Ultimates #22 (2026)
written by Deniz Camp art by Juan Frigeri & Federico Blee
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Italy
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Kenya
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from Belarus
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Czechia
seen from Russia
Ultimates #22 (2026)
written by Deniz Camp art by Juan Frigeri & Federico Blee
CROSSING PATHS - PART SEVEN
PART 7 - warnings: explosions, gunshots, fighting, missiles, etc
a/n: finally finishing CATWS omg
GIF by animatedglittergraphics-n-more
You all arrived at the dam facility and Maria brought you all in through a large metal gate, opening to a long, dirty, hallway with stone walls and flooring, like the rest of the building. Maria called out to a man down the hall, alerting him of Natasha’s wound. He said he would take her, but Maria said Natasha would want to see “him” first, referring to another man. The four of you walked with Maria and the man who you assumed was a doctor to a room separated off with a dingy white curtain. She pulled the curtain to the side, revealing Nick Fury laying in a hospital bed with the machines hooked up.
“About damn time.” He said, lifting his head off the pillow. You all talked, discussing his injuries, while Natasha was treated for her gunshot wound. He explained that he used a toxin that Bruce designed to reduce the heartbeat to one beat per minute, which was ineffective for him, but evidently, very helpful in other uses. Steve asked why everything was kept a secret, to which Maria answered that any attempt on his life had to look successful.
“Can’t kill you if you're already dead.” Nick added slyly. “Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust.” Steve looked over at you, before sighing softly and staring down at the ground.
“Steve..” You said quietly, not wanting to attract anyone else’s attention. He looked at you with no expression, or at least it was unreadable. “Can we talk?” You asked sheepishly, not wanting to make him upset. He turned and started walking down the hallway, nudging his head to direct you to follow him, which you did. He brought you into an empty room and closed the door behind you. He turned to face you, folding his arms across his chest. It was hard to look him in the eyes because of the intense shame and tension you were feeling.
“Steve I’m sorry, I should have told-” You started but he cut you off.
“We talked about it for HOURS, and you really didn’t think this was an important part of the story?!” He asked aggressively. You sighed.
“If I had told you you would have been devastated, I knew you would blame yourself for what happened to him and I didn’t want to put you through that.” He sighed angrily as you spoke. “I knew if I told you, you would have stopped at nothing to find him.”
“I could have stopped him, saved lives! I could have stopped him from hurting Fury like that-”
“Do you really think I didn't think of that?! Like I haven’t been blaming myself for his death for DAYS?! I’m sorry I didn;t tell you Steve but I couldn’t.” You sighed, slumping to the ground and resting your head in your shaking hands. “I couldn’t tell you that because I didn’t want to believe it myself. I wanted him to be out somewhere, living a life without those assholes ruining it every five seconds- I never stopped looking for him, believe me. I hate myself everyday for not telling you.” You finally looked up at him, and to your surprise, he looked confused rather than angry.
“You knew him, didn’t you? And not as what they made him?” He asked, sitting across from you on the floor, his eyebrows furrowed. Tears streamed down your face as you sobbed through telling the story of those three weeks you spent together in Romania.
“God, I-.. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have… come here.” He spoke sincerely and comfortingly as he pulled you to his chest, rubbing your back and apologizing for yelling at you. You pulled yourself together and apologized again for not telling him, to which he shook his head and told you he understood. He helped you stand up and gave you one last hug against his now tear-stained chest. You chuckled and apologized for his shirt, which he laughed and shrugged at.
“It’ll dry.” He said with a sweet smile. He started to turn towards the door, when you grabbed his arm. You hesitated to speak, so he turned to face you again.
“He… he talked about you.” You confessed. His brows furrowed and his eyes looked sad, but there was a faint sense of peace in them.
“He did?” He asked with a half-hearted smile. You recounted the many stories James had told you about Steve as a kid, a few from the war, and other goofy memories. Steve teared up, but smiled and laughed along with each story, even filling in a few details James chose to exclude, usually because they were embarrassing for him. The two of you sighed, before realizing you should probably go find the rest of the group.
