Chapter 8-
I'm baaaaaaaack! XD This chapter will check back in with Coulson's team. To be honest, this chapter is a bit dark, I'm even going to apply a Torture Warning. But it is needed for the storyline! So, anyways, this chapter holds a lot of surprises and I hope you like it.
Warning: Torture is involved
Let's get right to it? Shall we?
Crash Pad, Hydra Base
Manhattan, New York
Fitz trotted down the corridor, intrigued on the vast Hydra base. Coulson had recently gained control of a Hydra base known as the Crash Pad, a small Hydra facility that controlled most of Hydra's military, arms and vehicles. Fitz had become excited because a series of computers and monitors had been discovered in one of the lower floors and he was the first agent to get a go at them.
So he skidded down the stairs and swerved into the first room, entering through a metal doorframe. The door that had previous been there had been unhinged and set to the side. Computer screens lined the far wall and Fitz felt excitement build up inside of him. While he was more into inventing, computers intrigued him and he wasn't that bad at using them, so that was a plus.
He quickly double tapped the console and a password screen appeared. He typed in the passcode Coulson had found—through a Hydra member that had been taken to the Raft.
P.A.A.A.T.H.
Path, spelled with 3 A's. Fitz had no idea what it stood for, Skye was currently working that case, but it didn't necessarily matter to Fitz what the acronym stood for, it only mattered what it unlocked.
The computer clicked and a new screen appeared, a home screen by the look of it. Fitz narrowed his eyes, examining the screen closely. File after file had been listed on the home screen, the file count in the top right corner read well over a thousand. Fitz cocked an eyebrow as he noticed the dates change. The Scottish engineer quickly scrolled down to the oldest file. It read: Subject: Gaia and a picture of a girl with curly blonde hair could be seen next to it.
Fitz clicked the file. A loud buzz sounded, and an error message appeared on the screen.
"Fantastic," Fitz grumbled, x-ing out of the screen and scrolling back up to the newest file. His eyes widened when he caught sight of the picture. This file read: Subject Theia. Next to the type sat a picture of a young girl, no more than 11 years old, with deep cherry brown spirals of hair, her face was at the time flawless, no scars in sight. She had light violet eyes and pale skin. Eleanor? Fitz inquired internally, his eyebrows raising in surprise. He clicked the file. The buzzing noise repeated, the error message showing its face once again.
Fitz cursed under his breath and pulled out his communications device, "Skye?" he asked.
"Yeah? This is Skye." came the crackly reply.
"I have a computer issue, I could use your help," Fitz suggested, "Sub Level 2."
"On my way," came the response.
A minute later Agent Daisy "Skye" Johnson was entering the room, laptop in hand. She swept her eyes over the panel of computers, "Alright. I see the problem. You got a thumb drive with you?"
Fitz pulled his spare out of his pocket and handed it to Skye. Skye slipped the drive into the main computer, downloading the files they recognized: Subject Aodie, Subject Polydeuces, Subject Arachne, Subject Aegis, Subject Hermes and of course Subject Theia.
"I'll take this back to the Playground and work on it there," Skye remarked as she left.
"Alright," Fitz sent the reply, "I'll stay here and take apart this hardware."
~AOS~AOS~AOS~
The Playground – S.H.I.E.L.D. Base
Skye entered the Bus, finding comfort in knowing her surroundings. She climbed the hangar stairs up to the second level, where her bunk was located. Her laptop was cold under her right arm. She gripped Fitz's thumb drive in the other hand, curious on what could be found inside of it. She hopped onto her bunk's bed and sat, back leaning against the wall. Skye opened her laptop, the desktop appearing, she slipped in the drive. The files appeared.
It didn't take her long to hack them, a couple decoding files, a few passwords and boom. She was in. Skye looked over the series of files. The first file, located at the top of the screen, read: Collected Data_Hydra-1.
Skye dragged her mouse over and a loading screen appeared, she plugged in her earbuds and stuck them in her ears. After a few long seconds the video began. It was definitely aged, and most certainly a date-to-date recording of something. A single figure was etched into the screen. It was a woman with pristine flawless features and wavy dark brown hair and eyes that looked like shards of sea glass.
