𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 ✘ 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐀 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐅𝐅

{2³} {DEVILS OF HER PAST}

∆ {2³} {DEVILS OF HER PAST} ∆

WHEN THEY PULLED up, they left the truck out side a wire fence, and she switched the baggy grey hoodie for her leather jacket, and slipped her pistol into a thigh holster, as well as making sure she had her keyring and quarterstaff; who knew what they would run into. Natasha held a phone in her hand, although it was probably outfitted with a lot more fancy tech than the simple phones Roxi had been using for the past two years. Steve held his shield in his hand as they walked up to the fence.

"This it?" He asked.

"The file gave me these co-ordinates," the redhead told them as they stood a little way in front of the fifteen-foot high fence.

"So did I." Their attention was drawn to a faded warning sign that read 'CAMP LEHIGH, US ARMY RESTRICTED AREA'. it was dark as they walked past the towering red brick buildings, but even in the half-light, Roxi examined the dilapidated buildings, the crumbling brick, and the filthy, greying wood that had once stood strong as the foundations of the army, but now barely stood upright. The foundations of the country were falling. S.H.I.E.L.D was falling. 

"This camp is where I was trained."

"Change much?" Natasha asked, looking at the device she held in her hand, trying to root out the signal. 

"A little." When Roxi tore her gaze away from the buildings, she found Steve staring into space, and she wondered briefly if he remembered what it'd looked like in the 1940s. 

"This is a dead end. Zero heat signatures, zero waves, not even radio," Nat reported. That was strange, even if the base had been deserted for years, the signal had to come from some kind of electronics, and probably someone to operate it, which would probably require some form of communication. 

"Whoever wrote the file must've use a router to throw people off." That made more sense, but why a random army base in the middle of nowhere? Steve turned towards Natasha and looked at the buildings carefully, as if something was wrong with them.

"What is it?" Natasha asked out of curiosity." Roxi looked at the building for a moment as well, trying to see what he was seeing. He started walking over to a low set, sloped building, before explaining his train of thought.

"Army regulations forbid storing munitions within 500 yards of the barracks. This building's in the wrong place." A moment later, Steve used his shield to slam the heavy-duty padlock off the door, causing a loud band, and Roxi to wonder how many times he'd practised that when he was still training with it. They walked down a set of cold concrete stairs, that made Roxi shiver in slight discomfort. To the others, she could pass it off as being slightly cold because of the dank chill of the room, that made the air seem almost heavy, but in reality images were flashing before her eyes. Of her teenage self walking down cold, hard stairs in the dark, barefoot in her last foster home before she'd joined S.H.I.E.L.D. That home had been the worst she'd ever been in, and this seemed too familiar, but she had to push through it. She had to ignore her mind trying to sabotage her and just focus on their goal, figuring out what was on this drive, and where it had come from.

Natasha flicked on the lights, and they clicked on like lights in a film do, pair by pair. t helped a little, but Roxi still expected to fine an un-moving figure on the floor, a bottle of alcohol in their hand and a sneer locked on their face. The thought made her insides shrivel. On the wall was an eagle with it's dark wings splayed in black against the pale, grimy peeling paint, capturing her attention away from the devils of her past. In a ring around the edge, were the six words 'Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division', which was the full name of S.H.I.E.L.D.