The cave was quiet when Steve and Natasha stepped through the entrance. Skye and Jemma were on the other side of the cave, looking starstruck upon seeing Captain America and Black Widow walk inside carefully.
The urgency of the situation was the only thing that prevented the two from swarming toward them.
He didn’t blame them. Not only Steve and Natasha fought in the Battle of New York, with even more media visibility, but also they had spent the rest of their time going around the globe, solving some very public disasters.
They were shining examples of heroism, with all the celebrity effect it implied. Frankly, he would have been worried about the inevitable bounce back when they made a mistake and everyone started blaming them, but none of the Avengers would be affected by the public sentiment.
When he entered, Bucky was still sleeping, his face lowered, but Natasha immediately recognized him. “The Winter Soldier,” she said with uncharacteristic tenseness, suggesting that she had encountered him before, and it wasn’t a happy memory. “He’s the one who assassinated Fury.”
“Might be, but it’s more complicated,” he said. Then, he walked toward him, but before he used Snap Out of It again, he turned Steve. “I’m not slapping him to torture him. It’s just the best way to get rid of brainwashing.”
“Brainwashing?” Natasha said, her expression shifting.
“Yes. The kind that turned him into a machine unable to control his body while remembering everything,” he said.
Then, he activated his ability, slapped him a few times, making sure Steve couldn’t see the face, until he felt that the mind control was disappeared. Then, he used his healing to deal with the worst of the pain, but not fully healing him.
He stepped to the side just as Bucky awakened.
Bucky's eyes found Steve.
“Steve,” he gasped, his voice full of shock and anguish. “How?”
Steve’s expression was even worse. “Bucky,” he whispered. “How?”
“Before you two start, I would like you to ask him a few questions, the kind only you two would know,” he said, even as he gestured Natasha to walk away. He could have listened, but he did not; instead, he gestured the girls to leave the cave as well.
Steve’s body language when he first heard the answer told him all he needed. He could see the expression on his face, a confusing mix of denial, hope, terror, grief, and even guilt…
It was not an easy situation, but it was the kind that was best left to them. Two broken men that risked their life to save the world from Nazis, both sacrificing their lives to save the world from destruction — story of Bucky during the war was public, sacrificing himself to let Steve defeat the Red Skull — only to be united outside of their own time.
The girls followed them, their expressions complicated. Melinda might have missed Bucky’s identity at first glance, but there was no way she couldn’t make the connection once she saw Steve’s reaction.
She caught Natasha’s gaze, and they shared a nod of greeting, showing that they were familiar, but he suspected they hadn’t worked on a mission, because he could also see that their gazes were measuring each other.
If the situation had been any less critical, they would have started sparring. Or maybe something else as well.
Skye and Jemma were not as composed. Skye somehow managed to keep her hero worship down, but Jemma was literally bouncing on her feet. But, her focus was different. “Why exactly did we leave Captain America with an assassin? And why do they know each other?”
“He’s Sergeant Barnes. A hero. Presumed KIA … during the Second World War.”
Jemma gulped. “James Barnes. That Bucky Barnes. Captain America’s friend who died in the war. But—”
Skye elbowed her, but Jemma's question hung in the air. Michael took over. “I have no idea about the situation. I’m literally working on the same level of information. But an easy guess is that someone captured him, brainwashed him, and used him as an assassin for decades.”
“Who?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out, but I have no intention of interrupting their reunion,” he said. “We can afford to wait several minutes. Meanwhile, why don’t you catch up with the exact situation, Melinda.”
She nodded. “It started when Professor Azure sent us a warning about a mole in our team working for another faction in SHIELD.”
“Who?”
“John Garrett and Grant Ward. A level eight, and a level seven, in particular,” she said, looking at the girls.
“Yeah, I told them, because Grant called them to meet in the middle of nowhere. Fury’s life was more important than trying to ambush him.”
“Good call,” she approved. She didn’t ask about Fury, as he had already informed her during the drive.
“It’s dangerous. And I’m going to assume Fury didn’t inform us to keep his pet project clean,” Natasha said. He caught her anger, but the others did not.
“Something like that,” Melinda said, her tone suggesting she didn’t agree with it, but also that she was too used to following Fury’s orders to question it openly. Melinda continued the briefing, while he didn’t say much other than sharing some details about their escape.
