CHAPTER FOUR
the base in belgium
　

HOURS HAD COME AND GONE before their satellites found Edrick Karlov, but it felt like an eternity for Tony Stark. He spent those several hours drinking and staring at computer screens, waiting for an update, and when the scientist's location finally popped up on the screen, he had dropped his drink and suddenly became more sober than he had been in his entire life.

They went over the plan a few times while getting ready, and Tony wasn't at all happy when the team expressed their concerns about him hesitating in the field again. They all knew how much he loved Ophelia Southerns more than anything in the world, but they couldn't take the chance of another failed mission, so they gave him strict instructions to stay away from the woman.

When Tony began arguing against the plan, Steve had to step in and tell the billionaire that he was going to be the one to apprehend Ophelia Southerns while the rest of them focused on getting Karlov and finding the scepter. Because he didn't love the woman and therefore wouldn't hesitate to do whatever it took to subdue her and bring her back to Avengers Tower with them. He made a promise, and after a few silent moments, Tony nodded, trusting Steve Rogers.

They loaded up in the quinjet with whatever they would need for the mission and left Avengers Tower as soon as possible. By the time they arrived in Antwerp, Belgium, it was nightfall and the bright moon glistened above their heads as they trekked through the darkened woods where the secluded HYDRA base was located.

Clint, Natasha and Thor approached the base from the south entrance while Tony and Steve approached the northern entrance. Maeve had stayed back at Avengers Tower since she was still injured, and Bruce was running comms in the quinjet, which was stationed deep in the woods. The scientist would only join the fight if Steve Rogers said that it was a Code Green.

The Avengers approached the base with caution and stealth, and when they were close enough, they saw some guards stationed up ahead and knew that was going to be a problem for them. They ducked behind some trees and large boulders, and Steve gave some hushed orders so that he wouldn't be overheard.

"Thor, Barton, can you take out the guard posts?"

"Already on it," Clint replied.

From where they were hiding behind some trees, Tony and Steve could see several of the guards falling out of their posts as arrows lodged themselves deep within their chests. Before the remaining HYDRA soldiers could warn the people inside the base, they were quickly subdued by Thor, who landed on the guard posts and knocked them unconscious with a swing of his hammer.

Now that the area was clear, they were able to move inside the base. They approached from two angles, the south and the north, and moved through the hallways with ease, for there was hardly anybody inside. And the people that were inside seemed to all be in the same room as each other.

After going through various dimly lit hallways, down a flight of stairs, and regrouping with each other, the team finally arrived at what appeared to be the basement of the HYDRA facility. But as they reached the bottom of the staircase, they realized that it was so much more than just a basement.

Emerging from the archway of the staircase, they came upon a metal balcony that was built into the wall all across the room and overlooked the floor below, where there were workstations filled with some kind of equipment and papers that were obviously important to the work that they were doing.

They looked around the room, finding two flights of stairs that lead from the balcony to the laboratory floor. The team managed to identify Karlov as well as Ophelia. Steve quickly gave everyone orders by using hand gestures, and they watched him for a moment, before nodding silently and going to their posts.

Clint went to the far corner of the balcony, where he would fire hires from above and take out as many of the HYDRA soldiers as he could. Natasha and Thor waited with Steve, for they were going to leap over the side of the balcony and land below to engage the soldiers. Meanwhile, Tony got ready to power up the thrusters of his suit. He was going to hover over the lab and take down HYDRA soldiers from above.

When Steve gave them all a silent nod, they leapt into battle, taking the HYDRA soldiers and scientists down below by surprise. None of them had gotten a warning from their guards stationed outside, so they hadn't expected the Avengers to suddenly show up out of the shadows like this.

Gunfire rang out instantly, papers were flying in the air, and some of the scientists were screaming their heads off because they didn't know how to fight and were scared of dying. But that didn't stop the Avengers. They were going to stop at nothing to get Edrick Karlov and Ophelia Southerns.

Clint continued to shoot arrows from the balcony, occasionally ducking out of the way from gunfire and finding some quick cover before leaping back out and shooting some more arrows again. Natasha was below him and had flipped over a desk on the ground and was hiding behind it, only popping up to fire bullets at the HYDRA soldiers when she knew they would least expect it.

Thor was off to the side, fighting off multiple soldiers all at once, and Tony was doing the same as he hovered above the lab in his Iron Man suit. The God of Thunder even swung his hammer into a desk at one point, knocking everything that was on top onto the floor and flinging the object toward several HYDRA soldiers, instantly knocking them all unconscious upon impact.

Steve was fighting a few soldiers off with both his shield and his fists, but when he finally spotted Edrick Karlov across the room, the man being led toward what appeared to be a cloaked tunnel along the western wall by none other than Ophelia Southerns herself, he fought his way over to them.