You walked back to them filling Nick in on what happened with Pierce and STRIKE, and how you had to stop the launch. They informed you all about the plan to breach the carriers and replace their targeting blades with your own, and how you needed to do all three for it to be successful. Steve and Nick got into an argument about whether SHIELD could, or should, survive this mission.
“Look, I didn’t know about Barnes.” Nick stated.
“Even if you had, would you have told me?” Steve asked accusingly. “Or would you have compartmentalised that too? SHIELD, HYDRA, it all goes.” Maria agreed with him, which prompted Nick to look at each of you for your opinions. You and Natasha both gave subtle nods and looks of agreement.
“Don’t look at me. I do what he does, just slower.” Sam said when he turned to him. Nick sighed and sat back in his chair.
“It looks like you’re giving the orders now, Captain.” Nick said with a slight smile.
Once you all had a plan, you went your separate ways to prepare. You got your suit and met up with Natasha. You told her how your conversation with Steve went.
“Grooooss.” She smirked. “Genuienly though, that’s good. I’m glad you guys made up.” She said with a smile.
You met up with the rest of the team and Natasha split off to play her role as a councilwoman for SHIELD while the rest of you, Steve, Sam, and Maria prepared to infiltrate the building. Steve explained what was happening over the P.A. system and attempted to get anyone he could on his side, while you three stood behind him, covering the doors just in case someone tried to come in. Once he was done, you heard gunshots and the helicarriers engaging, kicking the plan into action. Maria stayed in the control room to give you guys intel and do anything she could with her access to help.
You, Sam, and Steve ran outside, jumping off a high ledge down to a lower level to get closer to the carriers. You threw anything you could at the agents shooting at you, as Sam flew overhead shooting back. Steve was taking them out by hand and using their own grenades against them as the three of you moved closer to your targets. Sam flew off to take out the first carrier, while you and Steve had eight minutes to get the other two. Steve got to his first and successfully replaced the blade. You heard Sam say he was in trouble and saw missiles flying his way. You redirected them towards the carrier itself so that Sam could fly into it. Steve headed for the last carrier, when all of a sudden a plane went down behind you. Then, almost all of the others were blown up in quick succession. All but one, and it was moving too fast for you to stop. Steve needed Sam to fly him up to the other carrier, so you sped over to get the HYDRA agents going after him. You held them off long enough for Steve to get away and onto the other carrier. You had taken a few hits from the agents so you had taken cover to heal yourself.
You heard Steve and Sam talking in your earpiece, Sam explained he had been grounded and Steve said he had it covered. Maria sent Sam to go get Rumlowe, who was going after Natasha and Nick with the council. Once you were healed, you flew up to the carrier Steve was on. You knew James was up there with him and you had to try again. By the time you reached them, they were brutally fighting. You tried to help, to get close enough to either get the blade switched or to knock James into his own head, but the fight was too rough for you, and you were beaten badly. You didn’t give up, continuing to try, using your powers to get the blade back into Steve’s hands after he choked out James until he passed out. You collapsed on one of the metal bridges off of the center of the carrier.
“One minute.” Maria warned. Steve stopped to try to pick you up.
“Just go, I’m ok.” You said, healing yourself. While you were occupied, James must have woken up as he shot Steve in the side, before also shooting you. You groaned loudly and tried to rip the gun out of his hands, severely weakened. He got a couple more shots in at both of you, causing you to begin to lose consciousness, blinking hard and heavily. Steve mustered up enough strength to switch the blade before you drifted off, falling off of the bridge and out the bottom of the carrier, presumably into the water below.
You woke up on the shore, choking up water and coughing, rolling over onto your stomach. Once your vision unblurred, you saw Steve beside you, still out cold.
“Steve!” You yelled hoarsely as you dragged yourself over to him. You checked for a pulse, told Maria to call for emergency medical services, and held pressure on the gunshot wound in his stomach.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Later that day, after you had all been cleared by medical, you and Sam went to visit Steve in the hospital. He was still knocked out from surgery, so Sam played the Trouble Man soundtrack as you two chatted. Sam sat in the chair next to the bed and you stood behind him, looking at the machines.
“On your left.” You hear faintly behind you. Steve smiled at you two, closing his eyes again. Sam chuckled.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Obviously Nick had to stay “dead”, so you, Sam, and Steve accompanied him to look at his gravesite, while Natasha went to the court hearing.
