The Asset: The Beginning and End of the Winter Soldier

Chapter Nine

"Hydra had its share of insider threats, many that emerged in the late 70's and early 80's. Some people were impatient, worried that Hydra would never be able to create their new world order, since many of the original members after World War II were already dead from old age. The more aggressive elements wanted their chance at real power." Bucky shrugged, almost amused, though any amusement was tempered by how much death he had dealt out for Hydra's benefit.

"I thought Hydra was more careful about bringing people in," Ayo pointed out, "people willing to play the long game as you have put it."

"There's only so much vetting anyone can do, and people change. Hydra gained power steadily, but they would plateau, especially in the eyes of members who had very specialized jobs that did not allow them to see the larger picture. They wanted more power for themselves and may have become a threat no matter what." Bucky barked out a short, sarcastic laugh. "They either forgot that Hydra always took care of threats, or they thought they were special enough to get away with attempting to break from the official protocols. I was tasked with killing those who had become too dangerous. In 1986, one of them, a Dr. Cheurant managed to gain possession of the words they used to control me."

Bucky paused in recollection, noting Ayo's astonishment. "Louis Cheurant, a Belgian mechanical engineer, had been under surveillance for a long time. Hydra never entirely trusted him, and he had been more and more openly disaffected by Hydra overall. He made himself a target. He had gathered a small group of dissenters determined to bring Hydra down from the inside or take it over, no one knew exactly what he wanted, and it didn't matter. Once he moved openly and was stupid enough to expose everyone in sympathy to him, they were all dead. I killed his supporters one by one. None of my handlers knew he'd been given the words by someone sympathetic to his cause."

"So, would you have been freed to take Hydra down yourself? Or would he have simply been the new master the Winter Soldier would answer to," Ayo asked thoughtfully.

"Most likely he would have made himself my new handler." Bucky's narrowed his eyes, cold, intent. "I'll never know for sure, though I have a hard time believing he would have set me free, even if it meant I would have willingly helped to take Hydra down. I suspect Cheurant wanted Hydra's power only for himself. Of course, I was sent to track and kill him and all those who were still alive and continued to follow him. I picked off his known supporters, from the United States to Spain and finally to France."

Bucky remembered a crowded boulevard in Paris, spring air warm with just enough of a chill still in the air that no one thought anything of anyone still wearing a coat as the Winter Soldier did to hide the metal arm. He was sitting at a table outside of a café. He made note of the tall, nearly bald man with thin, sallow features nervously glancing around as he walked through the crowd. The almost bald man stared at everyone he saw, and he stared hard at the Winter Soldier but then his gaze moved on to the next person, not noticing anything about the Winter Soldier to increase his alarm. He was just another café patron sipping coffee, hair that had grown out since the Vietnam war tied back, gloves covering his hands.

The man who was easily identified as Cheurant by the Winter Soldier was only growing more nervous as he got into line to buy some food, but he did not look at the Winter Soldier again. The Winter Soldier was often very conspicuous, but just as often he was able to blend in without difficulty in any crowd. As Cheurant paid for his food and hurried away, the Winter Soldier did not make any attempt to follow. He knew where Cheurant was hiding and knew once he had bought supplies that Cheurant would not be leaving again that night.

The Winter Soldier's purpose in watching Cheurant on that boulevard was to confirm the number of security personnel Cheurant would have with him, probably at all times. He caught sight of five, all dressed inconspicuously but all obvious to anyone with any experience. He doubted they were Hydra defectors, they seemed to be ordinary security personnel which allowed him to be sure of his plans for later that night. The Winter Soldier calculated that there would be three or four more at the warehouse where Cheurant was hiding along with the few other Hydra defectors who had managed to evade the kill order and low-level workers handling the mundane tasks that Cheurant and his people would think were beneath them.