"Data Log 1, Subject Polydeuces," the woman stated, without a previous explanation.
Skye raised a quizzical eyebrow, Polydeuces, she had heard that before. Where had she heard that? It definitely hadn't been mentioned in a while. Sometime back in her school days, she assumed. Polydeuces…Polydeuces…wait. That was Greek mythology, she quickly realized, Polydeuces were the two twins: Pollux and Castor…right? The twins with dual personalities.
Skye tucked the thought away for later and snapped her gaze back to the video feed as the screen changed to new footage, the color disappearing and fading the video to black and white. A cement room seemed to be shown and a figure wandered around on screen, arms crossed, looking nervous. The details were pixelated and edged but Skye could see clearly that the figure, now recognized as male, was wearing prison garbs.
Her eyes narrowed as The boy, he couldn't be more than 17 at the time, looked up at the video-camera, noticing it for the first time. Skye then visibly startled as she caught sight of the facial features. That's Lachlan, she thought reluctantly, why is he in prison garbs?
The video-feed crackled once and Skye cringed at the noise. The sound of a door creaking open filled her ears and she watched as a woman entered the stone room.
"Hello Mr. Butler," the woman, the same one that had introduced the video feed earlier, the one with the sea-glass eyes, said. "My—"the video feed crackled, "Name is *crackle*-a, C-*crackle*-o." That's just great, thought Skye.
"Please do not struggle," the woman commanded.
"Hey what's that?" Young Lachlan demanded in a crackly static-filled voice, directly before the sound went out completely. Skye was just barely able to make out the words 'hail' and 'Hydra' on the woman's lips.
Sea Glass held up a syringe and gave a small signal with her hands. In minutes two heavily armored men entered the room and walked menacingly at Lachlan. Lachlan punched one of the men in the face directly, sending him stumbling back in surprise. The second man ran at Lachlan but he ran back, tackling the man to the ground. Meanwhile the Sea Glass eyed woman watched in interest, syringe still in hand, she leaned against the wall, showing the all of her darkly colored—very revealing—dress.
It took almost fifteen men for the men to pin Lachlan, who only tired because of his lack of armor, which the guards were equipped from head-to-toe with. One of the guard's arms appeared to be dislocated and the other was favoring his right leg. Lachlan had certainly made quick work of the two professional Hydra guards.
Skye wasn't surprised, Lachlan was tough. Even though he wasn't the most muscular, he was one of the most determined people she had met.
The woman approached at a terribly slow, suspenseful, pace and crouched down by Lachlan, who was suffering the weight of the two armored guard's on top of him. Sea Glass stuck the syringe in his neck and he suddenly tensed. Suddenly Lachlan began writhing wildly, muscles tense and eyes wide. The guards quickly retreated with the woman, leaving the room and locking the door.
Lachlan continued convulsing, arching his back and scraping his nails on the concrete. He was obviously screaming, terrible wails of agony. Skye was thankful the sound had left the video, for she didn't want to hear the audio for this portion.
Skye continued watching the seemingly never ending pain filled video. Suddenly Lachlan began clawing at his throat. Like something out of a horror movie, Lachlan began choking as something or someone began clawing their way out of his throat. But this someone didn't have the form of a human being, it took the form of a mass of symbiote. A glossed over putty that yanked its way out of Lachlan's throat using small tendrils.
Skye clasped her hand over her mouth, her eyes filling with tears. Her hand shook as she scrolled over the full length of the video. 3 hours. There were 3 hours remaining in this segment. She skipped through it, watching the violent procedure as Anguish, Lachlan's symbiote, became bound to his body.
When the feed finished Lachlan was fully clad in Anguish and was barely living, his blood created a cruel pattern around him. The woman entered once again, looking down on her work. She gave a signal and Lachlan was dragged out of the room, a trail of blood in his wake.
Skye felt wet stains where tears had walked across her face. She shakily wiped them away and flinched as the woman appeared on screen again.
"All Data: Subject: Aegis," she said, as calm as ever. She looked younger this time; her hair was pulled back in a braid and she had a more youthful uncertainty to her tone. Obviously this video feed was older.
