MANIPULATING THE MANIPULATOR

CHAPTER TEN

He kept his word to the last vowel.
And, stupidly, the guards believed it. He took me to the training room, then over to the changing rooms where I had previously told him about the post-it note before.
Kage had gotten some free time recently, and I had come to the conclusion that it would be good to have some extra hands on whatever was about to go down today. Either way, I knew it was far from good.
Even with the fact the Winter Soldier said he had his theories on what the numbers inside the book had meant, I had been trying to conjure up my own.
For instance, what if they were soldier numbers and their names could possibly start with each letter correlated to them?
Or, maybe it was time. The first numbers could be years, the second one could be days, or somewhat around that area.
No matter, I was determined. I didn't know who had laid this out, or who it was laid out for. But, the majority of me secretly knew it was my Mothers flowing, and she was warning me of the dangers of this place. And who knows? Maybe even how to possibly escape it.
"You brought the trainer?"
The Winter Soldier was waiting for us, his arms binded against his chest in a guarded stance, his muzzle back on. His muzzle being back on upset me in a way I couldn't determine, I suppose I just liked the way his face could be free from the guarded reminder of the fact he needed to be contained on his face, treated like a wild dog, ready to snap.
He gave Kage a once-over before setting his concrete gaze on me, expecting an answer.
"Thought we could use the extra hands."
I said simply. It was clear the Winter Soldier didn't trust Kage. He didn't seem to trust anyone, from what I've seen. But, I trusted Kage. Maybe stupidly, who's to know he wasn't also against me in this facility. Aside from that, he was one of the only people I had here other than the Winter Soldier and maybe Yelena.
"Had a moments spare. This is more interesting than watching soldiers fall on their asses."
Kage remarked, him too having his arms crossed over his chest. The Winter Soldier's eyes seemed to darken at his words, as if he didn't want him to speak at all.
Trust Issues at its shiniest.
The three of us fell under a trance of an awkward silence in the dullness of the training room before the Winter Soldier walks over to the changing rooms, me and Kage following after.
I began to wonder how we could get from the enclosed space of the changing room, as there were no exits unless you went to the training area, which we were currently walking away from.
The Winter Soldier stopped once we reached the end of the second row of painted blue metal lockers, the one he stopped infront of being double sided instead of singled. He opened both doors with ease, luckily without a code or combination needed. Inside, revealing dusted surfaces and cobwebs. However, the back of the locker had been cut out, revealing the concrete wall in all its simplicity.
"Nothing?"
Kage questions from behind me, one of his hands wrapping around the edge of the locker, his head shifting in between my shoulder and the Winter Soldier's, the heat of his body swallowing mine. I sucked a breath.
"There's never nothing."
I mumbled. Seemingly, in this place nothing was code for everything. So, was everything code for nothing? Or was I over reading all of this? Caught up in the chase?
The Winter Soldier's metal arm shot out to the opposite edge of the locker Kage didn't have his hand resting on and ran his metal digits over it downwards until he stopped midway down, meeting a barely noticeable square shaped groove.
He pressed the groove in with his index finger, causing the shape to pop out. His fingers then worked the square shape, shifting it so it looked more like a diamond then it did a square.
At that, there was a soft rumbling sound from the other side of the wall. Slowly, the wall parted itself in two, revealing a doorway through the locker.
That was why the back was cut out.
"Damn."
I heard Kage say under his breath, leaning back off the locket and putting his arm back to his side.
"And you just happen to know all these little secret doors?"
Kage asks, his words now directed at the Winter Soldier.
"I've been here a long time. You become aware of your surroundings."
He answers simply. I take it upon myself to crouch into the locker slightly and walk through till I could step back down into the now opened room, Kage and the Winter Soldier both following after me, the Winter Soldier closing the metal locker doors behind himself, but the concrete walled doors remained open.
The room was larger once you stepped in, the walls at least 15 inches tall, much taller than the normalcy inside of the facility. There was not a person except the three of us in the room. Bookshelves doused in books surrounded the space, all books browning with age. Lights hanging overhead.
There were three levels, in a way. At the back of the room, which wasn't really a wall, but rather a bookshelf, had a wooden ladder on the side, leading up to another different level.
That different level also had a bookshelf back wall, with a wooden ladder leading up to the last floor. You would expect such from a millionaires home, not HYDRA. Yet again, the old and mature setting helped me believe so.
I turned back around to the two men, my eyes closing into the Winter Soldier.
"Why do you think the numbers have anything to do with books?"
I asked, his gaze switching from around the room - or, library - to mine.
"Barcodes."
He answered simply.
"Find One, Search in place of many."
The book title.
We found one book, so we had to search in a place with many books.
"The numbers are in the books..."
I said to myself, but it came aloud anyway.
"Look at this place." Kage gestures to the room. "It would take us ages to find singular barcodes."
"Not technically."
The Winter Soldier retorts, his flesh hand fishing in one of his large pockets in his black cargo pants and pulling out the book from last night.
He had taken it, I remembered that.
His flesh fingers flick over the thin pages till he reached the last eight again.
"Each of the floors have specific barcodes set to them." He explains, not even looking up from the book. "This level is zero-to-one-fifty."
I pick up on his words.
The first number designated to one of the letters of 'GIVES IN' was the first number to the barcodes. The second designated number would be the specific book.
"The second level is one-fifty-to-three-hundred." He says, finally looking up and handing the book to Kage so he was also informed. "The third level is three-hundred-to-four-fifty."
I moved to Kage's side as he flicked over the pages. The barcodes on this level - 0 to 150 - that corresponded with the letters were;

