"Captain, you were the last one to see Nick alive. I don't think that's an accident. And I don't think you do either. So I'm gonna ask again. Why was he there?"
"He told me not to trust anyone." Steve said.
"I wonder, if that included him?" Pierce said.
"Sorry. Those were his last words." Steve said, and walked over to pick up his shield and leave. "Excuse me."
"Captain." Pierce said, "Somebody murdered my friend. I'm going to find out why. Anyone gets in my way they're gonna regret it. Anyone."
Steve gave a nod. "Understood." And walked out.
~~~~~~
Steve walked into the elevator. "Operations control."
"Confirmed."
"-Strike personnel on site." Rumlow said, entering the elevator. "Forensics. Cap."
"Rumlow." Steve acknowledged in turn.
Rumlow turned to Steve. "Evidence response found some fibers on the roof they want us to see. You want me to get the tag team together?"
"No. Let's wait and see what it is first." Steve replied.
"Right." Rumlow said.
The agent that had followed Rumlow in kept his hand at his weapon. Steve's instincts tingled. Something wasn't right.
The elevator opened at another floor, and several more agents filed in. "Administrations level."
"Confirmed."
"Excuse me."
"I'm sorry about what happened to Fury." Rumlow said to Steve. "Messed up, what happened to him."
"Thank you." Steve said to Rumlow.
The man next to Steve was sweating. Nearly silent side conversations.
The elevator opened again, and three more agents walked in. "Records."
"Confirmed."
All around him were men of bulk and muscle. Steve himself had been maneuvered into the center. Now he knew for sure what wasn't right.
"Before we get started," Steve asked, "Does anyone want to get out?"
A moment of silence, and then the fight began.
Then it was just Steve and Rumlow.
"I just want you to know Cap, this ain't personal!" Rumlow said, attacking on the last word.
Take the electricity, take it, block, parry... Steve threw him up, and Rumlow crashed into the ceiling before falling to the floor.
"Kinda feels personal." Steve huffed, then knocked his shield into the air and caught it, using it to break the magnet off his wrist.
Steve pressed the button on the elevator, and the doors opened to reveal a team, armed and aiming at him. "Drop the shield, put your hands in the air."
The man hadn't even finished speaking before Steve spun and used his shield to slice through the cords, making the elevator plummet. The breaks kicked in, coming to a stop between two floors.
Steve reached forward and pried the top doors apart. On the top was another team. Steve closed the doors, and looked for another exit.
"Give it up Rogers! Get that door open!" A man called out. "You got nowhere to go!"
Oh really? Steve thought, before he jumped through the glass. Crashing was not fun, and even though he landed on his shield, which absorbed a lot of the impact, Steve still felt the landing in his bones.
Steve pushed himself up and took off running.
~~~~~~
In the hospital, Steve looked for Bucky. And he found him, not far from where he left him. However this time he was in a glare-off with Natasha.
"Where did you get it?" Natasha asked Steve when he walked in the room.
"Why would I tell you?"
"Fury gave it to you. Why?"
"What's on it?" Steve asked.
"I don't know." Natasha replied.
"Stop lying."
"I only act like I know everything, Rogers."
"But you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?"
"Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so do you."
"Would you guys chill out?" Bucky asked from his corner of the room.
Both sets of eyes turned to him.
"Fine." Natasha said to Bucky. "But the ballistics that killed Fury are the exact same set-up that you had. Explain that."
Bucky sighed. "Hydra found a new kind of super-soldier serum. They made a new Soldier. I was the one to train him, since he was going to replace me."
"Replace you?" Steve asked.
"Yeah. If they messed up my brain one more time, they probably would've killed me." Bucky said. "Point is, I know who we're up against. Tarus. But we need to know what's on this." Bucky held up the drive for a moment, before stuffing it back into his pocket.
~~~~~~
"First rule of going on the run is don't run, walk." Natasha said.
"If I run in these shoes they're going to fall off." Steve retorted.
"Amen." Bucky grumbled.
Once in front of a computer, Nat spoke up. "The drive has a level six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are."