“So, you’ve experienced this sort of thing before.” Nick said, walking up beside Steve.
“You get used to it.” He responded with a half-smile.
“We’ve been data-mining HYDRA’s files. Looks like a lot of rats didn’t go down with the ship. I’m headed to Europe tonight. Wanted to ask if you’d come.” Nick explained.
“There’s something I gotta do first.” Steve told him, glancing over at you and Sam.
“How about you two? Could use a couple folks with your abilities.” Nick offered.
“I’m more of a soldier than a spy.” Sam explained, so Nick looked at you. You looked down at the ground.
“Sorry Nick, I’m with Steve on this one.” You smiled unconvincingly.
“All right then.” Nick said, shaking each of your hands. “Anybody asks for me, tell them they can find me right there.” He gestured towards his headstone.
“You should be honored, that's about as close as he gets to saying thank you.” Natasha said, walking towards you three with a file. Steve walked up to her a few yards away and had a hushed conversation with her. After they talked, Natasha pulled him over and kissed his cheek.
“Woah-” You said quietly to Sam. He stifled a laugh and shook his head. The two of you walked up to Steve. You looked into the folder, and it was the one you and Steve asked Natasha for, James’ file from HYDRA.
“You’re going after him.” Sam silently confirmed with you both.
“You don’t have to come with us.” Steve told him.
“I know.” Sam said, nodding. “When do we start?”
wish i had balls enough to write bucky barnes x reader 😔 idk that man just seems too pure for my filthy hands and half badly written words
After a long long busy days
CHAPTER 9 DRAGONFLY upload on Wattpad!!
Read Chapter 9 from the story DRAGONFLY: Through Time We Meet. by _bimbaparc (bimbaparc) with 1 reads. mysteryromance...
CROSSING PATHS - PART SIX
PART 6 - warnings: explosions, mentions of suicide, guns, car crashes, death, idk yall have seen the movie
a/n: still following CATWS, IN THE MEAT NOW BOIII, im sorry that was so gross, plz don't block me
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GIF by animatedglittergraphics-n-more
The three of you ran to Steve’s friend Sam Wilson’s house, and explained the situation to him. He agreed to help you and was very compassionate, letting you guys stay the night. When you got out of the shower the next morning, you found Natasha and Steve sitting across from each other, talking about what happened the day before.
“I made breakfast.” Sam said, leaning on the doorframe. “If you guys… eat that sort of thing.” He added before turning and leaving.
“So, the question is, who at SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?” Natasha asked, before the three of you walked out of the room together.
“Pierce.” You stated, sitting down at the table with Steve, Sam standing on the other side of the kitchen island, and Natasha standing next to you.
“Who just happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world.” Natasha said, sounding a little defeated.
“Well, he’s not working alone. Zola’s algorithm was on the Lemurian Star.” Steve explained with a sigh.
“So was Jasper Sitwell.” Natasha realized. You had heard about that mission, and pieced together that it must have been the mission Nick had sent pirates after, the one Natasha called dirty.
“So the real question is, how do the three most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?” You asked, glancing between the two of them.
“Your answer is, you don’t.” Sam interrupted, walking over to Steve with a folder full of his missions and history in the military. He showed off the pictures and plans for the advanced mechanical flight suit he had used.
“I thought you said you were a pilot?” Steve chuckled.
“I never said pilot.” Sam returned with a smirk.
“I can’t ask you to do this Sam, you got out for a good reason.” Steve started to refuse his help, before being cut off by Sam again.
“Dude, Captain America needs my help. There’s no better reason to get back in.” He explained sincerely. Sam explained that the last one was at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a 12-inch steel wall. The three of you shared a look, you nodded and Natasha shrugged.
“Shouldn’t be a problem.” Steve stated confidently.
Once you got the equipment, which as Steve expected was pretty easy, the four of you formed a plan. You all got into position and waited for your signals. Sam called Sitwell's phone, and lured him to the car, while Natasha pointed the gun at him to scare him with the laser. Steve got him up to the roof and questioned him about Zola’s algorithm, bringing him right to the edge with Natasha. She, as planned, kicked him off the roof, which Sam followed up by catching him. You stayed on the ground until that point, acting as a safety net in case anything went wrong. Sam dropped him safely back on the roof, and signalled for you to come up.
