Prologue
A woman walked down the halls, a straight expression on her face.
She wore a mandatory hydra uniform, which consisted of tight black material adorned with silver medals and of course, the hydra symbol.
Her short blonde hair was tucked into the black hat she wore over her head.
If it wasn't for her breasts or curved figure, she could have been mistaken for a man.
She walked with perfect posture, her spine straight as she kept her gaze directly ahead of her.
She ignored all of the nods and "Ma'am's" she received from her inferiors.
The end of the hallway held a large metal door. No one noticed it, and if they did notice it, they didn't care.
Once she reached the end of the hallway, she pulled out a security card from the inside of her uniform jacket. She scanned the card easily and was granted access to the metal door.
Only a couple people watched her as she slipped into the room with perfect agility. Many of the hallways inhabitants were over her presence. They had done their duty in acknowledging her and after that, they had no other respectful obligations.
The woman had closed the door behind her and turned in one fluid motion to face the group in front of her.
At least five men sat at a table, all talking to one another in hushed voices.
She paid no attention to this and showed no interest in knowing what it was they were talking about.
She merely took a seat at the head of the table and looked towards the black screen which she knew would be injected with life once the command sergeant major arrived.
She sat patiently, her posture perfect and her hands sitting in her lap.
Suddenly, the door on the opposite wall opened and a man of about 50 entered the room. He wore a similar uniform to all of the men and the single woman. Except, his contained much more metals.
Everyone seated at the table stood, muttering their respects before the man roughly nodded as a signal for them to sit down once more.
The man looked straight to the only woman in the room, his eyes glimmered in recognition but neither of them made the move to greet one another.
"We have a lead on the asset. Agents are to go directly to the site after this briefing. This will be short, we don't want the asset to move positions or change location." The sergeant informed them, he was speaking quickly and the soldiers in the room had gone wide-eyed.
Everyone except the woman looked surprised, some of them even looked bloodthirsty as the sergeant began running through background on the asset. As if the whole room wasn't informed of the past experiment created by Hydra.
The woman's eyes had changed, while her mouth stayed in a straight line. They looked steely as if she wasn't paying attention at all.
Her breathing pattern had changed slightly, it was quicker, more erratic.
Her nostrils flared ever so slightly as the man continued to speak of the asset.
He pointed to the screen, a blurry picture of a man with shaggy brown hair appeared. He was chained to a chair and he looked as if he was unconscious.
She froze, eyeing the photo with intensity as the sergeant gave a speech in order to rile up the agents.
Many of them smiled as they examined the picture and as the sergeant revealed a plan which would take the man down. A couple of the agents cheered, their eyes wild with bloodthirst and a rage which had been instilled in them since their initiation in the organization.
The woman did none of these things.
She merely stared at the photo, her eyes fogged over with thought as her brain uncovered all of the information she knew about the asset.
His missions, his past, everything that had been done to him.
"Agent Gaz, I expect you are more than capable to run this mission?" The sergeant asked in his powerful voice.
The woman, Gaz, looked up the man, nodding her head ever so slightly.
The rest of the room looked to her as if they were expecting her to give them an order straight away.
Gaz merely stared at the picture, the feeling of an incoming explosion inside of her heart.
Finally.
A small smirk overtook her usually stoic expression, this caused many of the agents to smile.
"Suit up." She said firmly, her voice deeper than expected as she stood from her seat and exited the room without another word.
Behind her, the face of James Buchanan Barnes was plastered on the screen.
Gaz stood in the helicopter, her shoulder length hair now down and swaying violently from the wind coming in from the open door.
She wore her standard catsuit, her holster filled with a gun and her hand clutched a lethal looking knife.
Five other men sat in the helicopter. No one spoke or looked to one another.
Three of the men played with their weapons while the other two merely sat back with their eyes closed.
Gaz took a deep breath before cracking her neck and then turning to address her troops.
"The asset doesn't know we're coming. Do not shoot unless you are 100% sure you are going to hit him. We do not want him aware of our presence until he feels a bullet in his chest." She spoke harshly, her lips turned into a scowl as she waited for the agreement from her troop.
They all nodded firmly, all having an immediate obligation to follow all of her orders.
"We will land at the military base, they have been informed of our arrival and are willing to cooperate. From there, we'll take a van to where the asset is believed to be living. We will enter the building silently, alerting no one of our presence. There is no assigned shooter in this mission. Whoever is closest, will be the one to make the shot. I hand selected each of you, I expect you to be able to carry out the job." She informed them, a cold superiority in her scolding voice.
She had the expression of someone who could murder a man with her pinky and have absolutely no objection to doing so.
