The assassin aimed his machine gun at the wall target, his eyes narrowing. He'd been waiting too long. Why couldn't he just find the Captain himself? It would be faster, and he hadn't failed an assignment yet. He ground his teeth and emptied a round into the bullseye mark. Relaxing his stance for a moment, he observed his results, then aimed again.
And then he faltered.
A sudden haze weighed down on him, his hands trembling, his vision blurred. Confusion overcame him, accompanied by a slithering doubt. A name entered his mind: Steve. Steve? He didn't know anyone named Steve….
A man with a chilling expression entered, pistol in hand. The soldier realized that when he had lost his grip on his own weapon he must've mumbled the name aloud. Evidently it had some significance, otherwise this man wouldn't have-
"Longing."
The assassin stumbled back as if some hidden force had knocked him down.
"Rusted."
No. Please stop.
"Seventeen."
The name wasn't important anymore. Not when a flood of other confusing images overcame his mind.
"Daybreak."
A sharp pain took over, drowning out the images for a moment.
"Furnace."
Screaming. New memories.
"Nine."
Memories he didn't want to remember.
"Benign."
Memories he couldn't-
"Homecoming."
The nameless man. The one he always wanted to protect-
"One."
Targets.
"Freight Car."
Unexplainable pain.
Men, women, even children - shot, stabbed, blown up, punched out, and scratched off the list. His heartbeat throbbed and his breathing panicked as memories of what happened when he failed to cooperate, memories of Pierce, Zola, and all those who had ever associated themselves with him took over. However small their concern for his wellbeing was, it was still there. At least, they dared to come near him, the monster that he was. So, something in him must've drawn them….What he'd done he'd been assigned for the betterment of the world.
As the words were repeated once more, his shaking body relaxed and he lowered his head in submission. He thought he saw the hintings of a smile on the other man's face.
"Солдат?"
"готовы соблюдать." *
*"Soldier?" "Willing to comply."