This was enough to scare him into giving you all the information you needed, explaining what the algorithm was for, and who exactly it was targeting: anyone who was a threat to HYDRA, now or in the future. He confessed that after the list was made, the Insight helicarriers would scratch people off, “a few million at a time”.
You had gotten all the information you needed, so you took him with you to get to the helicarriers. You, him, and Natasha were in the back seat, while Steve got to ride up front with Sam. You discussed how little time you had until Insight launched, and Steve explained that you were going to use Sitwell to bypass the DNA scans to get access to the helicarriers directly, which Sitwell disputed.
The conversation was abruptly cut short by a thud on the roof of the car, followed by something breaking the window next to Sitwell’s head and ripping him out of it. He screamed as he got thrown in front of a truck in the oncoming lanes. Your heart sank once again, worried that you might finally have to confront the one thing you knew you couldn’t fight: James. All you saw was a glimmer out of the corner of your eye and a gun, as the figure clunked across the roof of the car, but that glint of metal looked too familiar to be anything else. He started shooting through the roof of the car, you moved as far out of the way as you could and Natasha climbed into the front, onto Steve’s lap. He pulled the car’s emergency brake, causing the car to come to a hard and unforgiving stop. You slammed into Sam’s seat, the brakes screeching loudly as you watched James get thrown from the top of the car.
He landed first on his side, then flipped to his knees and used his metal hand to stop himself while sliding backwards, causing sparks to fly off the road. He slowly stood up and stared forward, right at the car. Just as Natasha lifted her gun to shoot at him, another vehicle hit the rear of Sam’s car, this time causing you to lunge forward over the center console. You felt a few of your ribs crack, and as Sam attempted to steer towards James, it felt like you were dying from the inside-out. James jumped up and grabbed the top of Sam’s car, which was still being pushed forward by the vehicle that hit you, which you assumed was HYDRA. James’ feet crashed through the back window as he hit the top of the car, sending glass flying at your back. You were already occupied trying to heal your ribs, so you had to endure the cuts from a few pieces of glass that were propelled especially hard.
Sam tried to break the car once again, as Natasha reached for her gun that had fallen by Steve’s feet. James reached through the windshield and ripped out the steering wheel. At this point, you were genuinely fearing that he might kill you as well as Natasha, Steve, and Sam. You could only heal yourself so fast, and your body would only do it on its own if you were conscious. You thought about how you were lucky you hadn’t attempted like Banner had, which you had learned in a conversation you two had last year, but worried your luck was going to run out. You tried to use your powers to throw James off but he was too strong, and you were both moving too fast, you couldn’t get a good enough hold on him.
You could, however, see Natasha’s gun now, so you lifted it up to her. She gave you a nod and started shooting at James, which finally got him to jump off your car. You knew you shouldn’t feel bad, it wasn’t really him right now, but you couldn’t help but hope he didn’t get killed, despite knowing that was the only thing that would stop him from killing you four first.
The vehicle hit the car from behind again, which sent the car spinning into the guardrail, and flipping it. You lifted yourself out of the broken window that was now tilted up, as Steve grabbed Natasha and Sam, slammed all three of them into the door he was leaning up against, which slammed to the ground, sending the car flying. The three of them skidded along the road, with you not far behind as you couldn’t hold yourself up too long on account of the immense pain you were feeling.
The cars around you braked hard and skidded, avoiding hitting any of you before speeding off. The four of you got up and ran for cover as James jumped off the vehicle and got a grenade launcher from one of the men in it. He shot directly at Natasha and Steve, Natasha running while Steve took the grenade with his shield, getting separated from it and flung off the overpass into a bus below. You, Sam, and Natasha all ran and took cover behind cars, while Natasha shot back at the agents raining fire over you. You threw Sam’s overturned car at them before hiding back behind another abandoned vehicle before you could be shot by the ones still standing. You choked back tears thinking about James, and knowing he was still under their control.
