1999
Hydra Siberian Facility, Russia
Ella's P.O.V.
"I've turned into a monster,
And it keeps getting stronger."
Imagine Dragons- Monster
Another month passed by. Most of my missions are the almost same (Terminate and Extract). I was doing it pretty well until now but.
"So what do we have here?" I inquired.
"Terminate." James handed me a picture of a woman hugging her two kids. A girl and a boy.
I gulped. I kill men quite easily. But this.
"All of 'em ? Are you sure James?" I questioned him again.
He nodded and discussed all the plan with me. I want to do this but don't wanna do this. My hands are trembling as I handed him the photograph.
"What's wrong with you?" He said looking at my trembling hands.
Don't let emotions take over.
"Nothing. Let's do this." I said getting out of the van.
They never tell us why we do these missions. We both don't even know who is ordering all of this from the above. We just do it. As if they own us. As if we are their slaves. We can't even question why we are killing all of these people, what is their fault, what they have done to them.
They just keep using us.
We entered the house as they had almost no security. In the living room, I saw both kids snatching something from each other. When they saw us, they started shouting. A woman came running listening their shouting and after seeing dropped something from her hand. She looks terrified. Her children hid behind her and she fell on her knees crying begging for her children's life. Winter Soldier pointed the gun at the woman.
This is wrong. I can't let him do this. A part of me wants to do it. I'm fighting a battle in my brain right now. I can't let the darkness conquer this time.
I pointed my gun at Winter Soldier.
"What are you doing?"
"Let them go James." This time I was determined.
"You've no idea what they'll do to you." He said
"I don't care what happens to me." I said staring in his blue eyes. I know deep inside he don't wanna do it.
He dropped the gun.
I saw them running away and sighed in relief.
AFTER AN HOUR
"Who failed the mission?" Colonel Vasily Karpov shouted.
I raised my hand.
"Zimniy soldat sobiralsya ubit' ikh, no ya ostanovil yego, i oni ubezhali" I said.
"Winter Soldier was about to kill them but I stopped him and they ran."
"Otvedite Zimnego soldata v yego komnatu. Nash Temnyy Prizrak yeshche ne znayet istinnogo znacheniya boli" Colonel said.
"Take Winter soldier to his chamber. Our Dark Phantom doesn't knows the real meaning of pain yet."
"Open the other 5 winter soldiers and bring them to cage."
I stood there giving a cold stare to the wall in front. I have no regret of what I've done. Even if I died during my punishment (which most probably I'll), I won't regret it. Why should I be alive? I've no reason left to live. It's still a mystery why I survived all of this??? No one is clearly waiting for me. No one wants me. I've no place in this world. No one wants me or love me. Clearly, dying is better than serving these murderers.
They locked me in the cage with 5 winter soldier. They were all looking at me with clear expression that they'll eat me alive.
This time my call is different.
I wanna die.
I'll not resist or fight back.
As they all advanced toward me, I just stood there staring at the ground. After a second, one was trying to break my arm, other one was punching me in face. One of the girl in them was kicking my stomach. Other was bruising my ribs. Two of them carried me up and slammed me on cage's wall. I fell down, coughing up when suddenly that girl hit me in chest again.
I want this to be quick.
When will all these suffering ends.
Kill me plz I beg you.
Suddenly I heard a voice in my mind.
"Hey Sparkles!!!"
"Sparkles???"
"Those eyes are no less than sparkling stars. You don't like it???"
"No. No. I like it. It's just that no one else ever gave me a nick name before."
Suddenly I changed my mind. I can't die. I'm not alone. All I know it feels like there's someone who actually loves me and is waiting for me. I can't die like that. Without a fight.
I've to stay alive .
For that person.
And I'll.
I got up cleaning blood from my mouth and face by my arm sleeve. I just hit one's head by my feet and twisted the arm of the other. A girl tried to hit me but I dodged it, grabbed her fist, twisted her arm and snapped her elbow joint. I was feeling a bit dizzy too as I lost a lot of blood during my sort of attempt of killing myself.
One of them slammed my head on cage's railing and I passed out.
When I woke up, I was in a room. I'm not in my chamber. This is my best chance to escape from here and find my family, MY IDENTITY. I'm sick of all of this. The control. The manipulation. I'm done with them. I'll not leave a single person alive here.
With one slam, I broke that door and started running outward. Red sign was blaring due to my escape but I didn't stopped. A group of soldier came to stop me,
This time I'll show no mercy to them.
I killed one using my dagger and took his gun. They trying to hold me but I opened the fire at them.
