H A I L H Y D R A || J. B. Barnes

s i x t e e n

The Winter Soldier was being unfrozen. The orange glass lifted from around her and the heat was put on.

When she finally woke, the doctors surrounded her and pulled her up and out of the chamber. They supported her weight to the memory chair as she shook.

Before the soldier was even aware of her surroundings the pain began. She screamed in mind numbing pain and writhed in the chair, her body trying to escape. The words began as the headpiece lifted. The asset trembled as her brain adjusted itself for action.

Karpov closed the book and looked at the soldier. "Good morning, Soldier," he stated. Winter looked up at him.

"Ready to comply," she replied as she blankly stared at him.

"I have a mission for you. Sanction and Extract. No witnesses," Karpov explained, a file in hand. Winter absorbed the information and looked ahead, breathing heavily.

After a minute her breathing and heart rate calmed and she took the file.

Howard and Maria Stark were transporting something important to Hydra in their trunk. They were heading on a trip and taking it with them. The soldier was to take what Hydra needed and make sure anyone in the car was dead.

The Winter Soldier prepared for her mission.

***

She waited in the trees on a back road. Her motorcycle off as the soldier listened. The car rumbled down the road and passed her. She started the motorcycle.

Winter rode out onto the road and caught up to the car. She stayed in the blind spot and used her knife to pop one of their tires.

The driver lost control of the vehicle and it veered off the road into a telephone pole. She drove past the car and spun the motorcycle around, parking it behind the totalled vehicle.

Before checking the passengers, Winter ripped open the trunk. Her first priority was their cargo.

Winter opened the trunk of the car and saw a metal briefcase. She clicked it open and found five I.V. bags filled with blue liquid. They were all unharmed. Once that was done, she moved on to the second part of her mission.

No witnesses.

The engine of the car was on fire as the soldier stalked around to the driver's side of the vehicle. An old man with white hair was crawling on the ground, badly injured. "Help my wife... please. Help my wife," he begged, thinking Winter was a passerby.

With no hint of emotion, the asset pulled the man up by his hair. He groaned and looked up at his attacker. Winter lifted her arm to strike but stopped when she saw the look on his face.

"Sergeant Barnes?" He questioned. This man recognized her. She didn't have her mask on because she wasn't in public.

See, the thing about being under mind control, the part nobody talks about, is that you're still in there. Some small piece of you is awake... watching.

It's like being a passenger in your own body. You struggle to break free but you lose... over and over again... you lose.

And it makes whatever you're forced to do that much worse.