Girl Come Down from the Castle
Steve and the team had landed in Sokovia during the night. Natasha had found some clues in some old Shield files that pointed to some suspected Hydra activity near the capitol of Sokovia. Hydra had been smart though, even as it took root deep inside Shield, they had not made all of their information or secret bases known. Natasha suspected they used codes that changed frequently to reference certain secret installations so that if anything like what happened, happened it wouldn't compromise the whole operation.
Their plan was to go in quiet and undercover, but it seemed the city was already in chaos. Some people were fleeing as fast as they could, any way that they could. Others though, they seemed to shuffle through the streets lost. Distant eyes, some in tears. They weren't sure what had happened, but something clearly had.
"We were home for just a few days, what happened?" Steve knew chaos could come at any time, but it still felt surprising.
"I don't know. I guess those quiet murmurers around town about something seeming off were not wrong." Natasha shook her head. Surprised, but perhaps less so.
"We thought Hydra might be up to something, but what does Hydra get from creating panic chaos in the city?" Maybe looking for sense in Hydra's actions was futile, but as twisted as Hydra was, they usually seemed to have some kind of method to their madness.
"Might just be a test run for something bigger later."
"Well, there's a nice thought."
Natasha shrugged, perhaps she did tend to see the darker side of things.
"Sir? Sir? What's happening?" Steve tried to get the attention of a middle-aged man who looked slightly stunned, but aware enough to be looking around him, and seemed to look toward the hill the castle sat on.
The man took a moment to seem to register anyone was speaking, and then another to seem to recognize the Captain America uniform. "You help? Girl come down from castle. They do experiments. People no want to see it. But they do experiments. Prey on angry and afraid young people. Girl not girl any more."
"We are here to try and help. Someone in the castle experiments on the city's youth?" Steve stood firm but kept his expression softer.
"Yes. For years. Ever since Cold War." The man stood close to them, speaking with a modest hush to his voice.
"I had heard things. That the government was being influenced by outside forces." Natasha figured there was validity to the claims, but not to what extent. But she'd certainly done many jobs in her past life as an assassin all over Eastern Europe. While the Russians officially pulled back from those countries, it didn't mean they didn't continue to try exerting whatever control they still could. She figured the same was true of Hydra.
"Yes. Many want to deny this. But it always true. I see it happen. They always making disorder and blaming others so we all fight each other and not them. The young did not see it start. They not believe. They just want fighting to end. To see Sokovia at peace and strong on it own."
"What do you mean the girl is not girl? Do you know what they did to her?" Having been taken and turned into an assassin as a child, Natasha knew the possibilities were endless for what the right, or perhaps wrong, training and experimentation could turn a young girl into in just a few years time.
The man shook his head. "She was just girl who live here. Her folks die years ago in attacks in city. She and her brother angry, like many others. Year ago they not seen again. They went to castle. She come back now. But she not just girl. Everyone hurt around her."
"Is she attacking people?" Steve was focused on what the man shared, but he kept scanning the scene around them. People still moved around them. A random car sped by while people trying to move through the streets on foot tried to avoid being hit.
"No. Or maybe. Not attack like with knife or gun. But she glow red and people hurt inside. Some maybe die. Many seem not like them anymore. I do not know what they do to her. I would have said impossible before. But Avengers prove many impossibles now possible." The man shuddered slightly and seemed to try to steel his stance.
"Can we help you get somewhere? Or to someone?" Steve would have offered even if the man hadn't had much to say. But given his help, Steve felt the least they could do was try to help get this man and his family out of harms way.
"I look for my family. I was at work. They at home that way." The man pointed further into the city.
"Is there a street or landmark to look for? We can go look for them for you." Most were moving away from the city center, and in the opposite direction of the hills and castle.
"No, I must find them." The man shook his head.
Steve somehow figured that would be the man's response. "Why don't we go with you, we should head that way anyway and see what is happening in the center of town."
The man nodded and began to lead the way.