Chapter Text
The scent of mildew, blood, and cigarettes threatened to topple my frustration as I slid my hand over the edge of the narrowing hallway. The ridges of the wall tickled the freshly made cuts on my palm. My foot slipped into a small puddle of water.
It had certainly taken long enough for the facility to panic. Luckily for me that was the exact edge I had needed. There wasn’t a certainty for how long my absence would go unnoticed as they transferred the lab mice into more secure locations.
My knees slammed into the floor as I pushed myself off the wall and dove into the crevice of the cylinder walls. I always felt it was fitting for vermin to be operating in areas that resembled sewers, or in some cases actual glorified sewers. Though I preferred the facilities of the 40s. Piles of rock, dust, and debris had a charming appeal.
Popping my head out I focused my attention to the right. The electricity panel was close, I could feel the vibration humming through me.
Reaching into my suit with my left hand I pulled out a knife and gave it a testing flip. The balance was off ever so slightly, the hilt too heavy, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
Setting my chest against the floor I maneuvered one arm then the other, slithering across the floor to the other side.
Breathing in deeply, my back pressed against cold metal. I didn’t pay attention to the slight bite from the welts.
Two officers stood in the center of the space directly in front of the box donning the usual black attire, their goggles not covering their faces. Was it ironic that they still resembled the organization that I’d despised when I was taken.
The blue lights at the top of the ceiling, nestled as if cradling the space on either side, caused a glisten on their helmets. I had an impulse to run a bloody hand across them. Shortly neither they nor the bright white panels above me would be functioning.
Tilting my head to the side I started my count… Ten…
Red lights flashed and both officers perked up, strapping their goggles over their eyes, and bolted down the corridor. Nine… It wasn’t long before I couldn’t feel their steps traveling across the floor.
Eight... I jumped onto my feet and took two large strides up to the box.
Ignoring my broken nails, I dug under the crease of metal and thrust my arm back. The door popped off into my hand. Seven…
Slicing my knife across the wires the world darkened. Six… If only the other panel boards were in the same location. Couldn’t be convenient could it.
Turning my body around I shut my eyes taking in a moment of stillness. Five... Grabbing the two large pieces of wound up cotton from my ears, a smirk spread across my face. Four… It only grew as my eyes opened and adjusted to the darkness. A perk of my experimentation.
Three… I burst into a sprint listening closely for the sounds of the blind, avoiding their direction. Though my heart was pounding I wouldn’t let myself think past the precision of my quiet feet. The walls no longer looked decayed, no paint was missing, no dents apparent, even the flags looked brand new.
Two… Once I hit the incline I pressed one shoulder to the wall as I ran. If any officer or soldier came that way, I’d have the advantage. Shouts echoed from a room ahead. German, Russian, and English.
Kicking in the reinforced metal door, I flung my knife directly at one of Pierce’s annoying little rats. One.
Calming into the battle I knocked out two more with one punch from my right fist and one kick from my left. Then I faced two familiar sets of eyes. Disarming the one, I swung up my elbow breaking his nose and thrust him into the back wall. Grabbing onto the other’s wrist, I pulled off his hand gun and shot directly into his head.
Stepping backwards into a defensive lunge, I surveyed the room. Four officers down and the sniving puppet. There wasn’t a moment to clean myself off.
Zero. Cracking my neck I found the control panel and started typing. My teeth bit into my bottom lip, a nasty habit I must have picked up a long time ago by the amount of sores.
Locating the exit doors, I flipped off the security measures and let loose the hounds. None of the clowns could compete. Though most of my cellmates were certainly too weak to get out… I stopped myself at the thought. Focus, corrupt the system.
Placing my hands onto the keyboard I took a breath accepting the rush of newfound energy. I didn’t need a mirror to know my eyes glowed an iridescent purple. My fingers wiggled as the tingling grew to shaking. Control… Breathe…
The sensation abruptly stopped meeting with a chilling quiet. In one exhale I threw everything back at the panel and leapt.
Rolling across my right shoulder, I sprinted out of the room and higher to the surface. Sniffing the air, I counted to five. The smoke was getting closer. One… Yelling in various languages pushed me forward. The walls were changing to brick and moonlight glowed several feet in front of me.
Two… A fast moving form passed me, becoming visible several yards outside the facility. I lifted my hand and sent a wave. The figure saluted and took off into the forest.
Bursting into the open air my body fizzled. Three… The electric fence was still dissipating its energy.
My boots crunched against the snow. A small part of me wished I could feel the cold, but I didn’t have time to wait. Four...
Gathering up the leftover energy around me, a cackling sparked in my palms, unseen to the naked eye.
