The Asset was...unsure.
Assets were not supposed to have feelings, but this Handler was...different. Not even because she was the first Omega Handler that the Asset had been given as far as he was aware.
She had told the Asset that Hydra was compromised, and offered the Asset a choice.
No one else had ever done so. Had discouraged choices, so much so that, should the Asset show a preference or hint of making them, he most often ended up in the Chair. The Asset loathed the Chair.
Assets were not supposed to do that either. It was why the Asset allowed the use of the chair. It would be a simple matter to break the restraints no matter what the scientists believed.
Boudica loathed the chair too, the great griffin like creature being his spirit guide and very not happy about what HYDRA were doing to him. She would scratch her talons into the floors, flare her wings and shriek her displeasure, but she did not possess the strength to interfere. The Asset did not see Boudica often. He knew HYDRA gave him something that made it very difficult for her to manifest. The spirit was strong though and refused to be entirely taken away.
Still. This Handler had provided the full pass phrase, and so she was the Ultimate Authority. HYDRA was compromised, and she was soldat's only Authority until she gave permission willingly for the Asset to listen to others. There would be no survivors left in their wake, and she had given the Asset permission to choose how to use his skills.
The Asset would choose to comply.
No Survivors Protocol initiated.
The Handler turned and began to walk through the halls with purpose. The Asset followed behind her, eyes flicking through the halls, searching for targets. The Asset thought it strange that this Handler was clothed in a papery gown, much like the one the Asset had been changed into while thawing. Still- it was not an asset's place to question and so he would not.
He caught a glimpse of Boudica in the corner of his eye- speckled black and gray wings, her body an overall mix of soft gray and soot black - realizing that the scientists had been shooed out of the room before they had given him the shot that would suppress her. She was surprisingly calm in the face of this Handler. She seemed pleased, which was not something The Asset had seen before. She walked calmly beside him, her eyes liquid and calm. She made no aggressive movements towards the Handler, did not flare her wings or snap her beak. He made no motion that he could see the spirit at all, just in case.
Almost as if the thought about how she was dressed had been a cue, the Asset watched as her gown shifted and changed into an almost leather-like armor. A thought tickled at the back of the Asset's mind, whispering about familiarity, that he had seen something like that before.
Magic- a voice the Asset rarely heard in his own head whispered. A voice the scientists tried to suppress, a voice that meant he would be visiting the Chair if it was mentioned. The Asset did not mention the voice. And the soldat agreed. He knew of magic, and all the hassle it could provide during a mission in the hands of a skilled user. In this case it would only help in their No Survivors Protocol.
The Asset did not move quickly enough when they came across the first of their targets, a novel experience, as usually his Handlers were slow. The Handler lifted a hand and brought the targets to their knees, screaming. It was...pleasant to see the Handler had not been lying when she said that she would be taking the Protocol on herself.
The Asset would always listen to his Handlers, but that did not mean that his Handlers were being truthful with the soldat. It was refreshing to see this Handler react without hesitation to follow through on what she had promised. In response the Asset moved to help, pulling one of his guns free and taking aim.
There were no missed shots. They had trained their weapon well.
(The Voice whispered about snipers and trees, the eyes in the sky, that he had always been skilled with a gun in his hands anyway)
LINEBREAK
People were screaming, fire blazed in different rooms, and the soldat was...pleased.
That...was not an emotion the Asset was familiar with. And yet the Handler kept surprising him, kept triggering the emotion. The Asset found that he liked this Handler. He had been nervous when she led him to the room that held the Chair, but she had not used it. No, this Handler had taken one look at it, snarled, and set it on fire.
The Asset had frozen in the door, watching a living wolf of flames snarl and lunge for the seat of the Chair. It loosened something in his chest when the Chair was left nothing but melted slag on the ground, and the Handler turned to look at him.
"The Chair will never be used on you again, soldat," his Handler declared over the screaming and the snap, crackle of the spreading Asset wanted to shudder, the feeling of relief was so intense. Instead he remained still, but allowed a small relaxation in his body. The soldat was not sure she was being truthful, but she had destroyed the Chair in front of him, and that lended a weight to her words. "Should anyway try to use a Chair on you again, you have permission to react as you wish."
The Asset shuddered, just a little. He could not stop it. (Another failing in his programing-) He had recieved permission from the Primary Handler. He would never have to go back to a Chair. The Asset didn't think that HYDRA had another, but the fact that he could react with the violence that bubbled in his chest when he was brought to the Chair if they did-
The Asset liked this Handler. He hoped she stayed.
