Chapter 1
HYDRA BASE, ITALY
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5th, 1943
2023 (8:23PM)
Athena gasped as ice cold water was thrown on her suspended body as a rude wake up call from her Hydra guards. The freezing water did nothing to wash off the layers of dirt and grime on her bruised and broken body let alone ease the ache in her shoulders from being hung the night before like a side of beef from the rafters. Athena wasn’t even sure when she had finally passed out from the pain but now after being woken up she bit her lower lip to stop herself from groaning at the pain.
Laughter and taunts from the guards let her know she didn’t quite stop the groan from escaping as they circled around her. The only indication of their circling around her was their footsteps in the occasional puddle on the stone floor. It had been at her best guess weeks since they had taken off the black hood that now covered her face. Whatever material the hood was made out of, it didn’t let any light through and she had been in a world of darkness having to rely on her other senses.
Of course it had been weeks since they had tried breaking her by torturing someone else in front of her. The screams of those they slowly tortured to death in front of her to get her to break would haunt her for the rest of her life, however long that might be. Before that had been weeks if not months of beatings, electrocution, drowning, asphyxiation, cutting and even sexual assault all of it trying to break her into telling them who she was, who she worked for and what she knew of the Tesseract.
Some of those sent in to torture her thought her mind had already snapped claiming there was no way she could have held out this long without telling them something. Either way Johann Schmidt had come down himself a few times to try breaking her and ordered the guards to double their efforts each time trying to get her to break.
Of course that also might be because whenever the prick was in the room and used her as his own personal plaything she would start humming the tune ‘This is the song that never ends’ just to fuck with him. Angering the man that held your life within his hands might not be the smartest of things to do but it was the small victories against her captors, even if they were few and far between, that were what kept Athena going.
The sudden slack on her arms was the only warning Athena had before she was unceremoniously dropped onto the hard stone floor and tried her best to keep from tensing up before the impact. A loud snap and blinding pain in her right shoulder let her know she had broken something again in the arm. The coppery taste of blood flooded her mouth as she bit down too hard on her lower lip trying not to scream to give the bastards the satisfaction.
Athena felt the pin and needle sensation start in her hands as the rope was cut holding her hands together. Rough hands then grabbed an upper arm each causing another jolt of white hot pain searing through her right arm again and this time she lost the battle not to scream causing the guards to laugh and handle her even rougher as they dragged her somewhere down first a long corridor. Wherever they were dragging her it was towards somewhere that sounded almost like a factory floor.
The noise was almost overwhelming after so long either being in complete silence or hearing only the haunting screams of those tortured in front of her or even her own screams as company. Athena could hear the angry and distressed shouts of men all around her and she could hear a commotion of commands angrily shouted in German before she was dragged through another doorway and the sound from behind her almost cut off fully. Her guards dragged her for another few minutes before taking a right turn and she felt the bag that had hid her from the outside world ripped off her head along with a good chunk of her hair with it.
After weeks of darkness the light that flooded her eyes sent a spike of pain right into her brain as her eyes tried to adjust to finally being able to see once again. A rough hand grabbed her chin and forced her head back and even though she knew her eyes were watering because of the sensitivity from the light Athena felt the internal anger that burned deep within her flare up at the sadistic smile of Johann Schmidt she was finally able to make out.
“Ah Fraulein it seems my men have not been able to break you these last few months so I will give you one more chance to tell me what you know before I give you over to Zola to play with till you die. I understand Zola is intrigued that your body has held out so long and thinks you will make the perfect test subject for his formula since the others all seemed to have died quite messy and gruesome deaths” Johann Schmidt asked with that ever present sadistic smile present on his face.
Athena silently contemplated her options of resistance in the face of the monster in front of her. She knew if something didn’t change soon she would not survive much longer anyways so she wondered if she could push Schmidt into killing her finally. Athena didn’t want to die but she knew her body was failing her and she knew she would greet death like an old friend if it meant the end of the pain.
‘Gladium esse pro rege et patria. Nulla deditionem nisi in facie mortis immolant!’ Athena thought back to the oath she took on her thirteenth birthday to her King. It was an oath that her family had made for centuries to both Kings and Queens as the wielders of Excalibur. The oath broken down in English said: ‘To be the Sword for King and Country. No surrender, only sacrifice in the face of death.’
Athena did the only thing she could do after she felt the memory of giving her oath to her King give her the strength she needed, letting the blood pool in her mouth, she spit up into the face of Johann Schmidt. Silence met her action for a handful of seconds before Schmidt growled and brought his clenched fist to her face, sending her head to snap back with the force of the blow. The last thing Athena remembered was Schmidt yelling, “Take her to Zola!”
