The cryogenic chamber's alarms intensified as frost melted from the viewing window, revealing the face more clearly. Marcus's enhanced senses picked up the rapid change in temperature, the activation of automated revival protocols, and the subject's vital signs beginning to spike as consciousness returned after decades of suspension.
"Everyone back!" Romanoff ordered, her weapon coming up to cover the chamber. "We do not know what condition this person is in or how they will react upon waking. Hill, get medical on the line. We may need immediate support for someone who has been frozen since World War Two."
Marcus studied the chamber's control panel, his analytical mind working through the Cyrillic text and dated technology. The system was remarkably sophisticated for its era, HYDRA had clearly invested significant resources into whatever this project represented. The revival sequence was automated and irreversible now that it had begun, suggesting the chamber had been designed with failsafes that would prevent subjects from dying if power was interrupted or the facility was discovered.
"The chamber is bringing them up slowly to prevent thermal shock and cellular damage," Marcus reported, reading the status displays. "Estimated time to full consciousness is approximately three minutes. We should prepare for a potentially hostile subject who will be disoriented and likely terrified."
The frost continued melting, and through the increasingly clear window, Marcus could see more details of the subject's appearance. Military-style clothing from the 1940s era, partially preserved through the cryogenic process. Dark hair cut in a style common to that period. Features that were hauntingly familiar despite never having seen this specific person before.
The chamber's door mechanism engaged with a hiss of equalizing pressure. The seal broke, and the door swung open on hydraulic pistons that had been meticulously maintained despite the facility's abandonment. The subject inside remained suspended in the gel-like preservation medium for another moment, then their eyes snapped open with sudden awareness.
They were blue-gray eyes, sharp with intelligence even through the confusion of awakening. The subject gasped, drawing in their first breath of air in seventy years, and began thrashing against the restraints that held them in position within the chamber.
"Easy!" Romanoff called out, her weapon lowered but ready. "You are safe. We are SHIELD, Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. We are American agents, not HYDRA. You are safe. Can you understand me?"
The subject's movements slowed as they processed Romanoff's words. Their eyes tracked around the room, taking in the modern equipment, the uniforms, the weapons that were decades advanced from what they would remember. Confusion warred with training as they tried to make sense of their situation.
"Where..." The voice was hoarse from decades of disuse, barely more than a whisper. "Where is Schmidt? Where is HYDRA?"
"Gone. Defeated in 1945. Johann Schmidt was killed, HYDRA was destroyed by Allied forces, and the war ended seventy years ago. The date is October twenty-fourth, two thousand ten. You have been in cryogenic suspension for approximately sixty-five years."
The subject's expression showed the classic signs of temporal disorientation, denial, confusion, desperate searching for something familiar. Their eyes fixed on Marcus, perhaps sensing something different about him, some sign that he might understand what they were experiencing.
"Who are you?" they asked directly, their voice gaining strength. "All of you, who are you, and what do you want with me?"
"My name is Agent Natasha Romanoff. This is Agent Maria Hill, Agent Marcus Reid, and supporting personnel from SHIELD. We were investigating this facility when we discovered your chamber. We did not activate your revival sequence, it began automatically when we entered the room, possibly triggered by motion sensors or life-sign detection. We want to help you, but we need to understand who you are and how you came to be frozen here."
The subject looked at each of them in turn, clearly assessing threats and calculating options despite their weakened condition. Finally, their gaze settled back on Romanoff with something that might have been resignation.
"My name is... was... Captain Alexandria Vale, United States Army Special Operations, attached to the Strategic Scientific Reserve during World War Two. I was captured by HYDRA forces during a mission in Austria in early 1945. They brought me here, experimented on me with some kind of serum similar to what created Captain America, and then froze me when the experiments did not produce the results they wanted. That is the last thing I remember before waking just now."
Marcus felt his mind racing through possibilities. Captain Alexandria Vale was not a character from the MCU that he recognized, this was either someone who had existed in the original timeline but never appeared in the movies, or this was a divergence created by his presence in this universe. Either way, the implications were significant.
