Chapitre 19: Hank visit to the Base
Hank came to the Alkali base with the pickup team. The base was part of a water bottling plant but the water bottling plant was only a small factory placed outside of the main zone. After getting the security clearance, going further inside, there was a simple double-storey building with heavy security near the lake.
There were cameras pointing towards the main door of the building and only after Martha permission, you can enter it. The small 'house' had no people inside. No receptionist or anyone else other than the cleaning crew. There were a few elevators just in front. The elevator also had no buttons, meaning it was controlled by the operations room and only after permission from Martha or the operations team, someone was allowed to come down to the main base.
The layout was simple yet efficient. If someone tried to force his way inside, he not only had to fight the soldiers outside but also an AI at the same time. He got into the elevator alone as the team simply left after reaching the lift area.
When he came out, he saw his daughter waiting for him. A smile naturally came on his face and he spoke, "You are looking more like your mother now. Strong and confident. C'mon your old man wants to meet legendary Captain America now and his friend Bucky. I have a lot of questions I need to be answered."
"Direct to the point dad, you know you could have complimented more about me. I am the operations head here. Granted I am still learning but I am managing a lot of things while kids my age are spending their time doing beer pong in college," replied Hope while still taking her father's arm with a smile.
They both came to the medical room where Cap and Bucky were recovering from their injuries. They were already informed by Martha that Hank was coming to meet them. Looking at Cap and Bucky had shocked Hank into silence. Finally, he was able to speak.
"You know when my daughter told me that Phil had rescued Captain America from the Ice, I never believed her. Part of me always felt it was more of a fictional story or more of a fairy tale. But I now see, not one but two WWII heroes, in front of me. You know cap, when I was in the military everyone wanted to be like you. You are an idol for an entire generation," Hank said while looking at both the living legends in front of him. He moved towards the captain intending to shake his hand.
"You are welcome, Dr. Hank. I know what you and your family has done for this country. To meet someone like you is also my honour," cap said.
While these two guys were shaking hands and talking to each other like war buddies, Bucky who has been silent most of the time since he came into this facility spoke -"Hank Pym as in the one with Ant power thing. I remember you. I saw you in Zola files. Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne. I don't remember much but you were my target once. The mission was cancelled later but you are still on their list."
Suddenly there was pin-drop silence in the room.
"What do you know about my wife?" asked Hank. The old man who was laughing two seconds before was gone and in his place was a cold-blooded fighter. He spoke each word slowly and that reflected the anger and frustration he was feeling inside.
"I don't know much. They never let me out from the chamber until there was a mission. I sleep, wake up and kill. That's my life for the last 48 years. ," said Bucky with a hollow look in his eyes.
"Maybe I can help Hank. You know the guy with the super-computer who destroyed your Hydra buddy Zola yesterday," came the voice of Phil who has just reached the base and saw Hank talking to Bucky.
"I was waiting for you, Phil. You promised me answers about HYDRA, about SHIELD and you promised information about Quantum Realm and all I have is my daughter working for you and me giving you PYM particles along with my company! I don't think this was the deal we discussed Phil," Hank replied in a very calm voice. The voice was calm but everyone can feel he will soon explode if he didn't get any valuable answers from Phil.
Phil gestured Hank to come to his side, away from the rest of the crowd and explained slowly.
"As promised, I have already compiled all information I have on the quantum realm and the way to access it. Yes, I do have a way now to send you or anyone with the help of Pym Particles into the quantum realm and bring them back safely. However, building a stable and powerful enough Quantum tunnel will take time. At least three or five years before you can use it."
"I need to see all the data, theory, schematics and everything to the last detail. I don't need more empty promises now, Phil," said Hank and he moved towards Bucky back again. Pointing to Bucky he said, "I believe Sergeant Bucky Barnes just said me and my family are on the HYDRA list," and before Phil could say something he pointed to Phil and said - "and just now, you said you killed Dr. Arnim Zola. Explain."
Captain, Bucky and Hope also looked towards Phil seemingly waiting for the answers. Phil looked at the crowd, dragged a chair and sat in front of everyone.
"I designed what I believed to be the world's first AI. The most powerful combination of technology and computing and imagination turned into a reality. I named her MARTHA and this was in my third year at MIT. I was barely 18 then. Only a few hours after Martha was online, I received a notice of an attack on all of her programming modules. Someone out there in the digital world decided to hack and manipulate the life I had just created. And this is where I found your lab partner and HYDRA's brain Dr. Zola. This guy managed to replicate his brain into digital numbers and a string of codes.
Camp Lehigh, Cap was trained there and SHIELD was founded there but the parasite infecting everything was also born there. That was the facility I bombed yesterday which is not part of any news you will find on your tv or those papers." Phil replied at a slow and steady pace.
He stood up, grabbed a water bottle near the cap's table.
"I and Martha managed to destroy this guy and we also copied a lot of data from him but I am waiting for your help in understanding it and sorting it out. I am good with computers but I do have my hands full at this moment. So, would you like to help Hank?" Phil said while he finished the water bottle.
"I already Quit SHIELD and I am not jumping to join another one," refuted Hank.
"Oh no. You quit because your wife got trapped into the quantum realm and SHIELD was recreating your 'PYM' particles. Well, the one behind all these - Mitchell Carson. Your another previous work buddy and also, a Hydra operative tasked to kick you and your wife out of Shield before stabilizing his position as the Head of Defense there, " replied Phil shrugging his shoulders freezing Hank in his place.
"That bastard! I knew something was wrong with Shield! I knew that mission was going wrong from the moment it was handed to us, " Hank said angrily. He always blamed himself for not being able to save Janet. He always thought it was an accident that they were late before that damned missile took off but now he found he was targetted from the beginning.
After that mission, he always felt his missions in Shield had many key details missing, his allies at Shield behaving in a strange way. Everything was too suspicious. Hope grabbed her father's arm and pressed it tightly.
"I am going to kill Carson and I am going to make sure he feels the pain I felt every single day in the last five years," he said after a few minutes.
"There is more than one HYDRA agent hiding in SHIELD and they have many loyal, faithful followers who believe in their cause not just in SHIELD but also in every major industry and company. I have a lot of data sitting with me and if you can help, maybe we can go through it faster and compile a list of names and locations," proposed Phil.
"Hank, Phil is right. I sacrificed my life thinking I destroyed HYDRA and 50 years later, I come back, it is still here. We need to plan and move properly. We need more agents and no offence Hope, a better operations head," Cap jumped into the conversation with these words.
"Don't worry captain. You and Bucky need to rest before a mission I have for you. Hank, why don't you follow me back to the factory where I work? I can hand over all my research on Quantum tunnel and maybe you can have a look at the data we got from Zola," before Hope could say anything regarding her position as operations head, he tried to take Hank away from the base.
Hank was too focused on Hydra and Quantum tunnel that he ignored the look his daughter was giving to cap at this moment.
"Let's go. I may not be able to write an AI program but I am still good with computers. I was there when computers were first created you know," Hank said while going out with Phil to see wherever this factory was now.
"I am also coming. I think cap and bucky need more time to rest. Letting them talk about their past will help Bucky unlock his memories faster, " Hope said suddenly and ran after Phil and Hank before finally giving a 'look' to the captain.
Bucky watched as Hank, Phil and Hope went towards the lift. He then looked at the cap and said "I remember Steve. I think I remember our trip to coney island. I asked Dolores out on a date and she bought her friend. You ended up throwing up on Dolores after the ride. Her friend gave you this exact look."
Steve looked at Bucky, for a few minutes finding no words, before picking up his shoes and throwing them on Bucky's face.
"Seriously that's the first thing you remember!"
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone