modified worm to get into Zola's AI."
"Worm?" Rumlow asked.

"A type of virus, independent, used to break into multiple systems, probably to shut things down or introduce malware," Romanov explained.

"Can the worm shut this AI down?" Wilson asked.

"Unlikely, it's defenses are too strong," Barnes admitted. "But if we can introduce a form of malware, it might be enough to at least trace the program to its source."

"I still can't quite see how just destroying the physical location of this Zola will do anything. It's on the net, it's able to be anywhere," Wilson argued.

"Normally, you'd be correct," Barnes replied. "But in this case, the reason we think destroying the physical location where its coming from will work is because it used to be a human being. A human is reliant on their body, and this AI will also be reliant on its body, whatever it is that it's using for a body."

"Some kind of server," Romanov said thoughtfully. "Most computer systems can't run anything without their physical servers, even if the servers are miles away. I'd bet Zola is the same."

"If we're lucky," Rumlow said. "Is there a backup plan in case that doesn't work?"

"Eventually, with enough time and enough ways to get malware into the AI, we will be able to kill it even if it isn't dependent on a physical server," Barnes said. "The problem is time. Steve is undergoing their conditioning as we speak. We need to get him out."
"But the Zola AI is stopping us? Or it will be able to stop us if we try?" Wilson asked.

"Both." Rumlow answered as Barnes nodded.

"The facility was built to stop super soldiers and a large non enhanced force. It's set up to be a trap essentially. None of us will succeed if we don't know exactly where Steve is and how to counter whatever they've set up." Barnes didn't sound particularly grim, he rarely sounded like he was feeling much of anything, but everyone else in the room became more somber at those words. "Zola will use his access to stop us, confuse us, kill all of you.... And recapture me."
All of them reacted, subtly, with Romanov wincing and Wilson looking like was suddenly feeling sick. Rumlow felt more determined. He had his new place to serve, he had already accepted he would die in the mission if he had to. He preferred not to, but it was a possibility. He would do everything he could to make sure Barnes never fell into Hydra's hands again, in addition to saving Steve from the same fate. Everyone jumped slightly as they heard a loud ringing sound from the room where Barnes had been in communication with his people in Madripoor. Barnes immediately went back to the room, with everyone else on his heels. It was not an alert they'd heard before; it could herald good or bad news.