Karpov toyed with the idea of leaving The Winter Soldier's muzzle off ... With it he was silent, deadly, anonymous. But that anonymity was somewhat lost now. Stephanie Rogers had identified him, now they could take advantage of his loss of anonymity. Ordinarily this would be a problem, but if Stephanie watched her best friends face plastered onto a killers body ... she'd hesitate, she'd slip up.
Karpov wasn't certain Stephanie would be there. They'd kept their plans tightly lipped. SHIELD would need to have vastly upgraded their hacking and intelligence departments to catch a snippet of this plan. But these days you couldn't be too careful. In the end, Karpov left the muzzle off. The Soldier was utterly compliant. Not only had he used the trigger words, but Karpov had thrown in an electroshock session in the conditioning chair, just to be safe.
Whatever parts of Bucky that were left, residues of memories and free thoughts, they'd been thoroughly burned from his brain.
He was bruised, but otherwise combat ready. The bruises didn't matter, the SOldier didn't feel pain, or at least, he didn't register it. He didn't even scream when his bones broke or cracked in the field.
Karpov stayed close to the Red Skull, and The Winter Soldier, like the ever faithful guard dog he'd been programmed to be, lingered in Karpov's shadow.
"The men are ready. Shall we begin?" Kapov asked.
Karpov wasn't certain Stephanie would be there. They'd kept their plans tightly lipped. SHIELD would need to have vastly upgraded their hacking and intelligence departments to catch a snippet of this plan. But these days you couldn't be too careful. In the end, Karpov left the muzzle off. The Soldier was utterly compliant. Not only had he used the trigger words, but Karpov had thrown in an electroshock session in the conditioning chair, just to be safe.
Whatever parts of Bucky that were left, residues of memories and free thoughts, they'd been thoroughly burned from his brain.
He was bruised, but otherwise combat ready. The bruises didn't matter, the SOldier didn't feel pain, or at least, he didn't register it. He didn't even scream when his bones broke or cracked in the field.
Karpov stayed close to the Red Skull, and The Winter Soldier, like the ever faithful guard dog he'd been programmed to be, lingered in Karpov's shadow.
"The men are ready. Shall we begin?" Kapov asked.