You Must Remember This

Chapter 25 - Sing a secret song

HYDRA base, Siberia, April 23rd, 1946

By some miracle, Evelyn only got off with a warning. She counted her lucky stars that Nikolai spoke in her defense, explaining that her 'temper tantrum and outburst' was merely a result of the hormone therapy. For once, she wouldn't make a big deal out of a man calling a woman 'hormonal' when being angry because it provided a hell of an excuse and worked brilliantly in her favor. The evidence was right there, after all, thanks to her well-documented research and Nikolai's testimony to all of the shots he had already given her in the past months. 
Evelyn wondered if he believed it himself, though. He knew her a lot better than anyone else at the base since she was still working with only him (the Winter Soldier's absence the last months gave a valid reason for prolonging her training). Maybe he preferred to choose to believe the excuse rather than think she could actually be that bold and crazy. That just made Evelyn wonder as to the kind of woman he was used to. Nikolai always seemed more progressive and open-minded than the other buffoons strutting around trying to get her attention, but it wouldn't be the first time she came across someone holding up a facade. 
Speaking of facades, she had to make sure she kept up hers. No more mistakes. She had allowed the carefully-build persona of Eva Roth to slip away for just a few seconds, and it almost ruined her. And yet if she hoped to get through the Winter Soldier to reach the boy she knew from Brooklyn, she needed to be Evelyn Rogers again.

-----

"Как он?"
(How is he?)

Nikolai looked up from the file in his hand as Evelyn walked up to him. 

"Stable," he replied in English, dropping the file on the table. "Strangely enough, he hasn't woken up yet. It's been over 24 hours since the surgery. His metabolism should've processed the morphine by now."

"Maybe the serum is keeping him dormant? Shutting off his mind to allow his body to recuperate? Similar to hibernation?"

"Hm, could be. There is still a lot we don't know about the effects Zola's serum can have on the human body, so it is certainly possible."

"Did you find out what happened? With the team that left with the Winter Soldier, I mean?"

"I heard the guards talking earlier. They recovered the black box from the wreckage of the aircraft. Logs indicate they arrived on the Eastern shore of Lake Victoria at the scheduled time, but everything went dark after that. There were no records whatsoever until two days ago when the plane was on its way back here. Right now, they're assuming they were caught in an ambush by the indigenous. Since our patient is the only one who returned, all others are presumed dead."

Evelyn knew better than to ask if they were going to send a search party. That wasn't how things were done in HYDRA. Cut off one head, two more shall grow in its place. Why search for those already lost when they could be so easily replaced? 

"I take it the mission was unsuccessful then?" she inquired instead.

"Well..." 

Nikolai looked behind her to see if the guards were listening, but they were busy talking to each other. He beckoned her closer. 

"Zola asked me to confirm the Soldier's condition during his meeting with some of the higher advocates earlier," he continued in a low voice. "He didn't immediately dismiss me afterward, though. I overheard them discussing something called vibranium and if there was any indication that it was found by the team sent to Africa. Zola said there was no proof of the vibranium itself but that he is now assured the, and I quote 'tribe is far more technologically advanced than first assumed and certainly living in hiding near Lake Victoria'. They won't send another team, though. Not until there is positive confirmation they hold this vibranium. I don't know what to make of it, but it must be something important."