????? | B.Barnes

Chapter XI

"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place." Zola recites the HYDRA's words.

"Prove it." Steve demands.

"Accessing archives." The screens show Red Skull himself along with how SHIELD formed. "HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside SHIELD-For seventy years HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed."

"That's impossible, SHIELD would have stopped you." Natasha said.

"Accidents will happen." Then a photo shows the death of Howard Stark and his wife in a car accident along with the recent death of Nick, "HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your Life; a zero sum." In anger Steve slams his shield onto the computer but that didn't stop the bug-eyed computer man.

"What's on this drive?" Steve demands.

"Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm." Replies Zola.

"What kind of algorithm? What does it do?" Natasha asks.

"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it." Then the door closes shuts, Steve tries to stop it by throwing his shield in between it but it's already too late.

"Steve, we got a bogey. Short range ballistic. 30 seconds tops." Natasha informs him.

"Who fired it?" Steve asks.

"S.H.I.E.L.D." She replies.

"I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain. Admit it, it's better this way. We're both of us...out of time." The computer shuts off, I notice a small opening on the ground, I bark at Steve to inform him. "Good girl." He said, slamming his shield to open it as we dive in just in time for the ballistic to fire at the building. We left the burning building just when the STRIKE team arrived.

~°~°~

Our new location was Sam's house to hide from the STRIKE team and any HYDRA people who might look for us. I lay on the cool tile in the dining room while waiting for Steve and Natasha to come back. When they returned with clean clothing; I mostly didn't pay attention to what they're saying since I was eating since I didn't eat for two days.

"So, the question is: who in SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?" I hear Natasha ask.

"Peirce." Replies Steve.

"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world."

"But he's not working alone, Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star." Steve explains.

"So was Jasper Sitwell." Now that mission makes complete sense.

"So, the real question is: how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?"

"The answer is: you don't." Chimed Sam when he slid a file on the table in which Steve picked it up. "What's this?" He asked the man.

"Call it a resume." He replies.

I place my paws on the table to look at a photo of Sam and another man wearing military uniform, " Is this Bakhmala?" Natasha asks him. "The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you." She turns to Steve, "You didn't say he was a para-rescue."

"Is this Riley?" Steve ask him.

"Yeah."

"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use, a stealth chute?"

"No. These." Sam lifts the file up to Steve who takes it and reads it. "I thought you said you were a pilot."

"I never said pilot." Sam said with a smile.

Steve sighs, "I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."

"Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in." Sam stated.

"Where can we get our hands on one of these things?" Steve asks him.

Sam went on to reply; "The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall." The blonde looks over at Natasha who simply shrugs her shoulders - He looks over at me. I just simply wag my tail. "Shouldn't be a problem." It was settled then.

~°~°~

We've managed to find Jasper Sitwell at a diner, we take him on a rooftop and it didn't take long for me to held back my anger to pounce at the man, " Tell me about Zola's algorithm." Steve demands.

"Never heard of it." He lied.

"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?" Steve question.

"I was throwing up, I get seasick." Lies again. I pounce onto his chest as he falls nearly on the edge as I snarl at his face, I could smell fear but he was trying to mask it. " Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw me off the roof? Because it's really not your style, Rogers."

Steve was silent for a moment before saying, "You're right. It's not. Akira off." I reluctantly get off of him, Jasper got up and strained himself up. "It's hers." Natasha then kicks him off of the roof - He plummets down while screaming.

Natasha then changes the subject, " Oh, wait. What about that girl from accounting, Laura?"

"Lillian" Steve corrected. "Lip piercing, right?:

"Yeah, she's cute."

Steve chuckles, "Yeah, I'm not ready for that."

Then Sam comes flying in wearing a jet-pack suit with wings, he holds Jasper in his hands - He lands Jasper onto the ground while landing, I bared my teeth at the man as he held his hands up in fear. "Zola's algorithm is a program...for choosing Insight's targets!" He frantically said.

"What targets?" Steve questions.

"You!" He replies. "A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa city. Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future."

"The Future? How could it know?" Jasper laugh but when I growl he whimpers in fear. "How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book." He stood up. "Zola taught HYDRA how to read it. Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, e-mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores. Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future."

"And what then?"

Jasper's face lit up with fear. "Oh, my God. Pierce is gonna kill me."

"Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time." He replies.

The mission was settled then, to get to Triskelion.