Huff...
Heavy breathing echoed through the cramped room, as though someone inside were struggling to breathe. The room was almost completely bare, making it hard to believe this was the quarters of a Hydra branch leader.
"Young Zemo, I believe in your loyalty to Hydra. Many of your men killed themselves rather than be captured by SSR. I already know about it, and it pains me deeply."
The person seated behind the desk was wrapped from head to toe in a purple robe, with a strange golden crown on her head. It looked like a giant octopus had settled there. She had only cut two holes where her eyes were, making her look slightly ridiculous.
Standing not far in front of her was young Baron Zemo. After that inexplicable and bizarre trip to Scandinavia, Hydra had suffered severe losses.
Too many soldiers had died on Asgard's battlefield. Even Iron Cross of the Super Axis Team had been taken by Deathstroke. Since then, faced with SSR's relentless attacks, they had been stretched thin in every regard.
In the end, Nick Fury led his people to their old base in Iceland. After a desperate resistance, all those left behind took poison and killed themselves.
Zemo, too, had been unable to defeat Captain America and could only retreat with the Super Axis Team.
Kill himself? No way. He had yet to avenge his father. As long as Red Skull was still alive, he could not die.
But during the years they drifted between several other Hydra branches, living under others' roofs on the strength of his father's legacy, Zemo happened to encounter one of U-Man's subordinates in Madripoor.
Under Madame Lotus's powers, that brutish-faced Atlantean had told them nearly everything he knew.
Zemo learned a secret: there was still a powerful Hydra force