'Til The End - Bucky Barnes Fanfic

6. Insight Requires Insight

Steve continued driving the truck until they reached Camp Leigh. The three got out and walked up to the gate, Steve carrying his shield.

“This is it?” Steve asked.

“The file came from these coordinates,” Natasha replied. Jessie looked at the sign.

“So did we,” she said. Walking through the gate, they walked around trying to find where they could the location of where the file came from in the camp. They found the flag in which Steve obtained to get a ride with Jessie and Peggy.

“This camp is where we were trained,” Steve said. “Jessie before me.”

“Change much?” Natasha asked.

“A little,” Jessie quietly replied.

“Well this is a dead end. Zero heat signatures. Zero waves. Not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must’ve used a router to throw people off.” Jessie and Steve looked at Natasha. Jessie noticed a storage room for weapons that was out of place. “What is it?” Jessie climbed over the railing of the ramp Natasha was on, and began to walk toward the storage room.

“Army regulations forbid storing stations within 500 yards from the barracks. This building’s in the wrong place.” She looked and saw a lock on the door, breaking it with her left hand. The three walked in and down a flight of stairs getting to a room that looked to have desks. Steve turned the light on. They saw a S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the wall.

“This is S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Natasha said.

“Maybe where it started,” Jessie said. They walked into another room that had bookshelves and a single desk. Four pictures were hung up on the wall. One of Colonel Philips. One of Howard Stark. And one of Peggy. The last picture was of Jessie for a dedication.

“There’s Stark’s father.”

“Howard.”

“You helped found S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

“I was frozen by Stark in ‘45 before S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded.” Jessie noticed a word covered by dust. She wiped it off with her thumb. “It’s just a dedication made by Stark himself.”

“Who’s the other girl?” Jessie walked away as if leaving Steve to answer the question. He didn’t, and followed Jessie who was looking at a bookshelf. She noticed a draft coming from it with the help of a cobweb.

“If you’re already working in a secret office-“ Jessie began to move the bookshelf out of the way revealing an elevator, “-then why do you need to hide the elevator?” They entered a code, allowing them access to use the elevator, and began to head to the bottom level. When the doors opened, the room was dark. When they made their way in the room, the lights began to turn on, revealing a desk and an ancient computer.

“This can’t be the data point, this technology is ancient,” Natasha spoke in disbelief. Jessie noticed a USB port sitting on the desk. She took the flash drive out of her pocket and put it in the port. The computer began to run and asked a question.

Initiate system?

Natasha, Jessie and Steve turned to look at the screen. Jessie typed in Yes, and the computer accepted the command. The screen showed a familiar face.

“Evans,” it spoke in a German accent. “Jessica. Born 1918.” The camera turned to Steve. “Rogers, Steven. Born 1918.” The camera turned to Natasha. “Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born 1984.”

“It’s some kind of recording,” Natasha spoke.

“I am not a recording, fräulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain and Sergeant took me prisoner in 1944. But I am.” A screen to the right of the main screen showed a picture of Doctor Zola.

“You know this thing?”

“Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull,” Jessie replied. “He’s been dead for years.”

“First correction, 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, was worth saving on 200 thousand feet of databanks. You are standing in my brain.”

“How’d you get here?”

“Invited.”

“This Operation Paperclip after World War 2,” Natasha began saying, “S.H.I.E.L.D. recruited German scientists with strategic value.”

“They thought I could help the cause. I also helped my own.”

“Hydra died with the Red Skull,” Jessie spoke.

“Cut off one head, two more shall take its place.”

“Prove it.”

“Accessing archive.” The smaller computer screens began showing files and pictures. “Hydra was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize is 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, S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded. And I was recruited. The new Hydra crew. A new parasite inside S.H.I.E.L.D. For 70 years, Hydra has been secretly feeding crisis. Weeping war. And when history would not cooperate-“ the video footage showed the red Soviet star of the Winter Soldier’s arm, “-history was changed.”

“That’s impossible,” Natasha said. “S.H.I.E.L.D. would’ve stopped you.”

“Accidents will happen.” The screen showed a newspaper article report on Howard and Maria Stark’s death. “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, Sergeant. Your death amounts to the same as your life. A zero sum.” Jessie punched the screen, breaking the glass. Steve grabbed her and pulled her back. The face showed up on a smaller screen. “As I was saying.”

“What’s on this drive?” Jessie asked, getting out of Steve’s grip.

“Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm.”

“What kind of algorithm? What does it do?”

“The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it.” A safety door began to close in front of the elevator doors.  Steve threw his shield at the doors, but ended up having it bounce off and ricochet. Natasha’s phone began to beep when she was informed of a danger heading their way.

“Steve, Jessie,” she began saying, “we got a bogey. Short range ballistic. 30 seconds tops.”

“Who fired?” Jessie asked.

“S.H.I.E.L.D.”

 “I am afraid I have been stalling, Sergeant.” Jessie ran over to the grate behind Steve, and pulled it open. Natasha took the flash drive and ran over to Jessie and Steve. “Admit it. It’s better this way. We are both of us… Out of time.” The three jumped into the grate as the missile hit the building. Steve blocked falling debris with his shield, covering himself along with Natasha and Jessie.