You Didn't See That Coming? ~Hawksilver~ #Wattys2015

Had Enough

Steve's POV

The Quinjet landed and opened to reveal a winter wonderland of ice-barely anything around, freezing during the month of May.

"Tony tracked Splitsides over to here," I said, "But there must be a reason he's here. This part of Alaska doesn't have anything around..."

"Maybe it IS a trap," Rhodey said.

"I do not think so," Thor said, looking around with squinted eyes. "...There. See that building over there, a little to the left?"

"Yeah," I said, "I see it."

"What do you think is there?" Vision asked. Focusing hard on the shape of the building, it dawned on me.

"It's a stadium," I decided. "I don't know why, but I'm almost positive it's a stadium."

"Why would there be a stadium out here?" Rhodey looked at me.

"No idea, but I recognize the shape of that building from somewhere..." I had a flashback.

I had been saving Bucky from HYDRA, ages ago. Before he fell off the train. I caught a glimpse of a map with pins all over it...remembering there had been a pin marking some place in Alaska with small text, "Stadium of the Titans." But shat on earth could that mean? I didn't think much of it then, because I knew HYDRA was going to be over in a few short moments if I was successful.

"Let's get a closer look at it," Clint decided. We walked through the cold, fighting the wind and tiny, sharp snowflakes that fell like a pouring rain. We walked all the way until we were facing the stadium, and I kicked open the door. Looking through the haze inside, I saw figures of...dead people. I shuddered.

"I'm afraid I've heard of this place before," I said. "It's called the Stadium of Titans...I have no idea what it was used for, but it belonged to HYDRA."

"That's right, Captain," an unfamiliar voice said, and metallic sounds came through as Splitsides, wrapped in metal rods like he had been in the pictures, smiled at us eerily. "Welcome to the Stadium of Titans. Allow me...to educate you on the history of this building.

"Long before you thawed from the ice, not long after you went under, the remnants of HYDRA started their work on human enhancement. They didn't get too far, you see...we didn't have the methods we do today. Nor the technology. But though we didn't have aliens and robots like we do now, we did have our own ways...you are familiar with some of it. We lost the Tesseract, but still had some of its power. We lost Schmidt but had the Soldier. Though we were forced into hiding, we could keep in the system by becoming double agents and joining SHIELD. This means we got our hands on SHIELD's information, tools, and methods. Somehow this led to one of the first enhanced humans in existence. And I'm not talking about you, Captain."

"Bucky," I muttered.

"Oh, that's right," Splitsides said with a sickening laugh. "You were friends with Sergeant Barnes. What a shame..." My fingers curled into tight fists at my side. "As I was saying...the Soldier was handy, useful, a good tool to have...but it wasn't quite enough. Scientists worked and worked to enhance human beings, and some of them actually worked for a while. This arena was built long ago to be a training place for these enhanced people, but unfortunately most died the moment they stepped foot inside.

"So you see...this place has been a burial ground for many special-talented beings before...now it will be yours. Because I'm going to split you in half."

Pietro's POV

"So," Laura said at the table, breaking the silence. "The two of you together, then?"