incendiary

• tending to stir up trouble •

• • •

The weapon was a man. He had shoulder-length black hair, blue and green eyes, a deathly quiet aura and was, to be quite honest, a little bit terrifying. His metal arm also contributed to his aura and generally scary vibe. With a closer look, I saw that his arm was emblazoned with a gorgeous red star which contrasted violently, yet beautifully, against the metal of his arm. His eyes looked gaunt and he looked tired. But that was to be expected if you've been frozen for seventy odd years, I guess. I mean, I couldn't say that for certain, having never been frozen in cryogenic status for seventy years but one can only assume.

"Soldier?" Alexander asked, leaning down to his eye level. The weapon, or man, depending on how you looked at it, looked him in the eye with a hollow gaze that gave me the chills. This wasn't a man. It had been at some point, but the man inside the weapon had been gone for some time, leaving only the shell behind for Hydra to do with as they pleased.

"Requesting mission," It spoke. Alexander smiled and looked back at me as if to say: "look at this. Look at the power I hold."

"This is fantastic. No one will be able to foil our plans now."

I nodded, keeping my eyes on the weapon not even a meter from my boss. He'd been in cryofreeze on and off for over seventy years. It was only natural for me to worry that he might be glitchy. If anything was to happen, I would be yanking Pierce away as fast as lightning.

"Yes, fantastic," I responded once I realised Alexander wanted a response. I narrowed my eyes at the weapon as It flexed its arms slightly. One move, pal. And I'll send you back to Kingdom Come.

"Requesting mission," He, or It, said again. Alexander looked at him again and nodded, seeming to choose his words carefully before replying. I kept my eye solely on the Weapon. I crossed my arms in what I hoped was an intimidating pose.

"Your mission is to eliminate Nicholas Fury," Pierce explained. He'd wanted Fury dead for years, just as we all had. Now that it was finally happening, I could feel a swell of excitement, or fear well up inside me. I couldn't tell which.

"Miles over there will explain the finer details," he added, standing up straight and fixing his suit. "I need to get back to S.H.I.E.L.D.. They must be wondering where I am by now."

On the way out he stopped before me. I kept my mouth shut and waited for his instructions. He took in my appearance for a second before bothering to open his mouth.

"Get him ready, I want Fury dead by morning," he hissed. I nodded and looked back at the Soldier as Pierce stepped away towards the door. I fought the urge to roll my eyes, which was something it seemed I had to do more often than not when in Pierce's company.

"Hail Hydra," I said to Alexander. He muttered it back and left, taking several of the men with him as guards, no doubt. I glanced at the doctors, who seemed to all be standing around waiting for my instruction. I raked my eyes over them and the weapon before saying anything.

"Is he safe to go?" I asked the weaselly looking one. I raised a brow when he didn't immediately reply. I uncrossed my arms and loosened my stance.

"Is he ready to go?" I asked again. The doctor looked at me as though he only just realised I had spoken. My eyebrows were raised and my lips were set in an irritated line. The man gulped nervously and fiddled with the folder in his hand.

"Yes, Miss," he responded, nodding at one of the nurses to his right to untie the man. I nodded and gave him the ghost of a smile. It was sarcastic, of course.

"Winter Soldier," I said, addressing the weapon by Its codename. It was probably the only name It new. "Come with me."

It nodded and followed me out the door. I led him down a series of corridors and rooms until we reached his "room." Inside was his gear. I nodded to him and gestured to the clothing from the doorway. It must be cold for him, walking around these corridors without a shirt on. Although, I could have asked for a lab coat for him. I just hadn't thought of it at the time. I moved out of his way and leaned against the wall.

"Go get changed and I'll brief you once you're out."

He nodded and without a second glance entered the room, closing the door with a bang. I shivered, feeling the stark contrast in temperature mess with my senses. It was definitely warmer, but not by much. I began to get impatient after a few minutes. What was he doing in there anyway? I was pretty sure that it shouldn't take this long to get changed.

I didn't know much about The Winter Soldier's life. Only that he'd lost an arm and was found by Hydra. They gave him a new arm and turned him into the best super-assassin known on Earth. I imagine that he must have volunteered like I had to be part of the organisation after they gave him a new arm, although, I had no way of knowing if that was the case or not. It wasn't any of my business anyway. The fact that he had no goals but to complete his missions made him dangerous. To others, of course. If you're the one who activated him, then you're all set really. Just watch the chaos unfold. Kick back and drink a martini.