She had then proceeded to destroy everything in the room, taking down any target she came across with extreme prejudice. The Asset had been gleeful to join in with the attack on these particular targets as he remembered how pleased they had been to get him into the Chair.
Soldat followed behind this Handler easily, helping her to take down everyone they came carved a bloody swath through the underground base, leaving bodies and broken doors behind them, until they reached the door that was the entrance to the office of the head of HYDRA.
By then, there was only one survivor left.
Alexander Pierce, former Priority Handler.
He was furious, and the soldat could hear him saying the Words with a hard commanding tone. The Asset flickered his eyes to the new Handler and she subtly shook her head in the negative. The Asset stared Pierce down and refused to move. It was...strangely liberating to be able to ignore those words coming out of the man's mouth.
The Handler stepped in front of the Asset, presenting him her back, and shielding him from Pierce's view.
None of the other Handlers had done that either. None were so bold, nor so confident in their ability to keep him under control without the use of force. None had made a protective move on his behalf.
She was a strange Handler.
"You." The woman practically snarled, her voice was hard in a way that had the Asset straightening to attention immediately as she stared Pierce down. "You are a disgusting human being, filth of the highest degree. You've tortured a good man until he does not even realize that he is a person and not an 'it'. Not an 'Asset' to be used. You are plotting murder of over twenty million people, have taken amusement and pleasure in corrupting and breaking people all over the world, always in the name of your cause. And I will not allow it. I'm cutting off all your heads and I've brought my own fire."
The Handler does not allow former Priority Handler to speak. There is no warning, no hesitation. Her hand lifts, and with a twist of her wrist, Alexander Pierce loses the vaguely amused and perfectly composed expression he was wearing as he drops to his knees, mouth open in an agonized scream. His fingers were clawing at his arms, his face, leaving bloody tracks in his skin.
This death was not a quick one, like the others she had dealt out. For Pierce she held her hand up and wrist twisted, his pained shrieks echoing in the room until they sputtered out on their own. His body slumped, skin brightly red and faintly steaming from whatever the woman had inflicted on his previous Priority Handler.
The Asset did not ask what she had done, but his current Handler provided the information anyway. She waited until they were leaving the base behind them, the fire still burning and the ashes drifting on the wind.
"I cast a blood boiling curse on him. I figured it was an ironic justice considering how much he liked to have you frozen alive. I held it until his blood boiled out of his veins."
It was...nice, to know what she had done. That she had chosen to do it for the Asset.
Some part of him, buried deep in the corners of his mind (protected, shielded), burst into hysterical laughter and the Asset could not help the way his lips twitched up, almost unconsciously.
LINEBREAK
The Handler had turned to face him, once they were far from the base, her eyes becoming clearer- the Asset recognized the signs of drugs clearing out of her system- as she warned him "I have to transport us, but it is going to be unpleasant. It will feel like being squeezed in a straw, and likely make you nauseous. I'm sorry about that, but I'm taking us to help. Okay?"
The Asset had tensed subtly at the word 'unpleasant' but was surprised that the Handler had then explained what to expect. None of the others had done that. They had not apologized for it either. This Handler became stranger and stranger as time went on.
But she was waiting for an answer. She was waiting for him to make a choice and to voice it.
"The Asset will comply."
She approached him and paused before speaking softly, yet firmly, her eyes staring into his own.
"I will have to touch you to transport us both. Is that alright?" She held her hand out, open and inviting rather than reaching for the soldat's person. The Asset was still for a moment before he reached out with his metal hand.
She didn't flinch. She knew the soldat could crush her hands and wrists with that hand and still- unlike every other Handler the Asset had ever had- she allowed the Asset to reach for her with it.
And more than that, when she twisted on her heel and they disappeared from their place, the sensation was exactly what she had warned to expect.
She had not lied.
LINEBREAK
The zimniy soldat held himself still beside his Handler, eyes flying over the area around them and taking in all the visual clues. London, he placed their location after a moment. Not too far from their previous location, a few towns over. They were hidden in an alleyway, and he watched his Handler waver on her feet for a moment. He reached out and steadied her without thought, acting to keep his Handler on her feet and healthy, as he shifted to shield her from the view of any hostile force.
"Thank you." Her voice was tired, and soldat tilted his head in acknowledgement, even as he catalogued another strange thing from this Handler.
