Buzzkill: The Reckoning

Chapter 26

"Can't you hack faster?" Sam grumbled, impatience in his voice.

All of them were huddled around Natasha as she worked away on one of Tony's computers. Her hands moving and typing at seemingly a thousand miles per hour.

"Yeah, because that's how it works," Natasha muttered.

"This is soviet level security, Sam. It's lucky we have Natasha to even help us," Ruth spoke up.

Natasha stopped for a moment, turning to Ruth who stood at her left, "Did you just compliment me?"

"I'm trying this new honesty thing." Ruth shuddered sarcastically.

Natasha went back to the computer. "Almost there..." She said quietly.

Ruth's heart raced as the minutes passed by like hours. Kal was just a few floors beneath her, did she know this information? Was this what she was after? What Hydra was after?

"Got it," Natasha confirmed finally, sitting up straight. She projected the computer screen for all of them to see.

The screen lit up above them as they lifted their heads to look.

Natasha quickly scanned through the files, years worth of data stored within the back of this USB.

"What can you find?" Steve asked, not entirely sure of anything that was showing on the screen.

"Well, right now I'm looking for the Russia mission Ruth and her sidekick went on back in 2015." Natasha turned to Ruth, "Do you remember the exact dates for that mission?"

"February 5th through the 19th of 2015. We started in Moscow and made our way through to St. Petersburg," Ruth replied, keeping her voice steady.

"Here we go," Natasha said, pulling up the files from that date, everything in Russian.

"Can one of you Russian speakers please translate what this says?" Sam asked, cocking an eyebrow at the hieroglyphics in front of him.

"You can't read Russian?" Bucky asked Sam, turning to him.

"Why would I need to?" Sam asked.

"Because you're working to take down Hydra!"

"Quiet down, boys, I'll translate the page," Natasha interjected, moving through the code and translating the files.

"My god," Bucky muttered as he read the pages.

"So these are the files Ryker gave to Hydra?" Natasha asked, all of them still looking at the screen.

"Yeah," Ruth muttered, barely able to speak.

"So this is it," Bucky continued, "This is where they got all of the information for the experiment. It was Her's."

Ruth felt her stomach churn. All the information in front of her, every picture, every calculation, every piece of data that they took from Russia, that Ryker gave to Hydra, it was the experiment. The experiment Hydra used on Ruth. The mind control experiment.

"So...so that's where they came up with the experiment. Ryker..." Ruth muttered.

"These files hinted them to the bigger project that the Woman had," Steve thought aloud.

"That's why Hydra must have raided the Sweden facility," Ruth spoke softly.

"Are there any more files about the project in the USB?" Steve asked Natasha.

Natasha shook her head, "I haven't exactly had the time to look yet. There could be thousands of files here. I'll have to take some time to go through it all."

"Does Hydra know you have these files?" Sam asked as he turned to Ruth. "Is that why Kal is actually here? To see if you had anything more?"

Ruth shook her head, "If they knew I had the files, they could have gotten them from me when I was at their facility. They didn't even interrogate me about anything relating to those files."

"If these are the files that Hydra got, and they went forward with the experiment based on these files, then these files must have the contents of the serum," Tony commented. "Can you try to find anything about the serum for me, Nat?"

"Sure thing," Nat replied. She navigated through files with ease, her eyes scanning back and forth on the screen. "Here we go," Nat said finally.

Deep into the Russia files, a document appeared with a list scrolling far down littered with calculations and scientific data Ruth struggled to understand.

"I guess I have my homework," Tony muttered.

"I can help you," Natasha offered.

"I know that there's more from these files that we still need to find, but what if it isn't all on here? The meaning behind these experiments?" Ruth started, glancing around at everyone. "Does that mean Hydra just saw these experiments and tried to figure it out themselves?"

"We don't know what this could mean. But even if they just got these plans, it would be plenty for them to run with. This is, from what we know, a serum for mind control," Steve replied.

"But what if it isn't?" Ruth muttered, speaking to herself.

"What?" Steve asked.

"What if it isn't a mind control serum?" Ruth repeated, looking from the screen up to Steve. "Think about it. Sure, it messed with my mind but it didn't stick. The immunity to electricity did."

"You think they meant to give you those powers?" Bucky asked.

Ruth paused. "Maybe Hydra didn't, but the Woman did."

Everyone stayed silent for a moment, taking in everything that was laid out in front of them. Ruth found it really hard to stand still, to stand beside everyone. She felt too warm, too crowded.

"This needs to end," Ruth interrupted, speaking loud enough for everyone to hear. "We need to get everything we can off of those files and find out what the Woman was planning." She shook her head, "Whatever this is, whatever that's worth hiding, that's worth sacrificing her life for, it'll destroy everything."

They all looked to her.

"We need to find this Hydra base, the one where Kal's from, the one where Mage is," Steve announced, looking to everyone in the room. "But to do that, we need to move. We're going to close the gap between us and them."

Sam and Natasha glanced at each other as they stood together.

"What do you mean by move?" Ruth asked, still standing close to Bucky.

"We need to take this to the sky...literally."