1999
Hydra Siberian Facility, Russia
Ella's P.O.V.
"Put both of them in their cryostasis chamber. Start her training from next morning. " He ordered the soldier standing next to him.
He grabbed my arm. I didn't resist. I walked with him until he took me close to a long, cylindrical chamber.
He closed me inside it. It's freezing cold inside.
Is this place I'm in, have I been here all my life? Is this place my home? What is my name? I don't even remember my name. Maybe someone else knows it. Deep inside I don't feel like I belong in here. I had a life. But where???
Who am I????
This question is frustrating me now.
And then I started freezing. I felt my body going from numb to complete frozen.
NEXT DAY
The cylindrical chamber rose up, and finally I woke up from my so-called sleep. I don't count this in sleep. This is preservation of my body not sleeping. I need actual rest. A doctor injected me something.
My first day of training, a soldier took me out.
An open ground.
What the hell am I supposed to do here???
"Warm up." He said looking at my blank face.
He wants me to run.
I'm not running. I'm tired.
I shook my head and crossed my arms.
He sighed and called someone.
Then a guard came from the other side. He was holding ropes. The hounds were tied to those ropes.
That man left the ropes.
Is he insane????
The hounds are into me now.
For saving my life, yes I will run.
Pushing my arms back and forth, I ran and ran, jumping over any holes, dodging insects that wanted to suck my blood clean, and pumping my legs as fast as they could run and the wind it was just torturing my eyes.
"These people have no regard for lawn maintenance." I murmured.
After a moment when I turned around, those hounds were left far away. I apparently ran too fast. Or the hounds are slow.
I can run quite fast, I guess.
After this whole run, my breathing was labored, my legs were tired for just a few minutes.
Then he took me to another ground.
There were loops and turns in places where it shouldn't be. Mud galore, swings, caves, strings the size of Mount Rushmore that I have to climb on the daily basis as it seems, walls, balancing beams. You name it, the course had it. And guess who would fall on his face every-single-time.
"It is I,
the most graceless lump of a girl the world has ever encountered!!!! " I mumbled.
"GET UP!!!" The soldier shouted.
Ughhhh......
I'm suppressing the urge of killing him so much. They almost killed me back there.
After almost half course, I shoved myself again on the ground. Mud splashed up in places I'd rather not discuss, making me feel kind of crappy. Somehow I managed to get through the obstacle course. Not too proud of myself . Could've done better. I've got no skill. Except that serum that is flowing in my veins.
Hours turned into days, days turned into weeks.
Once, they locked me in a cage with long brown-haired blue eyed guy.
The Winter soldier of course.
They want a fight between us, I guess. It feels like I've been in this cage before. I don't know.
Here we go,
At first, he had the upper hand, putting me in a headlock, making a pretzel out of my arms and legs. His muscular stature made it even more difficult to breathe. But God bless whoever made this serum!!! I can still breathe. I pushed him on the ground and got him in a tight choke-hold. He tapped out in a minute. That's the moment I realized , I'm not that useless as I think I am. I may not have the muscles but I do have some skillful hands. And I'm more powerful than him.
The food which they give me, is not what you call a proper meal. It has everything my body needs but in form of pills. Even after having that so-called meal, I'm still hungry. I've been given classes to learn different language daily. The head is quite happy by my progress. I'm a quick learner whether it comes to learning new languages or new fight moves or using any sort of new weapon. The things which normally take months to learn, I'm learning it in days. To be honest, I'm enjoying it too.
But after this the worst part started.
They started making me learn bad things. I never wanted to hurt anyone using my powers. But they wanted me to hurt others. To hurt every person which comes in my way, which becomes a threat in completion of my mission. I was used to getting hurt by others. I never ever wanted to hurt anyone. Every single person in this facility has tried and enjoyed hurting me in every possible way. Now they want me to hurt innocent people. A part of me deep inside wanted to do it.
But I can't do it.
I can't let my darkness take me over.
The next day, they handed me over a M1911 and ordered me to shoot the man knelt in front of me tied up, his face covered by a black cloth. I can clearly hear him crying and sobbing.
I can't kill him.
No
I can't.
I refused.
They started hitting me on my back. I didn't screamed neither cried or stopped them. What they want me to do is wrong. I can't do that.
Then a soldier pointed a gun on my head.
"Kill him or I'll kill you."
I threw the gun on my hand aside. His patience is wearing thin now.
"Pushka byla prednaznachena dlya poshchady. Teper' ty dolzhen sdelat' eto sam. Shchelkni yego sheyu."
"Gun was intended for mercy. Now you have to do it yourself. Snap his neck."
He pressed the gun on my head.
"DO IT."
He shouted.
"DO IT."
I can't take this. I take his life or he takes mine.
That's the moment I killed my innocence.
I embraced my darkness.
I snapped his neck.
I stared at his dead body lying on my feet. Few tears slipped my cheeks.
"Good choice." The soldier smirked and removed the gun from my head.
He's dead.
It's all my fault.
I chose my life over him.
I wanted to punish myself. I punched the soldier standing in front of me and broke his nose.
I know they'll punish me now. Which I desperately need right now. I've done what I shouldn't have.
But they didn't, as if they knew what I wanted.
They brought another one. This time, a young girl all tied up.
"Pick up the gun and shoot her. "
She was crying looking at me for help.
This time I didn't hesitated. I no longer feel anything. I aimed at her head and pulled the trigger.
She was dead as I saw a small blood pool forming around her head on ground.
I wanted to scream out loud after what I've done. But they injected me with something. I felt burning sensation throughout my body.
They taught me several other methods to kill people, the art of seduction. Which I learnt without any resistance.