Gratitude was not something that anyone he had interacted with previously had shown the Asset no matter how well he preformed. The others went out of their way to find mistakes to punish the soldat for, even where there had been none or it was not the fault of the soldat.
"Come on," she waved a hand releasing the Asset and once again showing him her back. "We're not quite where we need to be yet, but I couldn't apparate directly to the location thanks to the wards around Diagon Alley."
Soldat fell into step with the Handler easily, even as he continued to scan his surroundings. She led the Asset to a dingy looking pub, a subtle twist of her magic changing her clothes again, draping a fine cloak in dark emerald shades over her shoulders. She pulled the fur lined hood up, tucking her hair into it and hiding her eyes before she held another, larger cloak out for the Asset, this one in deep shades of blue.
Soldat placed it on without question, pausing momentarily as warmth immediately began to emanate from the fabric, then pulling the hood up as she had done, pleased when his vision was not impeded nor his movement when he quickly checked with a series of exercises. She allowed this check, and then turned, strolling forward to lead him into the pub.
The moment they passed the entrance, the soldat tensed, the hair along the back of his neck standing on end. He could feel something….other, in the air.
Everywhere.
His eyes flew over the pub, and the Asset stepped closer to his Handler. There were many acts of 'magic' happening around the two of them, people using it for the most asinine of reasons from stirring tea without touching the spoon, to hovering a book in front of their eyes so they could eat and read at the same time. Every little use of the magic pulled the Asset's attention in some way, like a trail of ice down his back. His senses rang with it, all five of them, trying to be pulled in multiple directions at once.
Soldat's spine straightened and his shoulders tensed as they moved further in. He could not pick a place to look, trails of ice dragging his attention from place to place as the sensation was tracked. It felt like his senses were focusing in on that sensation, and then a spark of warmth in the ice interrupted the spiral.
The Asset's eyes snapped to the source of the warmth and he met emerald eyes that peered at him from under the hood. It was surprising how quickly her touch had pulled the soldat out of his zone. It usually took quite a bit of pain to manage, but all she had done was touch him.
That voice in his head, the one buried under survival instinct, made a wordless shocked noise.
"Easy, soldat." She whispered to him, her voice low and throaty, soothing as she could manage, "I've got you. Focus on me. Breathe, nice and even."
She provided him an anchoring point, each pull of air into his lungs brought her core scent-bright warm notes of ginger and oranges under the sweat, smoke, blood, and chemicals she had obtained in the HYDRA base- to his nose. The bright point of warmth that was her hand holding his own flesh one kept him above the ice trying to grab his attention. The bright green of her eyes and the calm cadence of her voice kept his focus from drifting.
The soldat found himself calming under her guidance, kept from zoning in on any particular point in the pub. Kept from lashing out in an attempt to stop the sensations.
Boudica settles next to him- clearer then she has ever been- soothed as the Asset is soothed. She still does not lash out at the Handler, has followed them both calmly until the Asset had felt the ice.
The voice in his head was making more awed and surprised noises, trying to pull the soldat's attention to something, but the Asset would not pay attention to that yet- not when in a hostile unknown location with his Handler.
"Come, soldat. We are close to our destination." Her voice was still a soothing and calm note and he followed her from where he had frozen in the entrance way. When she realized that her voice soothed the soldat, she simply continued to speak, providing past experiences of the locations they passed as she lead him towards the great crooked white building across the alley.
The Asset listens carefully, as she provides stories of her past-
"I was eleven, when I got mobbed by fans near the Flourish and Blotts. That was not fun let me tell you, I had no idea I was famous until earlier that day, and I did not appreciate all the people trying to touch me or grab my attention-"
"I was twelve when I got pulled from the crowd and forced in front of crowd by a fraud- I was not pleased. Even less so when it turned out the man was to be a teacher for my school that year. He had a fixation on myself due to my fame-"
"-and over here is where I ended up when I messed up using the floo. Did you know there are creatures down there that like to eat flesh? I'm really glad Hagrid showed up when he did-"
"-rather fond of this store here- it's where all the brooms are, and I really love flying."
"-of course, during the war my trips down here were less fun. I did end up impaled on the steps leading up to the bank that one time. I...may have deserved that one. A little bit. I did break into the bank, steal their security dragon and ride it through their roof, so I mean- I sort of earned that scar? Still!"
