With or Without You

See the stone set in your eyesSee the thorn twist in your sideI'll wait for youSleight of hand and twist of fateOn a bed of nails, she makes me waitAnd I wait without you

- U2

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Siberian Facility; 10 July, 1989

The next phase of her training found Tessa learning everything she could about how HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D were interwoven into each other and had been since Arnim Zola -- creator of the serum that made The Winter Soldier -- was given a job applying his scientific brain to further the advancements of both groups. She was also given information to file away about other programs from other, smaller organizations across the world.

It had now been over two years since the Soldier had been released from his sleep, and Tess couldn't imagine why he was forced into that state while the world moved on around him. He could be an even better tool if they would only let him free. Of course, her opinion was biased on that matter, as her father had told her during one discussion about it a little over six months before.

Pierce had given his daughter a task; find and complete a mission with The Winter Soldier under her control and he would have him released from his stasis for the task. He knew well that she had grown up with the Asset and that he was a big part of her life, but he didn't know just how deeply the two of them had bonded out of the sight of others.

She had always worked better with a distinct challenge ahead of her, so Pierce knew she would be up for the task. He'd gotten reports from Vasily about her progress and how studious she was being about it despite the fact that Vasily traveled and relied only on the reports given to him by the full time soldiers in the base. Most of his time away was spent as a HYDRA sleeper agent in the Soviet military. It made Pierce proud to see Tess work toward the goal of their cause. It made him think that someday she would take his place as a leader.

For now, he doted on his daughter, encouraged her in her work and helped her develop her identity as Tesla, the embodiment of the project that had formed her into the weapon she was today. Pierce even had a suit made for her. When she first saw the it on its mannequin, she'd side-eyed her father and looked up at him like he'd lost his goddamn mind. It was form-fitting from the neck all the way to the boots, but it was lovely.

The material was made of carbon nanotubes that would conform further to her figure and lined with a very light, bullet and blade resistant layer that rested against her skin to further protect her. It also had thicker padding in strategic areas such as in swoops against her sides that continued up across her chest to cross between her breasts and down around to cross again over her lower spine before that padding thinned out while spiraling around each of her legs. One last strip butted up against the piece crossing on her back then stretched upward until it reached mid-neck where the suit ended. This last piece was joined by the piece of padding between her breasts and brought the pattern to completion.

The vast majority of the disguise was a deep, stormy blue that enhanced her icy eyes. The only other color on the suit was on the padded area where it looped against her sides. In that stretch between where her ribs ended and back to where her spine began, simple, gray bolts of lightning not only pointed out her elemental base but drew attention to the shape of the now-nineteen Tessa's body.

She had grown into a beautiful young woman. She wasn't much taller than she had been two years ago, but she was no longer a lanky, formless kid. Though her face grew to be a bit more slender while her body filled out, she didn't look much different than she had all of her life. She already knew how she was going to substitute a mask to hide her identity.

She wouldn't need the HUD goggles that The Winter Soldier would wear, but she would wear the muzzling mask right at his side and would line her eyes heavily in such a way as to serve as an optical illusion to onlookers. She'd put as much attention in the details of that as she did to the upcoming mission she was working through.

The Weapon X Project had been the first program that had turned Tessa's attention toward it. It dealt with mutants, like herself, and the experimentation done on them. There was also the fact that it used a few of its own creations to hunt down and kill other metahumans. She had heard her father clash with Colonel Stryker in the past and knew they didn't get along. Whereas HYDRA wanted to take superhumans and use them to shape the perfect world in the image of itself, Stryker wanted only to let humans retake the world.

It took her just a little time to locate the facility and the information that HYDRA had on the place. It was large, built into the side of a mountain and went deep into said monument of land. It would be just herself and The Winter Soldier against whatever was in the facility unless they could pick up others on the way.

It took her almost two full years of planning and searching to find the mutant she wanted to accompany them, but she didn't know for sure if he'd help them out. He was volatile, had an explosive personality, a bad temper and a willingness to rip the throat out of anyone who got on his nerves. He was a beastial mutant noted for his razor-sharp fangs and claws, superhuman abilities and senses, and he was considered a vicious mercenary assassin who rarely failed his tasks.

And, currently, Sabretooth was somewhere near Alberta near the base itself.

Tessa wrote up the report to her father that outlined the mission and why it was being carried out -- to win over more metahumans to the HYDRA cause and remove William Stryker from the face of the Earth. The response she received from her father wasn't entirely what she'd hoped it would be, to be frank. Pierce warned her against dealing with this particular mutant, told her that he wasn't the nicest of team players and would likely turn on her in the end, but Tessa was fairly certain that the combined power of herself and Winter Soldier could take him out if they needed.

In the end, Pierce relented and signed off on the mission.

Dressed in a heavy, black long-sleeved shirt, black leggings and a pair of heavy boots, Tessa was walking down the corridor that would lead from her room to the silo where a long-quiet chair and the orange glow of a cryostasis pod kept quiet vigil over one another. With only an afterthought, she shifted the flow of electricity into the room and night turned into day in an instant. When her steps stopped, she was standing before the still form of the Winter Soldier as the cover of the pod cleared its height limit above.

Her heart lurched painfully in her chest as she recalled when last she'd seen him. The nothing in his eyes still destroyed her two years later. Yet here she was, awakening her closest friend only to assure his mind was still clean and refocus him with words she abhorred.

