Part two - Enigma
Part two - Enigma
”Security breach” Jarvis announced. Nick Fury cursed and typed the keyboard frantically. It was the third time that week that S.H.I.E.L.D’s database had been hacked. The hacker was someone who used an alias “Enigma”. Steve “Captain America” ran to the command centre when the red lights went off in the headquarters. He was quickly accompanied by Clint “Hawkeye” Barton and Natasha “Black Widow” Romanoff.
- The only way the hacker can access this system is from inside this building! Find him! Fury commanded. Rogers nodded and ran to the screens that held every camera in the building. He was looking for someone who did not look familiar or behaved strangely. When the red lights were on, no one was supposed to leave the building and report to Jarvis his or hers location. When the person had been located, there was a green mark on top on that person on the screen and that mark followed that person when he or she moved in the building.
Rogers noticed someone. That person had no mark and was approaching the main entrance. The person jumped over the waist-high gate, that opened only when a person either successfully logged in or out the building by scanning ones ID-card in the reader. For some reason Rogers did not alarm the security but ran after the hacker himself.
The hacker had blonde short hair and was wearing black pants and bright yellow jacket. When Enigma got out from the building, after fighting off the front desk security, she took the jacket off and threw it away. She knew that the security would be looking for someone with a jacket of that color. She had a motorcycle parked right next to the front door and she started it. Rogers ran out and threw his shield. The shield hit the vehicle and it almost fell. Rogers got into a car and the chase started.
The hacker was you. You cursed when you saw the black car following you. This was not the first time you were stealing data from S.H.I.E.L.D but the previous times you had not been noticed. It had been almost too easy. Now the karma was having her payback day and it was kicking your ass mercilessly.
You turned the corner. Fuck! It was a dead end. You lived in New York and Washington DC was unfamiliar to you. You ditched the motorcycle and started to climb the fire escape. Rogers stepped out of the car.
- You know you will not be able to escape, so why try? Rogers shouted. He was frustrated to chase you since it was obvious that there was no escape this time. He followed you onto the rooftop. The building was next to the river.
- Just stop, okay? There is no escape. he said and put his shield down as a sign of peace offering.
- You shouldn’t had done that. you said. He looked at you with a question on his face. You ran towards him and kicked him making him fall down by surprise. He got up and reached for his shield. You extended your arm towards the shield and motioned it to move further away. It did. Rogers attacked but did not want to hurt you when he noticed that you were a girl. He wanted to capture you alive and as unharmed as possible and ask some questions. You fought for a moment and then ran to the edge of the building.
- You will never catch me, stop trying! you shouted and looked down. It was a long way down to the river.
- Wait… You will not survive that jump, just calm down… I think I know you, I’m sure you have a good reason for hacking into our system… he said and took one step closer. You looked down a hesitating look on your face.
- Who do you work for? he asked.
- The right question to ask, Captain, is who do YOU work for. you said, Rogers said “what?” half aloud.
When he got close enough to catch you, you jumped.
The hit to the water was painful and all air got pressed out from your lungs. You stopped sinking in the murky depths and started to swim under the water. Rogers did not have to know whether you had been killed or not. You focused your mind and controlled your heartbeat so you were able to dive a long way until you were under a bridge. There you got to the surface.
Rogers was almost sure that you had died because surely no one could had held their breath as long as you had. He got back to the office and reported that you had most likely died. Nick Fury ordered a body sweep to the river but eventually they had to stop looking since the body was not found.
You kept low profile for a moment and focused hacking into Tony “Iron Man” Starks systems. Your alias was “Riddle” because Enigma was too dangerous to use for now. Stark called Rogers and asked if he knew anything about the “Riddle”. Rogers answered “no” but after the call he started to think that maybe there was a link.
Who were you then? You had been trained by an organization, much like Hydra or S.H.I.E.L.D, the organization itself was in the gray area in the bad guys-good guys scale. You had never killed anyone since you mainly hacked into databases but you acknowledged that the work that you did made it possible for the assassins and radicals to operate their missions.
You had gotten into the business when you had been broke and seen an ad that promised a great compensation for one person who would take part to a science experiment. You had applied and got in. The test had started with a mild dosage of a drug that increased the energy flow through your brain and unlocked all parts of it. You got incredibly smart and even got the ability to move objects with your mind. You had also been trained to be skillful in combat and since your brain was working to it maximum capacity, it meant that your body was able to defy aging and heal and cope with injuries more efficiently than normally.
