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

36

The only word she could use to describe the situation was chaos. It was bewildering, to stand receiving news of Hydra's greatest defeat since the war when they were supposed to be nearly to their ultimate victory. The reports had begun with a trickle, ending with a flood from various news sources rather than anything official from the Triskelion in Washington D.C. When Annelise Wagner finally saw footage of what had happened, she understood why they had to receive information from the media rather than Hydra itself. The Triskelion had been attacked, in multiple ways, including Chinese missiles. It was absurd, she was sure it was a bad dream, or a movie. Things like that just didn't happen in real life, even if the world had already seen the rise of superheroes repelling an alien invasion. Hydra could not be attacked like that, but they had been, the proof was irrefutable.

No one in Hydra's leadership in Berlin could sleep that night. They remained at their posts in the German Intelligence service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst, otherwise known as the BND or Bund. Wagner was highly placed in the executive level offices, on site when the official Hydra reports finally began arriving in the dead hours immediately after midnight Berlin time. Even non-Hydra employees of the Bund were pulling long hours in the face of what was being termed a terrorist attack on the United States, specifically SHIELD, with the Triskelion as well as another SHIELD site bombarded with missiles. The Chinese government had provided proof they were also the victims of an attack that had commandeered their own defense systems to target the U.S. They had immediately offered assistance, obviously terrified a war would be begun because of some terrorist group's actions.

Wagner had known without being told the real target had been Hydra. She was well aware what the site near Fort Meade was involved in, the once state of the art facility that was currently nothing more than a smoking crater in the ground. Almost a hundred members of Hydra had been killed in that attack, along with civilian bystanders on the nearby street. The Triskelion had suffered an attack specifically at the hangar bay housing Project Insight, killing over a hundred people in the hangar bay itself, as well as many others in the vicinity when the river overflowed its banks, and the airstrips were destroyed. The targets were too specific for it to be anything but an attack on Hydra. Who could be possibly be responsible was the question on everyone's mind, at least those in Hydra. They did not speak much amongst themselves, not when there was so much activity around them as the German federal government responded to the attack with offers of assistance while their military went on high alert. The rest of the world, allies as well as adversaries had followed suit.

The reports answered some questions yet left others unanswered. Wagner wanted to scream in frustration and anger as she read them, but she kept her calm, knowing there was nothing her fury could help. She was the head of Hydra's operations in Berlin, she had to display leadership while she waited for the inevitable call with Pierce. It was almost dawn when he called, which would have annoyed her further if she hadn't been aware of the fact that he would have been in meetings with everyone in SHIELD, the World Security Council, and other governments.

"Sir," Wagner addressed him, via video link without pleasantries. The link was secure, but the image was not clear, it flickered in and out of focus, occasionally devolving into static. The issues at the Triskelion were not yet completely fixed. "I have to ask if the reports are accurate. Was a criminal gang in Madripoor responsible for this mayhem?"

"Yes," Pierce said simply, looking as weary as she had ever seen him. His face was drawn from lack of sleep and stress. She noticed his suit was dusty, possibly from the attack. Wagner realized with a pang it was lucky she could talk to him at all, considering what had happened.

"Sorry, sir," she said contritely. "I should ask you how you're doing?"

"I'm fine, Annalise," he responded with a small nod. "I appreciate your concern, but the attack didn't leave me injured. Hydra, however, is definitely injured."