26. The Doctor - Sophie
We enter a large laboratory like setting with huge windows overlooking the Swiss Alps. A single silhouette stands in front of the windows.
"Fraulein Carson, step forward." A deep voice issues from the silhouette which fills me with undiluted horror. My resolve needed to hold out. But without even looking at him, I was afraid.
The white coat nudges me roughly forward.
"I am told that you study to become a physician. Tell me do the Sciences fascinate you? Do they not show you things that no one else can see?" He asks, I stay silent almost unable to breathe.
"You see, doctors such as you and I have a hand in changing the world. My soldier serum and your invention of the RgX will alter the course of humanity."
"No." I manage to whisper
"No? You are young but you are bright. The creator of such a technology should want every opportunity to use it, can you not see the number of people you could save?"
"You can't use it." The shakiness of my voice betrays the braveness of the words it speaks
"I've met plenty like you, you know. You could change everything yet you cannot see the vision that Hydra has for the world. We can bring about prosperity… a new race of strong humans, a system of justice adhered to by all…"
"No."
I see the silhouette move. The figure turns around and walks toward me. My limbs felt numb and detached from my body, I stood still unable to move, ensnared in an almost hypnotic trance. The man steps into the artificial light of the laboratory, it is then that I realise that what stands before me is no man at all.
A shallow sheet of red flesh stretches over protruding bone, lid-less eyes gaze boundlessly into mine. He wears a thick black trench coat, the insignia of Hydra adorning the belt that wrapped around him. In those terrible eyes I see only darkness, a pitch black nothingness that I knew had claimed thousands of lives. I cannot breathe in a presence so painfully stifling.
"Unfortunately for you, Fraulein Carson, there is no choice. You see, I require the RgX first to restore my body. Then I will use the soldier serum that runs in my veins to create a new race of humans. A race that will answer to me. The RgX will immortalise those I see fit."
"I won't allow that." I'm afraid but confident. There was no way the genesis algorithm would be solved unless I consented to it myself. He seems to ignore me, and paces.
"The RgX. Regeneration of human cells through alteration of the active X sex chromosome using UV radiation. So it can be passed down generations." His voice trails off. I am afraid, every fibre in me tells me to run, to put as much distance between the two of us as possible.
Before I register any movement, I feel a sharp coldness push through the skin between my ribs. The Doctor holds a knife handle, the rest of it embedded in my chest, he snaps the handle of and I am thrown back onto the floor of the laboratory. Warmness radiates from the source of an almost unfathomable pain in my chest. I hack up thick blood.
"I had expected that you used the RgX on yourself." The Doctor states plainly as I feel the knife end being pushed out of my body and the bleeding subside. A layer of sweat covered my skin from the shock of the trauma. The pain silences my voice and any logical thought. "Now that I know you possess the RgX gene, and since you refuse to comply, we will begin our experiments. I believe psychological trauma is often more effective than physical, you see." Through my heavy lids I see the Doctor wipe his gloved hands and observe a sheet of paper. "You will be subject one of experiment one."
I feel my consciousness dwindling. I hear the familiar clink of my locket as I fall back onto the ground. I can't register anything, my eyes close completely under the weight of exhaustion. I could barely keep my mind alert, let alone think of holding out until SHIELD came… Or my heart gave out. Again, I slip into blackness.