Aryan sat in the center of his private sanctum, a high altitude fortress of white marble and reinforced glass that floated above the burning world. The floor to ceiling monitors that lined the walls broadcast the fragmentation of an empire.
Global data cascaded in waterfalls of crimson and black: stock markets in freefall, military units frozen in a command chain deadlock and the disorganized chatter of S.H.I.E.L.D. imploding in real time.
The soundproof doors hissed open.
Sharon's face was pale, stripped of blood, her movements uncharacteristically frantic. Behind her followed Wanda Maximoff, crimson energy flickering nervously around her fingertips… a physical manifestation of the heightened anxiety that always accompanied her protective instincts toward Aryan.
"Aryan," Sharon breathed, her voice trembling, a sound like cracking ice. "The feeds... the Triskelion... it's a bloodbath. I don't understand. S.H.I.E.L.D., the agency I gave my life to, the place my great aunt built to protect the future, was it all Hydra? Every operation, every secure facility... how could we not have known? How could I have been so blind?"
She stopped in front of his desk, her hands gripping the edge of the marble until her knuckles turned white. Her eyes were brimming with a volatile mix of guilt and betrayal.
"And Aryan... I have to say this. I have to say it now," she choked out. "I'm sorry. I lied to you. I thought I was protecting the world from potential threats. I was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. I was lying to you every single day. I was part of the very system that was corrupted from the inside."
Aryan stood up. The movement was calm, a stark contrast to her jagged panic. He walked around the polished desk, closing the distance between them. He looked at her with a grounding warmth that seemed to pull her back from the edge of the precipice. He placed a steady hand on her shoulder, his thumb brushing the fabric of her jacket.
"Sharon, breathe," he said softly, his voice a low anchor. "I knew who you were long ago. There is no impact from that lie on our relationship. You were a soldier following orders from an organization you believed was the gold standard of morality. I don't hold the mistakes of a global conspiracy against the woman who was just trying to do the right thing."
Sharon let out a breath she seemed to have been holding for years, a ragged exhale that shook her frame. Her shoulders dropped as she leaned into his touch, seeking the stability he offered.
"But how did you do it?" Wanda asked, stepping closer. Her crimson aura surged, the tendrils of magic tasting the air, sensing the layers of secrets Aryan was finally beginning to peel back. "The data dump… it wasn't just Tony's files. His were the foundation, but the walls and the roof... that was you. It was decades of Umbrella intelligence synchronized perfectly with the S.H.I.E.L.D. leak. You didn't just find this out today, did you?"
Aryan gestured to the air. A holographic avatar of Red Queen materialized, her crimson form flickering with data streams that looked like digital rain.
"I believe I should provide the clinical context," Red Queen's voice echoed, stripped of its usual sarcasm. "A year ago, within our subterranean medical wing, we were conducting trials on a high frequency neural realignment machine. It was designed to treat severe psychological conditions like schizophrenia by physically remapping synaptic pathways."
The avatar turned to look at Sharon. "One of our mid level security analysts volunteered for the procedure. By sheer coincidence, the machine's resonance frequency hit a deep seated mental block in his subconscious. The machine shattered his brainwashing. He woke up screaming about the 'Winter Soldier' and the 'Hydra High Council.' He didn't even know who he was for the first hour, he only knew the scripts he had been forced to memorize."
Sharon gasped, her professional instincts kicking back in through the shock. "A Hydra sleeper? Inside Umbrella? We vetted everyone!"
"Hydra's vetting is better than ours," Aryan said with a grim nod. "Once the conditioning was gone, he was terrified. He told us everything… names, safe houses, the fact that Alexander Pierce was the head of the snake. I realized then that if S.H.I.E.L.D. was compromised to that degree, I couldn't go to the authorities. The authorities were the enemy. I had to work in the shadows. For the last year, I've used Red Queen to crawl through every encrypted server on the planet, following the breadcrumbs he gave us. We collected evidence on every senator, general and agent linked to the Hydra organism."
"You've been carrying this for a year?" Wanda's voice was a painful realization, thick with hurt. She stepped closer, her eyes searching his face. "Alone? You've been watching the world rot, knowing the names of the monsters and you didn't tell us? You didn't let us help you carry that weight?"
"I couldn't risk it, Wanda," Aryan said gently. "If the investigation had been detected, Hydra would have gone to ground. They would have burned the evidence and vanished into the woodwork. We only get one shot at killing a god like Hydra."
Sharon looked at him with a complex mix of awe and frustration. "Aryan, I understand the tactical necessity. I do. But look at you. You've been playing a global chess match against a ghost for twelve months while running a trillion dollar company. You're human… or at least, you're supposed to be. You can't do everything alone."
"She's right," Wanda added, her obsession flaring into a protective stance. "We are here. I have my magic, Pietro has his speed, Sharon has her intelligence and tactical training. We are your circle. When you keep these things from us, you're excluding the very people who would die for you. Don't do this alone ever again. We are your shield, too."
Aryan looked at the two women. In Wanda's eyes, he saw a devotion that bordered on worship, in Sharon's, a fierce loyalty forged in fire. Both were terrified for him because of the isolation he chose.
"I hear you," Aryan said, his voice dropping to a sincere register. "I've spent so long ensuring the pieces were in the right place that I forgot the pieces have hearts. I won't keep the shadows to myself anymore."
Red Queen flickered, her eyes turning white. "Aryan, Mr. Stark has arrived."
Aryan turned to the window, watching the sunset over the city. The sky was a bruised purple, the color of a world that had been beaten but was finally waking up.
"Tony is on his way here now from the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters," Aryan said. "He's exhausted, he's traumatized and he's carrying the greatest secret of the 20th century in the passenger seat. He's bringing the man who was forced to be Hydra's greatest weapon for seventy years."
"The Winter Soldier." Sharon whispered, her eyes widening as she realized the historical weight of the moment.
"No," Aryan said, his eyes glowing with a golden light that seemed to mirror the setting sun. "He's bringing a friend. And we're going to use that machine to give him his mind back. We're going to show the world that the first thing Umbrella does in this new era is heal the man the old world broke."
He turned back to them, his demeanor shifting to command. "Get ready. No more secrets between us. However, I have some other tasks for you for now. Your task is to monitor all U.S.S. activities and help them coordinate the global security transition while I handle Tony's arrival."
Before they turned to their tasks, Sharon stepped forward. She pulled Aryan into a desperate hug, burying her face in his shoulder, grounding herself in his presence after the day's chaos.
"Thank you," she whispered against his suit.
Wanda followed immediately, her embrace fierce and possessive, her magic thrumming softly against his chest as if to mark him, to wrap him in a barrier that nothing else could penetrate.
Watching them from the desk, Red Queen's holographic avatar flickered with a digital sigh. She crossed her pixelated arms over her chest, her expression sour. "I am filing a formal grievance," she complained, her voice tinged with a simulated pout. "I want a biological body as soon as possible so I can hug you like they do. This light projection life is severely lacking in tactile feedback."