Chapter 2
Stabbing pain shoots through my stomach and I try to move my hand to it but feel resistance. I open my eyes, seeing both of my wrists tied down to a table and take a deep breath. Graduation happened today, right. Well… now I know what that means. At least I can’t get pregnant. The door has been left open and Madame can be seen standing outside talking with the doctor. She meets my eyes and my restraints remove themselves. I slowly pull myself up into a sitting position and clench my teeth tightly to keep from screaming out. My eyes have watered but I refuse to show weakness. There is a nasty jagged line running from one side of my stomach to the other crudely stitched up. A set of grey clothes is sitting on a stand next to me and I grab them up getting dressed as slowly as I think I could get away with. I enter the hallway and Madame is smiling at me and I stand taller knowing that she’s proud of me.
“You have done very well Azrael, your first official mission is in two weeks. That will be long enough for you to not rip your stitches.” She addresses before continuing, “Also, there will be limited training for these two weeks.”
“Thank you Madame, I will not disappoint you.” I answer while looking around me. I don’t recognize this building and my senses instantly rise.
“Azrael, I have someone coming to collect you to take you to your room. It is not the same as before as we are in a different place. This one is much more private.” Madame explains as a tall man with a hooked nose and a tattoo down his left arm walks up beside Madame, an evil look in his eye. “This is Garson, he will be showing you around and is one of your two keepers. Until you prove yourself worthy on at least ten missions they will be your guides, or your executioner. It’s your choice.”
With that lovely information I say goodbye to Madame and the doctor before following Garson down the many twisted hallways. He explains as we walk and I pay close attention to all the details. This seems to be even more of a prison then the old building. There is an excellent sparring room and training rooms in hall F5. The cafeteria is grim looking with only a few meager people in attendance even if it is lunch time, a person still stands at the front but I see no meal tickets in sight. After a long tour we stop outside a hallway that looks to be pitch black inside save for a few lights spread so far apart that you could never possibly see where you were going.
“This is my favorite place to bring new graduates of your program to see. It’s called the barebacks. It’s because this here is where the miscreants are housed. Let me crack open the door to show you.” Garson exclaims gleefully, smiling like a child who received a meal ticket for the first time in a week.
True to his word he cracked the door open. A chorus of awful screeching and crying could be heard. It felt like a blow to my already pounding gut and if I had anything in me, I probably would have thrown up. However, my feet remained firmly in place and my face did not twitch. Garson’s smile faded a bit before he let the door slam shut and the silence seemed more deafening than the screams. He harshly grabbed my arm and drug me to a closet of a room. There was a board laying in the corner with a sheet pulled over to it and a toilet. A video camera was perched in the left corner. Instead of the standard handcuffs, there was a long cain that was strapped to my ankle.
“You get to stay here for a few days, or weeks. We’re not really sure. I hope you go insane. I have fifty bucks on it. You’re small and frail.” Garson cackled before shutting the door behind us.
I knew there was something up with his crooked grin. Silently I hope it was because he had a few too many encounters like this where the girl was fed up with the bullshit she was put through. He grabbed my shoulders and walked forwards slamming my back against the wall. His arms were strong, I knew I could break out of them, but I also knew what game was being played. I was playing as the interrogator and he had information that we needed. He hungirly pressed his chapped lips to mine as he greedily felt my waist with his hands.
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Garson’s pale body was laid with the chain wrapped around his neck, his face purple. Even his screams for help had been pathetic. I had also realized that they had me asleep longer than I had thought as my stitches hadn’t ever been there in the first place. The door to the room opened and Madame entered with an evil grin plastered on her face.
“Well done Azrael. You knew the name of the game and played it perfectly. There was no hesitation and you had a clean kill. We managed to catch all of that thieving bastards information on the tape from the camera. Unfortunately, I cannot end your mission just yet as his partner is still here. So, I will bring him in once we get this room cleaned out.” Madame states proudly.
I lift my head up to meet her eyes and keep my voice level, “Yes, of course Madame. I will make you proud.”
“I know you will.” She answered rather hurriedly.
Within minutes the body was gone and so was the second. I sat in the dining room enjoying some soup. I sat by myself in the far corner facing the door. I figured out that I had been asleep for a solid month while being discreetly moved after the old building had been attacked. I was also told that I had been awake for this time but for some reason, I don’t remember it. I wonder just how long it had actually been. Some of these people who looked a few years older than me looked familiar somehow. I didn’t dare question it.
After I finish eating, I walk to Madame’s office. People give me worried glances and I think about telling them all to fuck off as I can handle myself. I enter and sit down, the door closing behind me. Madame smiles and hands me a big folder. Opening the folder I see the face of Natalia Romanova looking back at me.
