19 Chapter 19: The Hidden Plot

----------- 9:34 pm 2/10/2009, Star Lab (secret base under construction)--------

From the pedestal in the center of the room, there was a face being projected via hologram. While a voice was heard coming from the cube sitting on it.

Zola-"What is this? Where am I? Do you even know who I am?"

Damien- " Arnim Zola. A German Scientist who worked with the Red skull." Damien walks further into the room to stand directly in front of the pedestal. "Correction. You are Swiss, aren't you."

Zola-"I see my reputation precedes me. Young man, tell me where we are."

Damien-" Right now you are in a secret facility. You may have already tried to connect to other devices, but ultimately failed. Your current body consists of a single device with only cameras, speakers and holographic projection units. Not only that but you are in an isolated room that is shielded from all signals. Seeing as you will be here for a very long time, how about you tell me about Hydras current scheme."

Damien steps to the front of the holographic face as he talks to Zola. But unknown to Zola, Damien is using his powers to search through his data for all information about Hydra. Slowly searching and copying the data to his watch that houses his disguised supercomputer. Every thought, memory, and information that Zola has about Hydra is slowly being scanned and downloaded.

Zola- " I'm surprised that you were aware that Hydra still lives. But to tell about the present you must first know the past…Hydra was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist."

Zola began his whole speech about how he used Shield's project paperclip as an opportunity to resurrect Hydra within Shield like a parasite. Over the past 70 years, Shield has been used to carry out missions and plans made by Hydra agents hidden in their ranks. Gloating about how the time for Hydra to come out of the shadows was almost at hand. And also about how in a few years Damien would see just how great Hydra was.

What Zola didn't know was that every memory and piece of info Zola pulled up to gloat made Damien's task even easier. As Zola brought up data from the hard drive to remember, Damien was using his abilities to filter all these files and all connected info to his watch. Everything he copied was then scanned completely by Alfred and then stored on Damien's secure virtual drive in Alfred's server.

Zola nearing the end of his speech had a smirk on his holographic face as he stared Damien in the eyes.

Zola- "... We will win. And your death will amount to the same as your life; a zero sum. I have Given Hydra all the insight they need to complete our goals. But too bad you will be too dead to see it. Hail Hydra!"

As Zola finishes his speech, the cube on the table starts to overheat. Smoke started to rise from it and the pedestal. Just as Damien takes two steps back, the cube explodes sending shrapnel flying all over the room. Jumping back just in time, Damien lands outside the room while using his ability to quickly close the door. Having landed on the ground, Damien feels sharp pains on his left leg, torso and right arm. Looking himself over he sees shrapnel embedded in his leg and arm. While blood is leaking from three spots on his abdomen. Sighing he uses his left hand to yank the shrapnel from his right arm first, then his leg. The wounds heal and seal themselves visibly to the naked eye. Within 20 seconds the wounds are fully healed as if never there.

Damien- *19 seconds… My healing factor is still too weak. I will have to train more in the future. Good thing Zola likes to hear himself talk. I was able to get almost all the info he had on Hydra, with project insight and current sleeper agents as a priority. Although there are some questions on a lot of what hydra did more than 65 years ago. But some spotty info was found from his time with the Red Skull and the beginning of project paperclip. This is more than enough to begin preparing for the Hydra takeover. *

Getting up, Damien slowly stretches and flexes his body but still feels some pains in his abdomen and right arm. Slowly, he walks to another part of the facility. Walking into a giant room filled with all kinds of machines and medical equipment. Inside this Med-bay, Damien lays down on a metallic table with concentric rings attached around the sides at the base near his feet. Once his head is in place he closes his eyes.

Damien- " Alfred. Do a quick scan and assess the damages."

Alfred- " Right away sir."

As Alfred responded, the rings on the base of the bed begin to glow orange and spin as they travel up the bed. As they travel up and across Damien, they flash lights that scan throughout his body.

Alfred- "There are two metallic shards located in your abdomen, metallic splinters in your left leg, and what appears to be a piece of metal embedded in the bone of your right radius(one of the bones found in forearm)"

Damien- * That's a lot worse than I thought.* " Alfred. Activate surgical equipment and proceed to remove all the foreign metal. Do not activate sutures and anesthetics."

Alfred- "Right away Sir. I'm locking you in to prevent movement as well."

Arms then folded out of the table with lasers and surgical equipment attached. Then shackles closed around Damien's arms and legs. The arms then moved to cut the afflicted areas with lasers. Then the surgical equipment proceeded to remove all the metal and placed it on a metal container for later disposal.

Moments later, the procedure was completed.

Alfred-" Sir, the procedure is done. All foreign materials have been removed. You can now start healing yourself."

After hearing this, Damien opened his eyes. As he sat up his wounds slowly began to close up and heal visibly.