Chapter 1
Sokovia was always one of the most troubled countries of the Middle East, the government does nothing to help its people leaving thousands to starve or die in poverty. Orphanages were overcrowded, shelters having to turn citizens away due to limitation restrictions. HYDRA saw the country as a place of opportunity for their next project experimentation. They raided dozens of orphanages and even took to taking people from the streets, the “nobodies” as they called them.
One orphanage in particular was the home of a little girl, she’d been at the orphanage since she was a baby, at the age of six she had long given up hope that a family would come and take her away from the horrible, smelly, cold and damp children’s home. One night, as the children slept in their rickety beds and floor mattresses, a pounding at the door woke everyone up.
The old hag who ran the orphanage crankily waddled up to the door to see who could possibly be pounding on her door at this hour, but before she could make it to the door it shattered into debris by a loud explosion. Children began screaming and making a run for it as a group of HYDRA soldiers stormed into the house, grabbing as many children as they could.
“Seize as many as you can, we need all the test subjects we can get.” a heavy German accent spoke from the doorway, their silhouette shadowed by the night sky.
Some of the children managed to hide under their beds amongst the chaos, one little girl in particular was amongst the group hiding under one of the beds. She was trying not to make a sound as she watched the soldiers feet check the rest of the room for hiding children. As they each turned over a bed the little girl and her companion became more frightened as they got closer and closer to their bed.
Unfortunately the child hiding with the little girl could no longer stand the pressure and anxiety of being caught, and tried to make a run for it. The soldiers followed after the child, after a moment of struggle a gun shot could be heard. The echo of the gun firing rang through the hall, the little girl cried silent tears.
Just when she thought she was safe the bed was suddenly pushed over blowing her cover, “Seems we missed one.” the soldier’s smirk was obvious under his dark tinted helmet. He roughly grabbed the little girl by her dark hair, practically dragging her out the room and down the stairs. Outside, there were dozens of more HYDRA soldiers surrounded by tanks and other HYDRA vehicles.
“Sir, I found this one hiding.” the soldier pushed the little girl towards an elderly looking man, she fell onto the cracked cobblestone path. She’d never forget the first time she saw his face, salt and peppered hair, that monocle shining from the moonlight, his perfectly pressed HYDRA uniform and his metal arm. He looked down at her with a small sneer, “put her with the other’s, then burn this hell hole to the ground.” he ordered the soldier.
“Yes sir.” The soldier roughly grabbed the dark haired girl by the arm, leading her to a vehicle where a group of children from the orphanage sat. Another truck was parked beside it, in it, more children were being tossed into the back. The last thing the little girl saw of the only “home” she’d ever known was the structure being set aflame as the trucks drove away.
As she looked around at the other frightened children she couldn’t help but think about who these men were, what did they need them for? And for whatever reason it was for, she felt it wasn’t for a good reason… she pulled her legs up to her chest, falling back into sleep from the sway and rock of the truck.