HYDRA BASE, ITALY
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH 1943
1134 (1134AM)
An uncomfortable itching sensation starting in her left arm was what brought Athena back to the land of the living and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be there when she realized she was strapped down to a metal table with a set of mirrors above her. She had never been a vain person but seeing her emaciated body covered in bruises, cuts, burns and scars and with her left leg and right arm at odd angles was enough to make her sick. Athena had to fight off the urge to get sick because not only was she strapped down to a metal table but she had a wooden stick wedged between her teeth that was also strapped down to the table to hold it in her mouth.
The itching sensation in her left arm was now spreading to her chest but now fire was creeping up after it and looking up to the mirrors Athena got a glance of why. Attached to her left arm was an IV bag full of a black liquid that seemed to have bright blue swirls in it. Athena could see it as the liquid spread inside her body but she couldn’t decide if it was because the liquid was that dark or her skin was just that pale from however long she had been held prisoner and not seeing the sun since she had been captured by the SS as a spy.
Athena was more than sure of who had turned her in and if she didn’t know that Schmidt had already killed the old caretaker of the church in Tønsberg, Norway where the Tesseract had been hidden she would have gladly killed the chauvinistic pig. Claiming that what she seeked wasn’t for a mortal, let alone a mortal woman, to be allowed to gaze upon. Athena had almost been tempted to drop her glamor to show her natural form and show him the runic brands on her chest and back.
It was thanks to the glamor that she had been wearing when she was captured by the SS that neither the SS or Hydra knew who she really was. Two years had only passed from the last assassination attempt by Hydra by the time she jumped into Norway searching to see if the Tesseract was an actual real object that Schmidt could get his hands on. Norse mythology had been her Godmother Maria Black-Hill’s passion and she had passed that knowledge to Athena as a child since the running theory was that she might be Asgardian.
Asgardian or not, Athena didn’t remember anything from before she had been found as an infant inside a set of unknown, though they assumed Asgardian armor in the middle of Stonehenge. The only thing that differentiated her from Michael and Peggy, her two younger siblings, was that she had a slight edge in speed, strength and endurance. Of course that didn’t factor in her ability to morph her body in any way she needed to change her appearance. This ability made her highly valuable for any undercover work that needed to be done because nothing that could be found could remove it unless she did it herself.
Athena used her glamor abilities only when she was on mission or when she just wanted to get a way for a bit from everyone to have a moment to herself. It wasn’t often she used her abilities to do that but sometimes being the Honorable Athena Maria Mary Carter, oldest child of Baron Harrison George Carter could be exhausting, especially if she was being forced to play the widely known part of her identity of a titled lady. Athena hated some of the young women and men she had been forced to socialize with at parties and social functions.
Most of those over entitled idiots with illusions of some sense of superiority would probably piss themselves if they knew the true person Athena was outside of the parties and social functions. Athena had learned early on in life that reality is often stranger than fiction and her reality was certainly that. Not only was Athena an Agent of SWORD but she was also the Heir Apparent to the Knight Commander of SWORD and the future wielder of Excalibur.
At least she was the Heir Apparent to her father’s position for as long as she survived but as more of the IV bag emptied into her body and she felt it as the burning now was almost throughout her body she didn’t know how much longer she would be alive to hold that title and as far as she was concerned it was the only title she cared about.
Athena felt it as the wood in her mouth began to splinter from the force of her biting down onto it in pain. Sweat was dripping from every pore on her body as cold chills sent spasms through already damage and torn muscles. Still Athena refused to give the bastards doing this to her the satisfactions from her screams as she glared up at her broken body in the mirrors.
Her heart was racing inside her chest and she figured she only had minutes before it gave out. A flash of blue pulled her attention to her eyes because her electric blue eyes had broken through her glamor that had been a light brown color moments before and her eyes began to glow like they were when her father had found her at Stonehenge.
A weird feeling started in her chest and she thought it was announcing her heart was about to explode but instead a deep growl pushed its way up through her chest causing her to finally snap the wooden stick with her teeth. The coppery taste of blood flooded her mouth before she blacked out from the pain as every muscle in her body seized.
