Written in the Stars: Bucky Barnes

35. Computer

The three got out of the truck and entered the gates Stella fell behind, memories flashing by of when she was first there.

"Stells what if they don't pick me?"

"Then we both leave, I don't want to be a part of this if you aren't."

"What about the opportunities you've been given with Howard?"

"Screw it, it's you and me Stevie."

"Till the end of the line?"

"Till the end of the line."

She broke from her daydreaming catching up to Steve who seemed to be doing the same. "It's a lot of memories."

"Yeah, good and bad."

"You ever miss how much more simple things were before everything."

"Sometimes."

"This is a dead-end. Zero heat signature, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off." Natasha said joining them. Steve looked over to the building that was the start of S.H.I.E.L.D. "what is it?"

"Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards of the barracks. This building is in the wrong place."

"That's because it's where S.H.I.E.L.D. started." Stella spoke up remembering the one time she was there.

"You've been here?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah, years ago. It's been a long time which is why I didn't recognize it immediately. I only visited once," she said looking at Steve, "you can guess why I wasn't exactly welcomed back. I had school anyway."

They walked over to the building Steve broke the lock with his shield and stepped into the large office. Stella looked up to the portraits on the wall standing in front of Howard's a tear slipping down her cheek. Steve walked up behind her and set a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"You okay Stells?"

"Yeah, I just hope he'd be proud of me. I constantly wonder if I'm doing the right thing in S.H.I.E.L.D. the only reason I'm even in it is that it was something he believed in. I guess it's stupid, but it's a way I feel close to him."

"That's not stupid at all Stella, he was a good man I'm sure he'd be proud of you."

Steve left his friend's side looking at the bookcase mentioning it was suspicious and pushed it away revealing an elevator.

"My father, you can see where Tony got his dramatics from."

They all rode down in the elevator together and the doors opened to a large room filled with ancient-looking computer servers.

Stella looked around as Nat placed the USB into the port and the computers roared to life around them. The redhead walked up to her friend's joining them at their side.

"Shall we play a game?" Nat said with a smirk looking over to Steve, "it's from a movie"

"Yeah, I saw them," Steve interrupted.

"I made him watch them all, I don't think he was much of a fan."

Suddenly a voice that made Stella's blood run cold came over the speakers "Rogers, Steven. Born, 1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born, 1984. Turner, Stella Rose. Born 1917."

"It must be some kind of recording," Nat spoke.

"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." the monitor cut on showing a digitized version of Arnim Zola.

"Do you guys know this thing?"

"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years," the supersoldier answered.

"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."

"Gross," Stella said earning a look from Steve.

"How did you get here?" Steve asked.

"Invited."

"He was recruited, I hated the idea," Stella interjected.

"It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value," Nat said.

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

"HYDRA died with the Red Skull."

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

"Prove it."

"Accessing archive," Zola said and images popped up on the screen. Showing HYDRA being founded, "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." More videos of war and death showed on the screen Stella looking on with horror. Something her father had created in hopes of protecting people was infested with a parasite that sought destruction and pain.

"That's impossible, S.H.I.E.L.D. would've stopped you."

"Accidents will happen," suddenly the newspaper article about Howard and Maria's accident took over the screen causing Stella's stomach to churn and she found it hard to stay standing.

"You killed my father, that's why he was adamant about protecting Tony."

"Hardly your real father though. Had it not been for his efforts to protect your true identity we would've made sure to eliminate you as well." Steve grabbed Stella's hand in an effort to comfort her as she took in what she was being told. "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." The supersoldier smashed his shield into the monitor not wanting to hear anymore. "As I was saying," Zola's voice came back and his digitized visage was shown on another monitor in the room.

"What's on the drive?" Steve demanded.

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

"What kind of algorithm? What does it do?"

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

The doors closed suddenly and Steve threw his shield towards it in a failed attempt to keep it open.

Natasha's phone made a noise and she pulled it from her pocket "Steve, Stella we got a bogey. Short-range ballistic. Thirty seconds tops."

"Who fired it?"

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

"Great we let Microsoft Walt Disney monologue." Stella quipped still reeling from the recent revelations brought to light.

Zola said something else and Stella ignored him looking around for a possible exit when Steve opened a metal door on the floor ushering the two women in just as the bomb reached them.

"Protect Nat," Stella yelled using every bit of her energy to keep the blast from letting the concrete collapse on them. She screamed against the weight, Steve using his shield to protect himself and Natasha. Once the dust had settled some she helped Steve remove the rubble above them so they could escape Nat slipping in and out of consciousness.

"Grab her we have to get out of here, I think I know somewhere safe, it won't be long before they catch up to look for us," Stella ordered. They quickly stepped out and saw lights approaching them and made a break for their vehicle placing Nat in the backseat and sped off.