Road to War Part I: Terrible Lie

My Head Is Filled With Disease, My Skin Is Begging You Please

Most of the people who made him what he is are dead now.  Many are long dead.  Some he killed, but not a significant amount.  He's read his file, looked into each person mentioned therein (often with some help from Natalia).  And he knows that there is one person who he must find if he wants to be safe.  Even now, it is apparent that the man is looking for him, sending men out to find the lost Winter Soldier.  Some speculation suggests that he died on the helicarrier, but the man knows that it takes more than that to kill their perfect weapon.  He had survived a great fall when they found him, after all.

Unlike the others, the man is not retired, is not formerly associated with HYDRA.  He's still in it, and will be well-protected.  His current location is generally not accessible, but Natalia always impresses him.  She says he won't be there long, so he'll have to hurry.  He arrives within ten hours of her message, and studies the blueprints she was able to obtain.  It occurs to him that he would not have been the asset he was without his handlers, but she seems able to do as much as he does on her own.  Well, he may be a bit deadlier, a little more precise a weapon, but she's just as effective.  It seems strange that they continue to run into each other like they have.

Carefully, he fills his belt pouches and pockets with as many grenades and full magazines as he can, leaving very little of his supplies on the plane.  It's unfortunate that he hasn't rested more recently, but he knows he won't get any rest now if he tries.  Besides, it is a few hours before dawn and that is when bases are the most vulnerable.  At least, in his experience.  It is possible that they know this and have taken steps to protect themselves.  In any case, no time like the present.

He's wearing his Winter Soldier uniform.  It is surprisingly comfortable, consider he's sure no one was worried about that when they designed it for him.  He wants the man to know who's coming for him, though he also thinks it might serve him in other ways.  The Winter Soldier was HYDRA's asset; it's likely they won't shoot him on sight.  He knows he was erratic and unstable at various points in his career, and perhaps they will think that is the issue.  Not that he's no longer theirs.  It's worth a try, anyway.

It is time.  He's ready, and there's no point in stalling.  If he doesn't want to go, he doesn't have to, he reminds himself.  But he wants to do this.  He wants his revenge, what little he can get seventy years late.  The base is not like most of the others he has visited in recent weeks.  It is not underground beneath a city, or hidden in the top floor of an office.  No, it is very old, and out in the middle of nowhere.  There is no reason for it to be found, and it is buried deep enough to survive most any attack.  It is very secure.

As he walks, he tries to remember what the bases the Howling Commandos attacked were like.  He remembers long hours of planning before a mission, the camaraderie of the men, but the attacks themselves were fast and chaotic and hard to follow.  He's had a lifetime of learning to comprehend pandemonium more quickly than his opponents, though, so he doubts that would be a problem now.  The memories of his missions as the Soldier seem much calmer, much more comprehensible despite the fact that they were usually more violent.

The base is largely underground, though the entrance is obvious.  There is a runway to allow for ease of escape.  And arrival, he supposes.  There is a plane there now, waiting.  He does reconnaissance, more out of habit than anything else; he knows what he is walking into.  There are no secret ways in, no side passage for him to use.  Waiting, again.  Waiting for someone to come out or go in so he can sneak passed the defenses.  He is patient.

After a while, a jeep drives up.  A woman climbs out of the driver's side, and fetches a bound man from the backseat before heading toward the door.  The prisoner is larger than his captor, but looks frightened.  He watches them through the scope from his rifle, holding his breath as she enters a code into the panel and the large doors swing slowly open.  She pulls her prisoner back to the jeep and drives it inside the base.  He runs, evading the cameras he knows are there, and manages to get inside just as the doors swing shut.  They took their time; he wonders if there is something faulty in their programming.