A name - Abby
For a second no one did anything, no one made any move to stop the Winter Soldier or order him to step back.
"She said she'd tell you." I snapped, unable to hold it in any longer as the horrors of what I've just witnessed started to settle in.
Rumlow turned back to me and quick as a whip I felt a hand across my face as my head was jolted to the side.
My cheek was stinging, the pain burning as I tried to keep the tears welling in my eyes from falling.
"I said shut up you stupid child." He snapped in a cold tone.
"You can't keep hurting her!" I yelled back despite the burning sensation still tingling in my cheek, even without a mirror I could tell it was red.
"Soldier if you do not compose yourself right this second then I will make you."
I completely disregarded his warning and continue to scream and yell, my emotions getting the better of me.
Something sharp stabs the back of my neck and my tongue goes numb as I slumped down in the chair, no longer able to move.
The agent who injected the sedative stepped back from me. "There you go Agent Rumlow." She murmured quietly in reply. "She is now fully aware but unable to move, in a state of paralysis."
I tried to protest but couldn't. My mouth wouldn't open and none of my muscles would move no matter how much I wanted them to.
Rumlow nodded before turning back to the bound woman, she was still struggling as the Winter Soldier tightened his grip on her throat.
"Soldier." Rumlow commanded and somehow I knew he wasn't talking about me. "Let her speak."
The Winter Soldier took a step back. He glanced to me and for a split second I thought I saw something flicker behind his eyes before that same apathetic look replaced it once more.
Rumlow sneered at the woman. "You know what we want to know." He said in that same cold voice of his. "Tell us."
"Abigail." Was all she croaked up as tears flooded her eyes and she stared down at her damaged hands.
It was one word.
A name.
It shouldn't have meant so much.
Yet it did.
My father took a shaky step back and if I could have turned my head to see him properly I would have but instead my eyes swivelled in their sockets so I could watch him. My peripheral vision was good which can be expected when I have enhanced vision.
His face was chalky white and his eyes widened in shock.. no terror. For some reason my father, Agent Rumlow, one of HYDRA's best, someone who helped in the creation of the Winter Soldier; was afraid of a name.
The woman noticed his reaction and a flicker of her bravado returned, a weak copy of what she was like before the Winter Soldier walked in but a copy nontheless.
I wasn't the only one who noticed her small smirk return though as the metal armed soldier took a slight step forward, obviously ready to attack again.
"No soldier." Said one of the guards shakily. "Let her talk."
The Winter Soldier stood down yet he was still tense, ready like a cat about to pounce and never once losing attention or breaking focus.
He was the perfect soldier, everything my father wished I could be yet I was unable to do so.
"She's alive." The woman continued and a faint laugh escaped her, the sound was broken but still held some of that defiance. "And she's free."
I felt the atmosphere in the room change as the tension became palpable, almost a tangible force that I could reach out and touch if I wanted to.
The air around me becoming heavy and thick almsot as though it's hard to breathe. The guards and my father all react the same, becoming on edge, their bodies stiff and their eyes darting around uneasily despite being highly trained operatives.
The only one unaffected is the Winter Soldier, he stays as cold and as stony-eyed as ever, completely unperturbed by the underlying current of fear and expectancy in the air that's impossible for me to ignore.
"She's free from HYDRA." The woman continhed, gaining more of her previous courage as she was able to go on and on without anyone trying to stop or interrupt her. "And you will never have her under your control again you fucking littl-"
Whatever the rest of her insult was is cut off as one of the guards finally snaps out of his stunned stupor and slams the butt of his gun down on her head.
She freezes before her eyes start to close and she slumps down, falling limp in the chair.
It's at this point that my father regains his composure. "Someone tell Pierce of this update." He snapped in that cold voice of his and I felt myself involuntarily tense up despite the paralysis.
"I want her tied up and interrogated, find out everything she knows." He added with a gesture to the now unconscious woman. "Have the asset assist you there."
I shifted my gaze to the Winter Soldier to see his reaction yet he showed none, I guess after years of interrogations they all just blurred together and didn't seem as terrible anymore.
I wonder if I'll be like that one day.
Did it not irritate him to only be referred to as 'the asset'? I mean I know that after years of only being called 'Soldier' I just wanted a name, something other than just a rank.
Yet I daren't voice those thoughts out loud.
"And someone make sure that insolent brat learns her lesson about speaking out of tone."
Agent Rumlow's sharp glare turned onto me and I wanted more than anything to crawl back into my cell and hide.
I knew what that meant.
And that terrified me.