Hydra
The first thing Laurel heard as consciousness started to return was the steady drip of water. Drip. Drip. Drip. Over and over again. Each drop felt like a nail being pushed through her temple. The next sound that came into focus was the soft murmuring of voices all around her. She tried to figure out how many people were around her, but it was no use. Multiple conversations were happening, and they all overlapped with one another making it impossible to tell. Her sense of smell came back next. The harsh antiseptic smell was one she was all too aware of. Hospital. She was in a hospital. She wondered what had happened. She had been so careful lately. After the war, the frequency of injuries decreased exponentially. She tried to crack open her eyes, but they only fluttered softly and the world around her was a soft blur of colours.
She tried to speak but all that came out was a muffled grunt.
“Doctor, I think she is awakening,” and man spoke from above her head, his voice had a soft accent that she couldn’t place.
“Ah, so she is.”
She pried her eyes open once more and finally the room came into focus. A face appeared in her line of vision, only his eyes were visible due to the mask and cap he was wearing.
“Wh…Wha…” she tried to speak but her mouth was dry, and her tongue didn’t seem to want to form words.
The face above her nodded his head, understanding what she was trying to say, “That is something we don’t know either, my child. You appeared, suddenly, just outside. Now, that is a very unusual thing to happen. So, tell me. How did you do it? Who sent you?”
His voice was soft and smooth, but she could hear the edge of malice that he tried to hide.
“I…I don’t…” she trailed off. She didn’t know who these people were but if they didn’t recognize her or how she appeared from nowhere then it meant her plan worked and these people had no idea who she was or what she was capable of doing.
“I think you do, and unfortunately, we cannot let someone with an unknown power walk amongst the vulnerable people of Sokovia. So, until you feel like sharing, we shall keep you here and protect them, and you, until we know more.”
She tried to lift her left arm but she could only move it an inch before she felt the restrictions.
“Yes, unfortunately we must keep you contained. For our safety,” he said reasonably.
She would have believed him if she hadn’t seen out of the corner of her eye the surgical instruments rolled in on a tray.
It became clear that while she had made it safely to this world, this world might not be safe for her either. Out of the corner of her eye she saw another person, decked out in surgical garb, approach with a large needle in their grasp.
“Stop,” she gasped.
“I’m afraid not. If you will not tell us how you accomplished this feat, we will have to learn ourselves, whether you agree to help or not,” he said and nodded towards the person with the needle.
Laurel frantically looked around and noted the amount of equipment around her, standard for a muggle hospital. She couldn’t move her hands more than an inch, so she was left with little option. She closed her eyes and tried to center herself. She felt her magic react and start to build up, the warmth that started in her chest started to spread through her body and down her arms and legs. When she felt the needle piercing the skin of her neck she released the blast of magic with a harsh scream.
It exploded outward. Everyone slammed into the wall, blood splattered along the wall from here heads hit the concrete. Windows cracked and exploded outwards cutting into the skin of those on the other side that were observing.
The equipment around the room died on impact with the magical wave. No smoke, no fire. They just stopped functioning.
Laurel felt her magic disintegrate the bonds that held her prisoner and she flopped off the bed, landing hard on the cold floor. She scrambled to her feet, but she was unsteady. Not fully recovered from her travel, and previous treatment. She only made it just outside the room before a unit of twenty soldiers blocked her way. They raised their weapons, she noticed glowing blue light that ran along the metal, and she feared that she had dropped into a world where muggles had mastered control of magic.
“Feuer!” was yelled out, Laurel didn’t know from where but at once all the soldiers stepped forward to brace themselves, raised their weapons, and fired. Blue light rushed towards her and on instinct Laurel raised her left hand and a glowing yellow shield blocked the blue light from reaching her. Unfortunately, since she was so focused on the threat in front of her, she didn’t notice that the man who had spoken to her had regained consciousness and crept out of the room.
She didn’t realize the danger she was in until the needle pierced her neck, and she began to fall. The last thing she saw was the greedy gleam in the man’s eyes as she fell into darkness.
*o*o*
Baron Van Strucker had never seen such power. This small woman had appeared from nowhere just outside the research facility and since then he had seen the wonder of her power. He didn’t even know the depths of it yet. The blast she had caused had killed two surgeons and completely broken the lab equipment. It had been damaged beyond all repair, as if an E.M.P. had been activated, only far more powerful. She was also able to stop the discharge of twenty of their newest prototypes. Wanda herself could only handle two before her powers failed and she was knocked unconscious. If they could harness this power and enhance their army, H.Y.D.R.A. would once again become an unstoppable force.
He watched form the observation room as the surgeon roughly flipped the woman on her side. The first step is the extraction of the cerebrospinal fluid, blood, and marrow. They needed to narrow down where the mutation was in her genetic code. Without much care to how much pain the patient would be in should she wake up a large bore needle was inserted into the base of her spine.
Once the clear liquid had filled the syringe the doctor held it up proudly before placing it on the table beside him, ready to commence the next step.
Strucker watched closely as the doctor moved on to the bone marrow extraction when a hesitant voice called out, “Doctor?”
“What is it?” Doctor List spat out.
“The sample…” the nurse trailed off. Strucker moved closer to the window to get a better look, but his view was blocked by List.
He reached out towards the speak and barked, “What is it?”
Doctor List moved over to the observation window and held out the syringe. While it was filled with clear liquid just one minute ago it was now filled with ash.
Strucker looked on in fascination. How could this happen? His frustration and intrigue grew in equal measure. It seemed their experiments were about to take an interesting turn.