"What kind of experiments?" Hill asked, her tactical mind immediately focusing on potential threat assessment. "What did they do to you, and what abilities might you have developed as a result?"
Vale tried to move and winced, her body clearly not yet fully recovered from the cryogenic suspension. "They called it Phase Two of Project Rebirth. They had samples of Captain Rogers's blood from the original procedure, and they were attempting to recreate the serum that made him Captain America. They injected me with multiple variants, trying to find one that would work on women after the original formula proved incompatible with female physiology. The experiments were... painful. And I do not know if any of them were successful, because they froze me before any results could manifest."
Marcus's enhanced senses detected something unusual about Vale's energy signature now that she was awake and her body was returning to normal function. There was power there, similar in some ways to what he sensed from himself but different in character, more stable, more integrated into her biology rather than existing as a separate supernatural phenomenon.
"We need to get you out of that chamber and to proper medical facilities," Romanoff said, her tone shifting from cautious to protective. "Can you stand, or do you need assistance?"
"I can stand." Vale pulled herself out of the preservation gel with movements that were surprisingly coordinated given her circumstances. She swayed when her feet touched the ground, her legs weak from decades of disuse, but she maintained her balance through sheer determination. "I am a soldier. I can handle some disorientation and muscle weakness."
Hill moved forward to offer support, and Vale accepted it with visible reluctance. Together they made their way out of the hidden chamber and back toward the main facility. The team maintained defensive positions, aware that whoever had looted this facility might still be in the area or might return when they detected activity.
As they moved through the corridors, Marcus fell into step beside Vale, his analytical mind working through questions and implications. "Captain Vale, when you were captured by HYDRA, what mission were you on? What were you trying to accomplish?"
Vale's expression tightened with old memories. "We were tracking HYDRA research into something called the Tesseract, a powerful artifact that Schmidt was obsessing over. My team infiltrated a facility where we believed data about the Tesseract's location was being stored. The mission went sideways, my team was killed, and I was captured alive. They kept me alive because I was useful for their experiments, I suppose. A female subject who could be tested without the political complications of experimenting on male American soldiers."
The Tesseract. Of course HYDRA had been searching for it even during World War Two. Marcus knew from his previous life's knowledge that the Tesseract was actually the Space Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones that Thanos would eventually seek to collect. If HYDRA had been researching its location seventy years ago, that meant there was potentially intelligence about the Stone's history that SHIELD did not currently possess.
"Do you remember any specific information about the Tesseract research? Locations, personnel, technical data?"
"Some. My memory is fragmented from the experiments and the cryogenic suspension, but I remember fragments of what I overheard during my captivity. Why? Is the Tesseract still important? I thought HYDRA was destroyed and whatever weapons they were developing would have been secured by Allied forces."
"The Tesseract is currently in SHIELD's possession and is the subject of ongoing research," Hill interjected. "Any information you have about its history or HYDRA's understanding of its capabilities would be valuable intelligence."
They reached the surface and emerged into daylight that made Vale flinch and shield her eyes. The last time she had seen the sun, World War Two was still raging and the modern era was inconceivable. Now she stood in a world transformed beyond recognition, with technology and society that would seem like science fiction to someone from the 1940s.
"This is real," Vale whispered, looking around at the modern equipment and the Quinjet waiting in the valley. "I really have been frozen for seventy years. Everyone I knew is dead or elderly. The world has moved on without me. I am a ghost from another era."
"You are a survivor," Romanoff corrected firmly. "You endured captivity, experimentation, and decades of suspension. That makes you stronger than most people could ever be. SHIELD will help you adjust to the modern world and understand what you have become as a result of HYDRA's experiments. You are not alone in this, Captain Vale."
They boarded the Quinjet and began the flight back to the Helicarrier. Vale sat in silence for most of the journey, staring out the window at the landscape passing below with an expression that mixed wonder and grief. Marcus understood what she was experiencing, the profound dislocation of being torn from one time and thrust into another, the loss of everything familiar, the challenge of rebuilding an identity in a world that had no place for who you used to be.