One by one , I killed all of them.
Colonel Vasily ran and ordered Winter Soldier to kill me.
"I don't wanna fight you James."
But his memory has been erased. I can see it clearly.
He was about to shoot me. But I dodged, jumped and kicked the gun away. He hit me on stomach, I fell hard on ground. I hit his foot by my legs, got up. He pulled out his dagger. Shit I'm unarmed.
"James, try to remember. This is not you. You're my only friend." I said trying to stop him from stabbing me.
He kept trying to stab me but I kept stopping him with my wrist. He tried to punch me but I dodged it and punched him right in the temple. He fell aside. I went near him seeing if he's okay. "James? Are you alright?" I asked
He looked at me disappointed of himself.
"Go."
"What?" I asked.
"Run away from here."
"No you're coming with me. We'll find your family too." I said holding his hand looking in his eyes.
"No." He said holding my face.He grabbed his gun and said: "Run or I'll shoot you." I shook my head. Tears filled up in my eyes.
"Go." He shouted.
"Goodbye James." I said holding his hand and ran outside.
"Look at you, the Dark Phantom." A man said standing outside.
I turned to look at him. He looked a bit familiar. I've seen him somewhere. "Who are you?"
"You remember the night we all drugged you. You were knocked out. How would you know. You woke up next morning with bruises all over your body. I'll have to say you look a lot like your mother now."
Some blurred memories flashed before my eyes. My mother crying for help whenever he used to beat him. The night they molested me.
Oh I know this bastard.
He's my stepfather.
"You used to beat my mother" I said clenching my wrist.
"Coz she was weak. Just like you."
I've no control over myself now.
"You broke my mother and broke me too. But guess what, now, you can't break me anymore." I emptied the bullets from magazine and threw the gun away.
"Oh you poor girl. You can't kill me. You are still weak and pathetic just like your mother." He said laughing at me.
"Killing you with gun. It's easy. I'll do it with my bare hands. I don't want it to be easy for you. I'll enjoy every cry of yours." I glared.
He tried to run but I caught him and shoved him on the ground with my one hand on his neck, other on his arm.
"Who's weak now Charles??? Who's pathetic now???" I pressed my nails on his arm until it bled and squeezed his flesh. He screamed for help.
"You see, my darkness has conquered me. I've never felt like this before. You wanted to break me. Nice try. But guess what, you can't break, what's already broken. You can't hurt a girl who's already dead inside. Instead, you made me the best version of myself." I said while he was choking.
"Look at you look at yourself. Look at what you've become." He muffled a cry.
"A monster. A freak. That's what you always have been." He struggled to loosen my grip on his neck but no use.
After a moment, he stopped struggling.
I checked his pulse.
He's dead.
He's actually dead.
I killed him.
This time, he was right. I'm a monster.
I tried to cry but I couldn't. It felt like something was stuck in my throat. After I looked at my hands full of blood, I screamed as loud as I could, and burst into tears. I killed all of them. My darkness conquered me. I made myself what they wanted me to be. A murderer. The Dark Phantom, who is an animal, a monster, who enjoy hurting people. I completely hate myself for what I did. How much bad they were with me, I shouldn't have killed them. I was not like that. It's what they made me. I have blood on my hands.
As I stared my hand, I started rubbing my hand to get that blood off. But it was all over my clothes. I wanted to wipe it out. But it didn't.
I ran and ran and ran until I reached an open ground till the end of the sight. There was a stable nearby the road. I saw a tap. I ran toward it as I desperately wanted to wash the blood on my hands. I opened the tap and sat down until my whole clothes were wet.
They blood on my hands was wiped out but my clothes were still having bloody stains. After cleaning my hands, I sighed in relief. But in my mind, I could clearly see their blood, all of the people I've killed until now. There's blood on my hands. No one can see it except me. I closed the tap, stood up and started walking toward I don't know. My whole body suddenly went numb and I fell down on road. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realized a car was coming from other side. It stopped seeing me lying on road.
A man got out of it approached me saying:
"Are you okay kid?"
He was bald, wearing 3 piece and black tinted goggles.
"Are you hurt? Where's your family kid?"
"I don't know. Do you know about my family???"
I'm not in my senses right now.
Suddenly he started analyzing my face and realized something.
"I know someone who knows."
"Take me to him." I said.
"Whose blood is that ??? It clearly isn't yours" He said while driving.
"I don't remember."
He then handed me a water bottle. I finished it in a second.
"Who are you?" I said looking at him.
"Phil. Phil Coulson."
