"With the Hive dead, we need a new leader to bring the factions back together. With the soldier at our side once again, we will finally find the respect we've long deserved."
"I understand, but was this the best the Watchdogs could find?"
"She's weaker than the Maximoff girl, but she'll do."
"She can't be fully controlled. She's a liability."
"We'll find a way to encourage her."
Jess forced her eyes open, taking in the sight of the two men looming above her. The only light came from outside of her cell, framing their silhouettes in a vaguely ominous way. She took in a sharp breath and then gagged, the air around her heavy and thick with a strong metallic smell. It's been about a year since she changed. A year since she had a clear mind. A year since everything was taken away.
"Oh, good," one of the men said as he leaned closer to her. "You're awake."
Jess tried to growl in response, but a whimper escaped her lips instead. Her body burned, her heart ached, and her mind screamed. They tried to turn her into their next best weapon: injecting vials of liquids, sending wave after wave of electricity, and blasting blinding bursts of light into her system since they took her in.
She should have known the promise of a cure would come at a price. But even if they did have a cure, why would they fix something that isn't even broken? Despite the splitting headaches she would sometimes get, she knew the pain was just a side effect of the person she was apparently destined to be. Besides, they already took everything she cared about from her. She wasn't going to let them take the last thing she had for herself no matter how much she hated it.
"Please," she mumbled, "just shut up. I'm trying to sleep." She glared at the other man, the faceless man, mustering up the energy she had left to pierce the edges of his mind. The man hissed as his hand shot up to his temple. His reaction coaxed a weak smirk out of Jess before she felt a searing pain rip through her body. She gritted her teeth at the familiar shocks, her back arching as the waves of electricity coursed through her. Her eyes watered, the figures above her blurring for a second before she blinked and the tears fell.
"The rest of your team has been assembled, Jessabell," the faceless man said. "We will prepare you for your mission soon."
"No," Jess's voice cracked. She took in slow, deep breaths to calm her heart. As Jess recovered from the shocks sent through her, her mind flooded again with the incoherent noise she's grown familiar with since she changed. "We weren't meant for this."
"On the contrary," the other man said, "this was our destiny, Jessabell, this is our birthright." She watched as he raised his hand to her face, but he didn't touch her. He prickled her cheek with jabs of electricity, chuckling as he did so. The weaker shocks made her muscles twitch into a twisted half smile that bared her gritted teeth. "You'll understand and accept it one day."
Jess whipped her head away, sucking up the harsher pain in her neck the motion caused. She shut her eyes and fought back the tears that threatened to return.
The faceless man shook his head before addressing Jess. "You will be wiped and released when the mission is complete," he said, reaching for the belts that held Jess's limbs to the bed she laid in.
Jess sighed, releasing the breath she had been holding in. The year she spent here felt like a lifetime. The idea of being freed and seeing the outside world was so ridiculous she nearly laughed. She had an itching feeling that being wiped and released meant something a little more metaphoric than she would have liked.
"Now, come, we must evaluate you before you meet the others." With each belt he removed, the man avoided Jess's skin. She sighed as her wrists and ankles were freed from the tight bounds.
Jess glanced up at his empty face and shook her head slowly. "I don't want to," she inched her body away from the men, moving herself closer to the freezing wall at her side. She brought her knees up to her chin and hugged her legs, massaging her ankles that ached. The cold made her body shake, but she preferred that feeling more than the other man's power. The cold would never be able to numb her mind, but it was better than having it momentarily fried by a man she fiercely hated. She stared at the hands of the man who tortured her, avoiding meeting his eyes. "Why are you making us do this?"
"He's a liability, Jessabell," the faceless man replied. "He's a dangerous weapon that must be controlled—"
Jess choked out an empty laugh. "You're the ones who turned him into a weapon."
"Controlled once again to do Hydra's bidding," the other man finished.
"And that's a good thing?" she spat.
The faceless man shook his head before he took a step back. "You won't eat today if you don't follow. Just do as you're told, Jessabell," he said before reaching into his back pocket. He pulled out a pair of gloves and placed them beside Jess's hands. Jess eyed the stained gloves that were several sizes too big in disgust, but she slipped them on. She slowly tightened them by the belts around her wrists.
Jess sighed, her eyes flicking up to meet the other man's before she started lifting herself off her cot. Her vision was still a bit blurred, but she easily found the piercing blue glint. The other man moved to try and help her, but Jess swatted his arm away.
"Don't touch me," she whispered, getting up with a groan. A rush of light-headedness hit her, so she stumbled in her first few steps before her hand gripped the doorframe to steady herself. Jess took a deep breath and forced herself out of the cell, following the figure of the faceless man down the corridor.
Jess found that escaping from the cell wasn't difficult, but getting through the layers of security was basically impossible. Guards, all enhanced people like her, kept watch from every inch of the place, whatever and wherever this place was. She found her powers basically useless in her attempts at escaping. Sure, she can get a sense of what people around her were thinking and feeling and hit them with a glorified version of a brain freeze, but she could never concentrate enough with all the noise in her head. Every time she tried to find her way out, someone would catch her and bring her back kicking and screaming to the two men.
