[ vii. seven ! ]
❛ 𝙷𝚈𝙳𝚁𝙰 ❜

❝ I guess I can't tell the difference anymore ❞

    𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 an very old looking building. "What is it?", Juliet slowly asked him with a confused look on her face.

"Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards from the barracks.This building is in the wrong place", the super solider answered her.

Steve opened the lock with his shield and they enter the building together.
It was an old office, there were chairs, desks and old phones. "This is Shield", Anastasija stated walking further into the large office.

Steve trailed right behind her together with Juliet, "Maybe when it started", he said to her letting his gaze wonder around the room.

The two walked to the end of the office only to find another door which led them to another big room. On the wall were pictures of different S.H.I.E.L.D Agents and analysts that had worked there.

"There is Stark's father", Ana said leaning her head to the side as she looked at the picture.

"Howard", Steve said more to himself than to the women besides him. "Who is the girl?", Anastasija asked turning her head to look at him, Steve looked at the second picture.

Anastasija wasn't the best with feelings but she could tell frome the way he looked at it that this women meant something to Steve.

She had a weird feeling in her stomach, What was that? But before she could think about that Steve walked away from her.

Ana and Juliet quickly followed him exchanging a questioning look until he suddenly stopped and looked at a wall besides him. "If you already working in a secret office—", he said while opening the secret passage.

There was an elevator, "Why do you need to hide the elevator?", Steve asked her looking at it.

Anastasija quickly cracked the code and the elevator opened for them. They entered and it took them down to a big dark room.

The three carefully stepped out of the elevator and the lights slowly turned on. It was a room full with old looking computers, Sound recordings rotate in the background.

"This can't be the Data point this technology is ancient", Juliet scoffed and continued to look around.

That's when Anastasija saw a small flash drive port that looked like someone had placed it there not a long time ago. She walked towards it and put the flash drive and ticked it in.

Suddenly all of the ancient computer in the room were activated.
But on the one right infront if them was something written.

𝙸𝙽𝙸𝚃𝙸𝙰𝚃𝙴 𝚂𝚈𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙼 ?

Anastasija walked to the Computer and answered—

𝚈𝙴𝚂 ▆

"Shall we play a game?", she smirked and looked over her shoulder at Steve and Juliet.

"It is from a movie— ", she wanted to explain but Steve interrupted her.

"Yeah, I saw it."

"Everyone's knows that movie", Juliet assured her as she nodded her head.

Anastasija still smiled as she turned back to the Computer, where now green lights were flickering over the Screen.

When you looked closely you could see a face slowly forming on the monitor, "Rogers, Steven, born 1918."
"Romanoff, Anastasija Irina, born 1984", "Juliet Troy, born 1987", the computer spoke to them.

"It's some kind of recording", Ana said not quiet understanding how that thing could know her.

"I am not a recording, Fräulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am still Arnim Zola", he said while showing a picture of himself.

"You know his name?", Juliet asked a little surprised, looking at the blond Captain.

"Arnim Zola, was an german scientist to work for the Red skull. He's been dead for years", the Captain explained to the Russian while walking around.

"Fast correction, look around you,
I've never been more alive, in 1972,
I received an terminal diagnoses. Science could not safe my body, my mind however, that was worth saving. On two hundred thousand data bags. You are standing in my brain", Zola explained to them.

"How did you get here?", Steve asked him, no standing infront of him again. Zola answered the Captain shortly,
"Invited".

Ana looked at Steve before she started to explain, "It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. Shield recruited German scientists with strategic values."

Steve looked at her and the at Zola, "HYDRA died with the Redskull",
"Cut of one head, two more shall take it's place", Arnim said showing them the HYDRA logo.

"Prove it", Steve said to him. "Accessing archive", Zola commanded the Computer, the computer screen showed them old footage of the Red Skull and the original S.H.I.E.L.D founders.

"Hydra was founded on the believe that Humanity could not be trusted with. It's one freedom. What we did not realize was that if you tried to take that freedom, they resist. The War tought us much. Humanity did to surrender it's freedom willingly.
After the war, S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded, and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew, a beautiful parasite, inside S.H.I.E.L.D.For 70 years HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed", he showed them pictures.

The computer screen showed field reports with photos of the Winter Soldier, carrying out top-level assassinations for HYDRA.

"That's impossible, Shield would have stopped you", Ana exclaimed disbelieving at the Computer.

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

Anastasija gasped and Juliet's hands formt into fist. "HYDRA created a world so chaotic that Humanity is finally ready to sacrifice it's freedom, lnce 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", Zola provoked Steve who suddenly smashes the computer screen in anger.

Zola's face reappeared on another."As I was saying— "

"What's on this drive?", Steve asked the scientist curious. "Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm", he answered him. 

"What kind of algorithm? What does it do?", Juliet quickly asked him with wide eyes as she approprached the screen.

"The answer to your question is fascinating, unfortunately you shall be to dead to hear it", he answered the brunette in a calm voice.

In that moment the doors closed and their were captured inside of the room.

Steve tried to stop the doors by throwing his shield at them but he was to late. It bounces off and flew at him so he caught it again as Ana's Phone from Shield started to beep.

"Steve, we got a bogey! Short-range ballistic. Thirty seconds, tops", she exclaimed, panic in her voice.

She looked at the man, "Who fired it?", he questioned at her. “Shield”

"I'm afraid I have been stalling, Captain. Admit it, it's better this way, We are, both of us, out of our time", Zola spoke up again while Anna grabbed the stick and Steve looked around.