"Phil. What does it mean?"
"I don't know. It's a Greek name that's all I know." He said smilingly.
"Who's that person you were talking about?" I inquired.
"You'll see." He said.
"Can I open the car window?"
"Yeah sure."
I'm a bit relieved as I can't smell anything fishy here. If something happens, I know how to take care of myself. A ll I need right now is answers and a break from all of this.
"Which place is it?" I inquired.
"Siberia." He answered.
I rested my arms on the window letting the cool breeze gently touching my face.
Eventually I fell asleep.
I woke up in a room lying on a bed.
"Oh God, plz don't tell me I'm captured again. That man seemed nice." I mumbled getting up.
They haven't done anything with me yet. But they can and I have to stay sharp and attentive.
The door opened revealing a bald man wearing long black coat. An eye patch on one eye, damn he looks like a pirate. This one is bald too.
"You slept well?"
I nodded. He doesn't seems like he'll harm me in anyway but who knows.
"You are the one that Phil was talking about? You know about my family?"
"Agent Coulson brought you here. In fact he knew about your family too. But he didn't wanted to break it to you all of sudden."
He knew about it too. It seems I'm the only person who doesn't knows about myself. I'm done. If he didn't tell me who I am, I'll probably start crying.
"Break what? Plz tell me. Who am I???" I shouted.
He didn't said a word.
"TELL ME!!!!!" I shouted again.
"Ella Louisa Stark."
Ella.
Louisa.
Stark.
Here's that Stark name again.
"Who's that?" I inquired.
"That's you."
"Tell me more."
" Your mother was killed when you were 6. You're custody was then given to your biological father. Tony Stark. "
"You graduated from MIT this year .But, you were kidnapped by your stepfather almost 2 months ago and the world thought you were dead."
What????
"Who are you?"
"I'm ... I'm To... I'm Ton....I'm...I'm.....Tony."
"Meet Mr. Anthony Stark. Your father."
"Plz! Don't leave me like Mommy and Grandma."
"No! No! No! El I won't leave you. I got you honey. I got you. No one will ever hurt you again."
"Wake up. We're home El."
"Good night my little birdie. Daddy loves you."
"Nothing in this world is more important to me than my little birdie nerd."
" Daddy used to call me his birdie."
"You're starting to remember." He said looking at me.
"Fragments." I said.
"Where were you all this time??? What happened to you???" He questioned staring at my face.
My mind was processing everything. From my past to my present. My memories they were all coming back and forth.
"Ella Louisa Stark. The illegitimate daughter of billionaire Tony Stark. Texting your Daddy for help aren't ya?"
"You are just like your mother Ella. Ugly bitch, pathetic, weak and a freak. She always begged for my love. Such people have no right to live. She deserved to die."
"MOMMY HELP"
"MOMMY HE'S HURTING ME. HELP ME SOMEBODY"
"Hey hey hey. There's a guy with sniper aimed at your Dad right now. You can go near your Daddy and check it out. Say anything to him, he'll shoot him right there."
"If something happened to me or if I never returned, tell Daddy I love him more than anything in this world."
One of our scientists suggested using that last sample of serum on someone sharing Stark blood. As he believes Stark has used his DNA in that serum. You were the best choice for it.
"You'll be the new fist of HYDRA."
"Kill him or I'll kill you."
"Gun was intended for mercy. Now you have to do it yourself. Snap his neck."
Then I suddenly realized something. What those bad men did to me. I was a child living happily with my daddy. After all those sufferings from my childhood, I was actually happy. Until that bastard kidnapped me. And they made me a monster. A sudden realization dawned upon me, they used me. To kill people. I realized how many murders I've done. How much blood is in my hands. How I got out of control and killed everyone at that facility. I killed everyone. I killed my step father. They made me a monster. I'm a murderer now. I've blood on my hands.
I suddenly started to scream. I screamed and cried and cried loudly. I had no idea of whatever the hell was going around me. I was mourning. Mourning over a part of myself they killed. Then they injected me like 3 times and I again passed out.
When I woke up again, same man was sitting.
"One of this injection is more than enough to take down a rhinoceros. We had to give you 3 of that to calm you down."
"Who are you?" I asked getting up a bit.
"Nick Fury."
"Okay Fury. What do you want from me?"
"I want to know what happened to you."
I actually feel safe here. Even talking with this pirate. It felt comfortable. After all' I'm seeing normal people after ages.
"I'm Director of Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division."
Woahhhhh!!!!
"That's quite a name." I exclaimed.
