Chapter 5
Alexander hated Steve Rogers.
Steve Rogers’ presence forced him to keep his hound and the Soldier overseas and further underground— Dopplegangers were far easier to detect when the real one was around.
And Steve Rogers was so … stubborn. The sullen way he completed perfectly above-board SHIELD assignments. The way he questioned and judged *everything* with his gaze. The way he spent his life in completely pointless activities like visiting old friends. The way he never looked at Alexander with adoration.
Alexander missed his hound.
More than once Alexander found himself wishing that he could just remove Steve Rogers and replace him with the hound. The elimination would be easy enough — the Winter Soldier has had 100% success since Reagan, and the serum had finally taken full effect and the boy was a spitting image of Steve Rogers. Well, except for the surgical scars along his spine and his inability to speak. If Alexander knew that Steve Rogers was still alive he would never have silenced the hound. And to kill Captain America outright without a replacement was too risky.
It was Steve Rogers who forced his hand with Project Insight. Rumlow was just not as effective an operative as his hound — couldn’t even subdue Captain America with 20 people back-up in an elevator. Even the Soldier didn’t work as well without the hound to guide him and placate him, but the hound had to stay overseas and out of sight.
It was Steve Rogers and his idiotic speech that roused the remnants of SHIELD and put the whole of HYDRA on the defensive. He knew Nick Fury would never have done something impractical as try to destroy HYDRA by taking SHIELD down with it. The whole endeavor had Steve Rogers written all over it.
If his hound were there he would have taken down the Black Widow. If his hound were there he would have given his life to protect Alexander. But his hound was instead overseas on a petty assignment threatening the Chinese ambassador’s family. Because of Steve Rogers.
At least he knew that his hound loved him. At least he knew that his hound would avenge him.