Steve called him from inside. “I’ll go talk with him,” he said, and went back to the cave.
He didn’t remember seeing Steve that angry … well, ever. Even his reaction to the alien invasion was mere annoyance compared to his current mood. “Thank you, Michael,” he started despite his anger.
He put a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “Look, Steve. I call you a friend, and that’s the least I can do for you. But, if you really want to thank me, we’ll find one of the horrible watering holes you seem to like once the crisis is over, and Bucky here can tell me some humiliating stories about your childhood.”
That made Bucky let out a soft chuckle despite everything. “I’ll give you a full blackmail dossier. That’s the least I can do …” he started, then his good mood evaporated. “That’s the least I can do. You saved me from Hydra.”
Michael tensed. He wasn’t exactly the most outstanding person in the world; but that wasn’t necessary to despise Nazis. And, Hydra was like the worst part of them. “So the stories of their destruction are exaggerations.”
“I’m afraid so.”
“What can you tell me about them?”
“Not much. Most of the time, I spent frozen, and the missions are somewhat of a blur. I remember the … kills …” he started, then paused.
He squeezed Bucky’s shoulder. “Look, we’re in the middle of the crisis, and the last bomb doesn’t make it any less complicated, but let me tell you this. You’re not responsible for those deaths.”
“If I —“
“No,” Michael cut in sharply. “You are as responsible as if someone used glue to stick a blade to my hand and then forced me to stab someone. They are the ones responsible, and they tortured you in the process.”
Bucky avoided his gaze, clearly not ready to accept, which wasn’t a surprise. Bucky was traumatized to a degree he couldn’t begin to understand, and he was not equipped. It was why he brought Steve before awakening. Without his presence, things would have been even worse.
“So, Hydra?” Steve asked, giving Bucky something to focus on.
“Yes. I don’t know much, but I know that they have many independently operating cells, and they have very limited interaction with each other to ensure they stay hidden. But, one of the cells that orders me operates inside SHIELD. They were the ones who ordered me to kill Fury and capture you.”
“Fuck,” Michael spat out. “That explains so much.”
That made Steve turn. “What do you mean?”
“Well, we learned that Fury was trying to cleanse an enemy faction. We always assumed that it was a political mess. But what if it wasn’t? Their infiltration might be deeper than we realize,” he said.
Steve, understandably, froze.
He didn’t explain much, as it was not the kind of problem Steve could solve. Not until it was time to act.
Ironically, it answered why his interactions with SHIELD generated rewards only sporadically. Defeating villains in a straightforward manner didn’t give him any reward. Even killing Kilgrave only rewarded him because he had deliberately set it as a premeditated murder that he got away with.
That was bad news. Immediately, he dedicated significantly more computing power to his mapping of internal SHIELD factions, and other connections. He didn’t like to act, but he was willing to make an exception for destroying the worst of Nazis.
Unfortunately, his cyber assessment wasn’t as useful. The ones he caught only because he knew exactly where to look, and he knew it was only a limited number of them.
An organization that managed to keep itself for decades didn’t keep a convenient list of membership anywhere … or maybe not anywhere, he corrected, remembering the supercomputer in Camp Lehigh. One he suspected to be an AI.
One that tried to kill him when he hacked Justin Hammer’s office computer. Small world.
A good place to visit, he decided. He didn’t believe in the motto that revenge was best served cold. Revenge was best served hot, but cold revenge was a fun dish nonetheless…
“I will have to leave soon, but I want you two to stay here. I’ll ask my contacts to send you a new mechanical arm,” he promised. “Meanwhile, I want you to be ready to act.”
“I can—“ Steve started.
“You will have your time to act,” he promised. “But, not now. You’re our ace in the hole. Let us set the board before you move. Hydra still doesn’t know we saved Bucky, and we’ll use his credentials to reveal as many high-ranking agents as possible.”
Steve sighed. “I wish Peggy could help us.”
“Is she …” Bucky asked, his tone fragile once more.
“No. She’s still alive, but … she doesn’t remember much. Alzheimer.”
Michael froze. “Alzheimer?” Steve nodded. “Damn it, Steve. Tell me when you need help. I can heal it.”
