"A disgusting mistake that I have to live with," An old man in a classy suit and a monocle said as he looked at the crib where the newborn baby was sleeping.
Born during the beginning of the Vietnam war, Marcus was brought into a cold, lifeless Manor and had spent his entire childhood in the shadow of his brilliant brother.
"Tch, I should have never brought you into this house!" His father caned (Beat him up using a cane) him as his school result flunked again. The young Marcus winced as his thigh was all bloody from being repeatedly hit. His father's butler looked at him like he was trash, and he endured.
The treatment kept growing harsher. At the young age of 8, he was insulted daily by his father. His brother kept going to the front line, so he had to face the treatment alone. He endured.
Both of his father's wife, Tim's mother and Marcus's mother were dead, and there wasn't anyone else to protect him here.
That was when Hydra found him. A young boy inside a wealthy family that was going to contribute greatly to Hydra's cause with his influence if Hydra managed to put him as the head of the family.
Marcus has everything Hydra needed as they were currently still growing. The Paperclip program allowed many Hydra members and agents to enter the United States without a problem.
He had their criteria for an agent – A dysfunctional life where Hydra can brainwash him slowly to become loyal to them.
After meeting Hydra, Marcus' life got better. He went to school, he had friends, he had a lover, and he had a life outside of the Manor – all of what was denied from him by his father.
Hydra wanted to cultivate his loyalty, and even appointed a mentor for him to give him the parental love he had never gotten. But the idea was scrapped as Marcus didn't react to the fake family given to him.
Marcus preferred if he didn't have any parents. He moved out of the house – more accurately he ran away from the house and Hydra, to find a life of his own inside a small apartment in Brooklyn.
A life that he was living happily, even though he had to struggle every single day to pay the bills. However, the life that he worked so hard to build, the happiness of his everyday life, was shattered by his unbroken chain inside the Manor.
"You will never meet the boy again! Understand me?! I should've sent you into the concentration camp like everyone else! You homosexual communist!" The old father yelled at him as the bloodied body of his lover was laid on the cold floor of the manor.
His deeply religious, military-born father that lived even before World War I started, couldn't accept the life that he found for himself. A life…that he was happy with.
"You're filthy. You should be locked inside the house like the animal you are! I should've just killed you while you were young, just like I did to your mother! And to think that I killed Julia just to bring you into this house…"
Marcus was holding the lifeless body of his lover as he took his last breath. However, he didn't cry. He had vowed to himself to never let his father see him cry again.
The revelation of why he never met his mother, or why Tim never met his mother after he returned from the battlefield after getting lost in Vietnam for a year, was the last straw for Marcus.
His brother always treated him kindly, but he never felt a familial bond from his estranged brother.
The 17 years old Marcus snapped. He couldn't endure any longer.
He grabbed the cane that his father wanted to use on him, and walked slowly toward his father.
His father's body was found dead inside the Manor a week later. His neck was broken, presumably from the fall from the third floor of the Manor.
Before Marcus' father was dead, he did something unrepairable for the family registry. He decided…to delete Marcus' affiliation from the family and disown his embarrassing son, making him carry the Knight name, but no longer was he a part of the Knight's heir.
At 18 years old, Marcus went to the military and he didn't meet his brother again until 1984, during his brother's wedding – something that was shocking to anyone who knew Tim as all of them thought he didn't have any emotions. The wedding took place when Tim was nearly 50 years old, and his bride was in her late 30's.
By that time Tim was chasing his happiness, Marcus was fully into the Hydra faction, by his own choice.
"Marcus, right? I'm Madeline. I heard so much about you!" Madeline Joyce Frank – now Madeline Knight, shook hand with the lone Marcus in the wedding hall while still wearing her wedding dress.
"Pleasure," Marcus replied curtly and rather dryly as he shook hands with the woman. He only came there because of formality.
His level in Hydra was now high enough for the organisation to ignore his family. He was nicknamed the architect as with his planning and traps, Hydra had completed multiple missions without any hassle.
Even as they fought their new superpowered enemy, Miss America.
Being struck by lightning during her uncle's electrical experiments, Miss America awakened her latent power. She can fly, has superhuman strength and endurance, and has been fighting hard to protect the country from any threat that comes their way.
Marcus didn't know that the one he had been fighting against was the kind-hearted woman in front of him.
Till this day, Marcus had kept what he knew about their father from Tim. Till this day, he never did trust anybody ever again, nor did he allow himself to love anyone else.
"Oof, Chilly. You and Tim are really similar in your first meeting huh," Madeline said with a warm tone as she kept bothering Marcus. She snagged a couple of champagne glasses from the waiter, and handed one glass to Marcus.
"I'm nothing like my brother," Marcus said with a self-deprecating smile. Madeline caught his subtle change in expression before his face became stoic again.
