Chapter Text
Road up the Austrian Alps
Gwen’s black HYDRA uniform served her well as she made her way through the German lines. She just looked like a short man. No one stopped her or looked too closely. She used Cap’s rations to keep herself fed and hydrated. She had to cover two hundred kilometers. As she reached the last part of her impromptu road trip she decided to start asking Charlotte questions.
“Tell me everything we know about Elise Sinclair.”
Charlotte spoke.
“Elise Vera-Lynn Van Braum, Born Feb 25, 1893, German-American. Married to German-American Robert Fredrick Sinclair, on October 31, 1912. One child born 1926, Vera-Lynn Sinclair. The family moved to Nazi Germany when Adolf Hitler made the call for all Aryan born Germans to return to the Fatherland. Robert Fredick Sinclair was killed on the Eastern Front, December 24, 1941. Vera-Lynn Sinclair died on or around May 1942, casualty of allied bombing. Elise Sinclair signed up for Project Ubermensch in October 1942. Code name – Viper. She was responsible for the failure of many allied missions. All reports indicate she is a true believer. Due to her reaction to the super-soldier serum, she became younger but developed ovarian cancer. She had her ovaries removed and continued working with HYDRA. Current disposition unknown. She vanished when the Third Reich fell in 1945. Due to concerns around further cancerous growths, she was kept in cryostasis and was likely discovered by the Soviets as they captured the base she was held in. SHIELD/HYDRA is unaware of her current location. If she remained in cryostasis, or if she survived any further cancer she would likely still be alive in twenty-twenty-three as observations from surviving digitized HYDRA files indicate she was not aging at a normal rate.”
Gwen was trying not to fall asleep while Charlotte droned on and on.
“Wow that was… a lot. So basically, her husband and daughter died, she drank the HYDRA kool-aid and boom, American with a vendetta against the allies. Well at least if I speak in English, it won’t be odd. Well, if we’re lucky and I hope we are… maybe they’ll figure out how to separate Wagner without killing him so I can do the same with Symbie.”
Charlotte responded.
“Yes, and yes. You are correct on both counts. We are approaching our destination. Will I still be doing the talking?”
Gwen sighed.
“Until we see Armin or that creepy ob..whatever.”
“Obergruppenführer is the correct pronunciation of his title, Gwen.”
Gwen made a face as she pulled up to the gate. The soldiers at the gate were just normal German rank and file. She left the motorcycle there. She figured Cap might find it, she hoped he would the Howling Commandos knew about this base. It was chilly as her trip had taken her into the Austrian Alps. Even with the map it had been Charlotte who had tracked it down based on old records the pair had downloaded from SHIELD in the future.
She made her way inside and ran into no resistance right up until she ran into another HYDRA officer, an actual real one. He looked her up and down with a sneer.
“Who are you supposed to be?”
Charlotte responded in German sounding just as condescending, mirroring his tone.
“I am here under the orders of the, Obergruppenführer instead of getting in my way you should be telling him I have arrived.”
He sent a low ranking NCO off. When the NCO returned the officer who stopped her looked like he’d just swallowed a bug he motioned her through and pointed to the NCO.
“Take her to see the Obergruppenführer immediately.”
Gwen followed the NCO who didn’t spare her any glances, almost as if her very existence was a threat to his life. She just went with it. She was just pretending to be a snotty high ranking Sith Dark Lord from that Star Wars video game she used to play with Peter. It seemed to be working so far. She arrived at an office and the NCO opened the door. Gwen heard the Obergruppenführer addressing someone, she recognized his voice immediately though Charlotte still had to translate for her.
“Of course, Fuhrer, of course. Your weapons will be ready for the counteroffensive.”
He had his chair facing away from the door. The NCO hurriedly closed the door leaving Gwen and the creepy super-soldier alone together. He hung up and was shaking his head. The teenager was forced to keep her face a mask of calm as she saw what had become of the man in front of her. His face was a red skull. He smiled and it sent a chill down Gwen’s spine.
“The serum was not so kind to me as it was you, Frau Sinclair. Come help me put my face on.”
Gwen tried to avoid making a face as she helped him put his mask on. He looked at himself in a mirror with a disgusted sneer.
“I need to appear normal lest the Fuhrer question my worthiness to lead. His time is limited so I will only need to keep the illusion a little longer. Does my appearance disgust you?”
Gwen nodded.