Aegis, more Greek mythology. It was a guard, or a pelt or something. A shield: that sounded about right. It supposedly was a shield that protected those who needed it. A shield?
Skye frowned as the woman continued talking.
"This was an interesting subject. His mother, Gretta Cassidy, is a remarkable Hydra agent and therefore dedicated her first born son to the cause. We've decided on testing the Time Lapse experiment on him. We'll be asking him to comply at a young age and continue the treatment until he agrees," announced a younger version of the Sea Glass woman.
Cassidy, Cassidy, Cassidy, someone in the Challengers had that last name, but she couldn't put her finger on who it was, the teens barely ever spoke their last names.
The video changes to another room, more comforting than the stone one it seemed. It had a large screen covering one of the walls and a metal chair facing the screen. Skye watched as a man entered the room, dragging a child behind him by the arm. The child was a small boy, probably around 4 or 5. He looked worried and continuously mouthed the word 'mom'.
The man ruggedly shoved The boy into the chair and strapped his arms and legs down. The boy didn't fight, but looked worriedly up at the man, a fearful look in his eyes. The man pointed at the screen and The boy fearfully looked over. Skye's eyes widened in fear as Hydra's Compliance Video began playing over. The boy obviously realized as well and quickly closed his eyes.
Skye flinched as an quick electrical buzz ran up the chair, only visible as a small buzz of blue light, and shocked The boy. He shouted, silent like the rest of the feed, and looked worriedly back at the screen. Once again The boy looked away, and once again he was shocked, this time for longer.
Skye's eyes grew wide as a force field appeared around The boy and the chair, The boy now crying, hands balled in fists. The man left the room swiftly and The boy continued bawling. A minute later a woman walked into the room. She shared some of the facial features that the 4 year old boy sported. They both had strong chins and thin features.
The woman held up her hands comfortingly, seemingly trying to calm The boy as he called out for his mother to help him. Skye felt anger and sadness rise up in her all at once. What kind of mother would do this to her own child?!
Skye skimmed the video again and found she could easily compare it to a time-lapse. In the next clip The boy was older, around 6 or 7, in the next he was 9, after that came 10 and 11, 12, 13. In every single video The boy was forced into the room to watch the video. At some moments he seemed resilient, kicking, punching and screaming. Other times he seemed to have lost all hope, dragging his feet and looking at the floor. At an estimated age 14 Skye paused the video.
His features were more defining now. Bright eyes, close cropped hair, dancer's muscle. He could now be recognized as a younger version of Spencer. Skye stopped the video, needing a minute to process.
She was seeing the torture videos of the Challengers. She was seeing the pain that they endured. Would she be able to handle this? Should she tell Coulson? The Hacker let out a shaky breath and got up to close her door.
~AOS~AOS~AOS~
After a few minutes of consideration Skye decided against telling anyone for now. She sat back down and shook out her hands, swallowing hard and putting in her earbuds. She continued watching the terrible video.
"All Data: Subject: Aoide," said the woman as she appeared on screen once again, this time her brown hair was kept in a neat bun. Aoide, err, that was one of the harder ones. That was one of the 9 muses, or the original Greek goddesses, wasn't it?
"Hydra was intrigued when we discovered that Susie and David Harpers were willing to sell their machine. We traveled to their household only to find that they expected us to make them rich. Hydra then proceeded to remove the problem and locate the machine, along with Subject: Aoide," said the lady calmly.
The film quickly swapped; suddenly Skye was watching video off of a Hydra soldier's head cam. She was seeing what the soldier saw that night from a camera that had been placed on his head. Skye furrowed her eyebrows as the Hydra soldier looked up to see two figures: a man and a woman, looking at the guard with a crazed look in their eyes.
The guard raised his gun, along with the platoon of Hydra soldiers that stuck to his sides. Skye muffled a surprised gasp as the man and woman were shot down and stepped over by the guards like forgotten toys.
The man that Skye was seeing through quickly jogged up a staircase, leading Skye to realize that the video took place in some sort of house. He turned a corner and kicked down a door. A small 10 year old girl was huddled by her bed. Skye almost instantly recognized the girl as Piper due to her heart shaped face and tall cheekbones.