Something wells up from the ice in his chest as he watches the emotions painted across pale skin and the way the Handler used her hands to gesture in tune to her words. She doesn't even hesitate to provide information, details and there's something about this situation that rings in the back of his head. Something that makes the Voice whisper "Little Punk."
"They're a warrior race, and it was war, plus once I explained what I was doing there and paid for the damages everything was forgiven," a hand slashes through the air, waving dismissively before it pauses and then retreats to her own face, a finger tapping at her chin. "I think they actually respect me more than almost the entire population of magic users here, which is kind of flattering. It also helped that the vault I broke into at the time was technically mine to begin with seeing as I am the Lady Black, Duchess of Ravensmoor, and the previous owner of the vault- a member of the family- had killed its previous head and thus forfeited her rights to the vault to begin with making it mine."
-The soldier was not sure he appreciated the latter half of her stories, as she spoke of war and her place in it. It was instinct- almost buried under programming, but still present, and the Voice screaming ProtectShieldKeepSafeDefend in his head- that had him near pressed against her back he was trailing her steps so closely. She allowed it and even pressed a hand to his arm, and that soothed something primal and furious in him as he stepped up the very stairs she had spoken of before.
Soldat found himself sliding between her and any of the smaller beings she called a warrior race as they climbed. His eyes were hard and glacial under his hood as he followed the Handler up towards the teller desks. He listened as she provided her name- a fact he committed to memory immediately- and asked to see Steeljaw. The teller nodded and was quick- much quicker than the rest of the tellers were being with their customers he noticed- to step away from the desk and ask the two of them to follow him further into the bank.
The Asset followed behind his Handler shifting so she was on the side with his metal arm, in case he had to put it between her and any weapon that may be pulled free. She seemed relaxed, and soldat knew she could protect herself, but still those instincts of his surged under his skin.
She sat down when the teller offered her a seat, and soldat stood at the side of her chair, falling into parade rest without question. His hands stayed close to his hidden blades, but he did not pull them as there had been no hostile action. He kept his eyes moving from corners, entry ways and exits but most of his attention was on the Handler and any who ventured close.
They waited there for a few moments in silence, before the door opened and Holly- the Handler- stood greeting the small being clad in golds and whites, "May your gold flow like rivers, Healer Steeljaw."
"And may your enemies fall to your blade, Lady Potter-Black. Now what have you gotten yourself into that you require the aid of a goblin healer?"
The Asset listens as she insists on non-disclosure agreements and contracts being put into place before she speaks. The strange ice-down-the-spine feeling the soldat now suspects to be the use of magic, swells and crawls along his skin, but the Handler relaxes.
She then proceeded to provide details about where she had been taken and what had been done to her. She uses words that the soldat does not know but suspects to be of magical origin, before she reaches the part in her mission report where she met the Asset for the first time. She provides information the other Handlers would never have done, but the soldat does not move, watching the goblin's eyes harden as the Handler continues.
Eventually she begins to wind down, and she asks, an edge of force and hope in her voice, "Can you help him, Healer?"
The goblin straightens up, sharp teeth flashing as he snarls as though personally offended by any perceived doubts. "I will."
"Thank you, Healer Steeljaw."
Steeljaw turns to her and his eyes narrow. The Asset shifts just a little, ready to interfere if needed, but his Handler is still calm and has not called for action from the Asset. "You will be seen to as well Lady Potter-Black."
She dips her head in acceptance and the Asset feels...confused.
She is going to be seen to by the same doctor who will be seeing to the Asset? She is still calm, her base scent unchanged with a spike in emotion.
Soldat tenses and shifts. He does not like the idea of the Handler being subjected to the same treatments the Asset remembers. As if she can sense it, the Handler stands and turns to face him. "It will not hurt, soldat. I promise. They will make you better, and it will not hurt. It will be like going to sleep, and when you awaken you will be healed."
The Asset does not remember the last time he had gone to sleep. The doctors usually froze him while he was awake, and then he was thawed and sent on missions where his other handlers liked to keep him awake. If he could not remain alert, he would be given stimulants until his use was no longer required.
But this Handler has not lied to the Asset before, and even if she had the Handler has spoken, has given the soldat a mission and so-
"The Asset will comply."
Her face scrunches like his response is painful. "Would you like me to go first, so you can see what it is like?"
The Asset stills.
Again, she is offering him a choice. It is like nothing he has had before. He...is not sure how to take it. Still-
"Da." The affirmative scapes past his lips before he can stop it, and instead of punishment, his Handler smiles. As if pleased.
