The doctor could hear the entrance of Mr. Pierce and took a deep breath. Results were demanded. Expected. He would not be happy to hear of the setback. A soldier relaxed the grip of the gun he had trained on the medical professional as she walked outside of the barred room to the elder man.
"Sir, h-he's unstable," came the flummoxed words of one of the technicians assigned to work with her. For a moment, she found herself wondering if he had been placed in the same situation as she had. If S.H.I.E.L.D. had dirt on him that forced his compliance. Mr. Pierce paid the man no mind. He merely continued walking into the converted bank vault, meeting her eyes. She forced a blank, measured expression in her eyes.
"We need to delay this," she said evenly, I'm showing signs of psychological trauma."
The man glanced down at the soldier seated in the midst of the equipment, soldiers trained on him.
"His psychological well-being is not my concern, doctor."
"You asked me to make him ready for combat and I've done my best to accomplish it, but he won't be able to fight for anyone if he's a vegetable."
Pierce gave her a dark glare. "I don't recall asking you anything - not for your assistance or advice." The last part was almost a whisper "Do your job, Dr. Greer, or his vegetative state will be the least of your concerns."
The tears stung in her eyes before she could place the mask back onto her features and she looked around the room, noting the extra soldiers who had entered. At least he wasn't stupid enough to stay in a room unprotected. In the man's fragile state, he was completely unpredictable.
The slam of the barred door shook her back to the present and she turned back to the man. He had been absolutely aggressive before, fighting the technician as he repaired his arm, demanding to know who they were and where he was. Now he sat quietly, in almost childlike repose, starring off at absolutely nothing.
"Mission report?" Pierce said, standing before the man. But the man didn't move. He didn't even seem to hear the question. He just continuedstaringg. "Mission report, now." Pierce demanded again. No response. No change in the man's demeanor. Pierce took a minute to adjust his tie, looking back at the doctor, who raised her brows and pursed her lips, the only act of defiance she felt she could safely make.
The elder man walked up slowly to the man that was seated, studying his eyes even as the soldiers surrounding them seemed to all hold their weapons a bit tighter. Suddenly Pierce reached back and slapped the man, the hit reverberating around the room as the soldiers backed up weapons still trained. Even those who had kept their weapons down now had almost unconsciously raised them.
But the man in the chair didn't retaliate. He acted as if he didn't even feel the blow. He looked up at Pierce, still in a haze of confusion. "The man on the bridge….who was he?"
Now that had never happened. At least since she had been "assigned." Dr. Greer looked from the man in the chair to Pierce. "You met him earlier this week on an assignment." She wasn't sure if it was true or not. He had been given an assignment earlier that week. But something in Pierce's tone told her that there was more to this. She glanced at one of the men to her right who was positively seemed inanimate - as if holding completely still to see if the explanation was acceptable.
The man in the chair looked around, still confused, before settling his gaze in another unoccupied space in the room. "I knew him," he stated simply.
Pierce pulled a chair up, taking a breath before adopting a more calm and nurturing tone. "Your work as been a gift to mankind. You shaped the century. And I need you to do it one more time. Society's at a tipping point between order and chaos. Tomorrow morning, we're going to give it a push. But… you don't do your part, I can't do mine. And HYDRA can't give the world the freedom it deserves." The doctor had heard Secretary Pierce use the word HYDRA before. It had seemed to calm the man in the chair at times when he seemed agitated. Perhaps it was a division of S.H.I.E.L.D. unknown to her or most of the public. After all, most of the men surrounding them now wore S.H.I.E.L.D uniforms. But this freedom…..if it required the forced service of a relatively unknown and obscure doctor to help with the programming of a living weapon, she doubted it would be freedom she would be thankful for.
The air chilled as Pierce silently waited for the man in the chair to speak. The doctor heard someone clear his throat and another soldier cock his rifle. "But I knew him…" the man in the chair said softly, determined.
Pierce took a deep breath before standing. Within a few moments, he was before her and the two technicians. "Prep him."
She kept her gaze trained on the man. "He's been out of cryo-freeze for too long. I can't guarantee what-"
"Then wipe him," Pierce said quickly the sharpness of his words forcing her to look up, " and start over."
She stared at Pierce a beat longer than what was probably advisable before following the technicians to the medical monstrosity that the man was seated in. He had tears in his eyes. Actual tears. He should remember very little about the procedure but seemed to be bracing himself for the pain to come. The men pushed him down as she punched in the sequencing, watching the elevated heart rate on the monitors. One tech waited with a mouthguard in his hands, prepared to carefully explain what it was and why it was needed. The man didn't even look up. He just licked his lips and opened his mouth. Again, this was odd. Unless something had occurred before her entrance into this "happy family", he should have had no memory. None at all.
The machine whirred to life as mechanical bracers cupped both his real and cybernetic arms in place, keeping him still as the circular interface began it's journey to his head. She punched in the final sequence as the circlet reached its target the connectors literally sparking to life. It gripped his skull, the final connector starting a jolt at the brainstem that continued to his entire skull. That's when the screaming began.