Chapter 1
From the greatest Security Agency in the world SHIELD fell to become nothing more than a minute group of desperate Agents fighting to save the world and SHIELD’s legacy after HYDRA revealed itself. Both SHIELD and HYDRA are the different sides of the same coin and were demoted to terrorist organizations in the eyes of the world’s governments. What either side failed to account for were the hundreds of innocent lives their petty vengeances would claim. They also didn’t realize that both the agents loyal to SHIELD would turn as would some that were loyal to HYDRA.
Sacrifice and loss are felt on both sides of the fight, yet both teams are blind to the other sides suffering. The pawns on the front lines that are seen as no better than the people who use them as puppets to fight their battles for them, are the ones who remain invisible and lose the most.
//
HYDRA is an unforgiving organization, and any betrayal is dealt with accordingly. Somewhere in the German countryside is a castle that belongs to Strucker, a previous head of HYDRA. Deep in the dungeons of the castle is a cell that holds one of the few people who turned on HYDRA and survived the uprising.
As the door to the cell opens menacingly, blinding light fills the dull room before the door is shut once again. The figure in the corner of the room moves slowly to shade their eyes from the onslaught as two figures move into the room. One of the men turns on the low hanging light as the other walks towards their prey.
‘Back so soon? I’m flattered.’ Her weak yet defiant voice speaks from the shadows.
When neither men reply she continues, sarcasm dripping from her words. ‘What’s a girl got to do to have some decent conversation these days, last time I could barely get a word in.’
The men ignore her and swiftly move towards her, she braces herself for the coming pain and is surprised when they go to pick her up from her place on the floor. She sees her chance and takes it, while the larger man is picking her up by her shoulders the other is moving towards her feet and is rewarded with a kick directly to the face.
Within seconds she collides with the floor and all of the air escapes her lungs, the pain of the impact with the concrete floor is dulled by the impact of the larger man’s fist with her jaw, the metallic taste of her blood fills her mouth.
‘You dumb bitch.’ The smaller of the men yells at her before turning to the other man who has made his way to his side, ‘She broke my bloody nose.’
‘Amateurs.’ She replies with a breathy laugh, she spits the blood filling her mouth on the floor near their feet. ‘If he didn’t want to be kicked he shouldn’t have made such a rookie mistake.’
As she struggles to sit herself up with the hands tied behind her back she is punched once again, it was the smaller man this time.
‘You should go and tell daddy I broke one of his toys, maybe he’ll grow a set and visit me himself.’ She says, with a vindictive smile.
From the other side of the cell there is the sound of his nose cracking back into place before they move back towards her, being more careful the second time. The bigger man gets her feet this time and they actually manage to move her into the chair in the center of the room without further injuries.
Before she can make a move against them a searing pain courses through her body. Through clenched teeth she tries to hold back from crying out pain. When the pain subsides her body is too weak to fight back, the man behind her cuts the ropes binding her wrists, revealing the raw wounds from where the ropes have dug into her skin. Quickly her wrists are bound behind her once again, keeping her tied to the chair.
The man behind her presses something hard against her neck as if daring her to fight back, ‘Are you going to be cooperative today or will I get to have some fun?’
The other guard kneels in front of her to bind her legs to the chair as well. Small victories are all she can hope for in this situation, so she fights back. The pain is once again coursing throughout her body, but not before she manages to get a few good hits in. This time the pain is worse and she isn’t able to hold back her scream, the sound of her pain echoes off the stone walls and the guard at her feet finishes binding them to the chair leaving her completely defenseless.
The pain lasts longer this time, and when he finally pulls away she hears his laughter, ‘This is going to be fun.’
It was the smaller of the two men she managed to hurt again, he is standing up a few feet away from her curled in pain from the kick to his family jewels, bringing a smile to the woman’s face.
Before she can retort both men are walking out of the room – well one is walking and the other is waddling – and she is left alone once again. The sound of chatter outside of her cell is obvious but she cannot make out what the voices are saying. She is left to ponder what he meant by “fun” considering he left before any of the real fun could begin.
Instead of focusing on future pain the woman in the chair decides to come up with any number of escape plans possible, in case the opportunity arises for her to escape her captors. The biggest problem she’s faced with is that she doesn’t actually know where she is, the last thing she remembers is clearing out one of her many safe-houses, just outside of New York. She left a message for her partner, letting him know that she is okay so there is no way he’d be looking for her. From there she went to a motel where she was later ambushed and drugged, when she woke up she was prisoner for the organization she betrayed.
She doesn’t know how they found her, how long they’ve had her or even when the torture will end.
