When Severus comes to, his whole body aches with numerous pains and his mind throbs horribly in his skull. He'd much rather still be out of it right now.
The pain isn't as intense as the Cruciatus Curse, but Severus has physical injuries at the moment. There's a lump in the back of his head and his body is heavily bruised, especially his throat.
The memories flood back quickly. He's still laying on the dented slide that the long-haired man with the metal prosthetic arm had thrown him into. Severus' own body had been the thing to dent the metal slide, and there are a couple sharp parts poking into his body.
The boy. Potter. Where is he? Obviously, the muggles were kidnapping him, but for what purpose? Do they know how important he is to the wizarding world? The vast majority of muggles don't know about magic, of course, but it seems more than a little coincidental that they were going for the Boy Who Lived.
Severus gropes around for his wand and doesn't find it anywhere. He tries to wandlessly summon it with Accio but still nothing happens. What in Merlin's name?
Had the attacker taken his wand?
The Potions Master sits up from his crater in the slide, aching body fiercely protesting the movement. Just in case, he scans the ground for any sign of his wand, in case the wandless charm simply hadn't worked.
No sign of it. Apparently it had been misappropriated by the attacker. Severus scowls furiously- being without his wand is the last thing he needs right now.
From the looks of it, the attacker is gone.
Potter is nowhere to be seen, as well. So that attacker had successfully kidnapped Potter and is Merlin knows where with the brat right now. Obviously, he hadn't taken the car that Severus disabled, but he could have made it a fair distance on foot by now- the man was inordinately fast- or perhaps even obtained another vehicle.
Either way, there is an incredibly slim chance of him finding the man, let alone catching up to him, without a wand.
This was not how Severus thought the night was going to go. He was hoping to find the Potter brat quickly and let Dumbledore find another home for him, since his relatives are indeed dead.
The two attackers he'd petrified are still laying motionless on the street. The situation is nowhere near as dire as if they had not been here. It should be simple to extract the location of wherever they were planning on taking the boy, which is presumably where their metal-armed associate is now. Without a wand, though, Severus cannot un-petrify them, or contain them if they try to run.
Sticking his wand arm out over the street, he summons the Knight Bus. If he had any other choice right now, he'd chose that instead of the Knight Bus.
The triple-decker purple bus can be used by Squibs like Mrs. Figg, so he doesn't need a wand to summon it. Also, the attacker had apparently decided to leave Severus' money with him. Perhaps he thought Galleons were fools' gold.
The triple-decker purple bus appears with a bang in the street, and the abandoned car and the two petrified goons' bodies are magically thrown out of the way of the bus.
The behemoth of a vehicle screeches to a stop without any regard to momentum. The conductor comes out while Severus starts to try to carry the two petrified kidnappers. His own aching body protests, and even if he was in his best condition it would be hard to carry the bulky men.
The conductor seems a little confused to be helping Severus with his 'baggage', but the Potions Master makes up a story involving copious amounts of Firewhiskey and stupid dueling bets.
Unfortunately, Severus has to buy tickets for the attackers as well. The Knight Bus is full of beds right now rather than its collection of mismatched chairs that it has during daytime. After shoving his two statue-esque captives onto beds, Severus sits on a third. There's no way he can sleep on this thing.
"Where to?" The conductor asks.
"The Leaky Cauldron." Snape replies, planning on using Floo powder from there.
The bus shoots forward at incredible speed and all the beds slide towards the back. Why they haven't applied sticking charms to them so they stay in place is completely beyond Severus. He scowls slightly, noting the gleam of terror in his petrified would-be kidnappers' eyes. It lessens his scowl slightly.
After a harrowingly reckless but thankfully quick ride in the bus, Snape and his two frozen captives are dropped off outside the Leaky Cauldron.
Severus Floo's to his office with the two captives, depositing them on the stone floor.
Dumbledore comes to Severus' office before he can even decide whether to call the Headmaster or not.
"Severus, where is Harry?" Dumbledore asks. "His new living arrangements have not been settled. Without the blood wards provided by his Aunt, he is in danger from Voldemort's supporters."
"He is in danger already." Severus informs the old man. "I was about to question these two, who were involved in an apparent kidnapping." He glares down at his petrified captives.
Potter had clearly been terrified. His scream, as well as the bout of accidental magic had made that obvious. And now he's with the most dangerous member of the group of three kidnappers.
