The Conceptual Deck

Chapter 40: Heads

Unknown Location - Alexander Pierce's Home - Subterranean Communications Room

"Fury called him in as a favor?" Alexander Pierce asked in disbelief. "What happened to him not showing up until the next day?"

The Hydra leader was currently sitting behind his desk, going through reports and information. It had been a few hours since he had watched the disaster of a mission unfold.

"Apparently Fury came to the conclusion that if Maker's healing amulet could fix wounds, Maker could have something or be capable of making something that could de-age Mrs. Carter. It turns out he was correct."

"Unbelievable. Whitehall is going to be insufferable until he gets his hand on him." The white haired man mumbled to himself, reading the Hydra agents report before turning to the communication terminals, black silhouettes representing his fellow Hydra leaders. "Gentleman, ladies, we got sloppy. When I approved this little venture it was because I was assured there would be no reason for Maker to be around the building. Now I'm reading that even if Fury hadn't called him, he had an order to deliver the next day?"

"The agent responsible for those assurances is suffering the consequences." A garbled voice said from the first terminal. "That said, the plan was sound. With the help of the Winter Soldier there shouldn't have been an issue."

"You are treating a scalpel like a butcher's cleaver!" The fourth terminal said. "The Winter Soldier is a powerful asset when used correctly, for assassination, interrogation and terrorism. He is a precise instrument, NOT A SLEDGE HAMMER!"

The room was silent for a moment while Pierce shook his head.

"The mission was necessary." A garbled female voice said from the third terminal. "We needed an edge, regardless of the risk. Maker represented a clear escalation that we must be able to answer. A brainwashed Captain America, as well as access to his blood for further study represented an ability for us to combat any advancements or equipment Maker could provide."

"I still don't understand why we don't just kill him." The voice from the first terminal said. "Or at least capture him and lock him in a cell."

"He is a potential asset." Pierce responded. "I will not kill or hamstring the golden goose when we could just as easily steal it later."

"His ability to detect lies-"

"Can only go so far." Pierce said, cutting off his fellow leader. "I've been assured that more refined methods of mind control are being developed as we speak. When those methods are complete we will revisit our plans to capture him. Now, enough trying to shift the blame. We need to deal with the repercussions before they spiral out of control."

"The Security Council has been convinced by our infiltrators that the Soldier should be transferred." The second terminal, which had so far been silent, said. "Our weapon will be returned to our control by tomorrow."

"Make sure the agents guarding him are predominantly Hydra, and prepared to sacrifice themselves if necessary." Pierce said with a nod before continuing. "If Maker can cure old age we have to assume he can crack the brainwashing. I want the council scared that anything Maker made could be dangerous in the hands of the weapon."

"Shouldn't be too hard." The first silhouette said with a chuckle. "He is a living nightmare for most of them."

"Right. What's next?"

"Agents have confirmed that none of the assault team survived save the weapon." The second terminal said. "Any that survived made use of their capsules. Their covers, though an obvious misdirect, are solid enough to diffuse the situation and keep Shield from looking internally."

"And what about Mrs Carter?" The fourth terminal asked. "Surely she should be dealt with?"

"What, and kick the beehive?" The first terminal asked. "She is a halfway decent Shield agent at best. If anything we should leave her be in case we need to push Steve Rogers to the breaking point later."

"I agree. Any information Mrs Carter might have is decades out of date, she is not a threat and not worth the uproar if we killed her. Especially because after being healed by Maker she should be in perfect health. A sudden heart attack or anything of the sort would be as telling as a bullet from a rooftop. " Pierce said with a nod. "Besides, we have several videos of her family's final moments that would render her a non issue if need be."

"Ah yes, that was a beautiful experiment." The voice from the fifth terminal said, clearly reminiscing.

Pierce shook his head, ignoring the comment from Whitehall, looking back down at his report. After a moment he nodded and looked back up.

