Traceur

•12•

Steve's POV.
"Shall we play a game?"

Natasha smirks at me expectedly. When I don't reply, she starts to explain.

"It's from this one movie that-"

"Yeah," I interrupt, "I saw it."

Suddenly, an oddly familiar yet computerized voice starts speaking.

"Rogers, Steven," it states, "1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianova, born 1984."

I wait for the computer to say Levi's name, but instead, it surprises me.

"Subject 04, the 'Autumn Soldier', created in 1997."

Natasha looks over her shoulder at Levi- or should I say, 'Subject 04'- and 04 only stares back emptily in return.

"The secret is out," she drawls, turning her attention nonchalantly towards the computer again.

"I-It's some kind of recording," Natasha stutters, obviously surprised at Levi's true title. I'm still in shock too. Just earlier, Natasha and I were talking about the Winter and Autumn soldiers. She thinks that they're behind Nick's shooting...which is obvious, really, now that everything has been pieces together. But I can't believe that the Levi I cared for was the famed assassin- and ghost- the 'Autumn Soldier' all along.

"I am not a recording, Fräulein," the computer retorts, and that's where I recognize the voice.

"I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am..." a grainy photo of Dr. Arnim Zola appears on the screen.

"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull," I inform Nat. "He's been dead for years."

"First correction," the man-computer says, "I am Swiss. 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 two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing...in my brain."

"How did you get here?" I ask, although in reality, I want to vomit.

"Invited," is all he replies with, while Natasha decides to handle the rest.

"It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value."

"They thought I could help their cause," Zola muses. "I also helped my own."

"HYDRA died with Red Skull," I try, hoping that he'll agree. Maybe whatever we're dealing with isn't HYDRA. It could be some run-off band.

"Cut off one head," He ominously declares, "two more shall take its place."

"Prove it," I reply, desperate for proof that what he's saying isn't true. Bucky died to get rid of HYDRA. I was frozen for seventy years, and thought I'd died- everyone did- just so that I could kill HYDRA. Please, don't let this be in vain.

"Accessing archive," Zola says, and the computer screen shows an old footage of Red Skull, and then the original SHIELD founders.

"HYDRA was founded in 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. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew; a beautiful parasite inside SHIELD. For seventy years, HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate...history changed."

"That's impossible," Nat declares. "SHIELD would've stopped you."

"Accidents happen." Photos of crime scenes and victims flash across the screen. Howard...Maria...their deaths were no accident. And, of course, neither was Fury's, and I grind my teeth when I see his face appear on the screen.

"HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your life: a zero sum."

Red hazes over my vision, and in a flash, the sound of breaking glass fills my ears. I look down, realizing that I've punched a hole into the computer.

Zola's face flits onto a smaller, lower screen. "As I was saying..."

"What son this drive?" I ask, and Zola doesn't hesitate.

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

"What kind of algorithm?" Nat demands. "What does it do?"

"The answer to your question is fascinating," the scientist muses. "Unfortunately; you shall be too dead to hear it."

The doors behind us start closing, and panic flits in my chest. I throw my shield in between the doors, trying to keep them open a little longer, but it's too late. We're trapped. And Levi isn't anywhere to be seen.

"Steve, we got a bogey. Short range ballistic. 30 seconds, tops."

"Who fired it?" I ask, but I already know the answer.

"SHIELD."

"I am afraid I've been stalling, Captain," Zola sighs. "But admit it, it's better this way. We are, both of us...out of time."

My eyes search the room, and lock onto a small opening in the ground. I grab Nat and throw the small metal door aside, just as the world around me bursts into flames. I manage to get into the hole, holding my shield over myself and Natasha. When the initial attack dies down, I hastily pick her up, seeing as how she's been knocked unconscious.

We have to get out before they find us.

...
Third Person POV.
Brock Rumlow and his STRIKE team roamed the scene, looking for the bodies of the targets. The Autumn Soldier followed behind, her face holding no emotion now that she didn't have to act anymore. Her eyes swept over the rubble, and, upon finding a misplaced footprint, she called out, "Halt!"

She motioned towards the footprint, and Rumlow growled in irritation.

"Call in the asset."