Chapter 4
It'd become so difficult to keep track of time.
Sometimes they would come for her multiple times in what she assumed was one day. Other times Malia was left to stew for hours, maybe even days until they remembered she existed again. She spent most of her time in the science labs, rather than in her cell, and finally being roughed up by the guards. Malia never deemed any of them worthy of a verbal response... something that pissed off the head scientist like nothing else.
There was little she could control in her environment, and her voice was seemingly the only thing Malia could- she guarded it zealously. She'd lost her tan a while ago, her skin was now an unhealthily pale and somewhat translucent color that only emphasized all of the scars and prickling needle marks littered across her body. Her dyed dirty blonde hair had lost its tincture and had been steadily turning back to its natural color. It had been getting somewhat long when one of the guards decided to shear it off after Malia spit in his face.
Her body often felt like one giant bruise these days. Everything always hurt and there wasn't ever a moment of relief, not even in sleep. Nightmares always plagued her subconscious now. Though, Malia had come to yearn for dreams of Pappy... and even those of Peter and her mother. Malia's last day with them had been bringing her pain for years, but now it was like an odd comfort to see the childish face of her big brother and her frail fading mother. Anything was better than the new nightmares produced by HYDRA.
HYDRA.
A long thought-to-be dead organization that'd been wiped out during WWII by the SSR, the predecessor of SHIELD, and the famous Captain America. That was the organization that had taken Malia from her home. It had been extremely hard to piece together that information, but the guards stationed to her cell were often loose with their lips since Malia hadn't known any Russian when she'd first been assigned to them.
Now, however, Malia had been slowly and painstakingly learning the language from her sheer exposure to it. No one on the base spoke English. Well, perhaps they did... but never in her vicinity.
-Another more subtle way to torture her by driving her nuts with the lack of information... or direct contact with people. Sometimes it made her feel even more like a lab rat. As a thing and not a person worthy of communication. Malia figured that they were doing it purposefully for that reason. Bastards.-
It must have been only a few minutes since her last session in the labs when her normal guards swung the cell doors open again and dragged her limp body back to LAB 241. Malia couldn't even hold back her tears as they roughly re-strapped her to the gurney and the scientists converged around her.
She'd just left.
Her body was so sore... they'd taken spinal fluid the day before and she'd been running a fever since then, not that the assholes cared- after all, they'd drawn at least two pints of blood from her and taken more samples not an hour ago. She just wanted to rest. To close her eyes with the knowledge that her person would be safe for a few hours. Malia was so goddamn tired.
Her eyes were dry and aching with each blink, even as tears slowly streamed down her face, her lips were chapped and cracking in places since she hadn't drunk water in at least two days or so. Malia hadn't slept in so long...
She didn't protest when one of the scientists placed a block in her mouth -great, they were expecting to muffle her screams- as others started bringing more instruments closer to her gurney. The dark-haired man that always murmured taunts in Russian made all of the restraints tighter before buckling in the extra restraints they hadn't used since she was first brought to the facility. Fear bubbled inside her and she couldn't even stop herself from trembling anymore at every cold uncaring touch from her captors.
"Where's the syvorotka?" someone asked. Syvorotka ... that was a new word.
A case was set onto a cart before three men surrounded it, blocking Malia's view as they retrieved whatever was inside. Another man set up two IV lines, one of which was empty and the other looked like fluids again... which only meant that they were going to continue torturing Malia by not giving her the physical water her tongue and throat craved. The lights over her head were as blinding as ever, shutting her eyes never worked to even block it out a little... though it was better than staring at it straight on.
"Administrirovaniyesyvorotkiseychas." someone declared.
Malia's eyes flipped open to stare warily at the scientists... they were administering something into the second IV line. What the fuck was that!? It was neon - neon- blue in color and seemed to almost fucking glow. She could hear her heartbeat elevate in fear as someone else mumbled about her vitals. Slowly, ever so slowly the drug started to drip into the IV line and down- down- down towards her swollen vein.
B U R N
God, it burned as if someone had set fire to the inside of her veins. A muffled groan turned into a scream as the sensation intensified to the point where her right arm felt like someone had thrown an accelerant onto the flames.
"Sub"yekt ispytyvayet pervyye effekty syvorotki." one of the grunts commented, she could faintly hear a pen scratching on a board over her cries and the sound of her own heartbeat ringing in her ears. "YA uvelichu dozirovku."
Her brain couldn't even filter the words she recognized anymore as the sensation in her arm started to spread over her chest and she involuntarily convulsed. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as someone loosened the valve of the IV to administer the demonic blue liquid even faster. Malia's scream reached an even higher pitch as the pain intensified, the heart monitor examining her vitals went haywire as her body spasmed.
The world finally went dark.
Malia ached.
Her eyes felt as if they'd been glued shut and her throat was really raw from all the screams that'd been coaxed out. Her skin felt inflamed and everything touching her only further aggravated it... her chest must have been exposed to the entire room since Malia couldn't feel the cumbersome garment touching any of the sensitive skin there. She didn't know whether to rage at their lack of respect or beg them to remove the rest of the hard and scratchy garments. Her jaw ached something awful from how long it must have been locked onto the block in her mouth and her lip definitely stung as if it'd been split- again. Everything was too loud. She could hear every breath in the room and the ping from the heart rate monitor like cannon blasts ringing in her ears.
"Tema ne spit." Malia ignored the urge to sob as one of the men -the head scientist- realized she was awake. "Podgotov'te Temu A-0001 dlya peredachi."
She could feel the locks on the gurney be undone as they began to wheel her out of the brightly lit lab. Malia forced her eyes to slowly blink open as they rushed her through several corridors before pushing through into another lab. Her eyes burned at the excess lighting as she let out moans of pain when the scientist began touching her. Hands removed some of the wires from her clammy skin before they sat her up harshly. One of the guards had to carry her unresponsive body into a metallic chamber as more hands fastened her inside. The straps felt like burning steel against her skin, they ignored her sobs and cries dismissively as they tightened the restraints further.
This was hell.
No one bothered to cover up her exposed breasts before they lowered the lid down and sealed her inside. Short panicked pants escaped from her still gagged mouth as salty tears wet her cheeks. An alarm, that almost left her feaking deaf, rang in the air as the chamber glowed brightly. Malia quickly shut her eyes, not wanting to be left fucking blind by their inhuman experiments. She could hear her heartbeat pulsing in her head as an entirely new brand of torturous pain began.
Every molecule in her body felt like it was being electrocuted and stabbed all at once. A gurgling scream rose out of her chest, deafening herself further in the small area she'd been trapped in. It intensified. Her bones felt like they were breaking and her organs rupturing under her skin. Malia's throat was being ripped open from the brutal screams and she choked on her own blood.
And then there was nothing.
When Malia woke up once more, hurting and sore, in the familiar LAB 241 she internally raged and cursed herself for not dying. She couldn't handle these fucking experiments anymore. Death would be better than living through another round of whatever it was that she'd just gone through. Her Pappy would understand. Not even he would ask her not to give up, to keep persevering so that she could come home to him. This was too much. Too much.
A dark joyous laugh rang close by, "Tema ne spit. Nachnite ekzamen. "
"Polucheniye pervogo obraztsa seychas." another commented gleefully as they stuck a new needle into her abused vein.
Tears sprung from her eyes freely.
Please.
Please.
Please.
No more.
No more examinations.
No more tests.
No more samples.
No more...
Malia never got what she wanted anymore.