1980. Moscow, Soviet Union
The agent who touched Her earlier led me back to his shared room, it was only next door but it felt much farther away from her. I stood there, leaning against a wall, conjuring up every bad scenario that could be happening on the other side of the wall.
Not even ten minutes into my extensive thinking, I heard Her scream rip out through the entire building. I immediately tried to bolt to the door, but that agent was already standing there. He held a gun up to my chest, blocking my view. I had left all of my weapons back on my bed in Her and I's room.
"I would recommend you stand down. Right now." I backed away, but still stood on guard. I knew that if I made any wrong choices right now, there's a high chance of Hydra killing Her before we even make it back to Siberia.
Normally, these thin walls would make snooping in on other people's conversations as easy as anything, but now that I was actually trying, I couldn't make out anything. Not even a single word. It was as if there was twenty feet of solid brick walls between the rooms.
Another ten minutes passed without any word from Her or the agent, Richie. I was staring to get impatient. Every thirty seconds or so, I shifted my weight onto the opposite foot. Bending and observing my metal fingers seemed to be one of the only pass times available. I thought about how many lives this hand had taken. It must be more than I could ever remember.
The sound of a door clicking open made my head snap up, almost hitting the wall in the process. It was Richie. He stood there, looking very distant, sort of angry, but also relieved and exhausted.
"She's finally asleep," the agent ran one hand over his face. He looked up to me, "you should go back there. If she wakes up again, just sing a simple song."
"I don't sing." I deadpanned. I don't care what he did to me, I was not going to be singing to Her; no matter what I felt.
"Well, then do something. That's the only thing that worked for me."
With that, I left silently to return to my room and Her sleeping body, finally peacefully once more.
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The plane to pick us up was once again late. She actually slept through the entire night, surprising all three of the men who surrounded her. When she was awake earlier, she seemed distant from me. Never looking me in the eye or even at all. I must have messed up again, done something inside of her mind and scared her.
While on the plane, She did her job and 'healed' me. Even though I had almost no flesh wounds from this mission, it was a relief to me to get some of my other pain out of my brain. I was the one who pulled away because she was going to hurt herself taking too much. While she was at it, she helped the two other agents without them even asking. She stuck close to that Richie guy, speciously.
No one spoke the whole ride back to Siberia. There was no need to. The two Hydra agents and I would be debriefed the second we stepped foot back into the base. She probably is going to give her mission report and then be sent to the chair to wipe her memory. Then, the two of us would most likely be frozen for a few years until we're needed again.
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"Mission report, Soldier." This was a process now imbedded in my mind: giving mission reports. Even thought I did not remember the details from everyone, I knew what followed: being frozen once more.
"Successful, sir."
"And why did four of our men die?"
"It was their fault, sir. They were not careful. They went out in the open before it was clear and they were shot, killed on the spot."
"Very well," he wrote everything down and looked to an agent standing behind me. "Take him down to the room where our other asset is awaiting." He nodded and led me down the twisting halls. To every other prisoner here, I am the top dog who is not imprisoned by Hydra, but they're all wrong. If anything, I am the prisoner with the least amount of freedoms.
She sat tied up in the middle of the room. Her hair was disheveled and tangled, shielding the sides of her face. Her head hung low, it seemed that she was unconscious. She was bound at the ankles and wrist.
I was directed to one of the walls, about fifteen feet away from Her. I stood there comfortably, but stiffly watching Her for any movement. Three more agents entered the room. I recognized only one of them: Kane. He had been referred to as Her 'handler' in the past. Kane was wielding a small knife in his gloved hand. He also had a semi-automatic handgun attached to his belt.
"Good evening, Soldier." He directed this to me without ever even looking in my direction.
I acknowledged him. I never spoke too much, nor too little of what was expected.
Kane slid like a snake over to Her. He took his gloved hands and gripped her chin, forcing her head upwards. Based on how easily he manipulated Her body, she was definitely unconscious. With his other hand, Kane took it back and slammed it forward on her her cheek. The skin to skin contact rang out through the entire room. Her body jolted away, eyes wide in fear.
Kane started beating on Her entire body. Spitting out insult after insult on how she was unable to kill a man. She sat there, defenseless, silent tears leaked from her eyes after the knife was cut into her shoulder. I, too, stood there defenseless.
Eventually, the harsh beating stopped. and now questioning took place. One of the other men who escorted Kane into the room stood behind Her, an electric pole in hand.
"Why did you not kill the man, miss?"
"I coul-" She didn't even get to finish her reply before a crackling electric pole was shoved into the crock of her neck. Screaming out in pure agony, her whole body shook. It seemed to be in both pain and fear. I clenched my hands at the sight in front of me. True, I was no newbie when it came to things like this, but I did not like seeing it done to Her.
Kane continued to beat her body senseless for an hour. I wanted to look away, but I knew if I did She would be the one punished for my actions. I stood there, making it look like my insides were not churning at the sounds and sights coming from Her.
Even after she lost consciousness again, Kane felt the need to land another harsh blow into her ribcage. Her once beautiful face was now covered in cuts and already forming bruises. The colors spanned from a nasty yellow to a deep, dark purple. Her hair was all disheveled from Kane grabbing it to force her head upwards. On her ankles and wrist, deep lacerations made their home on her soft skin.
Two guards released her from the chair and her unconscious body slumped forward towards the floor. Neither of them made a move to try and save her from impact with the concrete. I didn't either. I watched Her fall harshly to the ground.
Kane had made his way towards me while the two guards had released her. I stared straight forward.
"Pick her up, Solder." I obliged. "Guards, take them to the room."
Without even walking out the door, I already knew what room they were talking about. We were both going to get wiped again and then frozen. Back into black nothingness for however long it is until they need one of us.
I didn't even need to guards to know they way. It was muscle memory by now. They were probably only with us to make sure that I didn't pull any 'funny business'.
They took Her from me first. She was all hooked up to the chair and then a doctor slapped her cheek, which brought her back to the land of the living. The terror that filled her eyes when hers met mine made me actually look away. My eyes were directed downwards for the entire time until the screaming stopped. When I looked back up, the process was done. She was wiped clean once again, and now it was my turn. Neither of us would ever remember any of the moments we had together over this past mission.
I was forced into the chair by my shoulders. The closing latches made my heart rate increase and my breathing become unstable. My eyes were darting around the room looking for a nonexistent escape from this. Leather was shoved between my teeth so I wouldn't break them, then burning white pain was all I felt.
When it stopped, I was released and I saw two guards holding up this girl who was bruised and bloodied.
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Translations:
none
Authors Note:
Guess what, I'm not dead!
It's actually harder than I thought to write in his pov oh my goodness. Anyway, please give some feedback! Lots of love.