"Alright. Can we begin now, Healer? I consent to his presence for my healing."
The goblin nods.
The Handler reaches back for him, and the Asset offers his flesh hand to her. She clasps it gently and leads him from the room, following behind the small healer she had brought him to see. They slide through multiple halls, going deeper and deeper into the maze of tunnels, through many doors before finally they reach a room that is warm and well lit with beds piled with furs but resting low to the ground.
He will not discover until after Holly has been healed on the sterile cots at the back of the room, that the beds with furs are actually sleeping places for those who are recovering from a healing rather than being healed. The beds are built so low to the ground so the goblins' larger patients are low enough that the goblin healers can reach them if anything happens without struggling.
He follows his Handler to the back of the room to the cots against the wall. Steeljaw reaches out to trace a claw over something on the leg and the cot rises higher until Holly can comfortably pull her cloak off and lay back on it. The moment she touches the cot, her clothes are shifted to something the Asset recognizes to be the goblin equivalent of a hospital gown. She is relaxed as the goblin trails a claw over the same place on the cot leg, and the bed lowers until it is a more comfortable height for the goblin healer.
Soldat is tense as he watches the proceedings carefully, but he listens as Holly, and then the goblin when he realized what Holly is doing, provide explanations for what Steeljaw is doing to her. She explains the potions the goblin feeds her taste horrible, but are not painful, as well as what they are meant to do to her.
Once more, she has not lied to him.
And when the healer turns to him, the Asset follows without complaint to the next bed over. He mimics what he had seen the Handler do, pulling the cloak free, and then laying back onto the raised cot. It works the same as it had for her, and he finds himself in the surprisingly comfortable and warm gown.
He listens as Steeljaw provides the information for what each potion he is handed will do, as well as if any of them will cause any sort of discomfort. Throughout the healing, his eyes continue to flick over to a comfortably sleeping Holly. The Asset stares at Steeljaw as the goblin frowns sharply at a report from one of the potions.
"You have many combinations of chemicals in your system." The healer speaks as he reads the parchment in his hands.
"Da," the Asset affirms. He knows better than to hide information from any doctor his Handlers bring him to see. "The previous Handlers said they were to help the Asset function as it was meant to."
There's a moment of stillness and then Steeljaw asks slowly, "Do you know what the drugs were meant to do?"
The Asset knows from his tone he expects a negative response. And the healer is right- the Asset does not know. "Negative. The Asset was not informed of their purpose, only that they were necessary."
"I cannot give you any potions to flush your system when we are unaware of what is in it. The common ingredient between the system-flush potions sometimes will react negatively with the chemicals that go into non-magical drugs. I'm afraid you will need to come off the drugs the slower way. There are some potions that can help soothe the effects as you are cared for, but it will still be a very unpleasant situation. Do I have your permission to explain all of this to Lady Potter when she awakens, as well as the effects that will come with it?"
The Asset is still. He knows the effects of someone coming off a drug, how some people react to them. His eyes flash to the Handler. She is still resting after her healing session, and the healer had warned him what was coming.
The Asset did not want anymore drugs in his system. It was another sign he was not functioning properly- Assets were not supposed to want nor were they supposed to go against procedures that had been taking place for as long as the Asset could remember. Still- the Asset was sure this new Handler would want the drugs to be gone just as he did. And the Asset knows his Handler would like to know what had happened to him as well as how to deal with everything. He will give permission for it.
The Asst nods. "The Asset will comply. You will inform the Handler. Permission is required."
Steeljaw nods sharply. "Take this- it will put you to sleep as Lady Potter has been. It will also allow you to avoid the first stages of detoxing your body."
Steeljaw holds the potion out and watches as the Sentinel takes it quickly, laying himself down and allowing the potion to do its work. Once the potion comes into effect, Steeljaw snaps into motion.
His physical state was not the only thing Lady Potter had asked Steeljaw to take a look at, and Steeljaw has never failed an employer- especially one as prestigious as his client- in his long career with Gringotts.
Steeljaw begins to bring in other goblin healers, sworn to secrecy contracts that specialize in mind arts now that the man Holly Potter called James Barnes is asleep and able to be worked on.
He snarls to himself as the damage is revealed to be extensive. It will require multiple sessions, but it will be seen to.
Steeljaw had given his word to Lady Potter-Black, and this man- from what they could see of his memories- was a warrior worthy of respect. Truly whatever end she dealt to those who made this man, he hopes it was slow and agony.