Chapter Forty-Eight: The Nine-Headed Serpent

California, United States

Arthur arrived at an abandoned reservoir, the hiding place of Nick Fury.

“Come out! I’ve found you,” Arthur called out toward the woods nearby.

A figure emerged from the trees, gun in hand—it was Maria Hill.

“I thought the one coming would be Tony Stark,” Hill said.

“Tony’s asleep. I’m here in his place to check if Nick Fury is still alive. What’s wrong, not happy to see me?” Arthur teased.

“I never expected you’d return alive! I’m very glad to see you,” Hill replied.

“Follow me.” Hill led Arthur into the reservoir, where two staff members and a doctor were waiting. Inside, it was dimly lit, only a few lamps illuminating the gloom. Nick Fury lay on a hospital bed, breathing through an oxygen mask.

“You look absolutely terrible,” Arthur remarked sarcastically to Fury.

“Spinal injury, broken sternum, shattered clavicle, liver puncture, and my head’s splitting with pain,” Nick Fury said.

“Don’t forget the ruptured lung,” the doctor added.

“Ah, that’s not to be overlooked. Other than these, all is well, but seeing you still alive suddenly makes me feel much better,” Fury said.

“Do you want me to avenge you?” Arthur asked.

“If possible, I’d like to personally take down Pierce, that traitor,” Fury replied darkly.

“I’m here to ask where Loki’s scepter is. I need it,” Arthur said bluntly.

“Pierce handed it over to someone called Strucker for research. I have no idea where exactly,” Fury answered.

“Your S.H.I.E.L.D. is unbelievable—aside from you, Hill, and Coulson, everyone else is Hydra! That’s exactly why I never accepted your invitations,” Arthur mocked.

“You knew all along?” Fury asked.

“Yes, I did. I never said anything because you wouldn’t have believed me,” Arthur replied.

“We still have some agents unaware, but now it’s just Hill and me. I never imagined Hydra had burrowed so deep,” Fury admitted, feeling uneasy.

“Now that Hydra has Loki’s Mind Scepter, they’ll surely use it to build weapons of mass destruction, and conduct human experiments. I must recover the scepter!” Arthur declared.

“The only one who knows the scepter’s whereabouts is probably Pierce. To find it, you have to deal with Pierce first!” Fury analyzed.

“Leave it to me. You focus on recovery. S.H.I.E.L.D. has no reason to exist anymore. From now on, I’ll eliminate every one I see!” Arthur threatened grimly.

“I suggest you find Steve Rogers and Natasha and join forces. They’re currently evading Hydra’s pursuit,” Fury said.

“I’ll find them!” Arthur replied, then left, heading to Washington to apprehend Pierce.

...

Steve Rogers and Natasha drove to Camp Lehigh, New Jersey, seeking Hydra’s files.

It was an abandoned military installation—Steve Rogers’s old training ground.

“I used to train here,” Steve remarked, gazing at the weathered buildings. Memories of his frail younger self surfaced; back then, he always ranked last in his class... He seemed to glimpse his former self.

“Has it changed much?” Natasha asked.

“Not really. Looks just as I remember,” Steve replied.

“No signs detected! No thermal imaging, no signals, not even radio waves,” Natasha reported, scanning with her device.

Steve led her to the entrance of an old underground facility. “Military regulations prohibit storing weapons within five hundred yards of barracks. This building was constructed in the wrong place.”

The two entered the pitch-black underground base and switched on the lights, revealing S.H.I.E.L.D.’s emblem painted on the wall.

“Is this S.H.I.E.L.D.?” Natasha asked.

“Could be where it was founded,” Steve guessed.

They opened an office door and saw three photographs hanging on the wall.

“That’s Stark’s father!” Natasha said.

“Howard.” They looked at Howard Stark’s photograph.

“Who’s that girl?” Natasha asked.

Steve didn’t answer but turned away. It was a picture of his girlfriend Peggy Carter, beside a photo of Colonel Phillips.

Steve found a hidden door—a massive, empty bookshelf. With effort, he opened it, revealing an elevator. “Why hide an elevator?”

Natasha scanned the keypad with her device and unlocked the code. They descended in the elevator to a secret underground vault.

Inside was an antique supercomputer composed of countless machines.

“These don’t look like data servers. They’re all relics,” Natasha commented.

Yet she noticed a docking station on a desk, out of place among the old hardware. She inserted the USB drive Fury had given Steve.

The instant the USB was connected, all the ancient computers powered up. The central monitor displayed a line of text—a classic movie quote.

Natasha typed YES and hit Enter, and the supercomputer indeed booted up.

On a small nearby screen, a human face appeared, a camera extended toward them, and a voice resounded from the speakers:

“Steve Rogers, born 1918! Natasha Alia Louise Romanoff, born 1984...”

“What is this? A recording?” Natasha asked.

“I’m no recording, miss! Nor am I the man Captain imprisoned in 1945, though I am still myself!” the computer said, showing a photograph on the screen.

“Arnim Zola was a German scientist working for Red Skull. He’s been dead for years,” Steve said.

“Correction, I’m Swiss. Look around you—I’m livelier than ever! In 1972, I was diagnosed with a terminal illness; science could no longer save my body.”

“But my mind was worth preserving. They stored it in a two-hundred-thousand-foot database. You are now standing inside my brain,” the computer said, making the two shiver.

“How did you end up here?” Steve asked.

“Invited in!” Arnim replied.

“Operation Paperclip after World War II—S.H.I.E.L.D. recruited many German scientists,” Natasha said.

“They believed I could help their cause. I helped my own as well,” Arnim replied.

“Hydra and Red Skull died together!” Steve insisted.

“Cut off one head, two more shall grow!” Arnim recounted Hydra’s history and their deeds to Steve and Natasha.

Their goal was Project Insight, and Arnim had written an algorithm.

“What kind of algorithm?” Natasha asked.

“I can’t tell the answer to two dead people!” As Arnim finished speaking, two metal doors slammed shut over the elevator entrance.

S.H.I.E.L.D. launched a short-range missile toward their location. Natasha yanked out the USB drive, Steve opened a sewer hatch, and they both jumped in.

Boom!!!

The missile struck the underground base, detonating, collapsing the facility. Steve shielded Natasha, using his shield to protect them from falling debris.

After the tremors subsided, Steve pushed away the massive stone above them. Outside, flames soared and smoke billowed—the place was now a wasteland. Natasha had lost consciousness.

Steve carried Natasha from the ruins, only to spot three S.H.I.E.L.D. fighter jets approaching in the distance. Sensing danger, Steve fled with Natasha.

S.H.I.E.L.D.’s strike team searched the area. Their leader, Brock Rumlow, found Steve Rogers’s footprints and spoke into his radio, “They’ve gotten away!”

...