“This is ex-agent Natalia, she was trained the same as you. However, one day, she decided to commit treason. Natalia is now working in the U.S., under a team calling themselves the Avengers. Her cover is Natasha Romanoff, her codename is the Black Widow. She’s convinced that she can leave us behind and undo all the hard work we have put into making the world a better place.” Madame practically shouts at me and I won’t lie, I am a little alarmed at her outward show of emotion.
“Is this a simple assassination Madame?” I ask knowing it is wise of me to be well-informed.
“No, I want you to fight alongside two pets of Hydra working to destroy all of the Avengers. However, she is your main target. Either she dies, or you do. It’s your choice.” Madame commanded.
“I understand Madame, I will not let you down.”
“Good, you will leave tonight. There will be a fight in Seol between the pets, a robot named Ultron and the Avengers. Remember your training and destroy them.”
“I won’t let you down.”
“I know you’ll make me proud.”
I exit the room grabbing my bag from the floor and make my way to the plane. I sit in the hard seat, my eyes scanning through the folder.
Natalia Alianovna "Natasha Romanoff" Romanova(Black Widow)
Born in Russia. Brought to the Red-Room at age three. She excelled in all categories.
Her language skills are exemplary and she displays a hunger to learn all she can. During sparring she is lethal and uses her weapons with the skill of a fully trained assassin even at seven years old. Her loyalty appears to be unwavering, however, she seems to have grown attached to another young blonde of the group. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as killing one off as they are the two top students. If anything, they will be separated upon graduation and then be reported as dead to the other.
I paused my mind drifting to the one and only friend I had ever made and wondered, not for the first time, if I was somehow the cause of her death. They found out we were friends and she wasn’t doing as well as I was. I closed the folder shaking my head, the motives do not matter, she failed out and the punishment was death. The plane came to land and I grabbed my gear before exiting. Two people, who for twins, could not look more different were standing at the end of the ramp standing next to an unsettling humanoid-robot. The girl’s eyes seemed to spark for a second before she tapped the boy on the shoulder. They were my age it seemed and I stood straight remembering to address the robot as he was in charge.
“Hello Ultron, my name is Azrael. I am at your disposal as a gift from HYDRA’s Praying Mantis program, formally known as the Black Widow Association.” I introduce myself with a steady gaze into what I suppose are his eyes.
He nods at me before walking over to four other robots and I am slightly annoyed at the fact that he dismissed me without a second thought. Now, both of the twins were staring at me, as if they were studying me. I stared at the pets right back assessing them instead. First I looked at the boy. I was told he had superspeed gifted by volunteer experimentation, or at least, they told me it was volunteer. I wonder if it’s the same as my records though, fake. The girl was a witch of some kind and had harnessed the power of a mysterious stone from Loki’s staff.
“I am Pietro and this lovely doll here is my sister Wanda.” Pietro replied before Ultron called for us.
Joining the group of robots Ultron began telling the twins his plans and what their jobs were. He didn’t assign me anything because he knew exactly what my job was and chose not to interfere. I climbed into the truck we were using as a get-away car. Before we knew it the battle had begun. The cradle was now shoved in the truck with me and I heard everything Ultron was saying as all his robots repeated it. It was a little… unsettling. He got to the part where he was killing the world and I paused before wondering if the world as I knew it was even worth saving.
I was also surprised at the number of civilians the so-called protectors of Earth had allowed to be this close to danger.
“I’m going in. Cap, can you keep him occupied” A voice cut through the noise right behind the tuck. Lo and behold, Miss Natalia jumped into the back of the truck and I placed myself between her and the cradle. She looked a little confused at seeing another person here and I watched recognition sweep her face. “Azrael? What are you doing here? I thought you were dead?”
“Well I am very clearly alive. I even graduated. Have a nice scar to prove it to.” I reply with a smirk not daring to make the first move.
Natasha’s face was horrified and she didn’t even try to hide it, she’s gone soft. “No, no, no. I stopped them. Damnit. I burned that place to the ground. You were dead before they got there.”
I laughed at her pitiful attempt to justify why I should be dead and bowed. “Well, I can assure you I am alive. Though… you look a little older than you should but I suppose that has to do with my missing time.” The truck is suddenly lifted up and I can see her face go back to it’s guarded position.
I cross my arms seeing the ‘widow bites’ before smirking. I know for a fact that these don’t work on me. Although, I’m not sure how. As long as she is dead, at the end of the day, I don’t care. She runs at me and I simply defend my position continuing to listen in on the rest of the battle. As we’re fighting I hear someone scream and I see a car falling over the edge of a bridge before Wanda levitates it up and my heart clenches as I wonder, not for the first time, if I am on the right side of this. I see a weird-ass looking helicopter and see a man inside looking concerned. I clench my teeth before taking a pair of handcuffs and attaching Natasha to it before shoving the cradle out of the truck before I am thrown back by Ultron. I see the helicopter catch the things before Ultron hits my head and I black out.