"Captain Vale," Marcus said quietly, moving to sit beside her. "I want you to know that adjusting to these circumstances is possible. There is someone aboard the Helicarrier who understands exactly what you are going through, someone else who was frozen during World War Two and has been dealing with similar challenges."
Vale looked at him sharply. "Who? Who else survived being frozen?"
Marcus realized his mistake immediately. Captain America had not been discovered yet in this timeline, that would not happen for several more months according to the original MCU chronology. He had just revealed knowledge he should not possess, information that could raise serious questions about how he knew.
"I... I am not at liberty to discuss classified information about other individuals," Marcus said, attempting to backtrack. "I should not have mentioned it. Please disregard what I just said."
But Vale's sharp intelligence had caught the slip, and her eyes narrowed with suspicion. "You know something. You know about another person who was frozen. Who is it? Is it Rogers? Did Captain America survive?"
Romanoff's voice cut through the conversation from the pilot's seat. "Agent Reid, a word. Now."
Marcus moved forward to where Romanoff sat flying the Quinjet, and she gestured for him to put on a headset so they could speak privately. Her expression was carefully neutral, but he could sense disapproval beneath the professional exterior.
"What the hell was that, Reid? You nearly revealed classified information about a subject that does not officially exist yet. How did you know about Rogers, and why would you mention him to someone we just pulled out of a HYDRA facility?"
"I made a logical inference based on available intelligence," Marcus said, crafting his lie carefully. "If HYDRA was attempting to recreate the super soldier serum and they froze Captain Vale as a test subject, it stands to reason they might have frozen other subjects as well. Captain Rogers disappeared in 1945 under circumstances that were never fully explained. It is not unreasonable to theorize that he might have been preserved somehow and could potentially be recovered. I should not have mentioned it to Vale, though. That was a breach of protocol."
Romanoff studied him with those penetrating eyes that had seen through countless deceptions. "Your 'logical inference' was remarkably specific and confident for speculation. When we return to the Helicarrier, you are going to have a detailed conversation with Director Fury about what you actually know and how you know it. And Reid? Do not make the mistake of thinking you can deceive me. I am very good at recognizing when people are hiding things, and you are hiding something significant."
The rest of the flight passed in tense silence. Marcus knew he had made a serious error, revealing knowledge too specific to explain away as simple deduction. Fury would question him intensively, and Marcus would need to provide answers that were truthful enough to maintain trust while still protecting the secret of his reincarnation and future knowledge.
They landed on the Helicarrier, and Vale was immediately taken to medical for comprehensive evaluation. The medical team was fascinated by her condition, her body showed signs of HYDRA's super soldier experiments, with enhanced cellular structure and unusual physiological markers that suggested partial success in replicating Erskine's formula.
"Her muscle density is approximately forty percent higher than baseline human, her skeletal structure shows enhanced calcium deposition and tensile strength, and her cardiovascular efficiency is remarkable," Doctor Chen reported after the initial examination. "She is not at Captain America's level based on historical accounts, but she is definitely enhanced beyond normal human capabilities. The experiments HYDRA conducted on her achieved partial success, though we cannot know what the full extent of her abilities might be until she has recovered completely and had time to test her limits."
Fury met with Marcus in his office three hours after their return. The Director's expression was stern as he gestured for Marcus to sit.
"Agent Reid, you made a significant breach of protocol by mentioning classified information to Captain Vale. But what concerns me more is how you knew that information in the first place. SHIELD's search for Captain America is one of the most closely held secrets in the organization, known only to myself, a handful of senior personnel, and the scientific teams conducting the search. You are not on that list. So I need you to explain, right now, how you knew about Rogers and why you would mention him to someone we just extracted from a HYDRA facility."
