Chapter 8

They pulled up to the barbed wire gates that broke up the barbed wire fences that enclosed the base; just as it was getting dark. There was a very large, red stop sign plastered on the gate. They all glanced at each other before getting out of the car.

"This is it." Steve confirmed to Natasha.

"The file came from these coordinates." Nat muttered.

"So did I." Steve mumbled. Nat hot him a glance.

They made their way into the base as it went dark completely. They walked past large red brick buildings as Nat scanned for life forms. Abi looked around as memories began to flood back.

"This camp is where I was trained." Steve said.

"Change much?" Nat asked.

"A little." Steve said as he looked up at the flag pole that he had once collected the American Flag from. Memories of running past it replayed in Steve's head.

"This is a dead end." Nat exclaimed looking at her scanners. "Zero heat signatures, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off."

"Steve." Abi called. She was stood off from the other two.

"What is it?" Nat asked as her and Steve walked over to where Abi was stood in front of a large door.

"Army regulations forbid storing munitions within 500 yards of the Barracks." Abi clarified. "This building's in the wrong place."

Steve nodded and walked up and boke the lock with his shield. They walked down the stairs into a bunker. Steve switched on the power that surprisingly still worked and they looked around the room. It was set out like an office but the crest on the back wall told them otherwise. The old SHIELD logo stood out in the room.

"This is SHIELD." Nat said as she noticed the logo.

"Maybe where it started." Steve muttered.

They walked into another room filled with shelves and three pictures on the wall. Howard Stark, Peggy Carter and Cornel Phillips. Steve and Abi exchanged a glance looking at the people they once knew so well.

"And there's Stark's father." Natasha said.

"Howard." Abi said.

"Who's the girl?" Nat asked but neither off them replied. They just walked further into the room.

Steve noticed a draught blowing into the side off on of the shelves.

"If you're already working in a secret office," Steve pulled the two shelves apart. "why do you need to hide the elevator?"

Nat scanned the pin lock and then typed in the number. The doors opened and they all looked at each other before stepping in. When the doors opened again they walked into a pitch black room that was only lit by the light from the elevator. They walked further and all the lights seemed to flicker to life at once. They revealed a room full of data banks with a central console.

"This can't be the data point; this technology is ancient." Nat said looking around in confusion as they stepped up to the console. She caught a modern looking memory stick dock plugged into the main console out of the corner of her eye. She pugged in the drive and all the machines burst to life.

Bright green words flashed onto the screen: Initiate system.

Nat walked up to the ancient keyboard and typed. "Y-E-S spells yes." She muttered. "Shall we play again?" She muttered with a smile before turning to the other two. "It's from a movie..."

"I know, we saw it." Steve said cutting her off.

Green bars went across the screen, appearing like a face.

"Rogers, Steven, born 1918." The voice said before the camera turned to Abi. "Rogers, Abigail, born 1918." It then turned to Nat. "Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna, born 1984."

"It's some kind of recording." Nat said as they all looked at the computer with confusion.

"I am not a recording, Fraulein." The computer replied. "I may not be the man I was when the Rogers's took me prisoner in 1945. But I am." A picture came up on the screen and Steve and Abi looked at each other.

"You know this thing?" Nat asked them.

"Armin Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull." Abi told her as Steve walked to the back of the console. "He's been dead for years."

"First correction, I am Swiss." Zola replied. "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 2000,000 feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain."

Steve walked back up to Nat and Abi. "How did you get here?" He asked.

"Invited." Zola replied.

"It was operation paperclip after world war II. SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value." Nat disclosed.

"They thought that I could help their cause." Zola said. "I also helped my own."

"Hydra dies with the Red Skull." Abi said.

"You, more than anyone, should know that's not true." Zola said.

"What?" Abi muttered.

"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place." Zola added.

"Prove it." Steve said.

"Accessing archive." Zola said. "Hydra was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom."

The screen showed the Red Skull and the Hydra soldiers that they fought in WWII.

"What we did not realise was that if you try and take that that freedom, then they resist."

Allie soldiers appeared on the screen followed by old footage of Captain America and the Howling Commandoes.

"The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded, and I was recruited."

Peggy, Howard and Phillips flashed onto the monitor.

"The new Hydra grew. A beautiful parasite inside SHIELD."

Newspapers and files depicting Zola's influence on SHIELD appeared.

"For 70 years, Hydra has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war, creating weapons.

A picture of Abi in cryo-freeze appeared on the screen followed by one of her and the Winter Soldier.

"No." Abi muttered. She grabbed her head as a sharp pain went through it. Some memories wanted to resurface but this wasn't the time. She made her mind go blank and focused on Zola.

"Yes Miss Rogers. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed." Zola continued.

"That's impossible SHIELD would have stopped you." Nat said in shock.

"Accidents will happen." Zola said.

A picture of a newspaper telling of Howards death appeared. It was followed by Fury's file.

"Hydra created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once a purification programme is complete, Hydra's new world order will arise."

The screen showed the Insight helicarrier's.

"We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your life. A zero sum." Zola mocked.

Steve lost it and punched the screen. The glass cracked and the screen lost power and shut off.

"As I was saying..." Zola said appearing on another screen.

"What's on this drive?" Steve asked.

"Project Insight requires insight." Zola replied. "So, I wrote an Algorithm."

"What type of Algorithm? What does it do?" Nat asked.

"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it." Zola replied.

The blast doors on the elevator shut locking them in the room. Steve threw his shield in a failed attempt to keep them open.

Nat's phone started beeping. "Guys. We've got a bogey. Short range ballistic. 30 seconds tops."

"Who fired it?" Steve asked.

"SHIELD."

"I am afraid I have been stalling, Rogers." Zola said. Nat grabbed the drive as they looked for a way out. "Admit it, it's better this way. We are, all three of us, out of time." Zola jabbed at Abi and Steve as Abi pulled a grate from the floor with her powers and gestured for Nat and Steve to get in. The missile hit seconds after and Abi used her powers to stop the debris falling on them.

After the blast Abi pushed the rock and other stuff off them and clambered out. Steve followed carrying an unconscious Nat.

"Where do we go now?" Abi asked as they heard helicopters coming in.

"I've got an idea." Steve muttered.