When the door opens once again the two men walk in followed by an older man and more guards. The four guards including the two that she had the pleasure of meeting before are all there for the protection of the older man.
When none of the men speak, she does. ‘So you did bring daddy to see the dumb bitch who broke his toy.’ She turns to the man whose nose she broke and winks at him with a smile.
All of the guards remain silent and standing at attention ready to attack just in case she manages anything, but the older man speaks. ‘Do you know who I am?’
‘Of course I do.’
She is silent for a moment before continuing. ‘You’re the last head of HYDRA, the one person who managed to put the fear of god into the likes of Daniel Whitehall and John Garrett.’ She laughs at him but he doesn’t see the humor in the situation. ‘I must say John Garrett was one tough son of a bitch and besides Nick Fury there was only one person who he actually feared, you. I don’t see it though.’
‘Your friend made that same mistake, he underestimated me and now… well you’ll see soon enough.’ He speaks with a sadistic smile, knowing that his lack of elaboration will impact her. ‘I believe I should introduce myself properly, I am Gideon Malick. The only real head of HYDRA.’
‘So the World Security Council didn’t work out? That’s fair enough considering you were all a massive pain in the ass anyway.’ Any normal person would probably not be insulting the person who could easily kill them but this woman isn’t your average person. Her best option is to keep him talking, in hopes he will elaborate on her “friend” or reveal a weakness for her to exploit.
‘Did you all seriously think that dropping a nuke on New York was the best option? Honestly, you had the Hulk!’ She is shaking her head as she speaks, ‘You absolute morons.’
Malick is pacing in front of her clearly unaffected by her words, ‘You aren’t seeing the big picture, if the bomb hadn’t been intercepted by Stark, The Avengers would be dead and there would’ve been no one to fight the uprising of HYDRA.’
Once again she is laughing at Malick, ‘You are dumber than you look! You can’t just kill The Avengers, if you do that they become martyrs and you’ll be dealing with public outrage. Ultron knew that and he was a robot, you were literally outsmarted by a chunk of metal.’
Instead of responding to her outburst (verbally, anyway) Malick simply nodded at one of the guards and within seconds a shock stick was against her neck and shooting an electrical current through her body. Her body convulsed in its bonds, tangled cries forced their way through her gritted teeth, fists clenched so tight her fingers would leave bruises on her palms.
When the current leaves her body she is limp in her bonds, head fallen forward with her long brown matted hair clinging to her face with sweat. Her head is forced back by her hair, the guard standing behind her taking obvious pleasure at the assault.
Malick is speaking again, ‘Let’s talk about you. Shall we? Marina Tyler, born June 18th 1988 in Pittsburg, former Agent of SHIELD, John Garrett’s protégé and traitor of HYDRA.’
After listening to Malick ramble on about her, obviously boasting his knowledge – which honestly wasn’t that impressive – she spoke, ‘You’ve clearly done your homework. Such a shame you don’t know anything that wasn’t in my SHIELD file.’
‘You were the first and only person to attend two of the SHIELD Academy’s, Science and Technology as well as Operations before becoming an agent. Smart and lethal… John Garrett obviously knew how to pick his pawns.’
‘John Garrett was a psychopath focused on his own ludicrous dream. He did whatever it took to get what he wanted, including fooling both SHIELD and HYDRA into believing his loyalty – so I promise you, whatever information you think you’re going to get from me you will not. Do your worst, because whatever you do Garrett has already out done you.’ As Marina speaks she doesn’t hesitate and looks Malick directly in the eye.
‘Maybe you should know what I want before you start making promises you can’t keep.’ Malick responds with an air of superiority, obviously fishing for a reaction.
‘Fine. I’ll bite, what do you want?’ She asks, her voice dripping with contempt.
‘Not a thing,’ Malick laughs as he makes his way to the door. ‘You have been my prisoner for months now, there’s only one reason I’m keeping you alive. I won’t spoil the surprise by telling you though…’
‘You should’ve known that HYDRA would come for you, traitors are not tolerated.’ Sweeping past the guards he walks out of the cell, he calls back to them before the door closes, ‘Do whatever you like with her but keep her alive.’
The guards didn’t need any further encouragement, as soon as the order was given they all attacked. Each one enjoying the pain they were inflicting more than the guard before them. Collectively their favorite thing to do was to see how many times they could shock her before they got a reaction.
After what felt like an eternity of pain the sadistic bastards decided to add to her torture by adding another shock stick to their onslaught. As the currents from both course through her body, Marina finally gives into the pain and she blacks out.