"I propose that we influence the Security Council to begin putting more pressure on Maker. This incident brought him closer to various members of Shield, several agents reported he was friendly with Agent Barton already, and is making fast friends with Agent Romanoff and Mrs. Carter. With a few more pushes we will be able to influence him directly."

"Perhaps we should send one of our female agents in?" The second terminal suggested. "Seduction could be the way through his reluctance."

"Not with his ability to see through lies." Pierce said, shaking his head. "All it would take is a single question at the wrong time. Our best bet is to wait until better mind control methods are developed, or if it's an emergency, we will wipe his mind like the weapons. I also want the team in charge of finding his identity to be doubled. We need to know who he is if we want leverage. Family, friends, hell I would take a beloved pet at this point."

A murmur of agreement came from the terminals, and Pierce nodded when everyone had confirmed.

"Good. Now we need to discuss how we handle those that Maker is augmenting."

"Agent Barton's equipment, primarily the glasses, are impressive but not groundbreaking." The second terminal stated dismissively. "As long as he continues to favor his bow over more lethal ordnance his threat level remains manageable."

"Agent Romanoff on the other hand is a problem." The fifth terminal, Whitehall said. "With her concealable armaments and ability to change her appearance she is now an unrivaled infiltration threat."

"Remind all undercover operatives to maintain strict code phrase compliance." Pierce said with finality. "Where and when she goes on missions needs to be closely watched and relevant parties notified should she be entering someone's territory."

"There seems to be a level of skill in recreating faces." The voice from the second terminal added. "Stricter facial scan protocol should help keep track of her."

"Should we consider capturing her?" Whitehall asked. "I would love the chance to personally study a member of the Red Room."

"For now, leave her be." Pierce said. "She is useful as long as we can keep track of her and she remains loyal to Shield. I do want detailed scans of her mask however. Maker claimed he would be able to tell who she was when she wore it. If it is broadcasting some sort of signal or radiating some sort of energy I want to know."

"That's all well and good." The female voice behind terminal three said. "But what will the protocol be for future augments?"

"Unfortunately the bugger is a bit unpredictable." The first voice from the first terminal responded. "How we react is going to be case by case."

"Agreed, there is no way to predict what he will offer next, not after he turned back the clock on Mrs Carter. We are on thin ice after our failed operation, we cannot afford to overstep again. It is pure luck that we were not exposed."

A tense silence filled the room after that statement, though Pierce nodded in agreement. After a few moments he coughed and started again.

"Well, now that we have discussed the situation at Shield, we need to discuss how we will be compensating. For now Maker augmenting Shield agents makes our lives easier, but if this continues, when we finally reveal ourselves during Project Insight the balance of power will have greatly shifted out of our favor. "

The conversation continued for a while longer, the group discussion shifting to other topics. Eventually the Hyrda leaders signed off, a plan of action having been decided. The meeting room was quiet for a while as Pierce looked at the now blank screens, the lights slowly growing brighter to their normal levels. He shook his head before taking a sip of coffee. He focused back down at his reports, plans turning over in his head.

[center]-[/center]

A few hours the car chase, Peggy and I were watching over Steve as he was settled back into a hospital bed, no worse for wear, despite having been tossed around like a sack of potatoes for a bit. Ema was watching over Bucky, both to keep him from breaking out and keep anyone from silencing him before we could get a chance to talk.

Everyone had been shocked to find that it was Bucky Barnes under the gas mask and grease, though I had to feign ignorance to hide my lack of it. Nick Fury was currently arguing with the security council for permission to use my healing amulet to try and fix his obvious brainwashing. Fury was furious that somehow the news of both Peggy and Bucky had already gotten to them.

While we waited Peggy wore my amulet for another hour. The once elderly woman now looked like she wasn't a day over thirty. She kissed my cheek and thanked me sincerely after taking a look in a mirror for the first time.

Natasha promised to not tell Steve about that.

As we sat and waited for Steve to wake up I did my best to stay calm and work through the intense emotions roiling through me now that the adrenaline and shock had passed. I was still fully armored, minus my helmet, not comfortable enough to be unarmored yet. Peggy noticed that and smiled reassuringly.

