Prologue
“Mission report.” A voice commanded. There were so many people, but that woman in the chair had hardly acknowledged anyone until those words were spoken. She blinked a few times, keeping her head down. The man before her stepped into her personal space. She tensed like she knew she should make a run for it, but she stayed right where she was.
“Sir, she’s been practically unresponsive since she was brought back.” One of the men in lab coats attempted to explain. They’d been concerned about her obedience for some time now. At the beginning she had been a perfect weapon, a perfect soldier. Recently, though, things were changing. She didn’t respond to their questions, she fought when it was time for them to reprogram her brain.
The man twisted a hand into her hair right at her scalp and jerked her head up to meet his stone cold gaze. She hissed almost inaudibly, but didn’t glare or beg him to stop. A look of irritation crossed his features, but just as soon as it had come, it was gone. The man yanked her hair once more for good measure.
“I said ‘mission report’, soldat.” His voice was just as icy as his eyes were. The woman grit her teeth at the discomfort.
“Target terminated. No witnesses. The research was destroyed.” She told him. Her eyes held no fear, no anger. Her voice came out steady and emotionless as if she wasn’t talking about the murder she had just committed. The man released her, and her head dropped down to stare at her lap again.
“Get her injuries fixed up and put her away.” He ordered the other Hydra agents scattered around the room. They set to it, doctors stepping in to examine her and ensure she was in perfect health.
“Why did I kill that woman?” The brainwashed soldier questioned before the man in charge could walk out the door. It wasn’t a hostile question, but rather the type a toddler would ask about anything and everything. Curious, and all too innocent for a young woman who had just killed a complete stranger.
“She was a threat to all of the good that Hydra has been working towards.” The man explained in response. It was rehearsed, the same thing that she’d heard after her last two missions. “You protect Hydra. You keep people like her from taking down our organization. You saved humanity from inevitable doom.”
The girl shook her head, the most miniscule of movements, so tiny and hesitant that it almost looked like she wasn’t moving at all.
“She was a scientist, she was working with a team to cure cancer.” The soldier told them quietly. She’d read that in the files she was ordered to burn. Top secret research gone up in flames.
“Are you questioning your superiors, soldat?” The man spat. She didn’t reply. It felt wrong, everything felt so wrong. She’d killed a woman who had committed no atrocities. A woman who was dedicating her own life to saving those of millions. That information she’d burned could’ve saved people and instead she’d sentenced them to death. “You should be honored to have helped us. We are saving humankind.”
Once again, the young woman’s head dropped. Her mind was spinning and her chest felt heavy, like someone was trying to crush her. Thoughts were filling her head, thoughts her handlers hadn’t most definitely not put there themselves. Questions and worries and terror at the thought of killing people over nothing, or maybe over things she’d never know the use of.
“Wipe her, start over again.” The man ordered. Her eyes widened and her heart hammered a mile a minute in her chest. Her instincts told her to get out. To run, and fight. That going down fighting would be less painful than forgetting everything again. Her training was telling her to tough it out. They’d fried her brain a million times before, this wasn’t going to be any different.
A couple men locked her hands and ankles into place in freezing metal cuffs so that she couldn’t fight like she tended to. Another forced a mouthguard between her teeth. She squeezed her eyes shut as the cool metal pressed against her head.
Then agony.
She wailed through clenched teeth. The scientists and doctors and soldiers weren’t phased in the least by the cries of anguish. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t move. Her limbs seized, she fought desperately against the restraints. They cut through her skin, rubbing her wrists raw and tugging her ankle at an awkward angle as she tried to free herself. Her chest heaved and she sobbed, crystalline tears welling in her eyes.
When it was over, the woman’s head lolled to the side. It was too much for her to even move for a moment. She didn’t have the strength to even her breathing, instead she let her lungs suck in ragged breaths until the pain subsided.
You’re alright. You’ll be just fine.
The voice that echoed at the back of her mind, filling the empty silence in her head, didn’t belong to any of the people around her. And she didn’t think it was hers. It made her want to panic. When had she begun wanting something not programmed into her.
Just hold on (Y/N). You’re so strong. So much stronger than their brainwashing. Don’t give in to this.
Then the words were being spoken. The ones that turned her brain into putty for Hydra to mold however they saw fit. She clenched her aching fit, trying to shut out the voice as she always did when they decided it was time to make her obey again. But to her horror she heard every hiss of Russian that came from his lips. He stepped closer, crossing his arms and towering over her.
“Welcome back, soldat.” He spoke coldly. Her head lifted to meet him with empty eyes.
Be strong, (Y/N). They can’t control a force like you.
“Я готов отвечать.”