Ro Six Echo

Part 20

Back at the compound Tony was pacing and working through the night. He was searching computer databases on genetic research to find anyone remotely involved in the Stealth Ray project. He was coming up empty handed at every turn. Friday had even recommended that he take a break and regroup in the morning. Marcus had made the copies of the hard drives like Steve had asked and sent them in the mail to Mandy. He was in awe of her. She had made a reputation for herself before her days at SHIELD. She was an infamous hacker and had stayed clean for over ten years. Until a silly dare to steal something while the mark was in the room was made by one of her friends. The urban legend was that she was caught stealing from Captain America. And she was caught by the man himself. She served community service and then was recruited by Maria Hill. Her IQ was 150, impressive by any means. Marcus only dreamed of having a fraction of her intelligence and influence at SHIELD.

Bucky, Steve, Nat, Bruce, and Clint were all sitting around a fire, sipping on beers, discussing what they could do to help Ro.

"I just don't see any way to get her out. We have the tracking chip and that's all we can do for now," Steve said. He didn't want to tell anyone about Mandy and Marcus being involved. The less people who knew, the better.

Natasha said, "I've reached out to all my contacts and so far they haven't come up with anything. Yet." She added the last part to at least appear hopeful for Bucky's sake.

"Whoever made her was a genius. Her capabilities are incredible. It seems the last part of her development is cognitive..." he trailed off as he had a realization. He bit his tongue to keep from blurting out what he feared. Whoever had taken her wanted to finish the training and program her mind.

"You were saying?" Clint encouraged Bruce to finish his thought.

"I think that the Navy is going to finish training her mentally. She has the basic knowledge of a SEAL and could take down any normal soldier. I think they want to put more into her brain."

Bucky was intently staring at the fire, not wanting to think about what "they" might be doing to her at this very moment. He knew she was pure and it wasn't her fault she was made. Ro deserved to be given a chance at life, not to be a weapon for power hungry men. It was too much like his own situation he had escaped from with the help of his friends. Steve had found him and then the king of Wakanda had extended his help. He finally felt like he was living a free and meaningful life. Sure, he had nightmares occasionally, but he wasn't as haunted as he used to be. "I'm going inside," Bucky said abruptly and then left the group.

Weeks went by and no new leads were uncovered. They collected files that were heavily redacted and mentions of Alexander Pierce and General Thaddeus Ross. They were men one could just go and ask questions to about secret bases and genetic experiments without some solid proof. The whole project was deniable and now without Ro there as the biggest piece of evidence, their case was hopeless.

Back at the secret training facility Ro Six Echo was living in a nightmare. They rewarded her with food when she behaved. When she didn't perform fast enough she was crammed into a box designed to make her muscles cramp after a few hours. Water was withheld from her which was detrimental to her health. Brock Rumlow and Jack Rollins were her constant demons, plaguing her at every moment. Just when she thought Jack was going to be nice to her, he would trip her or smack her on the head. Brock was a little kinder, but had no words or motions of comfort for her. The only consolation he offered her was, "If you did it right the first time, you wouldn't have to do it again." He had a nagging sense of guilt over the way she was being treated. He had read Dr. Banner's report on how even though her body was grown, she was very young mentally. He knew she was scared and just wanted to please everyone. It was what she was trained to do. He knew the feeling of not being good enough and having to prove yourself to everyone. One day, after a particularly grueling training session, Ro was sitting cross legged on the floor, leaning back on her hands, sipping some water. Brock was in the room with her and no one else was around. He sat down beside her and started to talk to her. Really talk to her like a real person. "It won't always be like this. I think once you're done training you'll be able to lead your own team."

She glanced at him from the side of her eye. "Did you go through this training? How long did it take you to finish?" she asked, her voice just a whisper.

"No, no. I didn't do this training, but I did similar training. I was out in the woods, then the desert. There were lots us going through the same thing. We helped each other," he trailed off. He knew in his heart she didn't deserved to be treated like this. He rested his right hand on top of hers that was on the mat. She glanced down as he did, too. Then he raised his hand to put it on her cheek and she flinched at his movement. He continued anyways and said, "You're going to be ok, kid." Then he stood up and offered his hand to Ro for her to stand.

"Come on. It's shower time and then dinner," he said somewhat sadly.

Secretary Pierce never came to the base. He would always phone in to the doctors and trainers to ask about progress. "I need her ready in a week. Make sure she is totally compliant."

The doctors knew what they had to do.