Captain's Hart

Chapter 18 Hydra

Steve P.O.V.

It was almost dark when they stopped before the abandoned military base. As they got out of the car, Steve asked: "This is it?" "The file came from these coordinates." Nat replied as she checked her phone, and Steve remarked darkly: "So did I."

Nat looked at him in surprise but Stave was staring at the sign on the gate: 'Camp Lehigh'. He stared at it pensively more another minute before he muttered to Natasha: "Come on, let's go."

He led the way inside the camp, and they began to scour the camp. Sensing Nat's curiosity, Steve finally explained: "This camp is where I was trained." "Changed much?" Nat asked lightly, and Steve replied softly: "A little."

He paused as he saw the empty flag post, remembering his training back before the serum. He could almost see his smaller self trying to run with the other soldiers, and he could almost hear the trainer's condescending shouting: "Pick up the pace, ladies! Let's go! Let's go! Double time! Come on Rogers, move it!"

He sighed as he remembered, but he was broken from his thoughts as Nat commented: "This is a dead end. Zero heat signature, zero waves, not even radio." Steve turned to her, but noticed something as Nat continued: "Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off."

Steve wasn't listening as he stared at the building behind Nat, and she saw his stare. She turned, asking with a frown: "What is it?" He walked towards it with a deep frown and she followed as he explained: "Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards from the barracks. This building is in the wrong place."

He paused at the door, noticing the lock. He used his shield to cut the lock quickly, and the sharp snap echoed around the empty camp. Steve slowly led the way downstairs, and Nat switched on the lights carefully . They flickered to show a large eagle emblem on the far wall, and Nat commented slowly: "This is SHIELD."

They looked around the office and Steve said slowly: "Maybe where it started." They made their way slowly down the room, and spotted a side room at the far side of the room. Steve carefully led the way inside, to find it was an old, dusty office. It was a familiar design, clearly made in the 40s or early 50s, but that wasn't what made him pause.

Nat also noticed and she commented as Steve stopped before the three pictures hanging on the wall: "There's Stark's father." "Howard." Steve murmured, staring at the pictures of Colonel Philips, Howard, and...

"Who's the girl?" Nat asked, and Steve didn't answer, turning away from the picture of the younger Peggy Carter. He slowly walked down the office, and Nat glanced at the picture one more time before she followed him.

Steve paused by one of the empty bookshelves as he heard a faint breeze behind it, as though air passing through a crack in the wall. He looked around the office and as Nat joined him he asked puzzled: "If you already working in a secret office..." He pushed the bookcase and it creaked.

He shoved it completely to the side and stared at what it revealed. "Why do you need to hide the elevator?" He finished, and Nat glanced at him before she walked in. She used her phone scanner on the keypad to hack to code, and the pair got into the elevator.

It went further down, heading even deeper into the basement before it dinged. The doors slid open to reveal a completely dark room; the only light was from the elevator. They moved slowly and carefully inside, and as the elevator doors slid shut behind them, the lights in the room turned on automatically.

It revealed a large computer system at the far end of the room, but the system was old, at least fifty years old. The whole room was filled with old computer hard drives, also indicating the age of the technology and Nat said confused: "This can't be the data-point, this technology is ancient."