"Well this is a dead end," Natasha said after the three Agents had entered the camp. "Zero heat signatures. Zero waves. Not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must've used a router to throw people off." Lucy looked to Steve as he came out of his daze before looking to Natasha. Lucy looked passed the assassin when she noticed a storage station. "What is it?" Lucy climbed over the railing of the ramp Natasha was on, and began to walk toward the storage station.
"Army regulations forbid storing stations within 500 yards from the barracks. This buildings in the wrong place." She looked and saw a lock on the door, breaking it with her shield. The three walked in and down a flight of stairs getting to a room that looked to have desks and chairs, some turned over. 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," Lucy suggested. They walked into another room that had bookshelves and a single desk. Three pictures were hung up on the wall. One of Colonel Philips, one of Howard Stark, and one of Peggy.
"There's Stark's father."
"Howard."
"Who's the girl?" Steve walked away from the two, not wanting to answer the question or hear Lucy's answer. Lucy and Natasha walked over to see Steve inspecting a bookshelf. He heard a draft coming from it and noticed a cobweb blowing from the draft.
"If you're already working in a secret office-" Steve began questioning as he started to move the bookshelf out of the way revealing an elevator, "-then why do you need to hide the elevator?" Natasha entered a code after scanning the keypad, 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 a computer seemingly from when they were first created.
"This can't be the data point, this technology's ancient," Natasha spoke in disbelief. Lucy 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, Lucy, and Steve turned to look at the screen.
Natasha began typing 'Yes', "Y-E-S spells 'yes.' Shall we play a game?" She looked at the two behind her and began to explain. "It's from a movie that was really-"
"I know, we saw it," Steve said. The computer accepted the command, the screen showing a face.
"Stark," it spoke in a German accent which was familiar to Steve and Lucy, "Lucille. 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 Agent took me prisoner in 1945. 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," Steve replied as he began walking around the monitors. "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?" Lucy questioned.
"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," Steve spoke.
"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place."
"Prove it," Lucy said to him daringly.
"Accessing archive." The smaller monitors 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-" a picture of a newspaper talking about Howard and Maria Starks death showed, "-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." Steve punched the screen, breaking the glass. The face showed up on a smaller screen. "As I was saying."
"What's on this drive?" Lucy 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, Stark," she began saying, "we got a bogie. Short-range ballistic. 30 seconds tops."
"Who fired?" Lucy asked.
"S.H.I.E.L.D."
"I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain." Steve ran over to the grate behind them and pulled it open. Natasha took the flash drive and ran over to Steve with Lucy. "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, Lucy using her own shield.
When the explosion ended, the whole place was on fire, debris covering the small group. The three stayed close. Natasha was knocked unconscious by the falling debris. Steve pushed a large rock out of the way as he began to stand up. He looked at Lucy who had stood up letting her get out first pulling Natasha out with her. Steve got out after and carried Natasha back to the truck they left at the gate, quickly leaving with the two females when Quinjet's began to fly in the direction of the destroyed camp. They got in the truck, laying Natasha in the back seat, and driving back to D.C. Natasha had woken up along the way. Steve drove to Sam's house. The three got out of the truck and walked to the back door of the house, knocking on the door. Sam pulled the blinds up and opened the door.
"Hey man," Sam said, possibly just getting in from a morning run.
"I'm sorry about this," Steve said.
"We need a place to lay low," Lucy spoke in an almost raspy voice.
"Everybody we know is trying to kill us," Natasha said.
"Not everyone," Sam said, moving to the side, allowing the three to enter the house as he looked around for anyone who might've followed. He closed the door, pulling the blinds down. He showed them a spare bedroom with a bathroom where they could each take a shower. Natasha sat on the bed, drying her hair with a towel. Lucy sat quietly in a chair in front of the bed looking at the two pairs of dog-tags she had on, one belonging to her, the other to Steve. Steve noticed both of them being so quiet when he finished washing up in the bathroom. He walked over to the bed and looked at them.
"You two okay?" he asked, walking over to the bed and sitting in the chair next to Lucy. She nodded.
"What's going on?" Natasha looked at him.
"When I first joined S.H.I.E.L.D.," she began saying, "I thought I was going straight... But I guess I just traded in the KGB for Hydra. I thought I knew those lies I was telling but... I guess I can't tell the difference anymore." Lucy rested her head on Steve's shoulder and closed her eyes. He gave her a small kiss on the head and looked back up at Natasha.
"Well, there's a chance you might be in the wrong business."
"I owe you." The Captain shook his head.
"It's okay."
"If it was the other way around, and it was down to me to save your life, you be honest with me... would you trust me to do it?"
"I would now. And I'm always honest."