Outwardly, she was the epitome of confidence. Alexander Pierce's daughter had stepped into a role she hadn't meant to find. Every other day of the year, she ran the Siberian facility. One set day a year, Karpov visited but remained always ready to return sooner should the The Winter Soldier be needed. It was still his program for the time being.

Currently, he was following into the room but only to observe the process. The all too familiar red book with its black star was sitting in wait for Tessa to take it into her possession for the mission.

Tessa stepped back a few paces, her palms moving up along the dips in her sides to rest there while she watched the soldiers move up onto the platform to get him down. As they returned with the Soldier to floor level, Tessa pivoted back out of the way and let them carry a disoriented, confused Winter Soldier over to the chair that had abused him for the majority of his long life.

Her expression stoic, she followed but didn't pause to watch them manhandle the man into the chair. Instead, she took up her spot behind the headrest of the chair. Fingers moved into the dripping locks of her friend, and she closed her eyes and immediately sank into the oblivion of her other self, one made of firing synapses, the voltage in the lines, the elemental realm of lightning.

First to go was his pain center, blinking out and carrying his screams with it as it left. Having trained with other HYDRA operatives, she earned her mastery over this part of herself. Little pain lingered as the tendrils of electricity caressed over the entirety of his brain with the touch of a tender lover. Knowing exactly when to begin, she guided him with the trigger words etched deeply inside of him.

As she pulled free of her elemental side and slipped back into herself, Tessa released his mind and moved around to take up the red book. It was cradled against her stomach between folded arms as she eased her body around in front of him. His eyes fell to the black star then raised his eyes to the arcing irises of the woman standing before him.

"Dobroye utro, Soldat," the buzz of her voice bled into that natural smoke of her speaking voice.

To The Winter Soldier's eyes, her voice parted the fog between them, focused his vision on the bolts that chased themselves in the never ending hoop of icy cold blue. Then when the last of the haze was burned away, he saw her. Only her. She was protected at all cost. Her every word was there to direct his every act. With her good morning, his compliance was triggered.

"Gotov podchinit'sya," he growled. Ready to comply.

"Come," she commanded, continuing to speak Russian when he was supposed to focus.

As she turned, her arms fell back to her sides and she guided the way toward the exit of the room. She didn't wait and she didn't have to look back to know that HYDRA's ghost was just behind her and following her every word.

The corridors of this base seemed never ending as Tessa guided The Winter Soldier to a room that hadn't been in use when he was last awake. It was a 20x20 tactical operations center (TOC), though it was only ever staffed by Tessa, and now her Soldier.

Every inch of wall space and the war table in the center was covered in notations and discoveries that had been made in the past two years. The light came on as they entered and Tessa broke off to move to the war table and out of his way. The red book found itself being laid atop her notations there, unneeded for now.

The Winter Soldier stepped in and let the door shut behind him, his eyes lifting to take in every single detail that was outlined before him. The room wasn't a safe room where they would eventually rediscover his memories as they came. HYDRA needed to listen to what was talked about in this room.

Tess watched him slowly walk the edges of the room, drinking in information and stacking it where it needed to be for the mission. When he reached the back corner of the third wall, she offered him her voice.

"The Weapon X Program is headed by Colonel William Stryker -- evangelical, fundamentalist, radical, purist. Humans are the only ones who matter. Mutants and metahumans are only good for one thing, weapons to assure humanity survives at all costs, no matter the cost.

"His base is located in the deepest area of Jasper National Park of Canada, built into Samson Peak on Maligne Lake," she watched him move back over to the map on the other side of the wall so that he could follow as her brainstorming had led her to paint out the way her mind worked as something tangible.

"We need to infiltrate, destroy Stryker's men, steal his research, release the captives then level the facility entirely," she stated, her right hand moving to the dip in her side again and the left ticking off fingers for each thing she said.

Tess watched him as he followed along her thought process, a fondness warming in her chest suddenly. She had missed him so much.

"We will need the help of someone who has been inside of that facility," she cleared her throat and got back on track. "His name is Victor Creed, and he was one of the first volunteers in hunting down and killing or kidnapping mutants when the program started."

She paused briefly at the thought of the program starting during the same time frame when James had been with the Invaders, a group that would come to be known as the Howling Commandos at Captain America's side. It had never really clicked with her memory until now that James was standing feet from her.

The Winter Soldier paused and turned slightly to look toward the blond as she suddenly fell into thought. That was where he stood until Tessa blinked herself back into the here and now.

"Victor Creed -- volatile, feral, calls himself Sabretooth," she continued. "Kinda lives up to the name, though. Fangs and claws, untamable. He stands at 202.2 centimeters to your 184 and is raw, brutal power. Last seen southeast of the Weapon X Facility. Sources say he's gone rogue from the project which means he might be cooperative in shutting the place down."

"Can he be trusted?" The Russian growled from the Soldier's lips as he used his voice for the first time in a long time.

"Absolutely not," the reply was firm and spilled from her lips almost before The Winter Soldier had finished his question. "At no point in time do we trust Creed with anything. He's a bloodthirsty murder machine. We can count on him killing for the fun of it. We can also count us being in his path when he decides to eventually put us on his bucket list."

The Winter Soldier gave a brief tug of a smile, but it faded almost before Tessa could process that it happened. That warmth returned to her chest and made her hopeful that she wouldn't have to forcibly jog his memory when it was safe to do so.

"We are using him," she finally said as she refocused herself. "Once we're done with him, we part ways or we kill him."

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Posted: 30 July, 2021