"Tsk tsk tsk, that too, is similar to your brother." Madeline said while waving happily toward Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne that was attending the wedding with their small daughter, Hope.
Marcus thought that Madeline would forget about him sooner or later, but…
Madeline keeps inviting Marcus to dinner, parties, and other events afterward. Initially, he was apprehensive from being entangled by his brother's family. But Madeline kept trying and trying. Until he finally warmed up to his brother's family and even attended Madeline's birthday party.
Madeline became more like his sister while Tim was becoming more of his brother-in-law, but the arrangement worked for him and Tim. They keep getting closer, until Madeline and Tim finally find out about his orientation.
Someone had leaked his past to the press, trying to undermine the Knight's family as Tim was gaining a lot of power in the political circle.
He thought that they would abandon him too when they got back from visiting Mount Wundagore. Madeline was meeting her friend Magda to convince her to follow her true love, even if it meant moving to Sokovia.
But what Marcus feared, didn't happen.
"Why would we cut off contact with you just because you like men? Just do what makes you happy. I know that I would. If the world decided to tell you that it wasn't okay to be who you are, just remember that your family will always support you no matter what," Tim said unexpectedly while patting his brother's shoulder softly.
Madeline was beside him, holding the newly-born Ryan in her arms. She grinned as she looked at her husband, never questioning her choice to marry the man. The little baby kept trying to get to Marcus, despite Marcus never holding him once in his 3 months long life.
Marcus' long lost emotions were stirred. His tough exterior broke when he heard his brother's words. His chin quiver, but his eyes were still dry – incapable of producing tears. All this time, he was afraid that Tim, his only family left in this world, would reject him too.
"Look, even Ryan says it's okay," Madeline interjected as baby Ryan kept reaching for Marcus, seemingly wanting to comfort his uncle. Madeline forced Marcus to hold Ryan, in which the baby finally seemed happy when he got to Marcus' embrace.
"I-I…" Marcus struggled to find his words.
"Baloo," the baby babbled incoherently while his chubby arm patted Marcus' cheeks.
Finally, his dysfunctional eyes did their job. Tears fell like a stream, wetting the head of the babbling baby in his uncle's embrace. "I…Thank you…" Marcus said as he lowered his head.
Seeing the baby giggling while he was holding him, Marcus' heart felt warm and happy. The happiness that eluded him for years was finally fixed when he looked into Ryan's face. At that moment, he knew. Even if he will lose himself, there will be no harm to be done toward the little baby as long as he still lives.
Finally, Marcus opened up his heart to his family. A family he can trust.
…
1987.
(E/N: WAS THAT THE BITE OF 87?!)
"One last job, and I'm out after this," Marcus said to Franklin, a member of Hydra who was raised with the same circumstances as him.
"Well, we're out after this," Franklin said as he grabbed Marcus' hand, and they looked lovingly toward one another.
After being accepted and with Madeline's urges, he finally got himself a lover who he can trust with all of his heart. He and Franklin were both raised under Hydra's influence, but they were never completely loyal to the Hydra's cause.
They entered Hydra because it gave them benefits and connection for them to succeed in their societal life, and to get through the hard times. A lot of people enter Hydra because of this. They consider Hydra as more of a college fraternity instead of a cult.
Both of them had made a deal with Hydra to get away from the organisation as they found each other.
Alexander Pierce, their supervisor at that time, allowed them to leave if they managed to complete one last mission. That is; to kill one of Hydra's mortal enemies. Only then will Hydra completely let them go.
After careful planning, Marcus used a Soviet's plan to launch an ICBM to the United States for his trap. Him and Franklin managed to lure Miss America who was working with the Ant Man and the Wasp at that time to save some hostages from a time bomb strapped inside their chest.
Miss America managed to save the hostages and threw the bomb into the air. They were tied up inside a burning building somewhere in Kursk. However, she was frozen when she saw the enemy that planned all of this. The one who had been eating dinner with her family multiple times before.
That mistake of being frozen on the battlefield became her last mistake. The one in front of her raised his gun and aimed it at her head.
*Bang*
She fell lifelessly inside the burning warehouse, where her body was buried by the debris of the building wreckage.
…
Returning to Knight Manor after getting out from the organisation, Marcus finds out that something was wrong. The warm atmosphere in the Manor when his brother's family moved in is now solemn and cold, returning to the Manor he was living in when he was young.
"What's going on?" Marcus said restlessly as he noticed several people sitting inside the Manor hall in black tuxedo.
"Mr. Marcus… M-Madame Madeline… she…" Hiddle, the butler that his brother hired after spending a lot of time together on the frontline, was the only one managing the funeral as Tim was completely broke.
