Good Love Lingers On
Writing Desk's Raven
Prologue
Operation Mirage
~Antarctic Hydra Base~
August, 2000
A knock at the door and the man looked up from his desk. "Enter." He called. The door opened and then closed behind the newcomer. "Agent." The Colonel greeted coolly.
The woman stared straight ahead, posture perfect, hands clasped behind her back. "I have news from the doctor, sir, about my recent condition."
"And that is?" He asked impatiently.
"I am four months pregnant, sir." The woman said, swallowing hard, but otherwise remaining perfectly stoic.
The Colonel looked the woman over. She looked no different than she usually did, other than dark spots beneath her eyes from her recent sickness. "Mission or personal?"
"I believe it was the Argentina mission, sir." Her voice didn't so much as waver as she spoke, betraying none of the emotions she felt.
The Colonel nodded. "You'll be out in the field for another month or so. After that, we'll send you to data for the time being. We'll figure out what to do with the child when the time comes." He decided.
"Yes, sir." The woman responded.
"Dismissed." The Colonel announced, looking back down at the papers on his desk.
"Hail Hydra."
The moment the door closed behind one of his best agents, a slow smile spread across the Colonel's face. He picked up the phone sitting on his desk, dialing a familiar number. There was a moment of silence on the line, and then, "Colonel."
"The project has begun." The Colonel informed. "Plans centered on the Argentina mission's Agent were successful."
"I trust that the proper preparations will have been made by the time of birth? The serum must be perfected by then, this will be our only chance for a very long time, and it is very time-critical." The voice asked.
"We have already made many advancements with the testings. Projected completion date is about a month before the birth." The Colonel answered.
"Good. I'll have some men start putting together lessons. This child is going to be a very useful weapon to Hydra."
December 21st, 2000
The scream echoed throughout the empty halls. The medical wing was practically empty, except for the small team in the maternity ward. There was something big going on down at the other end of the base, and many agents had been called down to keep the subject under control. Everyone else was there either as help on the research team or simply to watch the breakthrough of said research team.
"You are fine. The pain is nothing." The nurse assured the woman with a heavy accent.
"I don't think you know the meaning of the word 'nothing.'" She groaned through clenched teeth.
"It will be over soon." The nurse monotoned. "Push."
"I just want this thing out of me!" Another scream ripped from her throat.
Colonel Karpov smiled. All was going according to plan, even with the birth of Operation Mirage happening a month earlier than expected. The current subject was responding well to the serum, and was already showcasing all of the effects they wanted. His strength had grown immensely, his reflexes were marvelous, his senses had grown tenfold, and his agility was being tested right now. Endurance and healing factor would be tested after that, but those aspects of the serum had already been perfected four trials ago.
Of course, the serum wouldn't last. The subject would likely die within the next twenty four hours. That was fine, the subject was expendable. All they needed was to know that the serum worked. Now all they needed was a younger subject, so that the serum could properly assimilate with the body, and it could be handled longer term, without adverse effect.
It was time the Colonel took a trip down to the maternity ward.
A cry pierced the air. "Female. Born 4:03 a.m. December 21st, 2001. 5.7 pounds." The nurse announced, wrapping the newborn in a pink blanket.
The woman on the bed sighed. She was glad to be done with that. It was even worse than the time that dealer broke her leg and shot her in the back. And that had been one hell of a recovery. She just couldn't wait until they let her back out onto the field so she could get back into the action and forget any of this ever happened.
A slow clapping came from the doorway of the room. The woman glanced over to see the Colonel in the doorway, and moved to sit up to give him the proper respect, but the nurse shoved her back down with one arm, baby in the other, telling her she needed to rest. But the Colonel hadn't come to speak to her, it seemed. He had eyes only for the child, a slow smile spreading across his face as he moved to stand beside the nurse.
"Welcome to Hydra, child." He greeted, pressing a filled syringe into the nurse's hand, the first of many to come. "You shall be a very great asset to Hydra, our own little Mirage."
February, 2003
The woman glared distastefully at the toddler sitting in the middle of the room. She shouldn't have been stuck here, teaching this thing, when she could have been out on the Tokyo mission-
The child was staring at her. She didn't like it, not a single bit. "What?" She demanded harshly. "What do you want, you little brat?"
It was all the brat's fault, everything. If not for that child, she'd have moved up the ranks. She was a great agent, and she could have done so much good for Hydra. Instead, she was stuck here, babysitting the child that had ruined her life. She had never wanted a child. It had never been in the cards for her. But then the Argentina mission had happened, and she must not have been careful enough. She came home with more than just that traitor's blood on her hands. She'd come home with his child. Or it may have been his client's child. She didn't really care which, just that, in completing her mission, she'd gotten a lot more than she'd bargained for. And Hydra hadn't cleared her for an abortion, or at least put the brat under someone else's watch. She'd have been fine if she didn't have to watch it, she knew Hydra was always looking for new recruits, and what better way than to start them on the path of an agent from birth?
All of a sudden, the child started laughing. Laughter, in a Hydra base, and coming from a child, no less! The woman glanced over at the child again, but the reprimand died on her lips as she stared in shock. She ran past the child to the door of the room, and opened it only enough to speak to the guard outside. "Get Colonel Karpov here immediately. There has been development with the asset. Hurry." She barked.
She closed the door and looked back at the child, who was still facing the back wall of the room. She was clapping her hands happily to some tune only she could hear, and she didn't notice the woman staring at her. All the better. They would have to be very careful around the child from now on.
Colonel Karpov was not exactly happy to be pulled from his debriefing with the returned agents from the Slovakia mission. He let them go on with the debriefing without him, leaving them with the expectation of a full report when he returned. They saluted, and he followed the guard out.
The Colonel spoke as he opened the door to the training room, but stopped abruptly when he saw what lay inside. "Agent, this had better be-"
The woman stepped over so that she was beside him. "I don't know how it happened," she explained, "one moment, she was staring at me, the next, she's laughing, and, well, that." She gestured toward the child.
"The sooner the better, I suppose." The Colonel decided.
"What?" The woman asked, startled.
"We expected this, but not at three years of age. The serum seems to have sped up the showcasing of the asset's abilities." The Colonel answered.
"I don't understand, sir." The woman said.
"One particular client of the Argentina target only visits earth every forty five years or so. We had to time everything perfectly for this to work." The Colonel explained. "Agent, meet Operation Mirage."
Neither spoke another word as they stared at the child, the woman processing the new information. They watched in silence as the child's hair, no longer a soft blonde color, but ginger like her mother's, shifted to white, then black, brown, dirty blonde, and back to ginger again.
Alrighty, so there's the prologue! Make sure to drop a review and tell me what you think of everything so far.
I'm thinking I might do a teaser quote every five chapters or so, not every chapter because I don't want to give away too too much, what would people think about that? It's just an idea I'm toying with, I would do a teaser from the next chapter at the bottom of each, idk.
Anyways, that's that for now, thanks everyone who decides to read, review, follow, or favorite my fics! You don't have to do any of those things, but it's very much appreciated!
~Writing Desk's Raven