Brock Rumlow was about as moveable as a mountain. Nothing got him worried and nothing shook his resolve. Okay, it had probably happened at some point as a little boy, but he couldn't remember the last time. He was a strong man who knew and had honed his strength, and intelligent to boot. He believed in what he did and was accustomed to getting his way. Nothing shook him. Not until now.
His bosses were Fucking Idiots. The Asset, the one the intelligence community called the Winter Soldier, was Bucky Barnes? Captain America's best friend? The one that Cap had disobeyed orders and gone in alone and razed a Hydra base to the ground on the off chance that he might still be alive? And not only that, but they'd sent that same Asset after Cap of all people. That was in the running for Stupidest Idea On The Planet.
As if that wasn't enough, Cap had gotten the mask off. He recognized his old pal. He knew. And hell had no fury like Captain America coming to his best friend's aid. Oh, they were in trouble now. And the Asset's programming had been cracked just by hearing his buddy say his name. Because of-fucking-course that would happen. What did they think would happen if they let the two of them meet again? If the Asset remembered who he was, realized what had been done to him, reunited with Cap...What had his superiors been thinking?
Fuck, look at him. It. Brock reminded himself forcefully. It was a weapon. He couldn't let himself get soft and think of it as a person. But he was a person again, looking at Pierce with such intensity and defiance. That wasn't a machine anymore. That one word had made a man of the Asset again. This was bad. This was really bad.
Oh fuck no, Pierce. Don't send the Asset back out again. Could he not see that the Asset had developed a fault? Sending him back out like this would jeopardize everything. No. Put him back on ice. Find another way to deal with Cap. Don't thaw out the Asset again until Cap was safely six feet under.
Okay. Thank you ballsy scientist. Wiping him was an improvement. It might work. God he hoped it would work. Wipe him and make sure he puts a bullet in Cap's head from a nice long distance. Brock had done plenty of reading on Cap and his Commandos, and Barnes had been a damn good sniper back in the day. Nice long distance shot, don't let him near enough to recognize him or hear his voice. Could work. Brock didn't like it, but he'd take it.
Would wiping him work though? Brock didn't know much about that side of things. He knew it was routine after a mission. The Asset remembering bits of the past, though? He was pretty sure that wasn't routine. They'd probably never had cause to find out if a single wipe with the current tech was enough to make the Asset forget more than a routine mission. He didn't like this one bit.
For the first time that he could remember, Brock felt uneasy as he followed Pierce out of that room. He still believed in Hydra. He was still the loyal soldier fighting the good fight. But his bosses were fucking idiots, and that bad call was going to blow up in their faces. He just knew it.