Piper's mouth opened and suddenly a window by the guard shattered, sending glass raining onto the carpet. She screamed again and the video went to static. It transitioned to video of an older Piper, 14 probably, screaming at targets and taking them out easily with a projectile scream.
The video feed cut back to the woman, "We quickly discovered the corpse of Subject: Aoide's assumed older brother in the basement of their two story home. Hydra has made the conclusion that it was Aoide's parents that executed the eldest child through the same process used on Aoide to inject Aoide with her supernatural abilities."
Suddenly the video sizzled and the woman seemed to age briefly, now wearing a new outfit. A new video had begun. "All Data: Subject Arachne." Arachne, that was an easy one. Goddess of spiders.
This time the video changed to another image of the woman, this time she was walking at a brisk pace towards a Hydra vehicle disguised as a cliché black van. She was clad in black armor and had her brown hair held back in an updo.
She hopped into the back of the van along with whoever was in position of the head-cam that provided the footage. Four other armed guards accompany them in the van. Suddenly the woman began talking, startling Skye as she thought the video was silent like all the others. It made sense however, because this video seemed newer.
"We have discovered an anomaly in the household of the Ponds. Recent events concur that the son of the Ponds has been named a Freak of Nature. He will become a valued member to the Hydra cause," cooed the woman.
The van drove for a good ten minutes before the van door slid open and revealed a worried looking 14 year old boy with stripes crossing his face. The boy could easily be recognized by Skye as a younger Drew.
He wore a black backpack, which suggested Drew had, at the time, just finished school. He let out a shout as one of the Hydra men reached out with a muscled arm and tugged him into the van. Drew began shouting. The tattooed stripes released from his skin and began slicing at everyone in the van as he struggled in the men's grips.
Drew managed to skewer one of the guard's arms and slice open another's side. The woman with the sea glass eyes set a hand on both sides of Drew's head when the men finally got him pinned, and even then Drew appeared to have the upper hand. Suddenly Drew's attacks began weakening, at the same time Skye noticed that the woman's eyes were closed and she appeared to be concentrating. Drew's struggles continued weakening until they disappeared entirely and his breaths slowed to those of sleep.
Skye cocked her head, so the woman had some sort of mind control, and yet she hadn't used it until now. The video swapped once again, this time to a security camera that had a perfect view of a laboratory.
In the Hydra lab was a long metal table under a bright hanging white light. Strapped to the metal table was a boy. His shirt had been removed and his skin was pale from blood loss. Drew looked worse than ever, his maroon stripes stuck out brightly compared to his pale skin. Clear tubes stuck out of each of his wrists, but they were flowing with blood.
The woman walked in, trailed by a Hydra scientist. She quickly removed one of the IVs that had filled up about 1 fourth of the way with blood. She replaced it and exited the room, leaving Drew barely alive, the blood coursing out of his veins.
When the video feed ended Skye was almost re-watched it to make sure she hadn't missed something. It was shocking that Hydra hadn't forced Drew into enduring any other form of torture.
All Data: Subject Theia appeared on the screen in white words, rather than by the presence of the woman. Theia, that's the goddess of light… Skye snapped her gaze back to the screen as the woman once again showed up. She looked excited, smiling, an action that looked completely out of place on this woman's features.
"Success!" she chirped, "Subject: Theia has agreed to comply! After the murder of her parents Hydra began Project Compliance on Subject: Theia and after much persuasion on Hydra's part, the subject has become agreeable."
The footage changed to that of a girl huddled in a corner. She looked to be 10 or 11 and was nodding furiously.
"Alright," the girl stuttered, "I—I'll comply. Mhmm. I—I'll do it. I—I promise. Just d—don't m—make me watch t—that video anymore."
Skye recalled Fitz mentioning to her that he had seen a picture of Eleanor with the name Theia by it. She quickly realized this was a scared Eleanor that she was seeing.
The woman reappeared on the screen, "Subject: Theia seems a bit traumatized but there's a high rate of recovery and therefore we are hoping she will recover. If not, Project Compliance, otherwise known as Faustus, will be disbanded.
