The six headed HYDRA

by Malcolm Merlyn

No foreshadowing here

"Oh... I think you best hurry." Erica whispered as she took a gaze around. Her words merely confirmed Slade's suspicions who ironically, despite having a far better idea of what was about to happen, was way more calm than the girl, who was starting to behave not unlike a frantic guard dog.

"It's fine... I am almost done." Slade reassured as he placed another charge down. The sound of a few soldiers conversing the background was getting closer and closer while his tactical vision began to confirm the presence of more people. Placing down the last charge and readying his detonator, he gave a thumbs up... and turned around to see the back of Erica's head, who was facing towards a group of men that were just awkwardly staring at her for a moment.

"Auweh." Erica muttered as raised her shield the moment the triggers were pulled, the machine gun bullets bounced off the shield of ether as Erica raised her weapon and began to fire the 9mm rounds at the surprised guards that had whipped out their weapons. Though protected by things like flak jackets and ballistic vests, it would provide little protection when the weapon being fired was on par with an automatic grenade launcher.

Normally... she didn't kill other people. Though Erica had seen the bodies of dismembered soldiers many times at the hands of the alien invaders she put up with on a daily basis, she never thought she'd see the dead bodies of men that she had killed herself. It was unnerving, but as she applied the same reasoning to war, it would be either them or her. It was surprising to see how coolly Slade could do his job to, especially here as she took a tentative gaze at her older companion, who had taken out a staff of sorts which if she was honest, would either look terrifying or completely silly given Slade's idea of a costume and weapon. What happened then was more of the latter than the former as he leaped right in front of all the men who were all too eager to fill them up with lead, and just rushed them.

He wasn't even hit once. Receiving fire from perhaps as much as 6 people, and they couldn't even hit him. He made a beeline right at them, and when he reached them, it happened so fast, no one besides from Slade would even have as much as a clue to what happened. All there was were screams, metal hitting flesh, and bodies hitting the ground.

"Our cover is blown.." Slade growled in frustration as he looked over at his phone. "Hey Blondie, you got any good ideas?"

"Umm... we get out of here?"

"That's the alarm!" Barkhorn commented as Steve began to work on downloading all of HYDRA's information. She took a frantic gaze around to see what may have caused the alarm to have sounded. So far, with the four HYDRA workers who all had their mouths duct-taped and being trapped in a few steel girders which Cap and Trude had both bent out of shape to accommodate for them, it seemed unlikely they had anything to do with it.

"And that means we got to hurry... good thing I am done... and..." The Captain paused for a moment as he looked out the window of the server room, taking a look at the many guards that flooded into the room at the sound of the alarm "... oh shit..."

"This isn't good... you think we can fight our way out of this?" Trude asked as she grabbed a pair of MP5s the guards had carried with them... something familiar about these weapons...

"I dunno... how many times does it take for one of their vaporizer rifles to break your shield?"

"Just... one..." Barkhorn replied sheepishly. Thankfully, it seemed as though dozens of vaporizer rifles flashed through the crowds below them.

"This is going to be rough..." The captain commented as he grabbed an assault rifle. Though he rarely used guns besides from his pistol, he was fairly proficient in their use, being better than most when it came to handling and firing firearms. His finger slid onto the trigger as he took aim. "Let's see if we can try not to..."

"HEY LOOK! OVER THERE!" Someone called as he raised his weapon, aiming straight at Roger's head.

"To hell with that..." Rogers groaned as he saw the men approach them. He squeezed off a single bullet. The sound of the gunshot a body falling to the floor echoed around the room as all heads turned to them. Okay... maybe that wasn't such a good idea...

"AWAY FROM THE EDGE... AWAY FROM THE EDGE..." Steve cried as the bullets and vaporizer rounds came flying up.

"How we getting out of this?!" Barkhorn asked as she saw men beginning to get up on their level through at the sound of the *ding* from the elevator.

"Don't worry! I've done this before countless times it's just that..."

A second alarm begin to sound before Captain America could finish his sentence. This wasn't an audio-recording...

"Warning..." A woman on the announcer said into the intercom over the "perimeter has been breached" recording. "All containment chambers have been breached. All available personal all to report for re-containment... this is not a drill."

"That's not u...." He stopped talking. "What he hell is that?"

Barkhorn took a look at the monster, or rather monsters for a single moment, their grotesque forms causing her face to turn into a mask of unfeigned disgust. Perhaps at the fact that the grotesque, mutated bodies of the test subjects that HYDRA had injected with TITAN, or the fact that the dozens of soldiers down below were instantly murdered in unseen brutality, few of them would even have as much as a chance to retaliate against the monsters. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the railing, her eyes were caught by the presence of a vaporizer rifle, it's ominous blue glow had caught her attention.

"Those things... I don't think I'd take any chances with them." Steve said as he grabbed his shield. "Trudy... you thinking what I am thinking?"

He wouldn't need an answer as Barkhorn already had the vaporizer rifle at the ready, she gave a small nod anyways.

"I go down there, you cover me... got it?"

"No way... if you're going to thrust yourself into a pit full of monsters, I am not going to just cowardly sit back and watch you get yourself torn to shreds. Super-soldier or not, those things are... they're an abomination..." Trude said slowly. "They're dangerous... I am going to go down with you. Besides..." She said with a smile as her familiar began to manifest. "I am stronger anyways."

