Thorne Industries – The BelfryWashington D.C. Branch, 2014
The room was lit only by the blue glow of a dozen holographic screens. Elias Thorne sat in the center, his eyes darting across streams of code that would make a normal supercomputer overheat.
Two years had passed since New York. The world had gotten bigger, but Elias had gotten quieter.
"Sir," Alfred's voice broke the silence. "I've finished the decryption of the USB drive you... 'acquired' from the Lemurian Star mission."
"And?"
"It's worse than we thought. The encryption isn't SHIELD standard. It's older. Germanic roots. Code syntax dating back to the 1940s."
Elias swiped a hand, expanding a file named PROJECT INSIGHT.
Three massive Helicarriers were being built at the Triskelion. Linked by satellite, they were designed to neutralize threats before they happened.
"Zola's Algorithm," Elias whispered, reading the predictive code. "It analyzes people's past to predict their future. It targets anyone who might oppose the new order."
He scrolled through the target list. Anthony Stark.Dr. Stephen Strange.Bruce Banner.Steve Rogers.
And near the top: Elias Thorne.
"They're going to kill a few million people to save a billion," Elias realized. "It's not SHIELD. It's a parasite growing inside it."
Hydra.
"Alfred, initiate Protocol: Blackout. Disconnect Thorne Industries from all SHIELD servers immediately. Go to analog backups."
"Done, Sir. But Director Fury is requesting a secure line. He sounds... distressed."
"Put him through."
"Thorne," Fury's voice was ragged. There was the sound of gunfire in the background. "I can't talk long. My car is currently being turned into swiss cheese."
"I know about Insight, Nick. I know about the parasite."
"Good. Then you know who to trust."
"Yeah," Elias said, looking at his reflection in the dark monitor. "No one."
The line went dead.
Chapter 6: The Winter Soldier
The Causeway, D.C.24 Hours Later
Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Sam Wilson were pinned down. They had been pulled from a moving car by a metal-armed assassin who moved like a phantom.
The Winter Soldier walked down the highway, an M4 carbine in one hand, a grenade launcher in the other. He was a Terminator. He was unstoppable.
He raised the launcher to finish off the Black Widow, who was hiding behind a concrete barrier.
Click.
The Soldier paused. He pulled the trigger again. Click.
"Firing pin jammed," a voice echoed from the overhead sign. "I welded it shut about three seconds ago. You really should clean your weapons."
The Winter Soldier looked up. Perched on the green highway sign, shrouded in a cape that seemed to absorb the sunlight, was Elias.
He dropped down, landing softly between the assassin and the Avengers.
"Who the hell is that?" Sam asked, peeking over the barrier.
"The Cavalry," Natasha breathed.
The Winter Soldier didn't speak. He dropped the useless launcher and drew a combat knife. He flipped it in his metal hand, the sunlight glinting off the blade.
Elias cracked his neck. "Alfred, analyze the arm."
"Cybernetic prosthetic. Soviet design. Titanium alloy. Hydraulic pressure output exceeds 2,500 PSI. Do not get grabbed, Sir."
"Noted."
The Winter Soldier lunged.
To Steve and Sam, it was a blur. To Elias, it was a choreographed dance.
Eyes of the Lord: Active.
The Soldier slashed—throat, gut, femoral artery. Three strikes in under a second.
Elias dodged them all by a margin of millimeters. He swayed back, the knife tip grazing his tactical armor.
Copying Technique: Systema / Soviet Assassination Arts.
Elias saw the efficiency in the Soldier's movement. No wasted energy. Pure lethality.
Elias countered. He grabbed the Soldier's human wrist, twisting it. The Soldier spun, using the momentum to swing his metal arm—a backhand meant to decapitate.
Elias ducked. The metal fist smashed into the concrete divider, pulverizing it.
"Strong," Elias noted.
The Soldier pulled a second knife. Now he was dual-wielding. He pressed the attack, a whirlwind of steel.
Elias's eyes spun. He began to move exactly like the Soldier, but faster. When the Soldier slashed left, Elias slashed left, his gauntlet parrying the blade. When the Soldier kicked, Elias checked the kick with his shin.
They stood toe-to-toe, trading blows at supersonic speeds. It was like watching a man fight his own shadow.
"You're good," Elias grunted, catching a punch in his palm. The impact shockwave traveled up his arm, bruising the bone. "But you're predictable."
The Winter Soldier's eyes widened slightly behind his goggles. He wasn't used to being blocked.
He roared, driving his metal fist forward with everything he had.
Elias didn't dodge this time. He needed to end it.
Biological Manipulation: Bone Density Max. Muscle Torque Max.
Elias threw a punch to meet the metal fist.
CRACK.
Fist met metal. A shockwave blew the dust off the highway.
Elias slid back five feet, his knuckles bleeding, his fingers surely broken. But the Winter Soldier slid back ten feet. The servos in his metal arm whined and sparked.
The Soldier looked at his arm, then at Elias. He looked confused.
"Bucky?" Steve called out, stepping from cover.
The assassin froze. "Who the hell is Bucky?"
He raised his gun to shoot Steve, but Sam Wilson swooped in, kicking him away. SHIELD (Hydra) strike teams began to rappel from helicopters.
"We have to go!" Elias shouted, clutching his throbbing hand. "We can't win this here!"
He threw a smoke bomb.
"Bucky..." Steve whispered, paralyzed.
Elias grabbed Steve by the tactical vest. "Move, Captain! Or you can mourn him in a cell!"
They vanished into the smoke.
Chapter 7: The Insight
Hidden Bunker4 Hours Later
Sam Wilson was applying an ice pack to his head. Natasha was stitching a wound on her shoulder. Steve was staring at the wall.