"Well, you seem pretty chipper for someone who just found out they died for nothing."
"Well... Guess I just like to know who I'm fighting."
"I made breakfast," Sam said, walking in, "if you guys eat that sort of thing." He walked away. Natasha stood up, followed by Steve and Lucy.
Lucy and Natasha sat down and began to eat. Steve gave a gentle squeeze to Lucy's shoulder as he sat down. When the four finished eating, they began talking about the missile which was sent by S.H.I.E.L.D.
"So," Natasha spoke up, "The question is: who at S.H.I.E.L.D. can launch a domestic missile strike?"
"Pierce," Lucy said.
"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world?"
"He's not working alone. Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star," Steve stated.
"So was Jasper Sitwell."
"So the question is: how do the three most wanted people in Washington kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer in broad daylight?" Lucy questioned. Sam got up and walked to a table, grabbing a file and setting it on the table in front of Lucy.
"The answer is, you don't," he said.
"What's this?" Steve grabbed the file and began to look at it.
"Call it a resume."
"Is this Bakmilo?" Natasha asked. "Collate conceal mission. That was you. You didn't say it was a Para-rescue." Lucy and Steve looked at a picture of Sam and another man who the Captain guessed to be Riley.
"Is this Riley?" Steve asked.
"Yeah," Sam replied.
"Heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because the RPG's," Natasha spoke. "What you use, a stealth shoot?"
"No. These." Sam handed Lucy a file that was inside the file he had set on the table. It said EXO-Falcon on the outside. She opened it and looked at it.
"Thought you said you were a pilot," Steve almost questioned.
"I never said pilot," Sam stated.
"I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."
"Dude, Captain America and Lady Liberty need my help. It's no better reason than to get back in."
"Where can we get our hands on one of these things?" Lucy questioned.
"The last one is at Fort Meade. Behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall."
"Shouldn't be a problem." Lucy set the file down on the table.
They left the house, heading to the location of where Agent Jasper Sitwell was at for a meeting. Sam sat at a café table waiting for Jasper to finish talking with Senator Stern. When they were finished talking, Sam called Sitwell, disguising his number as Pierces. Sitwell answered.
"Yes, Sir," he answered.
"Agent Sitwell, how was lunch?" Sam asked over the phone. "I hear the crab cakes here are delicious."
"Who is this?"
"The good-looking guy in the sunglasses, your ten o'clock." Sitwell began to look. "Your other ten o'clock." Sitwell turned around and looked to see Sam. "There you go."
"What do you want?"
"You're gonna go around the corner to your right. There's a grey car two blocks down. You and I are gonna take a ride."
"And why would I do that?" Lucy, Steve, and Natasha were there listening to the call. Natasha held up a laser pointer and aimed it at Sitwell's tie. They hoped this would scare him enough.
"Because that tie looks really expensive, and I'd hate to mess it up."
Sam brought Sitwell to the building that his three were at. Steve pushed Sitwell out the door on the roof, making him fall to the floor.
"Tell me about Zola's algorithm," Steve said walking toward Sitwell, making him step backward. "What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?"
"I was throwing up," Sitwell replied. "I get seasick." He stopped walking when he reached the edge of the building. Lucy stood next to Steve who grabbed Sitwell's shirt collar, preventing him from falling. "Is this little explaining to insinuate that you're going to throw me off the roof? Cause it's really not your style, Rodgers."
"You're right," Steve replied, letting go of Sitwell and fixing his jacket. He looked at Lucy. "It's not. But it is hers." Sitwell looked at Lucy before being kicked off the side of the building, screaming while he fell.
"Oh, wait," Natasha said as she walked over, "What about that girl from accounting? Laura, Laura... Lis-"
"Lillian. Lip piercing, right?"
"Yeah, she's cute."
"Yeah. I'm not ready for that. I think I have someone else in mind."
"Who?" Steve chose not to answer. The three heard Sitwell's yell get closer to the roof. They looked to see Sam with a winged jetpack on holding Sitwell. He let the Agent go when he got to the roof, landing, and closing the wings on the jetpack.
"Zola's algorithm is a program!" Sitwell exclaimed, holding his hand up as Steve, Lucy, and Natasha walked over to him. "For choosing Insights targets."
"What targets?" Lucy questioned.
"You, Rogers, the DBA in great Cairo, the other Secretary of Defense, a high school Valedictorian in Iowa City.. Bruce Banner, Steven Strange, and anyone who's a threat to Hydra... Now, we're in the future."
"The future? How could it know?" Sitwell began to laugh.
"How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught Hydra how to read it... Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, emails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores. Zola's algorithm evaluates peoples past... to predict their future."
"What then?"
"Oh my god. Pierce is going to kill me."
"What then?"
"Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time."