"Suit yourself." Steve said as he jumped down from the second floor, right into the pit of TITAN infused soldiers who were busy venting their berserk rage and fits of insanity upon their former comrades, who's corpses had been mutilated or squashed. Those who were still alive make their way to the exit in a hurry. Most wouldn't get very far....

"Who ze hell left ze experiments out?!" Strucker asked angrily as he barged into the security section of the medical facilities. To his surprise and shock, the two men tasked with the control of every door in the area was dead, murdered brutally, one of them had been beaten to death by bare hands, his assailant obviously possessing superhuman strength while the other had been torn apart with what Strucker could assume to be razor claws. The baron's eye squinted for a moment... before looking closely at the ground... a small trickle of blood... elsewhere a razor sharp owl-shaped shuriken could be found embedded in one of the dead soldiers.

Following the blood trail, the baron turned a corner that held a sign. "Medical lab --->"

Knowing immediately what was going on the baron drew the sword at his side as he ran to the facility, his rage steamed out from his nostrils, fogging over his monocle. This intruder sure had a sense of humor that was lost on Strucker.
He wanted the information regarding to the serums HYDRA produced from the equine blood? So how to do it? By releasing those crazed individuals that had been injected with the serums.

The baron soon made his way to the medical facility right where all he kept the notes regarding the serum that HYDRA had produced. He found exactly what he hoped he wouldn't find.

Everyone, scientist, doctor or soldier with the exception of the patient had been murdered brutally. Either with an owl shaped shuriken in his neck or having been slashed apart by what could be described as claws. A look at the cabinet containing the notes would indicate that the cabinet had been opened with the correct code, not forced open by what Strucker would expect a creature of herculean strength to do so, seeing as that one of the dead soldiers had a broken back.

His sharp senses would pick something up that something... or someone was behind him. Attempting to skulk away or perhaps kill him stealthily. It didn't matter as the Baron spun around and readied his sword. He gazed at the owl-creature intently, carefully noting that it wasn't an owl-creature at all, rather, a man in an owl costume. That hardly made Strucker care, having been used to things like freaks with some outrageous costume. What he cared about was the briefcase the owl-man had in it's hands.

"You did zis?" The baron asked, his sword keenly pointed at the owl-man.

"Indeed." Owlman replied. "And it'd be in your best personal interest to walk away right here and right now. "After all, don't you have other business to attend to?"

"No... I don't. You can give me back ze notes you monster... or I vill personally enjoy cutting you up."

"Get in line."

"As you vish..." The baron said as he lunged forward at the owl-man. Sword at the ready. Even despite his age, the baron was no pushover in combat. Only thing was... Thomas Wayne Jr. was perhaps one of the most lethal fighters in existence. The baron soon found this out when he would be unable to land a single blow on the owl-man. The talons of the owlsuit came out, and came straight down upon the Baron's arm, severing.

He would hardly have any time to react before a heavy blow sent him into the wall, the old man beginning to rapidly lose consciousness. Not before however calling for help...

"Reaper...reaper..."

Owlman grinned wickedly, considering for a moment whether or not he wanted to finish the baron. He decided against it, this wasn't his business quite yet....

Unbeknownst to Owlman as he made his exit by blasting a hole in the wall, someone had been watching him. Chris flipped through her bouts of semi-consciousnesses as she watched the owl-creature make it's way out. Her view cut off when the man in the cloak arrived to help his baron. Unbeknownst to Strucker however, there was a certain man that was watching him, and a certain man who was growing very, very eager.

"Be careful sir.. that wound..."

"I know about zat vound!" Strucker spat out indignantly. "Ze girl... ve'll need her to be alive for HYDRA's plans! Reaper... do you have..."

"I do..." The hooded assassin said as he took out a certain red-gauntlet from his cloak, the moment it was placed near Strucker's arm, it was attached on. And from doing so, it seemed that all the blood-loss and injury that Strucker had sustained just didn't matter in that second. Looking over at the Satan claw, the baron smiled. He considered long ago using this on the Red Skull to usurp HYDRA... but then again, that was something that he could easily expect Schmidt to expect and plan for.

Strucker and Reaper entered the medical facility, and began the process of deactivating the restraints that held Chris. He didn't notice that gasoline was slowly seeping into the room until it was almost too late. The sound of the door opened and the sound of the lock caused the two to jump up.

Bucky looked inwards. Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker. The man who did this to him. He grinned nastily at Strucker and his henchman as the flame was ignited. The door was quickly sealed by Medic, though it was highly debatable that it was even necessary. It would be doubtful the two would walk through the fire and manage to survive. That happened to have been the case for most of HYDRA.

"Hello Strucker..." Bucky smiled angrily. "You remember me don't you? You destroyed me. You destroyed who I was and now... how about I return the favor?"

Had Bucky known that Chris had been in there... it would have been doubtful to whether or not he would have even as much as locked the door in on Strucker and Reaper. But now, he walked away with Medic. The glass to the room was bullet-proof and blocked off by a flame.

It was just so good for Strucker and Reaper (and Chris) that the Satan claw allowed for superhuman strength....