And so did Marcus. He kneeled on Madeline's grave for 3 days.
"Mama?" Baby Ryan searched for his mother curiously while Hiddle was holding him. The butler hugged him tightly, vowing to never let any harm fall on the young, kind, toddler any longer.
…
1991. After the Starks' death.
The sky was dark. Snow drizzled for three days without stopping, making the entire city of Berlin become white, cold and lifeless.
After searching the entire world desperately, Marcus finally found out who was responsible for Madeline's death.
"Franklin, why?" Marcus said to the bloodied Franklin who was resting his head in the alley. Blood dripped on the snow, turning its colour bright red.
The one he trusted the most. The one who wanted to escape this life together with him. The one who killed Madeline Frank, aka Miss America.
Spitting out blood, Franklin smiled and explained his reasons.
"The only way… we…Hydra…can stop Miss America!" Franklin coughed a few times, spitting a bit of blood in the process, "Pierce…! Pierce promised me…to place ME in a higher position…! He would've changed me.. into the new Supersoldier.."
Marcus' right hand shook a little, before he forcibly stabilised his hand as he kept the muzzle of the gun—the gun that had been with him his entire life, pointing to Franklin's head.
"What about getting out?!"
"Hahaha! You're sooo…naive… It was NEVER about getting out…! Pierce was testing me if I'm capable…and I passed the test." He bloody face turned into a smirk as he stared into Marcus's eyes coldly, "You're a good planner Marcus… but you always miss something crucial… It's like you wanted to be the one planning to escape." He paused to cough more blood into the snow before resuming, "We knew you would never go with the plan if you knew Madeline was Miss America…that's why… I was there to finish your plan."
*BANG*
Marcus shot the gun, killing the smiling Franklin. His hand shivered and he turned his back onto the lifeless corpse, before he returned to the United States to create a plan to get his revenge on the organisation.
He kneeled in front of Madeline' grave, hitting his chest as he cried for forgiveness.
"In the end, I was born a disgusting being," Marcus said as he screamed towards the sky, wishing that he was never born.
After screaming and bawling until his throat gave up, he stood back up and dusted himself off.
"From this day onward, I… the Architect… will use everything I have… everything I GOT… to destroy Hydra!!!"
For the last part of his plan, he needed something to allow him to escape the brainwashing that was going to be done for him when he participated in the Winter Soldier program.
As he already knew that Pierce wouldn't let him go, he will use the Hydra's head's plan to his benefit instead.
Marcus' eyes glowed ruthlessly as he finished his plan, waiting for the perfect time to strike.
…
His brain was implanted with a small chip that helped Hydra in their brainwashing.
Being kept cryogenically frozen and his mind was scrambled, Hydra will always give Marcus some time to return to his home as they needed Marcus to have a good relationship with Tim.
Hydra never realised it, but Marcus had kept his gun in his room in the Manor. He placed it with the other Hydra stuff so that he would see the gun without any suspicion. His muscle memory will cause him to pick up the gun and check it, at the same time string parts of his consciousness back together.
When Hydra started their attack on the Knight's family, Marcus had given the gun to Ryan so that he could keep the only thing that could make him who he was again.
His memory was planted deep beneath his subconscious, into the place where Hydra's machine couldn't touch. Same as Bucky when Steve forced him to remember.
The memory was there, only needed something to bring it to the surface. It was an extremely high risk move by Marcus, that's why he made another backup on his memories. The kid he loves the most.
When he first returned home after a long disappearance, the first thing he did was to see the gun he had given to Ryan. He had put a note on Hydra's report that there was a sentimental value in the gun that will make Ryan trust him more.
Like a fish on a hook, the Hydra goons monitoring him ordered him to find the gun first to create a deep impression on Ryan that his uncle was still the same person.
"Deep subliminal programming. I spent countless years with the gun that I use to string together my memory… of what I should do. There were some side effects, but I managed to escape Hydra's brainwashing everytime I came home."
Marcus was being casual as he sipped the tea with Ryan and Tim. A team of Hydra agents was already outside the house, waiting for Marcus' signal for them to come in.
"Marcus, even if you are fighting Hydra on your own, it doesn't change the fact that you were responsible for Madeline's death, " Tim said solemnly after he heard Marcus' story about the time he was in Hydra.
"I understand. And I am not looking for you to forgive me as even I couldn't forgive myself. All I wanted was for you to be safe from Hydra, once and for all."
Marcus took out his plan that he created 20 years ago. "I managed to find out the identity of 5 Hydra heads, and their location. I planned to give them to the government, but the snakes had infiltrated there too."
"When they give me the order to kill you, I have activated several mechanisms that I had placed discreetly inside the base that I frequented during my mission, giving us some time to complete the plan."
At the same time, all over the country.
