I don't own anything except any original/own characters and any original plot.

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Chapter 8 - Invisible Parasite

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"Operations control."

The elevator beeped in recognition. Steve and I were extremely tense after what had just happened with Pierce. His rough hand found mine, entwining our fingers together. I sighed in relief. I was scared to initiate anything, even if we did talk through our argument.

Just as the doors were about to close, Rumlow and two other agents stepped inside.

"Forensics."

"Confirmed."

"Cap, Altovar," Rumlow nodded, acknowledging our presence, "Evidence Response found some fibres on the roof they want us to see. You want me to get the tac-team ready?"

"No, let's wait and see what it is first," Steve said casually, as if everything was okay.

I tapped my thumb on his hand a few times, pulling him down so his ear was right next to my mouth.

"Twitchy, hands on guns, theyre going to kill us," my voice was nearly inaudible, "Chuckle when I pull away."

I moved away from Steve a bit, smiling as he chuckled like I said something funny. Rumlow and the other two agents glanced at us, but didn't seem suspicious.

"I'm sorry about what happened with Fury. Messed up, what happened to him," Rumlow turned to us.

I bit the inside of my cheek, holding back my snarky comment. It was a normal royal technique. To hold back saying something you shouldn't, you bite your cheek.

"Thank you," Steve smiled slightly.

The elevator opened once again and a few more agents entered. At the point, Steve and I were entirely surrounded, in the center of everyone. After a shared look, I spoke up.

"Before we start, would anyone like to leave?"

The elevator became deadly silent. That was it, the breaking point. The man closest to the door threw his hand out. An electrified baton charged up. I jumpd backwards, slamming the man behind me into the glass. I kicked one of the men next to me behind his knees, causing him to fall. Someone gripped my sides and pulled me back. I swung my head into their face. Their head hit the glass of the elvator, cracking it. The last man that was focused on me found himself getting flipped into the glass, cracking it once again.

Sweat dropped down my temple, I tiredly lifted my hand to wipe it away. The only sounds in the elevator were Steve and I's panting. Steve turned off the emergency stop, only to see a SWAT team waiting for us. Steve swung and broke the elevator cord, dropping us down.

"Wurn, this is why I hate elevators," I cried out, gripping the rail. Even when the brakes kicked in, and stopped us in between floors, I kept my tight grip, "We need to jump. I can catch us. I think."

"You think?" Steve sighed in frustration, wrapping his arm around my waist all the same.

Our bodies slammed into the already cracked elevator window, completely shattering it. Wind whistled in my ears. It was actually quite nice, freefaling that is. When we neared the ground I threw my hands out, a bright shield forming under our bodies.

Because I was still a bit new to using shields to levitate, it broke soon after we landed on it. Both of us slammed into the ground. After taking only a few seconds to deal with our pain, we stood up and began to run.

From a long line of motorcycles in the garage, we grabbed two. The doors on the garage were rapidly closing in front of us, making our window of escape drastically smaller. I leaned to the side, twisting the handlebars. The bike tilted to the side, allowing me under the door. Steve followed my lead, making it through as well.

"We need to call Nat!" I yelled over the engines, "We can trust her! I know we can!"

A quinjet swooped down in front of us. Its guns were raised. The bridge started to close as well.

"Stand down, agents!"

We ignored the command, swerving our bikes to dodge the bullets soming our way. Steve threw his shield and hit the ship, knocking it off course. He stood on his bike, jumping onto the ship to take care of it entirely. I increased the speed on my bike, using the closing bridge as a ramp to get over and onto the other side.

"We need that hardrive," I braked in front of Steve as he jumped off of the quinjet, "Get on."

~*~

The peace and quiet of the hospital was suffocating to me. What with everything that had been going on, moments of silence felt wrong and put me on edge. I had shifted out of my uniform and into a normal civilian. Steve was back in a hoodie and jeans.

The first thing we noticed was that all of the Hubba Bubba bubblegum was gone. All of it. Even what was hiding behind it.
Red hair popped up in the reflection of the glass. Nat. Bright pink bubblegum formed a bubble in her mouth.

"Where is it?" Steve asked urgently.

"Safe," Nat assured casually.

"Do better," Steve snapped, panic evident on his features.

"Fury gave it to you. Why?"

"What on it?" I questioned, joining in the interogation like banter.

"I don't know."

"Stop lying," Steve nearly begged.

"I ony act like I know everything Rogers," Nat scoffed.

"Did you know Fury was the one who hired the pirates?"

"Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty-"

"Nat," I interupted, I crossed my arms, half our of anger, half because the hospital was colder than I thought it would be, "Please, just tell us what you know."

"I know who killed Fury. Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists. The ones who do call him the Winter Soldier."

Drums began to go off in my head, beating against my skull. I scrunched my brows together, taking a step away from Nat and Steve so I could breath for a moment.