Even though the boy is James Potter's son and Severus certainly doesn't like the brat, they need to rescue the boy. Who knows what's being done to him right now?
Hopefully these two can provide some answers.
The two goons groan loudly when they are un-petrified, stretching their stiff bodies. Severus debates conjuring ropes to bind them, but they are not a threat like the third one had been. They do not even have guns this time, since Severus had disarmed them.
"Do you know who the boy you were taking was?" Dumbledore asks them in a calm voice, as if this isn't an interrogation but a simple chat. Severus had been wondering the same thing- they're muggles, after all, what use do they have for the Boy Who Lived- but why hadn't Dumbledore immediately asked where Harry was?
The men pointedly remain silent.
"Where were you planning on taking the boy?" Severus demands harshly. Again, silence. Maybe it's time to break out the Veritaserum. That will get them talking.
"...Hail HYDRA" The two goons mutter, not quite simultaneously, before biting down on something in their mouths.
They almost immediately begin to experience what appear to be seizures and heart attacks at the same time. Severus grabs a couple of bezoars and crams them down the kidnappers' throats. Whatever poison they seem to have used is apparently incredibly fast acting, and they already seem mostly dead by the time he shoves the bezoars down their throats.
The bezoars work on whatever poison they seem to have used. The men gasp and shudder but are no longer at the brink of death.
They seem extremely confused when they realize they're still alive, and surprisingly ungrateful.
Severus pries open one man's mouth and sees a gap in his teeth along with remains of a fake tooth. Severus has read about suicide pills being used in Muggle militaries for people at a high risk of being captured. Are these two men with some sort of military? Why would they be interested in Potter?
From the looks of it, there are no more fake teeth with suicide pills.
Regardless, in a silky yet dangerous voice, Severus tells them "Don't try that again."
He stalks to his shelves and grabs a couple flasks of Veritaserum. The Ministry of Magic has strict regulations on the use of the truth-telling potion, but they do not need to know about this. Besides, these men will be obliviated once they have what they need, since they are muggles and shouldn't know about magic.
The men try to hold their mouths shut even though they most likely do not know what the potion does. Pinching one man's nose cures him of that, and Severus pours some of the truth-telling potion into the man's mouth and them clamps a hand over so he can't spit it out. The man reluctantly swallows, and Severus repeats the process with the other kidnapper.
"Why did you kidnap Harry Potter? Where were you taking him?" Severus demands.
"We were ordered to drive the Asset back to the airport once he extracted the Potter kid." The second kidnapper looks extremely shocked that those words just came out of his mouth. Snape smirks slightly when the other kidnapper sends that one a look telling him to be quiet.
"The Asset?" Dumbledore questions. Severus assumes that the kidnapper is referring to the infuriating man with the metal arm who had managed to somehow beat Severus in a duel.
"The Winter Soldier." The first man says, looking just as surprised as his companion had about blurting out what is obviously supposed to be classified information.
Yet, when they ask who the Winter Soldier is, the two don't have much information, other than that he was "malfunctioning" by appearing to be angry, as if the soldier wasn't supposed to even experience emotions, let alone show them. From the way they talk about him, it's clear the Soldier isn't even regarded as a person in their eyes.
They do reveal something vague about wiping the Soldier's memories with a chair, although apparently these two are never involved with it and are rarely involved with the Soldier at all. Since when had Muggles invented something that has the same effect as Obliviate?
One of the kidnappers speculates out loud, of course having no control over his tongue, that perhaps the Soldier might not have gone to the plane at all.
These kidnappers are not nearly as informative as Severus had hoped, and his chances of finding Potter are growing slimmer by the second.
The Asset should be aboard the plane by now instead of sitting in a parked car. It was a seventeen minute drive to his destination, and it has been twenty-two minutes. But at 0159, he'd realized was following the wrong orders and was not driving to the destination.
He sits unmoving in the parked car for 5.1 minutes, head throbbing as the battle between missions rages on in his mind without his consent. Not that his consent is ever considered for anything.
Weapons cannot give consent, they simply do what they are made to do.
Unless they defect.
TURN AROUND. GO TO THE AIRPORT.
The mission pounds even louder in his head, practically shouting, as he sits in the unmoving car.
DELIVER POTTER. RETURN TO HANDLERS FOR MAINTENANCE. COMPLETE THE MISSION.
The Asset cannot hear himself think over the blaring mission. That is good. His job is not to think, it is to complete assignments.