"How much time will we have?" Steve asked.
"About nine minutes from," Natasha plugged in the drive, "Now."
"Great." Bucky grumbled.
"Fury was right about that ship," Natasha said. "Somebody's tryna hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI. It keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands."
"Can you override it?"
"The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly." Natasha said.
Bucky kept his eye out for anyone who looked like they wanted to murder him.
"I'm going to try running a tracer. This is a program that Shield developed to track hostile malware." Natasha said. "So if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from."
"Can I help you guys with anything?" An employee asked.
"Oh-" Natasha began.
"No," Bucky said over her. "We're just house-searching. My brother's getting married soon, and we wanted to find him a good place to settle in as a surprise."
"Oh, that's great." The employee said. "Where are you guys looking?"
"Oh, around New York. We've got family there." Bucky said.
"Wow, New York. Pretty expensive in the city, huh?"
"Yeah, so around New York." Bucky said, lightly.
The employee laughed. "Alright. Well, good luck! And if you need anything, I've been Aaron."
Bucky heard Steve breathe a sigh of relief when 'Aaron' walked away.
"That was smooth." Natasha said.
"You said nine minutes, c'mon." Steve said, looking at his watch.
"Sh, relax." Natasha said. "Got it. You know it?"
"I used to. Let's go." Steve said, and snatched the drive.
"About time." Bucky said.
Walking through the mall was just as stressful as Bucky imagined.
"Standard tag team." Steve said. "Two behind, two across, two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you hit the south escalator and get to the metro."
"Shut up, put your arm around me and laugh at something I said." Natasha instructed.
"What?" Steve said.
"Do it." Natasha replied.
Steve did so, and Bucky covered his face with his normal hand in faux exasperation. They passed the agents without notice.
When heading down the elevator, Natasha and Bucky spotted Rumlow at the same time. Natasha spun to Steve. "Kiss me."
"What?" Steve's eyes widened.
"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable." Natasha said.
"Yes, they do." Steve said, wholeheartedly agreeing.
Bucky, seeing what Natasha was trying to do to get them past Rumlow, was not having it. Before Natasha could, Bucky used his normal hand to turn Steve's head and kiss the man himself.
Natasha quirked an eyebrow and turned so that she was looking away from Rumlow. The boys would give her enough cover.
"You're good, boys." She said when they were in the clear. She hadn't expected that. And neither of them blushed, or showed any signs of being flustered. She hadn't expected that either.
~~~~~~
"Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" Natasha asked.
"Nazi Germany." Steve and Bucky replied.
Natasha hummed.
"And we're borrowing. Take your feet off the dash."
Natasha did. "Alright. I have a question for you." Natasha looked back at Buck to indicate that it was for him too. "Which you do not have to answer. I feel like if you don't answer it though, you're kind of answering it."
"What?" Steve asked.
"Was that your first kiss since 1945?"
"Why?"
"Just wondering." Natasha said. She looked back at Bucky.
"It wasn't." Bucky replied from where he was laying down in the backseat.
"Really?" Natasha asked. "For you or him?"
"I dunno, Stevie. You wanna answer that?" Bucky asked.
"It was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm 95, not dead." Steve said.
"Holy- That makes me 96. Christ, I'm old." Bucky said.
"You're only a year older, Buck. What does that say about me if you're old?" Steve returned.
"I don't know, are you sure you should be driving, gramps?" Natasha taunted.
"Har har." Steve said while Bucky chuckled.
~~~~~~
"File came from these coordinates." Natasha said, looking at the empty camp.
"So did I." Steve said. "This camp is where I was trained."
"Change much?" Bucky asked.
"A little."
Bucky saw Steve drift off, probably thinking of the old days here. He set a hand on Steve's shoulder.
"This is a dead end. Zero heat signatures, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off." Natasha said.
Steve turned, eyes set on a building.
"What is it?"
"Army regulations forbid storing munitions within 500 yards of the barracks." Steve said. "This building's in the wrong place."
