Liam wasn't that angry that his identity was now known to Steve since Fury had taken the permission from Liam himself when he spoke about the fact that Steve had woken up. If there was anyone he was most fortable about his identity being known, it was Steve.

  With their perimeter secured, the group moved toward one of the old bunkers, led by Liam. In order to have a prht, two fire swords appeared behind Liam hanging in air but seem to be attached to Liam. The Fusilde spell was in full forbsp;

  Everyone present had seen Liam using magic but this was the first time Rogers had seen Liam using magic. It was very novel fers. They were silent but very curious about the fiery sword hanging in the air. They for sure khat this was fire because they could feel the heat and not some illusion.

  Soon they reached an old elevator and switched it on.

  "I am surprised it still has juices after all these years." Barton said.

  "Are you sure it's not an ambush Liam," Tony joked. Liam just side eyed Tony and didn't say anything.

  "This pce used to be a training camp before the war," Steve muttered.

  "And now it's something else entirely." Liam said as the elevator stopped and opeo a new door. They reached a heavy steel door embedded in the far wall. Tony brought out his toy and opehe locks. With a loud k, the locks disengaged, and the droaned open, revealing a dimly lit room filled with old puters and archaic maery.

  "Well, this is charming. Didn't know you were keeping a museum, Fury." Tony said as he went to the data entry point and ied a small pen drive. Meanwhile everyone was fused. Especially Fury, because even he didn't know that this pce eveed in an old site.

  "Whatever it is, it's still powered." Natasha moved toward one of the maes, brushing dust off a trol panel.

  Then, suddenly the ss flickered. A high-pitched whine echoed through the bunker as the a puters whirred to life. Static crackled aultiple monitors before coalesg into a distorted face—cold, hollow eyes and a grotesque, pixeted visage.

  "No way…"

  The digital face twisted before stabilizing into something reizable.

  "Ah… Captain Rogers," the puterized voice spoke. "What an… expected pleasure."

  "Zo." Fury reized.

  "Dr. Arnim Zo?" Tony asked, folding his arms. "As in, the Nazi stist?"

  "Not just Nazi," Zo corrected, his voice smug edge. "Hydra."

  Zo's face distorted into the symbol of Hydra for a moment before ref.

  "Zo, spill out everything. Yoing to die here anyways. So it's better you go out with fession." Liam decred. There was a long pause before Zo started speaking.

  "After the war, I ared the noose. Yover saw my genius and recruited me through Operation Paperclip. They brought me here, gave me new purpose."

  "SHIELD recruited you." Natasha's fists ched.

  "Hydra… recruited me." Zo's smile widened. "For years, I worked in the shadows, pnting seeds. While SHIELD believed it was growing stronger, Hydra flourished within its very walls."

  "How is that possible? Hydra was destroyed!"

  "'t be happening. Nope, I refused to believe."

  "You've got to be kiddiony muttered. He hadn't spent much time with SHIELD, as he didn't like them but once he khat SHIELD was a legacy of his father he had let his hostilities go. Though he was never a fan of nostalgia, he wasn't antagonistic about it. Now it felt like it was all a scam.

  "Humanity does not crave freedom—it longs for order. And so, Hydra gave it exactly that. We did not need war. We needed patience. And since my body couldn't live beyond it was meant, Hydra made sure that my brain remained intact. They sampled my brain into this pce. This puter." Zo said.

  "Fury… what the hell is he saying?" Barton demanded, seeing his whole world was crumbling down.

  "I am saying, Agent Barton, that Hydra is not simply among you. It is you." Instead Zo replied.

  "Impossible," Steve breathed. "We took Hydra down."

  "You cut off one head," Zo interrupted. "Two more took its pce."

  Zo's s shifted, and suddenly, images flooded the monitors—cssified SHIELD operations, dossiers of promised agents, files marked with the Hydra insignia. Nick Fury's face appeared on one s. Natasha's on another. Barton's on a third. Even Tony Stark's name fshed in encrypted files, lio hidden dealings within SHIELD's upper ranks.

  They had all been touched by Hydra's influen some way.

  "This… this 't be real," Natasha said.

  "I assure you, Agent Romanoff, it is very real," Zo sneered. "Hydra has trolled SHIELD for decades. Every war, every crisis… we were always there, guiding history toward its iable order."

  "SHIELD is SHIELD. It 't ever be Hydra." Fury said.

  "Oh, Director Fury." Zo's voice dripped with amusement. "You never had SHIELD. You had Hydra… wearing its face."

  The impact of the revetion hit them like a freight train.

  "But you.." The s glitched as he tried to process something. "…you are different. You are not supposed to be here. My calcutions never included you. I wondered why I was cut off from the outside world. It was meant to isote me. It was to make sure I never run away, though I don't think I , but I could have warhe others. But you delivered a blow that I didn't expect."

  "You stepped out of your reach when one of your senators wao call me for a senate hearing." Liam replied.

  "Wait.. That means you have always known about Hydra?" Fury asked.

  "Yes." Liam admitted.

  "Then why didn't you tell me?" Fury asked.

  "Would you have believed me? Hell, I am pretty sure you are thinking that this is all a ploy and an act. And you will return to ask questions. Zo show him what happeo people who asked questions?" Liam said.

  Zo didn't hide at all and showed how over the years Hydra had eliminated men and women who went too close to the sun. Using Winter Soldiers. Zo knew by this point that his gig was over so it was no point in hiding and he could also feel that the data he had been carrying with him was being copied away. Tony's toy was w wonders.

  Liam had e full prepared.

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