A/N: Hi guys, it's me again :) This is awkward now, because I don't really have anything to say... So, yeah... ONWARDS!
Big thanks to: Shadowcat56, doctor3378, xxDreamWalkerxx, Honeybadger262, Scarlett-Warrior66, Calliope's Scribe, Choking On A Dream, animecrazygirl1 and EmmaAWatson91 for following/favouriting. Thanks guys :)
Review Response(s):
xxDreamWalkerxx: Yeah, Doctor Zola's Swiss, but it's a common misconception (especially since one of Switzerland's four languages is German). And I'm glad you think it's an interesting idea. P.S. I hope this is soon enough ;)
4 - The Next Supersoldier
When I woke, I thought I'd been transformed into a punching bag without realising, and about four thousand different people had each spent an hour laying their fists into my body. I hurt and ached everywhere. Even in my fingers, which I didn't know was actually possible.
The last thing I remembered clearly was being strapped down to a very hard and very cold metal chair. After that it was heat, pain, numbness, more pain, and then finally darkness.
My eyes peeled open, and instantly I knew I hadn't been taken back to my room. The key give away: there was a dull, yellow light above my head. My room didn't have a light.
After regaining a few more of my senses, I looked around. The room was full of boxes with wheels, most of which were covered in different sized syringes. I was in the same chair as I'd been before Zola injected me with his version of Erskine's serum, only this time I wasn't tied down.
The door to my left opened, and I lazily rolled my head to see Pierce, Zola and, surprisingly, the Winter Soldier enter my room.
Zola beamed. "Ah, Silver! You have avoken at last! Ve vere beginning to vorry."
"How long was I out?" I questioned groggily, forcing the words up through a tight throat. Zola instantly pushed a glass of water into my hand, which I downed quickly whilst listening to his answer.
"Almost 96 hours. Your vitals vere all over ze place ze whole time. Ve feared you vould not survive."
I blinked a few times. "I was out for almost four days?" I echoed in disbelief, my eyes widening slightly when he nodded. I frowned, then asked, "Did it work at least?"
"Your body appears to have gone through little physical change," Pierce said, walking calmly up to my side. "You are a couple inches taller and seem to have a little more muscle tone and mass, but as it turns out you were close to peak physical form before the test."
"The extent of the success vill be made clear ven you start to train again," Zola added.
"And when will that be?"
"Whenever you feel you are ready," Pierce told me.
I was far too eager to test out the limits of my new body, I knew, but at the same time the thought of being able to run like Captain America gave me a weird tingly feeling at the base of my spine. It was exciting, especially since running had never been something I was good at. Before coming to Hydra I wasn't too bad at sprinting, but anything longer than about 100m (200m at a stretch) would kill me. Since then I'd managed to train my body to run the full 10km, but by the time I'd achieved that Dremora was working her way up to 25km.
Speaking of Dremora...
"You said you wanted to wait for my training to be complete before going through this experiment," I started slowly. Pierce gave me an impatiently expectant look, clearly urging me to get to my point. "Since we both arrived here at the same time, can I take it to believe Dremora will also be undergoing the same tests?"
There was silence. None of their faces gave anything away.
I sat staring at them, pleading with my eyes for them to give me the information I wanted. I knew the Winter Soldier wouldn't tell me - he didn't like speaking. So it was either going to be Pierce or Zola.
At last, the small scientist sighed. "Dremora vas put through ze tests just like you," Zola said slowly. "However, unlike yours, her cells did not accept ze serum, and so she did not survive ze process."
I stared at him for a long time, tears welling up in my eyes. "D-Dead?"
"I'm afraid so."
I sat still for a moment, my mind so overcome I couldn't feel anything. For at least three minutes I simply sat on the chair, slowly letting the information filter into my head.
That's when the crippling pain hit me. In an instant I was on my feet (they were bare, which I found odd but didn't focus on for longer than a half-second) and I flew out of the doors, hearing them slam against the stone walls and hearing Pierce and Zola call after me. But all I could do was keep on running.
I sprinted through the maze of corridors until I made it to the running track, which I started running along at full speed. For a full five minutes I ran without stopping, but then my heart wrenched painfully and I stuttered to a stop.
My knees collapsed and hit the ground. My palms settled into the dirt. My head tipped back and I let out my loudest ever cry. From that cry you could hear the pain, the sorrow, and the anger. My best friend - my parabatai - was gone.
I sobbed quietly to myself, not noticing I had company until I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around me.
"Let it out, Silver." The voice was one I hadn't heard for years, but would know anywhere.
"Shadow," I sobbed, turning around and burying my face into the black leather of his clothes, grasping hold of his torso with my hands and squeezing hard.
I heard him let out a surprised breath. "You're a lot stronger than you look," he said, sounding as if I was compressing his lungs. Maybe I was.
I sniffled quietly. "Sorry," I mumbled, loosening my grip on him. It took several more minutes for me to calm down enough to form any decent, coherent thoughts, and the first one that flitted through my head was that Shadow was holding me. In broad daylight.
Slowly, I lifted my head, and a surprised gasp left my lips when I saw who it was who returned my gaze. The familiar brown, long locks, fuzzy chin and brown eyes. The metal arm.