First Page: G - 23; 154

Fourth Page: E - 45; 431

Fifth Page: S - 79; 32

Seventh Page: I - 98; 61

Eighth Page: N - 01; 37

Then, on the second level - 150 to 300 - was;

Second Page: I - 243; 86

Then, the third level - 300 to 450 - was;

Third Page: V - 401; 66

Kage handed the book back to the Winter Soldier, the Winter Soldier taking it upon himself to rip out the second and third page.
"I'll find the books up on level two and three," The Winter Soldier hands the book to me, I take it. "You two can get all the books from down here, okay?"
The Winter Soldier asks in a way that gives a more demanding structure than a question. Aside from that, me and Kage both nodded. The Winter Soldier was gone to the second level as soon as we did so.
I flicked over the leftover pages and picked the first letter 'G', and its barcode. I went over to the bookshelf dock that was labelled 20-30 and entered it, my eyes scanning over the books.
21.
22.
Then 23. Now to the secondary number.
50...
100...
150...
My eyes concreted to book number 154.

G - 23; 154

I could feel Kage silently following me as I walked, his presence imminent behind me. I stopped in front of the shelf, my finger grasping the book - which was covered in a thin layer of dust - and slotted it out from the shelf, taking it in my spare hand.
It was an old book about the history of World War Two and the history and reasoning behind the attack and cause. Nothing was screaming at me that this was important, but I kept my intuition and trust in the other book in my opposite hand in my mind's grasp.
"I don't trust him."
I heard his voice from behind me. Looks like neither Kage or the Winter Soldier liked each other. I gave a quick flick-through of the World War Two book before talking.
"Why?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that he is this place's best asset?"
Kage says, as if my question was incredulous. I rolled my eyes, not turning to him as my main focus point remained on the book as I slid the book with the barcodes under the World War Two book.
"He's as much a person as anyone, Kage."
"A brainwashed person."
He points out, exemplifying 'brainwashed' to make his point better.
"It's not like he wants to be here."
I said harshly.
"How would you know that? You've been here a few months, and this is the most you've talked with eachother."
He strengthens his argument. What was I meant to say? 'Oh, I just saw it in the way his eyes looked at me, looked at everything.' Because that's believable. I closed the World War Two book and turned on my heel to face Kage, my breath hitching once I had come aware of just how close he was standing to me, our faces centimetres apart.
"You're being a jerk."
I said, not letting our proximity falter my words.
"You trust too easily."
"So what? If I don't trust him does that mean I shouldn't trust you either?"
Once I said that he paused.
"What I mean is pick your battles, Celeste. You picking the battle with the HYDRA assassin is dangerous."
"He knows this place like the back of his hand, it was my choice to ask for help." I said, I saw something in the Winter Soldier. Something I didn't even know myself, but it wasn't bad. "I'm not scared of him."
"You should be."
I probably should.
But I just wasn't.