Insanity

Chapter 24

Song: World We Made by Ruelle

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"Secrets follow us, 
visions we can't forget."

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Sweat dripped down his face, his arms, his torso. The innermost part of his brain seemed to physically be throbbing, sending rockets of shooting pain down his head and face. He clenched and unclenched his fists, every muscle in his body spasming uncontrollably. His breathing was heavy, and his lungs burned with the lingering feeling of not being able to get enough air into them.

Soldier felt like he had forgotten something really, really important, though no matter how hard he tried he couldn't remember what it was.

"Is he good now?" a man he recognized to be his handler, Alexander Pierce, asked from beyond a barred door.

"Should be. Wanna go in and talk to him?"

The answer must have been yes, seeing as the question was followed by a creaking of the door being swung open. Soldier pried open his bleary, exhausted eyes, already dreading whatever was going to happen.

Pierce sat down in a chair across from him, his hands neatly folded in his lap. "How do you feel?" he asked.

If he'd had the energy, Soldier may have laughed at the question. But he didn't have the energy, and the sound came out as more of a pathetic sigh. He couldn't even muster up the strength to answer the question and was barely able to nod his heavy head, draining the very last bit of strength in his body.

Pierce raised an eyebrow, seeming unconvinced. "Good. You've been a wonderful asset to Hydra thus far, but we don't have much time. We need this done and we need it done quickly, or we may never have the chance again."

Soldier flicked his eyes towards Pierce, his hair clinging to his shiny cheeks. He swallowed, wetting his fiery throat and relieving a small bit of the uncomfortable dry feeling.

"We have intel that has determined S.H.I.E.L.D. will be trying to shut down a program enabled on several of our helicarriers, and we need you to make sure they don't succeed. Kill them all, destroy their jets, stop their plan," Pierce ordered firmly, his tone as unwavering as the gel holding his hair in place. "If you fail this time, I hate to say it, but we'll be forced to go to extreme measures to make sure you perform at your best. Do not let them succeed."

Soldier's breaths grew uneven and shaky, nerves bubbling up inside him. He knew what extreme measures meant, he knew they'd used them before, and it wasn't a good thing. Extreme measures meant days, weeks even, of nonstop torture methods, though Hydra liked to call it "corrective motivation", even if that was far from the reality of what it was. Beatings, water torture, whippings, starvation. . . none of those seemed to fall under the category of "motivation" to Soldier.

"If they succeed, it will put an unrepairable dent in Hydra's progress of securing the future of a free world, and we can't let that happen. We'll be taking you there tomorrow, so rest up," Pierce said. "I expect a successful mission report from you."

Pierce unclasped the restraints holding Soldier in his seat, and he left the vault. Only the four guards stationed in the room remained, still nervously staring at him from the corners as if he even had the strength to put up a fight.

Soldier slid out of his chair, crumpling into a ball in the floor beneath him. He usually wasn't this weak after a reconditioning session, so what had made this time so much different?

We'll be forced to go to extreme measures to make sure you perform at your best. Pierce's words rang through his head, slowly blackmailing him into making sure he didn't fail this mission as he thought more and more about the intention behind them. He absolutely could not fail this mission under any circumstances, no matter what happened; his own well being depended on it.