An Uncertain Future

A Chance

A/N: WOO! It's been a while since I updated this story, huh? School has been hectic now that exams are starting up, and don't even get me started on my senior project! Anyway, now that this chapter is done, I'm sure I can start rolling out more and more of these. Also, now that Foxy is finished I can focus on this story and my other ones! YAY! Hope this chapter is okay!

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Tønsberg, Norway

1942

LOUD GUNSHOTS COULD BE HEARD IN THE small town of Tønsberg, Norway. The townspeople did their best to stay hidden as troops brandishing many different weapons marched across the cobblestone roads. A single logo plastered on nearly every side of their large machinery. It was distinctly the logo of Hydra.

A young man ran across a courtyard towards a church with speeds that could rival an Olympic runner. A gun was slung over his back and swayed with each swift step he made. The rumble of the oncoming vehicles of Hydra's soldiers shook the ground as the man bursts through the wooden door of the church.

When the door opened the young man was greeted with the solemn, wrinkled face of the tower keeper. The younger man, Jan, caught his breath in deep pants and spoke breathlessly in his native tongue, "they have come for it!"

The ancient tower keeper's withered expression stayed the same as he came down the stone stairs, "they have before."

Jan shook his head and gulped loudly, "not like this."

The older man's expression didn't falter as he held a determination in his ancient eyes. "Let them come. They will never find it."

Just as he said that a loud rumble approached the building and started to shake the ground. The candle holds around them and chandelier about swayed from side to side and threatened to fall over. Before they could react the stone wall burst open and was broken into many pieces. Dust fogged up the room once the robust wall came crashing down and littered the floor in chunks of stone. The old man leaned down and lifted a piece of stone to find the young man dead underneath it.

A large tank made room for a group of soldiers to march into the room and instantly made their way to the stone tomb that sat in the middle of the room. They hastily started to work together to push the lid off of the stone as their superior shouted at them.

"Open it!" The Lieutenant order the group of men who did their best to try and pry open the stone grave as fast as they could. "Quickly, before he..." His commands died on his tongue as the man himself, their leader, climbed over the rubble towards them. The menacing man waltzed his way over to them across the pile of stone. The man wore all black which made it quite difficult to pinpoint him in the pitch black of night. Black gloves adorned his hands as he wore a black trench coat that had the familiar pin of Hydra on his lapel. His narrow, long face was set hard in a glare as he looked down at the old man who laid on the ground.

"It has taken me a long time to find this place," Johann observed the church that was now covered in rubble and dust. The soldiers around him seemed to shake in their boots at his presence and it was obvious that Johann is a very intimidating man. "You should be commended. Help him up." The soldiers pulled the older man onto his feet. "I think that you are a man of great vision. And in this way, we are much alike."

"I am nothing like you," the older man denied harshly.

Johann nodded his head, "No, of course. But what others see as superstition, you and I know to be a science."

"What you seek is just a legend."

Johann countered him quickly, "then why make such an effort to conceal it?" He took off his hat and walked over to the grave that the soldiers were having a tough time opening. With little to no effort, Johann pushed the cover off like it weighed nothing. He revealed a skeleton covered in cobwebs and maggots that clutched a light blue cube in its boney hands. He pulled the cube out of the dead man's grasp and examined it carefully, "the Tesseract was the jewel of Odin's treasure room." He turned to the old man and dropped the cube that broke into pieces once it hit the ground. "It's not something one buries. But I think it is close, yes?"