"No!", was all Juliet screamed as Steve and Anastasija grabbed her and dragged her away from the monitor.
Steve pulled out a grate in the floor and jumped through it with Anastasija and Juliet in his arms.

Right in that exact moment the missile hit, reducing the bunker to rubble. And then it was dark.

When Ana awoke she sat in the passenger seat of the Van they had stolen. Her whole body hurted and she felt like someone had run her over with a bus.

Ana sat up and looked to her left, there was Steve, he was watching her.
He cleared his throat, and looked quickly out of the window.

"What happend?", she questioned holding her head and narrowing her eyes.

"I carried you out of the rubbles, you were unconcussioned, Shield came and searched for us", he explained to her looking back at her face.

"Thank you", she breathed out looking at him as well.

She cleared her throat, this was awkward, "Where are we?", she looked out of the window.

"I drove us to Sam's address, you know the man you saw me with at the park", he explained to her.

"Ahh, the cute one", she stated smiling. Steve furrowed his eyebrows making her chuckle at his reaction.

Juliet, who had laid in the back of the car now sat up, "Which cute one?" Anastasija chuckled at the brunette, who pulled her hair out of her face.

The three got out of the car and rang the bell of the house and after a short moment Sam opened the door.

"Hey, Man", he greeted Steve friendly. "Sorry about this, we need a place to lay low", Steve explained to the man.

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us", Anastasija stated looking at him, her face still dirty from the explosion.

Sam looked at her for a moment. "Not everyone", he answered the Russian while stepping asaide to let them inside. 

The first thing they all did was shower and refresh themselves. Steve was in the bathroom washing his hands as Ana watched him while drying her wet hair. Juliet had already showered and was with Sam in the kitchen making some food.

Steve looked up form the sink and their looks suddenly connected in the mirror. Steve looked away and sighed before he walked out of the Bathroom.

"You okay?", he asked with an raised eyebrow. "Yeah", she answered him shortly in the hope he would let it go.

But Steve walked towards the blond woman and sat down infront of her.  "What's going on?", he asked eyeing her face with his ice blue eyes.

Anastasija only stared back at him for a moment. "When I first joined Shield, I thought it was going straight.— but I guess I just traded in the KGB for Hydra", she lightly shook her head in disbelief. "I thought I knew whose lies I was telling, but— I guess I can't tell the difference anymore."

"There's a chance you might be in the wrong business", Steve joked looking at her, but the women just looked at him seriously.

"I owe you", she sighed with a light smile on her lips but he only shrugged it off. "It's okay"

But Anastasija continued to looked at the blond man who sat right infront of her.

"If it was the other way around—  and it was down to me to save your life. Now you be honest with me, would you trust me to do it?", she asked as she looked at him intensive, afraid of what he could answer.

Steve was her first real friend since Barton and as weird as it sounded,  that meant something to her.

"I would now", he answered her and nodded. Steve stopped for a second and then continued with a smile on his face, "And I'm always honest", he smiled.

The russian slowly leaned her head to the side, "Well, you seem pretty chipper for someone who just found out they died for nothing."

Steve leaned back in his chair, "Well, I guess I just like to know who I'm fighting." He turned his head towards the window and than back to her.

In that moment Sam and Juliet came in, "I made breakfast for you guys, if you eat that sort of thing", he informed the two interrupting their conversation.

"He meant I made breakfast and he watched", Juliet corrected the man besides her who pretended as if he was deeply offended.

The two nodded at them chuckling and quickly left the bedroom before they made themselves comfortable in Sam's kitchen.

Ana leaned against the kitchen counter as she looked at the others a and asked, "So the question is, who in Shield could launch a domestic missile strike?"

"Pierce", Steve answered her immediatley as he looked out of the window deep in thoughts.

"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world", Ana added while she was walking towards the table.

"But he's not working alone,
Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star", Steve explained to her as he still looked out of the window.

That was when it hit her, Ana immediatley looked at Steve with wide eyes, "So was Jasper Sitwell."

Juliet gaze abruptly fell onto Anastasija as she tapped her fingers against the table, "So, the real question is, how do the two most wanted people in Washington, kidnap a Shield officer in broad daylight?"

"The answer is, you don't", Sam answered the brunette woman while he walked towards Steve with a file.

He threw it on the table and looked at the three as Ana picked up a photo which showed Sam with his para-rescue team.

"Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you", she asked him impressed as she gave the man a side look.

Then she looked back at Steve who know eyed Sam curiously, "You didn't say he was a para-rescue."

She gave the file to Steve who looked at the photo of Sam with his colleague, "Is this Riley?", Steve asked him as he looked up from the file in his hands.

"Yeah", Sam answered short and quiet. "I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use, a stealth chute?", Anastasija questioned him interested.

"No, these", Sam answered and handed Steve another file, Steve took it from his hands and opened it.

"I thought you said you're a pilot", the blond man questioned Sam who just crossed his arms smirking.

"I never said pilot."

But Steve immediately shook his head, "I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."

"Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in", the man reasoned excited, his arms still crossed over his chest.

Juliet looked at him and after a moment he asked him curious, "Where can we get our hands on one of these things?"

"The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall", Sam explained to the three with a worried look, he didn't know how they wanted to get it, it was practically impossible.

But Steve only looked at Anastasija besides him who shrugged as if it where nothing for her.

"Shouldn't be a problem", Steve at last answered him while he threw the file back on the table.

❝𝐂𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈'𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞❞