BIOHAZARD,
chapter five: trigger words!

          AVERY MULLER'S GREEN EYES DROPPED FOR THE ELEVATOR OF THE ENTRANCE THAT THE BASE HAD. The first and only entrance to hell had. He smiled sideways to see that they had finally reached the goal, that the mission would be easy. Jake glanced at him and knew that as soon as they set foot in the elevator, the clock would start to run. 48 hours, only 48 hours to carry out the theft and escape from that base. Avery and Violet were the first to enter the elevator, being followed by the two SHIELD agents: the Birkin siblings. Commander Vasily Karpov was the last to enter and he pressed a couple of numbers and then observed that another truck was approaching. Somebody came down from the ceiling, that same dangerous figure: the soldier.

          Karpov lowered a security fence, which turned out to be one of the security doors of the elevator. This began its descent slowly, noting that the numbers indicated that there were negative plants in the base, implying that it was underground. The commander looked sideways and said, "This base is a military bunker, created by the Russian government in the Cold War. HYDRA was commissioned to condition it as a German strategy base and this is where the real nightmares happen."

          Violet rolled her eyes at the comment and leaned back against the other security fence. "How are things here? Is there a daily routine or what?"

          Karpov smiled crookedly. "Breakfast at 7 am, cognitive training at 8 am, physical training with soldiers at 9 am until 12 am, lunch and from 2 pm to 9 pm is full military training. The lights go out at 23 pm. So on until your body feels like it slowly goes out."

          Anika leaned toward her brother. "How encouraging."

          The elevator stopped with a sudden jerk and the commander busied himself with raising the security fence once the doors opened. The small team walked down the hall and Avery couldn't take his eyes off the recruits. He knew that the commander was saying a couple of words to the group but he found them in a very distant way - almost out of focus - and focused on staying in character, observing and learning. They went down a couple of stairs and found a pavilion that was full of single beds.

           "This is where each of you will sleep, without exceptions," the commander announced. "This is not a five star hotel, it is the most luxurious you will find in this base."

          Avery smiled crookedly. "A bed is better than a log."

          Karpov let out a laugh before continuing. "Settle your things and then head to the main lab. 10 minutes."

          The team nodded and walked towards the large pavilion which would be their temporary room for 48 hours. Avery and Jake were placed together in two adjoining beds while Violet and Anika were placed together in two adjoining beds in a parallel row. Jake looked at the group, while with his hand he pointed to his watch. "Time is running, team. We must start a plan."

          Avery raised an eyebrow. "A plan? It's much more than a plan, Birkin. We must study their movements, we must know what protocols they follow. We need time."

          Anika glared at him and whispered, "Nick Fury wants the soldier's book in 48 hours! We must act fast."

          Violet Quinn rolled her eyes. "Mission impossible: how Avery Muller's group manages to steal a book in less than 48 hours. What a great premiere."

          His partner hit her shoulder with his fist and let out a sigh of exasperation. "All right, we'll do our best to have it and leave without being seen." Avery looked at the Birkin siblings. "I need more time, you are the only ones who have contact with Fury right now. Convince him. Look for some strategy to give us more time."

          They looked at each other and nodded. The group, after 10 minutes, went out in search of the commander in chief and finally they found him next to a railing that directed to the main laboratory. Avery found it huge, something that really looked like a military bunker. The commander looked at them sideways and smiled, raising his hand and waving it for them to approach him. Avery went to the edge and looked down, finding a whole laboratory mounted and illuminated by giant yellow tubes. Karpov cleared his throat and that attracted the group's attention, he clicked his tongue and spoke. "Welcome to the Playground."

          The team observed all the infrastructure and that really didn't look like a playground. It was a torture room or - who knows - something much more sinister. The commander began to walk sideways, meeting with stairs that came down from the floor. The team didn't hesitate to chase it, going down with him. Avery deliberately looked at Karpov, trying in some way to move the mission forward and remove important information. "What is this playground about?"

          "As you have already seen, it is a kind of laboratory and where they keep the projects that HYDRA carries out," the commander responded looking ahead while the green-eyed mercenary observed all the machinery that was concentrated on the main floor. "The soldier is our newest project and, fortunately, the one that has lasted the longest. A lethal weapon created after HYDRA "fell" in World War II. Sergeant Barnes is someone...peculiar now."

          "Sergeant Barnes?" Muller asked, raising an eyebrow. "Did he belong to the army or something?"

          "Huh, Nikolay, many questions but very few answers," Karpov replied looking at him seriously while the team went down another flight of stairs. "Here we perform miracles, our work is very dangerous to be discovered. Not only for the Russian government, but for international organizations such as SHIELD. We must trust you, soldier."

          The mercenary tightened his lips and nodded as they continued their walk. Avery had to do something to gain confidence, something as sharp as a knife and then use it as an advantage for a perfect stabbing in the back. There wasn't any betrayal like that. 48 hours, how could Fury be able to give him only 48 hours? The green-eyed mercenary felt the sound of a clock counting time. Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock. Increasingly stronger, increasingly lethal. The group went to the main floor, where the commander stopped them and walked towards a person who was sitting in the middle seat. This one had a short mane, his eyes were like ice in bluer shades and his arm was made of metal. That was the Winter Soldier.

          Suddenly, he focused his gaze on the mercenary - who was already looking at him tentatively - and Avery didn't find the man who could kill you with his eyes anymore. No. He had found something else. He found a broken man. A man so broken inside and out. Would he be Sergeant Barnes? The mercenary refrained from commenting on something and looked sideways at his partner Violet, who was looking only with terror at the soldier - repenting of any sin he had committed with his own hands. Stealing a book would be much more complicated if the soldier watched over them.

          Karpov stared at the soldier and a doctor came over with a book in his hand. Avery noted that this was a red cap, made of synthetic leather and small, with a black star adorning its center. The team meticulously observed the book and everyone concluded that this was the book they were looking for and that they would soon steal. They had the Soldier's Book in front of them. Jake touched his sister's shoulder and she nodded, knowing that the target had already been located. What was that book really doing? Nick Fury said he was able to create chaos and bring it to earth. And why did he want it? Would he create new chaos?

          "zhelaniye (Longing)" The commander declared in Russian, while his gaze was fixed on the red book. "rzhavyy (Rusty)" And something began to electrocute the head of Barnes, letting the soldier let out a cry of pain. "pech' (Furnace)" Avery could see the pain and violence fall on that man's shoulders. A pain so singular and sharp that Avery didn't understand how he could feel it, how he could long for it. "rassvet (Daybreak)" He walked behind him, while the rest watched as the soldier struggled to get out, struggled not to put that violence in his head. "Semnadtsat' (Seventeen)" Karpov exclaimed again, continuing his words and the soldier twisted. "dobrokachestvennyy (Benign)" Suddenly his screams stopped and turned into grunts. Avery and Violet didn't move. "Devyat' (Nine)" The commander was closing the circle he had created. "Vozvrashcheniye domoy (Homecoming)" He replied while the metal plates that were in the soldier's head automatically moved away from him. "Odin (One)" The fictitious circle the commander had created was beginning to close. "Gruzovoy vagon (Freight car)" And finally, Commander Karpov found himself in front of him, the soldier was staring at him - blue eyes as cold as an iceberg and as lethal as a bullet.

          Avery watched as the man with eyes as broken as his body had become so sinister and macabre - a monster.

          "Soldat? (Soldier?)" The commander asked.

          "Gotov povinovat'sya (Ready to obey)" The soldier said.

          Avery, in one way or another, knew that this book was really the key to turning a man into a monster. That it took out every part that made man a human being to turn it into something else. Something dark and with that, spread the darkness all over his body - taking everything that got in his way. That book was the bane of any man who dared to corrupt HYDRA - he would end up corrupting himself. Avery would end up corrupted if he tried to do what he was ordered: steal the Soldier's Book.

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          Avery Muller watched as the sun hid behind the mountains again, repeating the same cycle as the day before. Violet was in her bed, staring at the ceiling above her and the concrete floor under the bed. The green-eyed mercenary approached slowly, hesitating whether to really get close to his partner or not, but eventually he finally settled into the bed next to Violet. Her brown eyes observed the figure of the mercenary sitting in front of her and the mercenary let out a long sigh. Avery smiled sideways. "What's the matter?"

          Violet looked at Avery seriously. "This is a mistake, Avery. A serious mistake."

          "Why do you say it's a mistake?" The mercenary asked, frowning. "This mission will make us rich. Or it will kill us, who knows."

          "We're talking about stealing a book from HYDRA, Muller" Violet got up saying that under his breath. "You have already seen what it does. It's time to abort."