The team stared at her, wide-eyed and nodding.
For three of them, this was their first mission.
If she wasn't an expert in her job, the sergeant would have protested bringing new recruits on such a vital mission. But, her status allowed her to make any decision she wanted with the full trust of the organization. Each decision she made held a significant reason, just as the decision she had made for this mission held significant meaning.
Which meant she would finally be able to make a difference in the damned world.
"Soldier 304, enter the left door. Soldier 724, enter the right door. Two of you, go to the other side of the building and stand guard. He will try to escape. We can not let him. 492, come with me." Gaz informs her soldiers, using their numbers. They didn't have names, at least not yet. Once you enter Hydra, you lose your identity, you become a number, a weapon. You only regain a name once you become a high enough rank, and even then it is only a code name. If there's one thing Hydra's good at, it's stripping you of all of your humanity.
Gaz was a perfect example. Her number was 593, she kept that number until she became sergeant major. Once she did earn a high title she only earned a code name. Gaz; short for gazelle. The command sergeant major had given it to her. She had no other choice but to take it gratefully. It was to the point where she hadn't heard anyone say her real name in over a decade.
The soldiers easily obeyed orders, the four of them who were ordered to positions eagerly went to their posts. Soldier 492 stood directly next to his sergeant and awaited further instruction.
She opened her mouth as if to ask him if he was ready, but thought against it and instead looked up at the apartment building which resembled a warehouse.
The soldier followed, needing no instruction to know that he needs to follow his superior.
Gaz approached the door, her hand encasing the cold metal of the doorknob.
It turned, it wasn't locked.
She stopped suddenly, not locked wouldn't work for her.
She needed to break the door down and break the door down she would.
"Locked," She told 492, looking over her shoulder briefly to see if he had noticed how the knob had turned.
He hadn't noticed a damn thing, most newbies didn't. That's why she liked them so much. It was so much easier to get away with things when you were surrounded by people who automatically trusted you because of your rank.
Gaz took a few steps back, her body angled sideways towards the door.
Abruptly, she slammed her body into the door and it flew open with relative ease. Which made sense since it was unlocked.
The impact had made a loud bang, exactly what she had wanted.
"Third floor. I'll be the one to go in, you stand guard." She told the soldier shortly, eyeing the flights of stairs.
The soldier merely gave a curt nod before going running before her on the stairs, his gun loaded and pointed in front of him.
Gaz followed swiftly behind, her hand still holding the knife and her other hand lightly touching her holstered gun.
The soldier stopped on the third floor, stepping aside to allow Gaz to enter the hallway.
"Stand down here at the end. If he runs out of the door, don't hesitate to shoot." She told the soldier easily. Of course, he obeyed.
Gaz turned around, her back to the soldier as she eyed the apartment doors.
The Asset's was room 310.
She walked down the hall, her eyes on the right side of doors.
302, 304, 306, 308.
She stopped, the numbers on the door of 310 had been ripped off, only a shadow remained.
She absentmindedly shook her head, what a stupid way to raise suspicion.
Taking a deep, yet unnoticeable breath, her hand touched the doorknob.
Locked.
She couldn't exactly break this one down, especially since there was a slight chance he may still be in there.
She didn't want him getting the wrong idea.
So, she reached inside of her suit, pulling out a credit card.
She could feel the soldier's eyes on her as she slid the card between the door and the wall. But, he wouldn't dare ask what she was doing.
The door unlocked with surprising ease.
If you're on the run, she thought, you should choose a place with good locks.
She slowly opened the door, slipping her body inside of the small entry way she had created.
The apartment was small, it only took one glance to see the whole of it.
But, she wasn't focused on the apartment. She was focused on the man who was aiming a rifle at her.
Her countenance remained calm as she slowly lifted her arms in the air.
The asset eyed her, his breathing heavy and erratic and his eyes wild.
"You need to run," She told him, her voice soft, so soft he almost hadn't heard her instruction.
He stared at her, looking extremely bewildered.
About half a minute passed before her gaze grew more intense, "Didn't you hear me? You need to run. Far away from here, as far away as you can get. Go out through the window, there's no one there guarding." She whispered once more, harsher this time as she tried to convey a plea.
His eyes remained wide, his human hand shaking ever so slightly on the trigger of the gun.
She remained calm, if he was to shoot her, she would kindly embrace death.
His eyes were dark as they met hers. But they weren't like all of the other dark eyes she had seen. They were afraid.
"Run," She repeated, her teeth gritted.
His gaze softened, resembling that of a scolded puppy.
His eyes narrowed, some of his long brown hair falling into his face.
And then he turned, and he ran like hell.