“Sorry, Obergruppenführer, I’m sure you’d like an honest answer and yes it is very disturbing.”
He laughed.
“Hah. Faur Sinclair you are blunt woman, and I appreciate it. Tell me something, why is it you aren’t giving birth to Aryan super soldiers instead of assassinating high ranking Allied officers and ruining their missions?”
Gwen recalled Elise’s medical history.
“My body reacted like yours did, but on the inside.”
He adjusted his mask one last time.
“Well, that is truly sad, what magnificent soldiers you could gift HYDRA… at least you are still serving how you can. Tell me, how did the mission I give you go?”
Gwen spoke calmly in English again; The Red Skull hadn’t seemed to care and just kept talking away in German. Gwen assumed he’d read her file, or at least Elise’s. She had to remember she wasn’t a fifteen year old girl or wasn’t supposed to be she was supposed to pretend to be a fifty year old woman in a fifteen year old body.
“I kept their Captain America and his team busy while you evacuated. Once I confirmed you were safe. I activated the self-destruct and made my escape.”
He smiled.
“And this super-solider, did you eliminate him?”
Gwen shook her head.
“No, Obergruppenführer, I prioritized the mission. I did not wait to verify if he died in the self-destruct.”
He rubbed his chin.
“Ah well, how did you do against him?”
Gwen answered honestly.
“He didn’t give me any trouble. If I hadn’t been so pressed for time I would have been able to kill him, but his commando team was getting close, and I can’t dodge bullets.”
The Red Skull laughed.
“It must have been so embarrassing him to be beaten by a woman…you may call me Johan; May I call you Elise? We are both adults here. Experienced soldiers.”
“As you wish, Johan.”
He tapped his fingers before speaking to her again as if pondering his next words carefully.
“What was your next assignment? Where is your handler?”
Gwen started making stuff up at this point.
“My handler leaked the location of the base we were on, told me to get the intel he wanted then get ‘rescued’ by the Americans. HYDRA had done such horrible things to me I just wanted to go home… my parents were dead and I’m an American girl. I was to infiltrate the US and start eliminating targets deemed a threat to HYDRA interests. Unfortunately, after I encountered their Captain America that cover is gone. I executed my handler for his stupidity in releasing a HYDRA base’s location. We could have sacrificed a secret Nazi facility instead.”
Gwen was barely holding it together. She was channeling every mean, evil spy she’d seen in multimedia, pretending she was dealing with Obadiah, Matt Murdock and evil Loki all at once. The thing that kept her going was the thought of how hilarious Loki would find all this if he were alive, he’d love to be pulling this off and he’d love that she was pulling it off. This was his kind of game, high stakes and the ultimate prank.
Johan laughed loudly.
“Ah, excellent. We have lost too many bases to those Americans already.”
Gwen threw the map she used on the table.
“Johan, they know this base exists. I tried warning HYDRA command but… they ignored me because I am a woman. I am but it doesn’t make the truth any less true.”
He looked at the map and stood up. He swore and leaned on his desk looking out a window to a plane that was still under construction below.
“It is good you brought this to me. I see what Armin spoke of. I see why the Allies underestimate you. Answer me one question… Why the pink hair?”
Gwen thought fast.
“My daughter kept hers this way, it was an effective cover… if they’d done research.”
He laughed and it grew into an almost maniacal laughter.
“It is the irony of life that I have found the perfect woman, and she is barren. At least you make a good spy and soldier. I should have the man who experimented on you executed for ruining you.”
Gwen responded.
“I’ve already killed him when I found out what happened to me.”
“Of course you did, Elise. You are a woman of exquisite action. Tell me, something else, after all you have suffered for the cause, why are you still here? Skills like yours you could have vanished… never to be seen or heard from again.”
Gwen tried to channel her own anger at her Uncle Ben’s senseless death into her statement, she wasn’t sure how else to sell an angry mother and wife, she had no basis for comparison.
“I have nothing left except for HYDRA. The Allies and their flawed serum have taken all of it from me.”
He closed his fist and looked out at his Valkyrie bomber. He motioned to it.
“This will end the war if the Fuhrer doesn’t cause Germany to implode first. I will bomb their east coast then move inwards.”
Gwen saw a strange familiar blue glow below… she’d seen it before and not just in the Red Skull’s pistol. It was the same glow as the tesseract. She blinked a few times. It was here, right now. She suddenly felt his hands on her cheeks as he forced her to look up into his eyes. He was stronger than her and Symbie and that was saying something. What his serum had lacked in subtlety had made up for it in raw power.
