Chapter Text
THE DAILY BUGLE
“SHIELD EXPOSED”
March 11, 2014 ✢ Ben Ulrich
The once special intelligence goliath S.H.E.I.L.D has fallen both literally and metaphorically. With the terabytes of leaked files indicating the depths of corruption within the organization, one has to wonder if the destruction of the indicator was merely a boiling point rather than an accident.
Eye witness reports indicate that the S.H.E.I.L.D helicarrier came down near the Potomac River with little civilian casualties. While the complete list of S.H.E.I.L.D employee casualties have not been released, it is now known that Steve Rodgers, a.k.a Captain America, was among the injured. He is recovering well due to trustworthy sources. Rodgers is also suspected to be involved with the incident itself, some saying that he aided in bringing the -=]' down due to an unknown threat. While he is historically not unfamiliar with such self-sacrificial acts, no information is known as to what drove Rodgers to such lengths. Prior to the helicarrier incident, Rodgers was seen fighting the Winter Soldier.
Prior to this public appearance, the assassin was merely speculation amongst theorists, but the confirmation of his existence raises many important questions. Was S.H.E.I.L.D using the soldier on top of the other atrocities they sponsored? We may very well find these answers as more documents are recovered from the massive leak, but for now, we can only hope that the assassin is caught and brought to justice for his crimes.
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The soldier stumbled his way into an alley and sank onto the dank ground. He scanned the surrounding area for potential threats before finally taking the time to assess his injuries. His breath was ragged from exertion, but otherwise was operational. The soldier then brushed his damp hair away from his face and considered his next steps.
For the past year, the soldier has been on the run since his failed mission in Washington D.C. He recently made his way to New York after spending much of his time in rural Virginia in hiding. The soldier has no reason to come to the city, but some part of his warped psyche associates New York with safety. Every part of his training screams at him to avoid populated areas at any cost. The risk of exposure is too high and the soldier could be apprehended and brought back to Hydra. The soldier convulses at the thought of being sent back, to losing the little bit of humanity he has gained back in the past months. He can never go back to his handlers, he has his own mission now.
The soldier rocks back and rests his head on the cool brick of the wall behind him, his head spinning. At his core, he is only an asset, a weapon honed solely for the purpose of killing at the whims of the men who controlled him. He now realizes he too is a human capable of individual thought, but still has no idea who he is. The blonde man had called him Bucky, but the soldier has no memory of ever being someone called Bucky, let alone ever having a name. He might have had one at some point, but Hydra ensured that any trace of that had been taken from him if it ever existed at all. The soldier had to have come from somewhere, had parents, but the void of his mind conceals any indication of truth to this thought.
The soldier has recently concluded that he must be American. Though he is most comfortable with Russian, he has discovered that he is naturally fluent in English as well to his own shock. He also recognizes landmarks in this area as places he must have been in his past. On top of that, his need to return to New York, the familiarity he feels, is too strong to ignore. The soldier will have to investigate this theory now that he has returned to the city with his new mission, to hunt down all remaining Hydra agents.