You didn’t have time for that now, though, as the group still advanced towards you three. Natasha had to jump over a barrier to avoid another grenade, while you threw a third one away from you. You covered Sam while you two ran, the group seemingly focused on the fact that Natasha had run under the bridge. You watched as Natasha got a few good shots in towards James, before turning cover. James jumped to follow Natasha and sent his remaining group members towards Steve. You helped Sam kill the last one that they had left on the bridge and grab his gun. He shot a few uncovered members of the team while you lowered yourself to the ground where Steve was. The two of you looked up at Sam, who was engaged in a firefight with the final guys remaining.
“Go, I got this!” He yelled to you two, so you and Steve went to help Natasha. She had set something up to distract James and ambushed him from behind. When he got loose, he shot her in the shoulder, you ran to help her and pushed the car he had jumped on out of the way so he couldn’t shoot at you while you came to her aid. Just as he got back up, Steve came in and started fighting him. You watched out of the corner of your eye while you applied pressure to Natasha’s wound. You tried to come up with a way to get close enough to him to attempt to knock him out of it again, but with him and Steve moving so fast, you were more likely to get injured again, or worse.
“It’s not worth it.” Natasha said, as if she could read your mind.
“I’m supposed to be the one with the mind powers.” You said with a nervous chuckle, watching as Steve knocked off James’ mask. When he turned to face Steve, you bit your lip hard and knew you Steve was going to kill you if you lived through this.
“I feel like there might be a small part of this story I might not have been aware of…” Natasha said softly, staring at you and watching your reaction. You tried to stammer out a response but couldn’t form a coherent sentence. Steve stood up straight, staring at James with the same knowing look you knew he would.
“Bucky?” He said, his voice laced with shock and hurt.
“Who the hell is Bucky?” He asked back. It felt like you had been stabbed in the gut when you heard that interaction. You had heard their friendship from both sides, heard how fondly they talked about each other, and now this. Tears rolled down your cheeks.
“We gotta go.” You said through your teeth, worried that if you opened your mouth you wouldn’t be able to stop the feelings from flowing out. Just as you said that, Sam came down with his wings and kicked James down to the ground. He hadn’t fallen far from you so you made the split second decision that you had to try. You tried to throw your powers his way, catching his gaze. You froze as his eyes met yours. Just for a second he stopped, and looked at the ground, before turning back to Steve and raising his gun. It wasn’t enough. He shot towards Steve, set off an explosion, and disappeared. You helped Natasha stand as you were surrounded by STRIKE agents, who took all four of you into custody.
You were silent the entire ride in the transport van.
“It was him.” Steve said, staring at the ground. “He looked right at me, like he didn’t even know me.” It hurt you to hear this even more, knowing he was too preoccupied to put the pieces together that you knew everything all along. At this point, you completely zoned out, until Natasha told Steve it wasn’t his fault, then he stared right at you. You figured they must have been talking about how it was possible. You couldn’t meet his gaze.
“Even when I had nothing I had Bucky.” He said, which caused your eyes to well up again.
“Steve I-” You started to try to explain yourself, though you weren’t even really sure what you were going to say. You knew the entire friendship was probably gone.
“Don’t.” He cut you off. “Not now.” Your lip quivered as you looked him in the eye. He didn’t look angry, just hurt. This only made you feel worse, somehow.
Sam started talking to one of the masked agents about Natasha’s wound, when one of them pulled out a taser, pulsing it at Sam, before pressing it into the other agent’s chest, kicking them in the face, and letting them fall to the ground unconscious.
“Ah. That thing was squeezing my brain.” Maria said, taking off the mask to reveal her face. You all stared at her in shock and confusion. “Who is this guy?” She asked, looking at Sam and then back at Steve.
Ultimates #22 (2026)
written by Deniz Camp art by Juan Frigeri & Federico Blee
CROSSING PATHS - PART FIVE
PART 5 - warnings: explosions, running from cops, trauma, anxiety, missiles, etc (i never know what to put here)
a/n: following CATWS, funnily enough this is only like 20 minutes worth of the movie which is insane
GIF by animatedglittergraphics-n-more
They needed somewhere to look at the drive, so they went to the mall where there was an Apple store. You changed into some plain clothes you had stashed. You told them to go in and you would ditch the car in a nearby parking garage and find a new one, while also keeping an eye out for any SHIELD or STRIKE agents. You did exactly that, and while you were walking back to the lot nearest to the exit the three of you had agreed on, you saw STRIKE agents at each entrance. You pulled your hood farther down and turned quickly to walk towards the middle of the parking lot. You found a small, average looking SUV and used your powers to unlock it from the inner mechanism, and started the car. You saw them walking out of the doors and quickly drove over and told them to jump in. Natasha got in the front and made Steve take the back.