“Thank you.”
I couldn’t stop the waver or break in my voice as I pushed a force into the building in front of me. Five. My hands started palms forward, fingers to the sky, and pushed down until they were parallel to the ground.
Lines of sparks flew from electricity lines that popped and air compressed against the building’s material.
A small tremor began in the far side of the compound, but I wasn’t going to be there when it got closer.
Shifting my stance the forest flew by me in a swirl of dark greens and crystal whites. I sucked in as much air as I could, enabling my body to survive the strain.
Audibly sighing, I saw the gorge ahead. Who had decided to put a HYDRA base here? The river beneath would be frozen for winter. Whoever had suggested such a placement was going to be next on my list.
Twisting my head back as my heels pressed into the ground, the world lit up in a bright explosion, as I soared into midair. A plume of orange, red, and yellow in puffs of dark grey and black smoke crossed my vision before the side of the mountain did.
My head tucked into my legs as I rolled in the air before spreading out my entire body and diving into the ice. I sucked in oxygen just before my head dunked under. I felt the cold. It gripped each of my muscles as the current pushed me along.
I bucked and kicked my legs, splaying out my arms to sink deeper and deeper, until my boots hit the bottom. Thanking my torturous experimentation yet again, I winked at a passing fish. Bending my knees I rebounded off the river floor and shot to the surface, my head crashing into a thick layer of ice.
My arms settled onto the edges and pulled myself out of the water. Inhaling I coughed a few times before brushing myself off and resuming a fast pace. There was no way of knowing who had survived my breakout attempt. Success occurred not if I cleared the forest, but the country. With the limited number of resources I had, my plan had required multiple opportunities of failure.
The Siberian wilderness was anything but forgiving during the winter months. Even my unusually strong regulation wouldn’t be able to keep up.
Of course, I had planned for such a predicament. But, it required running until the sun shone the following day. The best advice I had ever received was, “Be prepared to lose to your first couple plans, but always fight hardest for the first to work.”
My first was at the very edge of the forest overlooking a quiet village. Swinging my arms I pushed in its direction.
Clearing my mind to listen only to the sounds around me the hours ticked by until the sun was peeking up from the corner of my view. A smile crept onto my face knowing I was coming up on my destination.
The rhythm I had set slowed, my legs were beginning to feel like jello, unbalanced and wobbly. My lungs burned from the mixture of prolonged exposure to the elements and the running. Almost there, hang on.
A sturdy, small, but too simple to notice cabin grew into view. Wood logs slightly jaded and uneven welcomed me with open arms. A single room just large enough to seem to everyone else that it was a shed.
For me it was my freedom.
My boots knocked against the board steps, but I knew no one was home. Rotating the knob, a stale breeze blew past my face. Scanning the room for any disturbances I focused on two specifically placed figurines of grey wolves, one on the fireplace, the other on a table. Neither showed any signals of movement.
Stepping inside, the door shut behind me and complete darkness kicked my senses into gear. My eyes adjusted, registering the chair, table, fireplace, wall cabinet, and counter. Four walls for which contained a majority of my next steps.
Grabbing the coat, scarf, and gloves hanging on the wall to my right, I layered and sat down in the chair. Dust exploded into the air floating around like the first snow of winter. It floated across the room landing atop the table.
My head hit the back of the chair. The nail on the wall was so poorly hammered that it had bent twice before digging into the wood. There was no wallpaper, no hanging pictures, nor scents of flowers.
My arm reached over the side and pulled up one of the floorboards. I was met by several tin cans and water bottles. The cans weren’t the best tasting but I needed whatever I could get my hands on. Stuffing all that I could into my stomach, I downed several water bottles.
A part of me felt guilty as I placed the trash into the floor and resealed the hole. No one would be coming back to the cabin. All my contacts were advised to leave after our meeting, several weeks ago. To be honest, I had no way of knowing if anything they promised was actually in the room. The first test passed, but that was the simplest one.
I stood shifting on to my feet and checked test number two. Three strides had me at the counter. Flipping open the top I peered in to find two handguns, one smaller than the other, six knives, and a hunting rifle. Ammo laid at the bottom with handmade holsters. Collecting the weapons, I placed them onto the table and recovered the counter.
Kneeling beside the table my head ducked under to see a plain table underbelly. Except when I slid my hand underneath, I felt the piece of cardboard painted to blend in. Ripping off the glue, several different passports came into view. Russian, Ukranian, Romanian, Polish, German, French, British, and American. Enough to get me across each border if a flight wasn’t possible. Those went on the table next.