HYDRA BASE, ITALY
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH 1943
1845 (6:45PM)
One, two, three, four, turn. One, two, three, four, turn. It was this mantra that Athena kept up in the small cage she had woken up inside hours ago for the first time since she thought she was finally going to die. But she didn’t die, no something else happened…she was somehow healed. The broken bones were healed even if they had healed wrong and that she could tell because they were still slightly at the wrong angles. Bruises, cuts and burns were gone. All that was left were the plethora of scars that covered her body. Athena wasn’t sure if her eyes were still her natural electric blue color, let alone if they were still bloody glowing. The only thing she was sure of was that neither of the runic brands on her body were showing so at least a part of her glamor still held.
One, two, three, four, turn. That was another reason she was pacing trying to work out the problem because ever since she had woken up she could tell that something was different. There was something more…awake…she wasn’t even sure if that was the right word to use but it was the only word that fit at the moment.
That part deep inside her where she controlled her glamor felt different, it felt more…mature. As if it had come from infancy to childhood to adulthood. But again it also felt…awake and…possibly sentient because even now she was battling to keep it under control.
Why she had to control it, she wasn’t sure, it was almost instinctual that she knew she had to control it. There were moments where she could almost feel as if the glamor was only scratching the surface of her abilities and Athena wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing at the moment. It could possibly be a good thing if she could use it to get out of this hell hole but if she failed Hydra would know that whatever they did to her gave her powers or more likely woke up latent powers inside her and that would be a disaster.
One, two, three, four, turn. One, two, three, four, turn. Of course there was also something else and totally foreign that she could sense within her mind. Athena was angry, but it wasn’t just anger at the situation she had found herself in since the old caretaker had snitched on her to the SS in Norway. No, this anger was damn near primal and was the main reason she was pacing the small cage she had found herself in.
Something in the back of her mind almost felt animalistic as if she willed it she could burst from this human shell and become something more. Something that could run on all fours and that would be one of the top apex predators. Athena was definitely more than afraid of touching that primal part that was now in the back of her mind because she was afraid if she poked at that new part of her she could lose herself.
One, two, three, four, turn. Stop. Athena tilted her head to the side and she could hear the unsteady boot falls of multiple guards and the scuffling and the struggle of whomever they were bringing this way. She could hear as fists and clubs met skin and clothes as whoever it was struggled to get away.
A man was thrown through the door and into the room her cage was in. Despite being thrown and already bruised and bloodied the man got up again but the guards were already swarming in through the door with clubs swinging and shock rods prodding as they laughed as their prey was overwhelmed. Athena felt sorry for the poor sod because even at a hundred percent she knew she wouldn’t have fared much better than the man. Especially since there were eight guards to his one.
Athena stood and watched them beat the other prisoner, having to fight to control her anger. The prisoner was already down on the ground and barely moving when one of the guards decided to take his boot and kick the man between the legs. A scream and groan came from the man who tried to curl in on himself on the floor, while the guards all laughed and taunted him at his misfortune. It was then when Athena lost some control on her anger and that primal part in the back of her brain because a loud growl ripped its way from her chest and out through her mouth.
Shock was on the guards faces when they turned to look at her and though they were eight men at full health and she was locked in a bloody cage she could smell their fear. It was that fear that made her decide to tap a little bit into that new part of her as she let another growl loose. One of the guards snapped out of the fear induced stare down with her and quickly ordered the others to get the beaten man up on the metal table that Athena was sure she had been on the last time.
Athena watched as the guards left almost as quickly out the door as they had swarmed inside only moments earlier. A groan from the table brought her attention back to the man strapped down onto the table just like she had been, the only thing they hadn’t done yet was the wooden stick in his mouth. While the clothing he wore was worn and threadbare in areas she could tell from the chevrons on his arm that he was a Sergeant in one of the military branches from the States.
Tilting her head to the side Athena could tell that the guards were moving away the way they came as their boots made less and less sound as they moved away. Enhanced hearing and sense of smell were also something new since she had been pumped full of whatever Hydra was experimenting with at the moment. Athena wondered if she had an enhanced sense of sight or taste as well, but it was something she hadn’t had the chance to test yet.
For now it didn’t matter because now she needed to decide if she was going to risk talking to the man strapped to the table whose fate might be the same as her…which she wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing yet. Also she had to decide if she stuck to her cover or did she say at least a partial truth of who she was. The last part was a big risk because Hydra still didn’t know who she really was.
“Is someone there? I thought I saw someone when I got escorted in here” an accented voice asked the room at large and if Athena was correct he was an American from New York.
“Great, I'm going to be talking to myself since you probably don’t understand English and I can’t use my hands and facial expressions to at least to try to get my point across. At least not tied down to this table like a damsel in distress across the railroad tracks in an old silent western film” the American said and Athena could hear his exasperation at the situation he was currently in.