Marcus had prepared his explanation during the flight, carefully crafting a story that was as close to the truth as possible without revealing his impossible knowledge. "Sir, I have been analyzing historical records and intelligence data as part of my duties. When I reviewed files related to Captain America's disappearance, I noticed inconsistencies in the official accounts that suggested he might not have died as reported. The Valkyrie aircraft crashed into the Arctic Ocean in an area where temperatures would preserve organic material indefinitely. If Rogers's body was in that wreckage, cryogenic preservation would occur naturally. Given HYDRA's demonstrated interest in freezing enhanced individuals for future use, as evidenced by Captain Vale's situation, it seemed logical to theorize that Rogers might be recoverable. I should not have mentioned this theory to Vale without proper authorization, and I apologize for the breach."
Fury studied him for a long moment, clearly weighing whether to accept this explanation. "Your 'theory' happens to align almost exactly with SHIELD's actual search parameters. We have been systematically searching the Arctic for the Valkyrie crash site, operating under the same assumptions you just described. That is either remarkably good analytical work or something else entirely. Which is it, Agent Reid?"
"I cannot claim credit for brilliance, sir. I simply followed the logical implications of available data. Captain America was too valuable as a symbol and potentially as a resource to not search for, assuming recovery was theoretically possible. The Arctic crash site made that possibility plausible."
"And you thought it was appropriate to mention this theory to Captain Vale why exactly?"
"Because she was experiencing profound temporal dislocation and identity crisis, and I thought knowing she was not alone in that experience might help her psychological adjustment. It was a mistake in judgment, sir. I prioritized her emotional wellbeing over operational security, and that was wrong. It will not happen again."
Fury's expression softened slightly, though suspicion remained in his single eye. "Your instincts about helping Vale adjust were not entirely wrong, she will need support from people who understand what she is going through. But you need to learn to separate your empathy from your operational judgment. There are reasons we keep certain information classified, and revealing it prematurely can cause serious complications. Consider this a warning. Any future breaches of protocol will result in removal from enhanced individual liaison duties and possible disciplinary action. Understood?"
"Understood completely, sir."
"Good. Now, regarding Captain Vale, she is officially under SHIELD protection as of now. We will help her adjust to the modern world, evaluate her enhanced capabilities, and determine what role she might play in future operations. You are assigned as her liaison, helping her navigate this era and providing support as she rebuilds her life. Given your experience with other enhanced individuals and your apparent talent for connecting with people dealing with unusual circumstances, you are best suited for this role. Do not screw it up."
Over the following weeks, Marcus worked closely with Captain Vale as she underwent physical therapy, psychological evaluation, and gradual integration into modern society. The adjustment was difficult, she had lost everything and everyone she knew, existed in a world with technology that seemed magical, and was grappling with the physical changes HYDRA's experiments had created in her body.
"I do not recognize myself anymore," Vale said during one session where they were testing her enhanced capabilities. She had just lifted a training weight that should have been impossible for someone of her size, and her expression showed disturbed fascination at her own strength. "I look in the mirror and I see someone who should be me, but the body does not respond the way I remember. I am stronger, faster, more resilient than I should be. HYDRA took away the person I was and replaced her with this... weapon."
"You are not a weapon," Marcus said firmly. "You are a person who has been through tremendous trauma and emerged with abilities that you did not ask for. But those abilities do not define you, you define how they are used. You can choose to be a hero, someone who uses enhanced strength to protect people who cannot protect themselves. That is the opposite of being a weapon."
"Is that what you tell yourself? When you use your abilities, do you feel like a hero or a weapon?"
The question hit closer to home than Vale could have known. Marcus struggled daily with the weight of his knowledge and power, wondering if his interventions were helping or creating unforeseen consequences that might make things worse.
"I feel like someone trying to do the right thing with imperfect information and limited control. Some days that feels heroic. Other days it feels terrifying. But I keep trying because the alternative, doing nothing when I have the power to help, feels worse than any mistakes I might make through action."
Vale nodded slowly, processing this. "You understand. Most of the people here are kind and professional, but they do not truly understand what it feels like to have power you did not ask for, to be changed fundamentally by circumstances beyond your control. You understand that in ways they cannot."
