Inside the cluttered office of Williams International, Brock Rumlow sat, scrolling through reports sent to Simon William, the newly disgraced CEO. One of them in particular caught his eye. After reading it through a second time, he stood, walked to the door, and closed it. He pulled out one of his cell phones and dialed. "Is this line secure?" he began, without pleasantries.

"It is. Go ahead," came the curt reply.

"I'm in the CEO's office of Williams Industries. Nick Fury has just had the CEO arrested on charges of embezzlement and supporting organized crime."

"And why tell me?" asked the voice on the other end.

"Because I've access to their research. There's some interesting things in here. I think certain people will find the experiments into ionic bombardment especially fascinating."

There was silence for a moment. "How so?" genuine curiosity, a good sign.

"They appear to make parts of the human genetic code unstable. This could allow for easier... adaptations of certain experiments. It doesn't help what we're doing here, but those others would probably consider it a favor if they received copies of these notes. A favor they might be willing to repay in terms of resources."

More silence. "I think, Agent Rumlow," the voice said approvingly, "That you've come up with a very good bargaining chip. Especially with the additional complication of the Snow Queen and her sister. Our voice with an internet connection has already recommended waking up the asset, something that's being worked on as we speak."

"Understood, sir. I will get these reports on a flash drive, and make sure that our other agents get you full copies of the research."
"I wonder. Maybe we should see if we can't provide Simon himself. I believe he is a much better scientist than business man, and if his ethics already have him dipping into organized crime, maybe he wouldn't mind working for us."

"I apologize, sir, that's not something I can help with, not without blowing my cover."

"Of course. I'll look into it discreetly. Do you have anything else?"

"No, sir, that's it."

"Good work, Agent Rumlow. Look forward to hearing from you, again." Secretary Pierce said, "Hail Hydra."

"Is everything a test with you, Fury?" Maria asked.

"Oh, not everything," Fury said, sitting down. "It's that everything could be a test. It's important to know how people react. Sometimes you're being watched, and need to know how to get people suspicious of things without telling them directly."

"Which is why we're meeting at a Burger King."

"Sometimes you just have to have things your way. If Stark can have a Whopper on national TV, I can, once a month, have a Double Stacker."

Maria rolled her eyes. "First donuts, now this."

Fury lowered his voice slightly. "Also, I'm pretty sure Burger King has fly fans on."

Maria stiffened. "Do you need some for your office?"

"Don''t think they'd do any good. Something's going on, maybe even coming to a head. You know I don't trust Project Insight. Biometric scanners on doors is one thing. But holding a Sword of Damocles over everyone's head? That's Stalinish."

"But the council..."

"Yes, the council thinks we need to be that far ahead of the curve. We don't. It wouldn't have protected us against an Alien Invasion. And the only person safe from it is the person holding the trigger."

"And people on the boats themselves," added Maria.

"Proves my point. I've been thinking of a back up plan, just in case the worst happens. We'll need a way to get underground... truly underground."

"Another base," Maria deduced. "In Arendelle. Because you just got tacit permission. What's Norway going to say?"

"They're not technically in a position to argue. After all, Queen Elsa has never formally given up the position, has she?"

(February)

"Are we in position to make use of this, Baron Strucker?" his assistant asked, looking at the files they'd been sent from America.

"Hmph. Maybe. We are still focused on this staff, and our volunteers," Strucker said. "Still, this is very interesting. Perhaps one of the other heads has time to make use of it. But that is not important today." He strode walked down the castle steps, into the well lit surgical lab. The patient had regained his feet, and was looking alertly at him. "Congratulations, Herr Hans. The first person to undergo Extremis injection since we received Stark's stabilization adjustments. How do you feel?"

Prince Hans, formerly of Denmark, looked at Baron Strucker and gave a very brutal smile. "Better than I have in a long time, Baron Strucker." He made a fist with his right hand, that glowed nearly as bright red as his hair.

"Very good. You have a very short amount of time to get used to your new abilities. We need you for an assignment in America. We do not have the resources to make an army. This was left over from what AIM had."

"Oh?" he asked.

"Hydra has taken over a SHIELD project and is looking to bring it to a successful conclusion. They would like you there... for security." Baron Strucker gave a thin lipped grin. "Both Elsa and Anna are there. I believe you have a score with those two."

Hans looked at Strucker, and black eyes burned like coals. "Yes. I do."

A/N: And on that Bombshell, Frozen Assets has come to an "end". I suppose I could have made it all one larger story, but I think separating them when I time-skip or change themes works better. The next episode will be a one or two shot story, covering scenes from their training with various members of SHIELD, and then we plunge headlong into Cold Mage, the Winter Soldier analogue. As always, thank you for all the Follows, Favorites, and Reviews. If you really like story, consider adding this series to a Fanfic recommendation page on TV Tropes.

-John "TheZorker" Burkhart