He sent me a slight smile which seemed like it didn't really belong on his face. Like he'd spent so long without smiling it was a foreign concept. "Technically you're not supposed to know Shadow and the Winter Soldier are the same person," he stated calmly.
I could only blink, not noticing the tears dripping down my face until the Winter Soldier rolled his eyes and brushed them away. "Wouldn't Hydra want us to keep an entirely professional relationship?" As soon as the words were out of my mouth I wanted to hit myself, but it was too late, and unfortunately I couldn't turn back time.
The Winter Soldier shook his head. "On the contrary, I think they actually want us to form some sort of meaningful friendship."
"Why?"
"Leverage," he said simply. "To give us an incentive to stay working for them."
"But if you know why they're doing it, why go along with it?" I asked, uncomprehending. "By the way you make it sound, you don't really want to be here."
He sighed. "It's more complicated than that, but they'd find a way to assure our cooperation regardless. So what's the harm in making a friend along the way?"
"It means more pain if something goes wrong," I pointed out.
A sudden shadow fell across his eyes, and the Winter Soldier's expression darkened. "They're forcing me to do things no human should ever have to do," he said in a low tone. "In doing so they are stripping me of my humanity. This is my one chance to remain even remotely human. An act of rebellion, in a way, although technically it's being encouraged by the people I'm rebelling against." He paused. "Like I said: it's complicated. One day you'll understand, I'm sure."
I frowned. "Why?" I asked again.
The Winter Soldier looked pained. "Because I think they plan to do the same to you what they did to me."
"And what is that?" I thought I knew (in fact I was almost 100% sure), but I wanted - needed - to hear the words come from his lips.
He let out a shaky breath and turned away, not meeting my eyes as his face flashed with pain. "They've... They... I don't know who I am anymore, Silver. Or rather... I don't know who I was... before I came here. They have this... this machine, and it makes you forget things. Everything. They've used it on me two or three times already. And each time they sit me in that chair, I feel less and less like a person each time I wake up again."
"They've taken your memories from you," I murmured sadly, and he nodded abruptly once. "I'm sorry, Shadow."
He laughed. Well, it was more like a huff, but it sounded dryly amused. "You know who I am now. Why do you persist in calling me that?"
"The Winter Soldier is the person Hydra want you to be," I said calmly, ignoring the slightly crusting, dried tears that still smeared my face. "Shadow is the man who visited me every night for weeks; the man who taught me how to punch; the man who never really said much but listened and was comforting just in his consistent appearance; the man who brought me my guitar. Shadow is the man who I relied on at first, and Shadow is the side of you that I know you want to keep Hydra from seeing. He's my friend. You're my friend."
The Winter Soldier stared at me for a few moments, before a curious expression crossed his face and he not-so-subtly looked me over. "How old are you?" he asked suddenly.
"Uh, 19. Why?"
"And how old were you the last time I visited you in your room?"
"16."
His eyebrows rose. "Three years," he muttered to himself.
"Why is that significant?" I questioned in confusion.
"Whenever I'm not needed they freeze me," he stated calmly. This particular fact didn't seem to bother him as much as the fact he had lost all his fundamental memories and knowledge of who he was. In fact he seemed completely unfazed. "I stopped visiting you because they put me back in cryo-freeze. I assume. It's a bit difficult to tell because they partially wiped me after I woke up. But it's impossible to tell how much time passes while you're in ice, so I was curious."
"They partially wiped you?" I asked in confusion. "Why only partially?"
"Well, when I woke, I still had all my memories of visiting you at night. It's what supports my theory that they want us to become friends - they made it so I could still remember you."
I slowly shook my head. "I don't think they can hand-pick which memories you keep and which you lose. I think you remembered me on your own."
"I... That's never happened before," he said with a frown.
"Or maybe it has," I said seriously, "and you've just forgotten it since then."
He nodded minutely. "I suppose it makes sense. I'm constantly told the mind has ways of fighting back - it's what makes the memory removal process so painful."
I stared at him for a long time, then the side of my lips quirked up slightly. "If your plan was distract me, I must say you've done a good job."
The Winter Soldier blinked a few times, then frowned in confusion, and then when the realisation struck him he chuckled. "Actually, I didn't have a plan at all." His eyes became concerned. "Are you okay?"
"No," I admitted. "But I'm better now. Sort of."
"Understandable; she was your best friend."
"True," I said lowly, "but the people that killed her are also the ones I'm being forced to work for. And they're the ones that ripped your life away from you." When I once again thought about how Kaia was dead, I felt an icy coldness creeping up on my heart. I frowned, recognising the feeling as a slow-burning rage. I'd only ever felt it once before. After that rage had been extinguished, I had put a kid in hospital with two broken ribs, a fractured wrist and severe bruising to the torso and face. As it turned out, I was violent when majorly pissed off. I winced. "Shadow, if at any point I look like I'm about to snap, get me out of there. Please."
He looked at me seriously, then wordlessly nodded.
Satisfied, I got to my feet and started making my way back towards the compound. Though I couldn't hear him over the sounds of the outdoors, I knew the Winter Soldier was following me. When I reached the door that led inside, Pierce and Zola were waiting for me. Without a word they turned around and started leading me further into the building, while I fought the urge to find the closest thing to me and use it to cave their heads in. They had killed my best friend with their experiments. I promised myself then that one day, and maybe it would be a long time from now, but one day, I would get my revenge.