They continued working together, building trust and helping Vale develop control over her enhanced abilities. She was not at Captain America's level, the experiments had achieved perhaps sixty percent of the original serum's effectiveness, but she was still considerably stronger, faster, and more durable than normal humans. With training, she could become a valuable asset for SHIELD and potentially for the Avengers Initiative.
During this period, Marcus also continued his sessions with Loki, who had noticed the new presence aboard the Helicarrier with considerable interest.
"Another displaced soul," Loki observed during one of their conversations. "Someone torn from their proper time and thrust into a world that has no place for them. How many of you are there, I wonder? How many people has SHIELD collected who do not truly belong in this era?"
"Captain Vale is adjusting well to her circumstances. She is strong and resilient, and she will find her place in the modern world."
"Will she? Or will she always feel like a ghost haunting a world that moved on without her? I know something of that feeling, Agent Reid. I spent a thousand years believing I belonged in Asgard, only to discover I was an outsider wearing a mask of belonging. That revelation destroyed everything I thought I knew about myself. Your Captain Vale may face similar struggles as she realizes that the world she knew is gone forever and she can never truly return to who she was."
"She can become someone new. Someone better. Just as you can, Loki, if you choose to."
"Perhaps. Though I suspect we are both too damaged by our pasts to truly start fresh. We can only try to be better versions of our broken selves and hope that is sufficient."
Two months after Vale's revival, Fury called Marcus to his office for an urgent meeting. The Director looked grimmer than usual as he pulled up classified files.
"We have located the Valkyrie crash site. Our Arctic search teams have confirmed the presence of the aircraft at the coordinates we identified, and initial scans suggest there is a body inside the wreckage preserved by the ice. We are mounting a recovery operation immediately, and I want you present when we attempt to revive Captain Rogers. Your experience with Captain Vale's revival and your skills at helping enhanced individuals adjust to difficult circumstances make you the logical choice for this assignment."
Marcus felt his heart rate increase despite his best efforts to remain calm. Captain America. Steve Rogers. The first Avenger and one of the most important heroes in the battle against Thanos. This was a pivotal moment in the timeline, and Marcus would be present to witness it.
"When do we depart, sir?"
"In six hours. Pack cold weather gear and prepare for an extended operation in Arctic conditions. And Reid? When we revive Rogers, assuming we can revive him successfully, he is going to wake up in a world he does not recognize, having lost everything he knew. He is going to need someone who understands what that feels like and can help him adjust. Be ready to be that person."
Marcus spent the remaining time preparing mentally and physically for what was coming. He reviewed everything he knew about Steve Rogers from his previous life, the unwavering integrity, the commitment to doing right even when it was difficult, the weight of survivor's guilt from losing Bucky Barnes and everyone else he cared about.
He also spoke briefly with Captain Vale, who had noticed the increased activity and correctly deduced that something significant was happening.
"They found him, did not they?" Vale asked. "They found Captain Rogers."
"I cannot confirm that officially."
"You do not have to. I can see it in how everyone is moving, the energy in the air. They are preparing to bring back the greatest hero of our era. When he wakes, will you tell him about me? Will you let him know that someone else from his time survived?"
"If the situation allows for it, yes. I think it would help you both to know you are not alone in being displaced from your proper time."
"Thank you, Agent Reid. For everything you have done to help me adjust to this impossible situation. I do not know if I could have survived these past months without someone who genuinely understood what I was experiencing."
Marcus departed the Helicarrier with a SHIELD recovery team that included specialized medical personnel, engineers, and security forces. They flew to the Arctic coordinates where the Valkyrie had been located, landing on the ice near where SHIELD's advance team had established a temporary base camp around the crash site.
The wreckage was buried under decades of accumulated ice and snow. SHIELD engineers had been working for days to safely excavate the aircraft without damaging it or disturbing the body inside. As Marcus approached the excavation site, he could see the distinctive profile of the Valkyrie emerging from the ice, Howard Stark's final aircraft, designed to carry HYDRA's weapons of mass destruction and crashed by Steve Rogers to save millions of lives.