As Jess followed after the faceless man, with his brother trailing closely behind her, she kept her fingertips along the cool wall just in case she got another bout of dizziness. The guards she passed watched her, shaking their heads or giving disapproving grunts when she sent a quick hello into their mind.
The faceless man took his last turn and Jess nearly bumped into him when he stopped in front of a double door. He peered in through the yellowed windows before stepping aside.
"She's ready for you," the faceless man said, pushing the door open for Jess. Jess shot him a glare before stepping into the ward.
Jess looked around what she assumed to be some old infirmary. Beds and tables alternating along the windowless walls of the room. Her eyes fell to a velvet curtain that enclosed much of the center of the room. She heard shuffling behind it.
"Well this is dramatic," Jess said, calling attention to herself.
"You must be the telepath," a rough voice came from behind the curtain. A woman stepped out, carrying a number of folders and notebooks in her arms. She drew the curtains back revealing a makeshift office, like a psychiatrist's office, complete with a desk, a leather chair, and a bed. She set her belongings on the desk before motioning for Jess to take a seat on the bed in front of her.
"I have a name," Jess replied, examining the cot before settling on its edge. It was fraying and stained with yellow and brown spots. It reeked of something acidic, but was still better than her own cot in the cell. "It's Jessabell."
"It's irrelevant," the woman replied, sitting herself onto her chair. "Pirogov told me you'd be a handful, but I'm not here to waste time," she said in a gravelly voice. "So, let's make this quick, shall we?"
"Don't worry," Jess said, picking at the seams of the bed, "I want to get out ASAP, too."
"Then, tell me," the woman crossed her legs and leaned forward, getting Jess's full attention. "What do you know about the target?"
Jess sighed, having been asked this question over and over again since they told her about the mission. "Used to be Captain America's best friend or probably still is considering what's happened. Also used to be your best assassin—"
"—still our best assassin," the woman corrected.
"Well, I don't see him running around this place as your lap dog, so," Jess shrugged, but continued when the woman only glared. "Last I heard he was framed for blowing up the UN and killing king of Wakanda." Jess looked up at the woman again, who was now going through one of the folders on her desk. "There was some talk of amnesty. Even then, he's killed a lot of innocent people."
"Good," she continued when Jess stopped talking. "So, you have no problem with locating and extracting the Winter Soldier?"
Jess laughed, actually laughed at what she said. "Oh, I do," she replied. "Wherever he is, at least Hydra isn't there to make everything worse."
"So, what is keeping you on this mission?" the woman asked, pulling out a sheet of paper from the folder.
Jess rolled her eyes. "Well, I don't have much of a choice really," she nodded at the door she entered from, "Sparky over there electrocutes me if I so much as try to sneak out to the bathroom." The door behind her lit up blue in response. "See? Always ready with the jazz hands that one."
"They told me they promised you freedom once you've located the Winter Soldier," the woman said. "And a cleared mind upon his extraction. Are you dissatisfied with your abilities?"
"You'd be a bit pissed at the Kree, too, if you had so much," she gritted her teeth and slapped her temple, "so much shit going on inside your head all at once."
Jess wanted out, wanted to go back to her life no matter how quiet and alone it was after she changed. It was better than being stuck in this hell-hole. Until the Winter Soldier was back in Hydra, she'll spend the rest of her days decaying in that rancid, rotting cot of hers. And the slight, albeit questionable, chance of quieting the noise in her head? She'll hunt down all of Captain America's friends, damn her soul in the process.
"Then, it's settled," the woman sighed, her eyes not leaving the paper she pulled out.
"What is that?" Jess questioned. The light behind the woman shined through what she held, so Jess could see it was a photocopy of an old notebook. She couldn't make out the scribbled words, the letters looked foreign and undecipherable in her eyes.
"I need you to do me a favor, Jess," the woman started, "I need you to memorize these words precisely and in this exact order."
"For what?" Jess questioned. She tried to meet the woman's eyes, tried to focus on her thoughts, but her efforts were futile.
"They're code words," the woman answered, "in case the mission is compromised and you have to abort." Jess looked at her with confusion. From what she could tell, they've been planning the mission since the first reports on the Winter Soldier bombing Vienna came in. They've been working hard on the logistics of the operation before they even brought her in. She would admire their tenacity if it weren't for the fact that they were basically modern-day Nazis. So, why even consider aborting a mission that was so dear to them and that they so arrogantly discussed occasionally in front of her? Even if things went south, they'd probably leave her and the others, whoever they were, left for dead, anyways.
"Code words?" Jess questioned again. "I mean, yeah, sure, hit me with it."
"Very well," the woman's eyes returned to the paper. She cleared her throat before speaking again. "Zhelaniye, rzhavy, semnadtsat—"
"Whoa, wait," Jess interrupted, not understanding a word she said. "What the heck did you just say?"
"Zhelaniye, rzhavy—"
"No, no, I mean I can't understand what you're saying," Jess said. "Why are the code words in Russian?"
