Carmine Jewels ║ Wanda Maximoff

Chapter 29 - Facades

Pierce pressed his lips together as he shuffled the chair underneath him that the scientist had been sitting on earlier. The confusion practically radiated off Winter's face, his posture slouching slightly. In what seemed to be a poor attempt to comfort the soldier, Pierce began to speak. "Your work has been a gift to mankind. You shaped the century. And I need you to do it one more time. Society is at a tipping point between order and chaos. And tomorrow morning, we're gonna give it a push. But, if you don't do your part, I can't do mine."

Topaz glanced at Rumlow, who was staring intently at the soldier. Something malevolent glinted behind his eyes, and she couldn't help but feel that something big was about to happen.

"And HYDRA can't give the world the freedom it deserves." Pierce finished off, watching as Winter finally lifted his gaze and made eye contact again.

"But I knew him."

Pierce sighed deeply through his nose before rising from the chair. "Prep him."  He ordered the scientists, who all had been watching the interaction with interest.

"He's been out of cryo freeze too long." One of the scientists protested weakly.

"Then wipe him and start over."

It was as though Winter wasn't even a person to Pierce. He was just a thing, a weapon that HYDRA could use when they saw fit. Not a man with his own feelings and thoughts. No, he was a means to an end. A tool.

Topaz could see the memories fighting behind those blue eyes, but as the scientists pushed Winter back in the chair, he didn't protest. She wasn't sure what the machine he was sitting in was supposed to do. From the vague memories she could recall from their last mission, he was controlled with words, so what was the machine supposed to do?

One of the scientists pulled out a mouth guard, which judging from the look on Winter's face, he accepted with a bit of reluctance. The machine then clamped down around his muscly arms and his breathing sped up immediately, almost as though he knew what the machine was about to do.

Another piece of the machine whirred, rotating down and she just managed to catch the sparks flaring from it before it sunk down and placed itself over the man's face. Now, it became clear why his breathing had become labored upon getting pushed down in the chair. Winter tried to scream, but it became muffled because of the mouthguard between his teeth as the electricity crackled through the faceplates and into his body.

"Stop! You're hurting him!" Topaz snarled, rising from her seat so fast that the chair fell over. She covered the room in three big steps and began to tug at the restraints around Winter's arms, but they were too tightly bound for her to squeeze her fingers under.

Pierce had been in the middle of turning around, to leave the scene behind him but he stopped at the woman's sudden launch. His mouth hung agape for just a moment before his face contorted into a frown. "Topaz, stop." It was as though he had forgotten about her presence in the room, along with the other men, their eyes wide as they watched her.

At the order, her movements stopped immediately, as though frozen. In front of her, Winter was still screaming due to the electricity still running through his veins. Topaz met Pierce's cold eyes steadily, her back straight as her attempts to free Winter had seized.

"Maybe you can give me a mission report since the Soldier failed to do so." Pierce turned towards her and nodded towards the corner where the chair still lay on its side. It wasn't so much of a suggestion, but rather an order.

But just like Winter, Topaz had questions of her own. "Black Widow. She knew me. She called me a name. Why?" She questioned, picking the chair back up and placing herself on it once again.