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[right][h3]Underground HYDRA Bunker in Remote Serbia
5a.m. Local Time[/h3][/right]

The Winter Soldier knew cold. He knew colder than cold. He knew what it was like to be frozen, not just chilly, but iced down to the core. He'd felt the blood freeze in his veins. Not once. Not twice. Several times. Every time HYDRA pushed him into cryo, he froze right down into the depths of his bones and he felt himself thaw out every time they yanked him out again. 

Any regular person would snap and lash out, refuse to be HYDRA's leftover dinner, stuffed into a freezebox for goodness knows how long until they worked up an appetite for a healthy dish of enhanced-amensiac-assassin. The Winter Soldier wasn't a regular person though. He didn't fight, he didn't resist ... he certainly screamed though. As soon as they said those words, pulled him apart from inside his own head, a shattered, strangled howl left his lungs. Even the strongest soldier couldn't suppress their agony if they endured the mental reprogramming HYDRA introduced as a "precaution". One of many fail-safes to keep the Winter Soldier under their control. 

Once the piercing pain ceased, The Winter Soldier gasped for lungfuls of air, his enhanced body fighting against the pain and quickly adjusting to being "reanimated" once again after the thaw. Barely a minute had passed and the Winter Soldier was already being briefed. There was no downtime or rest period with HYDRA. When they wanted a job done, The Winter Soldier was activated and deployed as soon as possible. As soon as his work was done, he was just as quickly stuffed away, HYDRA had learned the hard way what could happen when their Asset was left out in the sun a little too long. Fortunately for them, an amnesiac with no sense of time and in a state of extreme-disorientation could be tracked down. The mission had almost been compromised and HYDRA didn't like "almost compromised" missions. That was 1973, and even after decades of flawless missions, HYDRA never forgot what happened in New York. Ever since, all of The Winter Soldiers assignments had been confined to locations outside of the United States. 

Until now.

HYDRA had bigger, bolder, schemes, and the Winter Soldier had to stand back on his own native soil once again to achieve his enemies goals. His handlers hoped this time would be without incident. The brainwashing was ramped up, extra tests, extra shocks, in the months leading up to this mission. They did all they could to ensure compliance and, if their tests so far were anything to go by, they wouldn't have to worry about the Asset going rogue in New York this time. 

[b]"Good morning Soldat"[/b] the handler said, arms folded stiffly behind his back. He was vulnerable, open to an attack. If the Winter Soldier willed it, he could grab him by the throat with his bionic left arm and crush his windpipe before the Handler had time to emit a strangled scream. The Winter Soldier didn't move. 

[b]"I have an assignment for you. Infiltrate. Sabotage. Escape undetected."[/b] 

HYDRA were going to take credit for this attack. Roll out a big show for everyone in the audience, but they couldn't expose their Asset. The Winter Soldier was too valuable to give up so easily. For 50 years he'd been HYDRA's secret human weapon. So deadly, so elusive, he'd evaded SHIELD and the authorities for years and faded into myth. HYDRA liked inflicting terror upon their enemies, their opposition, and the longer they could convince SHIELD that they were being chased by ghosts, the better. 


[right][h3]New York City,
Roughly 4p.m. Local Time[/h3][/right]

The jet to New York was filled with a pensive energy. HYDRA agents armed to the teeth and bolstered up in thick armours surrounded the Winter Soldier. Without a helmet, without a gaudy suit of armour, he almost appeared non-threatening. Tactical light armour seemed so flimsy compared to the hulking suits the agents wore, but it was more effective than it looked. Mask pulled up, The Winter Soldier was muzzled by HYDRA, literally, and psychologically. The agents were apprehensive, right in New York, they were dropping the Winter Soldier on his own turf, even before they hit the dirt, they feared he'd remember something, he'd break his programming. He'd retaliate again the years of brutal abuse he'd suffered. But that moment never came and he left the jet, armed and dangerous he disappeared and they waited. 

There was no codeword, no signal, the Winter Soldier rarely spoke, and when he did, it was only to affirm to his handlers that he had done his job and was at the rendez-vous point. HYDRA were waiting for a signal this time ... they'd know it when they saw it. The whole world would know. Minutes passed ... More minutes passed. The handler grew impatient and barked an order into the Winter Soldier's ear-piece. 
[b]"Soldat. Report."[/b]
[b]"In position."[/b] Came the Winter Soldiers response. 
The handler relaxed slightly, the Winter Soldier wasn't missing, he was waiting. Waiting for the perfect moment to blow the place to hell.

