"WHERE DID CAPTAIN AMERICA LEARN HOW TO STEAL A CAR?" The question broke the silence from the trio. They had been on the road a little over three hours and had just passed the 'Welcome to New Jersey' sign. Most of the ride, the three were caught up in their own thoughts. Laikyn, however, had the backseat to herself and decided to take a much-needed nap. She hadn't gotten any sleep in the last 48 hours and it was starting to take a tole on her mentally and physically. It was only recently that the girl had been getting better sleep. She was up to three maybe even four hours a night. Her nightmares were less frequent. The control Hydra had on her was slowly fading away.
"Nazi Germany," Steve answered, "And we're borrowing. Take your feet off the dash."
Natasha did as she was told. "Alright, I have a question for you, one of which you do not have to answer. I feel like if you don't answer it though, you're kind of answering it, you know?"
"What?" Steve interrupted.
Laikyn let out a small laugh, her head pressed against the window.
"Was that your first kiss since 1945?"
"That bad, huh?" Steve questioned with a slight scoff.
"I didn't say that."
"Well, it kinda sounds like that's what you're saying."
"No, I didn't," Nat defended, "I'm just wondering how much practice you've had."
"You don't need practice."
"Everybody needs practice."
"Everyone needs practice, Steve," Laikyn added.
"Stay out of it," Steve replied, a small grin playing on his lips. "No, it was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm 95. I'm not dead."
"Nobody special, though?" Natasha asked.
"Believe it or not, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience."
"It's not that hard," Laikyn muttered under her breath.
"Well, that's alright. You just make something up," Natasha shrugged.
"What, like you?"
"I don't know," Nat shrugged, "The truth is a matter of circumstance. It's not all things to all people, all of the time. Neither am I."
"That's a tough way to live."
"It's a good way not to die, though," Laikyn responded. She completely understood where Nat was coming from.
Steve glanced at the girl through the rearview mirror. "You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone when you really don't know who that someone really is."
"Yeah," Natasha said, "Who do you want me to be?"
"How about a friend?"
"Well, there's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers."
"What about you, Liz?" Cap called back.
"What about me?"
"Will you be my friend?"
She glanced out the window and then back at Steve. "I already am."
"Do you trust me?"
Both Steve and Natasha turned to look at the girl.
Trust.
Trust was a heavy topic for Laikyn. Her previous employer made it difficult for her to trust anyone. With Steve and Natasha though, she had no doubt in them. Natasha has saved her life five years ago and Steve was helping her pick up the pieces.
"Yeah, I trust you," Laikyn nodded. "I trust both of you." And that was the truth.
•••
"This is it," Steve stated as the trio walked over to the fence. They had just arrived at Camp Lehigh.
"The file came from these coordinates," Nat shrugged.
"So did I."
The three of them jumped the fence and started their short trek to wherever they were going. Laikyn wasn't sure.
"This camp is where I was trained," Steve informed.
"Did it change much?" Natasha asked.
Cap stopped, his gaze focused on an old flagpole. "A little." Laikyn paused beside him. Steve's focus visibly elsewhere.
"This is a dead-end. Zero heat signatures, zero waves, not even radio," Nat sighed. "Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off."
Steve wasn't listening though. His eyes were situated on an ammunition bunker not too far from them.
"What is it?" Laikyn asked.
"Army regulations forbid storing munition within 500 yards of the barracks," Cap informed as they approached the concrete structure. "This building is in the wrong place."
The building was cold and dark. The build-up of dust and cobwebs was a dead giveaway that it hadn't been touched in decades. Once the trio descended down the stairs, Laikyn took it upon herself to turn on the lights.
"This is SHIELD," Nat stated.
"Maybe where it started," Steve replied.
"There's Stark's father," Laikyn said. The three of them stood in front of the framed pictures of the founders of SHIELD.
"Howard," Steve added.
"Who's the girl?" Natasha asked.
Steve didn't reply. He stared at the picture a little while longer before walking off. The curly-haired girl followed him over to where he stood in front of an old bookshelf.
"You feel that?" The blonde asked.
Laikyn paused for a moment. There was some type of airflow. "Is that a draft?"
"If you're already working in a secret office," Steve started as he pushes the bookshelf. "Why do you need to hide the elevator?"
"Oh this just keeps getting better and better," Laikyn said, as Natasha used her phone to get the code.