But Ophelia saw him coming.

The woman turned around just as he reached them, and she threw her elbow into his jaw, catching the man off guard and causing him to stumble backwards out of shock. She engaged quickly after telling Karlov to run, not giving Captain America time to process what just happened, and threw even more punches into his face and stomach.

Steve stumbled backwards again, his jaw buzzing and stomach slightly sore from how hard the woman's punches were, but nothing was going to stop him. He wasn't going to give up now. A few punches was nothing to the star-spangled man. He could do this all day. And he was.

"Karlov escaped down a tunnel," Steve informed the team, knowing he wasn't going to be able to engage the scientist when Ophelia Southerns stood in the way. "He's heading west."

"He won't get away this time," Tony replied with determination, flying out of the facility in an instant to subdue the scientist. "I've got him."

Once Steve knew that Karlov was being taken care of, he brought his fist back, throwing it into her jaw. Ophelia lost her footing, stumbling backwards into the wall. He was sure that would have been enough to knock her unconscious, but it wasn't. She was tough and had already recovered from the blow, a droplet of blood flowing down her chin as she charged at him again.

Steve did everything he could to take her down, but Ophelia Southerns proved to be a worthy opponent. She embraced every hit and would recover from them as quickly as he sent the punches. Blood gushed from an open wound along her cheek and from her mouth as well, but she ignored the pain throbbing in her bones and kept fighting like she was trained to do.

He hit her again and again and again until he eventually had her pinned up against the wall of the tunnel by the throat. She then began squirming, which made it hard for him to knock her unconscious. And when she realized what he was trying to do, Ophelia brought her knee up and connected it with his groin, which caught him off guard for a moment. And that brief moment where his grip loosened up around her neck allowed for her to slip away from him.

Steve grunted and stumbled backwards from the pain that blossomed between his legs, but he recovered quickly. He lifted his shield when he caught a glimmer of metal, and realized that she had pulled out a dagger during that brief moment where he was in pain.

The woman tilted her head to the side, dangerous eyes narrowing in on the man, and then she lunged with a venomous expression upon her face. She wanted to kill him, but Steve Rogers wasn't going to let her. They needed her. Tony needed her.

More punches were thrown and she even cut him a few times with her dagger. But finally, Steve had gotten the upper-hand on the woman. He punched his shield into her chest, causing her to stumble on her feet, and then he grabbed her wrist when she swiped at him with the dagger. Steve twisted her wrist until she dropped the weapon, and then he shoved her into the wall as hard as he could, before slamming his shield down into her face.

Her eyes closed, head rolling to the side, and her body stopped moving. Steve looked down at her for a moment, letting out a sigh of relief. She was unconscious and he was now battered up from all her punches, kicks and slashes. But he would heal in no time. He was more worried about what HYDRA had done to her and if Tony had managed to subdue Karlov or not.

"I've got her," Steve said into the comms, wanting to let Tony know that the woman he loved was coming home with them.

"And Karlov?" Natasha asked.

"Already taken care of," Tony replied, and the entire team felt a weight lift off their shoulders. Their mission had been successful and they were going back to Avengers Tower with the two people that they intended to have in their custody.

After taking a moment to regain his bearings, Steve secured his shield onto his back and bent down. He lifted the unconscious Ophelia Southerns into his arms and carried the woman through the tunnel, coming into the laboratory once more. The room was a mess with bodies, equipment and papers everywhere. But he stepped over everything, placing the unconscious woman on a table and allowing Natasha to bind her wrists with a set of handcuffs in case she woke up.

"What were we able to recover?" Steve asked Clint, who was rounding up all the HYDRA soldiers and scientists with Thor nearby so they could take them into custody.

"Just them," Clint replied, motioning toward Ophelia and the captive HYDRA men. "We've looked everywhere for the scepter, but it isn't here."

"What?" Steve asked, brow furrowed.

Thor was confused. "I thought Karlov was supposed to be working with the scepter?"

"He was," Clint said.

"They could've been waiting for the scepter to be transported here," Natasha suggested.

Steve nodded in agreement and went to say something, but stopped himself and furrowed his brows when he saw something laying on the floor. He stepped closer, nudging a desk and some papers out of the way with his boot, before bending down picking up a red leatherback book that had a star on the front.

He opened the book up, lips parting in shock when he realized what it was. They didn't just brainwash Ophelia Southerns into becoming a trained assassin. She was a Winter Soldier, the famed Madame Hydra. She was Viper, a vicious killer. And inside this book were the very words to activate her.

a/n: so, this chapter was a lot lol. but yeah, they FINALLY got their hands on ophelia (plus her book 👀) and karlov and are heading back to avengers tower. do you have any predictions about what will happen between ophelia and tony (and the avengers) when she wakes up or no?