examples (branching) wrote in newalliance, @ 2012-03-31 19:16:00 |
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Entry tags: | winter soldier |
Who: The Winter Soldier (narrative)
Where: Corporate Office, New York City, New York, United States
When: Around 10:53 PM, Saturday Night (March 31st)
What: The Soldier has a list of names
Rating: R to be safe (Blood, Death)
The air was balmy, though the cold was taking a noticeable edge over the rest of the weather and it would have bitten deep into his flesh if not for the fact he was inside. It was always a bit special for him when he could take his time and set up the shot in a comfortable surrounding, instead of laid out on some gravel-strewn roof in the middle of a bustling metropolis. It got old after a while, the chilly air and the long hours. If he wasn't so good at the job and the benefits weren't so worth it, the Soldier would have probably packed it in for a cushy private sector gig. But he did find the work appealing on most levels, the challenges presented to him and the skills he was able to sharpen via the tests he was put through. One didn't stick out the life of a government assassin simply because of a good perk package and the free travel. You were born to it. And The Soldier had accepted that fact early in his career, sometime in the late seventies. He knew that even if he had born in a different time and place, he was the rare breed of human being that would always be drawn to--and exceed in--battle in one form or another. A warrior by blood and soldier by choice, he had come to be one of the most useful (and lucrative) assets in his field. Thus, why he was allowed some much lee way and why his handlers constantly had him fine-tuning some fresh-faced spy who wanted to play super-killer. He did it, as he always had. He was extremely professional and wholly capable, which meant that he took every assignment seriously and to the letter. Even if he thought that everything he taught them would only end up wasted on a new corpse floating down the river or another numbered body in a super-max prison. Maybe it had been everything he'd seen and the people he'd had to face in the course of his work, but most of these new agents had no idea what waited for them in the field.
A shift of his gaze trailed from the scope to focus on the corpse of the man laying in an ever-widening pool of blood. The security system had been nothing exceptional to bypass, though it was a step above what he expected of a company that could only afford one floor in a building. But he hadn't expected the man to be working over time, so it became necessary to put a knife through his heart and go about finishing the preparation for his mission. He had reviewed all the collected intelligence and tonight would be the only chance he had for a good bit of time. And while there wasn't an official timetable for his activities, he didn't want to stay here longer than necessary. Everything about this country and its greedy, self-entitled populace made him sick to his stomach. They had more than enough and they constantly required more, it was a culture of avarice and pride...one which he held in nothing but disdain. It was surprising that he could fit in so well here, but it was a skill with which he had become extremely familiar. It disturbed him how easy it was to assimilate into the culture and slip into the character required of him when he was Stateside. The Soldier simply passed it off as a facet of his exceptional training and the fact they had been his main enemy for the last several decades. There was no way better to destroy your opponent, than to know them as intrinsically (if not more so) as you know yourself. Thus, the Soldier had been awakened from his medically-controlled slumber and given the assignment to return to the United States and deliver a message. Of course, he was never drawn up for such a simple assignment and once he had fully awoken and acclimated himself, he received the full extent of his mission. Which made a lot more sense after the pieces were put together, though he didn't think that he had the whole play figured out. But he was intelligent and he'd been at it for awhile, so he had a general idea of what was the possible end game for everything.
Shifting to sit further back in the office chair, he turned his head back to look out the window before lowering his gaze to the IP59 scope and staring at the world through the lens of the killer. Moving the reticule over the target, he leaned back and stared out the window once more..taking in everything he could about the environment. Typically, in his line of shooting, there were no spotters and the shooter had to be ready to do everything for himself. But at this distance, he really didn't have to account for too much..but he'd left the sensor up top to gauge the atmospheric details just to be safe. A glance towards the digital read-out beside him, then back to stare down the streamlined, black-painted body of the VSS sniper rifle. He slowly rolled his shoulders before ducking down a final time, cheek resting against the wood grain of the stock and his eye socket set just back from the scope. The Soldier adjusted his grip on the rifle near the magazine while the other remained loosely curled around the grip..index finger resting over the trigger. Breathing slowed, becoming deep and steady as he brought the focus of the reticule to settle on the target and his entire being stilled. There was that deathly silence through out the room, the stillness in the air right before the ending of a life. It was always so quiet, a moment of complete focus and clarity the instant before you decided that someone else was no longer going to live. All the millions of random occurrences that brought them to the present and all the potential futures they could have, everything would culminate into the moment you decided that their existence had run its course.
And it was with that thought that the Winter Soldier's index finger slowly curled over the trigger.
It was an instantaneous reaction, a sudden burst of intent and force released like the proverbial tempest in a bottle. As if Zeus himself were casting bolts of lightning at the offending party, the bullet was set to course. Passing through the window, the glass spider-webbing instantly and a small puncture made at the epicenter of the multiple fissures. The well-forged piece of lead spiraling through the air, crossing over a block of air as it sped towards the black-tie gala being held in the open-air garden on the nearby roof. A man tilted his head back, mouth opening in a boisterous belly-laugh as the other behind him patted him on the shoulder. The bullet went penetrated the back of the first man's open mouth and passed through his brain stem, destroying the piece of anatomy before the man even knew he was hit. The angle allowed it to keep traveling, its momentum practically unstoppable as it pierced through the second man's sternum and into his heart. Continuing on its path, it sailed dangerously close by a woman's ear and embedded itself in the wall far past the gathering..close to the server's entrance.
The first man simply rocked back in his chair and came to rest limply, almost as if he had fallen asleep mid-laugh. There was barely time for the second man to discern something was wrong, as he just collapsed as well. It wasn't until the woman began looking for the bug that the screaming began, her entire back and shoulders and left arm covered in the thick, dark liquid of the second man's blood. Then chaos engulfed the roof. The office room was empty except for the cooling body of the poor accountant who had decided to try and get a leg up on the competition.
Two names off the list. The Soldier was sending a message, but they wouldn't understand. Not until more names were off his list.