They killed a part of me. Which had empathy for others. But now, I'm way beyond that. I no longer feel anything for anyone not even myself. There's only one person in this place which I can trust a bit. That's him.
The Winter Soldier.
1 MONTH POST-SERUM
"This is your first mission Dark Phantom. Terminate and extract. Leave no evidence and no witness alive."
He showed me picture of a man wearing glasses and a white coat over his clothes.
"Our Winter soldier will tell you the rest of the details about mission. "
I nodded.
I walked outside and saw a helicopter ready to take off. I walked near it seeing the soldier sitting inside. I sat inside in front of him and we were in the air.
"Do you know my name???"
He passed a glare but shook his head.
"What's your real name???"
"I don't know" His deep voice answered.
Finally he said something. I am hearing him speaking for the first time.
"You have a voice. You speak too. That's good to know." I said sarcastically.
"Listen I can't call you winter soldier or soldier. Can I give you a short name???" I asked.
He glared but nodded.
Yes!!!
But what do I name him. I don't remember any names. At all.
"Let me think on it."
"Can we talk about the mission now?" He ordered.
"Yeah sure." I nodded.
He explained everything about it. The point where we enter that man's house.
"I'll take care of the guards." I interrupted.
"I was going to say the same." He stated.
"I'll go inside. Kill him. After taking out the guards you'll extract all the files and I'll take care of CCTV cameras. After that you've to delete the footage from all the backups. We've only 30 minutes." He further explained.
"Affirmative. " I nodded.
"Leave no evidence. Leave no witnesses alive."
"That's our extraction point. A helicopter will extract us both."
"It's easier than training that's all I know. I'm thinking about your name too." I said looking at him.
After an hour, we reached there.
"That's it." He said putting on his mask.
I once again adjusted my daggers and guns, checked if there's anything missing. Nothing is missing. I'm all set for my first mission.
We both climbed the wall entered the house. A dog was about to bark until he shot him with silencer gun.
"See you at extraction point."
He entered the house to kill the target while I advanced toward front. There were two guards standing at entrance having a chat.
"Hey fellas!!!" I said as I was facing both of them now.
"What are you doing here kid?" One of them said.
A kid.
Literally
"Call me kid one more time I dare ya!!!" I exclaimed.
One of the guard advanced toward me until I jumped and hit his face by my boot. He fell on the ground. Other advanced toward me with gun to attack but I threw his gun by hand and curled my other arm around his neck and snapped his neck. The other guard got up until then. I punched him on nose and shot him on head with my silencer gun. I checked his pulse to see if he's alive or not.
"That was easy." I mumbled and went inside.
"Target is dead." He spoke on our ear com.
"Guards are also dead. I'm looking for his laptop."
"I've removed the CCTV. Hurry up now." He exclaimed.
"Ha!!! Found it." I turned it on, attached drive and started copying files and removing footage from all the backups.
While it was removing files, I opened his documents, as I was getting bored. One of the files was named as Dr. James Hamilton.
James
It's a nice name.
As I was closing the window, I saw a folder named "Stark".
Stark
I've heard this name before.
Suddenly my head started to ache. It started feeling dizzy. I was about to open it.
"They are here to extract us. Come quickly to extraction point." He ordered.
"On my way." I shut down the laptop, detached the drive and started running toward the roof as it was our extraction point. He was climbing the rope attached to helicopter. As I was climbing the helicopter started flying upward, the name flashed again in my eyes. Stark. My grip loosened on the rope. I shrieked but I didn't fell as the winter soldier grabbed my arm tightly with his hand and climbed us both inside the helicopter.
"Thanks!" I said looking at him.
"What happened to you there? You are the best soldier among all of us, Phantom."
"Maybe I was nervous." I lied.
Should I tell him?
"I totally disagree." He said.
"I saw a name on his laptop. I think I've heard it before. My head started to ache....." He interrupted me by covering my mouth by his hand.
"Don't ever tell about this to anyone. They'll wipe you again." He said in a low tone.
"Shocks. Right???" I questioned.
He nodded.
"You trust me."
"What?"
"You told this to me because you trust me. I know you trust nobody. You barely even talk. But you talk to me. Why?"
I let out a heavy breath.
"It's because you are the only person who never hit me or try to hurt me on purpose. You just follow the orders. You never enjoy hurting me. That's why I trust you. Coz we are the same." I said looking down.
After a long silence, I yawned.
"James"
"What???"
"I'll call you James from now on."
He nodded and got lost in his thoughts.
After a moment I yawned again.
"James???"
"Hmm"
"Can I use your shoulder as pillow? I'm tired." I asked.
He nodded moving closer to me. I adjusted my head on his shoulder, wrapped my arm around his and fell asleep on his shoulder in a minute.
SAME DAY
10880 Malibu Point
Stark Mansion California
Tony's P.O.V.
It's been a month since El is gone. Everybody says she's dead. But I know that she's alive. I don't believe them or any evidence that she's dead. I did everything to find her. Police, Army, Interpol, I've tried everything I can. But I've got nothing. I know nothing. It's all my fault. She saved my life risking hers. They say she's dead. But I know that she's alive . I just know it.
I had no idea Pepper entered the garage and was standing in front of me.
"Obadiah is calling you up Tony." She said.
Suddenly I called Jarvis.
"Yes Mr Stark."
"Did El left a message for me?"
"Yes, Mr Stark."
Jarvis showed both of us the footage of that day. My birdie was talking to Jarvis about her tracker.
"If something happened to me or if I never returned, tell Daddy I love him more than anything in this world."
"I think you should inform Mr Stark before you..."
"Mute" She interrupted Jarvis and ran outside.
I fell down as few tears streamed down my face.
"Daddy loves you too El. Daddy loves you too."
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