That froze Steve. “You can. But…”
“Why didn’t I offer? Because I didn’t know. I’m not Fury, digging into every little detail of your life,” he reminded. Ironically, he did that to too many people, but he deliberately left Steve out of it, respecting his privacy. “Where is she?”
“You don’t—“
“We’re talking about Peggy Carter, right?” he asked. Steve nodded. “She’s one SHIELD’s past directors, one of the few we’re absolutely sure are not working for Hydra. Her insights will be useful,” he said.
He neglected to mention that it was also a good way to keep both of them sitting on their asses. He had a feeling that Steve wouldn’t deal well with inaction.
“Fine. She’s in DC, in a retirement home. Can you…” Steve said, his voice choking. Michael knew that Steve’s relationship with Peggy was complicated due to … well, everything, so he ignored Steve’s choked-up voice.
“Yes. Worst, I’ll call in a favor. Don’t worry,” he said, and turned his attention to the practical side. “While I go and back. Meanwhile, I want you two to stay here. Jemma and Skye could install the new arm once it arrives,” he said.
Steve nodded, too choked to even answer.
Michael didn’t say anything else, as he wanted to leave alone. The reveal about Hydra was too big, and he needed to return to his base and start working directly. Indirect control of his machines through his ability was useful in ordinary situations.
This was not an ordinary situation.
Before leaving, he used both Purification and Divine Healing Light on Bucky. Not enough to trigger the regeneration of his missing parts, as it took far more time than they had, and it would make him temporarily unable to fight.
“I feel better,” he said, this tone fascinated.
“You will be even better,” he said. Then, he remembered. “By the way. I need blood and tissue samples from both of you,” he said.
“Super soldier serum?” Steve asked.
“Exactly,” he said.
Coming from anyone else, Steve would have refused categorically. Coming from him, he didn’t even ask what he was going to use it for. He took the samples, healed the resulting marks, and made Steve promise to stay inside until he contacted him.
[Feat Achieved! Trick Captain America into giving his blood, to reverse-engineer his super soldier serum
+1x Gold Random Gacha ticket]
He shook his head as he left. Tricking was not exactly the word he would use, but he was used to System defining things differently.
He pulled the ticket.
[Hydro Pump]
{Rare Ability: Allows you to create and emit streams of high-volume high-pressure water from your body. These cannons of water are strong enough to tear through concrete like paper.}
Not exactly useful, he decided, but that was the implied Gacha part of the system. Not all pulls were winners.
“Aright, things are getting hairier,” he said, and explained everything about Hydra to them.
“Impossible. Hydra couldn’t have infiltrated SHIELD,” Melinda said.
“I don’t know enough to make a judgment about that,” he said. “Maybe the enemy faction is only cooperating with Hydra temporarily, which is still bad, but not a catastrophe,” he said. He knew it wasn’t the case, but he couldn’t explain how he knew, so he played along.
“What do we do? We have to go fight?”
“Jemma and Skye, you two will stay here,” he said. Their protest was clear. “Not for nothing. I’ll ask Professor a favor to send a new arm for Bucky. You two can install it in the field. That way, we can deploy you once we realize the best place to strike.”
Melinda nodded. “That’s a good plan. Meanwhile, we—“
“You two need to return to Washington. Natasha, you need to look visible and explain to SHIELD how Steve suddenly started chasing the Winter Soldier desperately to take revenge for Fury. And, since no one expects Melinda to be there, she can do the snooping while you play the lightning rod.”
“That will be a weird change of pace,” Natasha said.
Melinda teased Natasha with her deadpan tone. “Perils of getting too famous as a spy.”
Natasha smiled with a shrug, accepting that it was the case. Then, she turned to him. “You want me to mention that Steve saw the Winter Soldier’s face.”
“Exactly. That way, they won’t question the temporary absence of the two, and I’ll ask Professor to send a few robots to fake a battle.”
“Can he…”
“I don’t think he should do anything overt, even assuming he’s willing to,” Melinda said. “The situation is a mess. A visible attack from a high-profile villain would give Hydra a real reason to mobilize, making it impossible to distinguish them.”
He nodded. It made sense.
“What are you going to do?” Natasha said.
