CHAPTER FOUR: bunker

╰☆☆ t͖͖̠̬͛h̨͚͚͖ͯ̒̄͗͞ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧ b͔͔̳͈̊̆ͥ͂͜͝ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧa͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡t͖͖̠̬͛i̧̻̻͉̜͑ͪ̾͟f̰̰̯͕͊̃̊͞͞͞ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡l͖͖̰̝ͭ̀͘ t͖͖̠̬͛ṛ̣̬̫̍͌ͩ͟a͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎g̬̬̱ͩ͋͟͟ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧd̶̵̯̯̼̘ͨ̓y͙͙̪̰ͫ͌́ ☆☆╮

MALCOLM LAWRENCE SAT IN THE BACK OF THE CAR. A stolen car. Stolen by Captain America.

"Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" Natasha asked.

"Nazi Germany." Steve answered. Natasha hummed as he continued to speak. "And we're borrowing. Take your feet off the dash."

Natasha did as she was told. "Yeah, borrowing, like Malcolm did with Sam's jacket?" Before Malcolm could say anything about not having stolen it, Natasha kept speaking. "Alright, I have a question for you, oh, 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 asked, interrupting her as she kept speaking.

"Was that your first kiss since Ninteen forty-five?"

"That's bad, huh?"

Malcolm laughed, covering his mouth as he leaned back in his seat.

"I didn't say that."

"Well, it kind of sounds like that's what you're saying."

"No, I didn't. I just wondered how much practice you've had."

"You don't need practice."

"Everybody needs practice."

"Okay, Malcolm, does everyone need practice?" Steve asked the werewolf, glancing at him through the rare view mirror.

"Oh, come on," Natasha rolled her eyes. "he's gonna agree with you. You're basically his favorite person in history."

"What?" Malcolm asked, caught off guard by the question and Natasha'a reason for why he couldn't answer the question.

"Okay, Malcolm, when was the last time you kissed someone then?" Natasha asked.

"Uh...I don't know.  Because I don't really count the time I had gone on the date that Sam set up."

"Oh, that blind date last month. You kiss-" Natasha smirked, not getting to finish her teasing as Malcolm stopped her.

"No, he was completely drunk, just grabbed me and kissed me."

Natasha turned back at that, while Steve kept glancing through the rare view mirror. "What?"

"He was drunk." Malcolm tried to explain, seeing the look on Natasha's face. "Plus, it's not like I went on another date with him. And Sam already had almost broken his nose."

Natasha smirked, saying how the man had deserved it and wishing she had seen Sam beat him up.  Malcolm rolled his eyes, turning to Steve. "See? Look what you started, had to explain a very embarrassing date."

Steve laughed., then quickly glanced at Natasha. "It was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm ninety-five, I'm not dead."

"Nobody special, though?" Natasha asked. "For either of you?"

Steve let out a chuckle. "Believe it or not, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience."

"Well, that's alright, you just make something up."

"What, like you?"

Malcolm looked back and forth between the two.

"I don't know. The truth is a matter of circumstances, it's not all things to all people all the time. And neither am I."

"That's a tough way to live." Steve was looking at Natasha, and Malcolm wasn't sure what to say in the moment. He felt awkward.

"It's a good way not to die, though."

"You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone when you don't know who that someone really is."

"Yeah." She was silent for a second, glancing out the front window before looking back at Steve. "Who do you want me to be?"

"How about a friend?"

Natasha laughs softly, turning back to the front window. "Well, there's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers."

They continued to drive before coming at a stop in front of a large fence, they got out of the car, Malcolm practically jumping out. "This is it?"

"The file came from these coordinates."

"So did I." Steve said, catching sight of the sign. CAMP LEHIGH
U.S. ARMY RESTRICTED AREA.