Skye froze. "Project Compliance will be disbanded," If Eleanor hadn't recovered than the Compliance project would have been discontinued.
Carl Creel would have never killed Agent Hartley and Agent Idaho. Hunter would have never joined the team. The Bus would have blown up when Agent 33 had planted that bomb. Agent 33 would have never worked for Hydra; she would've been killed instead. Octavian Bloom, a former leader of Hydra, would still be alive seeing that Hunter would have never killed him.
If Hunter hadn't killed Octavian then he wouldn't have ever gone on the mission. He wouldn't have discovered the second S.H.I.E.L.D. In fact, the Inhumans would be unheard of. Donnie Gill wouldn't have worked for Hydra.
So many things would've changed.
Skye was shoved out of her thoughts as the woman's voice infiltrated her ears once again.
"All Data: Subject: Hermes," announced the woman in the same monotone she had been using for the rest of the titles. Hermes, that's the God of transition and boundaries. There's only one person Skye hadn't seen yet, therefore she already knew this video was of Tamashi.
The woman reappeared in a new outfit and quickly began speaking, "Unfortunately Subject: Hermes is rebellious. While I suggested we try Project Compliance on the subject, but Fuhrer Stefans disagreed." Fuhrer Stefans? Skye wondered who the mysterious character could be. "Apparently the Subject has performed in this manor more than once and therefore Mr. Stefans has called upon me to assist in the subject's punishment."
Skye narrowed her eyes in concern as she continued watching.
A wide space appeared on screen, some sort of lunch-area it seemed. A barely younger version of Tamashi was standing defiantly in the center of the room, arguing with a Hydra guard. Spencer sat at one of the tables, eating quietly and flashing his glance at Tamashi in interest. Skye took notice in the fact that Tamashi wore the same prison garbs as Lachlan had in the first video.
The woman suddenly entered the room, walking in with the face of a lioness stalking her prey. She held up her hand and Tamashi froze, seemingly fighting himself as he dropped to his knees. Tamashi struggled harshly, tense and shaking, obviously not in control of his body.
A man then entered the room. He had broad shoulders and wore an expensive looking suit. He had tidy brunette hair and dark blue eyes with high cheekbones and a strong jaw line. The man was buff and looked ready to take anyone, anytime. Skye quickly realized this was the popular Fuhrer Stefans from his manor of professionalism.
Stefans walked over to Tamashi, who was struggling to gain control of his body, and grabbed a firm hold on Tamashi's right wrist. There was a bone-chilling pause where Tamashi and Fuhrer Stefans met eyes. Tamashi's eyes were filled with a terrible anxiousness while Stefans was unreadable, like a stone slate.
In the corner of the screen Spencer stood up, but he was quickly blocked by the Hydra guard Tamashi had been arguing with.
Suddenly Stefans jerked his arm backwards, and took a few steps back, pulling back with one large jerk. It took Skye a moment before she processed what had happened. She glanced from the stunned Tamashi, who was still kneeling, his mouth frozen in a paused scream, to Stefans, who now had the Teleporter's right arm locked in his hand.
But the arm wasn't attached to Tamashi any longer, it had been detached, ripped from it's seams. Stefans turned and left, abandoning Tamashi's arm a few feet away from The boy himself. The woman trailed his heels. Spencer ran forwards as Tamashi collapsed to the side, landing on his good arm, sobs racking his body. Spencer quickly formed a force-field around Tamashi's shoulder, parching the bleeding temporarily.
Skye remained frozen, unsure what to do or say. She flinched violently at the sound of the woman.
"Subject Hermes will take part in Project Wakanda tomorrow."
She gasped quickly as her door opened.
"Skye?" Coulson inquired, "Did you find anything on that drive? Fitz told me you had it."
Skye suddenly made a decision, suddenly happy she wasn't crying, "Nope. All it was was a bunch of deceased prisoners, nothing important." She said, pasting a smile on her face.
She wouldn't tell Coulson.
Not yet.
Ta da! I hope you all liked learning about everyone's pasts! Please let me know what you thought of every Challenger's past! I love hearing what you all think!
I'll see everyone next time!
Stay amazing! :D
-AG