Even as he starts to put the car back in drive, the new mission once again counters the official mission. Unfortunately, it rises in volume to match the mission.
NEGATIVE. MAINTAIN PRESENT ROUTE, DO NOT RETURN TO THE AIRPORT.
The two missions continue to argue, and the Soldier longs for the peace and quiet of having one set of orders to obey.
The Asset turns on the radio, trying to drown out the new voice in his head that he knows he's not supposed to obey. But the voice commands compliance, same as the official mission.
If he can just get rid of the unofficial voice long enough to deliver the boy, his handlers will fix him and everything will be quiet again.
He cycles through frequencies on the radio. Of course, none of them match the frequencies of HYDRA communication devices. Even if they did, the passwords have probably changed.
He cannot contact his handlers and tell them to come get him because he is defecting and jeopardizing the mission. They would surely punish him, but they would fix him, too.
A lot of the different radio stations blare noises that sound like young men being castrated. If it weren't for the screeching guitar riffs in the background (guitars do not sound like that at all, what is wrong with this), he would have wondered if he somehow picked up on frequencies from an interrogation room rather than what is probably supposed to be music.
The torture-music only makes his head throb more, and does nothing to overpower the voices, so he quickly skips past those stations. The weather and traffic reports at least hold useful information, although there is no traffic on this quiet side street.
TURN LEFT. The mission directs at the next intersection.
TURN RIGHT. The new voice counters, sounding just as commanding.
His hands want to yank the steering wheel left and right at the same time, and for a moment he wonders if he's going to try to do both and end up ripping the steering wheel apart.
Instead, he drives through the intersection without turning either way.
What's happening with the Asset isn't like a gun misfiring, it's worse, like a missile that veers off course, a missile that has been hacked. He's certainly not choosing to defect.
The escorts had obviously been worried about him malfunctioning when he had reported the odd feeling in his chest and the visions of the skinny blonde person (he'd been a child in one vision, but a man in another). The Soldier had not reported the contradicting, unauthorized orders. They hadn't been orders then, just a small voice that, up until an hour ago, he had been able to ignore.
The path their car travels reflects the battle in the Soldier's mind. He speeds towards the airport a few times- the Soldier's job is to complete the mission- but he always malfunctions and changes routes before he can even see the landing area or the HYDRA plane.
Even if he reached the plane, he is broken enough that he might not fly it to the base.
In the backseat, Potter alternates between dozing and staring out the window, juice box sitting in the cupholder on the child car seat. At one point he points a tiny finger to the window and says something about a purple bus. The Asset briefly wonders if the child is hallucinating, because he appears to be awake instead of dreaming. But children have wild imaginations, so perhaps it is simply that.
The boy looks as if he expects to be shouted at for imagining a purple bus. HYDRA would not like nonsense like that, but at the moment it does not matter.
Somehow, the Asset drives farther away from the airport. His head throbs harder, as if punishing him for going rogue. The mission-noncompliance on his part is not intentional.
RESET REQUIRED.
He cannot reset himself, cannot give the trigger words to himself. Handlers are required. Until he gets to the chair or his handlers, his malfunctioning will continue.
The Asset's mind aches horribly, but in a different way than it does after the chair. It's too full now, and the fighting missions have exhausted him mentally. After the chair, his mind is always empty, waiting to be filled with the next mission.
His body is now shaking involuntarily, in a manner similar to when he gets out of cryo, but not quite as bad because at least now everything isn't freezing. If anything, he's currently warm, but that is almost a welcome change.
At 0626, the Asset finds himself stopped outside a building next to some hills a little ways off the road. The hills appear to have some sort of pulley system on them, although they don't look like they'd support particularly heavy cargo.
Unless this is a HYDRA base, he has been following the unofficial mission that he should have disregarded.
Admittedly, HYDRA is fond of having bases out in the middle of nowhere, but a HYDRA base would most likely not be advertising itself as a place to go skiing. Unlike some bases, this is not too far off from civilization in the first place, but the hills make it seem a little more isolated.
The place appears abandoned, which would make sense if it really is a ski slope. It is August, there is no snow.
He sweeps the area for any kind of bugs or surveillance equipment anyways. There is one camera on the hill, but that is it.
Some more quick but thorough reconnaissance on the Soldier's part confirms that this is not a HYDRA base, it is indeed just a small ski establishment. There is no tank or chair here for him, just a lodge and hills.
