It has been a week since my first assignment and a few days after we returned to the Hydra base we left from.
When we got back, after Floch gave a debrief, I was called to Dr. Ernst's laboratory where it turned out that he got the brilliant idea to plant a chip-sized scanner that also functioned as a bomb on my spine at the base of my neck so that he could collect data on my brain during my missions.
The bomb was placed there in the event that I got captured by enemy soldiers they would be able to terminate me if I couldn't be recovered. They also implanted a cyanide poison pill inside my teeth just to finish the whole suicide soldier package.
This complicated things quite a bit. The bomb would be an issue to get rid of but if the situation ever calls for it I could just tear open my nape and yank it out myself but that had the risk of paralyzing me for a few hours if I injured my spine so that was a last resort option.
Apart from these, nothing had happen in the last few days with me not even called to train.
This small breathing space was one I appreciated as I spent the whole day on my bed trying to see if I could get a connection to my subconscious. Ever since I came out from my immersion it felt as if a part of my subconscious had fused with my main consciousness.
If I had to take a guess, I would say the outer part of my subconscious – the part I used in controlling my body was the part that fused with my main. Before, to command my subconscious felt like me trying hard to remember something and making it stick, and now it was just like an afterthought.
Things like keeping my emotions in check, remaining focused and running precise calculations during heavy fire came as second nature to me. There was no longer the need of trying to imprint it into my mind as it was something I could now do at will.
The outer part of my subconscious was most likely the area with branch-like nerves that I was stuck in. With it now part of my main consciousness, I gained control over some of my body's involuntary actions like slowing down my heartbeat, increasing or decreasing my blood flow to either decrease or increase focus and adrenaline.
The rest were some minor control of my tissues and muscles which in turn increases my physical abilities to some degree.
While I gained all this and an increase in mental prowess, I couldn't feel my central consciousness(what I call the part I broke into) anymore. I even once tried shutting down myself but all I did was make me blackout as I couldn't even access my inner mind.
Well there was nothing I could do about it at this point so I just tossed it into the back of my mind, focusing on my new situation.
I don't believe I'm actually saying this but I wish I had another mission just to get out of this depressing base.
As if some higher powers were hearing my pleas, Floch came to my cell and told me we had another mission. I just prayed that whatever this one wasn't like the last one where we were under constant fire.
Without voicing out my thoughts, I followed Floch as he led us to a room filled with more people than before. With a quick count, I made 12 individuals with one of them being really familiar.
He had an eyepatch over one of his eyes that just made him quite intimidating to look at coupled with a rough face and a head of black and white hair showing his advanced age.
He honestly reminded me of…
Olav!
And here I was thinking that I wouldn't have to deal with his shit again. As we made our way inside the room, the others quieted down as they looked at us, well mostly me, with inquisitive gazes while the scowl on Olav's face grew past realistic proportions.
Why is he looking at me like that? Compared to what this psycho did to me, my retaliation wasn't even that fierce and yet he's scowling at me like I just killed his dog and baked him a birthday cake with its flesh.
Ignoring Olav who seemed who seemed to be on the verge of blowing a fuse, I looked at the new faces I was seeing for the first time. Different from the last time, this time there was a female soldier among us who seemed to be part of whatever team Olav was part of. Hopefully I won't be placed on his team because if I am, I might as well just try to escape now.
"Who's the new guy? I didn't know you guys recruited a new blood." One of the new participants said to no one in particular.
"He's a new face. Underwent his first mission last week with us. Everyone meet Hercules, codenamed Draugr." Floch introduced me to the rest of the room as he made his way to where Olav stood.
"Hoo! Scary one is he with that name? So what's his tick?" The same guy from before asked again while the others listened attentively.
"Enhanced physique and regeneration factor, at least from what we were told." Floch informed as he started spreading some pictures and documents on the table in the middle of the room.
"Oh, a mutant. Hey Saw, looks like you finally got a fellow freak like you." This time it was a lean, almost short man that stood by Olav's side that spoke and everyone in the room could hear the massive amount of disgust in his tone.
I looked at the one called Saw, who turned out to be the sole female in the room and she seemed to shrink under my stare and tried to play it off by looking somewhere else. What's her deal? She's the first mutant I've met so I couldn't help but wonder what her abilities were.
"That's enough! Everyone gather round." Olav spoke and I couldn't help but find it impressive how everyone just piped out and straightened up the moment he spoke. Well, what do know? Looks like my buddy ol' pal Olav got some serious street cred.
We bunched up at the table and listened as the two leaders, Floch and Olav, explained our mission which turned out to be a level above my former tryst. We were raiding an old S.H.I.E.L.D warehouse out upstate Virginia and our job was to make sure the movers completed their load-up.
With the serious expressions on both Floch's and Olav's faces, I knew this mission was more than they were letting out but since only the leader was entitled to the mission details, the rest of the team members were going in blind as since S.H.I.E.L.D was involved there was a chance that our movements could be sported but then again since one of the heads of Hydra was a high ranking member of S.H.I.E.L.D maybe we would be able to escape their radar.
