Guardian Angel | Steve Rogers

5

Nat walked straight up to the keypad, using her device to scan the last digits touched, typing in the numbers advised on her phone. The doors opened, sending them down god knows how many floors to a dark room.

They stepped out, and the lights slowly flickered on, revealing an old computer system, and tv screens.

"This can't be the data point. This technology is ancient." Arden mentioned, looking around.

"Well, well." Natasha commented, looking at a hardware device, inserting the flash drive, and the lights around them flickered, turning on the system and the computer screen in front of them.

"Initiate system?" An electronic voice started speaking.

"Yes." Natasha typed onto the keyboard and the system began powering up.

"Shall we play a game?" Nat referenced, smirking to herself.

Arden chuckled, while Steve shook his head.

"It's from a movie-"

"I know. I saw it." Steve cut Arden off.

They watched as the screen showed an older face. A familiar face to Steve.

"Rogers, Steven. Born 1918." It recognized Steve, and they all furrowed their brows.

The camera above it panned over to Nat.

"Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born 1984." The computer spoke.

"Unidentified." It said, panning over to Arden, and she swallowed as Natasha and Steve looked over at her.

"This must be some kind of recording." Arden commented.

"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..." The computer spoke, showing a picture of a man onto another screen.

"You know this thing?" Nat asked Steve as he walked around the back of the system, checking it out.

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

"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, could be. On 200,000 data banks. You are standing in my brain."

"How did you get here?" Arden asked it.

"Invited."

Nat looked around, furrowing her brows. "It was Operational Paperclip after World War II. S.H.I.E.L.D recruited German scientists with strategic value."

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

"HYDRA died with the Red Skull." Steve firmly countered.

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

"Prove it." Arden demanded.

"Accessing archives." Zola said, their attention turning towards another screen. "HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize is that to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly."

Videos of the war that Steve fought in appeared, showing him in action.

"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."