Cosmic [s.r.]

1:12

"If you're already working in a secret office..." He started as he pushed the shelving unit aside. "When do you need to hide the elevator?"

Steve and I exited the elevator to find a dark room filled with machines. But as we stepped out the room lit up on its own. As everything was then clear to see it was noticeable that the machine was a very old computer from back in the day.

"There is no way that this is where the file came from," I said as I began to look around the main desk. "Hold on," I said as I found a USB deck to plug it in. I dug the USB out of my pocket and insert it into the device. Just then the computer came to life.

Wheels began to turn, lights flashed, the machine buzzed to life. Steve and I turned in our spots to get a good look before turning back to the main screen set.

"Initiate system?" The computer spoke in a robotic tone. I stepped forward and typed in YES on the dusty keyboard.

"Rogers, Steven, born 1918." A German accent came through, a face hardly noticeable on the screen as it glitched in and out. "Dioneson, Callisto, date of birth unknown."

I furrowed my brow at the use of the last name. I had never identified with a last name but for some reason, the name felt right.

"This is some kind of recording." I shook my head.

"I am not a recording, Fräulein." It responded.

"What the hell," I muttered under my breath.

"I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945." It explained, causing me to look over to Steve who looked just as confused. "But I am."

We looked over to a mugshot that popped up on the screen beside it. It was a little nerdy guy with glasses too big for his face.

"Do you know it?" I asked.

"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years." Steve told me as he walked around the main desk.

"The first correction, I am Swiss." It barked at Steve. "Second, look around you. I have never been more alive. In 1972, I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body. My mind, however, that was worth saving, on 200,000 feet of databanks. You are standing in my brain." He stated as Steve walked back beside me.

"Ew," I mumbled.

"How did you get here?" Steve asked the bot.

"Invited." It corrected again.

"It was Operation Paperclip, it started after the second world war," I told Steve, running a hand through my curls. "S.H.I.E.L.D. recruited German scientists with strategic value."

"They thought I could help their cause." It told us, a chill running down my spine. "I also helped my own."

"HYDRA died with the Red Skull," Steve told Zola.

"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place." It responded, the pixels forming the HYDRA symbol before returning to the face shape.

"Prove it." Steve challenged.

Clicks sounded in the room, causing my attention to shift at the noises from the machine.

"Accessing archive." It spoke out before putting on a slideshow on HYDRA back in the day. "HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist." A clip switched to show Steve fighting back in a battle during the war. "The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded, and I was recruited." It spoke showing pictured of S.H.I.E.L.D. when it first started and then photos of himself. "The new HYDRA grew...A beautiful parasite inside S.H.I.E.L.D. For 70 years, HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war, and when history did not cooperate," a picture of the Winter Soldier popped up as a sniper, "history was changed."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. would have stopped you, Zola," I spoke out against the words of the machine.

"Accidents will happen." It then showed the picture of the article when Tony's parents died and then the file of Fury with a stamped "DECEASED" over top in red letters. "HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom it gain its security. Once a purification process is complete," it showed a video of the new helicarriers, "HYDRA's new world order will arise."

"Good god," I muttered.

"We won, Captain." It spoke teasingly to Steve who's anger was growing at a rapid pace. "Your death amounts to the same as your life." It showed the articles of Steve being counted as a criminal that rose in the past few hours. "A zero-sum."

Steve raised his fist to punch out the one monitor. But the face only appeared on the next one beside it.
"As I was saying..." It spoke.

"What's on this drive," Steve demanded.

"Project Insight requires insight." It responded. "So, I wrote an algorithm."

"What kind of algorithm?" I asked. "What does it do?"

"The answer to your question is fascinating." I could hear the smirk in its tone. "Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it." My phone began to beep showing there was an incoming missile to our location. The doors all began to shut and Steve tried to stop it with the shield, but it did not work as planned.

"Steve, we got an incoming short-range ballistic," I explained to him, fear showing in both of our eyes. "Less than 30 seconds."

"Who fired it?" He demanded.

"Who's on our tail?" I asked back.

"S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Bingo." I nodded, sucking in a breath.

"I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain." The machine spoke out again. I leaned over and removed the USB and pocketed it. "Admit it. It's better this way. We are, both of us...out of time." Steve ripped out a vent and pulled me in, covering us with the shield and I tried my best to create a forcefield. The impact was so strong, causing my brain to give out.