“So where are we going?” You asked, rushing out of the parking lot and heading for the nearest thruway.
“New Jersey.” Natasha said and the two of them gave you directions for the drive.
As you entered New Jersey, Natasha threw her feet up on the dash.
“Yknow if we got into an accident your shin bones would merge with your femurs while you’re sitting like that.” You warned, glancing over at her.
“Noted.” She laughed, pulling her legs back down. “Alright Steve, I have a question for you, which you do not have to answer. I feel like if you don’t answer it though, you’re kind of answering it, you know?”
“What?” He cut off her rambling.
“Was that your first kiss since 1945?” She asked, turning in her seat to look at him.
“What happened in that mall?” You asked with a laugh, making eye contact with the now blushing Steve through the rearview mirror.
“Listen- we did what we had to do to not raise suspicions- and was it that bad?” He smiled.
“I didn’t say that.” She said earnestly, returning his smile.
“Well, it kind of sounds like that’s what you're saying.” He shot back defensively.
“No, I didn’t. I was just wondering how much…practice you’ve had.”
“You don’t need practice.” He responded, shaking his head.
“Everybody needs practice, right?” She looked to you for help, to which you nodded.
“It was NOT my first kiss since 1945. I’m 95, I’m not dead.” He joked.
“Nobody special though?” You asked, glancing back at him again. He chuckled and looked annoyed, but was still entertaining the conversation.
“Believe it or not, it’s kind of hard to find someone with shared life experiences.” He shifted his gaze towards the window.
“Well, that’s all right. Just make something up.” Natasha said with a smile, staring out the windshield and giving you another direction.
“What, like you?” Steve jabbed, staring at Natasha.
“I don’t know.” She responded, ignoring his stare. “The truth is a matter of circumstance. It’s not all things to all people, all the time. Neither am I.” She said, turning back to Steve with a sly smile.
“That’s a tough way to live.” Steve said, keeping a straight face.
“It’s a good way not to die, though.” She said with a shrug.
“That’s why I just don’t talk to people if I don’t have to, I don’t even have to lie, and it keeps me from dying… most of the time” You said, which got a chuckle out of Natasha.
“Y’know it’s kinda hard to trust someone when you don’t really know who that someone really is.” Steve looked at Natasha with a serious but meaningful look.
“Yeah… who do you want us to be?” She asked him.
“How about a friend?” He requested, smiling at both of you. Natasha looked at you before responding and you two shared a smile and a nod.
“Well there’s a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers.” She laughed, speaking in a sing-songy tone at the end of her statement.
“But I think we can manage that.” You added, to which she nodded in agreement and shot him a smirk, before turning back to the front to give you directions again.
You arrived at the location, which used to be an Army base.
“The file came from these coordinates.” Natasha confirmed, after doublechecking.
“So did I.” Steve said somberly. You walked onto the base further and he explained it was where he was trained, staring longingly at the surroundings, like he missed when things were that simple.
“Well this is a dead end.” Your words seemed to pull him away from his thoughts. “No heat signatures, no waves, not even radio.”
“Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off.” Natasha added. Steve turned and stared at something behind you.
“What is it?” You asked, following his gaze to the structure nearby. He started walking towards it without an explanation, you and Natasha following.
“Hello?” Natasha asked sarcastically.
“Army regulations forbid storing munitions within 500 yards of the barracks. This building is in the wrong place.” He stated firmly, before breaking the lock on the door with his shield. You followed him down the stairs, where he flipped a lightswitch. This revealed a large room with tables, chairs, and a large SHIELD symbol painted on the back wall.
“This is SHIELD.” You remarked.
