Valentina raced down the hall way, the building shaking around her as the battle moved closer to where she was. The whine of machinery, roar of gunfire, and screams filled the air but she ignored it all and focused on the task at hand: find the main computers and destroy everything. The screen infront of her eyes flashed with information, directing her towards the part of the building she needed to get into. She was fortunate not to come across anyone, as she was not the type to enjoy hurting or killing someone, and carried on in silence.
Eventually she rounded a corner and came to a large double thick metal door with an intricate entry system. Her face shield went down and the part of her suit that covered her hands recoiled so that she could deal with the entry system quickly. Using a jamming code she broke into the control system of the device and quickly deciphered the necessary code. Punching it in she stood back and watched with a pleased smirk as the door unbolted, swinging open and allowing her access into the vast space.
"Miss, it is prudent to inform you that the unstable materials in Wing C have been shifted from the battle, particularly from the force of Braego Thorson." EVE said, voice echoing in Val's ears as she flew across the room which had three story tall ceilings.
"What are the specs on air contamination and the radius it has effected." Valentina demanded, waiting for the results as she looked quickly around the room for the best computer to use. Many of the stations were set up with computers on different levels, some of them with massive holographic screens, but none of them were the brain computer... the one main computer that would connect her to everything.
"Air contamination is at 20% and rising by 2% per minute at a radius of 200 feet, circumference growing North by North East at 20 feet a minute." EVE replied.
Valentina swore loudly under her breath and hurried her search, knowing that the contaminated air would both easily ignite and seriously harm anyone who inhaled a strong mixture of it. Just as she was about to search another part of the plant her eyes found a small room in the top right hand corner, the same double thick metal that the first door had been. That would be the room.
She raised her hand, shining electromagnet power sphere on her palm faced towards the door, "No time to do this the quiet way." She muttered and released a strong blast of energy from the palm of her suit which blasted into the door and crushed it immediately in a loud bang. Within a second she had flown over, landed, and entered the large room. A massive holographic screen filled one wall, expensive computer chairs surrounding a desk full of papers that had been strewn all over as though the people who had been in the room had panicked and ran as fast as they could for safety. The room was empty.
Valentina dashed over to the screen and began the process of breaking into the heart of HYDRAs system. Her fingers raced expertly over the holographic screen, pulling up boxes and passwords, deciphering cryptic codes, and breaking down elaborate security systems in mere seconds. The young woman's mind raced, using every corner of her brain to pick apart the system.
ACCESS GRANTED
Flashed in a bright green in front of her, illuminating her pleased face, "Why thank you, HYDRA." She said with a laugh and pulled open all the files on the mainframe. Hundreds of folders appeared filled with videos, pictures, word documents, audio files, and more. There was too much for her to even glance through, not when she was on such a tight schedule, and so she swept her hand across the screen and gathered everything together in preparation to erase all of the hard drives but hesitated. What was HYDRA building anyway? SHIELD would never reveal it to them, that was certain, and they would never have time to search the entire plant... there was only one way that they would know.
Her suit shifted to fully cover her left hand again and from her left index finger popped out a USB connector which she promptly pushed into the side of the screen, downloading everything from the HYDRA database into her suit. The progress bar appeared on the screen, slowly filling up completely as she drained all of the information.
TRANSFER COMPLETE
Now flashed, the screen fully empty. That was it. Everything was gone. She stared at the screen for a moment, not sure what she was going to do with the information she would discover when going through the files later. Would she even tell the team she had it?
"Contamination has progressed to 32% at a radius of 320 feet and growing." EVE said, interrupting her train of thought and forcing her back into the present. She was only vaguely aware that the sound of gunfire and explosions had ceased, if only for a moment. That was either a good thing or a very bad thing and, in either case, she knew she needed to find the others.
Turning she dashed down the stairs, shield coming back up over her face and suit now covered her hands fully. She flew across the large room and landed in the doorway that lead back into the hall. "Locate the others." Valentina said, rounding the corner towards the front of the building in hopes that she would find them.
"The team is assembled together in building 12, Wing D." EVE replied.
She nodded and turned, dashing down a corridor when suddenly the screen infront of her eyes lit up red to her right, showing that there was someone in the next room. Valentina stopped and turned quickly, hearing the sound of garbled coughing as though someone was chocking on water. She leaned back and drove her foot strongly into the lock door, sending it flying across the room by the force of her suit.
She was not prepared for what she saw.
Ten people, eight men and two women, lay in lumps around the room. Blood pooled around their bodies, their white lab coats now crimson, and was sprayed against the wall behind them in a grotesque pattern that suggested it had been a quick massacre rather than a planned execution. They were all physicists, she knew at once, and felt her stomach turn painfully as her keen eyes recognized some of the ones who had not been shot in the head. Ryerson, Gailen, Romanovsky... All were physicists and though perhaps not the best in the world they were very good and, last she had known, had been conducting research throughout Europe. She had not heard anything that suggested they had been missing.
"V-Val..."
She turned quickly and looked down through her helmet to a man clutching her boot with bloodied hands, blood pouring from his mouth as he choked on his own life. Even near death the man was handsome with light hair and dark green eyes that looked knowingly up at her. Valentina collapsed to the ground beside him, removing her helmet at once to look down at the man she had known for years: Hayden Marshall, a physicist who specialized in reactor energy and a man who she had been close with since the age of thirteen. She thought he had been doing research in Germany with his uncle's facility... again, she had no idea he had been missing all this time.
"Hayden!" She exclaimed, carefully propping his head up so that he could take a choked breath. Quickly she tore open his shirt, hoping that it was something she could fix, but his chest was so torn apart by bullets that it was nearly impossible to even count how many had entered his body. He wasn't going to make it.
"T-they... have... m-m... more." Hayden managed, face sheet white and eyes dilated as he struggled to speak. His body was shutting down but he was fighting against it, wanting to make these last seconds count.
Valentina stared down at him, never having felt so helpless in her entire life. She always had the answer for everything, but there was no answer for this. Nothing that she could do to make it better, "Hayden, what's going on with HYDRA? What were they making you build?" She managed, voice sounding miles away in her ears. Her eyes stung with tears as she looked down at her dying friend, her normally cool and collected exterior shattering.
"M-more... T-they... have... m-more..." Hayden sputtered, reaching up his hand to Valentina's face. His bloodied palm fell flush against her porcelain skin, smearing crimson against her face, "m-more..." He said one last time before the light left his eyes and his hand slipped from her face, falling to his chest limb and lifeless.
"Hayden? Hayden!" Valentina shouted, silent tears streaming down her cheeks and causing streaks through the blood. Her suit, especially her chest and legs, were smeared in blood as well from cradling his body on the bloody floor. Hayden did not respond, staring lifelessly up at her.
"Miss, large numbers of enemies are approaching the team in building 12." EVE's voice rang out.
Valentina jumped at the sound, standing up and stumbling back away from Hayden and the bodies of the other physicists. "Right." She said softly, blue-green eyes scanning the room one last time in an effort to recognize as many people as possible in the hopes that she could figure out their connections later. Now, she had to go.
Valentina turned and took off out of the room with her face shield completely down, needing to feel the cool air on her face in order to snap out of the shock at what she had just seen. A minute later the brunette burst into the large hangar and spotted her team near the front. The two demi-gods looked fine, for the most part, but Lark was bleeding from the thigh and Zach looked to be shot in the chest. Valentina made her way over to them, looking at the team with urgency, "It's done. We need to leave. Now." She said, looking at them all with her blood stained suit and face.