“Sorry Yank, it’s been..a long time since I’ve had someone to actually talk to. What’s your name Sergeant?” Athena asked her voice hoarse after months of not using it except to scream as she began to pace again in her cage. One, two, three, four, turn.
“Sgt. James Barnes of the 107th infantry, my friends call me Bucky. What is an English dame doing in a dump like this?” he asked, trying to lift his head off the table to look at her but she knew he’d be lucky to move it an inch if that off the table, let alone able to move it side to side. SWORD knew that Zola liked to have his victims watch him cut them open and there was a series of mirrors above the table that made sure the victim would see everything that was being done to them…and everything being done near them.
“I guess the same thing as you....enjoying Hydra's wonderful hospitality” Athena said dryly, making Bucky laugh but he soon groaned in pain.
“Broken rib?” she asked as she tried to assess his injuries from her cell but there was only so much of him that she could see and her sense of smell already told her the obvious that he was definitely bleeding from at least one of his many wounds.
“Oh probably, damn goons didn’t like me since they captured my unit a few nights back. Of course my unit had been giving them as good as we got before they started hitting us with some new weapon that shot out blue glowing...” Bucky answered and Athena could see he was trying to work his hands trying to get out of the straps but he paused at the last word trying not to curse in front of a woman. But it was the description of the weapon that confirmed Athena’s biggest fear that Schmidt and Zola had managed to weaponize the Tesseract somehow.
“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘shite’. Blue glowing shite” Athena said purposely allowing her accent to fully bleed through on the word shit. A small chuckle answered her from the Sergeant while rolling her eyes at another man who tried not to curse in front of her. “Don’t worry about cursing in front of me Sergeant I’ve heard worse from the guards.”
“Good to know. What’s your name Doll? Unless you want me to keep referring to you as either “English Dame” or “Doll”. Damn they really have me tied down good” Bucky grunted the last bit as Athena saw him finally relax his hands.
“You can call me…” Athena started but stopped as she tilted her head and heard the voice of Zola coming closer to them talking about needing to start the IV on his newest subject while ordering the guards to move her to the new table they were bringing to the room. “Listen Bucky you’re about to be experimented on and there is nothing I can do to stop it. You will either survive it or not and I hope you do survive it even if I’m not sure if it’s better to die now or survive like I have so far.”
“Well that’s a bit morbid. How long have you been here?” Bucky asked as he once again started to try to work at the straps near his hands.
“What is the date?” Athena whispered, actually curious and also afraid to know the answer.
“Beginning of November 1943. Not a hundred percent on the actual date” Bucky answered while he tried in vain to break loose from the table.
“Eight months, at least here. Before that I was in custody of the SS as a spy for almost two months” Athena said after she shook off the shock at the date. It had been a lot longer than she thought stuck in this hell and though she had survived almost a full year, it also meant it was almost a full year her family didn’t know if she was alive or dead. She knew they would mourn her loss if she never made it back and understand her sacrifice because it was something she had been oath-sworn to do for years but she knew her loss would still devastate her family.
“Ahh Fraulein you are up! Excellent” Zola’s nasally voice said in highly accented English as he came into the room. The same original group of guards that had brought Bucky came back into the room but then another four more guards came into the room behind them. Did Athena scare them that bad when they had been here originally or did they have an idea whatever they gave her was supposed to do to her body.
“Get her on the table and rough her up good before you do” ordered Zola to the guards in German and though Athena didn’t want to let them know she understood their talking in German it was at least a heads up what she was about to endure. They didn’t know she could fight as well as she could, Hydra had gotten her directly from the SS and the SS had blitz attacked her and she didn’t fight back initially hoping to convince them she was her cover story.
Athena had seconds to decide if she was going to fight back the twelve guards that were coming to beat her bloody for Zola’s experiment. It was Bucky’s voice laced with pain that settled it for Athena. “Sergeant James Barnes 3255703856898.”
The guards opened the door to her cage and Athena erupted out of the cage ready to fight back.
“Sergeant James Barnes 3255703856898.”
Athena let her training take over and realized she was faster and stronger than she had been beforehand. The primal part in the back of her brain was howling to get out and she touched it slightly and felt it take over. Fear and the coppery scent of blood greeted her nose and that part was pleased that their enemies were bloody and afraid. Athena was momentarily shocked at the realization but hearing Bucky’s first scream knocked her out of the shock real fast as she decided to hurt as many of the bastards as she could before they strapped her to the table.