          "It's time to act, not to abort," Muller insisted, looking violently at Violet. "We have less than 48 hours to get the book and we will fulfill it."

          "If we do, the soldier will kill us all," the brunette declared between her teeth. "Avery, we must..."

          "Nikolay, idi so mnoy (Nikolay, come with me)" The mercenary heard Commander Karpov's voice at the end of the room. He nodded and sent a warning glance at his companion, who merely pressed her lips together.

          Avery followed his footsteps and met the commander who was staring at him. They both started walking. Muller, then see what the book did with the soldier, was more than determined to steal it for Nick Fury. But that had a price, a price that Avery Muller himself was determined to pay. A book that could create chaos was a book that had to be destroyed at all costs.

          Karpov was holding that red book with the star in its center. Avery watched him closely as he walked in silence, holding the soldier's book in his hands. The mercenary's green eyes focused on the figure of Commander Karpov as he waited for a word from him. And he spoke. "This book is the key to everything. A true treasure."

          "What exactly does that book do?" Avery asked, being wary of the commander-in-chief. "It is as if the soldier really became one. In a...monster."

          Karpovv smirked. "That's what the book does. It turns the subject into something else." He finally looked at the mercenary. "Those words are a psychological trigger that ignites, to put it another way, the soldier and with that we will know that he is under control; under our control."

          They both walked to a couple of stairs, which began to ascend. Avery followed in his footsteps and remained lost in his own thoughts. The soldier's book was highly valued at the base, almost like a gold treasure that - if it was not taken care of - would end up turning to ashes. And something as appreciated as that should be protected, even if it is the end of the world or even if there is a nuclear war. That book was as protected as the base itself, no one could touch it - with the clear exception of the commander in chief - and no one could steal it (Avery would be that exception).

          Planning a robbery wasn't such a simple thing. It had to be a strategy to evade all kinds of security and cheating in the environment, a strategy of behavior, a strategy of skill - stealthy as a ninja star. Besides, it would be such a silent strategy, that even the commander in chief would not realize it. The green-eyed mercenary had to make a plan in less than 48 hours to be able to steal that weapon that created another weapon and deliver it to SHIELD within that period. In that trance that kept Muller deep in thought, Karpov snapped his fingers repeatedly near Avery's left ear.

          "Have you heard me, soldier?" Said the Russian commander, looking at Muller out of the corner of his eye, pulling him out of his trance. "Are you paying attention, Nikolay?"

          Avery flinched and stared at his commander. "Excuse me, sir. I'm still analyzing what happened today. What was you talking about?"

          "I was giving you the details of your first mission," Karpov replied, intoning his Russian accent, making an effort to speak in the same language. "Normally new cadets don't usually go to missions so fast but I want to see what your team's resistance is like."

          Both arrived at an isolated pavilion and there they were with a metal door secured by two guards. The mercenary's green eyes fixed on how the soldiers were turning to move and activate two keys. The metal doors opened, slowly and with a dry screech, revealing a small compartment that belonged to the book.

          Avery looked closely at the movements of the commander-in-chief and he stopped in front of the compartment. Avery watched every movement with full attention and took into account every detail that occurred in the room. Commander Karpovv carefully placed the red leather book in that compartment and walked away slowly. Avery Muller straightened and stared straight ahead, trying to be disinterested in what happened.

          The Russian commander looked at him. "This fortress keeps the secret that many agencies seek. Our duty is to correct the story that does not fit the world and make it much better." He walked toward the green-eyed mercenary and smiled sideways. "Your mission will also be to change the story and I know you will be willing to do it."

          Avery pressed his lips together and then said, "What is this mission about?"

          "You'll see," he murmured.

          Commander Karpovv started walking towards the stairs and Avery watched as the metal doors closed in front of him with the Soldier's Book inside them. The green-eyed mercenary turned and followed at a rapid pace his commander, who was waiting for him on the stairs. Both began to return by the way they took and the green-eyed man raised a billion plans to steal the HYDRA book. Karpov excused himself and ended up saying goodbye to take another road while the mercenary remained in his - in the direction of the block where the beds were where he would spend the night with his team.

          Violet, in some way, was right - but in a very impartial way. Avery had to do this and he would do it until the end. As soon as he got to the block, he discovered that the small windows were completely sealed - without leaving a trace of light, which had long since left.

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not edited