"We are working on it. You have to tell me now what happened to you?"
"Plz tell me you didn't took my blood sample."
"No we didn't. But if you didn't answered my question. I'll have to do something about it."
"First promise me you won't take my blood, and will let me go."
"That depends."
I started telling him how he kidnapped me and took me to Hydra headquarters. The serum, the assassin training, the Dark Phantom, everything. How my failure of a mission almost led me toward death.
"Whose blood was that on your clothes?"
"It is not of a single person."
I sighed.
"I'm a murderer Fury. I killed all of them. " Few tears streamed down my cheeks.
"You are a child not a murderer."He interrupted.
"Yes I am. I killed them. All of the people in the facility except the winter soldier. He helped me escape from there."
"He helped me escape. After that I ...."
"What???" He was looking at me with concerned face.
"I killed my step father. Brutally." I sobbed and started crying.
"I shouldn't have done that. I had no control over myself. They made me a murderer. I was just a child. They used to insult me. Hurt me. They used to laugh at me while I was choking on my own blood. "
I kept speaking and speaking. Vomiting it all out. Finally I found someone. With whom I can talk. I cried and cried. I didn't stopped.
He came near my bed, sat on the edge and wiped my tears.
I hugged him and kept crying.
" It's okay kid. It's okay." He said in low tune.
3rd person P.O.V.
"We're sending her back to California. To her dad."
"But Director?" Coulson said.
"She told me everything and I know she isn't lying. She's a super soldier but just a child. She needs her father right now. There will be no record of her being here. Council shouldn't get a sniff of it." He said looking outside.
"But Sir?"
"She's just a kid. If council got a sniff of her, I know what they'll do. She's in a pretty bad condition. I want to show her that there's some good in this world too. Remove any of her record. And inform her father, that her daughter's alive."
Tony's P.O.V.
I was in my room when I heard Pepper shouting my name.
I almost ran outside.
"There's a call for you." She said.
"That's why u were shouting?"
"Ella is alive." She exclaimed excitedly.
I knew it.
"What?????????" I took my phone from her desperately.
"Mr. Stark. Your daughter is alive. She was found in Siberia. She was in captivity for 2 months."
"Is she okay?? Can I talk to her?"
"She's fine. She's on her way to California by air. You can pick her up from there."
"I'm on my way. I'm on my way."
I sighed in relief.
I'm so happy right now. I got my baby girl., my birdie back.
I was so happy that I excitedly hugged Pepper saying:
"She's alive. My baby is alive. She's fine." I said as few tears of happiness slipped through my eyes.
"Yeah Tony." She said hugging back.
"Pepper call Rhodey. I'm leaving for airport."
"I'm coming with you."
After half an hour, all of us were standing at the airport. And I saw her flight landed. I don't know why I'm crying right now. These tears are not stopping.
Ella's P.O.V.
"Here change." That Phil guy came in and handed me over some clothes.
"I don't want to." I said.
"You're sure you want to see your father in these clothes." He said with a smile.
My father. They are sending me back to my Daddy.
"You're taking me home?"
"Director Fury is sending you back home. To your father."
I was so happy after a long time that I excitedly jumped and hugged him.
"Where's Fury?"
Fury entered the room saying
"But you have to promise me one thing. You'll not tell anyone about your powers."
"I've to tell Daddy about it."
"Is he good at keeping secrets?" Fury questioned.
"In my case, yes."
"Okay but no one except Daddy."
"You have my word."
After changing, as I was about to leave, I saw Fury outside. I ran and hugged him saying:
"Thank you Fury. I owe you."
"Now go. " He said with a smile.
After an hour, plane was about to land. I was standing there as the door opened and I got out. I see them, I see all of them. Daddy, Rhodey, Pepper, Happy.
I ran as I got out and Daddy came running from his side. I hugged him and started crying.
"Daddy" I said, still sobbing.
"El , my baby girl. I missed you." He was crying too.
"I missed you too, Daddy. I missed you too." I said.
Hello everyone!
A LOOOOOOOOOONG UPDATE FOR YOU GUYS.
That's the end of Pre-Ironman era. Iron-man era will be started from the next chapter onward.
THANK YOU SO SO SO SO SOOOOO MUCH FOR ALL THE LOVE AND VOTES AND WONDERFUL FEEDBACK. IT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME.
I hope you liked the chapter. We had Nick Fury and Phil Coulson too in this one. She'll help Fury in future too but how? You'll find out as the book goes on. Do vote and give me your feedback in the comment section below. Have a nice day!:)