"What language do you speak?"

It was the same voice that was speaking Romanian, this time in English. My vision flashed over the person. He was wearing a tux. The metal hand, that's what I saw last time.

"Name one. It won't change anything." I tugged at my hands, I was restrained, "I still...I still have enough sense to get out of...To get out of here."
"You don't need to die, just tell me what I need to know."

I looked up into his eyes. Bright blue eys. They were nice. But there was something behind them. A crease between his brows, lines in the outer corners. I couldn't really put together what was going on. But those eyes...He didn't seem like a badguy.

"(Y/n), you okay?" Steve's strong hand landed on my shoudler. The gentle force of it shook me out of my head.

"Yeah," I let out a shak breath, "My head just hurts. What's the plan?"

"We need to go to the mall, and see what's on this drive," Nat held up the drive, "You up to it?"

"There's nowhere else I can go," I chuckled, though there was no humor to it, "Let's take down SHIELD, yeah?"

~*~

Pretzels and air fresheners wafted through the air and into my nose. Nat and I were entirely casual, walking next to each other and chatting about random fake things. Steve on the other hand, kept on looking side to side.

"First rule of going on the run is, don't run. Walk," Nat turned around the advise Steve.

"If I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off," Steve grumbled.

We entered the nearest computer store, plugging in the hardrive so Nat could get started hacking into it. I looped my arm through Steve's, twirling a piece of hair around my pointer finger with my free hand.

"The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up SHIELD will know exactly where we are. (Y/n), you know the drill."

"The last timme we did this was with Clint in Budapest," I giggled, remebering back to the comdeic mission.

"What happened in Budapest?" Steve began to panic, "What's the drill?"

"Fury was right about that ship, somebody's trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI, it keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands. Maybe if we can't read the file, we can figure out where it came from."

"Can I help you guys with anything?" An employee approached us, smiling kindly.

"Oh no," I leaned in as if sharing a secret, "We're just looking for a few vacation spots."

The employee noded silently, before remebering he had to be polite, "Where are you guys thinking about going?"

I glanced at the computer screen, "New Jersey!"

"Great. If you guys need anything, I'm Aaron."

After the employee walked away, Steve looked at the screen again, his eyes lighting up in recognition.

"You know the place?"

"I used to. Let's go."

The three of us left the store. Our nine minutes were up. Two in front, two behind, and two across from us. We picked up our pace, trying to make it seem like a natural thing.

"Steve and Nat, put your arms around me and laugh." The two immediately did as I said, "Great. Steve, you're catching on."

"You seriously did this with Nat and Clint?" Steve questioned as we stepped onto an escalator.

"You two need to kiss," Nat ordered.

"What?"

"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable. Besides, you two are dating and I want to see some action."

"They do make people uncomfrtable," Steve hissed.

I rolled my eyes, pulling Steve in for a long kiss as we passed the men going up. They averted their eyesight like we had the plague, completely missing the fact that we were their targets. I pulled away soon after, stepping off of the escalator.

"Thank you, both of you, for that beautiful moment," Nat wrapped her arms around both of us.

When we made it to the parking lot we hijacked the closest vehicle we could find, a truck. The drive to New Jersey was going to be a long one, giving us a chance to sleep in shifts.

"How long have you two been together?" Nat asked randomly.

"Eleven months six days and nine hours," I recited, shrugging under their stares, "Princesses need to be good with time."

"And you two didn't think to tell anyone?"

"Who is there to tell?" Steve questioned, "There hasn't exactly been a need for the Avengers lately."

"Yeah, but still," Nat sighed, "You could have called."

After another few hours, and three chances to take a small nap, we pulled up to the original location of the file. It was then I knew why Steve remebered it. It was where he was traine. Where he went from Steve Rogers to Captain America.

We easily climbed up and over the fence. Nat pulled out a scanner and moved it around to look for the signature that would tell us where the file was made.

"This is a dead end," Nat claimed.

Steve looked over to a certain building, "Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards of the barracks. This building is in the wrong place."

Steve slammed his shield down on the latch, easily snapping it. The door swung open with a loud creak, alarming all of us.

"This is SHIELD," I stated, looking around. We walked through another door, into what seemed to be an archive.

"There's Howard Stark," I pointed at a black and white photo hanging on the wall, "And Peggy."

We continued walking until Steve stopped, opening a secret door that was hidden behind a cabinet. Nat scanned the code input and typed in the correct one.
We walked down yet another secret floor.

Everything there was old computers and monitors. It was probably the best of the best back when the area was made. However, upon closer inspection of the min desk, there was a new piece of technology there.

"Nat, give me the drive," I held my hand out. Once I placed the file in the modern insert everything lit up. The computer asked me if I wanted to start the system. I typed in yes.

A pixilated face formed on the screen. Every few seconds it glitched out of existence before coming back again.

