Serum Soldiers

Chapter 16 - Enter, the puppet

Henry slammed his fist on the table.

"DAMN!" His idea of the Soldiers keeping a low profile, hadn't gone as he had planned. But then again, nothing he thought of really did. Alexander Pierce had stolen the Winter Soldier program from him, just because Henry messed up a little a day before. This was Henry's chance to prove how the WS program could have worked, if he was in charge.

"They've attracted too much attention. They'll either have to keep low for a while or just do one off assassination missions." No one bothered to reply to Henry's occasional chats with himself. Most of the time they weren't even proper sentences, just the odd word here and there.

He began pacing again, a common activity for him, with one hand in his trouser pocket and the other placed over his mouth. The room was in silence, funnily enough this was another common occurrence. The typing of the workers, the shuffling of papers and the clacking of shoes had all ceased. All heads had turned towards him, waiting for Henry to 'amaze' them with another 'great' idea.

He stopped pacing, and quite abruptly at that. His head slowly rose, as though he had just discovered the mysteries of the Universe. His head whipped round to one of the people at the computers.

"Is Puppet still here?"

"U-um yes... Sir." There was uncertainty in the workers' voice, as though this 'Puppet' was dangerous in some way.

"Well take me to them."

"...Right away, sir." As the worker, replied, a guard / another worker walked through the door of the room. They stood in the doorway and signalled for Henry to follow him. His was fairly muscular, just like the previous guards. It seemed as though someone had an interest for muscles, maybe?

Henry was led through a bleak corridor, that looked as though it had been closed off from all humanity. The doors, that were either side of the walls, were sunken in creating more room to move. There were a remarkable amount of doors. Henry wasn't even sure that he had visited this part of the base before. 'Must be where all our test subjects or failed projects are kept,' Henry thought.

They strode down, getting closer and closer to the dark wall at the end. Henry was being to think that the guard wouldn't stop and continue to then smash face first into the wall. 'Now that would be funny,' Henry thought with a mischievous grin on his face.

Shadows crept all over the walls and floor, as the only light emitted was overhead and the occasional singular light that annoyingly flickered.

The guard stopped quite abruptly, in front of a door that looked battered and even thicker than the rest. He grunted. Henry began to wonder what was with this guy. 'Was he a mute? Or was he just one of those big meaty guys who have almost no brain?' He dismissed the thoughts, as the 'meaty guy' tapped in a code on the side of the doorway. The individual clicks of the buttons, began to make Henry impatient. The old technology down here was enough to make his skin crawl.

While the guard still poked in the digits, Henry sorted out his jacket to his suit. He pulled it, making sure there were no creases. He had to make himself look presentable, for any occasion. What has a man got to do with himself, while waiting?

Finally, the door let out a sound similar to a microwave ding. Henry let out an internal sigh of relief, it meant that he could now stop awkwardly messing around with his suit, as he used it as an excuse while they stood in uncomfortable silence. Henry stepped first, leaving the guard still standing by the button panel, with his nose almost up against the door that was now scrapping back to the left. It was evident that the door hadn't been in use for very long, because the detestable screeching sound that screamed from the bottom and side of the door was almost too much to bare. Even though Henry had it worse, he kept a straight face. It didn't compare at all, to his immense excitement.

The door revealed a bare room, containing only one person inside. They wore white, or rather were once white, trousers and shirt. The room itself was escape proof. The walls were padded and the person's hands and ankles were cuffed, to at that point, loose chains. They sat with their eyes closed, with their legs crossed, as though they were meditating. Their hair was long and greasy. It easily passed their shoulders and slid down to their mid back.

"Well isn't this a pleasant surprise." His voice almost dripped with sarcasm. "I hope you've enjoyed your time, in your 'luxury living quarters'." Henry walked slowly into the room, making sure he wasn't too close to the figure.The figure opened on of their eyes, acknowledging that Henry was looking them straight in the eye.

"I was wondering when you would visit me again. You're a bit late this time." The figure's voice was gravelly and deep, not to mention masculine. His lip curled up as Henry stayed quiet for a moment, in an effort to try to think of something clear to say back. He could almost hear the cogs grinding together, inside of Henry's head.

Instead of a response, Henry gave him a sour look.

"I'm going to have to say goodbye." Henry said, with no sadness in his voice what so ever.

"Oh what do you want me to do now? Hopefully nothing too easy?" He mimicked Henry's sarcasm. That was a bad move though. Henry stepped closer, with his hands in his pockets, until his feet were almost touching his legs. "Isn't that a bit too close? You might get your new shoes dirty, by being within a foot of me."

Within one swift movement, Henry's foot had launched itself into the boy's stomach. He retracted it and placed back on the floor. The boy left put a cough-like yelp of pain, and doubled over in pain.

"Now be quiet and let me inform you of your last assignment." The figure spat, whilst hunched over. If he was able to clasp his stomach with his hands, he would have in that exact moment, but unfortunately the rusty chains restricted him from doing so.

Thanks for reading everyone :D I got the idea for the Puppet from the game Kraven Manor :3 but anyway, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

~ Strawhat-cat