New Beginnings - Book 2

Chapter 12

The constant digging of his memory lead James to a realisation.

Oh..

That Melina..

The penny in the soldiers mind dropped as it cleared in his mind who the woman was.. his mind drifted back.

"Good morning, Sargent Barnes." The dark-haired scientist ahead of the soldier spoke, the man was strapped into a a steel seat, his arms strapped to the arms of the chair along with his legs. A strap ran across the man's forehead and a plate rested in his mouth to prevent him from biting his tongue in the event of a seizure. James' eyes were wide and afraid, however, he remained silent. Not a flinch or a blink.. such actions resulted in harsher penalties.

"You have done so much for our motherland already, and we thank you for that, but what we need from you is just a little bit deeper." Melina had placed two metal discs on the side of the man's head. His pupils locked to her as she did so. "This will help us shape the world," She whispered softly before pressing a switch that was attached to a control panel strapped on her arm, sending shockwaves through the soldier's entire body, causing him to tense up and scream out in pain, muffled by the plate in his mouth.

James blinked back to the present as he heard Nat chase their daughter up the stairs. His eyes searched the room quickly as he felt a heavy sinking weight in his chest, his jaw clenched tightly before he caught Yelena leaving the kitchen, he released a deep exhale before following Yelena suddenly. "Melina?.. Head of the Red Rooms Science Devision, Melina?"

Yelena glanced back to James as he followed, her brows drawing into a slight frown. "That's the one." She nodded slightly, her frown shifting some. Perhaps a slight look of sympathy. Whatever it was, it vanished quickly. "She told us briefly about her involvement with you. Nothing direct."

James studied her expression before he stepped more so into the garden, sighing heavily as his expression tightened. "There was nothing brief about it." He spoke in a soft rasp. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand. "She's.. safe, now?" He clenched his jaw, apprehensive at the idea of introducing this woman to his children.

Yelena gave a slight nod, her eyes constantly observing him. "She's using her research to try and benefit others, so I guess so." She nodded, hesitating for a brief moment. "I know what its like." Yelena voiced, her brows drawing together briefly. "The research they did on you.. helped them to completely control us. Literally at the press of a button."

James' breathing was somewhat heavy as he tried to calm himself down, his heart was thumping hard in his chest, he listened closer to the younger widow's words, his hard expression softening the moment she hesitantly began opening up. He couldn't help but feel responsible however, the last thing he wanted was more of himself. "I'm sorry.." Was all the soldier could say. "Maybe we're not so different.."

"Yeah, well.." Yelena shrugged. "We were both just toys they played with." She spoke. It was a flippant response, but she had a streak of calling things what they were. "There aren't any more, you should know. Not anymore. We made sure of that."

James chewed on his bottom lip as his gaze turned to Yelena, he swallowed the lump in his throat, relieved at her claims that there were no more. He stood in silence for a while, listening to the distant bird's chirp. "Thank you."

Yelena managed a slight shrug, bringing her gaze away from the soldier. He didn't seem much like the heartless monster from her youth, but even so, those memories stuck hard. "It still baffles me." Yelena voiced. "The two of you. Together."

James folded his arms and nodded himself. "It still baffles me..." He chuckled silently to himself. "We were apart for a long, long time.. then she had the kids.." He looked back to the house where they all resided. "Then we lost her.." James' tone lowered. "But Vinny brought her home."