Weakness | Loki [Book One]

Chapter Twenty-Three

Unbeknownst to Loki, I locked myself in my room after the movie. I didn't know what the full extent of Hydra's knowledge of me was from the device below my ear, and I needed to find out. 

It wasn't hard to find Hydra's servers on the back nets, but getting inside was a different task altogether. Each of the dozen passwords had multiple separate security measures taken to protect it. It took me until the sun had already begun to rise to finally bypass the last one. 

Once I was logged in, I pulled up every file associated with me. The more recent reports were mainly fighting evaluations and location updates. I moved these to my computer hard drive to look over later and deleted them from Hydra's.

The farther I went back, the more in-depth and numerous the notes became. I remembered some experiments I read about from my years at the laboratory, others I was glad I didn't remember. 

From what I could tell, the device was more of a precaution; it was mostly used for tracking. I remotely disabled Hydra's connection to it and deleted all memory of it from their servers. I would have to figure out how to remove it later.

Toward the end, I noticed a file from 1985, around the second record of my existence associated with Hydra. At least, that's what the reports Stark had found said. Curious, my mouse hovered over the name of the file. Do I really want to know? I thought. Do I really want to find out who I was when Hydra found me? Before I could debate with myself any longer, I opened the video file. 

At first, the room displayed on the screen appeared to be empty. Once my eyes had adjusted to the quality of the 1980s-quality camera, it became apparent that something I had first thought was a shadow was a person. They were still and silent; so unlike most who were captured by Hydra. 

When a scientist I recognized opened the door under the camera, the person's eyes flickered with a contempt fire and she cursed him in what sounded like the ancient Asgardian language. 

"I have a few questions for you," the scientist said. 

"Go to Hel," she said. 

He ignored her comment. "Where do you come from?" When she continued her previous silence, he asked another question. "Are you human?"

"I have traveled everywhere from the fiery rivers of Muspelheim to the frozen mountains of Jotunheim," she said. "I have battled the Allfather and arisen victorious without a scratch. I have seen more nations rise and fall than you even know to exist. I am not, by any means, human."

"Excellent. Then we don't have to worry about common human courtesy with you," he said, then looked toward a mirrored window on the side. "Subject D-84 to begin testing soon. Begin preparing Project Rebirth immediately." The recording ended. I saved the file to my computer and tried not to think about it too much. 

I accidentally clicked on the wrong link and was taken to a live feed from a meeting room in the New York Hydra compound. I would have clicked away, but I thought I recognized one of the voices. 

"Then what do you propose we do?" a man with a Hydra symbol on his sleeve asked. I couldn't see the other man since his back was facing the camera. 

"Capture, not kill." It was the voice from the battle earlier. "D-84 is too valuable to merely kill without thinking. Too many materials have gone into keeping her alive."

"D-84 has gone rogue and must be eliminated. It is a threat to our success."

"Wasn't she a key element in said success?"

"It was, but we can do without it."

"D-84 is not an 'it.' She is just as much of a person as you or me."

"Is it really, though? It is not a human."

"Delta is still a person!" He slammed his hands down on the table.

"Stand down Christianson." Zeke Christianson! I thought. That's who it was. What is Zeke...

"Oh," I said aloud. Zeke, or Adan, or whatever his name is, was working with Hydra.