Insanity

Chapter 19

Song: Haunted by ADONA

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"Voices spin in the quiet, 
simmer in your head. 
Find peace in the quiet, 
it's better here than dead."

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Soldier hadn't noticed, but his earpiece had been screaming at him throughout the entire escapade at the apartment complex. "Soldier! Do you copy? What happened?" the voice bellowed, but Soldier continued to ignore it. Thinking, wondering; both things which were normally outside of his realm of allowed activities.

He ran, and ran, and ran, looking for not only the van, but for answers as well. He could feel his own hot breath rebounding inside of his mask, making it more difficult to breathe and to focus.

He wanted to know why that strange man was causing such a turmoil in his head. He was curious how the man had thrown that shield with such a force to make his own left arm struggle somewhat. Why had the man even attacked him in the first place? Did he know Fury or something? Was he working for S.H.I.E.L.D.? Had he just been busted? He could see it in the newspapers now: "The Winter Soldier Spotted in Public - Existence Confirmed!" He could almost feel the lashing on his back, the cool metal of the chair against his face as he was slowly tortured for exposing his own existence, for no longer being the ghost story he was supposed to be. The thought made him shudder.

Eventually, Soldier spotted the van. "Hurry up, get in," his earpiece hissed. Soldier clamored inside, settling down in his usual seat on the floor in the back, hoping his unease didn't show on his face.

"I take it you got him?" Rumlow asked, practically flooring the van. It screeched to a start, sending Soldier lurching back against the doors.

Unable to speak due to the tight mask keeping his jaw from moving more than a centimeter, Soldier nodded so as to say yes, he'd succeeded. Or at least, he assumed he had succeeded; he figured there wouldn't have been as much of a panic otherwise.

"Good. Pierce should be home by the time we get you there, you can tell him the good news if he doesn't know already," Rumlow said.

After that, neither man said a word and it was a completely silent ride back to Pierce's mansion. Soldier sunk lower into his crunched up horizontal position, not noticing the strain on his shoulders as his head was forced into extremely unnatural positions as it pressed against the back of the van. The moonlight shone through the tinted back windows, reflecting off of Soldier's arm in a glow so bright it could have blinded someone. He wasted away his boredom by turning his arm this way and that, seeing how many different kinds of reflective shapes he could make and trying not to dwell on the past half hour. He kept reminding himself that it was just another day at work, even if with every passing minute that was starting to feel further and further from the truth.

The sharpie around Soldier's eyes had begun to burn by the time Rumlow pulled into Pierce's driveway, and he frantically rubbed his eyes. "Stay here. I'll be back," Rumlow ordered, stepping out of the van. Soldier rubbed at his eyes more as he waited, only making the stinging worse.

Soldier heard quiet chatter and wondered if they were discussing his mission. Was Rumlow telling Pierce of the success? Or perhaps Pierce wasn't even home and Rumlow had gotten stuck talking to the housemaid, Renata. That would be unfortunate; Soldier figured that would mean he'd be spending some more time in the awful van.

Though it seemed more time wasn't necessary, and Soldier was startled when the back doors suddenly flew open to reveal the glorious lawn that was Pierce's. Rumlow stood before Soldier, a burgundy blanket in his arms. "Coast is clear, let's move. Put this over your head," he said, handing Soldier the blanket. It was like touching a cloud and was so light and soft as he draped it around himself that he barely noticed it being there. He doubted he'd ever felt anything so soft in his entire life. Soldier hopped out of the vehicle, keeping his head low as he walked towards the front porch.