" you notice so much when you stay quiet. "
They got to where they were supposed to go and went inside the building that Steve said wasn't supposed to be there and true to what he said, it was a SHIELD building. They walked around quietly and headed into a room, three photos perched on the wall. As soon as Ash saw his dad and Peggy, took in a breath.
"There's my dad." He said.
"Who's the girl?" Natasha questioned.
Ash glanced at Steve and then back at the portraits.
"She's my godmother, believe it or not." He smiled.
"Your Aunt Peggy, right?" She said.
He nodded, Steve looked over at him but didn't say anything, just walked further down the room. He found a secret door and Natasha opened it, the doors opened to reveal an elevator. They looked at each other before going in and it stopped at its destination. The doors opened and they walked out, the lights turned on and they stepped up onto the terminal.
"This can't be the data point. This technology is ancient." Natasha said.
She looked at the screens and her eyes travelled to a black hard drive dock. Against her better judgement, she plugged in the hard drive. The screen in the middle turned on and spoke.
"Initiate system?"
Natasha walked over and typed in 'yes'. The machine powered on and revealed a green face.
"Rogers, Steven, born 1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna, born 1984. Stark, Ashton James, born 1975."
"It's some kind of recording..." Natasha said.
"I am not a recording, Fraeulien. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945. But I am." It snapped.
Ash and Natasha looked over at Steve in shock.
"You know this thing?" Ash questioned.
"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He died years ago." Steve explained.
"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 200,000 feet of databanks. You are standing in my brain." Zola explained.
"It doesn't look very appetising..." Nicotine mumbled.
"How did you get here?" Steve questioned.
"Invited." Zola replied.
"It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value." Natasha explained.
"They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own." Zola said, and Ash could feel the non-existent smirk radiating off him.
"HYDRA died with the Red Skull." Steve denied.
"Cut off one head. Two more shall take its place." Zola replied plainly.
"Prove it." Ash snapped.
"Accessing archives. HYDRA was founded on 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, 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 70 years, HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war, and when history did not cooperate, history was changed." Zola explained.
"That's impossible. SHIELD would have stopped you." Natasha breathed out.
"Accidents will happen." He replied as warped and glitched footage showed Howard Stark, Jay Austin and Nick Fury.
Ash's breath hitched and he balled his fists.
"HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will rise. We won, Captain. Your deaths amount to the same as your life, a zero sum."
Steve punched the screen and it powered down. But Zola appeared on another screen.
"What a dick!" Nicotine growled.
"As I was saying..." He said.
"What's on this drive?!" Steve shouted.
"Project Insight requires insight. So, I wrote an algorithm." Zola replied cryptically.
"What kind of algorithm? What does it do?" Natasha questioned.
"The answer to your question is quite fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it. But I suppose when the dust settles, HYDRA will make a new soldier out of Stark for the new order like we originally planned." Zola said.
Ash looked over at him shock, "What?"
"Lady Rouge needed you to cure her daughter and we saw an opportunity, so, once the experimentation process was complete... We would create the perfect soldier fit for the new HYDRA." He explained.
"Son of a bitch." Nicotine snapped, about to smash the machine but Ash stopped him. Suddenly, Natasha's phone beeped.
"Steve, we got a bogey. Short range ballistics, 30 seconds tops." She said.
"Who fired it?" Steve questioned.
"SHIELD." She said nervously.
"I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain. Admit it,-"
Natasha grabbed the hard drive and Steve grabbed Ash, who was currently on the verge of a panic attack.
"- It is better this way. We are -both of us- out of time."
The trio went into the vents, Steve holding his shield above them as soon as the missile hit. Debris fell all around them and as soon it stopped, Natasha was knocked out and Steve moved debris out of the way with the help of Ash, who panicked at the sight of the fire around them.
"Oh God... No, no, no..." He whispered.
"Hey, calm down. Don't panic, otherwise we won't be okay if we stay here." Steve whispered.
Ash nodded and picked up Natasha. They left the hole in the ground and looked up to see SHIELD arriving, but they knew it was HYDRA. The pair immediately ran off to find somewhere safe to go.
***
The trio had gone to a friend of Steve's to get help. His friend, Sam Wilson had immediately let them in and after getting cleaned up and calming down. They were sitting in the living room talking about what had happened prior.
"Question is; who at SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?" Natasha said.
"Pierce." Steve concluded.
"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world." Ash sighed.
"But he's not working alone, Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star." Steve said.
"So was Jasper Sitwell." Natasha realised.
"Right, the real question is, how do three of the most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?" Steve deadpanned.
"The answer is, you don't." Sam said, dropping a file in front of them.
"What's this?" Steve asked, looking at the file along with Natasha and Ash.
"Call it a resume." He replied.
"Is this Bakmahla? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you? You didn't say he was a Pararescue." Natasha said.
"Is this Riley?" Steve asked.
"Sam nodded, "Yeah."
"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs... What'd you use? A stealth chute?" Ash asked.
"No, these." Sam replied, showing them.
"I thought you said you were a pilot." Steve said.
"I never said pilot." Sam smiled.
Steve looked back at the file, "I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."
"Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason than to get back in." Sam protested.
Steve smiled, "Where can we get our hands on one of these things?" He asked.
"The last one is at Fort Meade. Behind three guarded gates and a 12 inch steel wall." Sam replied.
Steve turned to Natasha and Ash and they shrugged, he turned back to Sam and smiled.
"Shouldn't be a problem."