╰☆☆ t͖͖̠̬͛h̨͚͚͖ͯ̒̄͗͞ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧ b͔͔̳͈̊̆ͥ͂͜͝ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧa͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡t͖͖̠̬͛i̧̻̻͉̜͑ͪ̾͟f̰̰̯͕͊̃̊͞͞͞ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡l͖͖̰̝ͭ̀͘ t͖͖̠̬͛ṛ̣̬̫̍͌ͩ͟a͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎g̬̬̱ͩ͋͟͟ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧd̶̵̯̯̼̘ͨ̓y͙͙̪̰ͫ͌́ ☆☆╮

Later that night, they walk around the base in search to pinpoint the signal. "This camp is where I was trained." Steve said.

"Changed much?" Natasha asked, holding her phone up.

"A little."

"This is a dead end." Natasha said, Malcolm scanning the area with glowing blue eyes. "Zero heat signatures, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off. What is it?"

Malcolm turned, seeing her look at Steve. "Army regulations forbid storing munitions within five hundred yards of the barracks." Steve said, walking towards the smaller stone building. Malcolm and Natasha followed at his side. "This building is in the wrong place."

Steve broke off the lock with his shield, pulling the door open

╰☆☆ t͖͖̠̬͛h̨͚͚͖ͯ̒̄͗͞ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧ b͔͔̳͈̊̆ͥ͂͜͝ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧa͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡t͖͖̠̬͛i̧̻̻͉̜͑ͪ̾͟f̰̰̯͕͊̃̊͞͞͞ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡l͖͖̰̝ͭ̀͘ t͖͖̠̬͛ṛ̣̬̫̍͌ͩ͟a͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎g̬̬̱ͩ͋͟͟ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧd̶̵̯̯̼̘ͨ̓y͙͙̪̰ͫ͌́ ☆☆╮

Malcolm used his yellow eyes to see in the darkness, Steve glancing back at him as he signaled that he was going to turn on the lights. He wasn't sure if anything could hurt or affect Malcolm's eyes by the sudden light.
The lights turned on, and Malcolm's eyes went back to being their hazel green eyes.

"This is S.H.I.E.L.D." Natasha said after seeing the SHIELD symbol on the wall.

"Maybe where it started." Steve spoke, as they continued to walk around and explore the building.  They walked through a door, seeing multiple pictures on the wall.

"There's Tony's dad." Malcom said, scanning the wall of photos.

"Howard."  Steve said.

"Who's the girl?" Natasha questioned Steve. But he didn't answer, walking down into one of the aisle. He paused, looking around.  Malcolm glanced at Natasha before they both followed Steve.

"If you're already working in a secret office," he started, then pulling the shelves, the hidden door opened. Malcolm quickly pushed it the rest of the way.  Which it has revealed an elevator. "why do you need to hide an elevator?" Steve finished.

They entered the elevator , Natasha scanning the buttons to see which ones had been pressed. She typed in the code that appeared in her phone. The elevator dinged, the doors opening.

╰☆☆ t͖͖̠̬͛h̨͚͚͖ͯ̒̄͗͞ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧ b͔͔̳͈̊̆ͥ͂͜͝ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧa͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡t͖͖̠̬͛i̧̻̻͉̜͑ͪ̾͟f̰̰̯͕͊̃̊͞͞͞ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡l͖͖̰̝ͭ̀͘ t͖͖̠̬͛ṛ̣̬̫̍͌ͩ͟a͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎g̬̬̱ͩ͋͟͟ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧd̶̵̯̯̼̘ͨ̓y͙͙̪̰ͫ͌́ ☆☆╮

The doors opened again, the room being completely dark. The three stepped out, Malcolm had been about to shift his eyes to see when the lights turned on.
They walked up a step, looking around at all the technology and machines.

"This can't be the data point. This technology is ancient." Natasha stated. Then, walked towards the larger set of the computers, she pressed in the flash drive and every thing lit up, turning on.

"Initiate system?" The computer turned on. Natasha typed in the response 'yes'.