The three of them rode down the old elevator in silence. Everything about this trip was starting to feel off, to Laikyn at least, but everything in the last 48 hours had been off. Maybe it was paranoia, but the woman was not going to let her guard down. The elevator dropped off the trio on the lower level. The lights flickered on as they entered the large room. It was filled with so much old technology, Laikyn was sure it wasn't useable. Just like upstairs, everything was covered with dust.
"This can't be the data-point," Natasha mumbled, "This technology is ancient."
"What about that?" Laikyn asked, pointing to the USB port situated on the desk in front of them. "It looks new."
Natasha walked over to it and placed the flash drive into the port. The computer in front of them and all of the technology around the trio came to life.
"Initiate system?" The computer asked.
"Y-E-S, spells yes," Nat said, "Shall we play a game? It's from a movie that was really-"
"I know," Steve interrupted, "I saw it." Laikyn took a moment to study the blonde. He was just as on edge as she was, if not more. She moved to stand next to him but stopped in her tracks when the computer began to speak.
"Rogers, Steven. Born, 1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born, 1984. Greer, Laikyn Elizabeth. Born, 1984."
"It's some kind of recording," Natasha stated, studying the computer.
"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." The computer showed a picture of the man who was supposedly talking to them.
"You know this thing?" Natasha questioned, both her and Laikyn's eyes on Steve.
"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years."
"First correction," The computer stated, "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." The man's voice sent a shiver down Laikyn's spine. On instinct, she moved closer to Steve.
"How did you get here?" Cap asked.
"Invited," The computer, Zola, stated.
"It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value," Nat explained.
"They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own," The computer spoke.
"HYDRA died with the Red Skull," Steve mentioned.
"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place."
Laikyn stiffened. She lived by that motto for 21 years. She also wasn't aware that Steve didn't know that HYDRA still existed.
"Prove it," The blonde tested.
"Accessing archive," The computer stated. "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, shaking her head. "SHIELD would've stopped you."
"Accidents happen," Zola replied simply. A newspaper article about the death of Howard and Maria Stark flashed on the screen. It was almost identical to the one of Nick Fury. "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."
Out of anger and confusion, Steve smashed the computer screen, but Zola continued on another one. "As I was saying-"
"What's on this drive?" Steve demanded.
"Project insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm," Zola informed.
"What kind of algorithm?" Natasha asked.
"What does it do?" Laikyn added.
"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it." Laikyn's heart dropped. She glanced behind her as the doors started to close.
"Guys, I got a bogey. Short-range ballistic. Thirty seconds, tops."
"This is fantastic," Laikyn uttered sarcastically.
"Who fired it?" Steve asked.
"SHIELD."
"I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain," Zola spoke. "Admit it, it's better this way. We're both of us, out of time."
Laikyn ran over to Steve desperate for a way out. At the same time, their eyes landed on an opening in the floor. Quickly, the blonde yanked away the metal gate and shoved Laikyn inside. As the missile hit the building, both Steve and Natasha jumped in behind Laikyn. Cap attempted to shelter them from the falling debris and concrete, but his shield wasn't enough. Within, seconds, everything was still but a persistent ringing in Laikyn's ears caused her to remember her current situation. She was lightheaded and the lack of oxygen wasn't helping. The copper-eyed girl tried to stand but couldn't. A piece of rubble had her leg pinned. With all of the strength she could muster, she lifted up the slab of rock just enough for her to remove her leg.
She moved to stand but a wave of dizziness clouded her vision. "Steve!" She called out. Laikyn began to walk in the direction she saw light coming from and there she found the blond with a passed out Natasha in his arms.
"We gotta move," He grunted.
As fast as they could, they made their way back to the truck. Steve gently placed Nat in the backseat and Laikyn climbed into the passenger.
"You alright?" Cap asked as they drove off. His face was outlined with worry and covered with dirt and soot, much like Laikyn's.
"Yeah," She said, her voice weak and exhausted.
"That leg doesn't look good," Steve mentioned.
The tired woman glanced down at her bleeding limb and let out a string of curse words. She didn't even notice the small piece shrapnel coming out from it.
"Does it hurt?"
"No," Laikyn said shortly. The adrenaline from the night's events was still pumping through her body. Plus, her mind was elsewhere. In a few short hours, she would have to tell Steve of her true identity. And since she trusted him, she promised herself she would.