ACATALEPSY ➺ loki

4 , supercomputers suck

"It was Operation Paperclip after World War two," Natasha started, "SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value."

"They thought I could help their cause... I just also helped my own." The AI said with a mechanical laugh.

"HYRDA died with the Red Skull." Steve stated, and I sighed. Here we go again.

"Cut off one head, two more shall grow in its place." Zola said.

I tried to move in front of Steve and stop him from going on, but the man wasn't willing to listen. "Prove it." he challenged, and I clenched my jaw in anger at myself, knowing this wasn't going to end well.

"HYRDA was founded of the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realise was that if you try to take that freedom from someone, they resist. The war... it taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war was over, SHIELD was founded, and I was recruited. The new HYRDA grew—a beautiful parasite inside of your SHIELD. For seventy years, HYRDA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping wars, and when history did not cooperate... history was changed."

"That's impossible, SHIELD would have stopped you." Natasha said softly, but I was barely listening to the conversations going on around me, a sudden sinking feeling taking over my whole chest. We weren't meant to be here.

"Natasha, we should g-" I tried to start, but Zola cut me off just as quickly, starting to show even more images of headlines in his little slideshow he'd started.

"Accidents will happen. HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice that freedom to gain some security. Once a purification process is complete, HYRDA's new world order will arise. We won... Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your life. A zero sum." I watched as Steve punched the main screen, flinching as the glass shattered, only for Zola's face to appear on a smaller screen a bit to the left, seeming unfazed. "As I was saying, Project Insight requires... insight. So I wrote an algorithm."

"What's on this drive?" Steve asked, ignoring Zola's droning words as I tried to get Natasha to actually pay attention to what I was saying for a second, but she was too busy listening to the computer.

"What kind of algorithm? What does it do?" She asked Zola, still ignoring my quiet warnings.

"Guys, we should really start moving. There's-" But the stupid AI was speaking again.

"The answer to your questions is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall all be too dead to hear it." I had heard enough, making a split second decision, I had ripped Cap's shield out of his hands before Zola had even finished his sentence, flinging it towards the still open doors of the bunker. Not a second after the shield had landed between the doors did they try slam shut, screeching when they were paused by the shield. Without sparing another look back at the computer, I sprinted over to the doors.

"Natasha, Steve—get your asses here this second! BOMBS. COMING. HERE. NOW." My sudden yells had been enough to get the two avengers moving, both of them reaching the exist within a few seconds, looking confused but thankfully following me as I ran as fast and far away from the bunker as I could. Still, all three of us were thrown off of our feet as the sound of a deafening explosion erupted behind us, the scorching heat hitting me a few seconds after my body had touched the ground.

"You both alright!?" I called back to where both Steve and Natasha ley, coughing out as much of the dust as they could. "No, stay down! They have air force scanning this area as we speak. Just... stay put for a few seconds." I added quickly, seeing Natasha try and stand up. Not ten seconds later did I ignore my own rules, getting to my feet slightly shakily and sprinting behind one of the buildings that had been nearby, waving to Natasha and Steve to join me there.