"Mission report."

"USSR influence in Poland disintegrating. All known KGB centres abandoned. Estimated time until full KGB collapse is two years." I relayed, keeping my eyes trained into middle distance and not meeting Carver's gaze. He made a pleased sound, and I saw him slip the tazer into the pocket of his suit.

"Excellent. You will remain here for the next month, and then you are going to be stationed in Moscow for the next year, where you will monitor the movements of the KGB, and wipe out the targets you are assigned. Clear?"

"Yes, sir." I said in the same monotonous, half dead voice that I always used in meetings with him.

"Good. Take her to her room." Two guards pulled me to my feet, and I felt a cold finger under my chin, tilting it up so I could look Carver in the eye. He smirked, slowly dragging his eyes up and down my body in a way that The Winter Soldier had done only a week before. I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, and finally, I was led out of the room to my cell.



Half a year later, I was exiting one of the houses of a (now) Ex-KGB member, Abram Denikin, pulling the hood of my coat up a little further to protect myself against the biting cold of the Moscow air. The strike team I'd hand picked from the best A.I.M Agents were positioned around the house and across the street to make sure I wasn't interrupted during my interrogation. Now as I stepped out onto the streets, glancing down at the blood that coated my hands, they were moving back to the three black cars we'd parked along the road.

"Он умер?" Volkov, who I'd put in charge of the strike team's movements, moved to walk next to me as I crossed the street. He'd asked whether Denikin was dead.

"да." I responded with a nod, opening the driver's door of the nearest car and clambering in. Volkov followed me, climbing into the seat next to me and strapping in as I drove off, occasionally glancing down at the blood which was drying on his hands.

Volkov settled back in his seat, occasionally glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. He was a native Russian, and although I had my doubts about his loyalties to A.I.M, he was imperative to work in Russia. He was also one of the best fighters I'd seen who wasn't officially listed as an asset or an assassin. "How many more names are on the list?" He asked, knowing I preferred to speak in English after a mission was over.

"Four." I responded, checking that our car was still being followed by the rest of the strike team in the rear-view mirror. "Yenin, Kolkov, Solomin and Apalkov. After that we go back to A.I.M and ask for the next list."

"There's a next list?"

I glanced at him from across the car. "Of course there is."

"So we're here to single handedly take down the KGB?"

"Pretty much." I said with a shrug.




Our job in Russia only lasted four months after that. With the help of the strike team I'd assembled, I managed to get through three lists of fourteen names before we returned to the A.I.M base for good. Carver was impressed with the strike team I'd assembled, and kept them banded together, sending them back out to Russia to continue the work I'd started, with Volkov leading them.

Promotions didn't happen in A.I.M. Unless you had a desk job, you were just an Agent, or an Asset. However, some were more favourable than others. After my success in Russia, I gained considerable favour with my superiors, and was treated with far less suspicion by Carver when we met. Although my hands and feet were still chained to my seats, and I was flanked by guards, I was allowed to remain in my combat suit, after being checked for weapons at the door, which, after years of giving mission reports and being debriefed in my underwear, came as a relief.

I was called into a meeting with Carver about two months after my return from Russia. After being checked for weapons and chained down by my guards, Carver entered. He sat down in front of me with the same thin smile he always shared. "You have a new assignment."

I nodded, as an invitation for him to carry on, and he opened up a file, placing it on the desk in front of me. "We want you back in Russia. Your work has greatly aided in the rupture of the KGB. Now we need you to do the same with Hydra."

"You know that when Hydra discover I'm after them again they'll send assets and strike teams after me?"

"I'm aware of that. The Winter Soldier, we have been reliably informed, is in Cryo-status, so he shouldn't be a problem for a long time, unless you get careless and reveal yourself."

I nodded. "Of course, sir."

"We need you to take out every name on this list." He pushed the manila file further towards me. "And when you're done, if you haven't already, your mission is to kill the Winter Soldier."

Notes