The Guest of HYDRA
SOKOVIA, HIDDEN HYDRA BASE - POTENTIAL LOCATION OF LOKI'S SCEPTRE
Steve Rogers: [As he's fighting with the soldiers] Stark, we're really need to get inside.
Tony Stark: I'm closing in. JARVIS, am I...closing in? Do you see a power source for that shield?
JARVIS: There's a pathway below the north tower.
Tony Stark: Great, I wanna poke it with something.
[Stark blows up the invisible shield on the base]
Tony Stark: Drawbridge is down, people.
When the barrier came down she felt it. It was the last thing holding her here. All the other restraints she had slowly and meticulously picked, tricked, spun illusions, pushed peoples minds to not look at in a certain way. Subtlety is sometimes the best way despite her preference for fireworks. It wouldn’t have done her any good to charge out, not with so many hurdles in her way but now, with each and every one delicately balanced so all she had to do was push when the time was right.
So she waited and waited until it was.
And her patience had been rewarded.
And someone had been so nice to take care of the last lock for her. She’ll have to send flowers and maybe a fruit basket.
She sent her power through her body and almost laughed when she felt it hum all the way through, from the tips of her toes to the ends of her hair. Before it had been choked off at certain points but now it flowed wild and free. She did her best to keep a neutral face as she supposed to be drugged out of her mind. Supposed to be but the med tech had been…forgetting to give her the full dose for weeks now.
Oops hehe.
Her power burnt through what was left in her system and repaired all the damage HYDRA had done while she had been in their loving care. She almost sighed, she would have to build up her muscle tone again though, what a drag… but magic only took you so far.
She tuned into the hurried and frantic tones of the lab and med techs. Someone was attacking them apparently.
Huh.
Apparently they were after what ever Strucker had in the labs above. She recalled the icky sceptre that they had tested on her to no avail. Oh yeah no wonder. Everyone probably wanted the evil stick of doom as there was no denying the power she felt from it. Not her though, it gave her the chills.
The lab and med techs weren't overly concerned at being discovered. HYDRA hadn't survived 70 years without being paranoid to the hilt. Some might say a secret lab on top of a secret lab on top of another secret lab was overkill. Not HYDRA though, they were all cut one head off and all that nonsense and they took it literally too.
It's too bad their guest coughprisoner was not going to let them keep that particular secret today she mused with a barely concealed smirk.
She waited until another explosion rocked the underground lab making the lights flicker. As they flickered leaving the lab in temporary darkness and she gave the final push. Grinning sharply as she felt each lock and restraint, tumble over and fall off.
She jumped down from the apparatus that kept her suspended, rolling her shoulders and stretching her muscles as her magic rippled and rolled around her. She grinned manically in joy, getting ready to rain some vengeance but then she quirked her head when a familiar figure caught her eye.
“Death”
Pieces slotted into a puzzle, revealing a truth she hadn’t seen before.
“It was you.” She murmured, “You brought me here, you were the reason these muggles even had a chance to capture me”
Death nodded their cloaked head apologetically, “We did Mistress. Not without great reason and not without exploring other options”
She had been Mistress of Death for long enough to know that this was true. Death would not abandon her and certainly wouldn’t use her as bait unless there was literally any other possibly option available in the Cosmo. She had found out she was quite important to Death, and unlike the legend, Masters of Death were not made by some lame scavenger hunt, it was fate, destiny, combined with a test. So with that said they weren't exactly thick on the ground.
Which meant this was serious. Like SeriousSerious.
“I understand Death and I forgive you”
The entity seemed to release a breath (if it even breathed) “Thank you my Mistress”
“But I need more of course”
“Of course. You remember when you finally took your mantle that I explained that some worlds, some universes have events that seep over to others?”
“Yes I remember, it still irks me that my life is a goddamn book in others worlds.”
“Seepage like that is minor, normal and does not impact each world in any truly significant way.”
“uh-oh, you have but-face”
“I’m wearing a hooded cloak Mistress.”
“Yeah I can still tell. You have but-face”
The entity seemed to shake its head, “You are right. Seepage is good in small quantities but” their mistress smirked, “in larger quantities it can be catastrophic. This usually only occurs if truly powerful and world changing event occurs in a universe.”
“Let me guess this is one. And can you stop saying seepage. Its gross.”
“Indeed. We have identified it as so but the cause it’s a bit hazy. Thus your capture by these terrorists. We could not see behind there wards created by this device. We needed a closer look at what was making them as we suspected them to be the underlying cause.”
Her mistress frowned “The yucky sceptre?”
Death nodded “The stone in the sceptre, yes, the sceptre itself, not so much. WE believe that was made by the entity who is looking to create the event that I speak of.”
“No wonder it felt evil. Sooooo now what? Want me to steal the stone?”
“If you have a chance, otherwise watch over it. We believe there are more like it so keep an eyeout for those too.”
“Oh brilliant. Anything else while I go save this world from imploding the multiverse?”
“if you are needing someone to trust, I believe My Merchant exists here. He is an exemplary mortal not unlike yourself.”
“Ooooh high praise there Death. Well I’’ll keep a lookout, now I have revenge to get to and you know my rules about revenge.”
“Never get between Mistress and her revengenda”
“Rightio!”
Death left as quickly as they came, leaving a bemused and fond air behind. Time that had been temporarily frozen started to tick onwards once more.
“Oh no where was I?” she blinked as she came to and was standing in the middle of the room. The lights flickered back on and all the med and lab techs collectively froze seeing the girl out of her restraints, blinking a little like a deer in headlights. She snapped her fingers suddenly “AHA, I remember!”
A manic grin stole once more over her face, a power of white, gold and black whirled around her in vicious delight.
“Hello boys,” she purred “ I think its time I showed you my gratitude for such amazing hospitality you’ve shown me.”