With the meeting done, we all left to get changed. Unlike last time where we wore high-leveled combat gear, this time however we were dressed in ordinary clothes without any weapon.
When we got back, Olav and his team separated from us and left while we took one of the cars present and started our journey.
Turns out that procuring forged documents for their men wasn't anything new for organizations like Hydra if our boarding a plane was any indication. Our ride picked us up at the airport and drove us somewhere 30 miles away from the Appalachian.
Our weapons were already prepped and ready when we got them and after gearing up we left in a truck with 5 other people, the movers, and drove for over thirty minutes before we made a cut from the main road into the woods following a marked path.
The abandoned base was a two floor building with half of it under the ground floor. Parking the truck right at the door to the base, the movers unloaded huge crates that they rolled into the building to load-up whatever they were loading while the rest of us remained outside keeping watch.
With the first two crates already loaded up with the third one on the way, I was already counting down the minutes for us to leave and that was when it happened.
I as well as the others were already feeling glad when the third crate came up as the tension gradually decreased as the end of the mission was already in sights we relaxed and it was at that moment it happened.
I didn't see it on time nor did I have the chance to completely dodge before an arrow found itself lodged deep inside my biceps perpendicular to where my heart was.
"We're under attack, take co-" T-bone's warning was cut off as another arrow found itself as a temporary tenant piercing through his larynx all the way to the back of his neck.
"Fuck!" I cursed as I pulled the arrow from my arm and tried looking for that damned and really cool archer that was once given the epithet of the 'World's Greatest Marksman'.
Hawkeye.
There was no doubt in my mind that he was the one who shot those fucking arrow from god-knows where.
Surrounded by trees with only one path of retreat cut out for us, we were basically sitting ducks for his pickings.
"Floch! T-bone's down, what are we going to do?" Chys asked as he hid behind the truck with the rest of us bar the downed T-bone.
"Anyone got a visual on our hitter?" Floch asked with an even tone as if he expected an ambush like this. Even if I expected a shoot-out, Hawkeye being here wasn't a thought that occurred to me.
"It's looks like some fucking Robin Hood rip-off." Chys hollered back while peeking out the side of the truck.
Just at that moment, someone pushed the fourth crate outside the base to the truck as he attempted to use it as a shield from whatever was shooting. He didn't even take two steps before an arrow stuck to the crate as it beeped red flashing lights.
Reacting purely on reflex which the others seemingly understood, we jumped away from the back of the truck as the crate exploded along with the guy behind it.
I dragged myself up from the ground disregarding my ringing ears and disconcerted focus as I made my way to the nearby trees with the camouflage of smokes while the sound of gunshots rang in the distance.
It looks like Olav and his team ran into a confrontation with S.H.I.E.L.D agents while we had to deal with an archer kilometers away. Looks like the explosion got Track in the leg making us effectively down two men leaving me with Firefort, Chys and Floch.
"Get in the truck! We're getting out of here!" Hollered out a flustered Floch as he made his way towards the drivers seat. "Hercules, help Track get in."
When I got to Track, he was already halfway dead and without any hesitation, I grabbed one of the metal debris lying around and drove it deep into his spine while I carried him to the back of the truck.
Seeing Chys already there I handed over the on-death's-doors Tracker to him as I looked for Firefort. I found him still a little bit out of it since he was more closer to the explosion than the rest of us. Looking around for any implicating object, I saw the arrow I tore out from my arms and immediately took it while I made my way quickly back to Firefort.
Driving the arrow through his eyes straight to his brain, I left him there as I hurried back to the truck where I found 3 of the loaders already aboard it as I climbed in.
"Hey where's Firefort?" Chys immediately asked me as he saw me arriving alone without their last member.
"Archer got to him. He's dead." I gave him a sharp reply while I double-checked my guns.
Floch took in deep breath as he floored the gas and made his way through the road we came in from. The moment we entered the main road, Olav and his men were right behind us in their own vehicle while being under pursuit of S.H.I.E.L.D agents.
An hour of hot chase and a lot of thrown explosives later, our two teams arrived at another base with sullen expressions on their faces. We weren't the only ones with casualties during this mission as it turns out the reason for Olav's teams expression was that they lost two of their members.
Apart from the fact that Clint Barton was already a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, the only thing that provoked my interest were the techs we stole. Guns, explosives and weapons design from Stark Industries, Hammer Tech and Trask's.
I was able to snag a few explosives, all small sugar cube sized marvel of destruction, Stark's presumably, which I hid inside my underwear hoping I didn't get into stupid accidents that causes me blow myself up. Thankfully we couldn't use the airports since it was very likely that S.H.I.E.L.D would be on a lookout for those, and it also saved me the hassle of trying to get past the airport scanners.
Since we couldn't use the airports, we left by road after the loaders took the crates somewhere else.
On the way home, the vehicle we rode was very quiet which was understandable as we lost three of our members. I didn't really care that much as my face was schooled into a now familiar cold expression. I wonder what kind of surprise I should give HYDRA.