The recovery operation took twelve hours of careful work. Engineers cut through ice and metal with precision tools, creating an access point to the cockpit where Rogers had been piloting when the aircraft went down. Finally, they broke through the final barrier and exposed the interior.
Steve Rogers sat frozen in the pilot's seat, preserved perfectly by seven decades of Arctic ice. His eyes were closed, his hands still gripping the controls, his expression peaceful despite the circumstances of his crash. He looked exactly as he had in the last moments before hitting the ice, young, vital, and impossibly heroic.
"He is intact," the lead medical officer reported. "Cellular structure appears preserved with minimal damage. His enhanced physiology likely prevented ice crystal formation that would have destroyed normal human tissue. We can attempt revival, but success is not guaranteed. The super soldier serum may have kept him alive in suspended animation, or he may be irreversibly dead despite appearing preserved."
"Attempt revival," Fury ordered via secure communication from the Helicarrier. "We did not come all this way to leave him in the ice. Bring Captain America home."
They carefully extracted Rogers from the wreckage and transported him to the prepared medical facility at base camp. The revival equipment had been set up based on lessons learned from Captain Vale's recovery, heated blankets, IV lines with warmed fluids, cardiac monitoring equipment, and emergency medical supplies in case complications arose.
Marcus stood beside the medical table as they began the revival process, his enhanced senses monitoring Rogers's biological responses as his body temperature slowly increased. For long minutes, nothing happened. The monitors remained flat, showing no cardiac activity, no brain function, no sign that life remained in the frozen body.
Then, so faintly that only Marcus's enhanced hearing detected it, a heartbeat. Single, isolated, barely perceptible. Then another. And another. Gradually increasing in frequency and strength as the super soldier serum reasserted its influence over Rogers's physiology.
"We have cardiac activity," the medical officer announced with barely contained excitement. "Blood pressure rising. Respiratory reflexes engaging. He is coming back. Captain America is alive."
Rogers's eyes snapped open with sudden awareness, and the first thing he did was try to sit up and fight. Decades of ice had not dimmed his combat instincts, and his enhanced strength nearly knocked over two medical personnel before Marcus stepped forward and gently but firmly pressed him back down.
"Captain Rogers, you are safe. The war is over. HYDRA is defeated. You are with Allied forces, American forces. You crashed the Valkyrie into the Arctic to save millions of lives, and you have been frozen in the ice ever since. The date is December fifteenth, two thousand ten. You have been asleep for sixty-five years."
Rogers stopped struggling, his blue eyes fixing on Marcus with desperate confusion. "The war... over? But the Valkyrie... the bombs..."
"You succeeded, Captain. You saved everyone. The weapons never detonated. You are a hero, and now you are home."
Rogers's expression crumbled as the reality of his situation crashed over him. Sixty-five years. Everyone he knew was gone. Peggy, Bucky, the Howling Commandos, everyone from his era was dead or elderly. He was a man out of time, displaced from everything he knew, and the grief on his face was devastating to witness.
"I had a date," Rogers whispered, tears beginning to form. "I was supposed to meet Peggy. I was going to take her dancing."
Marcus felt his own grief rising in response to Rogers's pain. "I know, Captain. I know. And I am so sorry. But you are not alone. There are people here who understand what you are going through, who can help you adjust to this new world. You survived for a reason, and that reason still matters."
Rogers looked at him with those heartbreakingly honest eyes. "Who are you?"
"My name is Marcus Reid. I am with an organization called SHIELD, the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. We were founded by people you knew, including Agent Peggy Carter and Howard Stark, to protect the world from threats like HYDRA. And Captain Rogers, sir, the world still needs protecting. We still need Captain America. We still need you."
Before Rogers could respond, alarms erupted throughout the base camp. Security personnel rushed to defensive positions as sensors detected multiple fast-moving contacts approaching from across the ice.
Marcus's precognition flared with urgent warning. Something was coming. Something dangerous.
And it was coming for Steve Rogers.