The Winter Soldier had planted and primed the bomb, snuck away to a good, discrete vantage point ... All he had to do was light the fuse. He watched the group below assemble into position, lined up like little toy soldiers far below as he followed them through the sniper scope. He saw their faces, read their lips as they spoke before lining up the crosshairs with the neat little package subtly tucked away right under their noses. 
[b]"Will I take the shot?"[/b] he asked his handler.
The handler observed his computer screen, hacked CCTV cameras from the street fed live video of the scene down below and he scanned the movements of the mutants and civilians that were roughly within the blast radius. 
[b]"Do it."[/b]

He squeezed the trigger. One tiny little pull of the finger and suddenly the street dissolved before his eyes. Shrapnel and fire scattered in a huge destructive torrent tearing apart the people and structures around it. The front of a bakery caved in and several floors above it were gutted, leaning forward and collapsing in and down on itself, crushing the already charred and ruined bodies beneath. Those further away from the initial blast weren't particularly fortunate either, glass, concrete and chunks of steel and flaming bits of building materials were propelled at devastating speed, puncturing whatever crossed their path like haphazard bullets. Cars, walls, people, they were all studded with shards of glass and concrete.

Sirens wailed, people screamed, fire crackled and bricks fell down from overhead. The Winter Soldier turned from the scene and snuck away unseen. HYDRA collected the Asset several blocks from the bomb site and began their grand announcement. 

The Winter Soldier was back in his handlers control before the evening news could even cover the blast. The jet, which was circling the New York skyline to survey the damage and devastation it had unleashed on the city, didn't intend to drop the Winter Soldier back into Serbia so soon. There was still work to be done here but he needed a full assessment. The brainwashing safeguards appeared to have held up this time, but they couldn't risk losing him again now at so crucial a stage in their wave of terrorist attacks. A psych specialist was on board the plane, a small table and chairs set up, oddly out of place in the tactical jet. The Winter Soldier sat down for evaluation. 

[b]"Your mission was successful?"[/b] the psych asked.
[b]"Package was planted and primary targets neutralised."[/b]
The psych made an affirmative noise and noted it down in Winter SOldier's growing record.
[b]"And while you were planting the package and going to the extraction zone. Did you go anywhere else?"[/b]
[b]"No"[/b]

The handler called the jet not too long after for a full report on the Asset. 
[b]"Asset is stable, didn't go walk-about this time either, I recommend we leave him out of cryo to continue our work, the safeguards should hold up. We will stay at a safe house, keep him under-wraps and in the dark until after the announcement goes live. I'll do another evaluation before we ready our next target. There will be no mistakes this time."[/b]

Curious still, the psych  returned to the Soldier and quizzed him further, off the books this time.
[b]"Do you know where you are?"[/b]
[b]"New York City"[/b]
It wasn't particularly surprising, The Asset had been briefed before the drop, but the psych wanted to ease in slowly.
[b]"And have you been to New York before? Or anywhere else in America?"[/b]
[b]"No."[/b]
This was reassuring, the HYDRA handlers seemed to relax a little.
[b]"One more question Soldier."[/b] The Soldier didn't nod or say "go ahead, ask away", he was like stone, unresponsive and unmoving, socialising with him was impossible, he conversed like a robot it seemed unnatural for him to talk sometimes, HYDRA kept him quiet almost all the time. 
[b]"Have you heard of Captain America?"[/b]

Since the Galactus incident, everyone knew about Captain America, though it was a surprise to the world when she revealed she was a female. HYDRA knew the Stephanie, like The Winter Soldier, had been plucked out of time, they'd been allies back in the 40's but now ... The Winter Soldier was theirs and HYDRA had every intention of putting down Captain America for good and what better way to do it than send one of her oldest buddies after her. 

The Asset was quiet. The psych repeated the question.
[b]"Do you know Captain America?"[/b]
[b]"No."[/b]
The psych smiled to himself. When the time came, the Asset would take out his oldest friend, but for now, he was waiting for the plane to touch down in one of the safe houses just outside the city so that he could be briefed on the next stage of HYDRA's wave of terror attacks.