Captain America Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Steve Rogers Fan Fic - The Constant

Chapter Thirty-Two: The Winter Soldier - Testing 1,2,3

The Winter Soldier - Testing 1,2,3

Two Years Ago

Armin Zola dislikes this man intensely.

He is rude, obnoxious, and never takes Armin seriously. And now he is sat directly opposite him, discrediting Project Winter Soldier.

"It will never work!" he proclaims to anyone and everyone who will listen. "We are throwing good money at bad ideas. It is just one of Armin's pet projects. I mean, come on now, how long has he been at it? And by his own admission he is no further forward! It's not his fault, he's a scientist, not a military man, he has no knowledge of fighting a war and that is what this is! We are at war, gentlemen!"

George Morgan the Third, lights his cigar and settles back in the chair, full of the knowledge that he is right and the Swiss is wrong. The board will find in Morgan's favour and this project of Armin's can be discontinued. And then the whole of the base (and not forgetting the money) can be handed over to him and he can use the extra space for more important things - soldiers - feet on the ground.

All this for just one soldier. For one assassin. What rubbish!

The board need to make a decision. Do they continue funding Armin's project at the risk of failure, or pull the plug?

They keep both Zola and Morgan waiting for four hours. They respect Zola, he was Schmidt's right hand man, the work he has done keeping Hydra together after Schmidt's death is amazing. His projects always bear fruit - but this one? This one seems to have been going on forever and he appears no further forward. Morgan however, although his plans are more amenable, is disliked by nearly everyone on the board. He is to brash, to arrogant. To full of himself and his own purpose.

Whatever the decision is, it has to be the right one for Hydra.

The men file back into the room, and soon afterwards Morgan is striding out of the building, bellowing and furious. As Zola leaves shortly afterwards, the board remind him he is running out of time. They will only continue to fund him for so long.

"That is all I need gentleman, thank you." Zola says. He appears calm and polite. Inside he is nervous and unsure. How is he going to move forward? How is this ever going to work when they have been having nothing but problem after problem?

*

Present Day

The meeting is held as before with Lehmann, Fennhoff, Zola, Peter, and Elise. The Winter Soldier is ready but there is just one more thing they need to do.

A trial run.

A test.

Everything is in place, but they do not want his first mission to end in disaster if something does not work correctly with the programming. If there is something they have overlooked. If their pet doesn't return home to its masters.

Oh, they have done tests. Instructed him to do things. He has followed all commands to the letter but he has not been sent out to kill someone yet. Not had a mission encoded. They need to do a test.

Testing 1, 2, 3. Come in, Winter Soldier. Do you copy?

They need a victim. One close by...but not so close that the mission would last but a few minutes or hours.

"I have just the mission. Unofficial...but there is a message I would like delivered." Zola says, smiling coyly. And, cleaning his glasses, he tells them more.

*

The camp that the project is part of is roughly the size of a small town, but always seems to be expanding. At the last count there were over 53,000 soldiers and personnel. They were running out of space. Even though Project Winter Soldier is mostly housed underground, even this space is wanted by other projects, by other people. Fortunately as the project has come to fruition there is no chance of it being handed over now and so there is an idea for a new camp being floated. A camp that will hold the Winter Soldier and a new project to set up STRIKE teams - but that is some way off on the horizon.