The Unknown Enemy ∘ Marvel [3]

Chapter 39; Building on Ruins I

Hey guys! Let me preface this with a huge sorry for ghosting you for literal months on this story, but these last two chapters finish it all up. I wanted to start out by saying thank you so much for being on this long, multi-year journey with me to finish up this longgg book because at the end of the day, your support has encouraged me in countless many ways.

This chapter pretty much serves as character bonding for Sienna and Zerina in a really odd way. The next chapter is the final scenes from Winter Soldier, which will be posted in a few days. Then I can say with relief, this part of Sienna's story comes to a close. Thank you all for staying with me this long <3

~~~~~~~

Undisclosed Stark mansion, eleven miles outside of Washington DC

What about 'Ghost' files?

The screen lit up on the blanket beside and is quick to catch my attention. My fingers are fast to begin typing back to Layla on the FarHorse commissioned cell phone she'd developed, What are the keywords?

I set the device back down on a folded blanket and picked up the squeezable stress ball I'd found on the table. I gripped that while directing my focus back to the laptop sitting in the crook of my crossed legs. A painfully slow loading bar stayed glued on the monitor, only inching forward every few seconds at a low speed. Forty-three percent of the decryption completed with over half-way to go. I used the back of my only available hand to wipe the tiredness from my eyes as I waited for several incoming messages to pass the time it took to properly access the leaked HYDRA files.

The US government had been fast to wipe as many as possible from the Internet before more intelligence secrets were disclosed to the public. All that entailed was hacking into the correct wings of American intelligence organizations, which always tended to be a tedious process despite Stark's streamlined wi-fi.

Layla was recovering any printed documents Homeland Security had under the guise of operating with Stark. She was happy to apprehend any files that could possibly link to me. I wasn't particularly worried about mission reports I'd done over the years. My interest was in Operation Phantom and any other event directly related to the anomaly.

Renning's reply arrived quickly, STARR, Quantum physics, experiment, quantum phasing. Level 9. No mention of anomaly.

I didn't want to take any chances of passing off on vital information. I put down the stress ball to text back, Bring it anyway and come on back.

The TV screen mounted on the decorative brick wall directly in front of me beeped. That monitor enlarged live security footage of the front gate a quarter-mile away. One of Stark's various AIs sounded throughout the room to alert me, "There's a woman at the gate. Identification profiles her as your half-sister Zerina Sprouse and resident chauffeur Hamen Westfield."

I stood up from my sunken spot on the couch, momentarily wincing as I stretched up with one arm, "Let her in."

"Yes, Ms. Firman."

I haven't been this sore in a long, long time. After a small groan, I meandered towards the kitchen area. The black duffel bag Natasha had given me days ago when this whole ordeal started laid atop a granite countertop. Hill had dropped it off by the hospital shortly before Steve and Sam managed to convince me not to sleep overnight in a mildly uncomfortable chair. Maria added a few extra things I'd asked for into the bag but left right after handing it to me. I hadn't expected an apology from the deputy director for maintaining the coverup of Operation Phantom, but somehow ended up still feeling disappointed by her abruptness.