The door opened and he was back. I nodded and gestured for him to follow me. Again, I led him through the maze that was our Hydra base. He followed silently, the only sounds was the quiet thudding of his boots and his quiet breathing. Along with my own, of course.

"Do you remember your target, Soldier?" I asked him, continuing to walk briskly down the corridor. I suppressed shiver and rubbed a hand up my arm unconsciously. I looked back at him for a moment.

"Nicholas Fury," he said, deep voice sounding gravelly from lack of use. I nodded. That was good. No glitches so far. The less of those, the better in my opinion. I had mopped up enough of Hydra's messes as it is. There was no need to add more to that list if they didn't need to be there.

"Fury is the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.," I explained. " Which is an opposing organisation that we intend to take down. Fury is resourceful and won't go down without a fight," I warned him. I had no doubt that the Soldier would be able to take down Fury. He's practically a machine. No remorse, no hesitation. Like I said... dangerous.

"You'll be given men to help you and I will also be accompanying you."

I reached the room I was looking for and stepped inside. There was a map on the table and a few people sitting around it. As soon as they saw me they sat up straight and stopped whatever they were doing. I brushed my gaze over the people and map before settling on a small, chubby man to the left of the others.

"Agent Miles," one of them said. I nodded in greeting and gestured behind me with a wave of my hand.

"This is The Winter Soldier," I said. This caused many people to take notice and actually look at the man in the shadows behind me. I stepped towards the large table that displayed the virtual map with a singular red dot pulsing near the bottom left.

"Have you located where Fury is going to be?" I asked. The man nodded and pointed to the dot I had just been observing.

"We had his car tagged this morning," he assured me. I nodded again and held my hand out. He looked confused for a moment before seeming to realise what I wanted. I shook my head at his stupidity. Quickly, he handed me a small object with a glass screen. It held the location of Fury's car. It was still currently in the S.H.I.E.L.D. garage, I noted.

I handed the object to the soldier beside me. He looked at it with a hint of confusion. Oh, that's right. Cryofreeze, seventy years. He has no idea what the hell it is. I pointed at the flashing red light with one dainty finger.

"That's your target," I explained. "This is where he is. Where that flashing dot is on the map, that's where Fury is."

He gave the slightest nod and held it in his flesh hand. After a moment he put it in his pocket for safekeeping. I nodded in approval. Just before I turned around, the Soldier spoke up, almost startling me.

"Will I be given weapons?"

I was tempted to say something about how he already was a weapon but I stopped myself. This really wasn't the time for jokes. Especially given the gravity of this mission. No, jokes could wait.

"Come," I said instead. I led him to the armoury, getting uncomfortable with his dark, brooding silence. I wasn't one for silence and the fact that he was just following silently made me feel like a guide of some sort. 'Now, if you look to your left, you'll see another generic corridor.' I was a high ranking Hydra Agent. Not a tour guide. I sighed and shook my head. If I didn't show him around, then who would? I turned the corner that led to the door of the armoury and stopped.

"Take your pick, Soldier," I said with a grin. The Hydra armoury was definitely one to be in awe of. We had everything from knives to bazookas. The Winter Soldier paced the room with a deathly silent step. It seemed that his clunky thudding steps had stopped. He was in his element now. He picked up what he wanted and completely skipped through most of the sections. I chuckled but he didn't seem to respond or take notice of it.

I walked briskly to the knives table and shoved some of them into various holsters on my person. I also placed two handguns on my belt. I looked up to see the Soldier armed to the teeth with knives and guns and god knows what else.

"Geez, have you got enough there?" I asked, looking over his array of weaponry while wondering how on Earth he had managed to store them all. If a shark looked like a person, then I imagine that it would look much like the Soldier did at this moment.

"Will I require more?"

"It's unlikely," I said, stifling a laugh. He didn't seem perturbed by my mocking in the slightest, which I thought was a good thing. Everything could go to shit extremely quickly if he was one of those people who got really offended at being the centrepieces of mockery, which I tended to do to people a lot.

I made sure that my weapons were securely placed and looked up. I noticed the way that his shoulders didn't move. He was tense. Although I couldn't really blame him for that. I would be pretty tense if I had been woken up from a seventy year-odd nap and told that I was woken up to kill someone. Not that he'd actually been sleeping for seventy years. He'd been woken up from time to time for various jobs. Then, once he completed them, he would be put back under and so the process would repeat itself. His brow furrowed at me and I realised that I had been staring. I chuckled and shook my head.

"Alright, tough guy, lets go complete your mission."

Updated on the 15th of June, 2016.