"It doesn't matter," the woman replied, looking impatient now. "Just remember the sounds. They need to be in Russian."
Jess shook her head, giving the woman a look that easily translated to suspicion. "I can't understand let alone pronounce what you're saying."
"Then, you better hurry and learn," she replied, returning to her clipped voice. "Have they given you the tranquilizer?"
Jess shook her head.
"I'm not really comfortable with—"
"It's necessary for you to focus, isn't it?"
"Well, yeah, but," Jess wanted to explain, but she couldn't find the words. The tranquilizer quieted the noise in her head alright, but, as with all things, had a side effect. Sure, her headaches subsided, but the pain was replaced by a dizzying high that took away her sense of control. The doses started out small, but had to be increased with every injection like her body had developed some sort of resistance against it. Ever since the first injection, Jess's headaches hurt more when the effects of the tranquilizer wore off.
"But what?" the woman said, getting Jess's attention again.
"I'm afraid of what'll happen to me without it," Jess confessed. "I mean, I'm no scientist, but it's a drug. Once I get out, I'll go through some sort of withdrawal wouldn't I? Even if you wipe my mind and give me the 'cure' you apparently have, my body is still going to have to deal without the tranquilizer."
The woman nodded her head once and said, "I wouldn't worry about that. Especially when you should focus on the mission at hand." Jess caught a roll of her eyes before they returned to the paper. "Now, how is the progress on locating the Soldier?"
Jess sighed. She's been trying to find the man ever since her handlers had started to trust her. So, about a month ago.
"I haven't been able to track him down," she said with a shrug.
The woman looked at her pointedly. "You've had plenty of time to do so. What have you been doing in your cell this entire time?" she asked, her voice becoming more clipped with her frustration.
"Oh, you know, the usual: sleeping, crying, having existential crises," she answered, looking at the woman straight in the eye.
The woman sighed and shook her head. "This is not the time for your idiocy." She eyed Jess, contemplating something for a moment. "Pirogov!" she yelled, her voice clipped with her Russian accent.
The door burst open. Jess's handlers jumped into the room, one brother nearly tripping over the other.
"Yes?" they answered in unison.
"Get the girl," the woman ordered. Jess's eyes widened, taking in a deep breath as she readied herself to be taken away. When no hands came, she turned around to find the two men gone.
"Where did—"
Before Jess could finish her question, a sharp scream rang out, drowning out the rest of the noise in her head. Jess clutched her head, pulling at her hair to distract herself with a different pain than what was ripping through her mind.
"No, no, stop," Jess pleaded, shaking her head vigorously. "Don't, she's just a kid."
"Find Barnes," the woman replied, unaffected by Jess's current state.
"I can't," Jess pressed as the screams grew louder.
"You can't or you won't?" the woman hissed. "You seemed to have no trouble finding your team."
The screaming stopped with a whimper before Jess was hit with a feeling of defeat. She could feel the girl surrendering as she felt tears fall down the girl's soft, freckled face. Jess felt her own eyes well up at the girl's pain.
Jess wiped her eyes, smudging the grime on her face, before answering. "I was thinking about it and I think it's because they're my kind. The Soldier, he's, he's still human."
"A year," the woman started, "You've had year to hone your abilities."
"Yeah, a year of torture, experiments, and abuse," Jess spat. "I definitely had plenty of time and opportunities to get this in top shape," she said with another slap to her forehead.
Before the woman could scold Jess again, the doors opened. Jess turned, her eyes heavy, to see the young girl being held tightly by her arms.
The two brothers let go of her, letting her run to Jess. She curled her body against Jess's rigid frame, hiding her face against the telepath's stomach. With each whimper and sniffle, Jess felt her anger rise.
"Jess," the girl whispered between sobs, "they gave me the needle again." Jess tightened her arms around the girl, holding her closer.
"I'm sorry," Jess whispered back, removing one of her gloves and running her hand through the girl's frizzy hair. "I'm here, I'm sorry, I won't let them touch you."
Jess shot the two men a glare before her eyes returned to the woman still sitting in front of her. The woman, looking visibly disgusted at the girls, gave Jess a crooked smile.
"Find Barnes," the woman repeated. "Or the girl will be terminated."
Jess felt the body underneath her freeze before she registered what the woman said. Through gritted teeth and a burst of energy from her anger, Jess shifted the girl behind her and lunged at the woman. Jess's body hit the desk with a thud, her free hand grabbing the woman's neck. Jess let her long, thick fingernails dig into the woman's skin, eliciting a shrill scream that Jess felt vibrate under palm.
Suddenly, before she could focus and enter the woman's mind, Jess felt that familiar pain shoot up her head from her own neck. The shock loosened Jess's grip on the woman, making her entire body go limp. Jess spasmed on the desk, watching helplessly as the faceless man brought a needle to her neck. As she slowly slipped away, Jess tried reaching out to the little girl still sobbing on the cot, but the screaming darkness in her mind took her out before she could give one last word of comfort.