Hello, hello! It's been a minute since we've gathered here. Welcome back. Happy new year!
Hope everyone is doing well, keeping busy. I know I am. December was crazy and exciting and unbelievable. January has been eventful. I'm getting ready to shoot a commercial and a music video over the next like...six weeks. Then it's on to...more adventures ;)
This is a shorty. It's a good transition chapter since the last one left us all like "WTF?"
Anyways...
On we go...
Chapter 21
Kimpton Everly Hotel
13:36 hours
November 12, 2014
Gunfire exploded from the Winter Soldier's direction. Natasha launched herself at Bucky; Steve frozen in shock from seeing his best friend. The redhead tried to land blow after blow on her enemy, but with no success. He had ceased his fire for the moment to thwart her efforts.
Rory, amused at the scene before here, ran for the door, hoping Steve would follow.
She had made it inside the elevator, turning to stare down the hall, when she saw him. He had taken the bait.
She smirked, "That's right, soldier, follow me."
"Rory, please!"
The doors slipped shut and she laughed. The elevator glided down to the bottom floor. Rory inspected her nails out of boredom as she waited for the ride to be over. She knew there was a good chance Steve would be on the other side of the doors when they opened in the lobby, but she didn't fret. Her trainer had taught her well.
The elevator dinged and the doors slid open, revealing an expected and very annoyed Captain America. He was poised and ready to make the first move, thinking he had the size and skill advantage to take Rory down easily. But he had no idea what HYDRA had done to her in the months she had been gone.
She spared a quick glance at herself in the shiny metal panel of the elevator as her eyes began to glow purple. Power thrummed through her veins, fresh and electric, but more tame than when she had been with S.H.I.E.L.D.
"What the-?" he started, but she cut him off.
"Pain," she whispered, reaching out her mind to him. It was familiar, like returning home after a long vacation, but different. Because she was different.
She was stronger.
No sooner had the word crossed her lips had he clutched his head and began groaning, trying with every ounce of restraint to keep from screaming through the lobby of the elegant hotel.
He collapsed to his knees, defenseless. The great Captain America brought down by a single word.
"Please, please, stop!" he begged.
A single gunshot rang from above. People in the lobby snapped their attention to their surroundings. Panic set in and they started to run, scared, from the hotel.
She ignored Steve's request for a moment or so before giving in, "Sleep."
He slumped over onto the floor. Rory pressed her earpiece and called to the Winter Soldier.
"Report."
The elevator dinged behind her and she spun, anticipating an oncoming attack. When the doors opened, Bucky stepped out.
"Is he dead?"
"Asleep," she replied. "What about Romanoff?"
"Dead."
A faint echo of sadness twinged through her, but her training immediately snuffed it out. S.H.I.E.L.D. was the enemy. They were evil. They ruined my life. My family's life.
The thoughts were running through her head like lines from a script she was given to read. Usually she believed every word of it, but something was off.
"Let's go," her trainer said, snapping her out of her head. He bent down and snatched Steve up with his metal arm and hoisted him over his shoulder before heading towards the emergency exit. Confused, she followed after.
Piercing pain was all she could feel, all she could think about when she swam towards the surface sometime later. She didn't know where she was, when it was or what had happened after the gunshot had gone off.
Just pain.
It was drowning her.
She wanted to die so it would end. Or maybe she was already dead and this was her punishment for the shit she had done while alive.
Endless pain.
Drowning.
Suffocating.
Torture.
"Nat. Natalie."
Who was that? Who was here with her in this hell?
She swam higher, trying to reach the air.
Beep, beep, beep…
Beep, beep, beep…
What in God's name is that?
The fire set in next, burning through her. The color behind her eyes shifted from black to orange.
"Nat...Nat I know you can hear me."
A man's voice.
"They took him, Nat. They took Steve. You're gonna be so pissed I didn't go after them, but I wasn't leaving you there to bleed out on some expensive-ass Italian rug."
Steve…
The hotel…
Bucky…
"Fuck."
"Ha! I knew you were awake."
Unknown Location
2:56 hours
November 13, 2014
Steve woke in a cold cement room on a thin mattress laid on the floor. The lights were on and they seared into his eyes, making him squint. A television hung on the wall across from him. It's black screen showed his half-hazard reflection. Something more than his skewed hair caught his attention in the background, though.
On the wall behind him, etched into the cement, were dozens of hash marks. Almost three dozen in total cut with something no quite sharp to go deep, but enough to leave a message.
He was lost in a trance, tracing the marks when the door to his cell opened. He was hoping it was Rory. Instead it was a sharply dressed man in a suit and black aviator glasses.
This was the man Rory had told him about when they first met.
"Hello, Mr. Rogers. So nice to finally be in your company," the man smiled.
"Can't exactly say the same about you."
The man chuckled, "I see you have the same spunk as Ms. Storms once had."
"What did you do to her?" he snarled.
"We...improved her. Just like we did with your friend, Mr. Barnes."
The television on the wall turned on and a lab was shown. People in lab coats scurried around this large metal chair at the center of the room. A chair that Rory was strapped into.
"Please, please...I'll be good. I promise," he heard Rory pleading with the folks around her, but they ignored her. It took him back to the hotel when she had ignored his pleas as she tortured him into unconsciousness.
"What are they doing?"
"Sometimes the old personalities resurface. HYDRA needs ruthless soldiers- unattached, blank canvases we can shape into killing machines. So when they start to remember who they are, we wipe them clean again," he explained, watching the screen as Rory struggled.
"Preparing for clean slate," one of the doctors announced.
Steve sat speechless, thrumming with anger, as he waited for them to begin hurting her. Someone forcefully placed a mouth guard between her teeth.
"Initiating."
And with the simple press of a button, she was screaming.
It probably only lasted a few minutes, but to Steve, it felt like an eternity. He dug his nails into his palms and tried to control his breathing. The man before him, though, was thoroughly enjoying the torture.
When it stopped, she slumped in the chair, breathing heavily and eyes glowing. A man approached her, reaching his hand out to take out the mouth guard. He slipped it out of her mouth and she smirked. A shiver ran through Steve because he knew his Rory was gone.
"Die."
The man crumpled to the ground, the mouth guard skittering across the tiled floor.
"Perfection," the suited man cheered.
Ok, so really short. I wrote this fast 'cause I'm in a writing mood but I have to be up ridiculously early tomorrow. And I want to work some on my other story, The Violinist, too.
So as far as the brainwashing goes, I was thinking Winter Soldier brain wipe, but also kind of Peeta in The Hunger Games. Being hijacked. Umm..and her powers are kind of a nod to Jane from The Twilight Saga (I know, bleh...but also weird nostalgia lol).
Anyways, I hope you all liked it even though it was short this time. If you need something else to read, check out my other story if you haven't already.
Until next time -KAITi-