The sky was slowly darkening, the night looming over them. Natasha searched to try and pinpoint where the signal came from the flash drive.
Steve looked around with a look of almost longing and regret across his face.
"This camp is where I trained," Steve said to the two women.
"Changed much?" Natasha asked before turning her attention back to the search.
"A little," Steve replied.
Aquila turned away from the other two, her sharpened eyesight observing the camp that looked like it hadn't been touched in years.
"This is a dead end. Zero heat signature, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off." Natasha said, continuing to walk forward with Aquila beside her as Steve suddenly stopped.
"What is it?" Aquila asked.
"Army regulation forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards of the barracks. This building is in the wrong place."
The three of them made their way to the building as Steve opened the lock with his shield. The shrill noise reverberated around as they entered. The lights flickered on as Aquila let out a gasp.
"This is S. H. I. E. L. D."
"Maybe where it started," Steve said, his louder voice echoing across the room.
The three Avengers walked into another room taking in the three figures that had their pictures framed on the walls.
"There's Stark's father," Natasha observed.
"Howard."
"Who's the girl?" Aquila asked, turning to Steve only to notice the sad glint in his eyes before he walked off. Aquila raised her eyebrows at the plain dismissal of the question before following Steve.
"If you're already working in a secret office," Steve said, his hand resting on a large grey, metal bookcase. "Why do you need to hide the elevator?"
The three of them exited the elevator and into a basement looking room.
Even with Aquila's basic understanding of technology, she could tell that the computers and databanks surrounding her, were ancient.
Aquila's eyes flickered across the room, immediately noticing the small USB port that lay at the front of the computers, a stark difference from the rest of the room.
Natasha walked forward, inserting the USB drive into the port as the computer slowly came to life."
'Initiate System?'
"Y-E-S spells yes," Natasha muttered, smiling at Aquila, who smiled back. "Shall we play a game?" Natasha said turning to Steve. "It's from a movie that. . ."
"Yeah, I saw it," Steve responded.
"Good, I was beginning to get worried," Aquila replied as an accented voice started to speak.
"Rogers, Steven. Born 1918."
Aquila whipped around to see that the computer had completely come to life as was showcasing a glitching photo of a face.
"Romanoff, Natalia Alianova. Born 1984."
"Cadman, Aquila, of the long lost Uzumati tribe. Born 1985."
Aquila's lips were pulled down in a frown when the computer mentioned her old tribe. Steve and Natasha watched her slightly in concern before turning back to the computer. The tension was thick in the air as the computer analyzed the trio. No one really knew what was going on.
"It's some kind of a recording," Natasha said.
"I am not a recording, Fräulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am- "
"What?" Aquila said, turning to Steve, recognition written across his face.
"Do you know this thing?" Natasha asked next.
"Armin Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years," Steve explained to the two women.
"First correction, I am Swiss." The man introduced as Armin Zola said. "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?" Steve asked.
"Invited."
"It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. S.H. I. E. L. D. recruited German scientists with strategic value."
"They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own."
"Hydra died with the Red Skull," Steve said.
"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place." As the recording of Zola split into two heads but transforming back to one again.
"Prove it," Steve demanded.
The computer flickered through what Aquila assumed was Red Skull, tapings of the war including Steve as Captain America, the founders of S. H. I. E. L. D. standing together as well as other time appropriate pictures and video recordings appeared on the screen.
"HYDRA was founded on 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, S. H. I. E. L. D. was founded, and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside S. H. I. E. L. D. For seventy years, HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed."
"That's impossible, S. H. I. E. L. D. would have stopped you," Natasha said, refusing to accept what Zola was saying.
"Accidents will happen."
The computer than flickered between images and videos proving that HYDRA killed Howard and Maria Stark, making it look like a car accident, the recent death of Fury was among them, but Aquila felt her stomach drop when she saw was flickered onto the screen.
A photo of her family. A photo of herself at her enhancement ceremony. The tribe leaders. Photos of the destruction caused that Aquila had escaped from.
"YOU BASTARD!" Aquila screamed, trying to lunge forward to the computer but was stopped by Natasha's hold on her wrist.
Zola ignored Aquila's outburst, continuing with his little speech. "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 arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your life; a zero sum."
Aquila didn't flinch as Steve smashed the computer screen out of anger, something she had wanted to do only moments earlier.
"As I was saying. . ."
"What's on the drive?" Aquila demanded, her voice quivering in anger.
"Project Insight requires insight. So, I wrote an algorithm."
"What kind of algorithm? What does it do?" Natasha asked, her hand still holding tightly onto Aquila's wrist.
"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it."
Aquila whipped around just as the doors started to close. Steve, in an attempt to stop them, threw his shield in the direction of the doors trying to get it stuck between the two doors. Watching in horror, Aquila saw the shield bouncing off, the doors shutting, locking them in the creepy room.
"Aquila, Steve, we got a bogey. Short-range ballistic. 30 seconds tops," Natasha said, urgently.
"Who fired it?" Steve asked.
"S. H. I. E. L. D." Natasha replied.
"I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain. Admit it, it's better this way. We're both of us. . . .out of time."
Aquila lunged forward to grab the USB out of the port, diving into the small opening in the floor, behind Steve and Natasha, just as the room exploded. Steve held his shield high, trying to protect all three of them from the rubble that kept falling endlessly.
Aquila wasn't sure how long they were down there, but Steve soon managed to clear a small path. Natasha's limp form was propped up against the nearby wall, Aquila reached down a gently lifted Natasha into her arms.
Aquila looked up as bright lights appeared in the distance. Steve had noticed them too. "Come on."
What were they supposed to do now?