Chasing Ghosts, Part I

Chapter 8

Present Day

Somewhere in the Canadian Rockies

British Columbia, Canada

"Foul creatures!" Thor snarled as he slammed Mjolnir down into the midsection of a multi-legged HYDRA battle drone. Mechanical components exploded as the hammer channeled an immensely bright bolt of lightning through the robot. "They lack the courage to meet in battle so they send these soulless contraptions against us!"

"Don't let Dum-E hear you talk like that," Tony replied through the comm, roaring past overhead in his gold and red Mk 43 armor.

Thor stepped up beside Steve just as the Iron Patriot approached from the other side, fresh from his own fight. Steve tapped the side of his helmet to activate his comm link. "Falcon, you find the entrance yet?"

The sound of anti-aircraft fire echoed through the channel first, before Sam's strained voice. "Uh, not yet, Cap. Heavy fire on the north side."

Steve frowned. "Stark, can you give him some cover?"

"Roger that."

The HYDRA base was snuggled in a valley on the northern end of the Canadian Rockies. Stark's satellites hadn't been able to pinpoint it, but the information Agent Howard had wrung out of Patrick McAllister in Missouri had pointed to it being one of the biggest HYDRA facilities left in North America.

There had been several others, but they'd been systematically obliterated in a series of explosions, fires, and in one unsettling case, a bloodbath. The Winter Soldier's handiwork, Steve was convinced. Unfortunately, they had been one step behind each time. He'd spent the last two months praying that Bucky would slow down long enough for him to catch up. Prayers hadn't worked, so far. The last known base in the U.S. or Canada was in the valley where they now stood, and Steve had hurriedly assembled the Avengers—minus Natasha and Bruce—partially in an effort to get there before Bucky.

That much, he seemed to have succeeded at, since his friend was no where to be found. Less successful had been their element of surprise, since HYDRA had been on high alert when they'd arrived, and they'd encountered a small army of battle drones and fixed weapon emplacements all along the valley.

Three robotic tank drones rolled into the clearing, directly across from where Steve, Thor, and Rhodey stood. They bristled with gun barrels and metal claw arms.

"Didn't we leave this party in Cleveland?" Rhodes asked, twin miniguns already swiveling into position to open fire. The three mini-tanks accelerated forward, engines roaring as they charged across the clearing. Rhodey started blasting one with his guns, as Thor charged the rightmost drone. Steve took the middle, launching himself off a downed tree trunk, keeping his shield out front as the robot fired on him. Bullets ricocheted off the vibranium disc as he did a flip and landed on top of the robot's center turret.

One of the claw arms snapped at him viciously. Steve sliced left with his shield and severed the arm at its middle joint. As the offending arm fell away, Steve slashed downward, using the edge of the shield to cut open a hatch above the main gun assembly, revealing a deep compartment filled with wiring and circuitry.

Gazing inside, Steve shrugged. "They always pull the red one in the movies," he quipped to himself, then reached in and grabbed a clump of red wires and yanked. The drone shuddered, then started turning and twisting violently in a tight circle. The sudden motion flung Steve clear. Unfortunately, the out of control machine kept firing, spraying bullets in every direction.

Steve huddled against the tree trunk, behind his shield, wincing as machine gun rounds pelted the outside of the disc. Several seconds went by until he heard the familiar fwoop pass over his head. One of Hawkeye's exploding arrows imbedded itself into the top of the tank, the blast ripping it apart.

"That was funny, Cap," Barton's voice came through the comm. The archer was keeping watch on their position, shifting around the area as necessary to cover them. "I recorded it for our next party at the Tower."

"You're a little twisted, Barton," Steve retorted without heat. Clint had had a rough two years after New York. Like Thor's friend Selvig, the psychotropic aftereffects of the Tesseract had hit Barton hard. Fortunately for him—unlike Selvig—S.H.I.E.L.D.'s doctors had been there to help. Still, it had been a difficult year, and Clint had volunteered for duty in the Middle East and some self-imposed exile afterward. It was nice to hear him joking around again, in any circumstances.

"Incoming, Captain," Hawkeye said, all business, ignoring Steve's remark. "Five hostiles—Jesus, they're big."

Steve heard the repulsor engines before he saw the source. Five vaguely man-shaped...things landed around the perimeter of the clearing, surrounding Steve and the others. They looked like Tony's armored suits, but more hulking, bristling with visible weaponry. The narrow, hollowed out abdomens seemed to preclude any human pilots, however.

"What the— Tony, are you seeing these?" Rhodes said. "They look like—"

"Hammer drones," Stark replied, sounding personally affronted.

"I thought we got all those in Queens," Rhodes replied.

"You did, Colonel," JARVIS' voice filtered through the comms. "Unfortunately, Justin Hammer was freed from a Federal penitentiary six months ago by unknown forces. There are indications in files Captain Rogers has retrieved that suggest he may now be working for HYDRA."

"Wonderful," Rhodes muttered. "The Feds kept that quiet."

Iron Man swooped by overhead, being pursued by more of the man-sized robots. "All they had to do was keep him in jail..." He complained. "Hold on to your socks, buddy, there's more where those came from!"

"More machines," Thor grumbled. He stepped out in front of Steve and Rhodes and hefted Mjolnir into the air. A swirling vortex of dark clouds spontaneously formed overhead, and the hammer began drawing lightning to itself. After a few seconds of buildup, Thor aimed the hammer at the advancing drones and a fusillade of lightning bolts lanced out and enveloped them. The drones staggered backward, but other than that, the assault seemed to do little but scorch their armored shells.