Turning around I stepped up to the fireplace, bending my back forward to look into the small smoke stack. A lot more than a few Lincolns were tapped. Pulling out the amount I flipped through and returned to find another few bundles.
There would be a few more hiding spots to check. A loose floorboard beside the table revealed a burner phone, fake licenses for each respective passport, a detailed map with directions, and a compass. My body paused as I placed the items down, had I even driven a car before. I had no recollection of doing so, but I doubted it was that difficult.
The wall cabinet was my final location to check. Inside three bags were stacked on top of each other. I took out each and checked their contents. One held everyday items, the other an extra pair of clothes, the last one a small pouch with ingredients for deadly poisons.
Back at the cabinet I found two small pouches that could wrap around my thighs to hold sums of cash or a weapon, another few bills, and lastly a letter with a picture and two plane tickets. A plane ticket for tomorrow out of the Novosibirsk International Airport to Domodedovo Airport in Moscow under my Russian alias and another from Moscow to Kyiv Interntional Airport in two days with my Urkranian alias.
The letter was addressed to me, signed by names that were unfamiliar. I didn't want to know in the case that… Four humans started all this, I hardly believed it.
My hands shook as I set everything down and checked over the small room twice. Satisfied I had found everything, I tallied their work. Nine thousand in total averaging about 1k in each currency besides the 2k in rubles. More than enough to get out of Russia off the grid and create a new life.
It wasn’t long before I had everything packed and armed. My gaze passed over the photo. In it were a group of ten people smiling and laughing. I had met four of the ten during my ‘tantrums’ as one of the rats called them.
I never had enough time… Yet, they each had bought my story. Of course I had told them a mixture of truth and lies, but they were willing. Willing to help a stranger. Maybe there were people in the world that didn’t operate from fear and power. Tilting my head it dawned on me that I hadn’t known anyone capable before being transferred to the Siberian wilderness.
We were never in the same facility long enough for my ‘tantrums’ to mean anything. I bust out to be hunted, dragged back, and moved again. There was a change in the atmosphere at the facilities starting a few months ago. There was talk about returning HYDRA to its original glory. Even my eavesdropping skills hadn’t been good enough to get the exact details but something was beginning. It was only a few weeks ago when we stopped moving that I learned the cause. The Winter Soldier was being released by Alexander Pierce to go after a high hit target. We were put in lockdown in case his programming backfired.
Who would have thought that the Winter Soldier didn’t like torture and would choose to run. I certainly couldn’t relate. I would have to thank him for the distraction and terror inflicted on the officers when he got ‘loose’. It was the only reason I had gotten this far.
Making one last check of my items, I placed on the backpack and slung the two other bags on my shoulders. My ears honed in on the sound of a crunching twig. A second snap came a moment later. Shit.
I was at the door twisting the handle before another twig could snap. Nothing was stopping me from getting to Novosibirsk.
Poking my head out the door, I sniffed the air and focused my senses out into the distance. Nature disrupted my heightened senses but I could gather that a small group had escaped the compound. I wasn’t worried about their numbers but instead what I heard them cock. Convincers if I ever heard them, darts with a dose of sedative to knock out a humpback whale. I already had enough in my system.
Sticking to the side of the cabin, I limited the pressure onto the ground from my feet and snuck around to the backside. Crouching, I propelled myself forward reaching my foot out leaning over until my knee hit the forest floor and maneuvered my weight onto my knee to repeat with the other leg.
I cocked the hunting rifle and continued across until I met a tall tree. There was no use to continuing my pattern, the officers would maintain their pursuit.
Hoisting myself up I gripped the sturdy branches and found myself about halfway to the top. Closing my eyes, I smirked and began my count. I could hear the hinges on the door thrust open and the whispers. They were scared, fearful, they knew I had destroyed the compound. Someone wanted me back. Should I allow them to gather information, I pondered. Give them a sense of accomplishment before I kill them. Beeping gave me my answer. I could visualize the device sending signals out to the others. No, I wouldn’t allow that...
Concentrating on the thin layer of wire that connected to a small electrical box on the outside of the shed, my eyes shifted. Even at my distance the lack of energy around me created a beacon of sorts on the shed.
Both my hands lifted, my fingers wiggling to build the energy until a large pop caused birds to fly out of their trees. The scent and smoke reported that my deed had been accomplished. Screams encouraged the part of me that would always be theirs. My eyes twitched. The annoying little beep was only getting louder. Vibranium.
Forcefully jumping down from my perch, I pulled out the map and compass from my bag. At least my previous missions would be useful now. Adjusting my position in space, I took off in the direction indicated for Novosibirsk.