The organization kept you in short leash by weekly dosage of that drug. You had been told that if you did not get that drug, your body would start dying. The downside was that there was no knowing whether the changes were permanent or not and if not, what damage would it cause to return to your old self, or that was what they had told you. The changes were permanent, but if you did not get the drug, you got terrible fever and headache that passed in few days, however you had never dared to try because it felt like dying.
After meeting Steve Rogers at the speed-dating –event, you had started to question the things that the organization you worked for had told you. You had been told that the Avengers were serving the big corporations and without the organization there would not be balance. This you believed because there was something in the drug that switched off the skeptical side of your brain. You were like a highly intelligent robot programmed to do a certain job.
You had copied all the files of the organization when you had decided to lower the dosage of the drug. It was terrible to notice how wrong you had been. You were constantly thinking about all the people who had died as casualties in the operations that you had made possible with stealing data and hacking the security systems. Your hands were red from the blood. Your bosses had noticed that your mind was not as focused as before. They had decided to kill you. “We are changing the medication” they had said. “From now on you have to take only this yellow pill once a week and nothing more”. You took the bottle of pills and put it into your bag.
You decided that you would upload every bit of information to the cloud drive and then hack the Stark Towers network. You would tell them all you knew and then after it had been done, you would take the yellow pill and kill yourself. You were not going to get any further medication from the organization anyway, so either way you were dead. You had reasoned that maybe with the yellow pill it would be quicker and less painful.
You were on the rooftop. The sun was setting and you had a visual to the Stark Tower. You opened the connection and bypassed all the firewalls and Jarvis. You were not wearing a mask or wig this time and you were easily recognizable. Rogers, Romanoff and Barton were visiting Stark so they saw the “presentation” as well.
- Good evening. you started. Stark cursed when you hijacked his screens.
- My name is (Y/N) and I’m also known as Enigma and Riddle. I’ve been stealing data from Stark Industries and S.H.I.E.L.D for some time now. I have been working for an organization that has used this data against the free people of this world. you confessed and paused.
- I am sorry, Mr. Stark for hijacking Jarvis, as a nerd like you, I know how frustrating it must be, but I can assure you that my motives and reasons are heavy enough, so please hear me out.
- I have destroyed every bit of data that I’ve stolen and I’ve now uploaded to the cloud drive every bit of data that exists about the organization that I’ve been working for. I’ve never personally killed anyone, but I am aware that I have been assisting many missions that carried one goal and one goal only; to bring mass destruction and chaos in this world. I have added mission logs where you can see all the data about the missions and who with which aliases have participated in them. You may judge me by my track record. you said and took a deep breath.
- Why I’m telling you this now is that the people that I’m working for have decided to eliminate me because I’ve become unreliable and a threat. You see… I am a science experiment, that’s how it all started for me. Even though it does not make any difference, I’ve been working in the belief that I was doing the right thing. The drug that I’ve been taking to enhance my brain capacity has been equally blocking the skeptical part of my brain. I have been told that if I stopped taking the drug, I would die slowly and painfully. However, due to personal reasons I recently dared to lower the dosage and started to realize that all that they’ve said has been a lie and their justifications for their actions have been wrong. you continued.
- You will find all information about this drug and its properties from the files. It is all there. It is my time to sign off as my employers have planned. This yellow pill is supposed to supersede the drug that I have been taking once a week during these three years of service, but I am quite sure that this yellow pill is meant to kill me… The way I see it I have only two options; I’ll die slowly and painfully without the drug or I’ll take this pill and hopefully it will be somewhat quick and painless. I am a coward and I’m taking the yellow exit. you said and it looked like you were going to cry soon, but you had decided not to cry so you did not. It was time end the broadcast.
- One thing… S.H.I.E.L.D has been infested with Hydra… you might want to take a look at that. Anyway… This is it… you said and raised your glass.
- I will raise this toast for the destruction of my former employers. you looked at the camera for one last time as you put the pill in your mouth and washed it down with the drink. You turned the camera off. You had hoped that you would had found some kind of peace before taking the pill but you figured that you would get cold feet if you waited any longer.
At the Stark Tower Steve Rogers asked Tony Stark to play the transmission again. He recognized the place and told Stark to fly there and bring you to the tower. You needed to be questioned and maybe the affects of the yellow pill could be reversed. Jarvis had after all found the chemical compound of the pill and it was poisonous just as you had suspected. Jarvis also found an antidote and gave instructions to the lab to make it.
You fell down as your feet went numb. Your heart was beating slower as your brain tried to fight against the poison and prevent it spreading quickly. The last thing you saw when your world went black was something flying towards the building. Then your heart stopped completely.