"Shall we play a game? It's from a movie that was really popular-" Natasha went to explain.

"I know, I saw it." Steve interrupted. The computer screen started to turn on, shifting green.

"Rogers, Steven, born in nineteen-eighteen. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna, born 1984. Lawrence, Salvatore Malcolm, born 1983."

"It's some kind a recording." Natasha spoke.

"I am not a recording, fraeulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945. But I am." A picture shows up in the screen next to him.

"You know this thing?" Malcolm asked, turning to Steve.

"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked with Red Skull. He's been dead for years."

"First correction, I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been more alive. In 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?" Steve asked

"Invited."

"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."

"HYDRA died with the Red Skull." Steve responded.

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

"Then show us." Malcolm growled, angered by the fact he couldn't punch Arnim.

"Accessing archive." The computer screen shows them old footage of Johann Schmidt/Red Skull, of the how the original SHIELD founders. "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." While speaking, the computer had a video playing. There was soldiers, Red Skull, Captain America, Hydra, boats and much more.

"That's impossible, SHIELD would have stopped you." Both Natasha and Malcolm spoke.
"SHIELD would have stopped you."

"Accidents will happen." The computer screen shows them HYDRA had killed Howard and Maria Stark making it look like a car accident along with the recent death of 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."

in anger Steve suddenly smashes the computer screen. "As I was saying..."

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

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

"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."

Suddenly the doors starts to close, Steve tries stops it by throwing his shield in between it but he's too late.  And Malcolm hadn't gotten the chance to try and pry the doors open with his claws when Natasha's phone started to buzz.  "Steve, Malcolm, we got a bogey. Short range ballistic.  Thirty seconds tops."

"Who fired it?" Steve questioned

"S.H.I.E.L.D."

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

Steve notices a small opening on the ground, he throws the metal door aside and just as the place explodes he throws Natasha, Malcolm and himself into the hole and protects them with his shield. Malcolm wasn't sure how he had the shield protect all three of them.

When the deride stopped followed, Steve pushed his shield up, Malcolm held him lift it up. Steve climbed out, turning back and picking up an unconscious Natasha. Malcolm moved another life of just as STRIKE agents arrive to roam the area for them.

╰☆☆ t͖͖̠̬͛h̨͚͚͖ͯ̒̄͗͞ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧ b͔͔̳͈̊̆ͥ͂͜͝ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧa͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡t͖͖̠̬͛i̧̻̻͉̜͑ͪ̾͟f̰̰̯͕͊̃̊͞͞͞ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡l͖͖̰̝ͭ̀͘ t͖͖̠̬͛ṛ̣̬̫̍͌ͩ͟a͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎g̬̬̱ͩ͋͟͟ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧd̶̵̯̯̼̘ͨ̓y͙͙̪̰ͫ͌́ ☆☆╮

"We can't go to either of our houses." Malcolm said, glancing at Natasha. "But, I know a place we can go."

╰☆☆ t͖͖̠̬͛h̨͚͚͖ͯ̒̄͗͞ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧ b͔͔̳͈̊̆ͥ͂͜͝ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧa͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡t͖͖̠̬͛i̧̻̻͉̜͑ͪ̾͟f̰̰̯͕͊̃̊͞͞͞ụ̴̴̾̀͟͡l͖͖̰̝ͭ̀͘ t͖͖̠̬͛ṛ̣̬̫̍͌ͩ͟a͔͔̜̗̦ͩ̅̎g̬̬̱ͩ͋͟͟ḛ̡̰̳͓̥ͬ͋ͪͧd̶̵̯̯̼̘ͨ̓y͙͙̪̰ͫ͌́ ☆☆╮

{1764}
Okay, I swear, I plan to make the next chapter 2000+ and I'm going to try and do that. Leave me wanting to always leave the charger on a cliff hanger and make the chapter longer.
Or I could make it longer by trying to specify certain parts of the book. Like the fight scenes.