“What is it you want Elise Sinclair?”
Gwen was stuck. She answered with the truth.
“A cure for what HYDRA did to me.”
He released her.
“There is no cure, Elise.”
Gwen held the sides of her head, and she started to experience flashes. The Time stone was stabbing her brain with an image of her entering the portal to Asgard, picking up the tesseract and then facing the Red Skull on a windswept cliff a place between life and death. She collapsed. He offered his hand. She shied away from it. It was close personal contact that seemed to have caused the vision, and the pain was more intense than anything she’d ever felt. Every nerve in her body had burned with it.
She quickly grabbed the desk and pulled herself up. The Red Skull offered her a handkerchief. She took it and held it to her nose that was bleeding. He spoke.
“I see the serum has had other effects. For me the pain is constant. It burns my skin.”
Armin rushed in.
“Herr Shmidt! The artifact it is… behaving strangely.”
Gwen leaned on the Red Skull’s desk trying to recover. He looked back as he prepared to follow Armin.
“Come, your insight may prove useful. Unless you are too weak.”
She pushed herself up and as much as she wanted to pretend to be strong and invincible the temporal flashback… flashforward? Had drained her of her energy and she had already been exhausted. She had to use the wall to keep herself moving forward. The trio arrived at a sealed room. Armin motioned to thick glass window. There were piles of glowing blue dust-slime on the ground.
“The energy output has increased…exponentially we may not be able to contain it.”
Gwen was still holding the handkerchief to her nose. In her haze of pain, she recalled her conversation with Loki about the infinity stones. What had he said about them? They remember each other… what… was it. So much had happened since and yet everything was now depending on her remember why… Chaos always followed when more than one stone was in the same location… was it chaos? Charlotte spoke.
“Gwen I am detecting an energy build up in the Time stone and the Tesseract. Do you recall the conversation with Loki Odinson about the infinity stones?”
The teenager was having trouble thinking she was still trying to feel comfortable in her body with the splitting headache. She couldn’t exactly answer Charlotte as much as she wanted to swear at the AI for not just saying it… then in her moment of distraction she remembered Loki telling her that for everyone’s best interest the infinity stones should never be in the same place at the same time.
Charlotte spoke again.
“I am detecting a resonance between the infinity stones. While the energy readings have far exceeded my ability to scan their entirety perhaps picking up the Tesseract will allow the two to equalize for a time until you can leave the facility.”
Gwen couldn’t hold it in.
“You want me to what?!?! No that is the exact opposite thing that Loki told me to do!”
Armin and The Red Skull both looked at her. She ignored them. She watched the Tesseract pulses increasing and the arcs of energy lashing out. She could feel the Time stone doing the same thing. She had no better ideas and this was just… dumb enough it might work. She sighed and started opening the armored door to the lab. Armin grabbed her arm, and The Red Skull pulled him back.
“No, let her. She knows more then she lets on.”
Armin was looking more than a little terrified.
“The energy… it could vaporize the base…”
The Red Skull smiled.
“Yet Elise walks towards it instead of away from it. We need more like her.”
Gwen walked inside and slammed the armored door shut behind her. She weaved between the arcs of energy as her spider sense triggered her agility. Finally, she was within reach of the wildly pulsing Tesseract.
“I swear to God Charlotte, if this thing disintegrates us, I’m coming back to haunt your ghost.”
She closed her eyes and reached out with her left hand while her right hand reached into her pocket and wrapped around the Time stone. She screamed in agony and dropped to her knees much like someone who had touched a live wire she couldn’t release either of the infinity stones. Her body became a conduit between the two stones and the energy burned through her. Gwen’s skin was starting to glow but the same dark energy that had scattered versions of her across the multiverse contained the power coursing through her. The power between the two stones seemed to balance each other out.
She couldn’t have figured out how much time had passed while she held onto both stones. She just felt hollowed out and used. She collapsed to her knees then fell over. This left her in the unfortunate position of being at the mercy of her enemies because she was spent. She survived the infinity stones, but she was much worse for the wear. As she wavered at the edge of consciousness, she felt something even more disturbing. Gwen felt like she’d just been hit by another particle accelerator and this time it was a cosmic one. She did not feel right, her body didn’t feel like her own anymore. The world went black.