That should be his cue to leave, not to go into the lodge, but he can't control himself. He keeps trying to deliver Potter like he should, but it still doesn't work. His handlers will be furious, as they should be. He will deserve whatever punishment they give him, will take it without protest as he always does.
If he does not deliver Potter to his handlers, as the new mission is instructing, what is he supposed to do with the child? Potter will surely die if left here on his own. What is the final objective of this unauthorized mission? If there is no report to handlers, no cryo tank, does this false mission even have an end?
Keep away from HYDRA. The voice says it as if he's not only supposed to keep the child away, but that he's supposed to stay away, himself. The thought is almost incomprehensible.
The mission sounds louder in his head as if in protest. RETURN TO BASE. DELIVER THE PACKAGE. REPORT DEFECT.
Are his handlers looking for him, now that he is not at the base with the boy? He should not have made it so difficult for them to find him.
The Soldier does not choose to ignore the mission and malfunction yet again, but he does.
He unbuckles a sleeping Potter from the car seat and grabs the backpack and bags before heading towards the lodge. The locks are simple, of course, but he locks the door behind him. The likelihood of anyone- including HYDRA- finding them here is low, and there is nobody inside the building.
The only challenging part about this mission so far is that he keeps defecting, because this is not the actual mission.
The main part of the lodge's interior is split into a large sitting area with several couches and fireplaces and a dining area obviously meant to seat many people. The kitchen is split off by the door. Towards the back are several bedrooms for guests, each with an attached bathroom.
The Asset puts the food down on one of the tables and then enters a bedroom. He sets the sleeping boy down on the bed. Potter is sucking on his thumb of one of his bandaged hands in his sleep. He is not a baby, but he is still quite young at only four years and twenty-two days. He looks even younger than his true age.
He pulls off the boy's coat and boots and old glasses, leaving Potter in the rest of the new clothes.
Although changing Potter's clothes helped, the boy is still dirty. His small face is still encrusted with dried tears and snot, and his mouth has bits of bile around it along with the new addition of dried apple juice from the box the Soldier gave him in the store.
Bathing the child will have to wait. Potter is asleep, and the Soldier is functioning at only 58%, which is well below acceptable levels.
The Soldier does not remove his tactical vest, but he does remove his stolen hooded sweatshirt and his weapons (including the escorts' guns).
He carefully arranges his weapons He stretches out on the floor beside them, near the door. If something threatens them, he cannot waste time gathering his things.
A bed would be too comfortable to sleep in. He does not know the last time he slept in a bed, or if he ever has.
This is at least 9000% better than cryo, and he even has a roof over his head. It's a little hot, but heat is preferable to cold.
Set sleep: 4 hours. His head continues to pound with exhaustion from the internal battle between missions, so it is easy to obey that order, even if it is given by the new voice in his head instead of his handlers.
He wakes 2.4 hours later when something thumps. Dreams of perching in trees with sniper rifles quickly disappear as he becomes alert to his surroundings.
The Soldier is up in an instant, grabbing a knife with his flesh hand and a gun with his prosthetic hand, scanning the room for signs of danger. Sunlight streams through the window, negating the need for night vision goggles.
Potter is sitting on the floor, evidently having fallen from the bed, except the Asset had made sure to put him in the center to try to ensure that did not happen. Did the child really move around enough to make it to the edge and fall off in his sleep?
Wide green eyes stare at the Soldier in terror. Then the boy scrambles to his feet and flees towards the wardrobe, crawling inside it and shutting the door behind him.
After ensuring there is no threat, the Asset holsters his weapons and pulls the wardrobe door open. The boy is shaking with his head buried against his knees, probably getting mucus and tears all over his pants. The Asset cups the boy's head and lifts it to prevent the boy from soiling these new clothes so soon.
"I-I just waked up there, sir... I d-didn't mean to be in the bed!" Potter stammers out. Of course he woke up there, that is where the Asset put him.
He looks at Potter carefully. The fall would be negligible for even a standard adult, but the bed is taller than Potter. The Soldier would not be surprised if the boy was bruised after that fall. "Status report."
Potter stares at him in utter confusion, mouth hanging open slightly. Perhaps the boy's previous handlers, the Dursley's, had not asked him for status reports.
The Asset tries again, wondering how often he will need to reword statements for the child to comprehend them. HYDRA would punish the boy for not understanding. "Are you injured?"
"N...no...?" The answer more confused than unsure. "I really don't 'member going in the bed, sir. 'm sorry."
