Chapter 7- Acceptance and Soldier's Return
1 month after Anna's kidnapping...
"What's your name?" The Asset asked his daughter as she sat on his lap, her face buried into his neck.
"I Anna, Papa," Anna said. This was the first time without hesitation that his baby had said her new name. After threatening to spank her for using her old name, Anna had stopped calling herself that. The Asset kissed Anna's head, dragging his flesh hand through her dark hair.
"And who am I?" The Asset prompted pulling his daughter's face up so she could look into his eyes.
"Papa who loves Anna," Anna said and the Asset kissed her forehead. Anna threw her arms around his neck and buried her face into his chest. The Asset felt happy. Anna had accepted this was her life now if her kisses to his cheek was anything to go by. Karpov had been right. The more Anna was forced to say her new name, the sooner she forgot her old life.
"Very good, Anna. Papa does love his Anna," the Asset said, pressing a warm kiss to her forehead again.
"Anna stay with Papa?" Anna asked, burrowing deeper into his muscular chest if that was even possible. The Asset hugged her tightly, resting his cleft chin on the top of her dark head. This made it easier to angle his head to kiss the top of her head.
"Papa will never let his baby go and Anna has to be a good girl," the Asset said, absently stroking Anna's hair. At that moment Karpov stepped into the room followed by the doctor.
"Soldat, it is time," Karpov said with that voice that sounded more like a robot than a man.
"Time?" The Asset asked as Anna tightened her arms around his neck convulsively as she stared at Karpov and the doctor with fear in her blue eyes.
"Yes. If you wish to keep the child and raise her, we need to slow down her aging. She is to go with you on your missions, but her aging needs to be slowed so she has time to learn. And this drug will make her submissive. We cannot have her refusing orders," the doctor said, holding up each injection.
"She is already doing everything I say. Please, not yet," the Asset pleaded, stroking up an down his daughter's back gently.
"Soldat, she is now, but she could decide when she's fourteen that she doesn't have to listen to you or us. This will keep her obedient," Karpov said.
The Asset sat helplessly. He had no choice. His daughter's age would be slowed down and she would be like a mindless robot, following his or Karpov's every order. In the month that she had lived with him, she had gotten used to the needles constantly poking her in the arms and neck. She would sit still on his lap until the ordeal was over. Right now, Anna wasn't complaining about the drugs they kept pumping into her, but the fear in her blue eyes was evident.
"Can I talk to her first?" The Asset asked. Normally Karpov wouldn't give him grace, but it wouldn't do to have a terrified, screaming child on his hands. Not that Anna screamed. When the serum rewrote her DNA she whimpered in his arms, but for the most part she cried silently. Karpov wordlessly walked out and the Asset gently stood up, pulling Anna from his hug so she could meet his gaze.
"Papa, what mean man gonna do?" Anna asked.
"Anna do you love and trust Papa?" the Asset asked.
"Anna do, Papa," Anna said. The Asset hugged her tightly and touched her forehead with his lips.
"Anna has to take her medicine," the Asset said, keeping his mouth to her forehead in a gentle caressing kiss. Anna didn't start to scream. She shuddered slightly, but for the most part she lay in his arms, wrapping her small arms around his neck as far as they would go, twisting her hands into his long, dark hair.
"Papa, don't want to," Anna whimpered softly.
"I know, but we don't have a choice, baby. Do you want to sit on my lap?" The Asset asked. Anna nodded wordlessly as Karpov came in.
"Soldat," Karpov said, his voice conveying he would hurt Anna if the Asset didn't take Anna to get her injections.
"We're coming. She's scared," the Asset said as he carried Anna to the infirmary. Anna burrowed deep into his chest, grabbing large handfuls of his t-shirt in her little fists
Anna felt her eyes open. Papa wasn't back yet and Anna's stomach rumbled hungrily. Papa said they would eat when he got back. Anna hoped it was soon. After being with Papa a long time, he usually kept his word about food and Anna was allowed to eat sitting on his lap. Papa would stroke her hair and give her a kiss if she ate everything he gave her and would tell her some story about some sick boy with breathing issues and was always getting into fights. Anna would usually fall asleep in Papa's arms, feeling safe and loved.
Anna looked up as the hotel room opened and Papa came in, not wearing his battle clothes, but regular clothes. Anna still didn't like it that Papa had cut his hair and shaved. Anna loved to play with Papa's hair and the scruff on his lower jaw and he'd let her, sometimes raising her little hands to his lips and kissing her fingers. Papa's tired blue eyes lit up when he saw her. "Anna," Papa said in a soft voice as he got to his knees and opened his arms for Anna to hug him. Anna all but ran into her father's arms, pressing her lips onto Papa's cheek and he kissed her cheeks and forehead in return, tightening his arms around her as if Anna would be taken from him.
"Why so late, Papa?" Anna asked when Papa stopped kissing her forehead and she rested her head against his metal shoulder as he sat down. The metal was pleasantly cool and Papa hadn't been angry when Anna asked why his arm was metal when she first came to live with him.
"The mission ran longer than I thought. Were you scared, baby?" Papa asked, stroking her face with his flesh hand.
"No. Hungry," Anna admitted.
"I thought you would be. Here. Eat this," Papa said, unwrapping what looked like something wrapped in tinfoil. It looked like oats and some kind of fruit. Papa held the brick to her lips and Anna ate each piece Papa fed her obediently. When the brick disappeared, Anna lay back into Papa's chest as he stroked her face and hair tenderly.
"Papa, tell story," Anna said, touching Papa's face with her hands.
"I'm tired, Anna. Also we are getting ready to leave," Papa's voice rumbled tiredly as he gently stroked her hair.
"Papa, we just got here," Anna protested.
"I know, baby, but I was told we have to leave. Karpov also says he has a new medicine he wants us to try. He says you can go with me to my next mission if it works instead of staying here in the hotel," Papa said.
"No!" Anna shouted. The look of surprise on Papa's face nearly made her apologize.
"Excuse me?" Papa asked, raising his eyebrows. So far Anna had obeyed Papa in everything. This was the first time she had raised her voice to him.
"No more medicines, Papa. Please," Anna begged. Her father grabbed a huge handful of her hair. Anna winced at the pain in her head and the pain in her leg as her father slapped her leg hard.
"Don't ever raise your voice to me, Anna. Do you understand?" Papa asked. forcing her eyes to meet his as he braced her face with both of his hands.
"Papa, please. I don't wanna do any more medicines. They hurt," Anna said with a soft whimper.
"I know, baby, but you have to take them. Papa will be right with you," Papa said as he gently finger-combed her hair with his flesh hand and touched her forehead with his lips. Anna buried her face in Papa's neck and cried. She hated the medicines, but Papa was right. The mean men would not give them a choice.
The Asset watched as Anna cried herself to sleep, her small face buried in the crook of his neck. He pushed her hair back gently and kissed her tenderly. His daughter was terrified. Even his shattered mind could see that, but someone had told him that the camera in the room revealed Anna had almost run away from him. Karpov had been told and he had said that Anna had to undergo a new kind of drug to wipe her memories and make her more obedient. But considering that she hadn't run, the Asset hadn't seen the point to trying it. Karpov had said the new rounds of treatment would prevent the thought from coming back.
The Asset hugged her tightly to his chest as he put the blindfold over her eyes. She wasn't ever allowed to see where they were going on missions or the way back to the base. Karpov had said it was to keep her from ever figuring out where she was. The Asset and HYDRA would be her whole world and she would be loyal to both.