Elias sat in the corner, resetting the bones in his right hand.
Snap.
He didn't flinch. "Alfred, apply the nanite gel."
"Applying now, Sir. Healing estimated at 4 hours."
"You knew," Steve said, turning to Elias. His voice was low, dangerous.
Elias didn't look up. "I suspected."
"He was my friend. You fought him like you wanted to kill him."
"I fought him like he was a machine programmed to kill us," Elias corrected, standing up. "Because right now, that's what he is. Hydra brainwashed him. Cryogenically froze him. He's been shaping history for fifty years, Steve. JFK, Stark's parents..."
"Stark?" Steve went pale. "He killed Howard?"
"That's the prevailing theory," Elias said softly. "But if you tell Tony that right now, he'll tear the city apart. Focus on the mission."
"The mission is Insight," Natasha said, intervening. "We have to stop the launch."
"We can't stop the launch," Elias said. "They have control of the World Security Council. The ships go up in two hours."
"So we blow them out of the sky," Sam said.
"No," Elias walked to the table, pulling up a holographic map of the Triskelion. "We change the target."
He pulled three chips from his belt.
"These are targeting blades. If we swap out the server blades on the Helicarriers, we can re-route the firing solution. Instead of targeting civilians..."
"...we target the carriers themselves," Steve finished.
"Exactly," Elias nodded. "But I have a secondary objective."
"Which is?"
"While you three are playing hero in the sky, I'm going to the ground floor. The data banks. If SHIELD falls today, all its secrets fall with it. Hydra, aliens, enhanced individuals. I'm not letting that info hit the open web. It's too dangerous."
"You want to hoard the secrets," Natasha said, eyes narrowing.
"I want to secure them," Elias said. "Call it trust issues."
The Triskelion
The battle was a spectacle of destruction. The Falcon owned the skies, dodging missiles. Cap and Widow infiltrated the command deck.
Elias was in the server room, deep in the bowels of the facility.
Agents of STRIKE—Rumlow's men—guarded the door.
Elias didn't use stealth this time. He walked down the hallway.
"Hold it!" Rumlow shouted. "Drop the..."
Elias moved. He didn't use the Eyes. He didn't need them for grunts. He used pure Batman-level martial arts. He broke arms, shattered kneecaps, and disarmed five men in six seconds.
Rumlow pulled a knife. "You think you're special, Thorne?"
Elias caught Rumlow's wrist, twisted it, and slammed his head into the reinforced glass of the server room door. Rumlow crumpled.
"No," Elias said, stepping over him. "I'm just prepared."
He entered the server room. It was massive. Rows of blue lights hummed. This was the sum total of SHIELD's knowledge.
"Alfred, interface. Download everything. Project Pegasus, the Tesseract specs, the Winter Soldier files, the Guest House... all of it."
"Download initiating. Sir, the Helicarriers are locking onto each other. Structural collapse is imminent. You have 3 minutes before this building becomes a crater."
"Keep downloading."
The ceiling shook. Dust rained down.
"Sir, download at 80%."
"Faster."
On the screens above, Elias saw the Helicarriers open fire. The sky turned into a fireball. One of the carriers began to list, crashing into the Triskelion.
The glass walls of the server room cracked.
"95%..."
A massive piece of debris smashed through the ceiling, crushing the exit.
"100%. Transfer complete. Wiping local drives."
"Good."
Elias looked at the blocked exit. Then he looked at the window. We were forty stories up.
"Alfred, is the glider cape calibrated for thermal updrafts caused by massive explosions?"
" Theoretically, Sir."
"Let's test the theory."
Elias sprinted toward the window. He shattered the glass and dove out just as the server room exploded behind him.
He fell through the smoke and fire. Debris from the crashing Helicarrier rained around him like meteors.
He expanded his cape. The heat from the burning ships caught the fabric, shooting him upward. He banked hard, weaving through falling steel beams.
He saw a figure falling from the sky—Steve Rogers, unconscious, dropping into the Potomac River.
And he saw the Winter Soldier diving after him.
Elias landed on the riverbank, rolling to a stop. He watched Bucky pull Steve from the water.
Elias raised his wrist gauntlet. He had a clear shot with a tranquilizer dart. He could stop Bucky right now.
He hesitated.
He saw the look on Bucky's face. Confusion. Recognition.
If I take him now, he's a prisoner. If I let him go, he might find himself.
Elias lowered his arm.
"Go," he whispered.
Bucky dragged Steve to the mud, looked around once, and disappeared into the trees.
Thorne IndustriesOne Week Later
The world was reeling. SHIELD was gone. Hydra was exposed. Natasha was testifying before Congress.
Elias sat in his office. On his secure server lay the entirety of SHIELD's dirty laundry.
"Sir," Alfred said. "Mr. Stark has sent a bottle of champagne. The note reads: 'Heard you looted the gift shop. Wanna share?'"
"Tell him I'll share the Hydra files involving his father. The rest stays encrypted."
"And Captain Rogers?"
"He's looking for his friend."
Elias stood up. He walked to a hidden wall panel. It slid open, revealing a new suit. It was sleeker, reinforced with Vibranium weave he'd synthesized from the data he stole.
But next to the suit was something else. A schematic for a robot. An artificial intelligence designed to protect the world, but built correctly. Not Zola's algorithm. Not Ultron.
"Alfred," Elias said, staring at the schematic. "The age of spies is over. The age of miracles is coming. We need to be ready for the twins."
"The twins, Sir?"
"Strucker has them. In Sokovia. I saw the files." Elias's eyes shifted blue. "We're going to need a bigger team."