“Maybe where it started…” Steve replied. You followed him through the building to what looked like shelves, but was clearly a very poorly hidden “secret” door. “If you're already working in a secret office…” He paused, pulling the cabinets apart to reveal the door. “Why do you need to hide the elevator?” You used your powers to force the keypad mechanism to disengage, the elevator dinging and closing its doors in response. You rode it to what felt like the core of the earth, the elevator clunking and dining again before opening to another dark room. Steve walked out first, walking into the center of the room where there was an archaic-looking computer set up.
“This can’t be the data point, this technology is… ancient.” Natasha joked, the three of you looking around at the room.
“Not…all of it…” You said, noticing an incredibly modern USB drive connector attached to one of the computers.
Natasha walked over and plugged in the drive, kicking on all of the monitors, cameras, and various technological parts you didn’t recognize. Natasha used the computer to initiate the system.
“Shall we play a game?” Natasha imitated the voice from Saw. “It’s from a movie that was really-” She began to explain, turning to Steve. “I know, I saw it.” He cut her off. The computer beeped and brought up something that vaguely looked like a mask or a face, but the picture was very unstable and continued to glitch on the screen.
“Rogers, Steven. Born 1918.” The computer spoke, in an accent you assumed was European. It continued to read out the same information for you and Natasha.
“It’s some kind of recording…” Natasha said.
“I am not a recording, Fräulein.” The computer voice remarked back. “I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am.” The computer displayed a black and white photo of a man on another screen.
“You know this thing?” Natasha asked Steve. Steve explained that it was Arnim Zola, who was a German scientist for the Red Skull, and that he had been dead for years. The computer didn’t like either piece of information, and corrected that he was Swiss, and had “never been more alive”, since he was going to die in 1972 but they saved his consciousness by transferring it into the databanks surrounding you. He went on to explain how Hydra was founded, and how they learned from the war, infiltrated Hydra, and just as the voice started explaining how they had been “changing history”, the screen flashed with blurry and unfocused clips of James. You inhaled sharply, and Steve looked over at you.
“This doesn’t make sense, SHIELD should have stopped you.” Natasha argued.
“Accidents…” The screen flashed with articles and photos of Howard Stark’s and Nick’s deaths. “...will happen. Hydra created a world so chaotic, that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom, to gain its security.” The screen now showed images and plans for the initiative SHIELD had recently been planning, the same one Nick had put on pause. It continued to explain how they had won, that the initiative was now in order, and that Steve’s efforts were useless. Steve responded by punching and shattering the screen the face was talking from, causing you to gasp.
The face showed up on another screen and continued, refusing to answer any questions about the drive or the initiative, and warned that you three would be too dead to hear the answers to any other queries. The doors behind you suddenly shut with a loud bang, the metal sealing. Steve attempted to throw the shield to stop it, but it was too late.
“Steve, we got a bogey!” Natasha said, holding up her phone which displayed an incoming missile. “Short range ballistic. 30 seconds tops.”
“Who fired it?” You asked, starting to panic.
“SHIELD.” Natasha said, dishearteningly, her breath quickening.
“I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain.” The computer said snarkily. “Admit it. It’s better this way. We are, both of us, out of time.” As the computer talked Steve ripped a grill for what looked like an air duct out of the floor, and directed you and Natasha into it before jumping on top of you two and covering all three of you with his shield, holding you two tight against him.
The missile struck, as the building collapsed around you. It felt like your body shut down for a second, being forced to confront all of your feelings at once, you started feeling like you couldn’t breathe. Pieces of the building were falling on you, Steve trying his best to shield the two of you from them, you covering Natasha wherever Steve couldn’t. You shut your eyes as you felt a piece of concrete fall directly onto your leg, breaking it immediately, and pinning you down. With a loud cry of pain, you were knocked out of your state of panic.
You started throwing pieces of the ceiling out of the way as much as you could, but it didn’t do much, it was falling faster than you could catch, especially with you being unable to move. You were more worried about keeping Steve and Natasha as safe as you could than about your own leg. After a few minutes of exhausting attempts, the crushed building finally settled.
You could hear Steve grunting, as you used what little focus you had left to help Steve free the three of you from the rubble. You took care of your leg next, knowing you needed to get out of there, and Seve was occupied carrying unconscious Natasha. He ran as you heard helicopters and jets overhead, and followed as soon as you could use your leg again.