"I put you there." The Soldier answers. Why is Potter panicking about being in a bed?
This is met by Potter staring at him as incredulously as if he'd just told the boy that he was a ballet dancer instead of a soldier.
"But... you were on the floor, sir." Potter ventures quietly, as if it should have been the other way around. "It's your bed. I wasn't s'posed to be there."
"Not mine. The bed's too soft." The Asset grunts. After a bit, he asks a question that has been in his mind since he first found the boy. He's normally not allowed to ask questions without permission, but he's already defecting to an enormous degree
"Why do you address the Asset as sir?" He do not deserve honorifics, but Potter keeps using it.
"Uncle Vernon says I haf'ta be r...respekful to normal people."
The idea of the Soldier being normal is almost laughable, but the Soldier never laughs, or even smiles. If he did, he would be punished, perhaps even wiped. Does Potter actually consider a highly-trained assassin with a prosthetic left arm normal?
"I forgot your name is A'set, sir." Potter apologizes in his usual quiet voice. The only time the child had been loud was when the escorts grabbed him.
The Asset does not have a name, merely designations such as thator Winter Soldier, but he does not correct the boy. It does not matter if Potter thinks it is his name.
The Asset reaches in to grab the boy, who tenses up as usual, but relaxes just a second sooner. When the boy realizes that he's being carried back to the bed, he squirms.
"No. Freaks don't get beds like normal people." Potter says as if the Asset is missing something obvious.
Why does the child keep referring to himself as a freak? Admittedly, the child is not normal- he is underweight and far quieter than his cousin had been- but freak does not seem to be an accurate descriptor.
Potter scrambles back to the wardrobe as soon as he is set down. The Asset had observed the elder Dursley throwing the boy in the cupboard under the stairs, and the boy had been sleeping in there. Perhaps the spare bedroom with all the broken toys had not been Potter's, and the small boy had spent his whole life in the cupboard whenever he was not needed.
Once again, it reminds the Asset of how he is put in cryo when his handlers have no use for him.
If Potter wants to sleep in the wardrobe, the Asset should not care.
But Potter does not sleep. Instead, the child suddenly looks scared again, as if he's just remembered he's done something wrong. "You're up. I'm s'posed to make breakfast but Aunt Tuna didn't wake me 'cos this isn't my cupboard."
Did Petunia Dursley assign Potter all the cooking duties when he isn't even big enough to reach the stove properly? Furthermore, how often had Potter been allowed to eat the food he was made to prepare?
"I can make eggs, an' bacon and black puddin' and toast. But I made a big mess wid-da pancakes last time." The boy shudders, probably remembering whatever punishment had been doled out for that. He seems to regret mentioning the mess, as if he'll be punished again for bringing it up.
The Asset does not remember being four, but he doubts he was let near anywhere near a lit stove, let alone made to use one.
He wonders if he'd been four years old with that scrawny blonde boy from his vision or not.
After a bit, Potter glances hesitantly up at the Asset. "What do you want to eat, Mister A'set, sir?"
The Asset is never offered choices about anything, including what he eats. When he's with his handlers, whether he eats at all is entirely dependent on if his handlers are angry at him, and when he is allowed to eat, they decide what, when, and how much.
Potter clearly shares that experience. At least the Asset was not forced to cook food and serve it to his handlers while his own stomach growled with hunger, like he'd witnessed Potter doing last night. The thought makes the Asset feel like he's boiling inside, with another chest malfunction, but he has not sustained any actual injury or ailment, to his awareness.
"Tank you, for the juice." Potter suddenly says, ducking his head.
"Come," The Asset instructs after gathering up the rest of his weapons and tucking them in their holsters. He opens the door and sees the coast is clear, although he wasn't really expecting anybody to have found them here.
Potter follows him out of the bedroom obediently. He'd been asleep when they arrived earlier this morning, so this is his first time looking at the lodge.
"Is this your house?" He asks, seemingly before he can stop himself.
"No." The Asset replies. Potter frowns slightly in confusion but doesn't ask any more questions as he follows the Asset to the large dining area.
Once there, the boy immediately looks around, clearly expecting to be forced to cook something and wondering what to make. He glances up at the Asset expectantly, but the Asset just strides over to the bags on the table and starts pulling out the food he misappropriated from the store.
