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

29

They had all expected to go to some secret place, possibly even off the grid entirely when Barnes had told them about a secure location that would not require them to keep moving every few days. It was thus to the complete surprise of all of them that they found themselves in a large townhouse in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore. It was fully renovated with historic touches that they admired as they looked through it. Furnished, with four bedrooms, two living areas, as well as an odd, subterranean basement that had no windows, used as storage for the computers and other equipment. Rumlow also suspected the basement, which he doubted was in its original state, had to have a hidden entrance along with secret compartments for weapons or other sensitive materials. He looked around at the walls from a purely professional standpoint, noticing reinforced areas, telltale signs of non-standard building materials that proved just how impenetrable it was. Essentially, the basement was a bunker, exactly what he would have expected from the Winter Soldier and his organization.

"How long have you had this place?" Romanov asked when they had moved in.

"Several years," was the bland reply from Barnes.

"And Hydra never knew anything about it?"

"No. It was purchased only through the organization."
"How many places do you have like this?"

"The organization has hundreds around the world. Most places are used as short term safehouses, but some are used as residences when needed. We also have residences that come with certain jobs, usually in political areas that need a certain type of address to add to their authenticity. This place will be a residence in the future, we have some people on the payroll who are looking to move up in D.C. society, and this will be a good address to have."
"You're so damned casual about all this," Wilson said, but he smiled slightly while he said it. "Hydra had no idea what you built under their nose?"

"On their orders," Barnes reminded him. "They just never ordered the Winter Soldier to turn it over to them or shut it down."

"Their loss," Rumlow couldn't help but say.

"And our gain," Romanov added.

"What now? As nice as this place is, we're no closer to getting Steve out," Wilson said.

"He's right. And we're no closer to taking down that Zola program," Rumlow agreed.

"We're closer now than we were," Barnes said to general surprise. "I have a full schematic of the building where Steve is being held. The Zola program has been breached by Matthias and the viruses. It's been slowly giving us more and more access."

"Breached, but not destroyed," Romanov observed. "Is it enough to be able to get Steve out?"

"Not yet," Barnes said. "So far, it's unaware of what Matthias is doing, and that is allowing him to force it to sabotage Project Insight and give us information. If Zola realizes what is happening, then it may be able to attack the organization, invading our systems."

"Then we're screwed," Wilson said grimly.

"Yeah," Rumlow said. "Does the information we have allow us to plan at all?"
"It does. We now have a layout of the building itself, even if we don't know where Steve is inside." Barnes placed a small device on the large dining room table, pushing a button. A large holographic display lit up the room, showing a three-dimensional image of the facility layout. All of them studied the image for a few minutes in silence. Rumlow was discouraged by what he saw: a strange tangle of hallways and rooms, none of which seemed to have any direct entrances or exits. It would be a headache to navigate even for people who knew the inside of the building well.