As the electric barrage faded, the drones straightened, and blasts of pure energy emitted from their now glowing eye ports. The sizzling blasts slammed into the ground around Thor's feet and sent all three men flying back. The Iron Patriot managed to stay on his feet, but Thor and Steve landed on their backs on the other side of the tree trunk.

"Bad idea," Steve muttered. The drones seemed to have absorbed the lightning, much as Tony's armor had in Germany when they'd first met Thor.

The Asgardian shot him a chastened look. "Indeed."

"Get in close, so they can't use their guns!" Rhodey instructed, already racing toward the oncoming drones. Six more had appeared behind them, emerging from the tree line. They'd gone from outnumbered to completely surrounded very quickly.

The Iron Patriot engaged three of them, guns blazing, while Thor brought one down and engaged another, the heavy clang of Mjolnir striking metal echoing along the valley sides. Arrows started raining down, some exploding on contact with the drones' armor, some imbedding themselves into various robotic limbs and weapons pods and superheating them. But, while accurate, Hawkeye's arrow fire wasn't enough. Three were left free to attack unhindered.

Steve charged forward, dropping suddenly just outside of arm's reach of one drone and sliding between its widely spaced legs. He hopped onto his feet behind it, swinging his shield across, severing several exposed hydraulic lines in the machine's abdomen. But, rather than being crippled, the drone's torso spun 180 degrees so that it was once again facing Steve.

Unable to use its guns at such close range, the drone switched to a more physical strategy. Its thick, heavily armored arms swung out, one catching Steve hard in the midsection and propelling him backward into a tree. Winded, he barely got the shield up in time to block the barrage of bullets from the drone's chest mounted cannons. He ran toward it, getting inside its gun range once more, then leapt into the air, somersaulting overhead. As he passed, he swiped the shield in a downward arc, catching the robot's shoulder joint and severing its left arm.

The drone staggered, seemingly unable to process the sudden loss of one appendage. Steve took advantage of the seconds-long distraction and swiped the knee joints. The drone's upper legs and body dropped, face down. Servos whirred loudly as it tried and failed to spin itself around, only its legs rotating wildly. In another setting, Steve might have laughed at the sight.

Mechanical noises from behind dragged his attention away from the downed robot, though. He spun around, finding himself face to faceplate with two more of them. One of them had been modified with spinning blades in place of its metal hands, the other had a huge mallet-like attachment. That one attacked first.

The giant bludgeon descended fast. Steve raised his shield in time, but the powerful impact still drove him down to one knee. Another blow almost dislodged the shield from his hands. The second drone was moving in as well, spinning blades out and ready to cut him to ribbons.

As the first drone raised its bludgeon again, its head suddenly split open, metal and plastic spraying out the opposite side. A microsecond later, Steve heard the loud report of a gun. The second drone's head exploded in the same fashion, followed by the sound of another gun shot.

Steve's brain was still in fight or flight mode, having been moments from death just a second before, but he was able to put together "sniper rifle" in his mind as an explanation. He sighed in relief and tapped his comm link. "Thanks, Barton."

There was silence at first, then he heard Clint's voice. It sounded odd. "Uh...that wasn't me, Cap."

Steve blinked. He looked up along the opposite side of the valley, where he'd assumed Hawkeye had been sniping for them. He saw a small glint of light in the distance, but it faded almost immediately. The sun reflecting off metal...

Sam's voice cut in to his thoughts. "We found the entrance, Cap! Northeast side."

"Tell Colonel Talbot that he can move his team in," Steve ordered, mind suddenly very much off the battle. Thor and Rhodes had destroyed the other drones. "Stark, clear a path for them."

"I'd like to lodge an objection, Captain!" Tony's sarcastic tone still registered despite the electronic filters of his suit. "Since Talbot did steal from Stark Industries and I'm not sure he's entirely trustworthy—"

"Complain to me later, Tony, just do it," Steve interrupted. He pointed up to the ridge where he'd seen the reflection, knowing that Hawkeye was watching him. "Clint, do you see that patch of trees, about half a click up on the left?"

"Got it, I'll meet you there," Clint replied curtly. Steve knew he'd already be moving. He started running as well, dodging debris and downed robots as he went. "Thor, secure this area. Rhodey scan those drones and see if you can tell me what dropped them."

Steve registered the affirmatives but said no more, running at full speed across the forest floor. He leapt across the small stream that flowed along the center of the valley and continued up the hill beyond. He arrived at the small patch of foliage at almost the same time as Barton, who looked over the tiny clearing with his well-trained eye. Even Steve recognized that the small, flat rock outcropping would be a perfect sniper's nest.

"I found some slugs, Captain," Rhodey said. "High-powered rifle, for sure. My forensics program isn't detecting any rifling...suggests maybe an old Soviet design."

"There's nothing here, Steve," Clint reported. "No brass. Not even a footprint."

Steve stepped over toward the edge of the outcropping, and noticed a small, folded scrap of paper jammed between two rocks. He reached down and snagged it. When he read what was written on it. he froze.

"Are you thinking it was him, Steve?" Clint asked, keeping his microphone off for privacy.

"I know it was," Steve replied, mouth tight.

"How?"

Steve held up the paper scrap. "'Cause he left me a note."

Barton's eyebrows raised. "A note? What does it say?"

Steve glanced down at the paper and reread the words, printed in blocky letters he recognized anywhere.

Stop following me Steve. Please.

End Part One

A/N: Colonel Talbot was recently seen on Agents of Shield, but he was also in the Incredible Hulk video game, where he stole a suit from Stark to hunt down Bruce Banner. The movies didn't mention this, but in the show Coulson clearly had some bad history with the man. I'm referencing that above.

This is not the end of the story. Just the end of the beginning of it.