She lashed around the room with her power like a whip and rolling and whirling like a demon. Vanishing, then reappearing, shielding herself from bullets that were triggered eventually from the wall mounted guns. It all ended within 5 minutes.
She left the head med tech alive. She had some questions.
"How?! If you were this powerful…"
"if I was this powerful how did you guys catch me?” she cackled, “ Oh honey because I or well someone I work for or do they work for me?”she shrugged “semantics, anyway we wanted me to be captured.” she nodded at his horrified look “yeah they are very interested in that evil stick of doom that Struckers got. So I’ll be stopping by him next.”
“Do you work for SHIELD bitch? How did we not know about you?” some one was a little desperate to one up SHIELD huh?
“Hmm I don’t work for anyone persay…its kind of complicated. Anyway I think you forget whose in charge here.” She reprimanded sharply, reinforcing her words with magic.
“Now I am pants at mind magic but now, soul magic; that I am better at. Ever since I got my new position I got even better. Did you know in death a soul can’t lie especially to Death itself? It pertains also to its Master as well.”
“Magic, Souls, you are crazy no?”
Her eyes glowed green and her aura glowed white and black and her hair lit with gold. “Am I Antoniv Pushcov am I really? Maybe a little I admit it, still I think you’re just bitter that I wouldn’t be crazy for you and your little fascist boys club. Anyway let’s not change the subject” she said in an eerie sing-song voice “Tell me all your secrets, tell me everything you’ve ever done for Hydra, Tell me everything, starting with what you tried doing to me.”
And tell he did.
Apparently the shocking and brainwashing, well attempts, they did at the beginning of her stay at Hotel del la HYDRA were part of a larger program called the Winter Soldier.
When the realised they could not replicate her powers, they decide to control them as a weapon. It was saddening to realise that a brainwashing program was already in place when her usefulness as a laboratory material waned. They had spent hours asking who she served and what her designation was. Apparently Death and mistress was not acceptable answers. Nor were Voldemort and Harry Potter. (she was apparently a boy and book/movie character in this universe, dammit). Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader not acceptable either.
HYDRA goons had no sense of humour obviously. Most be all the head losing thing, more heads lost more humour dies.
Pushcov was apparently very heavily involved and very proud of the Winter Soldier program. He was the prime med lab tech involved in maintenance of the Soldiers and charged with creating more super serum if possible.
He had been involved not since its inception but close to it. Apparently the first Winter Soldier was a captured enemy of HYDRA, previously experimented on by Arnim Zola himself. He was very resistive to the brainwashing, for almost 2 decades until he finally succumbed to it and became known as the Asset. Unfortunately the Asset, Pushcov explained blankly, despite completely brainwashed still seemed resistive to his new place in HYDRA and there still seemed to be an internal war within the subject. Pushcov developed a means to wipe the subjects mind after every mission as to stop him getting triggered with memories which made him even more difficult.
The Asset was a tentative success as Pushcov stated he /still seemed resistive and there was a danger of him breaking the brainwashing or missing a wipe. Hydra always wanted to be cautious. A zealot who believed in Hydra was always better then a defunctive subject no mater how much pleasure they took from using their enemies against each other.
The next round of Winter Soldiers were made up of Hydra’s best. Volunteers who would’ve made the meanest assassin run.
The volunteers that took it were not good people in the slightest sense of the word for if they too had been profiled a psychologist would’ve found them as a mixture of sadists, sociopaths, and psychopaths. With the addition of the serum it only heightened these already unstable personalities.
Pushcov never would’ve admitted aloud but Erskine had been right when he said that the serum needed a truly good but more importantly stable man to take it. Pushcov theorised that what Erskine meant by good didn’t mean in a moral sense as the serum was not Santa Claus but more they were good in a psychological and neurological sense. As the Red Skull although a great man, would definitely have been ruled a sociopath and all of HYDRA knew what the serum had done to him as it seemed the serum did not correct this personality defect but heightened it, even making it physically apparent. HYDRA had first thought the Red Skull may have been the exception however it was determined with the volunteer batch for the Winter Soldiers that this was not the case.
To be frank they were mad. They were uncontrollable maniacs without care for destruction or life.
It was obviously frustrating to Pushcov, as despite the fact that they believed in Hydra’s mission, they liked the kill more so it was dangerous for them to be used as they couldn’t be stopped. Annoying though it was, the Asset was the better option all round unless the wanted full on carnage to happen.
That being said Hydra was still hoping for a Winter Soldier that didn’t need as much maintence or oversight as the Asset. Despite being so effective it was tedious having to make sure your weapon didn’t get triggered or go off track and maintained a regular wiping session. So yes Hydra was looking to Pushcov to find a new one, a better one and render the Asset obsolete.
And Pushcov had hoped it would be her.
Well no dice.
She did ask for the whereabouts of all the Winter Soldiers and all details pertaining them. The crazy ones needed to die obviously but the Asset sounded like he needed a vacay like yesterday.
Pushcov also had some handy control words. Ones that all handlers knew and ones that only he and his predecessor knew. Hydra goons were such competitive back stabbing little pricks.
Pushcov didn’t know much about the ugly staff thing, other than it had come with the Asgardian Loki and had given powers to the twins. Maybe Strucker would be more illuminating.
Oh yeah Strucker’s pets; the bitch and the shit. She had a bone to pick with them.
She released her hold on Pushcov, who looked at her for the first time with fear and horror rather than as a something to dissect.
“Thank you for sharing.” She smiled down at him indulgently.
“What are you?” he murmured fearfully now in his native tongue of Russian.
“Something beyond you and your small, cruel little world. Something much bigger.” She informed him softly “I could list the ways of how utterly screwed you are but I might let Death do that themselves.”
“Ba-byeee”