The Asset had not realized he'd grabbed so much, or that he'd have so many choices. There are packaged muffins and fruits, granola bars, canned soups, and a lot more food that the Asset doesn't entirely remember taking. Even bread, in clear wrapping.
There are no handlers telling him what to eat, or that he is authorized to eat in the first place. He was not authorized to obtain this food, but he is not authorized to be here, either.
The Soldier stares at the assortment of food.
Picking food for Potter is easy. The boy had not been able to stomach the protein bar last night (part of that could have been from being bounced around while the Asset jogged) but has kept the juice from the very early hours of this morning down. The Asset opens a can of soup by poking through the top with his metal hand and then tearing the lid off. The soup is lukewarm.
Potter does not seem to mind, does not even seem to think he is allowed to eat it as the Asset passes the can to him.
He did not get spoons from the Tesco store, but he finds some in the kitchen, along with bowls.
"Soup?" Potter asks, as if eating it at breakfast is ridiculous. The child quickly covers his mouth.
"Yes, Potter." The Asset replies. Hopefully the boy can feed himself without making a mess, but the Asset will spoon-feed him if required. "You are underweight."
This gets him another blank look from the boy.
"Potter?" The boy asks as if he doesn't even know his last name, or maybe he's just confused that he's being called that. The Dursley's had mostly called him 'boy' last night.
"Your name is Harry James Potter." The Asset replies. Something about the name James is familiar in a way he does not understand. Examining that thought no further, he pushes the bowl with a little bit of tomato soup towards the boy. Potter's stomach is undoubtedly small and cannot hold the whole can's worth, and the Asset is not going to waste the rest. "Eat."
"But I didn't make you bweakfast." Potter tells him. The Soldier orders him to eat anyways.
Potter seems completely confused, but doesn't put up any further protest as he eats his first spoonful, only spilling a little. His eyes widen when he tastes the first spoonful of tomato soup, eyes closing in bliss as he lets out a slight moan.
He is clearly trying to be careful to avoid spilling the soup, but sometimes some sloshes off the spoon and onto the table. The boy is at least leaning over the table so it doesn't fall on his lap.
"You're not eating..." Potter remarks. "What do you want me to make you?" This child clearly does not retain knowledge without being told multiple times. It is almost a good thing he is not at HYDRA right now. If the Soldier needs to repeat simple things like the boy not needing to make him breakfast, than HYDRA will need to repeat things and they will be angry with the boy. The boy will get hurt when they are angry.
The Asset cannot choose what to eat himself, because he does not choose anything. He did not even choose to defect, because he knows he shouldn't. He should leave this place, take Potter to his handlers and fall to his knees to accept whatever the punishment is before being wiped and probably punished after as well.
He'd eaten a protein bar yesterday evening, but that had been provided by his escorts.
For unknown reasons, his hand hovers over a plum. Plums are a good source of Vitamin C, and they are in season in England in August.
Slowly, he takes the plum and eats it, and then a processed muffin. The Asset is not supposed to have opinions about things, but they are both infinitely preferable to protein bars.
When Potter is done, he has some soup smeared around his mouth, and he is still somewhat dirty from before. The Soldier vaguely remembers thinking earlier this morning that the boy needed a bath.
When he tells the boy this, Potter starts to whimper. From the boy's babbled explanation about only Dudley getting baths, he learns that Potter's aunt had given the boy cold showers. Potter mumbles something about how his "Aunt Tuna" was going to give him a haircut soon, too, and he's obviously not fond of those either.
The Asset leads the reluctant boy to the bathroom attached to the room they'd slept in and removes Potter's clothes. At least the new clothes have stayed fairly clean.
The Soldier doesn't think showers hurt nearly as much as the hose his handlers use on him, but the boy is shaking so much at the prospect that he ends up filling the bathtub with water.
As he bathes the boy, Potter curiously pokes at the Asset's prosthesis as if that arm is not a weapon that can kill him with ease. As if the Asset is not the same thing.
It is... odd. People are either scared of him or order him around. Sometimes they are both, but Potter is neither, and has given the Soldier a few more small smiles this morning.
Even though it is very inefficient and somewhat messy, he does not stop Potter from splashing in the bath. The water doesn't splash high enough to go out of the tub, but it does get the Asset's tac vest and rolled-up sleeves slightly damp.
When the boy is once again clean, the Asset leaves the water in the tub. The idea of not wasting it seems almost instinctual. He can use it for himself, later, he thinks, as he dresses the boy again.