"It's hard, calming down after a fight." She said, sitting down next to me, her hand on my arm. Her eyes darted over to Steve for a moment, then to the medical instruments attached to him, as if needing to reassure herself he was still there.

"Yeah I don't have any military training or real combat experience. Except fighting the Abomination and the Destroyer Armor."

"That's how everyone starts I'm afraid." She said with a small shrug. "Steve, Bucky, Myself. I'm willing to bet that's how Natasha joined shield. You see a fight and you realize that you can't just sit on the sidelines. It will get easier in some ways, more difficult in others."

I let out a chuckle and nodded, leaning back in my seat. The longer I sat, the more I could feel my creeping exhaustion. I shook my head to clear the cobwebs, failing for the most part. Peggy noticed and smiled/

"You can get some sleep." She said, looking back to Steve. "I'll wake you if anything changes."

I nodded after a few moments and closed my eyes, leaning back again, letting sleep take me.

[center] - Several hours later -[/center]

By the time I woke up the sun was climbing high in the sky. Not that I could tell, Steve's new room was smack dab in the middle of the building, an almost vault like security room that had been jury rigged for medical care. Peggy sat next to Steve, dressed in a maroon outfit that made her look like she stepped out of a history documentary. She was looking at me expectantly, gesturing with her head. It took me a moment to realize that Fury had been the one to wake me, and was standing silently next to me, just out of arm's reach. Next to him was Ema, looking frustrated.

"The security council has denied your request to heal Bucky with your amulet." He said, addressing both of us. His expression was the kind of calm that sat on the other side of intense anger.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"You can't be serious!"

"They were unsure if the benefits outweighed the risks." He explained, staring us both down. "He is to be transported to an offsite location in the next few hours."

"They do realize that Steve will never work with them if they are keeping Bucky locked up, correct?" Peggy stated with frustrated certainty.

"I informed them of that likelihood. They seemed to think that the promise of eventually reevaluating the topic will be enough to placate him." Fury admitted.

I shook my head. This reeked of outside influence, of someone looking for an opportunity to silence him or retake control. Unfortunately I had no idea how to breach the topic to Fury. After a few moments I looked at Ema and twirled my finger around, shiftily looking at the walls and ceiling. She nodded and started scanning the room, her emerald eyes glowing as she did. The three of us watched as she worked her way through the room, eventually stopping and standing next to me.

"All clear. No listening devices or cameras that I could identify." She said with a nod.

"So no one actually believes that this was orchestrated by the Russians, right?" I asked, looking between Peggy and Fury.

"No, this was too blatant, too easy to connect." Fury answered with a shake of his head. "That was a misdirect. Unfortunately we haven't been able to learn anything from the corpses."

"Any survivors?" I asked, getting a head shake in return.

"Anyone we managed to capture quickly committed suicide by cyanide capsule." Fury explained.

"Fuck okay" I said, trying to think as I rubbed my forehead. Eventually I let out a long sigh. "We can't let Bucky get sent away. The chances of him being disappeared or taken back, or even escaping are too high."

"That's possible, but a little unlikely." Fury said, crossing his arms. "He is being sent to a secure Shield facility, not a gulag."

"He will never make it there." I said, shaking my head. "Look, get me a blood sample and maybe a lock of his hair. I'll make something that will let us find him no matter where he goes. If he goes to prison, fine. It's unfortunate but maybe I can make a few things to convince the council to let me help him. But if he doesn't?"

"Then you will be able to track him down." Fury finished. "Fine. But tell no one about this. This stays between us, and Rogers when he wakes up. The council was adamant that you not get access to Barnes in any way in case you tried to fix him despite what we said."

"What do you think I was going to do if you said no?" I said flippantly, dropping down to the seat.

Fury paused for a moment, as if he was contemplating a response before he simply left. About fifteen minutes later I had my samples stored safely in the Deck. Ema sat down in the corner of the room as we sat and waited for Steve to wake up.

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