“I’m going to heal Peggy Carter. It sounds like it’s a good time to take her out of retirement.”
“You can heal her?” Melinda asked, surprised. Natasha just shrugged, aware exactly how potent his healing could be, considering he had literally regrown parts of her body that had been surgically removed.
“Yes. But I appreciate if you don’t put it on the paper.”
She nodded. After some more discussion, they split up. They left the reinforced SUV with Skye and Jemma. Melinda and Natasha gave him a ride to the nearest biker bar. He stole a bike and split, and at the first opportunity, he opened a gate and disappeared to his base.
Safely in his base, he didn’t immediately rush to check Peggy Carter. Instead, he started searching how SHIELD had been infiltrated by Hydra.
The answer, unfortunately, was too easy to find.
“Idiots,” he muttered as he read the details of Operation Paperclip. Apparently, not only SHIELD recruited Hydra scientists, but they actually trusted them to set up their digital infrastructure.
They probably didn’t realize the implication back then, that how important digital would be, but still.
No wonder what he was calling the enemy faction was running circles around anyone else while they patiently grew.
He spent his time heavily multitasking. First, he rewrote the algorithm he had been using to identify what he had earlier called as enemy faction. Knowing they were Hydra gave him a chance to add some criteria.
Second, he played with some details so that real SHIELD agents weren’t walking into an ambush. He disliked SHIELD intensely … but it didn’t take much to be superior to Hydra. He also arranged some equipment delivery for Phil, which included a lot of Exosuits and plasma guns.
Knowing Phil, he would find himself in the middle of a fight, and it was better for him to be equipped appropriately.
“At least their project insight is nowhere near completion,” he said. That meant they didn’t need to deal with armored helicarriers. He could have destroyed them easily, but not without making Professor Azure even more of a spectacle.
Third, he assigned some heavy resources to map the outline of Camp Lehigh. He could easily destroy the camp, as its whole existence was based on secrecy with limited defenses. But considering there was a Hydra supercomputer inside, he believed that it would be a waste.
Not when he could take over the databases. He didn’t know what secret databases of Hydra contained, but it was worth the risk. The best part, while a potential AI was very dangerous in the digital landscape, in the real world, it was completely harmless. It was like sneaking up on the world’s greatest sniper from behind with a knife.
The only reason he didn’t go immediately was that he needed to cut all hardline cables leading to it at once, and replace them with his dummy communicators to leave the outside parties unaware.
The best part, directly tapping into the physical lines, was one method of hacking that a computer could never catch, allowing his code to learn their communication protocols. That way, when the time comes, he could send fake orders to Hydra teams.
It wouldn’t get rid of Hydra, not by a long shot, if Bucky’s reveal about SHIELD cells being only one of many, but he wasn’t surprised.
For now, getting the SHIELD part was the priority.
While he was doing all that, he also put Steve’s and Bucky’s blood and tissue samples into analyzers, which was significantly better than what he had gifted to Jemma. Their blood wasn’t fundamental, but having two high-grade results would allow him to create something even better.
Once everything was done, he teleported back, closed the to gate at the cave, and rode back to DC. Compared to other things he had done, sneaking into a retirement facility, even one that was defended by undercover SHIELD agents, was easy.
He even had time to sneak into a doctor’s computer and add a fake family visit report for Peggy Carter. It was intentionally clumsy, considering he was kidnapping her under his real identity. The events that happened made the importance of keeping his cards close to his chest very clear.
[Feat Achieved! Kidnap Peggy Carter
+1x Silver Random Gacha ticket]
At first, he was surprised by the ticket, but then he realized that what he was doing was kidnapping. The fact that he was about to heal her was inconsequential to the System.
Amusing. He pulled the reward while he carried her away.
[Disciple]
{Rare Trait: You are a great disciple. You learn things faster and easier when taught personally by someone who has a higher skill level than you in the subject in question. In addition, it is easier to earn the favour of your teachers.}
It was a nice reward; he decided. While he had expertise in many topics, ability to learn fast with a teacher was certainly valuable. For example, he could ask Jemma and Skye to cover his gap in his scientific education. He had covered some with self-study, but any boost was welcome.
He suspected the real benefit would be magic when he finally found a reliable teacher.
Mages were elusive.