Adam kept driving after Natasha spoke.
For a few seconds, he did not answer. Natasha's words still sat in the car, and Adam could feel his ears getting warm.
Adam cleared his throat. "Why don't we go to that location first?"
Natasha looked at him.
"Instead of going to Steve?" she asked.
"Yeah," Adam said. "Why not check it ourselves first?"
Natasha did not look surprised.
"I was thinking the same thing," she said. "But we still need to tell him."
"Of course," Adam said quickly. "We tell him where we are going and keep him as the escape route."
"Steve is with Sam," Adam said. "If something goes wrong there, we already have an escape route."
Natasha stayed quiet for a few seconds.
Adam did not push her. He kept driving while she thought about it.
Natasha took out a phone. "I'll send him a short message."
She typed fast and sent it while Adam nodded.
After that, she looked toward the road ahead. "Fine. Let's go."
They drove for a while after that.
The city slowly fell behind them. Soon the place on the map looked like old land nobody cared about anymore.
When they finally reached the location, Adam slowed the car.
Natasha looked out through the window.
There was no armed gate and no soldiers waiting with guns. The place looked old and almost too ordinary.
Adam stopped the car near the side.
Natasha stepped out first.
Adam followed and looked around.
"This is it?" Natasha asked.
Adam frowned.
Everything looked normal from the outside. He knew something was supposed to be here, but not the exact spot.
"Give me a minute," Adam said.
Natasha turned toward him.
Adam lifted the Omnitrix.
Green light flashed.
His body stretched thinner. A cold feeling moved through his skin, and Big Chill's form settled over him.
Natasha watched the whole change from beside him.
"Still not used to that," she said.
"Same," Adam said, his voice colder than normal.
He moved toward the ground and sank through it.
The ground around him became pale and strange as he phased below the surface. Adam moved carefully.
After a few seconds, he felt empty space under the ground.
Then he found a structure.
It was not large from the outside, but a deeper section was hidden below the old site.
Adam came back up near Natasha.
He landed and hit the Omnitrix symbol before the form could waste more time.
Green light flashed again, and he returned to his normal body.
Natasha watched him. "Already done?"
"I need to save the time," Adam said.
"For what?"
Adam looked toward the hidden entrance he had found.
"For later."
Natasha followed quietly when he started moving.
Adam led her through the old place until they reached the way down. The entrance was not obvious, but once he knew where to look, it was easier to find.
The air felt colder as they went lower.
When they reached the room below, Adam stopped for a moment.
Old computers filled the place. Large machines stood along the walls. The machines looked like they belonged to another age. In the middle of the room, several monitors sat near one table like the whole place had been waiting for someone to wake it up.
Natasha looked around.
"This was an old S.H.I.E.L.D. facility," she said.
Natasha moved to the table and took out the flash drive.
Adam stood close and watched the screens.
The moment Natasha inserted the drive, the old machines began to wake.
Lights came on one after another. The monitors flickered.
Then a face appeared.
Natasha's hand went near her weapon. "That looks like a recording."
The face on the monitor answered before Adam could.
"No," the man said. "I am not a recording."
Adam's shoulders stiffened. He already knew that face.
"Arnim Zola," Adam said quietly.
The face on the screen paused.
Natasha turned toward him at once.
Even Zola looked surprised.
"You know me?" Zola asked.
Natasha's eyes stayed on Adam. "You know him?"
Adam looked at her. "He worked for Red Skull. People thought he died, but this place says something else."
Natasha looked back at the screen.
Zola's expression shifted into something close to interest.
"That is correct," Zola said. "But I do not know you."
Adam did not answer.
Zola continued anyway.
"It is poor manners not to introduce myself," he said. "I am Arnim Zola."
Zola began to speak about the war, about how S.H.I.E.L.D. had taken him in after Hydra fell, and how Hydra had not truly died.
Natasha listened without moving.
Zola spoke about the world giving up freedom for safety. He spoke like that result was already natural.
Then he mentioned the algorithm, and Adam's face changed.
He opened the Omnitrix selection without thinking.
Natasha saw the movement.
"Adam?"
"Something is wrong," he said.
Natasha looked toward one of the screens.
Her eyes sharpened.
"There are missiles coming."
Zola's face did not change.
"My task was to keep you here," he said. "And I have done that."
Adam's hand slammed down on the Omnitrix.
Green light covered him.
His body grew heavier as diamond lines spread over his skin. He became taller as the crystal power filled him.
"I expected Captain America," he said.
Adam grabbed Natasha's hand.
"Run."
They ran back fast.
Behind them, Zola's voice followed through the room.
"You cannot escape."
Adam did not answer.
He dragged Natasha toward the place he remembered from the original timeline, the same lower section where Steve and Natasha had survived.
The first impact hit above them and shook the whole room.
Adam pulled Natasha close as they jumped down into the lower space.
Natasha's arms came around him by instinct. Adam held her against his chest and thrust his other hand outward.
Crystal burst from his arm.
It spread around them in a round shell and closed over them like a thick egg made of diamond.
The next missile hit, then another.
The facility tore apart around them as the blast swallowed everything.