Chapter Five:

Elena's POV

Day Three:

I loved my first handler, Julian Zamfir.

I hate myself for it, but he was like a father to me. It didn't help that he had me call him papa since I was eight. The thinking goes that if one creates familial ties and you're more likely to create a bond, and therefore, obedience.

I think of him again as my head gets pushed into the water for the tenth time or was it the ninth. I try not to think, to just keep count. But my mind wanders. Especially when I lose enough oxygen that my consciousness starts to fade in and out.

Waterboarding. A classic, really.

I've been here for, I think, three days. Another thing that I'm trying to keep track of. It's hard though, when being tortured. Both physically and mentally.

The physical is better, gives you something substantial to feel. The waterboarding, like today, or the electricity, like yesterday.

They say they want information on the Avengers, the twins, pretty much anything and everything that I know.

Yet, I don't think that's the case.

Nikolai just likes to watch. He enjoys watching others suffer. He's always been like that.

My second handler. Julian's son. He is the devil. I vaguely remember a prayer my mother would say to ward off evil. Not that it helped her much.

When I first met him, he was a skinny boy. Only twelve, 4 years older than myself. He didn't say much, but he had cold eyes. He watched me suffer then too.

I didn't see him very often. When he did come, I would catch him staring at me.

I'm pulled out of the water. My lungs burn. I feel my heart pumping, the pounding rings in my ears. When my vision clears, I see the young 12 year old Nikolai watching me with those cold eyes.

I blink and in each blink he grows up until I see clearly the 21 year old man before me.

"Let her go." He says to the torturer holding me up. He does and I immediately fall to my side. I don't have the energy to hold myself up.

When I hit the floor, more water exits my lungs and I cough it up on the floor. Nikolai studies me. He moves around me with interest etched in his face.

It was weird to see the different personalities Nikolai could produce.

The one now was serious. The one that proved that he could actually be a leader of Hydra, that it wasn't just nepotism that got him the job.

Then there was the angry one. The one where his short temper took over and he would see only red, bringing the Hulk to shame.

The one that pissed me off the most was the joker, the cat if you will, where I am just a mouse in this twisted game of his.

His voice brought me back to the moment, "I think we're done for now." He turns on his heel and walks away.

The torturer and another agent each grab one of my arms and drag me to my cell. They toss me in. There was nothing in the cell. Not even the cot that my last cell had. Just me and the three glass walls and one stone.

I army crawled my way to the stone wall and cozied up against it. It was the only security I had. Even my clothes offered no defense as I was back in the black sports bra and shorts.

It was in this cell that the mental torture began.

Another classic, withholding proper sleep.

It starts with the lights. The brightness and the fact that they never shut off allows for two things. The first is that it, of course, makes it hard to fall asleep. The second is that it confuses the captive, not allowing them to know whether it's day or night. No routine.

The second was the loud alarm that would sound every 15 minutes. So, if I did fall asleep, it wouldn't be for long.

Not that I wanted to sleep. They were withholding my sleeping meds. Apparently, that had been a special privilege. I hadn't even really known that's what they were for until I was with the Avengers. That first night of panic and fear that had come with a nightmare.

I didn't care to go through that again. Especially not here.

There was nothing to do but think or try to zone out as much as possible. Neither was a good option.

When I would think, I thought of the Avengers. I wondered what they were doing now. I wondered about Pietro. I wondered if he was mad. God, it was such a bad way to leave things.

I don't know how much time had passed, but eventually Nikolai walked into the area where my prison was. He had in his hand a tray with a bowl and a piece of bread.

It had been a while since one of the Hydra agents had brought food and I was starving, but that didn't matter. I sat up against the stone wall as he put the tray through the slot on the bottom of the opposite glass wall.

He backs up, but I don't get up to get it. Don't show weakness. That's always rule number one. Getting the food would mean that I needed food, that I needed him and his Hydra lackeys. Plus, I'm not sure I can walk a straight line between lack of food, lack of sleep, and the regular torture.

"What? Not hungry?" He says, mockingly.

I stare at him with as much disdain as I can muster.

He squats down, so that he's eye level with me through the glass. "You know, you should be grateful." He says. "I'm looking out for you. Fighting the higher ups, who want me to shoot you like a rabid dog."

I keep staring.

He continues. "They say your broken. No longer able to fight for Hydra. Useless." He stands up. "We will see." He says as he walks out.

When he is gone, I haphazardly crawl to the food and pull it to where I was. I considered momentarily not eating, seeing if I could starve myself. I wondered if I would heal from that though, or if I would be too weak.

The idea of being forcibly fed with a tube down my throat talked me out of trying it.

Instead, I picked at it slowly until it was gone.