"Rogers, Steven. Born, 1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born, 1984. Third being, unknown. Identify."

"(Y/n) Vala Altovar. Born stardate eighteen ninety one point one hundred sixty three. Earth date, nineteen ninety one." I said hesitantly.

"Ah yes. Alien," the voice stated, "You are a princess, eh Fräulein?"

"This must be some kind of recorded message," Nat said in confusion.

"I am not a recording, Fräulein," the face claimed. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am."

"You know this thing?" Nat turned to Steve.

"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. 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, that was worth saving on two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain."

"How did you get here?"

"Invited. They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own."

"Hydra died with Red Skull."

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

"Prove it."

"Accessing archive...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," I shook my head, "SHIELD would have stopped you."

"Accidents will happen," the computer screen flashed, showing a newspaper clipping of the Stark Accident, "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"

Crack!

Flushed pink with anger, Steve pulled his hand back after punching the computer screen. Zola's face simply appeared on another.

"What's on this drive?" Steve breathed out, calming down a bit.

"Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm."

"What kind of algorithm?" Muscles contracting into shivers, I asked the nervewracking question. I had been working on Project Insight since New York, and to see it crumbling around me...

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

The doros behind us bagan to close. In an effort to save our escape, Steve threw his shield. But it was too late, it simply bounced off and back into his hand.

"We got a bogey. Short range ballistic. 30 seconds tops."

"I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain. Admit it, it's better this way. We're both of us... out of time."

I grabbed the hardrive from the insertion. Steve ripped up the bottom of a sewer hatch. Grabbing Nat and I, he jumped inside, throwing his shield above us. It wouldn't be enough, not with the size of the entrance hole.

I threw my hands up, forming a larger shield over our bodies. The building crumped around us. It felts as thogh every single piece of rubble landed on my shield, adding even more weight to it. I screamed out, hands shaking like a vibrating phone.

The building's weight broke through my shield. I fell backwards against Nat, the stress and exhaustion of the past few days finally getting to me.

"Informație. Acum."

I was in the same place. It was like everything had started all over again. My vision was still blurred, my thinking was slow. I saw the flash of the metal hand.

"Nersh juh," I slurred.

"What language do you speak?"

I tried to focus on something else, something I hadn't noticed before. A tux, the man was wearing a tux. Now that I was focusing on it. I was wearing a dress. There was a party wasn't there?

"Name one. It won't change anything." I tugged at my hands, I was restrained, "I still...I still have enough sense to get out of...To get out of here."

"You don't need to die, just tell me what I need to know."

There was! I was supposed to go to the party and get information out of someone. I did, I flirted and talked, acted like one of his mistresses. Then that guy came up to me, the one with the metal hand and blue eyes. I had to stay, so I wouldn't be suspicious. He bought me a drink...

"How about I tell you what I know?" My vision was coming back, the drug was wearing off. It must have been different in my system than in a normal human's, "You were a gentleman to me before I started to black out. It didn't look forced, it wasn't forced. But this is. You don't want to kill me, you don't even want to kill me."

"You don't know anything about what I want," the man picked out a knife from a small bag, "What I want is to accomplish my mission."

"Maybe I don't know what you want," I shrugged, tugging at my binds again, "But I know you."

"You're pulling out of it faster than anticipated," the man sighed, ignoring my prevoius statement, "Probably because of whatever you are."

"You're stuck. You don't know who you are," I was shocked that I hadn't already fallen out of my human form because of the drugs. Then again, back then it was top priority, "You feel like you don't belong. Who knew. The Winter Soldier, just like me."

The Winter Solider? That was it. That was the conncection. That was what brought back these drugged memories. That's why I knew the face. But the eyes...The museum...Where did that come from? 

"Without the drugs I'll have to resort to other tactics."

"Are you even listening ot me? Midgardians are so rude," out of anger, frustration, and probably because I still had some drugs in my system, I shifted into my natural form, "This is why we're alike! Because neither of us belong! But we're making it work. We're trying. But you're doing this the wrong way. You aren't making your own choices!"

The Winter Soldier stopped, dropping his knife. I tugged at my restraints one last time, letting out a spell to break them. Jumping up, I held out my hands to show the Winter Soldier I wasn't going to attack. Negotiation tactics were something I was working, so I was going to try it.

"You're an alien, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Who are you?"

The whole 'Tough Guy' act dropped for a moment. I saw the hopelessness behind his mask, the sadness.

"I don't know," the man turned to look out the window, "You need to go. Before my superiors come for my report. They'll probably wipe me. Don't expect me to see you again."

I smiled brightly, "You aren't a villain. Not really. Thank you for letting me go. I hope we can meet again, maybe then I can help you out."

"One more thing," I jumped when something pricked my arm, "Just so you don't look for me. Now go back to your hotel, and go to sleep."

"Yeah...I'll do that."