"Of course you'd remember that." Bucky smiled, and shook his head.
After Steve broke the lock, they walked down the steps and Steve flicked on the lights.
"Oh, good. They still have power." Bucky said.
"This is SHIELD." Natasha noted.
"Maybe where it started." Steve added.
"Hate creepy old dusty places." Bucky said as they explored.
"There's Stark's father." Natasha said, seeing a picture.
"Howard." Steve said.
"Who's the girl?"
"Peggy Carter. An old friend of mine." Steve said, walking away.
A shelf caught Steve's eye. "If you're already working in a secret office," Steve pulled at the shelf, and then pushed it aside, "Why do you need to hide the elevator?"
Natasha walked forward, and used one of her tech devices to find the code for the elevator. And Steve turned to see what Bucky thought of that, being the science nerd and all, but he wasn't there.
He found Bucky staring at the picture of Howard Stark, frozen still and pale.
"Buck?"
Bucky managed to draw his eyes away, and looked at Steve instead.
"Are you alright?" Steve asked.
Bucky didn't answer immediately. "...Ask me later."
"Ok." Steve said. "C'mon, we found a secret elevator."
Elevator + fear of heights + guilt induced nausea = bad combo. His metal hand would have dented the railing if there was any. Instead, Bucky's normal hand had a death grip on Steve's bicep.
"You don't look too good." Natasha stated, wondering what had happened.
Bucky gave a short, jerky head shake, and went back to doing his damnedest not to puke. Steve helped hold him up, concerned.
It was a minor relief when the doors opened, until he caught old-dusty-creepy-dark-hydra vibes from the new room. At least he was on solid ground again. Eventually, the lights flicked on, and things were only slightly better.
"This can't be the data point. The technology is ancient." Natasha said, and then saw a very obviously modern port. "Steve."
Steve saw, and handed her the drive. As soon as it clicked into place, more lights came on, and the technology whirled, buzzing into life. "[Initiate system?]"
Natasha stepped forward, and typed. "Y-E-S spells 'yes'." She smirked. "Shall we play a game?"
She turned to Steve. "It's from a movie that's very pop-"
"I know. I saw."
The camera moved. "Rogers, Steven. Born 1918." The camera moved again. "Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born 1984." Again, it moved. "Barnes, James Buchanan. Born 1917."
"It's some kind of recording." Natasha said.
"I am not a recording, Fraulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am." One of the screens showed an old picture.
"You know this thing?" Natasha asked.
"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who used to work for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years." Steve said.
"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, that was worth saving on two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain."
Bucky didn't like that. If he made a comment out loud though, he might puke.
"How did you get here?" Steve asked.
"Invited." Zola replied.
"It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value." Natasha said.
"They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own." Zola said. "Accessing archive." Images flashed across 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, SHIELD was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside SHIELD. For seventy years HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed."
"That's impossible." Natasha said, "SHIELD would have stopped you."
"Accidents will happen." Zola said, and Bucky's suspicions were confirmed. "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."
Steve smashed the computer screen. "As I was saying..." Zola said.
"What's on this drive?" Steve demanded.
"Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm." Zola said.
"What kind of algorithm? What does it do?" Natasha asked.
"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it." Zola replied. The doors shut, and Steve threw his shield to block them, but the doors closed too fast.
Natasha's tech beeped. "Boys, we got a bogey. Short range ballistic, 30 seconds tops."
"Who fired it?" Steve asked.
"SHIELD." Natasha replied.
"I'm afraid I have been stalling, Captain." Zola said as Natasha snatched the drive. "Admit it, it's better this way. The three of us, Captain, Sergeant, are all out of time."
Steve ripped the grate up, and the three of them jumped inside, just barely in time.
A/N
Writing the whole mall scene gave ME anxiety. wth
Hey, so I did an impulsive thing with an idea that has been swirling around in my head. Would you read this? I have the first two chapters written already... ALSO I WOULD NOT ABANDON SPLIT SOULS. EVER.
Achilles (PJO/Avengers)
It was only kind of his fault.