Explosion upon explosion was heard from multiple parts of the country, causing chaos onto the citizens.
"Also, I have placed a bomb on the other supersoldiers Hydra have, and also had activated them," Marcus continue explaining his plans.
Pierce was sighing when he settled giving the orders to kill Ryan and Fury.
In the basement of his house, the two winter soldiers near the logistic agents started ticking.
"What?" One member of the strike team was puzzled when he heard the sound.
*BOOM*
An tremendous explosion occurred inside the Director's House, causing the floor Pierce was on to crumble. The director fell into the cracks of the floor, hitting his head on the hard debrief. His skull was cracked and he was losing the light in his eyes.
However, to Marcus' miscalculations, a vial of Jackal serum rolled toward Pierce amidst the falling debris of his now destroyed, hidden house.
"I have to make some adjustments as the technology of the world has advanced faster than I thought. The only person I could trust with this information is now… you."
Marcus gave all the evidence he had toward Ryan—A member of the Avenger.
"I'm sorry Ryan. You're not part of my plan, but I can only entrust you with this. Your father is too hot-headed to keep his sanity in this matter," Marcus said as he smiled softly toward his nephew.
Ryan took the evidence from Marcus. His mind was cloudy as he was at a crossroad. He knew what Marcus planned, so that's why he didn't attack the base that Marcus had marked.
He knew that Marcus had always regretted killing his mother, but honestly he didn't even remember the woman. He was mad when he knew, that he directly attacked the Hydra Base the next day.
Marcus had kept the grudge against Hydra for 20 years, even when he lost himself he didn't lose the grudge.
The most important fact that he knew was that his uncle wanted out from Hydra and still kept the final part of his plan from Tim and him.
When his plan is completed, his uncle will end himself together with the plan. That was the final part of Marcus' revenge. That was also why Ryan was letting him do what he wanted to do.
When his uncle reached the final part of his plan, what should he do next? Will he force his uncle to stay in the extremely miserable life, or will he stop his uncle from killing himself?
"You guys escape from the back door. I will hold the line here. Hydra is strong Ryan, don't underestimate their might."
Marcus said urgently as he grabbed his trusted gun and ran toward the front door. However, when he turned back, he saw that Ryan, Tim and Hiddle were motionless.
"What's going on Tim? Why aren't you running?! " Marcus asked urgently as he tried to convince them.
"Marcus, you have many loophone in your plan. Especially when you greatly underestimated our family's might," Tim said as he smiled softly. He was still feeling complicated when he heard what Marcus had indirectly done.
Hydra thought that they could breach the house easily with one of the Winter Soldiers inside it. But…
The caravan of the Hydra's members were stopped by the Knight army, floating in front of their SUV's using a mobile floating platform with multiple machine guns embedded on the platform.
The Knight army wearing an upgraded exoskeleton suit and plasma rifle was encircling the 10 black SUV's from all directions.
"The intel was wrong!" One of Hydra agents yelled out after seeing the might of the Knight's security forces. The numbers were effectively doubled from what was in their reports.
Marcus had given them wrong information from the start. He covered up everything that was disadvantageous to his family and manipulated Hydra into making mistakes. Even then, Ryan already made countermeasures in case someone attacked the Manor again.
"Also Uncle, Architect was lower than the Oracle. So I kinda already knew about the snakes… and even your suspiciousness," Ryan confessed, causing both Tim and Marcus to be shocked.
"I even had taken out the chip in your brain while you were asleep," Ryan said while putting a small chip on the table.
"Now that I know Hydra was responsible for my mother's death, I can start my plan early," Ryan said as he walked casually toward the door.
Then he realizes something.
"Hey uncle, we both made some plans. What a coincidence right?" He patted his uncle's shoulder with a chuckle, and whispered something to him.
Marcus was stunned as it was the first time he saw this sight of Ryan.
"Oh, he started again, it seemed the Mad Dog gene had passed down," Tim said gleefully as he watched his son leave the room. He wanted to take charge to destroy the Hydra, but it was Ryan's time to shine.
"What Mad Dog gene?" Marcus asked. His step was stopped when Ryan whispered something to his ears. He walked back to the table and sat down at his initial position, facing Tim and Hiddle.
Tim and Hiddle smirked, and they were letting Marcus find out on his own.
Ryan walked past his uncle and went toward the front door. Outside the house, the Hydra's agents were already caught and were on their knees with their hands in the air.
"We are Shield's agents! We come here for.."
"Kill them," Ryan cut off the obvious excuse and ordered.
Bryan and Elijah Bradley started to open fire on these Hydra's agents, killing all of them without them even getting a chance to fight back.
Now that he had executed these agents, there was no turning back.
"Gear up and call everybody. This is now WAR!"
******************************
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