Project Alpha

Chapter 4- Hotels

Winter and I had been going on missions together a lot in the past few months that followed that eye-opening conversation. Neither of us talked much, not because we had nothing to talk about, but because we were worried we might slip up. At least that's why I didn't say anything. All there was to do was train, but I didn't know for what. So, that's what we did; we trained.

I, eventually, remembered how to fight again, and kept up pretty well with Winter in the ring. We spared as much as we could and fought as if we were taking our anger out on each other. If one of us got knocked down, the other always helped them back up. This was all our days consisted of, along with some bland-tasting meals.

I was having dreams of someone every night. It was a woman with a big smile and she was always saying this one name, "Aria".

Who was Aria? Who was the woman saying that? I didn't know. I wanted to ask Winter about it, but it felt impossible to get any information out of him. We had a mission to go on tonight, and I planned on asking him then.

I started loading the jet with whatever we needed. It was an overnight trip, so we would be staying in a hotel room. I kind of liked missions, even if we did have to kill people. The food was good, at least better than the food served at the base. Sometimes, we dressed up in fancy clothes, which is what we would be having to do on this mission. Another plus about hotels was that they seemed to be the only place I could talk to Winter.

We were going to be going to a gala, and be dealing with someone high up. Hydra needed some sort of substance for I didn't know what. Because of this, we would be exchanging things with a man named Klaue.

I packed a dress, makeup, and other products I would need. Winter, on the other hand, didn't need to pack anything other than a suit. (Male societal standards are way lower than female societal standards. At least from what I've observed.)

"Do we have everything?" Winter asked, coming up from behind me. I nodded, wanting to get going. We boarded the jet and made our way to our seats; Winter sat in the pilot's seat, and I sat right next to him.

The entire ride was a silent one. I could only fidget with my fingers, and think about what I wanted to talk to Winter about. He had to know more than he was letting on, and I think I deserved more than the fact they wiped my brain. He told me to act like I didn't know we had never been partners, but he was the one being distant. It wasn't fair. I knew Hydra was bad, and what was up with the sparks flying out of my hands? That was probably the freakiest thing out of everything. How, the hell, did I have fire coming out of my hands? Why did I have fire coming out of my hands? Winter said it had something to do with all of the tests they ran on me before they brainwashed me. I wished I could remember anything about what happened.

"We're here," Winter said, landing the jet smoothly, and pulling me out of my questioning head. Once again, all I could do was nod my head. Hydra had this thing bugged with so many cameras and mics that it was impossible to do or say anything without getting in trouble for it.

After landing the jet, we made our way inside the car that was waiting to take us to our hotel. We carefully placed all of our weapons into the bags so that we didn't raise suspicion in the hotel. The car ride was just as painfully silent as the plane ride, with neither of us even moving an inch.

Finally, we reached the hotel in Germany, and it was one of the grandest hotels I had ever seen; not that I had seen many, or remembered seeing any. Inside was even better than what was on the outside. The high ceilings made everything echo, and the only colors in the lobby were white and black. The flowers had pink coloring to them, and that was the only other color in there. It was clearly for the extravagant living, but we were the exceptions for the next few days.